Taken Care Of

These last couple days have been perfect days. I am so blessed. I'll admit it all started with a depressing movie I watched by myself. In this movie the main character is a fun-loving, pretty girl with amazing friends and life. She meets a charming doctor and falls in love. But the reason she met this doctor was because he was the doctor that diagnosed her with late-stage colon cancer. SPOILER ALERT: She dies in the end and I could not hold back the tears. Something about her life ending so short made me scared for my life. Not scared that I was going to die, but scared that I don't know what my life plan is right now. I couldn't sleep after that and began furiously searching for answers in my scriptures, in talks, and in prayer. I didn't come to any major conclusions that night but I did come to the conclusion that I needed a blessing and a chill pill. I then said a prayer that I could have some kind of peace just to get me through the night. God is good and blessed me with that peace.

I then woke up the next morning and texted my home teachers to come over to give me a blessing. They answered eagerly and assured me they would be there later that evening. I then continued to search for answers every way I know how. Then another tender mercy, my best friend Conner called me and asked to come over. He must have known I needed some help, he always knows what to say. He helped me realize that I don't need to have a plan right now. God has a plan and if I continue to move forward with faith that plan will be presented to me in due time. Most importantly, Heavenly Father has taken care of me thus far and there is no reason that would ever change.

Later that day my faithful and ever diligent Home Teachers came over as promised. They gave me a perfect blessing of peace and comfort to know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my needs and desires. The blessing only left me with peace and joy knowing that I will be taken care of.

The next day I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Draper Temple with good friends from the ward. The Draper Temple is so beautiful, I was just amazed by the views and the peace that surrounded and filled that temple. Inside the temple I had a permanent grin on my face, I was experiencing pure joy. I was again overwhelmed by the confirmation of Conner's point, that I will be taken care of.

That day continued with only great things, spending quality time with people I love and the continued feeling that I will be taken care of. 

Then to top all this spiritual uplift-ment off I again had more peace and tender mercies given to me today at church. The lessons and talks were all perfect topics of things I needed to hear. I was yet again overcome with the feeling that I will be taken care of. 

So, in conclusion, of all the many things I don't know about my future, there is one thing I know for absolute certain- I will be taken care of. 

Forward with Faith

This last week in New Testament we talked about moving forward in faith instead of being paralyzed in fear. This is something that is really difficult for me. I would just like Heavenly Father to just tell me the plan that He has for me, sparing no details. But that's not the way He works unfortunately. We have to take a step into the dark to see the light. (Some prophet or apostle said something to that effect, forgive me for not having the exact quote.) That's super hard for me because I am a girl who likes to have a plan, so when I don't have one it stresses me out. Slowly but surely I am learning to take those steps of faith to progress instead of remaining idle and just waiting around for an answer that wont come. I need to be actively moving forward and looking for the answers and have the faith that it will all work out. Which I know will happen because I completely believe that Heavenly Father will not let me go astray if I am doing all that I can to follow His plan for me. God is so good, and He always makes sure everything works out, so I need to keep reminding myself that.

Glory Days Part 1

So last night my boyfriend (yup, I said it, my boyfriend. No time to explain, that's a whole other blog post. Just know I'm super happy! hehe) Anyways where was I? Oh yes. My boyfriend, Josh, did what I thought no one would ever do with me.

He watched my graduation video with me. 

If you ask my roommates about that they will promptly roll their eyes and give a sarcastic remark. Whenever we sit down to watch a movie and don't know what to watch I shout out, "Let's watch my graduation video! Or my lacrosse video! Or my other 'memories from high school' videos!" I usually get multiple rolls of the eyes and chuckles that shout, "NO."

But I guess to prove how much he really likes me he said yes to my sarcastic plea to watch clips of my glory days. To my surprise his yes wasn't sarcastic, he was serious. I'm still a little shocked we watched it.

Josh kept saying, "Man, you really liked high school huh?" All I kept thinking was, is that a bad thing? It still surprises me that other people didn't get to have such a great high school experience as I did. I find that really sad! But it got me thinking. Is it bad that 2 years after high school I still find myself wishing to be back there on occasion? Now that I see that typed out I realize, yes. Yes it is bad that I long to be back in high school from time to time.

I sometimes refer to my high school years as my Glory Days. But now that I think about it more I don't want my high school years to be my Glory Days. I am far too young to already have Glory Days. I hope those days are yet to come! I'll just start calling those years Glory Days Part 1, and then I'll go on to create a Part 2, a Part 3, and so on! If I don't start making more parts I'll become like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite! Now that would be just plain ol' pathetic.

So thanks Josh for helping me realize that it's time to move on. Yes, when I think of high school tons of fond memories come flooding back, and that's not a bad thing. But there are better days to come and that is something to be so excited for.

Try a Little Faith

This last week at church someone said something at church that I absolutely loved. They said:

"It takes faith to be happy."

Since my whole life montra is "Be Happy" I couldn't help but violently nod my head as this wise person shared this thought. It is so true! Then in addition to this comment in my New Testament class this week we talked about 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 "We are troubled on every side, yet we are not distressed: we are perplexed but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." 

