Easter Blessings

"There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or I ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first. You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, “No one understands. No one knows.” No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our life. He can reach out, touch, succor—literally run to us—and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying upon only our own power".

Elder David A Bednar

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Five Minute Friday - Glue

So come and write with us. Together. On one word for five minutes. And then link up your post or leave it in the comments. But remember, the one rule here is that you visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their writing.
That’s it. The gift of encouragement – pass it on.
All the back story and details for how to join in are over here.
Today the word is for battered Thursdays and broken Fridays and aching Saturdays.
Today the word is GLUE.
Go:
- See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/#sthash.PJ2qoAMv.dpuf

So come and write with us. Together. On one word for five minutes. And then link up your post or leave it in the comments. But remember, the one rule here is that you visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their writing.
That’s it. The gift of encouragement – pass it on.
All the back story and details for how to join in are over here.
Today the word is for battered Thursdays and broken Fridays and aching Saturdays.
Today the word is GLUE.
Go:
- See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/#sthash.PJ2qoAMv.dpuf

So come and write with us. Together. On one word for five minutes. And then link up your post or leave it in the comments. But remember, the one rule here is that you visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their writing.
That’s it. The gift of encouragement – pass it on.
All the back story and details for how to join in are over here.
Today the word is for battered Thursdays and broken Fridays and aching Saturdays.
Today the word is GLUE.
Go:
- See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/#sthash.PJ2qoAMv.dpuf

So come and write with us. Together. On one word for five minutes. And then link up your post over at Lisa Jo's place or leave it in her comments. But remember, the one rule there is that you visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their writing.

That’s it. The gift of encouragement – pass it on.

Today the word is for battered Thursdays and broken Fridays and aching Saturdays.

Today the word is GLUE.

Go:

My family is my everything.  I have watched them grow and change and become.  They don't always choose the same road that I walk on, but I love them fiercely not matter what.  I never give up hope for them.  I love them in their success and their difficulties.  I love them in spite of themselves.

Families are funny things. They are each different. They can be filled with trials or triumph, sadness or joy, anger or patience. Sometimes they can even have a little (or a lot) of each. But the thing that holds everything together is the love. 

The love of a family is amazing.  A crazy bunch of people all wrapped up in each other. Sometimes they giggle, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they cry. They learn and grow and become. They choose their own paths in life, but the glue of family was built and cemented by love. It brings them back time after time. In the midst of struggles, it brings them home. Home to a crowded house, lots of noise and chaos and messes. Home to barbeques in the back yard, bouncing on the trampoline and crowding around the table for talking and eating. Home where they will always be glued together tightly in love. Home to me.

Our Heavenly Father set the example of how to love unconditionally. He loves us no matter what our sins, no matter how long we have been away, no matter that we do not live the way he wants us too, right this minute. He loves us. If I, a totally imperfect mother can love my children (adult or littles) with every fibre of my being, I can just begin to comprehend how very much He must love each of us. The glue that holds us all together has always been His love.

STOP

Now it is your turn.... what can you write in just five minutes?  Don't forget to join us over at Lisa Jo's.  

I'm Not Fat

 I'm not FAT!
That's just my awesomeness
Swelling up inside of me.

I love these words.  What a wonderful way to look at myself.  My whole life I have struggled with my weight.  I was anorexic in High School and ate once every three days.  I keep my weight right at 100 lbs.  It wasn't hard.  I became so used to it that I never was hungry.  Time passed and I started having children.  My weight went up and down and back and forth.  Sometimes I was thin, and sometimes I wasn't.  I really wanted to stay thin.  It seemed as if my entire family was thin except me.   As I got older, the weight became even harder to keep off.  I weighed well over 200 lbs and let me tell you, I did not feel very awesome.
In all of this, I have had to learn to like myself in spite of my body type.  I have had to learn that my body is a wonderful gift.  It is not always the same shape or size, but it is mine.  I can walk, I can run, I can do things to make others happy.  I can choose to be filled with misery or awesomeness.  It really is up to me.
Today, I have lost over 60 lbs.  I still have 30 more to go to get to my goal, but I am working on it.  One moment, one day, one week and one year at a time.  I have learned that what I weigh isn't near as important as how I see myself.  I have had to learn to look at myself with just a little more forgiveness and understanding.  I have had to learn that the person I want to be is not determined by weight.  Rather, the person that I am is working on those traits and characteristics that make me more like my Heavenly Father.
I am learning how to be awesome.

