Individual Worth

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 For this post, I would first like to direct you to a post titled "Beauty Is" by Jenny Phillips, by Sarah at The Sprinkles on my Ice Cream :) she does a wonderful job discussing New Years resolutions and beauty and how they relate to our infinite worth.

And then, because it's cheating to use someone else's post as my "post for the day," I shall add some stuffs of my own :) 

The topic of Individual Worth is very important to me. I've seen some of my best friends struggle with knowing their worth (and I have struggled, as well). They worry that they're not "good enough" because of their looks, weight, test scores, social skills, family problems, religious views, political opinions, et cetera and so on forever. 

I would like to draw your attention to the most awesometastic scripture I have ever read on this topic. Well, the two most awesometastic scriptures I've read on this topic (if you know of more, feel free to point them out!!! I would love to read them!!!)

D&C 18:10

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God

Matthew 10:29-31

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

So imagine this. Let's pretend there's this thing called the Earthy Awesomeness Scale. We'll call it a scale from 1 to 10. And everyone else seems to rate somewhere between a 8 and a 10, while you usually rate yourself lower than 5 (unless you're exceedingly self-confident, which is AWESOME in moderation). I know I would rate myself waaay less than 5, especially knowing what kind of people rate a 10. 

But guess what. 

Heavenly Father never ever ever ever looks at the Earthly Awesomeness Scale. 

In fact, to Him it doesn't exist. It's a concept made up by humans, and in the eternal scheme of things it doesn't matter. At all. 

See, Heavenly Father has this thing called the Worth of Souls scale. And on a scale of 1 to 10, every single person ever rates a 20. I promise, you really do have great worth. [The 20 was originally a typo and then I realized that 20 was way more realistic than 10, so I left it :) ]

So remember all that stuff I mentioned that people worry about? Their looks, weight, test scores, social skills, family problems, religious views, political opinions, et cetera and so on forever? It doesn't factor into Heavenly Father's Worth of Souls scale. He loves and cares for you regardless. He loves you more than you could ever imagine. 

I promise. 

<3 Marie-Rose

Divine Nature

I'm going to tie this post into another post I've been considering writing. It has to do with the song, What Heaven Sees in You. I'll come back to that.

The Personal Progress booklet (or at least the online version) says in the Divine Nature section:

"Be partakers of the divine nature. … Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (2 Peter 1:4–7).

I have inherited divine qualities, which I will strive to develop."

The YW theme begins with this statement:

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him."

Which means Jesus Christ is our Brother :) (see this post)

And to come back to the song:

"Do you understand who you are? / part of the Father lives in you!"

-What Heaven Sees in You

The color for Divine Nature is blue, and according to this article, represents "the big blue sky, and all that is divine." Reminds me of "it is better to look up" :) 

(I just realized that I didn't talk about faith's color, white. Oh well, maybe another post. Or maybe I'll go in and update it.)

Think of that! We are all Heavenly Father's children! And guess what, ladies? That makes us princesses :D

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The following was published in the Aug 2005 issue of Friend, a church magazine:

"I've always wanted to be a princess. Recently, as I was looking at a photo of me standing by the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, I suddenly realized that I have always been a princess. As a daughter of Heavenly Father, I am a daughter in His kingdom. I am grateful for that."

-Kim P, age 9, Idaho

(I took out her last name and some location information cuz even though it was published in a magazine and online, this is the big bad internet and I don't feel comfortable putting other people's information out there)

Kay, so we've established our Divine Nature. Now what? 

2 Peter 1:5-7

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Well, now you're supposed to develop those divine qualities, like faith and virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and charity. Why?

2 Peter 1:8

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cuz we're promised blessings if we do :) 

<3 Marie-Rose

Faith

I'm gonna try doing a series. A series on the YW values. Which means I shall start with faith.

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My faith is very important to me.

