Nativity

A reminder of What & Who we should be celebrating 😇

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land...and thus they were driven forth before the wind."

Ether 6:8

This works, especially here in south central Nebraska 😂 (but, seriously, it really does!)

I'm just sayin'

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"How encouraging it is to know, though we are imperfect, if our hearts are turned to God, He will be generous and kind and use us for His purposes."

-- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

So...found this quote on a morning when I didn't feel I had too much to offer anymore...by the end of the day, I had accepted an assignment that will touch up to 150 women in the coming year - He will, can, and does use us; where we are with the talents He has blessed us to develop.

I'm just sayin'

Just a thought

The biggest waste of energy & time...
stressing about what MIGHT happen OR what others MIGHT be thinking or saying....
Sure wish I could remember this fact!!
I'm just sayin'

QUOTE OF THE DAY

One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement…

It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others.

Many a time a word of praise has kept a man on his feet.

William Barclay

I'm just sayin'

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Doctrine can't just influence your thoughts; we have to let it change our very nature."

Stephen W. Owen
YM General President

I'm just sayin'...

BROKEN THINGS PT 4 (Last one, I promise!)

Broken things - broken people - all have one thing in common. We all can rely on, should rely on, and need to rely on The One Who Understands. The One Who Atoned for us all...all of us, our broken bits, our struggles, our realities of mortality...Jesus Christ!

I'M JUST SAYIN'...

BROKEN THINGS PT 3

Here’s the thing about being broken. There’s nothing wrong with it. There are a lot of things in this world that no longer function the way they were intended but still serve a function, some even better than if they worked the way they were designed. That’s important to remember. I admit it, I’m broken (and boy am I broken!), but who isn't? Very few things in this world ever stay "factory fresh" for very long, and that’s not a bad thing.

All these breaks build character, they offer experience, they teach us how to really enjoy the small things. I’d rather have that then a pristine body that still works with all the "factory settings" and hasn’t really truly lived or grown or learned.

So I'm broken, most of us are! Celebrate it, because some breaks, sometimes, bring truth & beauty.

I'M JUST SAYIN'...

BROKEN THINGS PT 2

Not all breaks are physical. Feeling that you’re broken and need fixing is horrible, especially when you know there is no real way of fixing what is broken.

We live in a world where comparing ourselves to others is the easiest it’s ever been. Social media and technology have made it extremely easy to see everyone at their best at any moment of the day. It’s impossible not to make comparisons. It’s not solely about measuring ourselves against others though. There is that feeling of being broken. A feeling that your body and mind just aren’t working the way they should. You feel that even without measuring yourself against others, you feel that when you are alone. You feel that something just isn’t right, something isn’t how it should be. I wish I could say this was only because I compare myself to others. For me, the biggest issue is comparing myself to the person I used to be. The woman who had a career, was a single mom, someone who could drive & loved to do so, someone who served others - within her Church and other places as well, and who, at times, now stumbles just trying to get to the bathroom in time.

Fighting a chronic illness day in and day out is mentally exhausting. It gets old pretty quickly. Trying to live as you once did, trying to live as everyone else around you expects you to, is difficult. Thinking about it is even more difficult. It can be a constant fight to keep your mind straight and happy, a fight you will absolutely lose on many occasions. That mental fight to keep it all together is every bit as exhausting as any other part of the disease. That mental exhaustion takes its toll and amplifies that broken feeling.

I'M JUST SAYIN'...

BROKEN THINGS PT 1

At this point in my life, I’ve been living with a diagnosis of MS (aka the MonSter) for a significantly long time. Throughout the years, I’ve experienced a lot of the common symptoms like pain, numbness, weakness, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and depression.

All of this has made me feel much older than I actually am. But saying I feel old isn’t best way to describe how I often feel. No, there’s another word for it, one that even fit during my early days with the disease. Broken. Well, I kind of am broken, right? It’s pretty easy to see why I feel this way...MS is a disease... DIS EASE or not at ease.

It causes my immune system to attack my own body. That’s not the way the immune system is supposed to function. My body is broken. The break of my immune system has led to and continues to lead to more breaks throughout my nervous system, leading to problem after problem.

These days, it feels like every part of me is broken. Physically, my body just isn’t what it used to be. It’s also not what it’s supposed to be, at least not like others my age who do not deal with disease. My legs, arms, eyes, brain, just about my entire body, feel broken. That’s not all though, all those breaks have led to something else that often, not always, but often feels broken: my spirit.

I'M JUST SAYIN'...