To My Cousin - You are always loved

I revised this to more fit my cousin's life.  It is similar to one I wrote previously for someone else.   I grew up with Sherri Lou.  I idolized her as a child.  I was there to see her first baby when she was only two weeks old.  I thought she had everything.  It was not until much later in our lives that I realized how much my perceptions were wrong.  I love her family.  They are always in my heart and they are amazing.  We loved you so much Sherri Lou, and I know that we will see you again.

WE LOVED HER 

By Patricia A. Pitterle

Now you come together

All those who loved her best,

To share her stories and her life

Before she is laid to rest.

You mourn her missing presence

Vanished from this earth.

You miss her at your gatherings,

You miss her sense of mirth.

She loved her friends and family,

She held them all quite dear.

She shared her life and stories

With all those who would hear.

Though her body is not with us now,

Her spirit lingers near.

She wants to comfort those she loves

To wipe away their tears.

To let them know that peace is hers.

She is gathered now in love.

She is seeing those who’ve gone before. 

She is welcomed up above.

Though your hearts are sorrowed

And your souls cry out in grief,

Remember, she is not too far

She only rests in sleep.

This life is swift in passing,

You never know the day,

You only have these moments

Of love to show the way.

No one can take your memories

Her love is yours to keep.

You will see her in another place

You once again shall meet.

Families can be forever

You know that this is true

And though your hearts are longing now

This too, you’ll make it through.

This is all part of God’s great plan,

Earth-life is not the end.

She is as close as all your memories,

You will see her once again.

Our Actions Speak Louder

Actions speak louder than words. 

We can apologize over and over,

But if our actions don't change,

The words become meaningless.

One to the things that I try most to teach my children is that sorry, isn't always good enough.  Sometimes, it is too easy to say "I'm sorry".  It comes too quickly to our lips.  It is as if the words can heal all by themselves.  Now, I don't want anyone to think that they should never say "sorry".  The difference is that we need to mean it.  We need it to matter enough that we will do whatever we can to show that it matters.  We have to act upon the "I'm sorry", we can't just let it go.

Words have a lot of power.  However, by themselves, a word is just a word.  It is when they are stung together in a story that lets us know what they really mean.   It is when our actions show our love that our words really start to matter.   

Five Minute Friday - Paint

Oh, I love Friday.  It is the day a whole bunch of friends come together to write, without worrying thats it's just right or not.  We spend a few moments together in a safe place. One prompt, just 5 minutes, a community of nearly 300 writers. All the details are over at Lisa Jo's Place.  Don't forget to go visit her blog and post your link for your very own five minutes.  And don't forget to visit the writer that linked before you.  

And today the writing prompt is PAINT.

Go

When I was young, I did not believe that I could do anything artistic.  I did not know how for one thing, and I did not have the time for another.  It was a dream that I never thought I would see fulfilled.   My Grandmother used to tell me that she did not start painting until she was in her 50's and my time would come as well.  All I needed to do was be patient.
When the time came that she was too ill to paint any longer, she gave me all her painting supplies.  Motivation for me to live my dream sooner rather than later.  I took a few lessons, and started painting on my own.  The picture at the top is one of the ones that I painted and that I love the most. Painting is not easy.  As a matter of fact, it took hours and hours to do.  There are a lot of steps for a painting for me.  First, I have to have an idea of what I want.  Then I take a picture.  Then I sketch the picture on the canvas.  Then I start painting.  The only medium that I have used really well, is oils.  They take months to dry.  I add texture to the painting by painting over any mistakes I might make.  The additional paint give the picture character.  I love the brush strokes that are visible in the oils.
Most of all, I love how painting helps me to feel closer to my Grandmother now that she is gone.  The smells remind me of my visits with her and the painting is soothing to my heart.
Life is not easy either.  We do things step by step.  Sometimes we learn from others, and sometimes we have to figure it out on our own.  Just as I have spent hours pouring over painting books, in life, we pour over the scriptures, trying to find our way back home.
The amazing thing is that God does not give up on us.  No matter how long we take, or how much we doubt.  No matter what we do not know, or what mistakes we might make, He is with us.  He guides our hands and our hearts until we become the masterpiece.  All of our mistakes are covered over in His blood.  He makes us in His grace.  He adds texture to us through our experiences, and through our desire to do better.  He soothes our hearts with His hands.
I love how His handiwork is visible in the canvas of life that I am living.   I am both painted and engraved in the hands of His love.