Several years ago, before I even started looking into the Church, I put God on the same level as Santa Claus. Well, almost the same level. I KNEW Santa was fictitious, but I couldn't figure out if God was "just a myth," too. My parents told me He was real, but they said the same thing about Santa. My Faith Formation teachers told me He was real, too. I wondered if they were in league with my parents. I mean, flash forward to the present, I as a cashier help parents establish and maintain the Santa Claus myth when necessary. It's quite entertaining :)

God felt different from Santa, though. There's a whole book, the Bible! So either some mastermind was lying to the entire world, or...

I prayed sometimes. I remember praying a lot for my grandma, who A Strange Christmas references. Yes, the one who had surgery Christmas Day. I prayed that she would be healthy and live for a very long time (I was maybe 10 years old, maybe younger). But I didn't know what else to pray for, or if it did any good.

Then I met these people. These Mormons. And they really KNEW that God was not like Santa. God was real. And I could even talk about Him with them! Especially with Katie. And seeing the effect He had on their lives was amazing.

And you can go read this post for my conversion story :)

Now, I have faith. I have a testimony. I KNOW Heavenly Father is there. I KNOW He loves us. I KNOW that His timing is so much more awesometastic than ours. I KNOW He has an amazingful plan for every one of us, and that plan is absolutely perfect. I KNOW that we must have faith in these things and endure to the end.

I have this ring. It's not a CTR ring. It says "Faith" on the outside. Inside, it says "Live by faith, not by sight." If I didn't have two CTR rings that I wear every day, I would wear my Faith ring all the time. And I did, before I got my CTR rings.

This isn't my ring, but it looks almost exactly the same :)

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Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Alma 32:21
"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

Alma 32 is that chapter about planting a seed. Remember that one? I remember reading it for the first time. It really struck me. You gotta exercise faith by planting the seed. You gotta nourish it. And it will grow. And the fact that it grows increases your faith. So it grows more. And so on :)

You have to take action and have faith in order to get that "warm fuzzy" feeling (or however you personally feel the Spirit) that confirms to you the truth of the gospel.

I read a blog post about this recently, and I apologize for not being able to point you to the specific post. It was another convert's blog, and she talked about how she "tried" to live the Church standards when the missionaries were teaching her. But she wasn't sincere. So she didn't get that confirmation of the truth. But eventually, she changed her mindset. She was still going through the same motions, but sincerely this time. And then came the confirmation :)

Heavenly Father can't give you that confirmation until you have faith.

Oh yeah, faith, that was my topic. I may have strayed from that a little.

Live by faith, not by sight. Hope always and pray constantly. You are in the world, but should not be of the world. You lived with Heavenly Father before you were born on Earth. What you see here on Earth isn't all there is. What you see people doing here isn't always good. Have faith that Heavenly Father is there, rooting for you, and you CAN endure to the end.

<3 Marie-Rose

Guest Post by Katie: Swapping Trust

Hey guys! We're gonna try something new today :) my bestest friend Katie is gonna write a guest post! Unfortunately she doesn't have a blog I can point you to, but maybe we can get her hooked on blogging after doing this once or twice, yes? :)

<3 Marie-Rose

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Hey everyone, Katie here! I've known for about a week now that Marie-Rose wants me to post on her blog, but I haven't been able to think of something that feels right to talk about. Then this morning it hit me: Trust.

Long story short, I've been treated pretty badly by a few people in the last few years, and I've realized that I still have to trust; trust that God will help me, trust myself and what I stand for, and trust that people are good and kind and want to help. I know you guys know what I'm talking about; you've all been in that place. But sometimes we all need a reminder.

