Faith Casts Out Fear

Alexander and The Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

My dear mother read this book to me a lot. I think she was trying to teach me a lesson.
Because I was born a whiner.
And when things don't go my way I think the day should probably just stop and rethink itself.

Pause for a second.

I live with the nicest girl in the universe. For those of you that are not informed in the ways of Mormon Missionary lingo she is my companion, which means that we're together 24/7 to teach and preach and work and she gets to put up with my Alexander attitude all along the way. Somehow this angelic being doesn't even let on if she ever gets frustrated. She's a gigantic example to me of patience, diligence, and charity. My bundle of Christlike love!

So you can hit the play button again and unpause whatever it was we were talking about before.
Oh yeah.
I'm a miserable whiny mopey person some days.
But do you want to know the secret that I'm trying to teach myself? These circumstances of life, things that I don't like, they're never going to go away. I will always be able to find things that make me grumpy and frustrated. The good news, I get to choose how I react. The only person in control of this brain and body is ME!

In an honest to blog moment right now I'm going to share a piece of truth with you. I have to decide all by myself every morning if serving a mission is what a really want to do that day. It doesn't get any easier each time I make the decision. But the days that I make it right at 6:30 am are indefinitely better than the days I wait until 2:30 pm or 7:45 pm.

In my recent obsession with tracking down videos on LDS.org and Mormon.org I found this video and article about a young man who left everything behind to serve a mission. He did it knowing that he may never be able to accomplish some of his dreams. But he served faithfully.

How blessed I am to know of God's promises that He will never command us to do anything that we can't accomplish. And that all of His commandments are to prepare us for blessings.

When I think of the great example of my companion who plugs right away with me at the hardest work we have both ever done I realize that this is so possible. I can do this. I AM doing this! And just like the former Elder Batty in this video my service will be worth every effort because God has promised His wealth of blessings to those who serve.

Darth Vader

Ok, so I've studied this passage of scripture before and it doesn't really apply well to what this sign says. We'll forgive whoever put it up. I just mostly loved how Star Wars was reverberating in my brain the night I saw it!

Here's a better scripture about fathers that I like:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:7-11

Blurry, But True

As little kids in primary we each get a small ring to wear with a green shield emblazoned with the letters CTR. They stand for "Choose The Right".

I just found this webpage that has a list of talks, stories, and activities to teach children the importance of choosing what's right. And remember, we're all children here, just a bit bigger than before!

Find it HERE

Couch Potato

I know that you have nothing better to do today than to kick back and watch youtube videos. So why don't you watch some of my new favorites? They're UPbeat, UPlifting, and they'll make you want to jump UP out of your seat and make changes!

I see a bit of myself in each one of these people. One of the most beautiful things to me of the gospel of Christ is that it brings people together, no matter what our differences may be.

Politics at their Finest

Why would you want anything less than a perfect leader?

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Get Your Cardio In

President Thomas S. Monson

"Life by the yard is hard; by the inch it’s a cinch. Each of us can be true for just one day—and then one more and then one more after that—until we’ve lived a lifetime guided by the Spirit, a lifetime close to the Lord, a lifetime of good deeds and righteousness. The Savior promised, “Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.”

Even The Pharmacist Recommends Him!

Alma 11:45

"I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption."

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