Driving Blessings

I am currently learning to drive. While this is something most teenagers enjoy, it terrifies me. Especially when I have certain drivers ed instructors. But we won't go into that. This process of learning to drive has been so scary. Every time I get on the road I'm super nervous and uptight, which doesn't help my driving at all. So naturally I prayed about it. But then, a few weeks ago, I had a really terrible experience driving with my instructor. I left the lesson crying. It was lame. So the night before my next drive, I asked my dad for a priesthood blessing. I really needed comfort and extra assurance. I recieved a beautiful blessing of comfort and peace. I truly felt God's love for me and my testimony of priesthood blessings grew a hundredfold. I was promised that my mind would be clear so that I would be able to learn to drive well, among other things. The next day my drive went wonderfully. I had a different instructor who was very good at teaching me in a way that was gentle and clear to understand. I truly felt the Lord's love for me while I was driving. It was such a blessing.

Then yesterday I had another drive. I had another completely different instructor. To make a long story short, the drive was almost as terrible and nerve wracking  as the one I mentioned first. But I could still feel the hand of the Lord calming me and guiding me. Even though I was still uptight and nervous, I wasn't terrified. And there were several points of time in that hour when I felt Heavenly Father directly speaking words of comfort to my mind. It was incredible. I feel so loved and blessed. 

Sometimes, I feel like God has way more blessings set aside for us than we actually recieve because some of them are dependent upon us asking for them, and sometimes we forget to do that. As I Iearned, Heavenly Father was more than willing and happy to bless me with comfort, the assurance assurance of safety and feeling His love for me, but I had to exercise the faith to ask for a priesthood blessing. I'm so grateful for our gracious, loving Father. I love the blessings He grants me and I love all that He is teaching me. 

Singing for Elder Ballard

Hello wonderful people! So on Friday a very special opportunity presented itself to all the youth who live in my state. Yes, state, not stake. Elder Lansing, from the quorum of the seventy, Bishop Stevenson, the Presiding Bishop of the Church, and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the quorum of the twelve came and gave us a fireside. It was incredible! But, the fireside was even more special for the girls in my ward and me because we were the musical number. We sang for all of the youth in our state, all of the bishops and stake presidents, and our guests.
It was spectacular to look out into the sea of faces of kids my age. These were the faces of righteous, loving youth who loved and value the same ideals as I. When we sang, I felt the Spirit so strongly. Usually, when I feel the Holy Ghost, it's a very still, tender, sweet feeling that makes me cry. This time it was joyful, and exuberant. I looked at all of the beautiful people as I sang to them, and made eye contact with as many as I could. I wanted them to feel the power of the words I sang just as acutely as I was feeling them. I was smiling so much that my face hurt. :D Afterwards, my friends who were in the audience said, "I could tell that you were just feeling it! It was like something was emanating from you." and "You sang like an angel.". Singing for the youth in my state and for Elder Ballard was an incredible experience!
So, after we sang, the three visitors gave an awesome fireside where they were speaking directly to us, youth. Here are my favorite parts of what they said:

Elder Lansing:

• “Right now the eyes of the Lord are focused on the youth” –Elder Lansing
• President Monson is the most youth-oriented prophet there's ever been. He's 85. Most people at that age are looking back on their lives, but he is looking forward into the future of the church. President Monson has brought to pass:
• New For Strength of Youth
• New Youth Curriculum
• Missionary Age Change

Bishop Stevenson:

• Satan tries to make us look at things as they aren't. He tries to confuse us. But we have the proper tools to combat the confusion.
• We have the Plan of Happiness.
• We have these formulas:
• Obedience/Righteousness --> Blessings --> Happiness
• Disobedience --> Punishment --> Misery

Elder Ballard:

• "We have experiences in our future we can't even dream of."
• "Keep the beam of heaven guiding our thoughts and minds."
• He explained how we can be like Nephi by using this scripture: 1 Nephi 2:16:
• "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers."
• 1) Have a great desires to learn about God
• 2) Pray and sincerely study about Him, develop a relationship with Him
• 3) He will come unto you

• We need to kindle the desire
• "We all have challenges. That's why we're here."

I know that the Lord's servants speak His truth and His gospel and that when we follow their counsel we can't go wrong. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I had. 

 

As You Really Are

Hey everybody! I know that I haven't posted in a super long time, and I apologize for that. I'm still trying to figure out how to juggle everything and balance my schedule with the new school year.

I found a video recently that really impacted me and brought a huge smile to my face.

I really loved hearing what young men actually think of us young women. (Sorry guys, this post is more for the Young Women, but you are welcome to still finish reading to the end since you've read this far already. :D) Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to look cute and seem perfect to them, but I think that they for the most part don't see all of the imperfections that we see in ourselves. Young Men see the beauty in us, and they see our potential for good. You are more than you know. :D

He'll Raise You Up

Lately I've been having some really hard times. I've had an injury for the past six months that has been hindering my progress in orchestra. It's been quite awful, actually. I've been in so much pain. I've been to different doctors, but I have an appointment tomorrow that should diagnose my problem.
The last three weeks, I've had a cold/bronchitis thing. We're not really sure what it is. I haven't been able to sleep well, and I've just felt horrible.
Due to lack of sleep, expectations, make-up work from being sick from school, etc., I've been kind of depressed lately. But, I just had this thought keep coming back to my mind, "I should ask for a blessing about my shoulder before the appointment tomorrow." Every time I would blow it off, It would return. Finally, I realized that this thought was a prompting that I needed to get a blessing. So, I asked my dad, and he called the home teacher, who agreed to come over.
Meanwhile, I'm just becoming more and more emotional from a billion different factors, mainly from lack of sleep. I just felt so horrible, and i was just afraid. I sheepishly admit that I wanted to have dad call the home teacher and ask him not to come because I was afraid I would start crying in front of him after/during the blessing. But, I knew I would look more foolish by canceling.
So, our home teacher came over, and I received a priesthood blessing. And I am so glad I did. The words of my blessing were the perfect words to help me feel God's love for me as I'm struggling right now. And I was promised that I would be able to play viola again. What a promise that is. I'm so grateful that I will be able to play again.
I'm so grateful for the priesthood. It has blessed my life in more ways than I could probably ever imagine. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father who loves me more than I could ever know, and whose light is visible, even when darkness is closing in on me.

This reminds me of one of my favorite songs, You Raise Me Up (Josh Groban). This song is so inspirational to me because it tells of how Jesus strengthens us when we are weak, and how He catches us when we are falling.

 

To learn more about the Priesthood, click here.

To learn more about God's love, click here.