Good Night dear friends!
Showing posts with label battles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label battles. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
I am a survivor!
I received in the mail the other day a sweet package from a dear friend. It had a Pink Survivor Tshirt, some pink ribbon appliques and a beautiful survivor's scarf! She walked for me in the race and I was touched. I am grateful to be a Survivor and grateful for each day that I get here on earth with my family and friends. That whole perspective has changed since both of my battles with cancer (or as we like to call it RECNAC , that is Cancer spelled backwards ). It takes a lot of power out of the word and as far as we know, no one has passed away from Recnac yet! It sounds silly, but when my kids were little and they told friends and others that I had cancer, some how they always ended up hearing a cancer horror story...which scared them and me worse. So we decided to say it backwards and we took back a lot of our power from then on.
I remember the years that we did the Susan G. Komen race and how powerful and hopeful it was. So I am grateful for a dear friend who would represent me and her in the race for the cure. Some times I get scared again, thinking about all the what ifs! But, it is more normal for me to be just grateful for each day and I try to live it to the fullest.
Aware of so many others who are in their battles with it right now. My prayers go out to them. Recnac is life changing. Since my recnac, I have tried to make it my goal to love, pray for and support, in any way that I can...anyone who is battling this terrible disease!
Life is truly a blessing and thank you for all those who have supported me and my family throughout the years. We are truly grateful!
Good night dear friends!
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." ~ Albert Camus
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Everyone is fighting their own battles!
I am reading a book called HOWEVER LONG & HARD THE ROAD by Jeffrey R. Holland, it has been an amazing book so far. Last night I was reading in a chapter about how we all have limitations in our lives but it is how we choose to deal with them, that makes us happy or not. He then goes on to explains about a visit that he and his wife had at a prison. He mentions many things but here are just a few that made me stop and think!
One man who had gotten out of prison and came back to visit said this to the group of men he was speaking to. "Guys, the perspective in prison is really bad. Things really look better on the outside. Try to remember that." Then he turned to the outsiders, to the friends and families who had come in, and said, " You people are a light in a dark place. It it were not for love like yours, we would not be able to get from where we are to where we need to be."
At the end of the meeting ( which was a graduation ceremony from a year long Bible Study Course ) an inmate who had been conducting the service concluded with some emotion in his voice and tears in his eyes. " This is the most auspicious occasion of our year, " he said of this graduation service. "It is better than Christmas. It's better than Thanksgiving. It's even better than Mother's Day. It's better because we're enlightened, and that's as close as we come to being free."
What a great reminder to all of us to remember that we can choose to be enlightened or not. We can choose to learn and understand or remain in ignorance. But knowledge is POWER, and that is exactly what this book kept reminding you of. This section made me thankful for my ability to keep trying, to not limit myself, to never give up and to remember that everyone is fighting their own battles each day. I think we would all treat others a bit kinder IF we could remember this!
Good night dear friends!
One man who had gotten out of prison and came back to visit said this to the group of men he was speaking to. "Guys, the perspective in prison is really bad. Things really look better on the outside. Try to remember that." Then he turned to the outsiders, to the friends and families who had come in, and said, " You people are a light in a dark place. It it were not for love like yours, we would not be able to get from where we are to where we need to be."
At the end of the meeting ( which was a graduation ceremony from a year long Bible Study Course ) an inmate who had been conducting the service concluded with some emotion in his voice and tears in his eyes. " This is the most auspicious occasion of our year, " he said of this graduation service. "It is better than Christmas. It's better than Thanksgiving. It's even better than Mother's Day. It's better because we're enlightened, and that's as close as we come to being free."
What a great reminder to all of us to remember that we can choose to be enlightened or not. We can choose to learn and understand or remain in ignorance. But knowledge is POWER, and that is exactly what this book kept reminding you of. This section made me thankful for my ability to keep trying, to not limit myself, to never give up and to remember that everyone is fighting their own battles each day. I think we would all treat others a bit kinder IF we could remember this!
Good night dear friends!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The Power of Kindness
One of the lessons today in church... was about kindness and the power of it. It was an amazing lesson, taught by one of my dear friends, who is an amazing teacher. I just kept taking more and more notes. I think the story about Kindness and Mothers was encouraging and of course I loved all the quotes!