When we go through hard times it's easy to think that we deserve it, that we have to fix it, and that we shouldn't trust the same way again. But if we let ourselves think this way, we are being cheated. No one deserves to be treated badly, it's that simple. But we are all cheated, mistreated, and feel defeated at times. This is where we need to remember that at some point we have mistreated someone else. And we still view ourselves for the most part in a positive way, right? We tell ourselves that it was wrong and that we won't treat someone the same way again. So why wouldn't we trust that others think the same way? Though they mistreated us, it's likely they didn't intend to, it just happened that way. They probably think the same way we do and if we trust ourselves to treat others kindly, why wouldn't we trust others to treat us kindly? And if we trust that other people are good, we have to believe that we ourselves are good. We do good things, believe in good things, and are trying to do what we think is right just like everyone else. And though we hurt people sometimes, we are still good. And sometimes we don't have to fix the problem that was made, and we never have to fix it on our own. Sometimes you need to just leave things as they are and it's not your deal to fix. Sometimes it's the other person's job to do the fixing. And sometimes it's for the best. And if you do need to fix it, you always have God to help. Trust in God is essential to enduring life. Not just getting through, but enduring. God always wants to help us, even if we haven't talked to Him for a while or if we have done something horrible; and sometimes He helps us by making us do things on our own. He always helps. So it's important to trust Him and that He is leading you in a better way than you could yourself. This is something I have learned over and over again lately.

Let's take a moment to think more. I mean, we trusted that His son would come down to save us, didn't we? That that was the great part of His plan that would lead us home? If we trusted in Him and His son before this life, why not trust Him now?

Back to me to show you how this trust thing works. After my period of not trusting anyone like I had, I prayed and God led me down a path of showing major trust in someone. I took a leap of faith knowing that God would not lead me astray from His path. And so far, it has been a big comfort. I am happier than I have been in a while. I know that God always helps me, I know that trusting people brings us happiness and comfort that we are not alone, and I know that God trusts me; He trusts me to follow His will and help others follow His will as well. Trust is a two way street, and when followed, it leads to salvation. We weren't meant to walk alone, so we use trust to endure life together. We swap trust.

Your Friendly Shorty,

Katie :D

A Strange Christmas

So on Sunday, Dec 22, my family got together and kinda celebrated Christmas. No gifts that day, but some of my aunts and uncles (being in the medical field) had to work on Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. 

On Monday, my immediate family took my grandma out to lunch. Then we took her back to her assisted living place and talked for a bit. 

Sometime Monday night, my grandma fell. She broke her pelvis and her arm, and already had a broken rib from something else. She was confused and disoriented (probably from the pain). 

They operated on her arm Christmas morning. 

Christmas Eve night, we were all on pins and needles, worrying. My aunts and uncles (being in the medical field) kept talking about it and most of it went over my head. But I did understand that we should maybe probably have a document of her final wishes on hand and she could have trouble coming off "the vent" (machine that breathes for you). 

Needless to say, I was beyond worried. 

So what did I do? I texted some of my Mormon friends and asked them to pray for her. Their quick response and willingness to pray, not just for her but for our entire family, was amazing. 

The surgery went well, she's doing fine, and she's sleeping off the meds :) 

But what I wanna talk about is the power of prayer. My grandma is almost 90 years old. Yesterday could have been rocky. But many people prayed for her. A lot. It could be just a coinkydink. Maybe she would have been fine even if we didn't pray. I have no way of knowing. But if all my medical family members were that worried, then there was a legitimate reason to worry. 

It makes me feel so comforted and loved to know that so many people prayed for my grandma. It calmed me down considerably. 

I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say here. Mostly, I just wanna say that prayer is awesome. "Hope Always and Pray Constantly." And all those prayers Christmas Eve and Christmas morning... 'Twas powerful. 

<3 Marie-Rose

BYU

So my first choice for what college I wanna go to is BYU. I figure, being a new convert and leaving home for the first time, it'd be easier for me to be surrounded by other members. It'd be more natural to stick to my standards, and it'd be much easier to find an awesome guy :)

But guess what.

As mentioned in this post, I can't go to BYU :( it's crazy far away from where I live. My mom doesn't want me to be that far away. And the major I originally wanted to go for (fashion design, yeah!) doesn't exist at BYU. RAWR.

So I shall be going someplace else. It has Institute, but the program is super small (yes, I look into all this stuff waaay ahead of time!). Plus out of state tuition is nasty. *sigh*

But ya know what I figure? There's gotta be a reason BYU isn't gonna work out. There's gotta be something at the college I plan on going to that I need to do/see/experience.

