More Conference Prints

Here are 5 more for you!  Are you counting down yet?  Only 5 more days!!!

From Elder Holland's talk~

From President Monson's talk~

From Elder Hales' talk~

From Elder Scott's talk~

From Brother Osguthorpe's Talk~

Please feel free to use these printables for PERSONAL USE ONLY.  For more printing policies and disclaimers, please see the tab up top! :)  Happy printing, friends!

Trials of Faith

Well, it's been a little while since I last posted a General Conference quote and I think I'd better hurry up or else I won't have them all posted before April's conference rolls around, lol! ;)

Here's the print~

So, today I'm sharing thoughts about "Trial of Your Faith" by Elder Neil L. Andersen.  This talk really struck me as I read it and I think that today is the perfect day to talk about it because I've had "one of those" weeks.  We all have them, but let me give you some background.

Some facts you need to know to understand where I'm coming from that contributed to my mini trial of faith:
1. My husband and I have been struggling with infertility for about 7 years.
2. We are in the process of getting out of debt after a fraud hit our bank account a few years ago.
3. I have been suffering this week from severe insomnia and haven't had much sleep.
4. I work in a high stress job with children who are severely mentally disabled.  LOVE them, just a very hard (but very rewarding) job.

Okay, so now that you know those four things, let me tell you about my week/the past few months.  My husband and I started discussing our desire to be temple workers about 18 months ago.  We prayed about it and felt that it would be a good decision, but I was taking fertility medication to help us get pregnant and so my hormones and blood sugar levels were being messed with.  We decided that I needed to go off the medication so that we could proceed with our plan, but it was hard to give up the thought that maybe we'd get pregnant.  Finally, in September 2012, I went off the medication and we decided that perhaps we are not meant to be parents of our own children in this life.  It was a very hard decision and sometimes I still wonder if we are doing the right thing and second guess it, so that stress is always present in my life.

A few weeks after ending the medication and after we had discussed the idea again, a sweet sister in our ward, who also works at the temple, came up to me after sacrament meeting and told me that she had an application for us to fill out and an invitation from the temple president to become temple workers.  I am not a sign seeker, but if there is a clearer sign that we were on the right track, I can't think of one!

So, we set up an appointment with our bishop.  He's only been bishop for one week and had only been in the ward for about two months.  All three of us had no clue what we were doing, but we got it together and were able to proceed to the next step--an interview with the stake president.  That would prove to be easier said than done...

After trying to get an appointment for about 3 months, we finally were able to see the stake president a couple of weeks ago and he told us that he would send the paper work on to the temple.  We were excited and a little bit apprehensive.

Fast forward one more week.  That would be this past week.  I had been having severe insomnia issues and other emotional issues dealing with our infertility issues and was also incredibly stressed out with work.  We hadn't heard back from the temple president and so I tearfully told my husband that maybe this was a sign that we shouldn't be temple workers.  He reassured me that we were trying to do something good and that he would call to see what was going on.  We were planning on going to the temple tomorrow (Saturday) because it is our ward temple day, but my husband had promised to help clean the building.

So, my husband worked it out that we would be able to make it in time for one session if he went early with another brother in our ward and did some cleaning earlier.  He also called the temple and was told that we would be set apart when we came down for our ward temple day.  To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement.  I had been toying with the idea of not going because I have had literally about only 4 hours of sleep a night plus work and other things that I've had to do.  I told my husband that I thought we were making a mistake.  He reassured me that we were not and that every little thing would be taken care of.

It was.  I was finally able to get a full night's sleep last night, wake up and get all I needed to done and MORE, plus I am actually very excited to go down and be set apart as a temple worker with my husband tomorrow. 

Some other blessings that have helped me this week as I've gone through my mini trial of faith:
1. We found out that our tax return would be enough for us to pay off the debt that occurred when then fraud hit our bank account.
2. Because of the debt being paid off, I will be able to quit at the end of the school year so that we can serve more in the temple.
3. I was able to finally sleep last night.  I know I already said it, but seriously, this REALLY helped me.
4. We were able to have the missionaries in our home for dinner.  I don't know why, but this always makes me happier.
5. Each person that I've had to explain about our new calling has been so incredibly excited for us.

