SOMETIMES I NEED TO BRAG...

Key Lime Pie spoke in Church today.  She did a beautiful job and really touched hearts with her thoughts.  I learned a lot from the wisdom of my 17 year old daughter!  (She really is beautiful - inside and out!)  I wanted to share what she said:

Lately I’ve been thinking about life lessons.  I started making a list of things I’ve learned in my 17 years of life.  It’s been fun and enlightening.  When Bishop Tincher asked me to speak about “Dealing with Challenges of Faith as a Teenager,” I realized I had already been thinking about Dealing with Challenges by writing my life lessons that I’ve learned so far.  Here are some truths that I’ve discovered that have helped me with my faith:

1.      I’ve learned that in order to grow I have to be willing to act on faith while moving forward with the things I do know. One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Timothy 1:7 it says “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”It’s helped me learn that I need to not be scared of the future and move forward in faith.

2.     The next life lesson I’ve learned is that I’m never alone.  I have a great support system from my family, friends, church leaders and especially my Heavenly Father and Savior.
I’m sure that everyone who is a teenager or has been a teenager has struggled with their self-esteem.  I’m no exception to this.  I have had feelings of doubt about myself worth.  When those moments come, my parents remind me to read my patriarchal blessing.  When I have followed their advice, I have felt the love of my Heavenly Father and I know He watches over me and he comforts me.  He helps me to see my Divine Nature.  I know I am never alone. 

3.     I have learned that following commandments, laws and rules help me realize the blessings promised to us, and that they are based on true principles. 

One of the commandments that is important to me is keeping the Sabbath day holy. When I got my first job I told them I couldn’t work on Sundays. When I got my first schedule they scheduled me to work on Sunday. I had to go tell them again that I couldn’t work on Sundays because I wanted that day off to go to church and worship my Savior.

4.     It’s the simple, daily things that we learned about in Primary that determine my destiny.  Reading my scriptures, praying and attending seminary and church have helped my faith grow stronger.
There have been times when getting up early for seminary has been truly difficult.  I’m a night owl and 6:00 a.m. seems too early.  But I have been blessed with AMAZING seminary teachers who also have to get up early to teach me.  Their love and service have helped me when I needed it most.  Their encouragement to do the simple, daily things needed to strengthen our faith have helped me grow and strengthened my faith in Christ.

5.     One of the biggest life lessons I’ve learned is to rely on the Atonement.  I can be guilt free and clean of my past mistakes.  I haven’t made a lot of HUGE mistakes, but I have felt the Atonement in my life when I’ve needed it.  I’ve also seen it change others.  Members of my extended family who have committed serious sins have come back to the Church and born such beautiful testimonies of the Atonement that I know I can use it for everything.  I have also used the Atonement for sorrows.  When my dog died last year, I was able to use the Atonement to help comfort me.  I know the Atonement is the most important thing I can use throughout my life.  I’m grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice.

6.     I love the saying “You get as much out of something as you put in to it.”  It’s true of everything in life.  In school, if I just sit and listen to music while I’m supposed to be studying, I don’t learn a thing.  But when I engage, answer deep, thoughtful questions and try my best I learn more.  The same is true of the gospel and the Church.  When I attend my meetings with the right attitude and I serve the best I can (sometimes by even accepting speaking assignments) I learn more and I get more out of it.  Truly living the gospel and giving it your all helps your faith grow by leaps and bounds.

7.     I know the Book of Mormon is true.  It helps me to come unto Christ.
I am so lucky that my parents and church leaders have encouraged me to read this book many times.  I especially love that reading the Book of Mormon is one of the requirements for our YW personal progress program.  That opportunity to read and re-read the Book of Mormon has strengthened my faith immeasurably.  I have put Moroni’s promise to the test.  I’ve read and prayed about this book.  I KNOW it’s true.  I KNOW it brings us closer to Christ.

8.     Another life lesson is that I have learned to listen to wise advice from my parents, my church leaders and the general authorities of the Church.
My patriarchal blessing gives me some great advice about my education.  As many of you know, I’m homeschooled.  Homeschooling requires a lot of personal accountability and effort.  I love learning but I have struggled with the personal accountability.  Every time I heed the wise advice from my patriarchal blessing, I refocus and am able to accomplish what I need to accomplish.  There many people in my life who have helped me to focus and give me great advice.  I’m grateful for those people and leaders.

9.     Finally, I know that it is important to listen to the still small voice of the Spirit.  6 years ago, I didn’t listen to the Spirit.  I was traveling home from public school on the bus.  I had my violin with me strapped to my back.  I had a spiritual prompting to put it down under my seat.  But I didn’t recognize it as a spiritual prompting.  A few minutes later I had the prompting again.  Again, I didn’t “listen.”  Then we were in an accident.  I ended up having to go to the hospital because I had whiplash and my back was in a lot of pain.  I know that if I had listened to the Holy Ghost, I wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital.  That experience has led me to be more aware of spiritual promptings.  I have tried to “listen” ever since.

These life lessons have helped me.  Even though I am only 17, and I’m continuing to learn and add to my life lessons, I thought that these might be helpful to others who are struggling with challenges of faith.  They have helped me.