Please Pray for Gracie - she needs a miracle!!

*** You can find the link to Gracie's blog on the side bar, Gracie and her family are in desperate need of our prayers tonight, baby Gracie had heart transplant surgery today, in the beginning things were looking very good, but tonight things have taken a turn for the worst and they are now unsure of her future.***

Please keep Baby Gracie and her family in your PRAYERS, if we all come together in PRAYER I know that MIRACLES can happen!!

Lift Where You Stand

Today at Church it was as if each talk and lesson was specifically for me. We have had some things happen the past week that have been really difficult to deal with and this morning I was struggling with even wanting to be at Church. I really can't ever remember a time other than today that I seriously DID NOT want to be at Church. It was such an awful feeling. I KNOW that is where I was suppose to be and I am so glad that I went despite of the feelings that I was having.

In Sacrament meeting today the subject was, 'Controlling Your Thoughts'. It is so easy for each of us to have thoughts of all different kinds pop into our head with out even really meaning for them to be there. Until today I guess I had never really thought about WHY different thoughts pop in our head. One of the speakers mentioned that often times it isn't us putting those thoughts there at all, it is Satan. He wants us to be unhappy, so it would make since that he would try to place thoughts in our minds that would cause us to feel sadness. She gave some great examples of what some of these thoughts might be. Honestly how many of us have ever had a thought like, 'Wow (so in so) is such a good mom, I am not as good of a mom as she is' or 'She is so pretty, why am I not that pretty'. I know that I have had similar thoughts to those and really I always just thought those types of thoughts were coming from my own insecurities when in actuality Satan is placing those types of thoughts in our minds. The speakers also touched on how important it is that we control our thoughts because ultimately our thoughts control our actions. When we have a bad thought we need to immediately replace it with a good thought. One speaker suggested singing your favorite hymn to your self whenever a bad thought comes to your mind. I am very grateful that this was the subject in Sacrament today, I really need to work on controlling some of my thoughts that are causing me to feel unhappy, I may not be able to control the trials I will face in my life, but I can control how I let them effect me.

Normally I don't get the opportunity to go to Relief Society, but I was able to go today and we had such a great lesson. The lesson was 'Lift Where You Stand'. I was actually on my way to my car right before Relief Society started, my little man was so tired so I was going to drive him around the parking lot a few times until he fell asleep, well as I was headed to my car I realized that it was a friend of mine giving the lesson so I thought, 'ok well I will just go in for a few minutes and see how he does.' The sweet little guy must of some how known how much his mama needed to hear that lesson because he made it through 3/4 of the lesson before we had to leave. It is so important that we work hard to 'Lift Wear We Stand' in whatever it is, wither it be our marriages, motherhood/parenthood, magnifying our callings, etc... We need to ALWAYS try to do our very best in all that we do in life. I know for my self that it is very easy for me to get discouraged and think that I can't do certain things, but if we put our trust in the Lord ALL things are possible. The Lord will help us to fulfill the challenges he has given us, he will help strengthen us, and we can 'Lift Where We Stand' when we have him as a companion in all that we do.

I am so grateful that I made the choice to go to Church today, it wasn't easy for me and it truly made me so sad that I was feeling the way I did. I know that my Father in Heaven wanted me to be there today, there were messages given that I NEEDED to hear. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my faith in the gospel is the foundation of who I am and without it I would be so lost.

With love-
Brittany

Please Pray for Gracie

My husbands cousin has a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Gracie that NEEDS our prayers. If you go to the side bar and click on "Gracie" it will take you to her blog where you can read all about this amazing baby girl and the trials her and her family have been facing. Gracie was born with a sever heart defect and has over come ALL odds, she is absolutely a MIRACLE.

Gracie and her family NEED our prayers at this time!! I have a very strong testimony of the power of prayer and I know that if WE pray with FAITH, that our prayers can help this family to cope during this difficult time.

Humbled

{Two posts in one day, look at me go!!}


Recently my husband signed up to receive a daily inspirational email from our Church. I thought that I would share a few that I have read recently and have really left an impression on me. Our family is going through a difficult time right now, as I know MANY other families are. The economy has taken a toll on so many and it is easy to get discouraged when things don't seem to be going your way. We live in scary times, not only are people loosing their jobs, but all throughout the world there is turmoil of all kinds. I truly believe that we are living in the last days. With all that is going on I can't help but think about what the future will be like for my children. What kind of world will they live in? What trials will they face? Will I be able to protect them? The more I have thought about what is to come I have realized that this is all part of our Heavenly Fathers plan and that gives me peace in these troubled times. Of course he does not want these terrible things to be happening all over the world to HIS CHILDREN, but these things that are happening are SIGNS that the SECOND COMING of our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is NEAR. When will the Savior return, I don't know. But what I DO KNOW is that I AM GOING TO BE READY! I want to be worthy to kneel at the Saviors feet and show my love and gratitude to him for the precious gift of the ATONEMENT that he freely gave the world. I believe that Satan is DOUBLING his efforts, we wants us to fail. He is doing all he can to tear apart families because families are the core of our existence. If he can tear apart families, he can tear apart Nations. Satan has declared war on ALL that is good in this world. He does not want us to be happy, he does not want us to follow our Heavenly Fathers plan so that we can return to our Father in Heavens presence. He wants us to fail. I will NOT let him win. I am willing to do all that I possibly can to do what is RIGHT and live a Christ-like life because I WANT more than ANYTHING to be with my FAMILY FOREVER. I KNOW that families are ETERNAL, that this life is but a moment in our existence, but that it is in this life that we make the choices that will determine our future in the next life!

