Pray for change or pray for strength?

So lately a realization hit me. Tyler and I have been through a lot since before we got married and are still going through some really hard times. I've always prayed that my problems would go away or change or something would make the problems better or something like that. I was always thinking, "God never answers my prayers!!!" I got mad and blamed God and even started to doubt him and even his existence.

Well, in the last few weeks, or months I guess, actually, I changed my prayers for the most part to include something like this instead: "Please bless me with the strength, faith and encouragement to withstand these hard times"... etc. I don't repeat all my prayers. They're not memorized. I pray with my heart and mean every word I say.

So instead of praying for something to go away or change, I prayed for strength to deal with what I had to go through. Well, I shouldn't have to say this but I will anyway, it worked!
I have been at more peace and a lot happier since I've started praying like this.

I recently lost one of my best friends. I feel completely used by her and taken advantage of. I cried myself to sleep a few nights and couldn't sleep the rest of the time, even woke up super early and couldn't get back to sleep cuz I was just so upset over the entire ordeal.

I was super upset about all of this. So finally I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if he would help me shoulder this heartache. I knew I couldn't change any of it. I did the absolute best thing I could do to rectify and clear things up, but relationships never work if both people aren't willing to give their all to it. So I knew I had to go through this. And also to learn a lesson or two, or twenty, so instead I prayed for strength to go through it. Well, the next morning I woke up happy, refreshed, and not feeling all depressed or feeling any despair! I felt good!

I've found that instead of trying to get God to feel sorry for me and change my circumstances and praying for strength and faith to withstand or remain strong then my prayers are answered!!!
It makes me happy to know God IS THERE!!!!!! He DOES listen!!!!!

He CANNOT take choices away from people. So people will always be bad and mean, people will always be selfish and hurtful, people will always lie and steal, kill and abuse. People will always have their own choices to do whatever the heck they want!! So that will always directly or indirectly affect us.

Our own choices determine to an enormous extent the situations in which we find ourselves on a daily basis and they change the course of our lifetime all the time! So... God CANNOT take these choices away from us or anyone else. But what he CAN do is give us the strength to get through them!

He can "carry our crosses", so to speak, through all the hard times we have.
I mean, that's one of the blessings WE ALL HAVE thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
I love my Heavenly Father.... but I'm sure not even close as much as he loves me!!!!

Genius: His name is Obama (And a WEIRD dream I had about him and Michelle)

With Time magazine comparing Obama to Jesus, I guess we should be relieved that, this week, liberals are only comparing him to Abraham Lincoln.The one thing every liberal on TV seems to know about Lincoln is that he put rivals in his cabinet, as subtly indicated in the title to historian and plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin's book: "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." Like Lincoln, Goodwin is always open to contributions from her rivals, although Lincoln was better at crediting their words.And hasn't Obama talked to former rival Hillary about becoming his secretary of state? Hasn't he had a sit-down with Sen.John McCain? Did I imagine this, or is he even now brokering peace talks between Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck?Ergo: Obama is a genius.Indeed, historians have just named Obama the best president-elect ever.I don't recall the media swooning when President George W. Bush reached out to rivals, such as Sen. Teddy Kennedy, who was asked to co-write Bush's education bill. In fact, the way I remember it, Bush is liberals' most hated president ever (only because they can't remember George Washington or they'd hate him, too).And yet no modern president has ever done more to bridge partisan divides and show respect to his opponents than George W. Bush. I do not say this with admiration; it is simply a fact.Throughout the year and again in his convention speech during the 2000 presidential campaign, Gov. Bush bragged that he had "no stake in the bitter arguments of the last few years. I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect."(As a side note: Bush would never have been elected president if not for the "bitter arguments of the last few years," in which Republicans exposed and impeached Bill Clinton, which then killed Al Gore's presidential ambitions. So you're welcome.)But the point is: Bush was massively chummy with his enemies -- Democrats, communists and the Congressional Black Caucus. So chummy that even they began to wonder if he was a little daft.In his first few weeks in office, Bush met with more than 150 members of Congress, half of them Democrats -- including five events with America's leading liberal menace, Sen. Teddy Kennedy.Bush's very first social event at the White House was movie night with the Kennedy family to watch "Thirteen Days," a falsely heroic portrayal of JFK's disastrous handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This suggests to me that Obama's first social move as president will have to be to invite Lindsey Graham over to a screening of "Larry the Cable Guy Saves Christmas."Naturally, Bush also had primary rival John McCain and his wife, Cindy, over to dinner at the White House.Bush was the first president in memory to attend the congressional retreats of the opposing party. After two weeks in office, a Wall Street Journal column noted that Bush's charm offensive was "disorienting the local Hatfields and McCoys." (Again: You're welcome.)Bush even made a special point to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus upon taking office, which -- given their feelings toward Bush -- would be the equivalent of Obama holding a special meet-and-greet session with the upper management of the Ku Klux Klan.Bush invited the Democratic black mayor of the District of Columbia to the White House, attended a majority black District church service and appointed the first black secretary of state.And that was all before Feb. 1, 2001. (By the end of his presidency, he would have appointed the first two black secretaries of state.)Though it was small potatoes after all that palling around with Teddy Kennedy, this is the same George W. Bush who had Muslim "spiritual leaders" to the White House a week after 9/11.Bush also famously said of then-Russian president, former KGB agent Vladimir Putin, that he looked him in the eye and "was able to get a sense of his soul."(This made Bush's critics almost as apoplectic as if he had said, "I looked into Putin's eyes and, frankly, I just don't trust the guy." No matter what Bush did, liberals were incensed.)As president, Bush scuttled the playing of "Hail to the Chief" in his honor and repeatedly reminded his staff to act humbly.This is as opposed to Obama, who I believe is the first president-elect in history to have his own "Office of the President-elect" seal commissioned.Like I always say, even if you don't like the current president-elect, you should still have some respect for the office of the presidency-elect.

