Week Uno

So the first week has been hectic, but in a very good way.  There is no way that I would change my mind about going to serve the Lord.  It was tough yesterday in my first full day of language class, but luckily I have amazing Hermanas in my district and they were able to help me through it.  Their comforting words were very helpful, along with the comfort of the Spirit.  

I first want to start off with a few highlights of my days so far, even though I have only been here since Wednesday.

-Word of advice.   Know if you are an Elder or Hermana.  I, myself, just happened to call myself Elder Bastian when introducing myself.  Oops :P  Good thing I know how to laugh at myself and everyone was able to laugh with me.  I love the people in my district they are absolutely amazing!

-One of the Elders decided that while his companion was praying he would take his banana and bite into the side.  Peel and all.  That was funny to see, but at the same time a little gross. :P

-My companion and I got lost, woohoo for greenies!  But we were able to find our way back to where we were trying to go.  Hermana Woodruff is a wonderful girl and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to have her has my companion. 

-I have learned that Elders, no matter what, will always get distracted easily :P  They are wonderful and have great insight, but oh the distractions :)

-And for all you beautiful people out there that complain about church at 9:00 in the morning.  I would like you to know that I have just found out that my church starts at 7:30am xD woohoo!!!

Waking up early isn't as hard as I thought it would be.  It's actually pretty easy, although I will definitely have to get used to being awake the whole day! XD

Anyway I am off to write my family, I hope all you are doing well.  I love you all and am excited to tell you the news that happens throughout my mission!

Love the Lord, for He will always love you!

poco y poco

--

With Love,

Hermana Bastian

SisterBastian.blogspot.com

Chelsea.Bastian@myldsmail.net

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Little Ones Are Smarter Than You Think

A teacher is using the "scientific method" to teach the class about evolution...

TEACHER: Tommy do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.
TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.
TEACHER: Did you see God?
TOMMY: No.
TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. He doesn't exist.

A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions. The teacher agreed and the little girl questioned the boy.

LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yessssss (getting tired of the questions this time).
LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?
TOMMY: Yessssss.
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the teacher?
TOMMY: Yes
LITTLE GIRL: Do you see the teacher's mind?
TOMMY: No.
LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we were taught today in school, she must not have one!

The Time is at Hand!

The time is at hand to put my best foot forward.
The time has come to give all my time to the Lord for 18 months.
Today, August 28 2013, at 12:30pm I start my life as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I was set apart last night, August 27th at 7:00pm and hopefully I will remind myself to write about it here. :)  If not just know that this was written a couple days before to make sure that I got it posted on my first day as a Missionary.

Everything is so crazy, the time has flown by and I can't believe that the time has come.  I don't remember where those first 128 days went.  They are gone and now all I can do is press forward, trust in the Lord, and give him all my heart, might, mind and strength.

I love the Lord and will do anything to meet his needs.  I will shine my light to those in the darkness and I will never be ashamed.  The Lord has prepared the way and I will do everything in my power to stay on that path.  I know I am not perfect and I will fall, but with the help of people around me and the Lord and his atonement I will be able to make it back home safely.

I know the Lord will protect me in all that I do as long as my heart and mind are in the right place.


I will see everyone in 18 months and I will hopefully be able to post on here every week :)
I love you all.


James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Love,

Hermana Bastian :)

If you would like to contact me you can email me at Chelsea.Bastian@myldsmail.net
And my letter address is posted to the right :)

Worth Waiting For

Worth Waiting For 

By: Jenny Phillips 

Daughter of a royal birth

You are a temple

Sacred and of infinite worth

And though evil seems like the normal thing The light inside you 

Will help you see through the deceit Hold on to your purity

Rise up and

Defend your destiny 

Your peace

Your light

Your eternal life

Are worth waiting for

To kneel in God’s house

Being sealed forevermore

With a love that is strong and pure 

That’s worth waiting for 

If you live pure and worthy You’ll enter the temple

To claim your eternal blessings Be a guardian of your virtue Let the light inside you

Flood all the world around you Hold on to your purity

Rise up and

Defend your destiny 

Your peace

Your light

Your eternal life

Are worth waiting for

To kneel in God’s house

Being sealed forevermore

With a love that is strong and pure 

That’s worth waiting for 

Beauty Is

Beauty Is

By: Jenny Phillips

Has the world ever been so confused

About what beauty is?

