Trash To Master Piece

Usually when you see pictures such as these you think, well that's a bunch of junk! It's just worthless trash! But, is that true? Or is there hidden value in this piles?

How often do you feel like worthless trash? For Americans it must be pretty often. According to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,  over 34,000 people die each year due to suicide. That's about 90 people a day that take there own life. People do such things because they have thoughts like they are worthless, no one loves them, they are gone beyond repair, or there is no other way out. These are all tools that Satan uses to weaken us and try to overcome us. We MUST NOT let Satan win!!! All of those thoughts are lies from Satan, for we are children of God! And Christ has said, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10) Our souls are of great worth, we have been sent here to this earth to do a great work. One of the purposes of the church is to "invite ALL to come unto Christ!" (D&C 20:59) not just a few, not just the ones that are rich, or educated or of high social status, but ALL! God wants all of his children to return to him, we are all worth it to him! We must not let the lies of Satan distract us from our goal to return to our Father in Heaven, we must maintain self-esteem, a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself.

So how do we maintain a healthy self-esteem? Well, President James. E Faust said, "A key to an adequate self-esteem is humility. I do not mean the breast-beating, sackcloth-and-ashes kind of humility. I mean the humility that comes with inner strength and peace. It is the humility that allows us to accept and live with our own warts, without cosmetics to hide them.” Being humble is something that God wants us to be, it is very important in our lives. But being humble does not mean that we are supposed to tear ourselves down. I love what President Uchtdorf says about humility. "Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman." (Pride and the Priesthood.)

So to me being humble is realizing that we are a piece of trash, but have great potential. Meaning that there is not much we can do alone, and that we mess up and make mistakes everyday, but that we are happy with who we are, because we know that God loves us and we are trying! We know that through the atonement of Christ we can be made whole!

Stay tuned for "Look Through Heaven's Eyes," 
for the rest of the story.
Debuting June 2011

Sister's Sunday: The Key to Happiness!

Since this is a blog about dying for Happiness, maybe it would be good to know what the key to happiness is? So what is it? What is the key to happiness in your life?

Well, for me, one of the keys to happiness in my life is... yup you guessed it, my mother!!! My mom brought me into this great earth, and taught me the ways of living in the world today. She taught me how to serve, how to resist temptation, how to repent, how to live the gospel, how to cook, how to handle life, and most of all how to LOVE! My mother is one of the greatest examples of Christ like love. I mean, she has to be, she raised 5 boys for Pete's sake! She is an example of giving that never ceases! My mom was the Relief Society President in our ward for years, she was always busy helping others and never turned anyone away, and yet still had time to love me and be my mother! Then as she served as the seminary teacher, spending countless hours studying and preparing for her lesson, yet still dropping everything to help me with a problem I was having, or something I needed! She was always there to support every step of the way during my life. One thing that I highly respect of my mother, is that no matter how much she cared, and probably often wanted to make my choices for me, she taught me how to make difficult decision and live on my own, by allowing me to try and fail, as I often did! Then, tenderly loving me and guiding me back to where I needed to be! My mom is everything to me and one of the reasons why I am here on my mission! She is a constant strength to me, when something is hard, and I want to quit, I think of my mother, and then gain the courage and strength to continue!

One thing that I often remember doing with my mother is singing with her while she played the piano. I really miss those days! But in memory, I found this video, that I think is great!



Love ya Mom!!!

When Church Hopping Ends!

Here is a snippet of what Sister Bowes wrote for Elder Walker:

"I want tell you how I came from searching for the Truth since I was a teenager. I've been to almost every denomination you can think of. At 14, I knew I was in the wrong church. At 16, when I started driving, I would church hop. Sometimes I would enter a church building and the people were very friendly but that's as far as it went. I also felt like an outsider at some and even though I yearned to be part of their service, it was too clickish and I was ignored.

 

I'd even begged members of these different churches to study with me, but to no avail. I felt like I was traveling in a foreign country where I didn't understand their language. I never would give up though and off I'd go to yet another church.

 

Nothing changed after I was married. We both ended up church hopping. We had children and we drug them with us. That is until one day.

 

We had a yard sale 6 months ago and up rode two little Elder fellers..." Read the rest of her story at eldermcwalker.blogspot.com