-Ann Coulter

Now for my dream!!!

So the night before last I had the oddest dream. I'll skip all the really weird stuff, but I was in Argentina where I served my LDS mission for about 18 months and I was with a mob of people who were all American's an on foot going to protest some dude's wife who had been cheating on him. Anyway, on the way there we stopped at one of the slummy parks to rest for a bit. It was a park that was loaded with bums and homeless families, major crime and danger, filth and disease and sewage. So, I go to sit down on a curb and I look to my right and see Barack and Michelle standing amongst a HUGE pile of trash! Most of the park was like this, mind you, but this area was especially messy. They were picking up this trash and throwing it into a huge dumpster. There was a big, black cadilac, I think is what it was, parked next to them. And get this, this is the funniest and oddest part, they were dressed like Adam & Eve!! Only they had cardboard covering their private parts instead of leaves. So I walk up to them and tear up and say, "thank you for doing this! I didn't realize you cared about other people so much!" Then I shook Barak's hand. I was really impressed with their charity. Nobody else seemed to be paying them any mind at all. It was like I was the only one that noticed. Anyway, as I walked away thinking about it something hit me. They were helping a 3rd world country, NOT OUR COUNTRY. They were being so nice and charitable FOR SOMEONE ELSE. I was like, WOW.

So that was my dream. You can take from it what you want.

Who, And What, Is God

I've been wanting and thinking and feeling that I should write about God. So I'll do that today, being Sunday, and I feel that it's appropriate for the Sabbath.

The first and most important thing we must come to learn, understand, believe in and accept is the knowledge of God, who he is, how he is, and how that relates to and affects us as individuals and as a whole.

Over time God has had many different names and identities to all people. Everybody sees him in a different light and level of belief.

Where did God come from? When and where did the idea of God first come from anyway?

There are many different books of scripture (Holy Word) that come from "the beginning of time" or the "beginning of all things" or just the "beginning of this world".

History books and stories, legends and ghost stories all take us back to the belief of a God, or gods, and Lucifer, or Satan, the Devil, the Adversary, the Fallen Star, etc.

These are the most ancient and legendary stories of all.

Men throughout time have changed, made up, written, told, believed and dreamed up stories about God and the Adversary.

So which books are true?

Well, that's for you to decide, based on two things: Logic & Feeling.

Now, the most basic and logical beliefs of God, from my personal opinion and based on scripture, are as follows:

God Lives; he is live and living (Gen 1:27; Ex 31:18; Luke 24:39; John 14:9; D&C 130:1; D&C 130:22; Mosiah 7:27).

God is Immortal and does not change (Psa 102:27; Heb 13:8; Moroni 10:7; D&C 20:11-12; D&C 76:4).

