Some Things I've Learned About Life

I have this journal. I made it sometime in high school. Maybe 9th or 10th grade… Okay, my first entry was in 2008. I write in it every once in a while. More so in high school. Once or twice since I've been in College Station. Now I blog. But I don't want to be too open about more personal experiences, so today I wrote in my old journal so I would have this memory written down. Any who, after writing in it I browsed through older entries. It was kind of painful to read some of them. Embarrassing and heart breaking. It had silly teenage girl self-esteem problems. It talked about my ex-boyfriend, and how I thought we were meant to be. And when I decided to move to College Station. When I met Jacob. And when we broke up and how hard it was. Yeah, that was the last entry before today. Probably the most painful, reliving one of the worst parts of our relationship. But going through all of my ups and downs I did take away a few things I wanted to share. So here they are:

Life doesn't go according to plan. And that's okay. That's always been a struggle for me. I get this idea in my head of exactly how it's going to be. And then it doesn't happen that way, so I get upset. And by doing so I ruin the moment, the memory, whatever the case may be. I let myself ruin it. On our honeymoon Jacob told me there will be NO plans. If we want to do something, then we'll go do it. But he wasn't going to let me plan things out, only to have the plans change, and for me to be upset while we're on our honeymoon. This obviously happens way too often. But I'm lucky that he's stuck by my side.

Life is hard. Everyone has their own experiences and their own trials. What's hard for one person, may be easy for another. And what's easy for one person, may be hard for another. But you know what? I made it through all of my trials. And I always came out stronger. Seriously. My journal isn't that great of a record, but I did highlight some major events/ experiences and I always came out better no matter how difficult it was. And that gives me hope.

The gospel is true. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or as many people are more familiar, I'm Mormon. If you want to know more about it, check this out… or just ask me. Even if you don't associate yourself with a religion, I promise you by doing things as simple as praying daily, and reading the words of God. It can truly change your life. Heavenly Father is there. He knows you, and he is so aware of you.

And on that note I wanted to mention a few more things.

I'm so grateful for the priesthood, and one thing in particular, Father's blessings. So you know how I said Heavenly Father is aware of you? In every single one of my Father's blessings, my dad has gone in not really knowing what is on my mind, but his blessing is everything and more of what I needed at that time. I'm so grateful for the blessings my dad gave me growing up. I'm also grateful for the example of my father in-law to my husband, and to me! All three men have been great examples and have blessed my life because they are worthy priesthood holders.

I'm also grateful for patriarchal blessings. My husband and I got married on a Friday, the Sunday before is when he got his. I almost feel selfish because it mentions his spouse pretty often, way more than mine did. But I'm also extremely grateful. This week our patriarchal blessings answered my prayers. And it's amazing how much I can still receive comfort from mine. I got mine almost 4 years ago. Which really is a lifetime of experiences ago. But it still gives me strength.

To sum it up…

Life is hard. But the Lord is there. He knows you. And he's watching over you. Don't give up. Things may seem the worst they've ever been, but you'll make it through. And you'll be stronger because of it.

Life is pretty great when you think about.