Faith is Never a Weakness

I was watching Star Wars the other day and first of all, I love how much the gospel and this movie have in common...it's awesome! While watching 'Episode VI: Return of the Jedi' a line really stood out to me.

Luke: Your overconfidence is your weakness.
The Emperor: Your faith in your friends is yours!

Hold up and freeze. Since when is faith a weakness? Seriously, has it ever been? 
I don't think so.

Faith, to have complete trust or confidence in someone or something. If you believe in someone that much, that is powerful! For faith can move us to do great things. Let's say your friends do let you down after you put all your faith and trust in them. Who lost out really?

I've done this before. Quite honestly it was one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life after having so much faith in someone, investing so much time, support, and sacrifice; believing it would all turn out in the end and we would live happily ever after, but really even though it was devastating to me, I lost nothing. The faith that I had changed both me and him. That faith, even though I gave much, Christ made up the difference. If I wouldn't have had so much faith in this person, they wouldn't have been as motivated and inspired to push as hard as they did, they would have quit a long time before.

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone talks you up or gives you a compliment on something you feel is a weakness of yours? You feel so empowered that someone thinks you're strong in an area you've always felt a little inadequate in. It certainly makes you want to try harder or to develop that attribute or talent even more to prove that you really do have that strength they saw in you. Having faith in other moves them to change! ALWAYS!!!

Now here's the hard part, when someone is letting you down, it appears that your trust and confidence was in vain, and it certainly feels as if you were the one that ended up losing that day. While it may sting and appear as if every bit of faith you gave was wasted, just what if it wasn't? Just what if?

Hear me out on my reasons....

1. KARMA - I believe in karma, what we give into the world will always come back to us.

The Book of Mormon teaches us about karma too. Go to Alma 41:15 "For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored..." Meaning, if we are sending good into the world, things like faith and confidence, that faith will come back to us from others believing in us more, but also, we can't lose. Every single good thing we give doesn't ever go to waste, EVER!

2. Christ already paid the price - because of Christ, every single thing we go through can be turned for our good like it says in D+C 90:24 "Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good..." (emphasis added) 

AHH...did you catch that? How exciting that is! When you BELIEVE, and let's take that to believing in another person, all things work together for your good! You can't lose because Christ is the way. He is the only way and He fills all the emptiness that we don't know what to do with.

3. Faith changes men - Faith has this power of changing men/women to become something more than they already are. Have you ever believed in something so much that it changed you? 

When I was young, I used to believe so much that I was the most organized girl in the world. I would come home and organize my backpack every single day after school, my desk at school was always spotless, and my room never had a paper out of place. I believed that my organization was one of the coolest talents, because none of my friends or classmates were as good at it as me. The more I believed this was a talent of mine, the more I became confident in this skill of mine so much that it ended up getting me a job to help others stay organized as well. 

When I was competing in Miss Murray one year, I had five of the best friends and cheerleaders I could have ever asked for. As the day was approaching to compete, I started to lose confidence in myself. I would get random texts or visits from friends letting me know they were thinking of me and they truly believed I had all the potential to win. I truly felt their faith capture my heart as they believed I was fully capable of winning the crown that evening. I was placed as second runner up, and I believe the only reason I didn't win that evening was I didn't believe I was the best piano player, I didn't believe in myself as much as my friends believed in me, which limited my abilities to nail that talent that evening. But why was I placed as an attendant, because I had friend who believed in me and were cheering me on. Thank goodness for them!

I'm telling you, faith changes people!

Even President Monson said so...

4. We don't always get to witness our influence - every word we say, every action we display, every positive emotion we send; it all influences other. I believe our influence is one of the most powerful we gifts we have to give away, and one of the most under estimated powers we possess. Our influence is huge! We influence people when we realize it, and we influence people when we don't. When you believe in someone, when you send that power into the world, things start to happen. Just because you don't see your influence, don't believe it's not there. Often times it is like planting seeds and sooner or later, the change will come even if you don't have the opportunity to witness this. 

