Take a Picture. It'll Last Longer.

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words. But even pictures don't even cut it compared to the real thing. Have you ever seen a beautiful landscape or sunset and you try to capture it with a camera? A snapshot never does it justice though. You want so bad to keep the amazing scene, but a picture never turns out as well as the real thing. There are some pretty gorgeous views here in Montana. I want to share them with everyone, so I take pictures. Sometimes the pictures turn out, but I feel bad because even though the pictures are great, they miss out on the actual sight. They're limited to what they see. They don't know what it really looked like.

We have this limited view on life as well. We can't see the whole picture. We see a snapshot. But there is so much more beyond the lens of the camera. There's a bigger picture, a more beautiful picture than just what is right in front of us. There's a bigger plan.

Even though we might not be able to see it all, God can. He knows all things. He, thankfully, can and does see the whole picture. In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named Nephi praises God. He says, "O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things and there is not anything save he knows it." (2 Nephi 9:20). Heavenly Father knows where our lives are going to take us. He knows the whole plan. We can know His plan for us too. Although we might not be able to see the whole scene, we can zoom out. We can broaden our view as we come to know our Savior. Jesus Christ should be the center of our lives. The way we live should reflect His teachings. Nephi also says, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26).

As we accept Christ into our lives, as we apply His atonement into our hearts, as we accept Heavenly Father's will and plan for us, our view will ever be expanding. We can put our trust in God that He does see the whole picture, even if we only see a glimpse.





Credit is given to the former Sister Nielson for the idea of this blog.

Just Call Out His Name

Have you ever felt like you just needed to talk to someone? Have you ever felt that no one was listening or cared? I know I have felt like that. Multiple times. I have had days in my life where I have felt alone and afraid. I have felt that no one cared. However, I have also come to realize that someone does care. Someone is listening when no one else is. Someone is always looking after me.

Prayer is something that I have come to love doing. Through prayer, we can express the feelings and thoughts in our hearts and minds to our Father in Heaven. He is always listening. He wants us to talk to Him. Just like we wouldn't be able to have a relationship with our fathers on earth without communicating with them, the same applies to our Heavenly Father. How can we grow closer to Him without praying to Him? We can't. But we can fully express what we want God to hear in our prayers, because He is ALWAYS listening. Whether you say your prayer out loud or in your heart, His ears are still working.

I remember when I really started to gain a testimony of prayer. I had always known that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers, but the first time I realized that He answered my prayers was when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I had woken up in the middle of the night scared out of my mind. I don't know what it was, but for some reason I kept having this feeling that there was an intruder in our house. I think I was just being paranoid, but I decided to wake up my mom and tell her I couldn't sleep and I was scared. She gave me the best advice. She told me to pray. So I went back to my room, knelt by my bed and prayed. Prayed to have comfort and peace and rest. After I closed my prayer, a feeling of peace came over me. I knew Heavenly Father had helped me because I had decided to pray.

One of my favorite Primary Children's Song is "A Child's Prayer." There's so much truth to the lyrics:

Heavenly Father, are you really there?

and do you hear and answer every child's prayer?

Some say that heaven is far away, 

but I feel it close around me as I pray.

Heavenly Father, I remember now,

Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:

"Suffer the children to come to me."

Father in prayer I'm coming now to Thee.

Pray, He is there.

Speak, He is listening.

You are His child, His love now surrounds you.

He hears your prayer, He loves the children.

Of such, is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

God is always just a prayer away. He is listening. If you don't know that He is, kneel down in prayer and ask Him. I promise that as you do, your prayers will be answered. I know because I have experienced it myself.

Keep Your Ski Tips Up! (even in the summer)

Have you ever been skiing? You know those signs when you get on the ski lift that tell you to keep your ski tips up? Want to know what happens when you don't?

Well, when I was about ten years old, my sister and I were getting on the chairlift at Brighton Ski Resort in Utah. For some reason, I decided not to listen to what the sign said. I decided to put my ski tips down. Yes, I chose to do it. Needless to say, they have those signs up for a reason. My ski got stuck in the snow and I fell off the ski lift. My sister (still on the lift) turned around to look at me with a face that said, "Uh-oh." They had to stop the whole lift so that I could be "rescued." It was pretty embarrassing. The embarrassing part is that it wasn't my first time skiing. I had skied before, several times. I just chose not to do what it said to do. If I would have chosen to pay attention to the sign and to do what it said, my skiing experience would have been SO much better.

So what does all this have to do with anything? Did you say keeping the commandments? You're absolutely right! I'm sure it can relate to other things as well, but I'm going to relate it to the commandments.



Jesus Christ gives us commandments. Commandments that will up us stay on the path of truth and righteousness. They are for our benefit. Many times we think that the commandments we are given tie us down. That our freedom is taken away. That we can't do what we want to do because of them. Got news for you, they don't do any of that at all! We are more free because of the commandments. We are given so many blessings as we obey. Let's take one of the ten commandments shall we, like "thou shalt not steal." What if you decide that you are going to steal. You go to the store and take something that you don't pay for. Then, the cops show up, and they arrest you. You are taken to jail for who knows how long. And the whole incident then goes on your criminal record. See, are you really more free when you don't follow the commandments? The answer is No.

The blessings that come from keeping the commandments are eternal. We learn from King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon to "consider the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments...for they are blessed both spiritually and temporally...if they hold out faithful to the end...they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness..." (Mosiah 2:41) What a remarkable promise!

I would have enjoyed my skiing experience so much more if I would've followed what the sign said. We can more fully enjoy our experience here on earth as we strive to live by the commandments of God. And in so doing, we can return to live in a "state of never-ending happiness" with our Father in Heaven.

Keep your ski tips up!

Thanks for reading. Until next time...

Autobots...Transform! and Roll Out!

Have you ever seen Transformers? Remember the line that Optimus Prime uses to tell his fellow transformers to change and to get a move on it? It goes something like this, in a robotic voice of course, "Autobots, transform. And roll out!" I have often said this phrase to a couple of my companions on my mission, when we were getting ready to leave for the day, or when we needed to get to an appointment or whatnot. I did it mostly just to be funny. But it's kind of amazing just how much you think about relating things to the gospel when you are on a mission. Yes, I'm relating Transformers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Think about it. What does transform really mean? I'll tell you. I looked up the definition on dictionary.com. One of the definitions says, "to change condition, nature, or character. To convert." See, it doesn't just apply to robots. We can transform. We can change. We can convert. How? By a little thing we like to call repentance. Actually, it's not a little thing. It's a big thing. It's a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Bible Dictionary, repentance is defined as, "a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul's salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven."

We cannot be forgiven without repentance. And we cannot repent without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took on Himself the sins of the world that through Him we might be saved. But we have to change. We have to exert every effort in experiencing a mighty change of heart. Alma the Younger explained this about his father in The Book of Mormon. "According to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart...he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved." (Alma 5:12-13)

artwork by Simon Dewey

It's through repentance that we can change and become more like our Savior. We shouldn't put it off though. We should "roll out" now! Later on in the Book of Mormon, a missionary named Amulek tells us that this life is the time to prepare to meet God, and to not procrastinate the day of your repentance (Alma 34:32-33). We need to be changing continually. Every day. Right now. It's not something we can or should wait for. As we experience that "mighty change" in our own hearts, we can receive forgiveness. In Isaiah, we learn that our sins shall be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). I know that we can feel clean and pure again, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, as we repent.

So through my best robotic Optimus Prime voice I can muster (although you can't hear it), I say again, "Autobots, transform. And roll out!" May we all transform, and may we all do it now.

Thanks for reading. Until next time...