A Few Things...

1) I know, I know, I haven't been very good at blogging lately.  I guess I blog in phases.  BUT!  I really do think it's important.  For Christmas my mom gave me a book of my great great great grandma Hannah's writings and I love reading them.  She has written hundreds of poems and written out her life history.  The things she had to say truly strengthen my testimony and I think it is so special that I have that to read.  So I decided I need to be better at writing down my thoughts, the daily miracles that I witness, and the testimony that I have.
For example, I have been thinking a lot about adversity and how unbelievably grateful I am for the pains that I have experienced in this life.  They have truly helped me grow and gain a testimony of my own.  They have made me depend on the Lord in ways that I can't even fully express.  The other night I was reading in Mosiah, chapter 14 verse 5 and I was struck with a new meaning of "with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).  Not only are we healed by the stripes and burdens he bore for each and every one of us, but we can be healed - if we allow - through the stripes that we experience ourselves.  The burdens we bear, the trials we face, the hardships the Lord sometimes places in our lives...if we recognize the opportunities of growth that come through our faculties, we can truly be healed, strengthened, and prepared by them.  

"With His stripes we are healed" is a powerful phrase to me.  

Not only the lashings He took to have justice in our place,

 but the adversity in our own lives He deems necessary for us to face.  

These trials heal us and they make us strong. 

 These stripes and markings prepare us for our rule through all eternity long.
Sometimes amidst hard things I find myself asking "why?  Why this way?  How?"
It is then that in my mind the Lord seems to simply say, "to heal you.  To heal your soul - to remind you that I am the one who can make you whole."
The Spirit of my questions quickly change and my head slightly bows.
  "What would you have me do Lord?  What is thy plan?"
See, it is in these moments that we are edified and are able to see our Savior for who He truly is -
one who does what we cannot, one who helps us understand.
Hardships help us become more like Him, they help us learn His name.
So to His heart mine is forever sealed, because though they may be heavy,
it is with His stripes we are healed."

2) I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately, and how unbelievably fortunate I have been in that area.  My friends build me up when I have lost bits of who I am.  They lift me, they respect me, they love me.  But like Alma, I can rejoice because, though we have not seen angels, we have been angels for one another.  We have grown in testimony and in the gospel together whether it be for years and years or just months or even the smallest of conversations.  We have shared and experienced the joys that come from following Christ.   This brings me so much happiness.  We are friends in the Lord!  "Friends."  I have always thought the term "friend" was an inadequate term to describe the relationships I had with my non-family family.  However, it was when I was reading this account of Alma (Alma 17), that I remembered that there several times throughout scripture when Christ refers to His followers as His friends.  Because of this, I cannot think of a better way to describe the good people - LDS members, and non-members alike - around me.  They truly are "friends."  If the Lord Himself uses that term, it must be important.  Perhaps the world has deemed it less than what it really is.  I am forever deeply deeply grateful for the connection of souls I have with some of the most amazing people.  You know who you are.  So from the bottom of my over-flowing heart, I do rejoice!  In the humblest, and most honored way, I rejoice.  

3)  When I first realized we were studying the Old Testament this year, I sorta felt like...."oh no.  Isaiah."  Then we had our first lesson this last Sunday.  Ooooh it was beautiful and I was edified.  We just read Moses 1 and those are some for serious amazing and applicable scriptures!  I didn't know it!  He learned who he was - so can we.  He was tempted by Satan - so are we.  Yet he was able to discern the difference between the glory and light of God and Satan - so can we.  However, he even had to be edified and "changed" in order to "see" and know God.  So must we.  How?  Our church meetings, institute, prayer, scripture study, service, family home evening, personal revelation.  It is through these experiences that we can know we are no "son[s] of man," we are children of God!  And because of that, we have the light of Christ in us.  Each of us.  "For his Spirit hath not altogether withdrawn from [us]."  I am completely excited to continue to study the Old Testament and come to know about my Savior and my relationship with Him.  I greet these scriptures as an old friend and am excited to learn!  Here we go!