Thanksgivingnesses

I love Thanksgiving!

I know that I have talked about this before, or at least I think I have. But the reason that I love Thanksgiving so much is because it always reminds me of family. Most of the time when our family gets together it is on Thanksgiving.

My very first Thanksgiving memory was in first grade. We had a Jensen family reunion down in St. George at my Grandmothers home. Since then most of my family gatherings have landed on Thanksgiving. So in my mind Thanksgiving equals family.

What a perfect matching up. The first thing that I am thankful for is my family. I love that they accept me for me yet they let encourage me to fix my failings. I love the fun times we have together. The late nights filled with board and card games, balderdash, scattergories, yahtzee, skipbo, and uno. I love the late gifts that we can never seem to send on time. I love the hikes we go on. I love the random words we say that most of the world still doesn't understand. I love all the bedtime stories we watch. I love while there is a big span with our ages that other people say that we remind them of another sibling. I love that we can be silly together. The main thing that I love is that we love each other and we can always depend on each other. I know that my family will always be there for me and I am so thankful for that.

I am also grateful for temples. It is through temples that someday I can live with my family forever. This is something that I look forward to with all my heart. I love my family so much that I can't wait for that day where I can be with them forever. I love the fact that I can continue to do the things that I love with my family. Hopefully someday that will want that to.

So this month I challenge everyone to continue to have loving bonds with your family or if you don't have those strong bonds then create them. Believe me having a great relationship with my family is the best thing about living on earth and it can be the same with you. Also if you would like to learn how you can be with your family forever read this blog about temples.

Spiritual Anorexia

Weekly Schedule
Monday
Kind of hungry not a whole ton but it would be good if I ate. Oh well there is always tomorrow.
Tuesday
I am hungry. For realzies I am hungry. Oh I will eat tomorrow. Mental reminder, "Remember to eat tomorrow."
Wednesday
Oh dang I should eat today. I got to make time to do it. Kind of feeling a little woozy.
Sunday
Oh I am hungry. I haven't eaten all week. Oh I need to remember to eat more. Really not eating is not good. Ok so what to eat. Well I really don't want to go through a whole bunch of trouble.....ummm....Oh I will some crackers. Just a couple though I really don't have a lot of time to eat.
Next week the exact same thing happens.

If this was what your life is like than that sucks. I can't imagine going through the week not eating. If I did that I would be so sick and I wouldn't have energy to do anything. As a college student I sometimes only eat one meal a day and that is awful in and of itself. DO NOT DO THAT. So taking care of our bodies is super important. I know that when I eat healthy food regularly I have more energy and I can think properly. It is so important to take care of our bodies.

When taking care of ourselves I think we, me definitely included, forget the most important part to take care of, our spiritual self. Look at the above schedule and replace food with scriptures. Do you ever find yourself in that pattern putting off reading your scriptures? I will admit that I do sometimes.

Scriptures are fuel for our spirits. They help keep our spirit strong. Now if we are only feeding them once a week and only small amounts then we are going to have a real weak spirit. For some reason it is so easy to put off reading scriptures, icky Satan has his approval all over that. But I say that enough is enough. Let us all make the goal to read our scriptures everyday.

 If you don't feel motivated to read a lot everyday work yourself up to a good study time. Start off by reading a column, a page, a chapter, for 5 min, for 10min, for an hour. It doesn't come all at once but through steps forward, small or big, it will come.

The greatest motivator I have to read scriptures is that I honestly feel mentally and physically better. I just feel more fresh and uplifted.

So get out your scriptures and read. Your very hungry spirit will be so grateful you did. Just think of it has giving yourself a hug.

Change

I have a new pet peeve. This is something that I have been told a lot recently and it really bothers me. Ok are you ready? I have been told many times that I can't change, that there are just qualities that I have, that aren't good, that are so imbedded in me that I can't change them.

Have you ever been told that you can't change? That there is no hope for you? Well I am here to tell you that it isn't true. Everyone can change, everyone has the ability to change. Through Jesus Christ we can take our weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

If that isn't change I don't know what is? Now I am not saying that change is easy or that it will happen overnight. But I do strongly believe that anyone can take a bad trait, a weakness, and make it into a strength, you just have to have enough faith. With Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ anything is possible. This is truth and don't let anyone tell you that it isn't.

Trails = Love

Have you ever reached a time where you just felt that you had too much on your plate? That once you reached that limit that you were given one more thing?
Lately I have kind of been feeling like this. Life just has way too much in it that I have to do and really not nearly enough time to do it. It really can be overwhelming. There are times where it takes all my effort to not just break down in tears.
I have really been thinking of trials and why we are given them. My mom just the other day commenting on life wisely said when it rains it pours. Why is that?

 As I sit here pondering that I think of the talk by Elder Christofferson. In it he talks of the gardener that cuts down a currant bush to help the bush out. Sometimes in life we are that currant bush and we are being "cut down". This talk really helped me realize that life is never what we expect it to be. It isn't only roses and lazy days. It requires effort and work. But the thing about work and trials it helps us grow.

