Reflections: Determination
This is the last time that I will be posting specifically for my class. My project is ending, but don't expect the posts to end. I actually thoroughly enjoy writing on this blog. I know it has helped me in many ways over the last couple of years.
The focus of my project, if you don't remember, is virtue.
I wanted to work on virtue this semester.
If I am going to be completely honest, this semester proved to be challenging as far as virtue goes. Being engaged is an interesting time of life. It has probably been one of the best/worst times ever. Of course, the prospect of getting married is amazing. Since being a small child I have looked forward to be a wife and mother and being on the verge of starting that time of my life is so exciting!
Reflecting on this semester and the challenges it has presented I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. The Lord has been extremely merciful and protected me from many temptations. As I have focused on reading conference talks and what it means to be a daughter of God I have felt God's love and have felt the power that comes from being virtuous. I was not always good at this this semester. It was a fight and a struggle. The Lord knows and sees our hearts and understands our circumstances and is merciful.
Because of this mercy I have wondered what I could possibly do for someone who has given me everything?
After reading a talk in the Marriage and Family Student Manual I knew what I could do. This talk is entitled The Joy of Womanhood by Sister Margaret D. Nadauld. The specific quote that helped me to know what to do is quite familiar and one that I love. She says,
Many times I get discouraged and feel that I have made too many mistakes. I have messed up too many times, but then the God reminds me that he sent his Son and that through him I can do all things.
The other day I was walking to school and I felt young. I felt young in the Gospel and in my personal journey through womanhood. For a split second I felt scared, but then I felt excited. There is so much more to learn about Godhood. Today, in my marriage and family class my professor talked about Heavenly Mother. He repeated his statement that women are not a twisted version of Heavenly Father, but that we are actually daughters of an all powerful and perfect mother in heaven. What a beautiful truth. That we actually have a perfected mother who loves us just as much as Heavenly Father and is involved in our lives just as much as Heavenly Father, but that she is sacred and we reverence her.
Another great truth that I have gained over the course of this semester is the need for a man and woman to work together to perfect one another and to become as our Heavenly parents are. Sometimes my heart aches with the gratitude I feel to my Father in Heaven who has trusted me with a man's heart. My fiance is a good man who strives to be a faithful, righteous, priesthood holder. He is patient with me and listens selflessly to me in all my moods. He sees good things in me and inspires me to be better. His example is a constant reminder of who I want to be and who I was meant to become. From the time that I started dating him 4 years ago I have felt that I could become the woman I was supposed to be with him by my side. I can't wait to start our lives together, for our lives to be fortified by all the experiences and emotions that come.
So as this semester ends and life moves forward I will take these experiences and the knowledge I have gained and try to become a woman of God. Separate from the world.
The focus of my project, if you don't remember, is virtue.
I wanted to work on virtue this semester.
If I am going to be completely honest, this semester proved to be challenging as far as virtue goes. Being engaged is an interesting time of life. It has probably been one of the best/worst times ever. Of course, the prospect of getting married is amazing. Since being a small child I have looked forward to be a wife and mother and being on the verge of starting that time of my life is so exciting!
Reflecting on this semester and the challenges it has presented I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. The Lord has been extremely merciful and protected me from many temptations. As I have focused on reading conference talks and what it means to be a daughter of God I have felt God's love and have felt the power that comes from being virtuous. I was not always good at this this semester. It was a fight and a struggle. The Lord knows and sees our hearts and understands our circumstances and is merciful.
Because of this mercy I have wondered what I could possibly do for someone who has given me everything?
After reading a talk in the Marriage and Family Student Manual I knew what I could do. This talk is entitled The Joy of Womanhood by Sister Margaret D. Nadauld. The specific quote that helped me to know what to do is quite familiar and one that I love. She says,
"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."I can be a woman of faith. I want to be a women of faith. I want to be different than the world. I want to be tender, kind, refined, good, virtuous, and pure. Oh how I yearn for these things! I can do these things for a merciful and loving God.
Many times I get discouraged and feel that I have made too many mistakes. I have messed up too many times, but then the God reminds me that he sent his Son and that through him I can do all things.
The other day I was walking to school and I felt young. I felt young in the Gospel and in my personal journey through womanhood. For a split second I felt scared, but then I felt excited. There is so much more to learn about Godhood. Today, in my marriage and family class my professor talked about Heavenly Mother. He repeated his statement that women are not a twisted version of Heavenly Father, but that we are actually daughters of an all powerful and perfect mother in heaven. What a beautiful truth. That we actually have a perfected mother who loves us just as much as Heavenly Father and is involved in our lives just as much as Heavenly Father, but that she is sacred and we reverence her.
Another great truth that I have gained over the course of this semester is the need for a man and woman to work together to perfect one another and to become as our Heavenly parents are. Sometimes my heart aches with the gratitude I feel to my Father in Heaven who has trusted me with a man's heart. My fiance is a good man who strives to be a faithful, righteous, priesthood holder. He is patient with me and listens selflessly to me in all my moods. He sees good things in me and inspires me to be better. His example is a constant reminder of who I want to be and who I was meant to become. From the time that I started dating him 4 years ago I have felt that I could become the woman I was supposed to be with him by my side. I can't wait to start our lives together, for our lives to be fortified by all the experiences and emotions that come.
So as this semester ends and life moves forward I will take these experiences and the knowledge I have gained and try to become a woman of God. Separate from the world.
(Just for the benefit of myself here is a picture of my cute fiance.)
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