Hope you had a wonderful Sabbath! Good night dear friends!
“BE KIND, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard BATTLE.” Plato
“One who focuses on faults, though they be true, tears down a brother or a sister. The virtues of patience, brotherly kindness, mutual respect, loyalty, and good manners all rest to some degree on the principle that even though something is true, we are not necessarily justified in communicating it to any and all persons at any and all times.” ~ Dallin H. Oaks
“When we are filled with kindness, we are not judgmental. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” He also taught that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
“But,” you ask, “what if people are rude?”
Love them.
“If they are obnoxious?”
Love them.
“But what if they offend? Surely I must do something then?”
Love them.
“Wayward?”
The answer is the same. Be kind. Love them.
“I am not asking that all criticism be silenced. Growth comes of correction. Strength comes of repentance. Wise is the man who can acknowledge mistakes pointed out by others and change his course.
“What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults.” ~ Gordon B. Hinckley
“Kindness has the power to lead people from their mistakes" ~ George Albert Smith
"Jesus, our Savior, was the epitome of kindness and compassion. He healed the sick. He spent much of His time ministering to the one or many. He spoke compassionately to the Samaritan woman who was looked down upon by many. He instructed His disciples to allow the little children to come unto Him. He was kind to all who had sinned, condemning only the sin, not the sinner. He kindly allowed thousands of Nephites to come forward and feel the nail prints in His hands and feet. Yet His greatest act of kindness was found in His atoning sacrifice, thus freeing all from the effects of death, and all from the effects of sin, on conditions of repentance." ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
Story told by George Albert Smith:
"I remember a few years ago I was on a train going north. I saw sitting in the day coach of that train a woman that I had known. … She recognized me as I passed down the aisle of the car. She spoke to me, and I asked: “Where are you going?” She said: “I am going to Portland, [Oregon].” I knew that the family were not well-to-do. I knew that this woman was the mother of a large family of sons, so I said: “What takes you to Portland?” She said: “I have a son there in the hospital.”
I was not aware that any of her children had moved away, so I questioned a little further, and then she opened her heart to me. She said: “My youngest boy, a few weeks ago, left home and did not tell us where he was going. We received no word from him, but he thought he would go out into the world no doubt and see it for himself, and the first intimation that we had of his whereabouts was when a telegram came from the Mercy hospital in Portland, stating that our boy was there sick in that hospital.” She said: “Of course the message shocked us very much. There was only one thing to do, and that was to raise means and go at once to that boy.”
… She was prepared to sit up during that long ride, day and night, not resentful of the unkindness and thoughtlessness of her boy, but only thinking that he was hers, that he belonged to her, that God gave him to her, and that our Heavenly Father expected her to use every possible means to enrich his life and prepare him for the opportunities that awaited him. So through the long hours of the night, as the train rumbled over the rails, this good woman sat there, yearning for her boy, every mile taking her just a little nearer to that lodestone that was tugging at her heart. Finally when she arrived, quickly as she could, she made her way to the hospital. It so transpired that the place where I was to remain was not far from the hospital so I went over there to see what had occurred.
There was that sweet mother sitting by the bedside of her boy who had been seized with a serious attack of pneumonia, and he was lying there in pain. She was not scolding him because he had been unmindful of her; she was not resentful of his thoughtlessness and of his carelessness, she was just thankful to be with her boy that God had given to her. She was now trying to nurse back the child for whom she had entered into partnership with her Heavenly Father, to bring him into this world. He, by the way, was about 16 years of age, but her baby. She was trying to encourage him by telling him the things that would make him happy and contented, holding out to him the opportunities that would be his when he was well. In the place of distress and anguish that filled that room prior to her entrance there, there was a perfect halo of light and of peace and happiness spread over the countenance of that boy as he looked up into the face of her who had offered her life that he might be, and who on this occasion had come that long distance to sit by his side and nurse him back to life."
"I wonder sometimes if these mothers realize how wonderful they are in the eyes of their children in a case like that. That boy had resolved before his mother had been there many minutes that never again would he be recreant to her, never again would he be unmindful of what she had given to him, but determined that the name which had been given to him in honor would be kept by him in honor so long as life should last."
When a child goes astray, why is it sometimes difficult to react the way the mother in the story did?