So I have realized that God gives us the trials because He wants us to grow and become who He knows we are meant to be. So while I am going through these trials I just have to remember to say, "‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’” I encourage you to remember the same.

Homeless

Where is home to you? I have thought about this question a lot. While being here in Montana a lot of people ask me where is home. It was interesting when I answered because if I said Idaho people would ask me if I was excited to go back there. But I wasn't going back there because my family had moved to St. George. If I said St. George they would ask me if I knew this person or this place which I didn't because I had only lived there for maybe 1 1/2 years.

Shoshone, Idaho

Some might say that home is where your family lives. I have troubles with that because I do not consider St. George to be my home. But then if that isn't my home where is?
Could I claim the place that I grew up? Oh Shoshone, Idaho how I miss you! Well I am sure I could but I haven't been then in almost 4 years. So it kind of seems weird claiming that to be my home. I could claim it as a place I grew up but probably not my home.

So here I have a dilemma. I am homeless. I have no home.... or do I?

St. George, Utah

We all know the phrase, "Home is where your heart is." I think that this is 100% true. Home is where our heart is. So I have decided that my home is.... everywhere. It is everywhere because my heart is in Jesus Christ, my heart is in His Restored Gospel, my heart is in Heavenly Father and they are everywhere.

So while I don't have a "home" in the sense that I call one town or area my home I do have a home with Heavenly Father. Everywhere I go there will always be kind members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reaching out to make me feel welcome and make me feel at home.

If you feel that maybe you are homeless, that you don't feel like you have a home anywhere, reach out to Christ, reach out to His Gospel and see yourself find a home once more. The neatest thing is that no matter where you are at in the world you can find that group of people that will love you the same way that Christ loves you. Here is a site to find the nearest church building near you. So please check it out and see how you can feel the love of God for you more and see that you aren't homeless you already have a home waiting for you.

We Are Blessed

We are blessed, we are so very very blessed!

Why are we blessed? We are blessed because we have the opportunity to hear from God. In just a couple of weeks we get to hear from God and we get to know what is best from us.

Is God going to come down to earth and really speak to us? Well He isn't going to come down to earth and physically speak to us but we do get to hear from Him. Every year twice a year we get to hear from God's Prophets and Apostles, during what is called General Conference, and this is how we get to hear from God. Everything that the Prophet and Apostles say is exactly what God would say if He were here on earth today. In Doctrine and Covenants 1:38  it says,
"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." So what His servants(the Prophet and Apostles) say is the same things that He says. So we get to hear from God and I am so excited!

One thing that I always like to do to prepare to hear from the Prophet and Apostles is I write down a question that I have. Examples being: How can I draw closer to God? Does God really answer my prayers? Does He really hear my prayers? Why is it important to go to the temple? What do I need to do to follow God better? How can I have a better relationship with my family? There are so many different questions that we can have. Then I write down my question/s and pray about them. Then the neat part comes into play, everytime that I do this my question is answered during General Conference. Give it a try and see how much God cares for you.

So hopefully we are all so excited about General Conference and the opportunity to hear from God via His Apostles and Prophets. General Conference is March 31 and April 1.Check local program listings for availability in your area, or visit bonneville.info, byubroadcasting.org, ksl.com, mormonchannel.org, or mobile.lds.org for more information.  Don't pass up this opportunity because this is the reason why we are so blessed!

Mrs. Grouchy Saved Me

My family moved down to St. George Utah my senior year of high school. That meant I had to get to know a whole different ward, a group of people that attend services at the same time. Well I remember meeting one lady that I thought was simply a grouch. She always looked kind of mad and I didn't feel that her tone of voice was always the nicest. Well luckily for me, or so I thought, she worked with the older ladies and I was still in the youth group age so I didn't really have to associate with her very frequently.

Fast forward a couple of years. My family is still in the same ward in St. George and I am just on my break in between semesters from college. That fall break was the hardest one that I had ever gone through. Towards the middle of it I had just broken up with someone I really cared about. I felt very alone and lost. At the same time our ward boundaries changed and I knew hardly anyone which made me feel even more alone. One Sunday when I felt really alone and just having a hard day I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and it was the lady that I thought was really grouchy. Well she started to ask me how I was doing and just talked to me. Because of that conversation I felt loved. I felt that God really was aware of me but more importantly people around me were aware of me.Instead of just passing me by and thinking that someone younger could comfort me she took the time to talk to me. I think back on how much she blessed me that day and how much more I could have been blessed by her if I just had taken the time to get to know her instead of thinking that she was the grouchy lady.

President Monson said this about judging others "Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: 'If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”' The Savior has admonished, 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.'  I ask: can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot."

So let us take the time to get to know people and the situation before we judge. Let us learn to love all those taht are around us.We may never know they could be the exact person that we need some help.

Here is just a fun clip based on President Monson's talk. Hope you enjoy!