The greatest blessing of all

I love listening to the General Conference talks. The words of the prophets help me in many aspects of life to live it in the way I'm supposed to live. With all the things going on around in this world, I sometimes forget my true identity - that I am a daughter of God and I was sent here to do his work, to accomplish the things that I've been pre-ordained to do. It's rather easier to just blend in with the world than to stand out and hold strong to my beliefs. Everyday, every hour, every minute we face obstacles that hold us back from achieving our goals. Sometimes when my days get so busy with work, family, friends and million other things, I get carried away and heaven seems so far away and I lose my focus on the Savior. There is even a little thought at the back of my mind that it's too hard of a goal to achieve so I think to myself.. 'Will I REALLY be able to get there?'. It just seems too unrealistic and doubt starts to replace my faith.


 But today, I came across this quote, by Bruce. C. Hafen


"We can have eternal life if we want it, but only if there is nothing else we want more. In the long run, our most deeply held desires will govern our choices, one by one and day by day, until our lives finally add up to what we have really wanted most--for good or otherwise. We can indeed have eternal life, if we really want it, so long as we don't want something else more."


Reading this quote me realize that Eternal life really is possible for me and as imperfect as I am, it is still available for me because of the Atonement of the Savior and if I have the desire and strive to do my very best he will take care of the rest and meet me there.  
I know that no matter how far Heaven may seem to us, if we have the spirit of God we will feel close to Heaven. We can all receive the greatest gift - the Eternal life if we put it our first priority and remember our goal and endure to the very end of our lives.

Edenbrooke

Today was a super super special day for me ♥

I spent half of the day watching the General Conference - and I fell asleep a couple of times.This pneumonia is suffocating me and making me all dizzy so I just kept falling asleep...

After the conference, I went to the Deseret Bookstore for women's night.
They had everything 20% on sale and plus Julianne Donalson came to sign her books!
She is my favorite writer right now!! And this book Edenbrooke has become my favorite Regency Romance book of ALL TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm in love with this book.

And here's the inside with her signature!!!!!

HEHE 

If you want to read a good romance novel - Edenbrooke is the one! 

Well my pneumonia seems like it's almost gone so
I might be able to finally escape my little prison by next week!!! GOOD NEWS!

Perks of being sick

So... something that I learned a couple days ago.. is that when you have symptoms of flu for more than a week.. it's probably a good idea that you go to the doctors.
I don't really like going to the doctors for little things but this time I really really REALLY regret not going sooner as it turns out it wasn't flu the whole time.
Streptococcus pneumoniae????? WOW.............
When the doctor told me this it was kinda funny because last week I was sick at home, watching one of the girls die from pneumoniae in the movie "Jane Eyre" and I thought man.. I feel sorry for her and all that time I had the same sickness! LOL
Anyways it got really bad on Tuesday so I finally ended up in a hospital...
Thank goodness I am blessed with not only one but TWO uncles who are kind enough to take care of me. He brought me food three times a day and these cool things called "kiwiberries". Hehe.

So.. lesson learned.. always always always go to the doctors when you're sick.
They are there for a reason!!
Also.. when I was sick of sleeping, I listened to one of the conference talks by Sister Margaret Nadauld called "The Joy of Womanhood" and she said;

You can recognize women who are grateful to be a daughter of God by their outward appearance. These women understand their stewardship over their bodies and treat them with dignity. They care for their bodies as they would a holy temple, for they understand the Lord’s teaching: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

When I heard this, I felt so so so bad... for not taking care of my body and taking the word of wisdom too lightly. Going to sleep early and eating good food may seem like small things but indeed, small and simple things will bring to pass great things...like pnuemonia...

Things I love

SO.. here are some things that I really love!


I LOVE............................

Listening to music.
In The Strength of the Youth pamphlet it says "Music has a profound effect on your mind, spirit, and behavior." I strongly agree with this statement. I believe that music can change everything. It can change how you feel. I love listening to disney soundtracks especially. The lyrics, melody, voices.. I just love everything about it. Listening to uplifting music really helps me feel and stay happy throughout the day.

Reading
I love reading. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT READING.
Well, I love reading good books.
There are many reasons why I love reading so much.
Reading floods your brain with new knowledge. Anything you read, will be helpful. You'll always learn something new no matter what you read. Even if it's a crappy book, you'll at least learn new vocabulary words lol. I love how different writers have different styles. To me, language is like art. You can express it however you want to in our own unique ways. You can be as creative as you want and I love reading people describe certain things or feelings in their books. Also, when you read, you get to experience different lives of the characters in the books. You can live as many lives as you want by reading books! Isn't this exciting?? :D :D

Activities
I love doing outdoor things. I'm not very good at it but I actually really enjoy learning and playing sports. I love camping, hiking, bike riding, swimming.. I'm not really a stay-at-home person. I need to get out of the house at least once a day unless I'm extremely sick.

TO BE CONTINUED............
ALL OF A SUDDEN I GOT REALLY TIRED (3 A.M...........)

One of my favorite quotes..

“For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
 For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
 For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
 For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
 For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
 People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
 As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands,

one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.”  