I love the optimism in those verses, even though all those hard things may be happening to us, we can still have faith. And with that faith comes happiness. I think a huge part of faith is choosing to be happy no matter the circumstance you find yourself in because you know that things will get better. You know that God will not let whatever trial or struggle you are facing overpower you. He has blessed us with so many ways to overcome our trials, we only need to use them. 

Can I give you, my loyal blog readers, a challenge? Can I challenge you to have enough faith to be happy? As silly as that may sound, think about it for a minute. Have enough faith to be happy. Whatever struggle or trial you are facing, decision you have to make, or fight you are tirelessly working to win, find the faith to be happy through it. If you are brave enough, or rather have enough faith to accept this challenge, let me know how it goes. I'll be working on this too. Here is a video to inspire you:

New Testament

This past week in my New Testament class we talked about Acts 12. We talked about when Peter was in prison and the people were praying for him to be released and their prayer was answered. But when a child came to tell them that Peter was released they didn't believe or even pay any mind to the child and continued to pray. I think this can perfectly apply to our lives. I find that sometimes I pray for things without fully believing that what I'm asking for could happen. What good does a prayer do if you don't pray in faith? I think also we may ask for things then not wait and be ready to receive the answer. We just go on our way having said the prayer but not really anticipating receiving an answer.

It is important to first pray in faith, fully believing that you will receive an answer to that prayer. Then after you've said that prayer be ready and willing to accept the answer you receive, whatever it may be. This is something that is hard for me. I struggle with receiving answers I don't like. It's something I need to work on. I'm also working on being more open and ready for the answers and promptings as they come. I often catch myself saying a quick prayer asking for this and that then not taking the time to receive an answer. This week I am determined to work on this and get better at being open to the Spirit to give me promptings and answers to my prayers.

A Perfect 20th Birthday

Two days ago I turned 20. For 2 decades I have been roaming this earth creating great friendships and memories. It's been one incredible party, let me tell you. 

I'll admit I was not super excited to be turning 20 because that means I can't do dumb things and blame it on my "teenage brain." Now I'm kind of like a full-fledged adult. Only kind of though. 

Even though I wasn't thrilled with getting old I had the best birthday ever. This birthday trumps all others. The whole day I felt overwhelmingly loved and cared for by my friends and family and that is the best gift I could have ever asked for. 

Let me give you the run down of the terrific day. 

I woke up facetimed my cute mom and then went to get breakfast (or breakfrist as I like to call it) with my sister and Shaunessy. We got delicious crepes and I received my gift from Sara and a gift from my parents. Both gifts extremely practical and perfect for my upcoming events (Africa, Mission). 

After such a perfect breakfrist I came home to find a exquisitely wonderful surprise from my amazing roommates Makenzie, Alex, and Kyla. As I go to walk into my building I find these on the doors:

Even greater than my face plastered on every door in da hood is the surprise I found next. They had printed out pictures of my friends and family and put their heads on other bodies and put them all around my room. It is the most hilarious thing I think I've ever seen. I was dying laughing. They are so clever and just the best roommates I could ask for! Here are some examples:

After I laughed to my hearts content I got a call from a dashing young gent and told me he would like to take me shooting! What a pleasant surprise it was! His roommate took us up the mountain to a shooting range and let us use his gun! It was scary but one of the greatest things I've ever done! Turns out I'm not that bad of a shot! I'm not quite as good as the dashing young gent though. Then this dashing young gent took me to one of the best kept secrets in Provo. It was so great! 

Then I came home and played some Banana Grams to kill time before dinner. After a few rounds a few of my favorites and I went to Malawi's for dinner. Twas delicious. What a great bunch. 

To end the day right we had a dance party at my apartment. As most of you loyal blog readers know I love to shake my groove thang whenever I can. So my amazing roommates made an endless amount of cookies, put up beautiful decorations, even bought glowsticks and got the party started! We danced the night away it was perfect. 

Overall I got everything I asked for. From cookies to just love it was all there. I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life that I can count on no matter what. So a HUGE thanks to everyone who had anything to do with my perfect birthday! Seriously you don't know how much all the love, gifts, and sweet words mean to me. 

Annie Turner will run that errand for Him.

For my New Testament class we are asked to write a blog about our thoughts from the reading from that week, so now I'll be posting every week about churchie stuff. I'll be honest and say this makes me a little excited!

So for this week we read Acts 7-12 and as I read one thing in particular kept jumping out at me. Whenever any of the apostles or disciples were told to do something from the Lord they, "immediately" did it, or "went straightway" to do the thing which the Lord asked, or "ran," or arose and went...nothing doubting." What an amazing example that is to us. I want to have that much faith that without hesitation I go and do whatever it is the Lord is asking of me to do.

It reminds me of a quote from Pres. Monson, "I trust Him implicitly, and will always do my best to fulfill my responsibilies. I've always said that if the Lord has an errand to be run, I want Him to know that Tom Monson will run that errand for Him."

I want the Lord to know that about me too. I want Him to trust me enough to know that no matter how crazy it might sound or out of the ordinary the errand is, He can trust me to run it for Him without hesitation. I have a lot of improving to do before I'm there that is for sure, but I'm starting now to look and pray for ways to fulfill my responsibility as a follower of Christ.

I love this gospel and I hope that instead of ignoring my churchie posts you take the 5 minutes it might take to read them and think about them a little. That's all I ask! Love you all loyal blog-readers!