I GOT THIS!

About 3 years ago I was at this camp with a bunch of members of my church. We were camping up in the woods in Arizona...Yes, there are trees in Arizona. One night one of my good friends Jordan, yearned so badly for cell phone reception. So at about 11 o'clock Jordan asked if anybody would go with him out into the forest in hopes to find a hill where he would be able to use his phone. Well of course I wanted to go, when I hear adventure I am there! Two others(David and Gabe) joined in this spontaneity search to find cellular service! Without telling any of the leaders we headed off. We walked pretty far out into the forest, I thought to myself "I'm a pretty experienced hiker...I GOT THIS" I figured I would be able to lead us back on my own! So we reached an opening where we could get reseption, Tyler made his call and while he was doing that we were all just walking around when all of a sudden David steps on this cactus and got poked pretty bad in the foot!
We then decided it was probably about time to head back to camp. We headed off into the direction that we thought was the way back to camp. After walking for about 45 minutes and not seeing any sign of tents or campfires we started to worry alittle. We still just kept on walking for about an hour. At this time it was starting to get alittle chilly out (Yes, It can get cold in AZ). We found a trail that had obviously not been used for quite a while this is when we decided to just sit and regroup. We found some wood and started a fire with a lighter and some Axe Body Spray. This wasn't  enough though. We needed to get back to camp! Then the thought came to us so clearly "We should say a prayer!" We all knelt down and desprately pleaded with God to lead us back to camp. Knowing that we recieve answers when we are on our feet and not being idle we headed out once more! Within a matter of minutes we found a barbed wire fence, which I vaguely remembered a similar fence near camp. We followed this fence for awhile not straying away from it for a moment! The story in the Book of Mormon came to my mind while following this fence! Nephi and Lehi saw a vision of people wandering in the darkness. Some of these people were holding on to a "Rod of Iron" which led them to the place where they needed to go! The Iron Rod represents the word of God. Well after walking parallel with this fence we soon found ourself in sight of camp. We rejoiced and I went to my tent and said a fervent prayer of gratitude then imediatly fell asleep! We had been in the woods from 11pm-7am!
What did I learn from this exhausting experience?
I learned that when we go through this life thinking that we can do it alone saying to ourselves  "I GOT THIS!" we are sadly mistaken! We need the Lord at all times! Especially when traveling through the dark mist of the world! I was humbled that night and this scripture sums up what I learned!

 Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We need to remember to trust in the Lord and he will direct us to him!  

Whats your talent?

The Lord gives us talents. Now it is our responsibility to develop these God given gifts. Jason hinds recognized his talent and used it for the soul purpose of helping others come closer to Christ! Now his talent was made known to him early in his life. How many laps do you think Jason has ran? Im sure he has spent a good amount of time training and developing that his god given talent! I hope that I can use my talents for a good cause! Im sure we all can whether its running, dancing ;D , singing, quilting, or even just talking! We can all take advantage of the gifts and use them for the building up of the other and for the building up of the kingdom of God! 

Prayer is the Passport to Peace!

You are a child of God, He is your Heavenly Father! He loves you more than you can imagine! He wants to communicate with you through daily prayer! As we develop this essential habit we will come closer to him and our thoughts and actions will be more like his! He is there just waiting to pour blessing upon you, all that he requires of you is obedience to his commandments one of which is PRAYER!
 
Some of the Principles of Prayer
Make your prayer Meaningful- We know from the scriptures that if anyone

  "...shall pray and not with REAL intent of heart... it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such."(Moroni 7:9) So give serious thought to your prayers and avoid "vain repetition" when speaking to the Lord (Matthew 6:7)

Use a language of Love, Respect, reverence, and closeness.- Yes he is your friend but also remember that He is your father! So do your best to speak to him with respect! 

Always give thanks to your Heavenly Father- We are counseled to "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." As you express you thanks you will recognize all that the Father has done for you that day!
Seek guidance and strength in all that you do- He promises us that he will lead and guide us. We must listen to his promptings! Remember that he will help you but we must rely on ourselves aswell! He help us when we have done all that we can do!
5 Parts to Prayer
1. Address your Heavenly Father
2. Give thanks for all that he has done for you
3. Ask for guidance and answers to any of your questions
4. Pray for others and any blessing that come to your mind
5. Close in the name of His son Jesus Christ, followed by "Amen"

Come what May, and Love it!

After watching this video just sit and ponder. Now are we looking at life with this perspective? If not what can we do to change? Well in the words of Joseph B. Worthlin:
1. Learn to Laugh- How many times do we see ourselves becomeing so worked up about the small thing?...Way too often! If we can learn to shrug the minor problems, annoyances, and other frustrations off. We will find more opportunities to laugh!
2. Seek for the eternal- We may ask ourselves "Why me?" Try to say "why not me? This is just another experience that will help me realize how much i can truly endure!"
3.To understand the principle of compensation- We must remember that the Lord will never stop blessing us for living the commandments! Though we may attempt to pay back the Lord for what he has done for us, we must also remember that for following him "He doth immediately bless you"

4. Put our trust in our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ- We can navigate through any storm and endure endless turbulence as long as we realize that we are co-pilots with the lord!


Brothers and Sisters "Come what May, and Love it!"

So many Starfish

One day there was an old man walking an the beach. The shore was lined with stranded starfish as far as he could see. He saw in the distance, a young man who seemed to  be dancing along the shore. As he got closer he notice that the young man was picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the ocean! The old man asked him, "What  are you doing?" the young man replied "If i do not put them back in the ocean they will die." The old man then said "There are hundreds of starfish out here! There's no way you can make a difference." The young man paused for a second, bent over and threw another starfish into the ocean and said, "It made a difference to that one." 

This story means a lot to me. It makes me think about my perspective. How often do we see things from the old mans perspective? Pessimistic or doubtful! Especially when it comes to our everyday lives. its easy to get discouraged when we face trial which seem impossible to overcome, but if have a HOPE and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we know that "There hath no temptation ^ataken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be ^btempted above that ye are able; but will with the ^ctemptation also make a way to ^descape, that ye may be able to ^ebear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13) 

 So when opposition is staring us in the face, Go ahead walk with confidence. Remember God is with you and with his help anything is possible!