So the plan is to trust in Heavenly Father's timing and His plan because it's much more awesometastic than mine could ever be :)

<3 Marie-Rose

PS sorry this is so short compared to my usual posts. Wifi has not been my friend the past couple days, so I haven't been online to post. I've got wifi for the moment, but not for very long, so I had to make it quick in order to get the post up.

SMILE!

This is a happy post. This is an "I hope you're happy" post. This is an "I want you to be happy" post.

I've had days and weeks and occasionally months where happy is the last thing I want to be. I know how that goes. And honestly, I have no foolproof way to turn that frown upside down. I've frequently wondered if there's some works-every-time path-to-happiness out there. Guess what! There's not. 

But Marie-Rose! That sounds super depressing! I thought this post was gonna make me smile, like the title says! 

Well. First I'm gonna tell the story behind SMILE. It's in all caps, in case you hadn't noticed. 

BatMoose, one of my bestest friends, has had a rough few months. One day a long time ago, we were texting and she had to leave for work. She didn't wanna go, cuz her job is super boring. So I told her to SMILE! :D mostly cuz it's good customer service to smile. But also cuz I wanted (and still want) her to be happy. And since then, it's been our thing. 

Unfortunately, we've barely been able to talk to each other in a long time. Long story short, her parents won't let her talk to me cuz I'm Mormon. 

So how does this turn into a happy post? Because I want YOU to be happy. Because Heavenly Father wants you to be happy. Because, as BatMoose once told me, remember 2 Corinthians 4:

"Mortal trials are nothing as contrasted with eternal glory...we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not destroyed."

Because "men are that they might have joy" (someone please tell me what scripture that is because I don't know and I really should!). (Update: thank you to WhitneySue for finding it! 2 Nephi 2:25)

Because "every storm runs / runs outta rain / just like every dark night / turns into day / every heartache / will fade away / just like every storm runs / runs outta rain" :) (Gary Allan, "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)")

Because I promise things will look better eventually. Because D&C 121:7-9

"7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."

I love when the scriptures speak of peace. Feeling peace is how I know the BOM is true. Life is hectic. Even just the idea of peace brings me comfort. I may have said this before, but I was once told that peace is the only emotion that Satan can't duplicate. 

So SMILE :D happy is good. Be happy, and you're good :)

<3 Marie-Rose

PS I drew that smiley face in my scripture journal. Partially because I didn't want to have to cite an image source (it's super difficult to do from my iPod), but mostly because I wanted to draw a smiley face just for my awesome followers :) 

Eternal Awesomeness

I know I've done a post like this before. But I'm just so excited, guys. This is some exciting stuff. 

Six. Months. From. Today. 

Oookkaaayyy, but Marie-Rose, what's so special about June 14?? 

I wanna be baptized that day, that's what's special about it!! 

SIX MONTHS!!!!! That's so very crazy close!! And super exciting! 

It doesn't feel real yet. It probably won't feel real for a very long time. Sometimes I feel like I'm waiting for a possibility rather than a certainty. Like an "I might be able to get baptized" rather than an "I WILL GET BAPTIZED." I still WANT to either way. But oftentimes I'm scared that something will prevent it. Which is totally irrational, cuz I will be 18 and I can't think of anything that could stop it. But ya know how, whenever you want something SOOO much, it seems like it always falls through? I'm terrified of that. 

Because I want to be baptized more than I've ever wanted anything. 

Earthly desires are one thing. But baptism is important. It means something eternally. And I want that eternal awesomeness. I want the Holy Ghost to be with me, I want to be worthy to have Him with me, and I want to be baptized. 

<3 Marie-Rose

Ps I saw Batmoose today and it MADE MY DAY. I hope you still read this, Batmoose :) <3 I got you a Christmas present. Hopefully I see you on Thursday. I love you! 

Christmas Devotional

I had no idea there even was a Christmas devotional. But then my awesome neighbor told me about it while I was practicing my speech at her house! (it was my entertainment speech, topic: my conversion story. I wasn't gonna practice that at home cuz I was terrified that my sisters would walk in on me!)

