watermelon in winter

Sometimes I feel like I understand the Lord's plan for me.  Or that I have a pretty good idea of what my life holds in the future.  Then what I think is rattled, and new ideas and opportunities come up, changing the course of the rest of my life.  Sometimes it's mind-boggling, not knowing how from one minute to the next, things could change.  But it is exciting!  I am in a very exciting time of my life right now, making HUGE decisions, and am in the process of figuring out when I can graduate...hopefully December 2013.  This will determine a few different things.  My summer plans depend on this, as do other things.  And life is so wonderful!  This last week and a half has been so full of new things! Like the announcement made at conference that young men can go on missions at 18 years old, and young women at 19.  This is HUGE.  This is AWESOME.  This is going to make SUCH a HUGE difference in the missionary force worldwide, a...

Have you ever thought about how important a baby's first step is?  Without that first step, would he ever learn to walk? To run? To skip?  To jump?  To conquer life's challenges? Without our apparently "small" decisions, would we ever progress in life, take risks, go on to greater things, fulfill our potential? To both of these things, I hold the answer that NO, we would not accomplish very much without those first baby steps.  They may be small, we may  need to hold on to the furniture for support and balance, but soon enough we are walking, making bigger decisions, life-altering changes in life. I got to thinking about this because I need to take a baby step right now...and also, at institute on Thursday,  we talked a lot about the eternal perspective.  One of the questions asked was how can we get an eternal perspective in life?  We talked about several things we can do for that, but one I thought about was that each time we make a decision,...

Actually, I've realized that I don't need a door to close for another to open.  In my last post, I talked about uncertainties.  I got home from the mission uncertain of EVERYTHING in my life..I didn't even know if I would be coming back to BYU this semester or not.  And in the short time that has lapsed since that unforgettable day of September 15 2011, I've seen the Lord opening so many doors to me.  Possibilities are coming out of the woodwork, and the Lord is helping me really do what I want to do with my life....I don't have a full vision of exactly what that is, but each day, a new door opens and I get a new possibility!!!! Today, for example, several BIG doors opened to me...life-altering doors.  I've got some big decisions to make here and a short time to make them....I have a ton of "what if" moments, doubts, questions, concerns, everything you can imagine.  But in order to make these decisions, I need to pray to the Lord, trusting 100% in Hi...

I feel like I've been saying this phrase a lot lately....or at least thinking it to myself.  Just about daily, as a matter of fact!  I guess this is great....even with the overload of homework I've already got, job rejections, and a lot of uncertainty about what my future holds, I still love my life a little more each day.  I can't help but think about how good the Lord has been to me, even more than I feel like I deserve! Today I was sitting in the temple and just thinking...thinking about life, thinking about what's going on in mine right now, thinking about how happy I am.  I was so happy in the mission; I've heard it called the happiest time of life (up til marriage).  Yes, I was incredibly happy....in a whole new way, a kind of happiness I had never before nor ever since experienced.  And yet, the way life is going right now, I am also incredibly happy.  I am so blessed to be studying at a fantastic university, and to have people willing to help...