Today was an easy choice

When you have nowhere left to turn.

When life has thrown you so many curve balls you dont actually know which way is up any more.

When you think you should feel like wonder woman but you dont.

When you feel like you have been left out in the cold and things are a little chilly.

There is usually only one set of people you can turn too, that's family.

Julie, Stewart, Beverley, Carole, Daddy, Mummy

We may have had our ups and downs but when that worse thing happened we all ran to the middle, grabbed on tight and didnt let go until we know its okay to do so.

Carole, Barbara, Stewart, Beverley

There is nothing like family, family is forever.

No more strangers ...

'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God' (Ephesians 2:19)

Now we have all experienced that feeling of being new, of being 'the stranger' in what appears to be a well established community. Whether that's a church or a work community, it can feel just the same,like you don't quite belong.

Yesterday evening we met as a group of church sisters to celebrate the 40th birthday of one member of our community. Preparations were carried out in as much secrecy as possible as we congregated at a local restaurant.

There were 18 of us all told. We were noisier then the rest of the restaurant put together as our voices were raised in love and laughter and communion with each other.

In the busy-ness of life it's so easy to forget the need that we have for community. God did not plan for us to be alone but to share each other's burdens one with another. We are told to; '... succor the weak, lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees.' (D&C 81:5). It is our duty to build and to strengthen those who need us.

Jesus' message to His Disciples was to '...love one another; as I have loved you...'(John 13:34)

A simple message which much power if only we extend our hand and our heart to others.

Morning has broken ...

I'm sure that was a song, or a hymn, in fact i know it is.

On the first morning God created the heaven and the earth but it was without void or form and there was no light. The very first thing that God creates is light. A greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night, namely the sun and the moon. And He called it the first day and saw that it was good.

Have you ever had to plan something big? Like a wedding or a party? Can you remember all the prior planning to just make one thing happen as it should and how you would find anyone who knew what they were doing because they had done it before.

After all the planning and preparation, the moment comes and you switch on the light and there before you in perfect array is all you had been planning. And you looked and you said 'it was good.'

What would it have felt like to have been there on that first morning to see that first sunrise and at the end of the first day to see the first sunset? Each day we have the opportunity to experience that feeling, yes it may mean you have to arise early or tear yourself away from the lastest episode of your favourite programme or that really exciting bit of your online game. But then you will be able to experience that first day all over again.

In the mornings i often open the back door of the house to allow the night out and the morning in but my children (who are not little) complain that it's cold but i say it's fresh. Often after dinner has been eaten and the plates have been cleared away i will sit on the back step and feel the last of the sun's rays has it drops behind the neighbouring houses and says goodnight for another day. Again my children will ask me why i sit there and complain it's cold. It's a time of reflection, a time to pause and remember that first day.

Enjoy the first day, every day.

No soul so dark ...

He came to us: He loved us that much; there isn't a soul He's unwilling to touch.

No life so dark He cannot light - No sadness no sorrow - He cannot right.

Come unto Him. Come unto Him; come unto Him -

Come learn of Him, He's meek and humble -

and lowly of heart, come unto Him.

He came to earth, He lived as a man; there's no earthly care He can't understand.

No earthly pain He did not feel; no hunger, no heartache He cannot heal.

Come unto Him. Come unto Him; come unto Him -

Come learn of Him, he's meek and humble -

and lowly of heart; come unto Him.

He lived like us, acquainted with grief, to those who belived He offers relief.

He opens eyes He forgives sin, for the humble, the faithful who will follow Him.

Come unto Him. Come unto Him; come unto Him -

Come learn of Him, He's meek and humble -

and lowly of heart; come unto Him.

http://youtu.be/lqGJxNqX7jY

http://youtu.be/244tU_X2-2o

We are all actors ...?

Day 17

How good an actor are you? To be an actor means that you are not yourself, you are not true, an imitation of someone else.

The word HYPOCRITE means actor.

So maybe the question should be - How good an hypocrite are you?

Jesus warns the scribes and the Pharisees in the temple, to clean the inner vessel.

'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of then may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.' (Matthew 23:25-28)

How many times do we know the law but do not keep it because we fear man more then God? I would say, too many times in a day never mind a week or a life time.

God is telling me to cleanse the inner vessel. I am not a bad person but maybe i am a better actor then i should be!

A life's story

Red for every day, Flowers for the thoughts that keep me awake, and Footprints for my Gifts from God

I started writing a Journal when i was about 13 years old, just a few years ago. Some of them contained, pictures, things i had collected, assorted nic-nac and bibs and bobs but they all contained me.

1 Nephi 19:3

'And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should pocess the land, and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto God.'

Even from the early days we were commanded to keep sacred records. Our dealings with God and with each other. Now i'm no great prophet, celebrity nor am i famous for anything that i am aware of, well, not up to now anyways.

So why do i write?

“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God; and we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know. …” (2 Ne. 25:22–23, 26.)

Theodore M Burton states that 'Your personal history may be one of the most persuasive witnesses of the gospel your family will ever hear.' (1977)

So what do i write? At the beginning of each Journal i write my testimony of the things that i know to be true and i complete each Journal with the sentiments. I write my life, the ups, the downs, the good bits and the bad. I write about my children and my extended family when appropriate. I write about my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the witnesses i recieve through the Holy Ghost of the truth. But just has Nephi stated i dont have the room to write of things of the world for i know that those things will be contained in other records.

Who do i write for? My children's children's children and for all those that follow me after i am gone. I dont expect my Journal's to become the most sort after book but i hope that in the future those that follow me will see that i was normal and that i survived because even though i got mad at God i still put my trust in Him.

Finding God

Day 15

Yesterday i couldn't find God anywhere. I looked in the wardrobe, in the bathroom, in the washer, but He wasn't to be found. I went out into the world my duties to fulfil and still i didnt find Him. My mood was low and i was tired and stressed but still He didn't come. Why oh why, i thought did He leave me on my own.

At the end of the day the Spirit spoke to my heart and said 'Did you stop to pray today?'

'Why should i, you do not answer?' I thought you are not there.

Then the spirit spoke again 'Did you pause this morning and spend time feasting upon my word?'

And there on my bed lay my scriptures, the case unzipped but the pages not turned and i knew i had not put God first today and Satan had got hold my day instead.

Instead of joy, sadness, instead of a lightness, heaviness and all i needed to do was spend a few minutes with God.

I'LL SEEK THE LORD EARLY

I’ll seek the Lord early while in my youth,

And he will help me to know the truth.

I’ll search the scriptures and find him there,

Then go to our Father in fervent prayer.

I’ll seek the Lord early, and I’ll obey

His living prophets in all they say.

I’ll keep his commandments; His love will abound.

I will seek the Lord early and He will be found.

Joanne Doxey

Did i learn my lesson? Yes, maybe, well at least for one day.