But now, to undo everything I just said and did... WE MUST HAVE MORE FAITH IN CHRIST THAN WE DO IN MAN. Faith is great to have in another person when we have first anchored our hearts and faith in Christ. Man can't do what Christ can do. We can't have so much faith in another person that we lose who we are and we start to lose sight of God. As our faith and the roots of our faith are planted deep in the solid ground of Christ, only then can we influence others. For it's not our faith that leads people to change, it's when we point others to Christ, that the atonement allows room for change. For it is Christ that takes all our bad karma upon Him, and only when we turn to Him, we will not have to suffer all our karma, because Christ so willingly took it upon Himself as we believe in His name and turn to Him. 

Listen to THIS talk by President Monson

Book Review // Blog Tour - A Princess Story

A Princess Story - 
The Real-Life Fairy Tale Found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

About the Book:

Author: Jaci Wightman

Released: 2016

Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc.

Genre: Spiritual/Inspirational

Book and Author Sources:

AMAZON | BOOKS AND THINGS | WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | 

Book Description:

EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD FAIRY TALE

Filled with hardship and happiness, a princess and her prince, an evil villain, and an epic battle, fairy tales draw us into the adventure. But these stories aren't far from reality. You are living your own personal princess story!

Discover how the Lord's plan of happiness is just like a fairy tale with this inspiring book for women of all ages. Learn to see your divine potential and recognize your inner princess. This enchanting read will guide you to build a closer relationship with the Prince, return to the King, and find your own happily ever after. 

My Thoughts:

Any book about a princess or fairy tale and you already have my heart captured. But this book, oh my goodness; let me just tell you that I am in love!! I love watching disney movies and any type of princess movies and finding the parallels and liking them unto the gospel. I love digging deep into a good fairy tale to find the hidden message of how it relates to me and my purpose as a child of God, but this book...WOW it goes way beyond that.

Jaci takes an incredible approach to explaining the plan of happiness and the gospel teachings and she ties them into every princess you can think of. She even ties all the villains such as Ursula and Gothel into the story as well. I just couldn't put the book down as I started to understand things that had never even crossed my mind.

For any girl that is struggling with her testimony, for any girl who is looking to build a testimony, for any girl that loves the gospel but wants to understand the deeper doctrine, for any girl that loves princesses, for any leader who is a mentor to a girl...this book is for you!

I just wish this book would have been around when I was in the Young Women's program, I think I misunderstood a bit of the doctrine and this book is incredible at both powerful and simple. Jaci uses SO MANY scripture references, which I LOVE! The girls can go through and mark their scriptures like a fairy tale. 


A Few of My Favorite Quotes:

"I believe one reason we feel so much guilt and shame over our sins is because we know we need to be clean and pure in order to return to our Heavenly home."

"Cinderella's experience just goes to show that you'll never get out of the lair by relying on your own plans, your own will power, or your own ambition."

"Every princess has an epic battle scene and your story is no different."

"The villain and his sneaky servants have lied to you just like Gothel."

"Just like with Rapunzel, the villain has told you things about yourself and about the world that are flat-out-wrong."

About the Author:

JACI WIGHTMAN // Jaci (PRONOUNCED JAY-SEE) Green Wightman was raised in five different states before meeting her husband during her freshman year of college. Together, they've enjoyed the daunting task of raising seven children born in just eight years. In 2012, Jaci was thrilled to graduate from BYU-Idaho with a degree in University Studies, twenty-one years after postponing her schooling to start a family. Underneath all her outward busyness, however, Jaci is simply an ordinary woman who discovered an extraordinary Savior. Her greatest joy lies in teaching and testifying of the One who not only changed her heart, but also radically transformed her life. 

Remember Who You Are

Picture Source

We live in a world where Satan wants us to forget who we are. If we forget who we are and whose we are, then we become distracted by less important things and we never end up reaching our full potential, the potential God sees within us. 

I really love Disney movies, I mean, who doesn't right? There are so many valuable hidden lessons that can be found in Disney movies. I LOVE this line from the above clip: "You have forgotten who you are, so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, you are more than you have become."

Picture Source

"You are more than you have become", let's just explore that for just a moment shall we? 

We are all children of God, agreed? Okay, great! 

And being a child of God means we have the potential to become all that Heavenly Father is. Heavenly Father is perfect in every way, which means we have the potential to become perfect as we strive for this perfection. I think we sometimes become hindered by this principal. We know we are capable of so much, we know we have power within us to make a difference, touch lives, and to change our very own life...but sometimes we get stuck. Sometimes we become so focused on who we are not that we don't see who we are. 