Sometimes, I think to myself 'what am I living for? What's the real purpose in life?' Going back to my Heavenly father of course is the main purpose here but in the process of achieving that goal - what do I need to do? It's too easy to focus our thoughts on the things of the world and we sometimes miss out on what's going on around us. Until recently, service meant very oblique to me. It was something that I wanted to do in the future, after I quit my job and when I didn't have so many things on hand or when I had the money or the time to do it.
I was never really poor and I never had to starve because I didn't have money or worry about how I'm going to live tomorrow because I just spent my last dollar on feeding my kids so I don't know what being poor feels like. Here, where I work we have a lot of people who have to go through these struggles everyday and I think to myself, what am I doing here? Have I done any good today? Have I tried to help them in ANY way? Am I too focused on the big opportunities that will make me feel like I have achieved something good in the future and neglecting the little things I can do to serve others today? I believe that the happiest people are the ones who give up themselves to serve others. I hope that's the kind of person I will become and what I will focus on devoting my life to for the rest of my time on this earth, starting with the very little things I can do NOW and TODAY.

 

Decisions

When faced with choices, you select the path consistent with the teachings of the Savior. I know you are sometimes criticized by those who call you fanatical, who cannot understand why you don’t do what the crowd does. Hold fast to your principles.

You cannot today remotely imagine what that decision to be unwaveringly obedient to the Lord will allow you to accomplish in life. Your quiet, uncompromising determination to live a righteous life will couple you to inspiration and power beyond your capacity now to understand. 

1. Place the Savior, His teachings, and His church at the center of your life. Make sure that all decisions comply with this standard.

2. Recognize that enduring happiness comes from what you are, not from what you have.

3. Stay morally clean.

Pray in faith for help. Go to your Father in Heaven. He wants to help you, but because of your agency you need to take the first step. Important lessons will be learned as you are on your knees. Some will distill in your mind and heart as you seek to establish the right balance in your life. Powerful personal development will come through urgent prayer offered in faith from a foundation of righteousness.

Test your daily thoughts and acts against the principles we have reviewed. Are you making progress toward them, or have you begun to wander down destructive paths? Life is a workshop where you can test the correctness of the principles you have chosen to guide your life.

Things I value the most..

"If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently...

It becomes special because you have made it so."

-F Burton. Howard-

This quote made me think about how I should treat other people.

Especially those who I'm the closest with. 
It's easy to treat people that are the most important to us with less care because we assume that they will understand us better or that they will never leave us no matter what we do. We think that they will know we love them even if we don't express it every day. That's how I thought until today. But I realized that it is those that are the most important to us that we need to be the most careful about and I cannot use our close relationship as an excuse to mistreat them. The deeper the relationship is, the easier it is to get hurt because we open up so much of ourselves to each other, even our deepest fears, weaknesses and secrets and we become so fragile and vulnerable around them.

Doesn't it indeed, hurt more when someone you love criticizes you than those that you are not really close to or don't really care about talks bad about you? 
Because for me, it really does. 

I learned that if I want to spend the more time with a person and truly be in a healthy loving relationship, I need to treat them with care. 
They become special only when we put in the time and effort to make them special. 

Forget Me Not

I have sooooo many things in my life that I need to change. I don't know if it's just me but changing myself is such a difficult process. There are things in my life that I struggle with. Some things are easier to overcome and some things, it just seems impossible for me to overcome. I've prayed for days, weeks and years but nothing seemed to help me overcome my weakness. I have asked many people for help and the answer that I got from them was simply that I don't try hard enough. I was very discouraged and I just wanted to give up everything. I thought about the atonement of Christ and how it could help me overcome my trial.

Every morning I wake up, I try to think about how I can improve today, what I need to change to become a better person then at night I lay on my bed thinking that another day has been slipped out of my eternal scheme of progression.

Today was just like any other Sundays. I woke up in the morning and started reading my book. I don't know why, but for some reason I picked out this book that I haven't read for a long time. In that book, there was a book mark with this quote from President Uchtdorf's talk "Forget Me Not" and when I read the quote, I suddenly thought 'hmm maybe I should listen to that talk again' and played a short version on youtube. The talk as I remember was about the things I need to remember and do. But in that short 5 minute clip version, he talked about how we all have different and unique weaknesses and trials and that it's okay to have weaknesses because right now is not the time to be perfect but time to practice towards perfection. We shouldn't look at other people to compare ourselves to them. Our little efforts may seem insignificant to us and even to others, but our father in Heaven notices them. Is that not enough? This talk also reminded me of the conversation between Hazel and Augustus in the book "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green. Augustus's fear was oblivion, scared that he is going to die without being able to fulfill his wishes, which was to become a special hero in the world and to be in all over the newspapers. Hazel, his love of life, tells him "You say you're not special because the world doesn't know about you, but that's an insult to me. I know about you. I think you're special is that not enough?" I think that's how a lot of us feel too. We often get discouraged in one way or another, when we feel insignificant in this world. But we need to remember that the person who is, or should be the most important to us loves us so much and we are very very special to him and like Hazel said, "is that not enough?". I think that might be what Heavenly Father is trying to tell us everytime we get discouraged. "You think you're not special but you are special to me. I am the most powerful being in the universe and I love you with an infinite love, is that not enough?"

 

"Sisters, wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love.

The love of God and the power of the restored gospel are redemptive and saving. If you will only allow His divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow...never forget that you are truly precious daughters in God’s kingdom."


Christ can help us overcome ANY weaknesses, fears and pains we face. Not so much that he will always change your situations but as our faith in his Atonement grow stronger, we learn to lean on him when we need to. We learn to forgive others and ourselves. We let go of the things that don't really matter in this world and focus on the things that really matter - the salvation.