Anywho! So I got to watch the Christmas devotional. On my iPod. And I had a headache. And I was supposed to be doing calc hw (which, I should probably be doing that instead of writing a blog post...).

I'm very glad I got to watch :) I really liked Sister Rosemary M. Wixom's talk, What Happened Next?

She reminded me that the Christmas season is important, but "what happens next" is important, too. Jesus Christ died for us. Each of us. I've heard it said that, if it was just YOU, only one person, who would be saved, He still would have done the same.

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I like this quote that she mentions:
“We solemnly testify that [our Savior’s] life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world.”
(“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” Ensign, Apr. 2000, 2–3.)

So even though I've been crazy busy, and I've barely had time to do my calc hw and my French hw and study for gov and take my car in to get the leaky tire fixed and work and on and on and on.... I need to remember Christ. All the time.

One thing I really want to get better at is feeling comfortable praying. I've had a few days where I talk to Him most of the day and it feels totally natural. Like, if your best friend was with you the entire day and you spent the whole day talking while you do whatever it is you had to do that day. So kinda like texting, I guess :) except with Heavenly Father! So not quite like texting, cuz my phone doesn't buzz and I don't get responses in word form. But I can feel that He's there and listening.

Anywho. That's only happened a few times. I want to be able to do that every day. That's my goal. Because shouldn't we always aim to be closer to Him? Especially during Christmas, but it needs to be our goal every day of the year.

<3 Marie-Rose

PS- I had no idea where that post was going until I finished it.

PPS- Dear Blogger spellcheck, "texting" is so a word. I promise. Update your dictionary already!

Be grateful!!!

I just watched this video for extra credit for speech. I thought you guys might enjoy it.

 Sorry this post isn't longer, but I have a lot of homework... 

<3 Marie-Rose

Fog

I used to like fog. I thought it was pretty. I still think it's kinda pretty.

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But now I have to drive in it.

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Driving in fog is not fun. It's not as bad as driving in the snow (in my opinion), but it's really hard to see much of anything. Joy.

How many speakers have used fog as an analogy for clouded spiritual sight? Not being able to focus on Jesus Christ because there's just so much stuff in the way? I'm thinking of one talk in particular, namely Now Is the Time to Arise and Shine! by Elaine S. Dalton. She describes a young woman, Florence Chadwick, who's a talented swimmer. In attempting to swim a great distance, Florence gave up because she could not see the shoreline, because of the fog (PS she was within a mile of the coastline but she couldn't see it and didn't know how close she was).

I don't swim. But some days, I drive past the Stake Center. On a sunny day, I can see the tall spire thingy from far away, long before I can see the building itself. But on a cloudy day, the white spire is difficult to see because of the grayish white clouds behind it. Now, on a foggy day.... yeah, I can't see it at all. It's sad. But when I get closer, almost right next to the building, I can see the spire IF I remember to look up! (Which reminds me of another talk, by Carl B. Cook- It Is Better to Look Up)

Life is foggy. Foggy distractions are a side effect of living on Earth. There's not really a way to completely avoid them. BUT! It's easier to see through the fog if you keep close to Heavenly Father. Like when I drive past the Stake Center on a foggy day- it's easier to see the inspiring spire if I'm right next to the building. But I also need to look up, towards Him, always.

Well, obviously I can't literally look up all the time. Just when I'm right next to the Stake Center and I want the reassurance of seeing that spire. But I can spiritually look up all the time. At least, I can try to :) No one's perfect, it's hard to center your mind around spiritual thoughts 24/7. But we can try :)

<3 Marie-Rose

Self Improvement

I need to work on being more outgoing.

I'm usually really shy. I don't go up to people and start conversations. I don't go out of my way to make friends in my classes (I'm not at the same school I was at last year, so I don't know a lot of my classmates). The only time I consider myself to be even slightly outgoing is at work, cuz being a cashier, I kind of have to be comfortable talking to people.