It is absolutely impossible to know who you are, your true authentic self and spirit without first knowing who Heavenly Father is. It was Him that created you, Him that believed in you, and Him that loved you enough to allow you to come to earth and grow. If you become blinded to who you really are, if you forget your worth, your potential, your spiritual gifts, and your spirit that lived in Heaven, then by so doing you are forgetting Heavenly Father. 

The more you learn of God, the more you learn of yourself. But it's not just knowing of Him , it's not just knowing that He is our Father in Heaven watching over us, it's not just knowing He has good intentions for our lives...it comes down to KNOWING Him. Knowing what makes Him happy and what makes Him sad. Knowing God by knowing of so many stories that display His nature and character that He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. For me, the absolute best way to get to know anybody is by serving that person. By putting yourself in that person's shoes and seeing how you can help that person or how that person might feel, that is how you really get to know who they are and not just know of that person. 

The world is sending all these messages to you of who you should become, what you should do with your life, what makes you successful, and what will make you popular; every single time anyone listens to those messages and acts upon them they will start to lose a little piece of who they are. You were sent here to be YOU! God had a very specific purpose for you when you came down to earth. You have to be true to who God sees you to be, you have to forget about who you were told to be, to be who you really truly are!

Our world portrays having different beliefs from society as a hindrance, but quite the opposite is true; as you stay true to those beliefs that are absolute truth, the beliefs that are good and praiseworthy, that is what unlocks your power to reach your TRUE potential. 

{Here's a short + cute clip for your enjoyment}

God Will Not Fail You

Do you ever wonder how it will all work out? 
I sure do. I sure have my moments of anxiety and fear.
I sure panic about the silliest things. 
God has perfect patience because He needs it, He sure uses it often on me. 

I have to remind myself every single day that God wants me to be happy and He wants what I want, but His plans are perfect because He is my biggest support. To not put my trust in God is almost like throwing away the greatest peace and happiness to ever be known.

Faith is a daily process. I fill up my faith jar only for the jar to grow bigger and there is more space to be filled. We can't stop going. We can't stop trusting. We can't stop waiting for God to prove us. We have to be dedicated to growing our faith and letting truth touch our hearts daily. We have to be valiant, and faithful every single day of our lives. God always gives back so much more than we ever give Him. For God NEVER fails us!

I just love these lyrics from Jenny Phillips.

Like a ship that's worn With sails so torn Drifting out to sea The wind is blowing in And you're tossed again Is it time to leave behind the ship And walk to Him? Do you believe That the seas Will hold your feet If you go? Close your eyes Feel Him inside Walk to what you know is true And He will not fail you The anchor's gone You're moving on Further from his arms Go to Him Oh face the wind If you trust enough His mighty love Will get you through Do you believe That the seas Will hold your feet If you go? Close your eyes Feel Him inside Walk to what you know is true And He will not fail you Give up your fear Let go of doubt Lay down your load Let it go And just believe That the seas Will hold your feet If you go Close your eyes Feel Him inside Walk to what you know is true And He will not fail you

Everybody Needs Love

I once heard it said that those that are hardest to love, need love the most.

In my strong desire to judge less and love more this year as I am spreading sparkle to others, I long to pay attention to every detail of those around me. Uplifting everyone I can, especially those I feel pushing this love away. I want to pay attention to who needs me and who I can lift by offering a listening ear or a kind heart. I want to give more, love more, and serve more.

The #1 lesson I learned from my experiences this past year is you NEVER know the pains and sorrows of another's heart. Pain isn't visible to see always, but the more we open our heart to pray for others and look for others, the more we will be in tune with who needs help and how we can help.

Why I Believe

Sometimes I don't like how open and vulnerable I am on this blog, but I have to be when God calls me to write. So my prayer is that this message is for somebody because here's some real honesty for you.

"Why do I believe what I believe?"



