помню, Vergessen ,记住爱, Ingat, Tandaan, Remember

I'll shortly be posting another guest post, but wanted to share a quick thought that I had.

I like to look at the stats for this blog, even though I don't actively market it more than just putting it on my Facebook page. And over time, I've noticed a steady stream from around the world, most notably Russia. Unfortunately, I don't know any Russian to formally greet these viewers, but it is intriguing to me that something I say here can reach across the world.

So, if I could tell the world to remember one thing, it would be to remember to love and follow God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. That's a very brief summation, and one would need to explain what that sentence means, but another time.Google translate is pretty good, so I hear... So, I want to use it, to translate my message into more languages. Please forgive me for grammar and incorrect usage as I have no way to know if it's right (and if you're reading this in another language, I think Blogger uses Google Translate, so it would be consistently wrong anyway).

помню, чтобы любить и следовать за Богом Отцом и Его Сыном Иисусом Христом.
Vergessen nicht Sie lieben und Gott den Vater und seinen Sohn, Jesus Christus.
记住爱，并按照上帝的父亲和他的儿子，耶稣基督。
Ingat untuk mencintai dan mengikuti Tuhan Bapa dan Anak-Nya, Yesus Kristus.
Tandaan na ibigin at sundin ang Diyos ang Ama at Kanyang Anak, Jesu-Cristo.
N'oubliez pas d'aimer et de suivre Dieu le Père et son Fils, Jésus-Christ.
Pamatovat milovat a následovat Boha Otce a Jeho Syna, Ježíše Krista.
Lembre-se de amar e seguir a Deus, o Pai, e Seu Filho, Jesus Cristo
Recuerde a amar y seguir a Dios el Padre y Su Hijo, Jesucristo

זוכר לאהוב ופעל אלוהים אב ובנו, ישווע המשיח.

Please remember that. We can improve our relationship with Them and in order to find peace and happiness in this life, we must.

I just read that on the popular blogging platform, Word Press, alone there are over 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments each day. That's 20,833 posts each hour. I started feeling like my blog could never make much of a difference. Then I got to thinking about how important it is to lift where you stand, and what that means for me and my blog. I may not speak Russian, German, Chinese, Malay, or even Spanish. I don't have the most well thought out posts, the best arguments, or even original ideas.

Reach out how you can, turn to God and find a way to utilize your talents and the gifts He has blessed you with to help change the world in the way that only you can. Lift where you stand. It does make a difference

Roles

Where I work, we have a consultant come in once a week and basically train us to be better people, not just in work but in life. Each week, at the end of his lectures he has us choose an "action item" that we are supposed to act on during the week, and we report back on our progress at the next meeting. Now, this post is coming a little late, but it was inspired by his lesson two weeks ago, and what happened Monday at my bishop's house for FHE.

Our discussion was on roles, and he had a quote about the roles we choose to accept. True to form, I don't know the exact wording, and couldn't find it online, but it just talked about how we live our lives based on the roles we consciously or unconsciously choose to accept.

So, for my "action item," I chose to make a list of all the roles I am currently accepting, and a list of the roles I want to accept in my life. Now, when I finally got around to making this list on Monday, I wasn't having a good day. Well, good week actually. My friend and I have had a falling out, nothing major or dramatic, just a quiet parting of ways--though we still live in the same apartment, which makes it harder. Anyway, so when I wrote my list, it was rather negative, but if you continue reading, you'll see it worked out alright.

"Current" list:
"Cristina is boring, quiet, lonely, a 'selective' hard worker, daughter, sister, kind hearted, depressive, "exhausting to be around," not 'worth it to be around,' an executive assistant, poor, used-to-be-dancer, a person who lags behind, a person who doesn't have many friends, a complainer, weak.


Cristina wants to be friendly, strong, happy, hard working, a person with vision and purpose, wife, mother, friend of many, faithful, true, forgiving, patient, humble.


So - to get there - Go to ward activities, participate, talk to the quiet ones, smile, forgive quickly, be charitable and compassionate, pray always, have a plan, put one foot in front of the other. I am going to throw away the list of where I am now, and only keep the list of where I want to go, so I can focus on that instead.

Then, even after making this list, I almost didn't go to FHE, even after deciding I needed to focus on being friendly and active. Yet, I did. I made better friends, and I enjoyed myself even after an emotionally draining day. Then, my bishop gave a lesson, and we read many scriptures on faith, and miracles, and strength, and hope for the future. He said after interviewing many of us, talking with us, and seeing our struggles, that was what he wanted the ward to know, is to have faith, to be strong, to remember that God is a God of miracles, that we can succeed, and often, we have more faith than we realize.

This lesson really touched me, and the Spirit testified that I am a person of faith, and that I need not hold onto the things which make me sad. One of those is that I sometimes feel I am not as faithful as I need to be. Yet, I know that I am faithful, that is a role I am choosing to accept in my life. I am choosing to move forward, I am choosing to see the hand of the Lord in my life, for I know He is actively a part of it, and that I can be faithful and strong as I embark on yet another unknown path, I have people along the way who love me, who care, who have been where I am and are willing to help me, I did have to ask for it, I did have to have enough faith to move forward in whatever way I could.

I want you to remember to know that God is good. I want you to remember that you are a person of worth, even at your lowest times, that there is always hope, that you can always move forward, you can always have hope in your heart, and that is because of His Son, even Jesus Christ, who knows the way to true peace and strength, even joy for eternity, and we just have to keep going. Know where you are, but most importantly, have a vision for where you want to go.

Lately, I have really liked the words from a Primary song, "what does He ask? Have faith, have hope, live like His Son: help others on their way." This is my goal, this is the direction I want to go. I am accepting the role as a faithful follower of Christ, one who listens to Him, and finds the strength to help others in the way only I can.

Now, I just need to remember this faster. I know that as I remember this, I have joy, and I have strength to move forward. I am a person of faith, I am a person of hope, and I can live like His Son, even Jesus Christ, by looking beyond myself, and finding the compassion and understanding to help others along the way.

Learn to Live

In the space of an hour, I have truly felt healed. Many may say that that's impossible. But, I testify to all that the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, can cause miracles of healing in our hearts.

I have been struggling for awhile, unhappy with the inability to plan my life, feeling like I was doing everything wrong. But then, I read this talk, and after a lot of prayer, I truly feel peace. 

Yes, I am still mostly in the dark, with no major, lasting specifics to guide my way. Yet, something has changed. I have learned it is so necessary to LIVE. Sometimes, living requires hurt, it requires an almost complete shut-down, while things struggle to make sense; Christ is always there. He will always reach our reaching. This implies that we reach. We try. We live. We find purpose. We find our foundation and are not scared to build upon it. 

His Grace is sufficient to heal any wound. His Grace is sufficient to heal a stubborn heart and give peace to the torn soul.

We can move forward, even in the darkest of surroundings, and still feel His Eternal, Perfect, Healing Peace. Love. Guidance. That is, if we keep asking and trusting His plan, walking in His ways, not after the desires of our own hearts, even when they are not "bad things" He truly has the Best things for us. Through trusting His plan, asking for help each day, we can truly feel peace. We may be weak. We need His grace. It is there. Reach for Him. Ask Him for help. Then, remember to Listen, because He so desperately wants to heal you, turn to Him, tell Him of your struggles, your fears, maybe write a blog post or two ;) 

Know that you are so loved. You can find peace too. You can learn how to live. It takes work, especially when nothing seems to be going right. But I truly know that it will, the pain will cease, and you can find joy when you turn to the Source, even Jesus Christ.