Your Celestial Journey - A talk for LDS Young Women

I came across THIS incredible talk by Thomas S. Monson from 1999. I thought it was so great. It was addressed to the young women of the church and I absolutely LOVED it! I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite gems that really caught my heart!

This was the theme of the talk.. oh how I just LOVED it so of course I had to make you a printable. 

Highlights from the talk...

"Our Heavenly Father has placed an upward reach in every one of us. The words of scripture speak loud and clear: “Look to God and live.”  No problem is too small for His attention nor so large that He cannot answer the prayer of faith. Prayer surely is the passport to spiritual power. You can pray with purpose when you realize who you are and what Heavenly Father wants you to become."
 - Thomas S. Monson

Alma 37:47  - "Look to God and Live" 

Isn't that quote just SO great?! That scripture is so dear to my heart. Lately, in moments of fear or doubt this scripture helps me to remember that I just need to keep living my life, doing all that I can and pushing forward in action and as I look to God while I am living my life, He will constantly guide me, bless me, and protect me. I want my heart to constantly be turned to Him.

Now, let's talk about prayer being a passport to spiritual power. The definition of a passport is "a thing that ensures admission to or the achievement of something." The word that struck me from the definition is ENSURES. So simply put, prayer is making certain, even guaranteeing that we will have the ability to obtain spiritual guidance in our life. 

Spiritual power is something we could study about for days, if not weeks on end. I came across this talk I loved titled 'Spiritual Power'. Talking about spiritual power, I also think of the book 'Drawing on the Powers of Heaven', by Grant Von Harrison {It is such a great book, if you haven't read it I highly suggest it.} But to simply sum up spiritual power, it is drawing down divine guidance and revelation from the heavens. POWERFUL!! And to think that that sacred gift is a guarantee for us if we would just but pray...ahhh I LOVE that. :)


"Life was never meant to be all smiles and happiness. There will come those teaching times to each of you when you will witness the love of your mother, the strength of your father, and the inspiration of God." 
- Thomas S. Monson

"Life was never meant to be all smiles and happiness." Isn't this so great? So can I be honest and tell you a story? A few years ago I had just gotten out of a really bad experience and I was trying so hard to find happiness and peace in my life. I thought if I would just look towards the bright side of everything and forget that sadness and trials were even a thing, they wouldn't exist. I could completely block it out. Well I came home from church one day and I sat down to talk with my parents and I said "Do you know what really bothers me about church? It drives me crazy that in the church we focus so much on trials and hard times in life. I don't want to dwell on hard moments or be reminded so often that they exist." To this day I haven't forgotten my words, but CLEARLY I was missing and forgetting something. I was missing the fact that trials are about the most beautiful blessings we have in this world. They allow us to see miracles and witness the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I was forgetting the principle of grace and the love our Savior offers us daily to help us get through the hard times. I was missing the concept of endurance and patience and even though life really isn't all smiles and pure happiness, we are here to be tried and tested and there would be no point to this life if all we were doing is blocking out our hard times, what would we gain from that? Now, as hard as it is, I look at church and life just a little bit different. I can't get enough of the talks and lessons on trials. Trails are a constant reminder to me of the atonement and it is always there for me to access and draw upon in my times of need. There is no greater solution to our problems than Christ, He is the answer to all tribulations. 

"Study with purpose, both in church and in school. Write down your goals and what you plan to do to achieve them. Aim high, for you are capable of eternal blessings." 
- Thomas S. Monson

We have been asked to study the doctrine of the church as well as get an education in nonsecular areas. What a beautiful statement that we must never forget. "Write down your goals!" Until a goal is written down and planned for with steps to achieve it, it is just a dream or a wish. We are capable of eternal blessings as we aim high, a man who is now our modern day prophet is the one speaking these words! We would be oh so wise to listen.

"You must make your decisions purposefully." 

 - Thomas S. Monson

This quote really struck me because how many times a day are we making decisions? SO MANY! And if we made every decision based on a purpose of what we want our end result to be and what sign we want to show Heavenly Father, we would be SO blessed! Our loving Heavenly Father desires us to each become good decision makers, which is why we were given the gift of agency at birth. Every decision takes us to a road with more decisions and we are going to end up in an incredible place if we make our decisions with much purpose and prayer. 

"Young sisters, your opportunities to reach outward and bless the lives of others are limitless. 
Avoid the tendency to postpone a prompting or an opportunity to grow and to serve."
- Thomas S. Monson

We have limitless opportunities to serve, how incredibly exciting!!! I've noticed that for me it is only limitless when my eyes are outward looking. When I am inwardly focused, I have a much harder time feeling the love my Heavenly Father has for me. However, when I am searching for opportunities to share goodness and help others, they are all over the place and I feel blessed that I could be there in that moment to play just a little role in being an instrument in the hand of the Lord. Just today I saw an opportunity to help someone, I felt a prompting to ask this lady if she needed a ride as it was raining. I went to go turn around to approach her and by the time I got to her, she was gone. Now am I second guessing that prompting, NO WAY!! Heavenly Father saw that I had the willing heart to help her and I truly believe because He witnessed my efforts that He will bless me with many opportunities in the future.

"Procrastination is truly a thief of time. Meet the daily challenges of your lives."
- Thomas S. Monson

So this one hit my hard, yes, procrastination may be a bit of my weakness. "Why do I procrastinate?" I ask myself every time I am working and stressing to meet a last minute deadline. Well I know why I do it, I get so overwhelmed with everything I have going on at once that I just have a brain crash of some kind and I then I think to myself "Ah well, I can do that later." NO! I can't. Now I have been asked by a spokesperson of the Lord to not procrastinate. If you find yourself procrastinating, kneel down and ask for Heavenly Father's help to finish the project that you have at hand. He knows you personally and He desires to help you in all the big and small moments of your life. 

"A patriarchal blessing contains chapters from your life’s book of possibilities." 
- Thomas S. Monson

Can we just break down this quote because breaking down words in the English language is really SO fascinating to me. Okay so have the word chapters. So chapters to me sound like a definate thing. In this context, a chapter is a promised blessing from Heavenly Father. Something that will be fulfilled as long as you are living worthily! Isn't that wonderful? Have you taken the time to really thank Heavenly Father for the blessings that are promised to your name, even if they have yet to be fulfilled. A possibility is something that may or may not happen, right? So we have a life of endless possibilities that is waiting you. YOUR life is your fairytale book, it's your story that is being written as we speak. There are several possibilities that away you, moments of adversity that will need to be triumphed as well as moments of happily ever after happiness and bliss. But as you make wise decisions and as you are faithful to the promises you have made to Heavenly Father and you do all that you can do, those chapters (or promised blessings) WILL be fulfilled! And to me that is AMAZING!

Go listen to this talk, then come back her and tell me what stood out to you!