It's not the girl on the magazine

That you were sent here

To try to be.

A focus on body image

Is not what true beauty is.

Chorus:

Beauty is found

in the girl who believes

In the power of her divinity

The light in ger eyes,

shows her goodness inside

She is honest and kind at all times

When you care more about,

living the way Christ did

That's when you'll know

What beauty is

Just like a temple that shines,

Cared for on the outside

The beauty inside the doors

Is the thing that matters

a miliion times more

So magnify the holiness within you

Let purity dwell inside

Chorus:

Beauty is found

in the girl who believes

In the power of her divinity

The light in ger eyes,

shows her goodness inside

She is honest and kind at all times

When you care more about,

living the way Christ did

That's when you'll know

What beauty is

That's when you'll know what beauty is.

The Plan of Love

The Plan of Love

I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity. Finally, I’ve gotten my chance to come up here and speak to all of you.  I feel so blessed that I am able to have my whole family here. And I definitely will not forget the many friends that have also come this day to hear me speak.  It means a lot to me to know that I have your love and support with me today, and with my choice of serving a mission.

Now usually people start off with a joke, but seeing as I’m not one that can think of a funny joke right off the back, or even get the punch line correct. I won’t even try to attempt that route.  But instead, I want to ask you a simple question….

Who do you love?

Mom

Dad

Siblings

Aunts, Uncles

Grandparents

Friends

Now…. Who loves you?

I’m sure that all of us are able to name the same people on that list.  Parents, grandparents, and so on…

Keep those two small questions in mind. You’ll need to remember them for later.  :)

Elder Tingey, spoke in General Conference, April of 2006.  This talk called The Great Plan of Happiness. Is the talk that I was asked to base my talk off of.

 

As I read through this talk there was one word that stood out before me.  One word that kept coming to my mind.  One word that I have been hearing over and over again from people I have been around.

And if you couldn’t already guess what the one word is…

 Love.

I want to focus on the word love itself. Because of how much I have had this word come up in my life.

On a Sister Missionary page on Facebook and I posted a simple question.

“How would you describe love?”

A few girls replied with these answers, and I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Love is the greatest emotion that we can feel.  And when love is most perfect, love becomes a selfless act.

Love is an action word. It doesn't just happen, it takes work and effort. If you're willing to put in the time, though at times, it doesn't really feel like work at all.

It's caring about someone or something so much that you would sacrifice anything to meet their needs. It is selfless service and unconditional charity.

The word charity was used in almost all the comments, this sparked my interest in how love and charity are tied together so well.

 To find out the full meaning of charity I turned to the scriptures and in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 and 13 it reads…

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

13 And now bideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Continuing to go off of the word Charity,

I turned  to Moroni 7:46-47

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Charity is the pure love of Christ. Love and Charity walk hand in hand.  But why is love so important?  Why is it mentioned so much? 

In St Matthew 22:37-39 it reads…..

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 

We are commanded to Love Him, to love our Father in Heaven.

In order to love the Lord, we must know of the Lord.  We must take the time out of our lives to study, ponder, pray. 

The Lord wants to talk to you and he wants to hear from you.  He loves you in a way that no one else can love you, because he knows you better than you know yourself.  The Lord knows your mistakes and your choices.  He knows what you will do along with what you have already done.  He knows your weaknesses, your strengths, and your insecurities.

But most importantly the Lord knows who you are and what you can become.

John Bytheway said. “If you want to talk to God, great! If you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures.”

Our Heavenly Father has reached out to His children in Love to reveal His Plan of Happiness.  

