Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

Endure to the End

F. Enzio Busche taught us that, "In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God, and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take." As many of you are well aware, this life is not going to be an easy road. Is it going to be filled with fun memories? Yes! Is it going to be blackened with trials and sadness? Sometimes! Is it going to be worth it? Absolutely!
A good friend taught me to look my challenges square in the eyes and say, "Bring it on, Lord!" and to also say, "Come what may, and love it!" [and crave it, and beg for more!]
I hope we are all familiar with the atonement and the saving ordinance it is for us. Christ suffered all of our fears, pains, temptations, and disappointments. He understands EVERYTHING. He knows how to grieve with us, and ultimately how to fix the situation. Turn to him and don't you EVER say that you're alone because that is the biggest lie that Satan will try to tell you.
Most of you know that I have some severe stomach pain. I want to share a few things that I have learned from this AMAZING trial. (Yes, amazing trial. I said it.)
1) The first thing I learned is that there are only three things (correct me if I'm wrong) that God will never take away from us. We might take them away ourselves, but God never will. They are
A) The gospel. If you ever feel yourself slipping away from the gospel, correct yourself. God's presence is included in the gospel. He will never leave you.
B) Your happiness. If you ever feel sad - even if the reason for feeling sad is because of a trial that God gave you, it is not God making you sad. You make the choice to allow yourself to become upset. God does not want you to ever be sad.
C) His Promises. If God makes a promise to you specifically, he will not break it. He has made promises to all of his children collectively as well. Study them. He will keep his promises.
2) The second thing that I learned is applying the atonement. You cannot simply state that "I believe in the atonement and I know it is there." You must allow it to work through you; to change you. Because if you do not allow this to happen, you may feel lonely and miserable through your challenges. Which brings me to my next point,
3) We must not only endure our challenges, we must learn to smile through them and learn the things we need to learn from them. God doesn't give us challenges so that we can weep our way through, he gives us them to test us - to see what we're really made of. So hold on to the end, and smile your way even if you feel like you would rather cry! :-)

I love you all and I love this gospel. I know it's true and I know Christ understands us. I can look my challenges in the face and know that I can take anything on because the Lord will not leave me. That doesn't mean it won't be hard, but it will be worth it.
I know these things to be true. I bear this, my testimony in the name of Christ, my Savior, Amen.

Quote

The past is behind; learn from it.
The future is ahead; prepare for it.
The present is here; live in it!

-Thomas S. Monson

The wall!

When I start a conversation with a person I have just meet you always ask the same questions. For example how old are you? And in my case how tall are you? (Because I’m really tall which really seems to be the only thing we end up talking about.) Occasionally we get onto the topic of what religion we belong to. When I answer I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, the wall goes up!
Meaning, if you’re a Mormon then I don’t want to talk to you or be your friend, because you don’t know how to have fun. You’re restricted by all these things your not a loud to do, and there’s not just a little, there’s so many. I can’t be your friend if you’re a Mormon because you couldn’t do the things I want to do.
Whenever this happens it makes me feel very sad for that person, that they don’t want to understand our church and the easiest thing to do is put up the wall and not try and learn. As a church I think we have a lot more fun than a lot of parties this person would have gone to. Just because we have guidelines it doesn’t mean we don’t know how to have fun. A lot of the time its those guidelines that help define us and the things we do. We know when to stop something, or walk away from inappropriate situations, we also know that its good to have fun in a appropriate way. I know I’ve been to parties where I’ve had to leave because of the feeling that was there. I’ve never had that problem when I hang out with good Mormon kids. But this is just my thoughts you can disagree with me if you want to. These are just my thoughts.

The Church and It's Effect On My Life (continued)

Especially For Youth (EFY) is a program put on by the church that is especially for the youth of the church. It is designed to give a spiritual experience to youths who go there as well as a social and physical experience. It takes place at universities and other college campuses around the country. I recently attended EFY at Brigham Young University (BYU) with my older sister. There we had many experiences; spiritual, as well as social and physical. There were many opportunities to socialize. We had groups called “families” in which there were a group of about 15 boys and a group of about 15 girls. We played games with each other, as well as going to dances, and just talking during our free time. Physical activities are important to EFY. There is a day that is set apart to games and physical activities. In these activities, our “family” learns to work together and accomplish tasks. The spiritual aspect of EFY is its main focus. There are personal scripture studies and “family” scripture studies, as well as devotionals, firesides, and testimony bearing times. Speakers and teachers are hired to teach about various subjects. My greatest experience was bearing my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit bore testimony to me that he is a prophet of God. This experience and the classes were experiences that strengthened my testimony.

To be continued...

PRAYER

Prayer
Today I would like to talk about prayer. This year I have come to recognize the importance of prayer in my personal life. I know that if I pray to my Heavenly Father, my Creator, then I will receive an answer to my prayers.
I have had my prayers answered many times. Last year I really wanted to go on a trip with my class but I needed to have $2,500 and I would have to choose between this trip to Washington DC or going to lake powell for a family reunion. I really was not sure what to do so I prayed about it. I felt like I should go to DC. I prayed more asking for help to get the money. After I knew that I was supposed to go to DC even though it seemed impossible, I did all I could and the Lord made up for the rest. I had earned $2,500 within about 9 months. It truly was a miracle. What a testimony builder that experience was for me! I had a great experience and I know that is what the lord wanted me to do!
In the scriptures Daniel was thrown into the lions den and he prayed and knew that the lord would protect him. I also know that if you are ever in need of anything that you can ask our Heavenly Father and if you listen for an answer He will answer you.
Something that has made my prayers more meaningful has been knowing my God. Truly understanding that He is my Father has made all the difference.
I hope that all of you will remember to pray. Test it out. Give it a try. I know that it will change your life if you will let it! I know it has changed mine!

Sacrifice

On Saturday November 8th 2009 I entered a speech contest. I talked about the fact that we need to Learn, Work, and sometimes Fight to maintain our freedom. That night I went to a Benefit Concert put on by my school, American Heritage. It was called the “Price of Freedom”. It was a story of 4 young men and the families they left behind in WWII. The Actors read letters from the young men to their families. If I had gone to that concert before I spoke at the contest my speech would have been drastically different. As they showed clips of what they went through and told stories of what they did, I asked myself could I do what they did? Would I have the courage to ”march toward the grave” as they described it?

With the Gospel of Jesus Christ I Know I can do anything, that the Lord needs me to do. The Gospel is true and I know God lives, and that we can do anything that is his will, even if it seems impossible.


--C-Star