So last weekend we had the church's General Conference broadcast and rather than talk about specific things said, I'm going to go over some things I've been thinking over and changes I've seen in me. I felt like a lot of what was said at conference only reflected what I've been focusing on anyway, so in a way I felt spiritually uplifted to continue in the direction I'd been sent anyway. That was really cool. I haven't gone around telling people much but this year has been very difficult for me emotionally and it has led to a lot of spiritual growth.
It all started in April when I felt a very specific and very strong prompting about something I had been praying for, along with a confirmation of God's knowledge of me and his love for me. It was such a cool experience I cried a good part of that morning and wrote about it in my journal that night. I didn't realize that I'd receive specific instructions about what to do just three days later. And it was a direction I didn't want to go down. In fact I had been dead set against it for over a year. This lead to an emotional break down for about two weeks all in the middle of finals for spring semester. But even from the beginning of this break down I decided that if that's what God wanted me to do, I'd do it. The problem has been that following through with the intended actions has been difficult as other people's choices have prevented me from doing what I'd been prompted. It was so hard to just remain paitent waiting for things to change to allow me to move forward, but they didn't and they still haven't. In fact it lead to a complete heartbreak in July where I spent one night crying and just asking God, "Why?" I didn't have the heart to even say my prayers that night. I just cried myself to sleep.
Thankfully my plea to the heavens was answered within 24 hours. I felt prompted to find a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf a couple of years ago and when I read it every single question I had was answered! I've never known a conference talk to feel like it was written so specifically for me before. I downloaded the video, put it on my ipod and bookmarked the talk on my nook and made notes all over it about what pertained to me. God had planned for this to happen. My difficulties were meant to strengthen me, give me spiritual growth, and provide blessings if I bore my trials well. Meanwhile the constant reassurance to be patient and wait for his time was still there. It all boiled down to having complete faith in God. I now have a new love for Conference talks. :)
I'm not always a patient person, so this has been new for me. When I find myself doubting if I'm supposed to keep waiting, or when I find that new struggles are arising I've found a lot of comfort by going to the temple. In fact I've finally accepted the challange my old bishop gave us at the very beginning of this year to not be "weakly" attenders of the temple, but "weekly" attenders. This has made all the difference in my life! I'm not stressed about my school and work load like I have been in the past and I'm getting A's in my classes. On top of that it has become easier to be patient waiting for the obstacles to change. I don't stress about it like I did ALL summer. I've decided to trust that God will make his timing known and until then I'm going to make an effort to improve my life in different directions. Life has been so much happier this way. If you have a temple recommend, please use it often. If you don't have one, do everything you need to in order to obtain one. The blessings are definitely worth it!
As a side musing, Elder Scott talked about doing our family history to bring additional temple blessings. So on Sunday I got my mother, logged on our respective computers, and tried see what we could do using the church's site. We ended up getting frustrated and did indexing instead. We'll wait until we can go to the library to have someone help us. :)
It all started in April when I felt a very specific and very strong prompting about something I had been praying for, along with a confirmation of God's knowledge of me and his love for me. It was such a cool experience I cried a good part of that morning and wrote about it in my journal that night. I didn't realize that I'd receive specific instructions about what to do just three days later. And it was a direction I didn't want to go down. In fact I had been dead set against it for over a year. This lead to an emotional break down for about two weeks all in the middle of finals for spring semester. But even from the beginning of this break down I decided that if that's what God wanted me to do, I'd do it. The problem has been that following through with the intended actions has been difficult as other people's choices have prevented me from doing what I'd been prompted. It was so hard to just remain paitent waiting for things to change to allow me to move forward, but they didn't and they still haven't. In fact it lead to a complete heartbreak in July where I spent one night crying and just asking God, "Why?" I didn't have the heart to even say my prayers that night. I just cried myself to sleep.
Thankfully my plea to the heavens was answered within 24 hours. I felt prompted to find a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf a couple of years ago and when I read it every single question I had was answered! I've never known a conference talk to feel like it was written so specifically for me before. I downloaded the video, put it on my ipod and bookmarked the talk on my nook and made notes all over it about what pertained to me. God had planned for this to happen. My difficulties were meant to strengthen me, give me spiritual growth, and provide blessings if I bore my trials well. Meanwhile the constant reassurance to be patient and wait for his time was still there. It all boiled down to having complete faith in God. I now have a new love for Conference talks. :)
I'm not always a patient person, so this has been new for me. When I find myself doubting if I'm supposed to keep waiting, or when I find that new struggles are arising I've found a lot of comfort by going to the temple. In fact I've finally accepted the challange my old bishop gave us at the very beginning of this year to not be "weakly" attenders of the temple, but "weekly" attenders. This has made all the difference in my life! I'm not stressed about my school and work load like I have been in the past and I'm getting A's in my classes. On top of that it has become easier to be patient waiting for the obstacles to change. I don't stress about it like I did ALL summer. I've decided to trust that God will make his timing known and until then I'm going to make an effort to improve my life in different directions. Life has been so much happier this way. If you have a temple recommend, please use it often. If you don't have one, do everything you need to in order to obtain one. The blessings are definitely worth it!
As a side musing, Elder Scott talked about doing our family history to bring additional temple blessings. So on Sunday I got my mother, logged on our respective computers, and tried see what we could do using the church's site. We ended up getting frustrated and did indexing instead. We'll wait until we can go to the library to have someone help us. :)
I like it! It's rare these days for people to recognize signs and actually follow them :D
ReplyDeleteI am glad things have been getting better. So grateful for Conference!
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