Sadly, this question that keeps coming up in my life over and over again. It's a question that attacks my thoughts because sometimes I think my plans are surely greater than God's and when He tells me no, my heart clings to it's greatest desires. I confessingly have moments where I think my strength is enough. I start to think I can do it all on my own and if it isn't part of God's will or desire for my life, then I can take matters into my own hands and make the deepest desires of my heart come true. Um, yeah...it doesn't work like that!

Sometimes my faith is stronger during the hard times; the times I am weak and feel I am in need of God's love and mercy the most. My faith is easier to have during the times I recognize I don't have the strength I thought I did. Its in these dark moments that I once again wake up and realize every bit of strength is from Him. Once my life seems to get a little happier or I feel a little stronger, my faith starts to shake again. Is my testimony only dependent on my constant need for God? When I don't feel I need Him for an every moment comfort from anxiety, am I still able to recognize just how much I need Him and just how much strength I don't have alone?

Admittedly, I struggle with the pride cycle just like in Helaman 4 where the Nephites who had once been living so righteously were turning away from the Lord. They started to take pride in their own strength rather than relying and rejoicing in the strength of the Lord. They began to rebel against God because of their pride believing they had all the strength they ever needed. Then what happened to them? The Lord then left them to their own strength and eventually they lost everything. Why? I suppose they underestimated their strength and God taught them a lesson by humbling them.

Every time I catch myself in the pride cycle, you would think I would learn my lesson and never go back again. I don't know why I have to be humbled over, and over, and over again to fully believe what I believe. But I do know no matter where I feel my testimony may be at, no matter what struggles or tests have to come up, I can't deny what I believe. It is fully impossible for me to deny Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I believe what I believe because I feel it, because I experience it, because I am rescued by it. Christ is everything to me. Christ is the way, the only way. I know that, I believe that, and I know happiness comes from avoiding the pride cycle as much as possible. 

Nothing in life can slightly compare to the blessings I see when I put in the work of building my faith. God wants you to focus on Him more than any other desire, once you do that, your desires really do start to fall into place. In my life, anytime I start clinging or obsessing over anything, I can't give God my all, and that's all He asks of me is to give my heart to Him. Then everything else just works for my good. (D+C 90:24) Always! Even when I start questioning my hardest trials and think "How will any good EVER come from this?" God proves it once again for my shaken and fearful heart to be reassured. 

If you want to really believe or even know why you believe, put it to the test! The more you listen to God and obey His will, the more He will prove you and the more you will WANT to obey Him. He takes the heart that we give Him, and He makes something beautiful of it, then He gives it back and we choose righteously because that ends up being our greatest desire... and that is where happiness; real and fulfilling happiness begins.

#SparkleHope Challenge - Week 1

Welcome to #SparkleHope Challenge week 1.

So happy you are here!

Last year was hard, harder than I have the words for. 

But I was BLESSED, oh so very blessed by so many. 

On those dark days where I didn't think light would ever come again, 

a little sparkle came from so many of you that kept me going. I knew God was aware of me because of the sparkle that came into my life through letters, invitations, phone calls, inspiration, chocolate, quotes, text messages, emails, and visits from the incredible people in my life.

I have never understood the worth of a soul so much as I did through this experience. 

Those simple acts of service meant EVERYTHING to me.

And now I want others understand just how precious one soul is to God.

That's why this challenge is happening. 

I think the best way I can show my gratitude to those that were an answer to my

 prayer and brought a little hope into my life is by passing it on,

adding a little sparkle to the lives of others.

So without further ado... 

WEEK 1 CHALLENGE:

Thank someone who has added sparkle to your life this past year.

Make a list of some people who really blessed your life this year in small or large ways. Anything from a letter that touched your heart to a friend that changed your life. 

Let them know.

Here are some ideas:

Write a thank you letter.

Bring them some flowers.

Send a test about the impact it had on you.

Make them a cupcake.

Find a way to get creative in your ways of thanking those who influenced your life or added sparkle on your journey in 2015.

Post a picture or message on any social media outlet about how you completed the weekly challenge using the hashtag #SparkleHope so we can all be inspired. I think I even want to feature a few on my blog before next weeks challenge begins.

So go out there and let the world see you SPARKLE!

Christ Will be Your Remedy

I have the most amazing hair stylist ever. I could talk to her all day long every single day. Seriously though, she rocks! 