So, dear sisters (and brothers), I have had my testimony strengthened not only by personal experience this week, but also by the words of our living prophets.  I feel so blessed that I could just burst into song!  Except that each time I do, I find myself crying with joy.  What a blessing the gospel is in my life!

Please feel free to save the print above and use it for PERSONAL USE ONLY.  Other disclaimers and printing policies can be found in the tab up top.  HUGS and happy printing, friends! :)

Crying

Photo source.

I deal with a lot of crying in my line of work.  I work with children who have severe mental disabilities.  Their inability to communicate makes for some sad days and some hard lessons for them AND me, too.  It's such a rewarding job, though, and I have learned SO MUCH about the Atonement of our Savior as I've worked with these amazing kids.

So, anyway, back to crying.  We had a day where it seemed like there was non-stop crying going on in our class last week.  It was enough to drive someone mad.  I can't say for 100% certain why this child was crying, but it got me thinking about our Father in Heaven and why/when we cry to Him in prayer.  His responses make so much more sense to me as I've worked with children and been in a "parenting" role.  I'd like to share my thoughts about this with you.  I'll relate situations that have happened in my experience and then a parable of how this relates to our relationship with God as our Father.

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Situation #1: A child falls down, or is pushed down, or comes to harm in a way that is definitely not his fault.  We immediately run to the child to help them and comfort them.  Sometimes the child pushes us away or thinks they don't need us.  We still try to help them.  Sometimes the child rushes into our arms and sobs.  We allow them to calm down and help them up again.

Parable #1: Something happens in our life that  is not our fault and we get hurt--physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  We can either shun God's help and not ask Him for help (He still will try to reach out to us) or we can rush to Him in prayer and receive strength as we feel of His love.  The choice is ours.

Situation #2: A child is doing something that could hurt him unwittingly.  You tell the child to stop--he will get hurt if the behavior continues.  The child stops and we praise him.  OR, the child doesn't stop, gets hurt, and we are less quick to comfort him.

Parable #2  We are doing something that God does not approve of.  He gently chastens us to help us understand that our behavior is not worthy of a child of God.  We stop and repent--He blesses us.  OR, we don't stop and we cut ourselves off from the blessings of the Lord.

Situation #3: A child is doing something that they KNOW is wrong.  They get hurt.  We don't seem to have much sympathy for this child's crying as they knew that what they were doing was wrong.  We do not rush to their aid.  However, because we love them and they are our child, we counsel them about what they did wrong and why it is that they are unhappy.  We encourage them not to do it again.

Parable #3: We are intentionally sinning.  God cannot dwell in unholy places.  He puts warnings in place to help us to change our ways.  He sends guidance from scriptures, living prophets and church leaders.  He lets us feel sorrow in hope that this sorrow will bring us back to Him.

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I guess that I could go on and have a situation/parable about continually doing things that are harmful to us, but I think you get my drift.  So, I hope that you can see a little bit of God in your everyday life!  He is all around us and He loves us.  He is our Father and wants what is best for us.  I've recently started taking a deeper look at my life and am changing things that are not right.  Because I know that we are all human and all have things to change, I encourage you to pray and ask our Father what it is He would have you change.  I promise you'll be much happier if you take His advice!

Mynnette's Musings: Keeping our Spiritual Battery Charged

The Parable of the Cell Phone

                Cell phones are wonderful inventions!  People can get a hold of you any time of day or night!  You can be in contact with other people any time and be more effective in making your contacts.  There are some things that can hinder this productiveness, though.  You can be in an area that doesn’t have a good cell signal and have dropped and/or missed calls.  You can also have your phone shut off because you don’t want to be bothered.  The most irritating thing, in my opinion, that can hinder your productiveness is that your battery can lose all of its power and render your cell phone useless.  Another sad thing that can happen is that due to financial trouble, you can’t pay your bill and your phone is shut off.

