Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sweet Sabbath

Hey, Jacquie Here.

On a scale of 1 - AWESOME right now, I think my Sabbath Day was AWESOME and a half! :)

Don't you just love when you go to church and ALL THREE blocks are just so powerful and amazing? And you feel like every talk and every lesson was prepared JUST for you? I know I do. (If you are unfamiliar with the LDS church, check this out)

Well that was today. Some of my favorite things to ask for in my Sunday morning (HA! "Sunday Morning"- One of my favorite songs EVER) prayers are: That I will be able to feel the spirit while I am at church that day, that I will be able to recognize someone in particular's needs and be able to help them in some way, and that I will be able to recognize when a lesson or talk is something that I especially need to hear.

HELLO! All three of those requests were made clear to me today. Love it.

So, even though all three blocks were just wonderful (Great talks in sacrament meeting; learned about covenants in Sunday School), I want to talk about Relief Society today. My lovely, sweet roommate Jordan Walls gave the lesson and I watched her prepare for it all week. She's so great. How cool is it that I have this Spiritual Giant living under the same roof as me? (Gee, I hope it rubs off on me!) Anyway, the lesson was centered around a talk given by Sister Elaine S. Dalton called "Remember Who You Are!" (General Young Women Meeting, April 2010). It was all about our individual worth as women in the church.

-We talked about a lot of the Young Women values (brought back memories) with an emphasis on Divine Nature, Individual Worth, and Virtue.

-Remember this scripture about virtue? It's short and sweet:
Proverbs 31:10 - Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
Going along with Virtue, we need to make sure that we are always living virtuous lives so that the Holy Ghost is always welcome in it. Jordan said (I paraphrase), "We may not have complete control over what we look like etc.. But we have complete control over whether or not we have the spirit with us". So true, right? Never really thought of it that way. There are a lot of things we can't control in our lives, but we DO have control over that and THAT is probably the #1 most important thing. And when we have the Spirit with us, others really CAN see it in our countenances. I can't even tell you how many amazing girls I know who are just so beautiful because the Spirit and the Gospel shine through in their countenances. About this, Jordan said (and I love this...), "The Holy Ghost literally makes you more attractive!". Haha. Love it.

-We talked about thinking positive thoughts about ourselves because, as women, a lot of us sometimes struggle with self-worth and giving ourselves credit for things. It's not that we should think selfish or conceited thoughts about ourselves. But it is really important that we remember our good qualities and focus on those while trying to strengthen our not-so-good ones. When we think positive thoughts about ourselves, our success rate goes up. We are able to get closer to reaching our full potential of what Heavenly Father wants us to be! Yes!

- We talked about seeing the good in others. Replace negative thoughts you have about others with three positive things. It will make it SO much easier to see the good in them and actually love them for it. Really, try it. Remember this scripture? Matthew 5:44 - But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (emphasis added). It's as simple as this: Pray for the people you have a hard time loving - try to see them through a Heavenly Father's eyes. Here's a quote I found on my "Honest Aid" juice bottle this week that went perfectly with this: "If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it!" - Abraham Lincoln. How true that is. If bad things are all we are looking for when we look at a person, then bad things are all that we will find. But, try turning this quote around.. "If you look for the good in people, you will surely find it!".. Also true. And so much better! We should all try to look for the good in people more often, instead of making a "snap judgment" as my Visiting Teacher, Carrie, would say. And when you see the good in people, you can't help but LOVE them!

I kid you not, after this lesson, I couldn't help but just look around the room at all of the super cool and cute women in there and just love every single one of them! Try it; you'll like it. Thanks Jordan!

I am so sorry that this turned into like, a never-ending sermon. I tend to ramble. But I just HAD to share it. How appropriate that I just started a blog. :) Now go find your inner awesomeness and love someone!

Out,
Jacquie.


PS - I promise not all of my posts are going to be like this. I am just on a Sweet Sabbath High right now!

PSS - A few months ago, I posted something really sweet about women on The Roomie Blog. You should read that too. You won't be sorry.

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