God knows all things (Jer 1:5; Acts 2:23; 1 Nephi 9:6; 2 Nephi 2:24; W of M 1:7; Abr 2:8).

God is glorious (Ex 24:7; Num 14:21; Ps 19:1; Isa 40:5; Matt 6:13; Luke 2:9; Luke 9:32; John 1:14; Philip 4:20; Titus 2:13; 2 Nephi 12:19; Mosiah 4:12; D&C 4:5; Moses 1:5).

God is intelligent (Isa 55:8; D&C 88:41; Abr 3:19).

God loves (Deut 7:8; Isa 63:7; Jer 31:3; Mal 1:2; John 3:16; John 13:1; 1 Jn 3:1; 2 Nephi 1:15; Alma 13:29; 4 Nephi 1:15; D&C 95:1; D&C 138:3).

God is merciful (Ex 34:6; Deut 4:31; 2 Sam 24:14; Ps 69:16; Ps 116:5; Isa 49:15; Eph 2:4; Titus 3:5; James 5:11; 2 Nephi 4:26; 2 Nephi 9:8; Alma 9:26; Alma 42:15; Moroni 8:19; D&C 84:102).

God is perfect (Deut 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31; Matt 5:48; Heb 5:9; Heb 6:18; James 1:13).

God is powerful (Gen 17:1; 1 Sam 14:6; Jer 32:17; Jer 51:15; Matt 8:26; Matt 19:26; Matt 28:18; John 10:18; Heb 1:3; 1 Nephi 4:1; Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:35; Hel 12:11; D&C 61:1).

God is wise (Job 36:5; Ps 136:5; 1 Cor 3:19; 2 Nephi 9:8; Jacob 4:10; Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:35; D&C 9:3; D&C 10:43; D&C 76:2).

So we've been taught and shown that God knows all things, comprehends all things, loves, has mercy and justice, is wise intelligent, all-powerful, perfect, immortal and created all things and commands all things.

Pretty much, everything is up to God. Everything depends on GOD. God gives all life, all understanding, all intelligence, all things, and is the only way we can obtain salvation.

God does not make mistakes. God cannot lie (Num 23:19; Titus 1:2; Enos 1:6). God is not a God of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). God would not lead his children away, or tempt them to do that which is wrong and evil. God does not create evil. God does not waver or change, and is the creator of all things good, even all the commandments and the only way to salvation and Eternal life, peace, happiness and joy.

God is our father. We are his children.

If we love God, we will keep ALL his commandments, not just what suits us. We cannot assume that anything God says can be how we want to take it. If God says to do one thing or another or anything it is a commandment, logically speaking.

God also does not force. He has given us "free will", or free agency. He cannot make a good man do that which is bad or good, and cannot make a bad man do that which is bad or good. He cannot stop a murderer from murdering if it has to be stopped by force. God has power over all things BUT OUR WILLS. Our wills are the only thing we have complete control over. It is the ONLY thing we can give God. He cannot take it away. Man may try, the Adversary may try, but God will not try.

This is why bad things happen to good people. God has to allow wicked people to do what they want because he cannot force them otherwise. What they do in this life will be held against them in the next (at Judgement Day). Bad things that people do stand as a witness against them on Judgement Day. And those of us who witness or are victims to another's wicked behavior will stand as witnesses against them as well.

Because God cannot lie he will not teach false doctrine to anyone. He will not tell one man to do one thing and another man to do another. That is contradictory, and that which contradicts is a lying thing by nature.

God knows all things. He has all truth. And only through God can we obtain all truth. God will give it, because he has to in order to save us. AFter all, we cannot be saved in ignorance (Eph 4:18; D&C 131:6), and God knowing this has provided ways and means for us to obtain all that we need in this life to return to Him and live with Him for all Eternity, and with our families. God will not save a man who is willfully ignorant (3 Nephi 6:18). When we know the will and teachings of God and do them not then we are being willfully ignorant, rebelliously ignorant. God will not have mercy on us when we are like this. He would be a liar if he did. He will not save everyone just through his mercies, because there is justice that must be satisfied (Ex 23:7; Prov 17:15; James 2:21). We have to be proven in our works and in our faith, not just our faith in His mercies.

We cannot just live our life in ignorance, willfully disobeying God's commands, and suppose that we will be saved because of our faith in his mercy. That is not how God is or works.