                So it is in our lives with the Holy Ghost and prayer.  We can be in direct contact 24/7 with our Father in Heaven when we are in tune with the Spirit and pray constantly.  We will get all our calls and messages and become more effective in living and teaching the gospel. 

If we choose to do things that drive the Spirit away, such as watch a not so good movie or participate in unworthy activities, our signal is not as strong as it could be.  You will miss the calls from Heavenly Father that could prove vital to your well being or your very life!  You could have been having a wonderful day where you felt the Spirit and were in tune, but by doing one bad thing, your call is dropped.

 If we become angry at God and turn from Him, it is like shutting our phone off.  We may think we are punishing the one we do not wish to communicate with, but it cuts us off from more than just one person when we do this.  We miss all our calls and all our messages and we are spiritually shut off.

The saddest thing that can happen is that we just let our battery die or our spirit gets disconnected from the Holy Ghost.  This happens when we consciously or unconsciously forget to charge our spirit so that we can be in tune with the Holy Ghost.  This happens when we forget to pray, read our scriptures and do the other good things that we know we need to do.  Sometimes we may be “too busy” or else have other things to do that we think are more important.  This is not so!  The battery is our spirit and what keeps us going!

I hope and pray that as we go about our daily lives, that we remember to continually charge our battery, keep our phone on and stay in a good signal receiving area so that we can learn the things that will make us happy in this life and in our eternal lives after our probation is complete.

Related scriptures: 2 Kings 2:9, Psalms 51:11, Roman 8:9, Galatians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Jude 1:19, Mosiah 2:36, Alma 34:38, Helaman 4:24, John 14:26, Moroni 8:26, D&C 31:11, D&C 42:17, Moses 6:61.

Knowledge from God

I have been blessed with amazing parents who stressed the importance of education, both in spiritual matters and in earthly matters.  They instilled in me a love of learning from a young age and it has continued to grow as I've gotten older.  I am so incredibly grateful to them and for the desire that I have to continue in knowledge and learning.  As I study gospel principles, I feel the importance of what I am learning and learn more each day.  Sometimes the knowledge alights upon me quickly and suddenly while at other times I have had to take time to understand the principle I am learning about.  Each new day brings more light and knowledge from God, though, and I am eternally thankful that I have the ability to learn and understand.

These thoughts go perfectly with the scripture over at Word Art Wednesday this week.  I've made a printable that you may use for PERSONAL use if you'd like to.  Just left click to enlarge, right click and save!

Here it is~

One of the ways that I have always been helped in learning and understanding the gospel is by having personal and family scripture study and prayer each day.  It is so wonderful to sit down with your family and to discuss the scriptures that you are reading.  Many precious memories have been made in my immediate family and with my DH and I as we study the scriptures together each night before we go to bed.  When I was younger, my wonderful father would call us all in for prayer and scripture study before we would eat our dinner together.  I am so thankful for his righteous perseverance in not listening to our griping and complaining about wanting to eat! ;)  Prayer and scripture study are also a wonderful way to finish up a day!  I don't have any specific stories about scripture study from my childhood, but I do have one from this last week as we've had my two nieces (aged 3 and 1) visiting us from Utah.

Our 3 year old niece likes to participate in scripture study and will "read" a verse for use when it is her turn.  She will repeat exactly what she is told to recite and her sweet little voice sounds so beautiful as she speaks the words of God.  I imagine that this is how our Father in Heaven feels each time we listen and preach His word to those around us and in our families.  We are all God's children and it must make Him incredibly happy to see each of us learning what He has given us each day.  I encourage you (and myself) to do a little better each day at learning and applying the gospel to our daily lives.  God bless! :)

This post linked to: Word Art Wednesday, Tell Me a Story, Titus 2sdays, and Think on These Things.

A New Heart

I don't know about you, but there are times when I feel incredibly strong in my testimony of the gospel and other times when I question what I believe in.  The scriptures call these times "trials of faith."  I used to wonder WHY God would give us these times in our lives.  I used to be angry during these times.  It's only been recently that I have decided to embrace these "trials of faith" and learn and grow from them.