This Plan explains what our Loving Father in Heaven does to help us make it through this journey successfully, so that we may return to His presence and become like Him.

God is our Father

He loves us

We are a part of His Family

We are His children.

He loves you no matter what.

My favorite scripture in the Book or Mormon is found in 2 Nephi 1:15.  This scripture has a promise that we can be eternally held in the arms of his love.

 It reads…

15 Behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

The love from our Heavenly Father and the love from our Brother Jesus Christ, is a perfect and pure love.  This love is found everywhere throughout the scriptures, throughout our day to day lives. 

Elder Richard G. Scott said “Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good.”

This incomparable and potent power for good is shown through the example of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our Savior came to earth to be tempted, mocked, tried, judged, and crucified, even though He had the power and authority to prevent such actions from occurring.

President John Taylor described the condescension of Christ in these beautiful words: “It was further necessary that He should descend below all things, in order that He might raise others above all things; for if He could not raise Himself and be exalted through those principles brought about by the atonement, He could not raise others; He could not do for others what He could not do for Himself.”

In addition to President Taylor’s words, Elder Tingey said “Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane epitomizes the most magnificent of all the attributes of Christ, His perfect love.  Here we see that He truly loved all of us.”

Christ’s words in D&C 19:18 reads…

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit”

This act of love from the Savior was done so that we wouldn’t have to feel that pain.  He chose to go through it all.  He felt what you have felt, he knows what you’re feeling and going through in life. And he will do anything to help lift you up.

Christ gave up his life for you.  A one and only gift given to you from Christ himself.

The way that you may be able to show the love you have for the Lord is to live his word.  If you live the Gospel of Christ you will prove to the Lord that you love him.

Through

FAITH in Jesus Christ, shows that you know that the pure love of Christ is able to do all things.

Through

REPENTANCE you love him enough to submit to His will. You show that you are willing to change as he asks, for he is perfect.  And he will never mislead you.

Through

BAPTISM  is shows that you trust him, shows your loyalty to him.  Giving him your trust proves to him you truly love him. 

Through

ENDURING TO THE END.  Love is patient.  Love endureth all things, suffereth all things, and hopeth all things.

As we show the Lord that we love him and are willing to follow in him and his plan, he blesses us.

The Lord knows……

As humans,

We are all imperfect.

But while being imperfect,

We are all perfectly beautiful.

There is a strength within every one of us,

There is a will to be the best that we can be.

There is beauty within each and everyone's soul.

I know within all my heart that the Lord loves every one of us.

The Lord wants us to return home, to live with him again.

He will do everything in his power, to help everyone return.

But God will never force anyone to Heaven.

The Love of God is Perfect!

The Love of God can be felt anywhere,

By anyone who needs and wants it.

He knows we are imperfect,

He knows we need help,

But He needs you to ask first.

Don't be afraid to ask.

He wants you to.

He loves you.

Always remember,

That although we are all imperfect,

We are Perfectly Beautiful,

And we will always be loved.

By our Father in Heaven and His son, Our Brother, Jesus Christ.

President Boyd K. Packer: “If you understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world will not determine your happiness.”

For this moment in time, I would like to add another name to the name of The Plan of Salvation or the The Great Plan of Happiness.

This name I would like to add is…. The Plan of Love.

 (Now keep in mind, this isn’t a legit change.  This is in my head. In my heart, another way that this marvelous plan can be called.)

1. Reverently and meekly now,

Let thy head most humbly bow.

Think of me, thou ransomed one;

Think what I for thee have done.

With my blood that dripped like rain,

Sweat in agony of pain,

With my body on the tree

I have ransomed even thee.

2….Oh, remember what was done

That the sinner might be won.

On the cross of Calvary

I have suffered death for thee.

3. Bid thine heart all strife to cease;

With thy brethren be at peace.

Oh, forgive as thou wouldst be

Even forgiven now by me.

In the solemn faith of prayer

Cast upon me all thy care,

And my Spirit's grace shall be

Like a fountain unto thee.