“May we be models of kindness. May we ever live up to the words of the Savior: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
Hope you had a wonderful Sabbath! Good night dear friends!
“BE KIND, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard BATTLE.” Plato
“One who focuses on faults, though they be true, tears down a brother or a sister. The virtues of patience, brotherly kindness, mutual respect, loyalty, and good manners all rest to some degree on the principle that even though something is true, we are not necessarily justified in communicating it to any and all persons at any and all times.” ~ Dallin H. Oaks
“When we are filled with kindness, we are not judgmental. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” He also taught that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
“But,” you ask, “what if people are rude?”
Love them.
“If they are obnoxious?”
Love them.
“But what if they offend? Surely I must do something then?”
Love them.
“Wayward?”
The answer is the same. Be kind. Love them.
“I am not asking that all criticism be silenced. Growth comes of correction. Strength comes of repentance. Wise is the man who can acknowledge mistakes pointed out by others and change his course.
“What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults.” ~ Gordon B. Hinckley
“Kindness has the power to lead people from their mistakes" ~ George Albert Smith
"Jesus, our Savior, was the epitome of kindness and compassion. He healed the sick. He spent much of His time ministering to the one or many. He spoke compassionately to the Samaritan woman who was looked down upon by many. He instructed His disciples to allow the little children to come unto Him. He was kind to all who had sinned, condemning only the sin, not the sinner. He kindly allowed thousands of Nephites to come forward and feel the nail prints in His hands and feet. Yet His greatest act of kindness was found in His atoning sacrifice, thus freeing all from the effects of death, and all from the effects of sin, on conditions of repentance." ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
Story told by George Albert Smith:
"I remember a few years ago I was on a train going north. I saw sitting in the day coach of that train a woman that I had known. … She recognized me as I passed down the aisle of the car. She spoke to me, and I asked: “Where are you going?” She said: “I am going to Portland, [Oregon].” I knew that the family were not well-to-do. I knew that this woman was the mother of a large family of sons, so I said: “What takes you to Portland?” She said: “I have a son there in the hospital.”
I was not aware that any of her children had moved away, so I questioned a little further, and then she opened her heart to me. She said: “My youngest boy, a few weeks ago, left home and did not tell us where he was going. We received no word from him, but he thought he would go out into the world no doubt and see it for himself, and the first intimation that we had of his whereabouts was when a telegram came from the Mercy hospital in Portland, stating that our boy was there sick in that hospital.” She said: “Of course the message shocked us very much. There was only one thing to do, and that was to raise means and go at once to that boy.”
… She was prepared to sit up during that long ride, day and night, not resentful of the unkindness and thoughtlessness of her boy, but only thinking that he was hers, that he belonged to her, that God gave him to her, and that our Heavenly Father expected her to use every possible means to enrich his life and prepare him for the opportunities that awaited him. So through the long hours of the night, as the train rumbled over the rails, this good woman sat there, yearning for her boy, every mile taking her just a little nearer to that lodestone that was tugging at her heart. Finally when she arrived, quickly as she could, she made her way to the hospital. It so transpired that the place where I was to remain was not far from the hospital so I went over there to see what had occurred.
There was that sweet mother sitting by the bedside of her boy who had been seized with a serious attack of pneumonia, and he was lying there in pain. She was not scolding him because he had been unmindful of her; she was not resentful of his thoughtlessness and of his carelessness, she was just thankful to be with her boy that God had given to her. She was now trying to nurse back the child for whom she had entered into partnership with her Heavenly Father, to bring him into this world. He, by the way, was about 16 years of age, but her baby. She was trying to encourage him by telling him the things that would make him happy and contented, holding out to him the opportunities that would be his when he was well. In the place of distress and anguish that filled that room prior to her entrance there, there was a perfect halo of light and of peace and happiness spread over the countenance of that boy as he looked up into the face of her who had offered her life that he might be, and who on this occasion had come that long distance to sit by his side and nurse him back to life."
"I wonder sometimes if these mothers realize how wonderful they are in the eyes of their children in a case like that. That boy had resolved before his mother had been there many minutes that never again would he be recreant to her, never again would he be unmindful of what she had given to him, but determined that the name which had been given to him in honor would be kept by him in honor so long as life should last."