Yesterday we started talking about some incredible stories of faith, life, and trials. Stories that gave me goosebumps and testified of Christ. Then somehow we started talking about Adele and what a hero she is. She is the signature of #GirlPower and embracing who she is perfection and flaws. She is the definition of being true to herself. As we were talking about Adele, Sunnie, my hairstylist told me I had to go home and listen to the song 'Remedy' by Adele, picturing Christ singing the lyrics to me. 

It was so POWERFUL! Now I want you to try it.

Imagine every single lyric of this song is coming from Christ.

Christ loves you SO much! Christ is the ONLY way. 
He is the only way to truth. 
He is the only way to happiness.
He is the only way to confidence.
He is the only way to hope.
He is the only way to peace.
He is the only way to home.

Christ will be your remedy, ALWAYS! 

Let Him in.

2016 is my Year to SPARKLE

2015 was a really hard year for me. Mental illness attacked me in a way I had never experienced before. I honestly felt betrayed by God for many months. It was hard, it hurt, and I wouldn't have made it without Christ. God gives us things we can't handle so we are forced to lean on Christ and that's exactly what happened. 

Even though this past year has been so hard on me, I have been blessed by so many beautiful experiences and tender mercies. My heart is so appreciative to those who brought a little sparkle into my life this year. 

This year I experienced loneliness in a deep piercing way I had never known before. And even though I wasn't alone, it doesn't change the way I felt or that that was my very own gethsemane up to this point in my life. Some days I would pray constantly because it was absolutely the only thing I could bring myself to do, other days I honestly didn't feel like praying at all. I started to feel like God couldn't hear my prayers or if He did, He was pouring blessings on everyone but me. But my message to you today isn't about misery, it's about hope. 

HOPE; that's what so many people brought into my life this year. That's the message I learned most this year, is that hope is ALWAYS there. It took missing hope, to find it and believe in it like never before.

On days when I felt so useless and like a grain of sand that was to soon be swept up by the tides of the ocean, a dear friend would bring me a plate of goodies when I least expected them, or a ward member would show up with some chocolate, or a servant of Christ would come to my home to listen to me open my heart, or a letter would show up in my mail box reminding me of the good qualities I have to offer, or an email would be found in my inbox of some of my spiritual qualities that I couldn't see, and even receiving phone calls and texts out of nowhere from those I hadn't heard from for a while. 

Each of these very tender and thoughtful acts of service and hope reminded me of just how much God is looking out for me, just how many of my burdens Christ was carrying for me, and how much one simple act of service can bring hope.

That is why my one word for 2016 is SPARKLE - I want to serve many this year. I want to deliver hope because of the sparkle that was brought into my life when I needed it most. 

Spencer W. Kimball once said in a BYU speech "But of course we ought to be happy here. We ought to sparkle and shine and radiate with brilliance. We have everything! When a prominent Eastern man who was visiting our offices asked me, “Why are you, the Mormon people such happy folks?” My answer was: “It is because we have everything—the gospel of Jesus Christ, the light, the priesthood, the power, the promises, the covenants, the temples, our families, the truth.” Latter-day Saints, especially Latter-day Saint youth, surely should have a brilliance of their own. You should have that sparkle here today."

Spencer W. Kimball wants us to sparkle, so that is my goal for the year, to sparkle. I want to be happy, and to radiate happiness. While everything that happens to us isn't always in our control, our response to it is always in our control. Happiness isn't an easy choice to make, but it is a choice we have power over, even if limited by our own chemicals and illnesses. Despite everything that stops me from being happy, I want to try harder to do better. I want to laugh more, smile more, compliment more, and people build more.

To help me on this path of making 2016 a year for me to sparkle, I will be featuring a weekly challenge with the #SparkleHope. Challenges will consist of either something that allows you to bring sparkle to others by serving someone, or by inviting more happiness into your own life. These challenges will be every single Monday, because as much as Monday's can be a really hard day, we are going to change that and start the week with SPARKLE and HOPE! 

You will have the entire week to complete the simple challenge and you can then take a picture of you doing your challenge and share it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or SnapChat with the #SparkleHope. It is my deepest desire to build a community of sparkle and hope, as we add sparkle to this new year and inspire one another.