STOP

Now it is your turn.  What masterpiece can you create in just five minutes?  Don't forget to go over to Lisa Jo's and link up with the rest of us.  

Killing A Dream

It only takes one negative thought 

to kill a dream;

Remember that next time.

We have all had unfulfilled dreams in our lives.  We have all had wounds that refused to heal.  A few years ago, my daughter was in a dance class.  She was not built for dancing, but she loved it.  She really wanted to do it.  Dancing was a sport that she liked to participate in.  She was so excited to go every single week.  Then one week, the girls were in a particularly negative mood and told her that she was too fat to dance.  

That was the end of her dream.  Nothing I said could change her mind.  As far as she was concerned, if her "friends" told her that she was too fat to dance, than she was just too fat.  She refused to sign up for dance ever again.  She refused to go.  She refused to even try.

It has been a long road for us with her damaged self esteem.  She has tried other sports now, mind you, she doesn't like those ones either, but she tries.  She has lost a lot of weight and can pretty much do anything she wants to these days, but in her eyes, she still sees the child that is "too fat to dance".

I think that we can so easily be guilty of killing someones dreams.  Whether it is in a name we call them, or just our unbelief, we can take away their enthusiasm for that dream.  We can change them inside into someone else that we never wanted them to be.  

We can take someone who has just not grown into her body yet and make her someone who will not dance.  Someone who stands on the scale several times a day.  Someone who worries constantly about what she eats and how much she eats and how healthy it is.  

We can take away a smile and a dream.  Such a lot of power to wound is in our hands.  Please, please, please, don't let it be in our hearts.  

The Best People

Don't let the worst people get the best of you.

Save it for the best people instead.  

 I have learned that it is so easy to react to people.  They behave badly, and then so do I.  If I don't behave badly to them, it is easy to come home and take it out on others.  It is hard to leave work, well, at work.  I have wondered why it is so easy to give others my best.  To treat customers with respect and gratitude, to treat others in church with kindness, to act happy even when I am not.  But it is so much harder to treat my own family with my very best.  

It is easy to snap at them and expect them to forgive me.  It is easy to snarl when I want to cry.  It is hard to give them the best that I give to others.  So, this week, I am working on giving my best to those who love me most.  I am trying to be kind even if my day has been hard and I am tired and crabby.  I am going to choose to save my best for those I love.  Because, after all, they are the ones who deserve it.  

I can find so many examples of kindness and love in the Scriptures.  One of my favorites is Ruth, who left all she knew to go with her mother-in-law to a strange land.  I love that she told Naomi, 

And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Ruth 1:16

I love the language of love that Ruth spoke.  I want to remember this in my day to day life.  Ruth lost her husband and everything she knew, yet she went with a cheerful heart and learned a new way of life.  Maybe, part of being my best self is to have a cheerful and loving heart. 
 

I am a Writer

 

"What doesn't kill us, 

gives us something new to write about."  

Julie Wright

Today, I am joining Lisa Jo over at her blog to write for my own five minutes.  We call this "Five Minute Friday".  The rules are simple

• Write for five minutes without worrying where it is just right or not
• Link up over at Lisa Jo's Place
• Leave a comment for at least one of the others who posted before you. 

Short sweet and simple.  So, join us today for your own version of the prompt......

