C.F.M Nugget of the week - D&C 2 + JSH 1:27-65

 This week, the verse that really stood out to me was Joseph Smith History 1:29, ". . . after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one."

I love that! Joseph knew that he could receive a divine manifestation from the Lord because he had done it before. Joseph knew the Lord answers prayers and he forgives sin. He knew that God knew him, and had to power to bring peace to young Joseph's soul. 

It reminds me of a scripture in 1st Nephi 11:1, ". . . after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart, I was caught away in the spirit of the Lord. . . "

There is that faith again! This week, I learned that it is critical, for my spiritual growth, to have frequent experiences with the Holy Ghost. I also know that my children need to be feeling the spirit in their lives. As we do, our testimonies will increase and our faith will grow. Instead of feelings of worry and pleading that God will hear and answer our prayers. We will feel confident knowing that he does answer prayers, in his time, and in his way. Why? Because He has done it before and He will do it again. Why do we pay our tithing, even if it is incredibly difficult? Because we know blessings will flow. How? Because they always do when we act in faith. 

I am grateful for this reminder as I studied come follow me this week.

artwork by Erin

C.F.M Nugget of the week - JSH 1:1-26

Our first winter, living in Utah, was extremely difficult. Aaron and I had spent our first five years of marriage living on military bases, and enjoying the routine living in the military brings. Now, Aaron was (is) self employed, and we were not prepared for how up and down life would be financially. It seemed like we were either feasting or in a total famine. During our first winter in Utah, we were in a “famine.” The worst part was we really couldn’t see an end. 

One day, while we were driving in the car, Aaron got a text message (I was driving) about a team member who was doing really well; in fact, she had just got another sale. In that moment, the weight of carrying months worth of worry, stress, and loneliness came crashing down on me. With hopelessness, I bowed my head and silently said, “Heavenly Father, I don’t  think I can take this much longer.” This was an honest, genuine, heartfelt plea from a daughter to her Heavenly Father. I truly felt like I was at a breaking point with this trial. Immediately came the reply, “Hold on a little longer you are almost done.”  

Elder Robert D. Hales said, “The purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences. How do we do this? The scriptures give us an answer in one phrase: we ‘wait on the Lord.’” (October 2011)

When young Joseph went to pray in the sacred grove he said, “I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which utterly overcame me. . . . Thick darkness gathered around me. . . . at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction. . .  - just at that moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light. . . “ (J.S.H v.15-16)  We ‘wait on the Lord.’”

Now, Joseph Smith jr, knew these two things (as well as many others:) 1. What Satan’s power (influence) feels like and 2. What the light of the Savior feels like.

While thinking about this I was reminded about the story in Moses 1, “And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses. . . And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name. . .  and, behold, thou art my son.” Moses now knew what it felt like to be in the presence of the Savior. He was a son of God. The scriptures go on to say, “Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee? (Moses 1: 2-4, 12-13)

Both Moses and Joseph knew the good and the bad, the light and the darkness.  So, going back to Joseph Smith History, when the preacher would try to plant seeds of doubt in Joseph’s mind by saying it was of the devil. Joseph would be confident in saying, “I had seen a vision: I knew it, and I knew God knew it, and I could not deny it” (JSH 1:25.) Joseph knew it was a vision from God because he also knew what Satan’s darkness felt like. He knew what it meant (and would have many more opportunities) to ‘wait on the Lord.’ 

We may not have experiences as powerful as Moses and Joseph Smith Jr did, but we can know for ourselves how the light of Christ feels. While it may feel like the darkness is overpowering us, we can know that the light of Christ can and will defeat it. 

Elder Hales said, “Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His son. He already knows, and we have the opportunity to learn, that no matter how difficult our circumstances, “all these things shall [be for our] experience, and . . . .[our] good.”

I loved this week's reading and I hope you did too!

Now I am signing off from my screens until Monday

Have a great Sabbath day!!

Goals!

2020 was such a bizarre year, so I completely understand if you want to ease into 2021 and not set any new year resolutions.                                                                      

 You do you! 

I, however, was so excited to get 2021 going!

 This is how I set up my goals. 

I like to divide my goals into categories. The first category is long term goals. These are goals that are going to take 3+ years to complete. You could also substitute the word goal for dreams. These are my dreams that I pray, one day, come true. I have learnt that dreams are not to be put on a shelf, we can be actively working towards them. I also love to include these goals on my paper to keep a long term perspective. They remind me what I am working towards. It may take some sacrifice today in order to achieve my goals (dreams) later.

The next category is bigger goals. These are goals I want to accomplish, ideally, within the year, but may take two. There are big enough to reach but not too big that I am left feeling overwhelmed.

An important category is my smaller goals. These are usually weekly goals, but can also be monthly or even quarterly goals. They play on repeat and are never "finished."

