my return.

It has literally been 4 years since I last made a point of doing anything with this blog. Sadly, it dissipated once I got married. However, lately I've been getting such a burning desire to begin it again. There's something about the way I felt during the time I wrote this blog fairly regularly that I miss and really want in my life again. It's not necessarily that it was a happier time, but it definitely was a time in which I was more grateful in my heart and much more open minded and seeking out of the spirit. 

And so here I am, returning to the blogosphere to hopefully help someone out there in cyberspace feel just a little better about life and give them a greater desire to live and love.

My life has changed drastically in the last 4 years. Since the last time I wrote, I got married, I graduated from BYU, I opened an Etsy business, I started to pursue my dream of photography, I bought a house, got a dog, and most importantly, I had two kids. I am forever striving to do better because after having been going the other direction, I've found that I want no part of it.

My life is full of love. My life is full of laughter. My life is good.

"God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus."
--Max Lucado

The Coat: A Story of Charity

As Christmas approaches, I feel the need to express to each of you the need of charity in all of our lives. I implore you, find someone in need, serve those less fortunate than yourself and remember the reason for the season.

Daily Lives

Maybe it is a good sign then that sometimes we feel like we don't get huge spiritualpromptings. Maybe it is just apart of who we are that we don't recognize
the spirit's voice as something new or different. Just an active part 
of our daily lives and daily choices. Cool.

Life After Death

My cousin died this morning from a drug overdose. She may not have been on the path that will lead us all to happiness, but the people who have been examining what has happened with her don't believe it was intentional. She's the one closest to me in age, and probably the cousin I'm closest to. We may not have been best friends and talk about everything, but I have lots of memories with her. And I'm struggling with the concept that she is gone...
She was only 19.
I've never had anyone even remotely close to me pass on. I'm 20 years old and although I have no living grandparents, I was only 3 by the time they had all passed on. The people who have been such a huge part of my life are still among the living. I used to think, when a friend's parent died when we were 15 or when my friends grandpa died, that I wanted to know what it was like, having someone close to you die so that I could sympathize with them. I wished that I could understand them better so I could comfort them...
Now I wish I never knew.
In all this though, there is one thing I am so grateful for; the knowledge that there is life after death. There is a whole other world or us to go through and live in after we pass on. There are more things for us to learn and there are people waiting for us on the other side. Heaven does exist.
I know so many people who don't believe in a life after this one. I know so many people who believe that we just... disappear. Once we die, we no longer exist. And I feel so bad for those people. Not having the knowledge or understanding that there is more to life than just this world. Those who don't understand that our spirits live on and that one day we will not only be reunited with our bodies through the resurrection, but with our families as well. We were not meant to live through the eternities alone. We were meant to be sealed to one another in God's great family, and to be bound together for forever. Christ died that we might live, not just through this life, but forever.
I will see her again one day. Until then, I will keep looking up, cause I know the Skyy is looking down.

This Life.

"This life isn't about making the most money, being the most attractive, or being the most well liked person. It's about the money you give away to help another, making a girl feel like the prettiest there ever was and always remembering that Jesus Himself was shunned and hated. It's ok if you are too. It means you've lived for something other than yourself."

Unique

"No woman was ever quite like you. The Lord made only one, without carbons. You are not repeated and not repeatable. No one else can do what the Lord sent you to do. The value of what you have to contribute will come through the expression of your own personality, that particular spark of the divine that make you unique, setting you off from every other living creature. The mark you leave on the world, on the hearts and minds of others is as distinct as your thumb print." -Sister Barbara B. Smith

I Choose to Be Pure

One of the greatest videos Mormon Messages has done. Definitely one of the most touching.