4. At the throne I intercede;

For thee ever do I plead.

I have loved thee as thy friend,

With a love that cannot end.

Be obedient, I implore,

Prayerful, watchful evermore,

And be constant unto me,

That thy Savior I may be.

As I leave this message with you today I hope that you have felt the love I have for you and Our Savior.  And the love the Savior has for you.

I hope and pray that this feeling of love stays with you as you continue on with your lives.

I know Our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ love each and every one of us personally.  I know they are looking down and watching over us.

I know this church is true and I love it with all my heart.

I hope that I may be able to fill the lives of everyone, I come in contact with, with the pure love of Christ

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Live it

Live It

by Jenny Phillips

I have prepared for this day

No one can take my place

He is counting on me to arise

And shine 

A standard to the world

A disciple of Christ

I am not afraid

I am not ashamed

I will live it

I will show that I believe

By what I say and what I think

I will prove He can trust me

I will live it 

I will follow fearlessly

By what I wear and what I do 

I will stand by

What I know is true

I will live it

It is more than just a belief

It’s more than just something I read

The gospel of Christ

Is a part of my life

I am acting on the things

That the Savior has taught me

I want His light

In every part of my life

I will live it

I will show that I believe

By what I say and what I think

I will prove He can trust me

I will live it 

I will follow fearlessly

By what I wear and what I do 

I will stand by

What I know is true

I will live it

The Perfect Dancer / Imperfect, yet Perfectly Beautiful

As dancers we strive every day to be that one perfect dancer,

But as we all learn...  Becoming the perfect dancer is impossible.

There is too much that needs to be learned and mastered,

Too much that needs to be felt and controlled.

Too much to comprehend.

But that won't stop me from trying.

I will work hard each day to bring myself one step closer to that goal.

I may never become that perfect dancer, but I will work and master one thing.

Maybe two.  

Maybe even three. 

All I know is,

I will never give up on what I want.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As humans,

We are all imperfect.

But while being imperfect,

We are all perfectly beautiful.

There is a strength within everyone of us,

There is a will to be the best that we can be.

There is beauty within each and everyone's soul.

I know within all my heart that the Lord loves everyone of us.

The Lord wants us to return home, to live with him again.

He will do everything in his power, to help everyone return.

But God will never force anyone to Heaven.

The Love of God is Perfect!

The Love of God can be felt anywhere,

By anyone who needs and wants it.

He knows we are imperfect,

He knows we need help,

But He needs you to ask first.

Don't be afraid to ask.

He wants you to.

He loves you.

Always remember,

That although we are all imperfect,

We are Perfectly Beautiful,

And we will always be loved.

By our Father in Heaven and His son, Our Brother, Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful night, week, day, and life.

Love,

Hermana Chelsea Bastian :)

Forget-Me-Not

Dieter F. Uctdorf

It is my prayer and blessing that you will never forget that you are truly precious daughters in God’s kingdom.

My dear sisters, what a joy it is to be with you today. I always look forward to this annual general Relief Society meeting and the excellent messages given here. Thank you, sisters. It is a precious honor for me to be assigned by President Thomas S. Monson to speak today and to add a few thoughts addressing the sisters of the Church.

A while ago I was walking through a beautiful garden with my wife and daughter. I marveled at the glory and beauty of God’s creation. And then I noticed, among all the glorious blooms, the tiniest flower. I knew the name of this flower because since I was a child I have had a tender connection to it. The flower is called forget-me-not.

I’m not exactly sure why this tiny flower has meant so much to me over the years. It does not attract immediate attention; it is easy to overlook among larger and more vibrant flowers; yet it is just as beautiful, with its rich color that mirrors that of the bluest skies—perhaps this is one reason why I like it so much.

And there is the haunting plea of its name. There is a German legend that just as God had finished naming all the plants, one was left unnamed. A tiny voice spoke out, “Forget me not, O Lord!” And God replied that this would be its name.