My last category is daily goals. These goals are what set up a successful day, week, month, and life. They are goals that are needed in my everyday life, so I can enjoy all areas of my life. These goals are well balanced and too much time in one area leads to a neglect of the others.

Here is my paper all filled out!

and a blank page for you!

to print, simply right click, save as and print

 

2021 Word of the Year

 My word for 2020 was joy. Yep, I picked joy. I wanted to experience more of it in my life, and you know what, I did. 2020 was difficult for everyone. I don't know of anyone who wasn't in someway effected by this past year; however, it also gave me an opportunity to better see where the joy in my life comes from. Stripping away what I call "fluff," I was able to see that as long as I had my faith and my family then nothing else really mattered. Of course, I love our home, my minivan, and all the luxuries living in 2021 provides, but at my core lies those two things. My faith and my family. That is where true joy lies.

Towards the end of 2020, my oldest was given an assignment to turn a pumpkin into a character from a book. She was going to present her pumpkin and her book report to her class on Halloween. The class theme for Halloween was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She could be any character from that book. My very creative 9 year old decided she wanted to be the golden ticket. Working together we came up with this :

I have always loved being creative, but somewhere along the way, I lost my love for it. Maybe it is because creating things like scrapbook pages (does anyone do those anymore,) making wreaths for your door, or costumes for your kids all required two things I didn't have - time and money. 

Working on this project with my daughter filled me with immense joy. I loved working with my hands to create something that brought excitement and happiness to my 9 year old. She didn't care that it was a little (or a lot) rough around the edges and seeing her joy sparked within me a desire to create more.

Hence why my word for the year is

My scripture for the year is

My quote for the year is

I am not just talking about creating physical things (although I do want to do more of that as well.) I am also talking about creating a feeling of faith and fun within my home. Creating menu plans, blog posts, cute hairstyles for my girls, a fitness plan, traditions, memories and so much more. Each of us, everyday, has the opportunity to create. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf also said, "Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment."

I love what Neil A Maxwell said in a New Era article in August 1982, "And all others who feel creative stirrings within themselves should begin the journey of a lifetime in partnership with God, who significantly has accepted as one of His designations the title of “Creator.”

This year, I am excited to stretch my creativity and rely on the holy ghost to expand my capacity to create.

here is a picture of my daughter with her pumpkin

C.F.M Nugget of the Week - D&C Section 1

each week, I would like to share one little nugget from the come follow me reading. 

This past week I had two verses that really stood out to me. I  found myself coming back to them again and again. I talked about them with my husband and in prayer with my Heavenly Father. I spent some time pondering the message they were trying to share and what I could personally learn from them. 

The verses are 15-16 

My Book of Mormon study heavily focused on the covenant path and how I can remain firmly on it. Here in verse fifteen it talks about people straying from the Lord's ordinances and covenants. When I looked up the definition for the word strayed it said, "move away aimlessly from a group or from the right course or place." To me, that doesn't sound like something that was done intentionally (or at least not at first.) And the word aimlessly would imply that we stray without a having a defining "purpose or direction." One day, while I was thinking about this verse, I envisioned myself walking on a path. This path wasn't straight but it was well marked. Then I pulled out my phone. Looking down at my phone, I didn't realize that I was straying from the path. When I finally did look up, I realized that I couldn't see the path anymore. What went wrong? How could I have so quickly and easily moved away from the path without even realizing? 

I think verse sixteen has an interesting insight and warning it says, "They seek NOT the Lord." One reason we stray from the covenant path is because we stop seeking God. If we aren't seeking God then what are we seeking instead? It could be money, popularity, the next level on a video game, binge watching tv shows, or anything else that causes us to stray from our covenants. Now, I am not saying that you can't seek for these things, but like the verse in Jacob tells us, "Before ye seek for riches, seek ye first the kingdom of God." 

I recently read a book called 24/6 by Tiffany Shlain. In this book, Tiffany explains that once a week her family does a 24 hour period of zero technology! They power down their phones, computers, laptops, iPad's, TV's etc. and instead spend the day, distraction free, together. I loved this idea and decided that for 2021 I am going to do the same thing. Every Saturday night, I am going to power down my computer and my phone (I don't think I have every turned it off) until Monday morning. I want Sunday to feel different from every other day of the week. I want to spend it seeking the Lord and learning how to better hear Him. (of course I will still have to participate in our ward's half hour zoom class every Sunday afternoon - but I will do that on my husband's computer.) I am excited to try this for the first time TONIGHT!!

My hope is that I develop a habit of tuning out the world and pursue my goals and dreams WITH the Lord.

I would love to know what you discovered as you read Doctrine and Covenants section one this past week. 

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

 

to access the free printable simply right click the image, save as, and finally print

welcome to mango blossom designs!

 We are Jaimie and Erin!

Sisters who wanted an outlet to express our creativity and desire to share wholesome and uplifting prints and works of art.