WRITER

START

I started writing so many years ago, poems about hurt and heartache, about laughter and sadness,about sunshine and rain.  I kept writing  through the years of hopes and dreams and trials.  I put my heart and soul and testimony into my words.  I found God in the struggle to write.  I found the gift of putting dreams into thoughts and into words.  And in those words I often found my heart turning toward Him.
Sometimes, I would write a lot.  The words poured out of my soul faster than I could write them down.  It became a nearly aching need of healing to write everything as I struggled and learned and grew.  I found comfort in the pages of my journal each night.  The words in ink pouring onto the pages as memories.  Messages to generations further down the line.  My fingers aching with the writing, all in my own hand, sometimes many pages at a time. 
Today, the computer beckons me each day, and calls my name with guilt or love, or shame or acceptance.  It all depends on how much I ignore my dream and desire to write.  Sometimes, I need to wait to speak those words.  I have to heal in other ways.  But then, I return to my computer and write my heart upon the pages of my blog.  Here I have found a place to write my words.  A place to share my heart, my soul, my love and my dreams.  Here I become a writer.

STOP

Now it is your turn.  What can you write in your own five minutes?  Don't forget to join the rest of us over at Lisa Jo's.

Your Testmony

 
Your most powerful testimony

Is how you treat others

After the church service is over.

This week the girls had young women.  We watched the women's broadcast for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I had already watched the broadcast live with my girls this past weekend.  My girls were not happy to dress in church clothes again and go to the church to watch a broadcast that they had already seen.  

Miracle was the only one that dressed and got ready with no complaint.  The other two made sure that I knew they were not happy.  We got to the church and we were the only ones that were there.  We waited a while for others to show up.  Then we had to call someone to set up the broadcast for us because no one did that.  Finally, we were all ready to go.  

Because we did not have a lot of time, we had to fast forward through some of the broadcast.  I loved hearing my girls say, "stop here, this is my favorite part!" they had many, many favorite parts.  Of course, we ended up watching most of it and it was full of "favorite" parts.  

Listening to the direction given to women and young women of the church was uplifting and thought provoking.  Listening to speakers who wanted the women to accept each other, be kind to each other, welcome each other and be part of each others lives across the generations was even more welcoming to my heart. 
I try to teach kindness.  I really do.  I try to teach inside voices, and tone of voice as well.  I try to teach my children to not judge others, no matter what it looks like.  We have had several instances in our small town where people judge others and spread rumors about them.  These people are supposedly good church-going Christians.  I want my children to learn that they can depend on each other and also those around them.   

Our testimonies don't stop just because church ends.  If they are true testimonies, they continue on long after the service is over.  The best way that we show our love to our Savior is by the way we treat each other.  It is the kindness and compassion that we show to those who are different that we are.  It is the kind of Christian we are when we are no longer at church (or maybe even when we are).  

Our testimonies should bear witness no matter where we are or who we are with.    Our testimonies should reflect, not only our beliefs, but our willingness to live those beliefs.  They should reflect who we really are.  Daughters of a Heavenly King who loves us and we love Him.  

Your Opinions

You can have your own opinions,
but you can't have your own facts.

This is my super cute grand-daughter who definitely has her very own opinions about nearly everything.  Any you know what?  That is perfectly okay with me.  I love her opinions.  I love listening to her ideas and her crazy fun.  

We all have opinions about nearly everything we do in life.  I have an acquaintance that not only has opinions, but she is always right too.  It is really hard to talk to someone like that because they start to believe that their opinions ARE the facts.  The reality is, that person has to be always right.  No matter how much they hurt or offend others.  

I have learned that I don't always have to be right.  It is nice to be right once in a while, but it is not necessary.  What is necessary is for us to learn and grow and accept the opinions of others.  We don't have to agree with everything, we just have to care about the relationship enough to acknowledge their opinions.  

True facts don't change.  They are the same yesterday, today and forever.  They are the things that give us hope and faith and keep us moving in the right direction.  Facts are things that come after much searching.  Sometimes, they elude us for most of our lives.  They are there, but they are not open to our view yet.  As time goes on, and we learn, we discover the mysteries that have been hidden from our view.