Tonight I would like to use this little flower as a metaphor. The five petals of the little forget-me-not flower prompt me to consider five things we would be wise never to forget.

First, forget not to be patient with yourself.
I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way: God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.

Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.

And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s wonderful that you have strengths.

And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses.

God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths,1 but He knows that this is a long-term goal. He wants us to become perfect,2 and if we stay on the path of discipleship, one day we will. It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet. Keep working on it, but stop punishing yourself.

Dear sisters, many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others. Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself.

In the meantime, be thankful for all the small successes in your home, your family relationships, your education and livelihood, your Church participation and personal improvement. Like the forget-me-nots, these successes may seem tiny to you and they may go unnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him. If you consider success to be only the most perfect rose or dazzling orchid, you may miss some of life’s sweetest experiences.

For example, insisting that you have a picture-perfect family home evening each week—even though doing so makes you and everyone around you miserable—may not be the best choice. Instead, ask yourself, “What could we do as a family that would be enjoyable and spiritual and bring us closer together?” That family home evening—though it may be modest in scope and execution—may have far more positive long-term results.

Our journey toward perfection is long, but we can find wonder and delight in even the tiniest steps in that journey.

Second, forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.

An acceptable sacrifice is when we give up something good for something of far greater worth.

Giving up a little sleep to help a child who is having a nightmare is a good sacrifice. We all know this. Staying up all night, jeopardizing our own health, to make the perfect accessory for a daughter’s Sunday outfit may not be such a good sacrifice.

Dedicating some of our time to studying the scriptures or preparing to teach a lesson is a good sacrifice. Spending many hours stitching the title of the lesson into homemade pot holders for each member of your class perhaps may not be.

Every person and situation is different, and a good sacrifice in one instance might be a foolish sacrifice in another.

How can we tell the difference for our own situation? We can ask ourselves, “Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?” There are so many good things to do, but we can’t do all of them. Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective. Sometimes, that may even mean nurturing small but beautiful forget-me-not flowers instead of a large garden of exotic blooms.

Third, forget not to be happy now.

In the beloved children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of the tickets wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

Written on each golden ticket is this message: “Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket … ! Tremendous things are in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you! … Mystic and marvelous surprises … will … delight, … astonish, and perplex you.”3

In this classic children’s story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.

So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket—the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. For some, the golden ticket may be a perfect marriage; for others, a magazine-cover home or perhaps freedom from stress or worry.

There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.”4 The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear.

One woman wanted more than anything else to marry a righteous priesthood holder in the temple and be a mother and a wife. She had dreamed about this all her life, and oh, what a wonderful mother and loving wife she would be. Her home would be filled with loving-kindness. Never a bitter word would be spoken. The food would never burn. And her children, instead of hanging out with their friends, would prefer to spend their evenings and weekends with Mom and Dad.

This was her golden ticket. It was the one thing upon which she felt her whole existence depended. It was the one thing in all the world for which she most desperately yearned.

But it never happened. And, as the years went on, she became more and more withdrawn, bitter, and even angry. She could not understand why God would not grant her this righteous desire.

She worked as an elementary school teacher, and being around children all day long simply reminded her that her golden ticket had never appeared. As the years passed she became more disappointed and withdrawn. People didn’t like being around her and avoided her whenever they could. She even took her frustration out on the children at school. She found herself losing her temper, and she swung between fits of anger and desperate loneliness.

The tragedy of this story is that this dear woman, in all her disappointment about her golden ticket, failed to notice the blessings shedid have. She did not have children in her home, but she was surrounded by them in her classroom. She was not blessed with a family, but the Lord had given her an opportunity few people have—the chance to influence for good the lives of hundreds of children and families as a teacher.

The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.

This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life.

The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.

Fourth, forget not the “why” of the gospel.

Sometimes, in the routine of our lives, we unintentionally overlook a vital aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ, much as one might overlook a beautiful, delicate forget-me-not. In our diligent efforts to fulfill all of the duties and obligations we take on as members of the Church, we sometimes see the gospel as a long list of tasks that we must add to our already impossibly long to-do list, as a block of time that we must somehow fit into our busy schedules. We focus on what the Lord wants us to do and how we might do it, but we sometimes forget why.