When a child goes astray, why is it sometimes difficult to react the way the mother in the story did?
“May we be models of kindness. May we ever live up to the words of the Savior: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Old Testament Heroes
I am working on another presentation, this one Jeff and I will be doing together in two weeks for the Youth in our church. We have been preparing the main presentations to be about HEROES. Of course when you say that in the world today, everyone naturally thinks of Batman, Superman, Ironman and on and on.
But I am thinking about more REAL HEROES, ones we know personally or ones that we know from the Scriptures. At church we talked about Gideon. I love the strength and courage that he had. I loved how human he was and some of the things he did, to keep asking God for reassurance. I have done that myself many times, when I thought what lied ahead of me was too big or too hard. His task was not an easy one, but isn't that true for most of us? In Judges chapter 7 we read where the Lord tells Gideon that too many in his army. So Gideon tells them 'Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart...' After that there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. The Lord tells Gideon once again that there are too many, he then told them how to make the judgement of who leaves and who stays. At the end of that test, there was only 300 left that the Lord wanted. The Lord reassures Gideon that with those 300 men, he will save and the deliver the Midianites into his hand. The Lord knew that if there were too many men that they would think it was by their own strength that they won the battle. He wanted to make sure that they knew it was only with his help that they were victorious. Gideon...was a true hero.
How thankful I am for the scriptures which give us a knowledge of the Lord's way. It is not always our way, but definitely the right way!
"I have always found that when we do the little things correctly, the Lord gives us the strength to accomplish big things... You might not always understand the reasons for some rules or commandments, but if you will follow them even in the little things you will have more strength to do big things... And you will have the great blessing of knowing that you are on the Lord's side and that He is on yours." ~ Donald L. Hallstrom
"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."
--Richard G. Scott,
"Nobody ever outgrows scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years." ~ Charles H. Spurgeon
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Is our foundation solid?
Once again we see on the news that another earth quake has hit. We see the devastation that it leaves in the lives of those people. They keep saying that the quake in Chile although bigger than the one in Haiti, yet it didn't do as much damage...Why? Because the buildings in Chile were built on a stronger foundation.
With that in mind, I would like to share a part of a lesson that brought this topic of FOUNDATIONS a bit closer to home for me.
"Many years ago I walked at dawn through the narrow cobblestone streets of Cusco, Peru, high in the Andes Mountains. I saw a man from a local indigenous group walking down one of the streets. He was not a big man physically, but he carried an immense load of firewood in a huge burlap sack on his back. The sack seemed to be as big as he was. The load must have weighed as much as he did. He steadied it with a rope that looped under the bottom of the sack and circled up around his forehead. He gripped the rope tightly on both sides of his head. He kept a rag on his forehead underneath the rope to keep it from cutting into his skin. He leaned forward under his burden and walked with deliberate, difficult steps.
The man was carrying the firewood to the marketplace, where it would be sold. In an average day he might make just two or three round-trips across the town to deliver similarly awkward, heavy loads.
The memory of him bent forward, struggling down the street has become increasingly meaningful for me with the passage of years. How long could he continue to carry such burdens?
Life presses all kinds of burdens on each of us, some light but others relentless and heavy. People struggle every day under burdens that tax their souls. Many of us struggle under such burdens. They can be emotionally or physically ponderous. They can be worrisome, oppressive, and exhausting. And they can continue for years." - L. Whitney Clayton
"Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle"
Many of us have had feelings of overwhelmed, inadequacy and shortcomings. In order to overcome these feelings we need a deep foundation of knowledge and truth. Burdens can weigh us all down and will completely seem to make us crumble and fall unless we have a strong foundation.
In the book of Matthew 6:33 we read... "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. "
"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities. We should put God ahead of everyone else (or anything) in our lives." -Ezra Taft Benson
Why is it that we sometimes forget to check and recheck how our foundation is doing? Life is full, fast and many times overwhelming. May we all take a moment each day to recheck if there are any cracks or weak spots in our foundation. If there are, may we then take the time we need ...to repair and fix them. Our faith needs to be rock solid in order to be ready for whatever life sends our way!
"The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid" ~ Thomas Kempis
"A life without cause is a life without effect." ~Barbarella
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