I know what I have shared here to be true. May God's Spirit speak the truth of it to you. I pray you will understand, or want to understand and search these scriptures yourself, pray about it, and believe it.

This is the first and most important thing we all must come to know at some time in our life. And we must live our life in accordance with this knowledge if we wish to be saved in the Kingdom of God forever.

Clean Wash

CLEAN WASH

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside."That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?"
The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

~Author Unknown~

Reminiscing

So tonight I wen to the store to buy my grandmother-in-law's birthday card and while I was there, all alone just like I wanted, I heard this lady loudly speaking in Spanish on her cell phone. At first I just tried to ignore her cuz it seems lots of Latin people do this haha. But as I got into line to wait to buy the card and she came up behind me, still on the phone, I picked up her Spanish accent to be one from Buenos Aires, Argentina.Well, then I rudely listened in on her conversation. Not interested in what she was discussing over the phone, but in her ACCENT!!You see, I served a mission there, in Buenos Aires. One of the very best things I've EVER done in my life. So, I just relished her accent. Purely Buenos Aires!!! They have a very super distinct accent, different than any other place on the earth. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I hate regular ol' Spanish, but Castellano, as it's called, is wonderful, and the Portenos speak it very musically and animated-like. It's so cool!!Actually, while I stood there listening to her I was taken back to my time spent in Argentina. I remember people there and places I'd been to. Then I realized tears had come to my eyes.I miss that place!I miss those people!!!!!Wow my heart just wanted to be back there so much!Hey!! I just remembered that song! "Don't cry for me Argentina" hahahaha. Anyway, I'd do almost anything to go back there and bring at least Tyler, if not my entire little family. It would be awesome to take my parent there, too.I'm so grateful for that opportunity and huge sacrifice I made to go on an LDS mission!!!! I wouldn't trade it for anything, seriously.Since my mission I've dreamt of serving more missions. Weird, eh? I guess I loved it that much. It was VERY hard and I was super happy to be home, but it was the best thing I did and I had lots of success and learned sooooooo much!"Don't cry for me, Argentina" should be "Don't cry for Argentina, Lisa". hahaha

Call to all Christian's to protect & support the Mormon's

What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been

Posted by: John Schroeder at 07:09 am, November 6th 2008 — 13 Comments »

Proposition 8 is now a part of the California constitution!

That is probably the best news from an otherwise difficult election for conservatives and Republicans. In very large part, we Evangelicals must thank our Mormon cousins for that fact. They, along with our Catholic brethren, were better organized than us and that provided a base from which we could ALL work together to get this job done. What more, as we have chronicled here, Mormons took the brunt of the abuse, derision, and even threats of physical harm that came with this effort.

And like us, they have given thanks to the Almighty that is ultimately in control, even if their understanding of that Almighty is a bit diffrent than ours.

I cannot help but wonder how much more thankful we ALL might be today if we had been more willing to embrace these religious cousins a few months ago - but alas, politics is always about governing today and looking forward to the next election.

Said John Mark Reynolds:

In the battle for the family, however, traditional Christians have no better friends than the Mormon faithful. It would be wrong if that support were taken for granted. We are intolerant of the false attacks on Mormon faith and family. We stand with our Mormon friends in their right to express their views on the public square. We celebrate the areas, such as family values, where we agree.

A heart felt thank you may not win points from other friends who demand one hundred percent agreement from their allies, but it is the decent and proper thing to do.

Thank you to our Mormon friends and allies!

Hard to do better than that. The “Ruth Youth” ministry proclaimed yesterday “International Mormon Appreciation Day.” Very appropriate, yet still inadequate.

In addition to our thanks, Mormons deserve our protection. They have been oppressed in ways during the Prop 8 campaign that this nation has not seen since the 1960’s and the civil rights movement. The rhetoric has been deplorable, but moreover. we have seen instances of vandalism, property destruction, and some leaders in the fight currently find themselves with armed protection because of the threats made against them and their families.

Our nation will not and cannot tolerate this sort of behavior - it is incumbent on all of us to stand against it, and the best way to do that is to stand between the Mormons and the forces that would perpetrate such evil.

Now I am sure the Mormons can, and probably want, to take care of themselves, but as a Christian, it is my duty to protect the innocent and free the oppressed. To turn a blind eye in this circumstance is not only ungracious, it is simply unChristian.