A few weeks back, a good friend of mine asked me to watch her three little ones this week because her regular babysitter is on vacation.  I told her I would, thinking that the money would be welcome since I'm not working at all this summer.  But then I started to realize exactly what I had agreed to. 

My only experience with motherhood has been either a miscarried pregnancy or else a foster placement.  Foster care was a severe "trial of faith."  I never want to do it again.  It has nothing to do with the children that we took care of--I will ALWAYS love them.  It has to do with other things that I just typed and then deleted.  I'm trying to be more positive about it. 

Anyway, we'll just say that foster care left me a panic filled, paranoid, wreck of a severely distrusting person.  I never wanted to take care of kids or even think about trying to have them again.  I seriously felt that motherhood was NOT for me.  And on Monday night it hit me that I would have children in my home again.  And I seriously FREAKED OUT.  I felt sick to my stomach, couldn't eat or focus, and wanted to call and cancel.  BUT, I remembered my resolve to embrace things that were difficult with me, said a prayer, and went to bed at nine.  It was the right thing to do.

Friends, these past two days have been two of the best days of my life!  I loved the kids I'm watching before I offered to do this, but now I love them even more!  I have seen what motherhood really can be and it is not as scary as I thought it would be.  Granted, I've only done this for 2 days and I KNOW it gets worse after the "honeymoon" period.  But I have proven to myself that I could stay calm and collected.  The kids still love me.  I adore them!  This has by far been the most amazing "trial of faith" that I have ever gone through!  And all because I put my trust in God.  And He took my hardened heart and showed me that I could have a different heart that would do more good for the world.

Doesn't that story go along PERFECTLY with the scripture at Word Art Wednesday?!  I was amazed when I saw this week's challenge--and I am sooooo amazed at the goodness and greatness of God!

Here's my digital print for today~

AND, a recipe that I came up with for the kiddos--they LOVED them!

Homemade Oreo Cakesters

1 Devil's Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 container marshmallow fluff

Mix the first three ingredients, roll into small balls (about 1 inch in diameter) and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350*. When they come out of the oven, flatten the cookies slightly with a spatula. After the cookies cool completely, add marshmallow fluff to the bottom of one, and add another cookie on top!

Easy peasy, and OH SO YUMMY!!! :)  Sorry there isn't a photo...they were THAT GOOD. ;D

In addition to Word Art Wednesday, I'm linking up to Scripture Sunday @ Each Card Tells a Story, Think on These Things, Titus 2sdays, and Tell Me a Story.  I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your week--feel free to use my digital print for PERSONAL use!

It's been a while...

Wow.  I just realized how long it's been since I posted some digital art!  I'm here tonight to change that!!!  I've missed my weekly participation in Word Art Wednesday soooo much, so I've created something just for the challenge for this week!!!

Here it is~

I really love this scripture and feel that it is really important for each of us to remember trust God and pray to Him daily.  I was recently talking to my boss about a situation we've had in our classroom this year, and she expressed to me how grateful she was that God sends us experiences to help us understand His will.  She then told me of something that happened that was direct answer to our prayer about the situation we've been trying to deal with.  I am not at liberty to give details, but I am SO GRATEFUL that prayer works, that God is real, and that He love each of us!

Thanks for stopping by--feel free to print and use this print for personal use, just make sure to click to enlarge first!  Print size is 8"x10". 

Thanks to the ladies at Word Art Wednesday for the challenge and also to Eclectic Anthology for the gorgeous vintage print used on this artwork!  Have a fabulous day, and never forget that you are loved!

Rethinking the wheel/BVT116

OR, rethinking the blog! I've decided this blog needs a new face lift! SOOOOOO....I've decided to make it my digital art blog as well as my poetry blog! To start off this new transformation, I am submitting the above digital art to the Bible Verse Thursday challenge! :) Details found here.

I used some of my wonderful digital elements by Dustybear and Adobe Photoshop as my supplies. :) The verse is Psalm 5:3. It's about prayer. I'm grateful that I found this blog and that I'll be able to play along, even if I'm not a member (YET). Happy crafting! :)