Well guess what. When I go to college, I'll need to be able to talk to people so I can make new friends. I will hardly know anyone when I get there (if I went to BYU, I would know people, but I won't be going to BYU and that's a story for another post).

Guess what else. You can't have missionary moments if you never talk to anyone.

So I need to work on being more outgoing. My speech class is really helping with that. Very few people in the class are quiet. It's like they took all the loud, talkative, friendly people and put them all in the same class. Which makes class really entertaining :) it's actually my favorite class. And being required to get up and talk in front of these people... it forces me to be less shy. I get to know my classmates and we're all super supportive of one another. Plus I can talk to them about my religion :)

*seemingly random change of subject*

The other day, my family went to go get a Christmas tree. After much wandering, we had chosen one and were dragging it back to the barn where the people running the tree farm would shake it out and put netting around it so we could easily get it home. We passed a young family, also dragging a tree. They had only one child, less than four years old, and the parents were having difficulties carrying everything. The tree farm provides everyone with a saw and a measuring stick (so you know if your tree will fit in your living room), and the couple couldn't carry the saw, the stick, and the tree all at once. Plus the little girl was too young to help.

So I walked up and asked if they needed me to carry anything. It's something I would normally only do at work.  I kinda surprised myself. They were super grateful and asked if  I could carry their saw and measuring stick. But that's not the point of me telling this story. The point of telling the story is to prove to myself that I can talk to random people in public. (PS we had been planning on getting our tree a different day and then plans changed, so maybe Heavenly Father had a hand in helping this couple out? It could have been a prompting that caused me to walk over to them...)

Cuz, after all, if you can't talk to people, how can you spread the gospel?

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<3 Marie-Rose

Growth

Yes, another "thoughts from mass" post :)

Advent starts today. That's like the four Sundays leading up to Christmas or something like that. I like Advent. Have you ever seen those wreaths with three purple candles and one pink one? Those are for Advent. They count down the weeks till Christmas. The priest gets to wear purple robes for mass! We're all pretty sick of the green ones by now. Green robes are for "ordinary time," when nothing special is happening. It lasts forever. 

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Anywho. Growth. That's what today's homily was about. A homily is like when the priest gives a talk, after he reads part of one of the gospels. 

All of us are always growing. Not physically, but spiritually. And sometimes (usually), growth is slow and painful. But we need to keep growing. That's what He sent us here to do! 

Some scriptures about growing:

D&C 50:40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.

Alma 32, about planting the seed of faith and allowing it to grow by nourishing it, and then you can see that it is good. 

Matthew 13

31 Another parable put he forth unto tvhem, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

D&C 82:14 For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments.

Quotes from various talks:

"Developing spirituality and attuning ourselves to the highest influences of godliness is not an easy matter. It takes time and frequently involves a struggle. It will not happen by chance, but is accomplished only through deliberate effort and by calling upon God and keeping his commandments........The place to begin is here. The time to start is now. The length of our stride need be but one step at a time. God, who has, 'designed our happiness,' will lead us along even as little children, and we will by that process approach perfection."

-Howard W Hunter, April 1979

"An infant's body is tiny, and its spiritual capacities are undeveloped. While the body may reach the peak of its maturation in a few years, the development of the spirit may never reach the limit of its capacity, because there is no end to progression."

-Russell M Nelson, October 1997

"Growing up spiritually requires faith, great diligence, and patience.......Growing up spiritually requires us to see beyond our own desires and to enlarge our way of seeing things. We not only have to let go of our selfishness but sometimes let go of things we want very badly to come to understand our Heavenly Father's point of view."

-Janette C Hales, April 1994

We are always growing. I think that's awesome. There is no "point of perfection" that one can reach and suddenly know all there is to know and no longer need to grow spiritually. Nope, there's always something else beyond where we are. And sometimes that's a discouraging thought. But since there isn't an Earthly destination, we can enjoy the journey that much more :) we just need to grow and endure! 

<3 Marie-Rose