The Fight for What I Want

"A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her."  ~David Brinkley

"Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right."  ~Henry Ford

 


" You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them."  ~Michael Jordan


I'm the type of person that tries to fix and do everything at once - sometimes, it's a good thing. Other times - not so much. I have so much in my life that I'm trying to figure out right now - School, career, family, guitar, piano, weight loss, other interests, and especially personal weaknesses - it's a lot to keep control of and to work on changing all at once!

I sat down on my back porch the other night. I had my guitar in my hand and I just sat on my back steps. It was absolutely frigid, but I didn't really feel it. I'd just kind of had a rough spot occur and I was feeling kind of down. I looked at the stars, though, and I was amazed about how bright they were. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the moon shined more brightly then I'd seen in a long time. I messed around on my guitar a little bit, then set it down and looked at the stars some more. There's something about star-gazing that puts you at peace. I'm still not sure what it is - but I had plenty of time to rest and ponder on what it was exactly that I was doing with my life. I don't really have any metaphors that go with star-gazing - I did have something important, though. I had some revelation there that was priceless beyond belief.

I learned that Satan is going to do anything to get us down and to stop us from achieving our true potential. He wants us to fail - and he's going to do anything to make it so that we do. He'll have us believe that our beloved ones have abandoned us. He'll have us believe that we cannot do what we dream. He'll have us believe that God has forsaken us. None of this is true. None.

Instead, we must fight for what we have. I realized star-gazing that the last couple of months, I had kind of fallen out of what I learned as a missionary. In the field, I would do anything to get people to accept the truths of the Gospel! So what was I afraid of doing now? I was afraid, for some reason, of doing what I needed to do. I needed to establish what I wanted, and I needed to work at accomplishing it. So I set some goals for myself - something I should have done when I first got home. Goals are what make me. Goals are what I will achieve. Goals will make me what I want to become.

And I'll climb to the top of this mountain I am on.

And it will have been worth every moment of the climb.

"If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory." - Anonymous

You Matter to Him

One of my favorite talks in the October 2011 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. In a talk entitled "You Matter to Him.", he said:

"Moses, one of the greatest prophets the world has ever known, was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and spent the first 40 years of his life in the royal halls of Egypt. He knew firsthand the glory and grandeur of that ancient kingdom. Years later, on the top of a distant mountain, far removed from the splendor and magnificence of mighty Egypt, Moses stood in the presence of God and spoke to Him face to face as a man speaks with his friend. During the course of that visitation, God showed Moses the workmanship of His hands, granting him a glimpse of His work and glory. When the vision ended, Moses fell to the earth for the space of many hours. When his strength finally returned, he realized something that, in all his years in Pharaoh’s court, had never occurred to him before.

“I know,” he said, “that man is nothing.”

Ponder that for a moment. We are nothing. Tiny specs on an unlimited amount of space. I was thinking about this the other day while I was trying to catch a fruit-fly in my kitchen. I thought to myself "How is it that the Lord can know what the heck is going on with this fruit-fly?" It was so small and insignificant. Just like we are. I thought myself that that must be how we are to God - just little small specks floating in the wind.

President Uchtdorf continued:

"The Lord doesn’t care at all if we spend our days working in marble halls or stable stalls. He knows where we are, no matter how humble our circumstances. He will use—in His own way and for His holy purposes—those who incline their hearts to Him."

One of the things I have had an increased knowledge of since being home is how much I need the Lord to know me, and even more so how much I need to know that He knows me. He is so concerned with how I live my life and what I do. It's the same with all of His children. 

Since being home, I have come to know fully the lies of Satan. "God doesn't know you. God doesn't care. You shouldn't pray. You did your time. Just move on and forget about Him. He's done with you now that you've finished what He required." Sometimes, these lies seem to surround me, just as he tries to surround everyone of God's children.

However, I know that the Lord is so concerned with us. He cares about what matters to us, and what troubles we're going through. He cares like our best friend cares. He truly is our Father. Even when it seems like those who we trust and care about most seem to abandon us (one of the devil's tricks is to make us think everyone is out to betray and forget about us), He is the best friend we can depend on. He will never abandon us. He will never say "You don't matter." Because you DO matter. You matter to Him!

So if you have rough times in the weeks ahead, which you probably will, just remember that there is someone you can turn to in those times of need. He cares. You MATTER to Him.

It's a Glass Half-Full Kind of Year...

Sometimes things just seem backwards and confusing. Like this photo, instance. This was taken by a good friend of mine, a couple of days before I left Tennessee, on his iPad. Using just a simple program, we were able to turn everything inside out and come up with this complete craziness of a picture! It's not a normal picture, yet we though it looked cool because instead of looking at it as "Hey, this picture is messed up!", we chose to look at it as "Wow, look at all the cool things this picture shows."

I've been thinking a lot about a glass of water. There are 2 different ways to look at a glass of water - it's either half-full, or half-empty. In all honesty, it's the same. What makes it different is our attitude. To a person who chooses to look at the positives, that glass of water is half-full. Better to have a half-full glass then nothing at all, right? To the person who wants to bask in the drama and bitterness that could be construed in life, the glass is half-empty. Which person is getting hurt more? The one who isn't focusing on the blessings already given.

Since being back, I've come up against many trials and setbacks that have been, admittedly, frustrating. However, I find that I have learned SO MANY LESSONS because of these trials and struggles! There are many blessings I have been given. Sometimes, the Adversary tries to make things seem so unseemingly impossible, so messed up in my mind, that it seems like life is going crazy. However, I just make a conscious decision every day that it's going to be a glass-half-full day. No matter what. As I do this, I know the Lord is blessing me, and I know that I'm making a positive influence on myself and those around me. That makes life GREAT!

What can you do to make your day/month/ LIFE a glass-half-full kind of life?