My dear sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not an obligation; it is a pathway, marked by our loving Father in Heaven, leading to happiness and peace in this life and glory and inexpressible fulfillment in the life to come. The gospel is a light that penetrates mortality and illuminates the way before us.

While understanding the “what” and the “how” of the gospel is necessary, the eternal fire and majesty of the gospel springs from the “why.” When we understand why our Heavenly Father has given us this pattern for living, when we remember why we committed to making it a foundational part of our lives, the gospel ceases to become a burden and, instead, becomes a joy and a delight. It becomes precious and sweet.

Let us not walk the path of discipleship with our eyes on the ground, thinking only of the tasks and obligations before us. Let us not walk unaware of the beauty of the glorious earthly and spiritual landscapes that surround us.

My dear sisters, seek out the majesty, the beauty, and the exhilarating joy of the “why” of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The “what” and “how” of obedience mark the way and keep us on the right path. The “why” of obedience sanctifies our actions, transforming the mundane into the majestic. It magnifies our small acts of obedience into holy acts of consecration.

Fifth, forget not that the Lord loves you.

As a child, when I would look at the little forget-me-nots, I sometimes felt a little like that flower—small and insignificant. I wondered if I would be forgotten by my family or by my Heavenly Father.

Years later I can look back on that young boy with tenderness and compassion. And I do know now—I was never forgotten.

And I know something else: as an Apostle of our Master, Jesus Christ, I proclaim with all the certainty and conviction of my heart—neither are you!

You are not forgotten.

Sisters, wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love.

Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious Being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time!

He who created and knows the stars knows you and your name—you are the daughters of His kingdom. The Psalmist wrote:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? …

“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”5

God loves you because you are His child. He loves you even though at times you may feel lonely or make mistakes.

The love of God and the power of the restored gospel are redemptive and saving. If you will only allow His divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow.

My dear Relief Society sisters, you are closer to heaven than you suppose. You are destined for more than you can possibly imagine. Continue to increase in faith and personal righteousness. Accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as your way of life. Cherish the gift of activity in this great and true Church. Treasure the gift of service in the blessed organization of Relief Society. Continue to strengthen homes and families. Continue to seek out and help others who need your and the Lord’s help.

Sisters, there is something inspiring and sublime about the little forget-me-not flower. I hope it will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet. Please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves, that some sacrifices are better than others, that you need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. Please never forget that the “why” of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you. And never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves, and cherishes you.

Thank you for who you are. Thank you for the countless acts of love and service you offer up to so many. Thank you for all that you will yet do to bring the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ to families, to the Church, to your communities, and to the nations of the world.

Sisters, we love you. It is my prayer and blessing that you will never forget that you are truly precious daughters in God’s kingdom, in the sacred name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

My Little Flower, Growing against the odds.

The Arms of His Love

2 Nephi 1:15 

But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; 

I have beheld his glory, 

and I am 

encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

That, my friend, is my favorite scripture.  It shows that the Lord has made it possible for every single one of us to return to Him.  As you read the scripture, read it, as if you were the one saying it.

 

I know that the Lord has redeemed YOUR soul from hell.  You can behold his glory.  And YOU are encircled about eternally in the arms of His Love.

Now think about that for a moment.  If nothing else, take from this post, that the Lord Loves You!  And the Lord will always Love You.

The Lord loves his children and He sent His beloved son Jesus Christ, to make sure that everyone could return Home.  He is watching over everyone of us, hoping that we all will be strong enough to choose the path that will lead us back Home.

This life if hard and the world has done many of crazy things to make it even harder.  More choices, more temptations, but along with that the Lord has made sure there are just as many ways to keep us on the straight and narrow.

Love the Lord, because He will ALWAYS love you!

27 Days!

Hermana Bastian