Make all the theological distinctions you want, but in the political arena we are yoked with the Mormons (he said borrowing some religious imagery) and it is darn well time we started acting like it.

Absolutely, positively thank the Mormons - but don’t stop there. Stand up and be counted against the evil that has been perpetrated towards them in this campaign.

As Christians we can do no less.

An AMAZING prophetic statement coming true RIGHT NOW!

An amazing prophetic statement that is coming true right now!!

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' "This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. "Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

--- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

This is taken from an AMAZING talk Elder Maxwell gave at BYU in October 1978 that was later reprinted in the Ensign in February 1979. You can find the Ensign article here: http://tinyurl.com/5pekzb

The Bottom Line

With all the controversy going on out there about Proposition 8 and having Obama elected President I just wanted to share my two bits.
I believe in an ultimate truth to all things. I believe in God and that he is all powerful, perfect, all-knowing and loving. I also believe he is merciful as well as a just God. And he does not change.
One thing that most people do not know or understand is God's nature. This is the first thing that everybody needs to learn about and know about and accept.
Once that is figured out and accepted then they can understand how and why God does things the way that he does.
God makes laws and commandments, not suggestions or just ideas. He also grants us free will or agency. But what comes with every decision we are allowed to make is a consequence. Consequences are NATURAL and cannot be shirked.
For example, say the Law of Gravity. That is a natural law and you cannot defy it. Sure you can postpone it, but you cannot ultimately defy gravity. "what goes up must come down" goes the old saying, and it's true. You cannot argue gravity away. It is not discriminating in any way. There are natural consequences that go along with trying to defy gravity and those are very obvious to most.
For another example, there is opposition to all things. Now the Prop8 issue people just don't seem to quite get. God made opposition yet we all fight it and argue with it. Sometimes the same can attract to each other, but NATURALLY opposites attract. Trying to force two positives or two negatives together has it's natural consequences.

The bottom line is this:
With every choice there is a consequence, good or bad. There is opposition in all things, good or bad. And God is the Supreme Being.

Accept it or not, that's your free agency for you, but you cannot forever deny the truth, the law, and the inevitable.

Why I Didn't Vote For Obama

These are the reasons why I didn't vote for Obama and now why I am nervous and afraid for the next four years:
1. The loss of Conservative Talk Radio
2. The loss of more jobs
3. Raising of taxes
4. Raising of gasoline and natural gas prices
5. Loss of Religious Freedoms
6. Guns taken away
7. Illegal Aliens have more free-reign on our money and lifestyles
8. More terrorist attacks
9. Healthcare declining
10. Homeschool being stopped
11. Abortions okayed for every type and every reason
12. Business loss, job loss, income loss, home loss
13. Lots of preaching and hopeful promises and none fulfilled
14. War on terrorists stopped and terrorists gain more power
15. Moral issues not looked at in the correct light and disregarded
16. Our money given out to other countries against our will instead of back into our own country where it should stay
17. The chance of becoming a 3rd world country because of economic reasons and even spiritual reasons
18. A possible civil war
These are all the main issues I have with Obama being our president.
Now what I REALLY am against is how he's voted in the past for abortion. Not only does he support partial-birth abortion, but he supports babies being killed that survive botched abortions. That's just plain evil and disgusting and cold. I am worried about people becoming more and more convinced to be accepting of wicked ideas and ideals and embracing them and forcing the rest of us to live with it. Our country is becoming more and more cold and hard-hearted. We are denying our God who gives us life! We are denying the very fabric from which we came and upon which we stand!
God help us!!!!!!!

So We're Sick and Don't Have Internet

So the girls and I are feeling sick. Sophie threw up like 3 or 4 times last night and Lacie hasn't eaten a crumb all day long today and we all have a fever. I might have pink eye, though I'm not sure yet. I've never had it before so not sure exactly what to look for. My eye's been hurting and really running and gooey-ish. Feels like it's been rubbed with a blanket or something.
Okay we don't have internet. We're using someone's insecure wireless right now and we'll see how long that lasts lol.
So here we are, sitting, not feeling well, bored our of our skulls and Tyler has to go to work tomorrow, bummer.
I am excited for the elections, though! Nervous and very excited. Can't wait to see how things play out on Nov 4th and so on. Pray things go as they're supposed to.