If you are going through a difficult time in your life I hope that you can find peace in knowing that if you do all that you are capable of to live a life that is pleasing unto the Lord and are willing to completely put your Faith in him that the Lord WILL provide a way. Often times we don't recieve blessings until after the TRIAL of our FAITH. The road may not always be easy, but when we turn our lives over to the Lord, He WILL BLESS US!

I am HUMBLED by the things I do not know, I don't know exactly what the Lord has in store for me, but I know that I am willing to do all that he asks of me because I have FAITH in HIM!

May these stories touch you as they have touched me...


Rich in Things That Matter

"Like so many young people do, when I was young I occasionally dreamed of being rich and famous. I am now grateful that that dream was not realized. My understanding of what success really is has changed over the years of my life. It began to change on my first mission to Brazil over 45 years ago."One day, my companion and I went out to visit a poor sister who was widowed. In those days there were no stakes or wards in Brazil, only mission districts and branches. Sometimes missionaries looked after the members."Finally, we arrived at a humble home in a very isolated area. This home had a dirt floor and open windows without any glass. The wind and the flies could come right through. Never before in my life had I been in a home where people live with open windows and a dirt floor. Despite this, the house was clean and neat, curtains were hung, and the boards on the inside of the house were whitewashed. Despite being primitive, the home had a cozy feeling about it. We asked after this poor widow's health and well-being. She seemed quite happy and contented. We then began to have something of a gospel lesson. She participated freely. We thought that we were the teachers, but it soon became apparent that she knew more than we did. Her faith was deep, and her knowledge of the great eternal truths of where we came from, who we are, and where we are going was very profound."I had my eyes opened. It was astonishing to hear this sister in these humble circumstances explain the great purposes of God in the grand scheme of the earth and its creation. I was reminded about what James said in his great epistle: 'Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?' (James 2:5). . . ."This poor widow on the outskirts of São Paulo made the most of her straitened circumstances—circumstances that could not easily be changed. She realized that she should not make her life miserable by wishing it were otherwise. We ought always to try to improve on the things that can be improved, but there are some circumstances that cannot be changed. This impoverished woman enjoyed her independence, and she owed no one any money. She was industrious and thrifty. She crocheted beautiful cloths which were sold in the city to satisfy her simple wants, but she was not poor in spirit. She was rich in the things that really matter."From that experience many years ago, I learned much. I am persuaded that this humble widow who lived in a house with a dirt floor and no panes in the window is an heir to the exaltation of God."


Understanding the Character and Designs of God

"In a discourse given before thousands in Nauvoo in April 1844, the Prophet Joseph Smith spoke about the importance of starting out with a correct understanding of the character and designs of God. He stated, 'If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong we may go wrong, and it will be a hard matter to get right' (History of the Church, 6:303). As we consider what is ahead for ourselves, our families, and for the kingdom of God, do we fully comprehend the designs of God for our lives?"In 1920, Brother Marion G. Romney attended a Fremont Stake conference in the Rexburg Tabernacle. My grandfather, Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was the presiding authority. Because Brother Romney was twenty-three years of age and the financial circumstances of his family were very difficult, he had not contemplated serving a full-time mission. Years later, on 15 October 1963, Elder Romney explained his experience:" 'At the time I graduated, I planned to go in the fall to the University of Idaho. It was my intention to play basketball and football and prepare to be a coach. In late August, I attended a stake conference [and] sat on the front row at the east end of the choir seats directly north of the pulpit. As I listened intently with my eyes fixed on [Elder Melvin J. Ballard's] profile, there came to me by the power of the Spirit an irresistible urgency to go on a mission. There and then I abandoned my plans for a coaching career. In November I left for a mission to Australia' (address given at a Ricks College devotional, 15 Oct. 1963)."Elder Romney, en route to Australia, came to Salt Lake City, where my grandfather set him apart as a missionary. Grandfather gave Elder Romney counsel and said, among other things, 'One never gives a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return' (quoted in F. Burton Howard, Marion G. Romney: His Life and Faith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988, p. 66). Marion G. Romney never forgot that phrase."
M. Russell Ballard, "Anchored by Faith and Commitment," Ensign, July 1995, 12, 14

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