Your Journey Home

  I love this quote by Theodore Roosevelt and have had a lot of thoughts in my head about why he would say such a thing...  Why is this quote so popular and why did he feel the need to say it? Well, It's because it happens all.of.the.time. Many people feel the need to constantly compare their lives to others. Comparison can come in all shapes and sizes.  People will compare how to properly parent, how to look good, how to take care of a home, how to have a good relationship, how to work, how to play, how to cook, how to be religious, how to clean and just about everything you can possibly think of. Comparison is toxic. It only leads to one of two things:  1.  Judgements towards the people around you who do not deserve it.  & 2.  Negative feelings about yourself that should not be there. Therefore, Comparison IS the thief of joy.  There is no way we can have joy in our lives when we are comparing our lives to others...

Everyone handles trials differently.  There is no one size fits all for a trial... and each person will go through different challenges, trials and hard times throughout their time in mortality.  There is so much that goes into a specific trial for a specific person that we just can't know FULLY what they are going through.  We can definitely try to understand, but we just won't know exactly what they are going through until we walk a mile in their shoes. I am very open about some of my trials I have faced, because I truly believe that being open may help others along the way.  I am very open about my trials because I have gained a firm and unshakable testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ due to some of the trials I have faced.  I am very open about my trials because I want to share my testimony of the Atonement and the miracles I have seen in my life because of it. I am very open about my trials because I am grateful in many aspects for the trials I hav...

God did not send us here to earth to fail.  He sent us here because he knew of our potential and knew who we could become. He gives us trials to refine us, to bring us closer to him and to cause us to seek His loving guidance. Everyone's life has a different story.  A different start, middle and ending.   From the time I can remember, my dad had suffered with Crohns disease.  {For those of you who haven't heard of it or don't know what it is, look it up.}  This was a huge trial on my family.  He had the absolute worst of it all.  Think of having constant cramps in your stomach, every day all day.  What manner of living would that cause you to want to have?  I know that when I have cramps of any kind, all I want to do is lay down and do absolutely nothing. There were a few times where he probably should have died.  Like when his liver started hardening, and after much fasting, prayer and priesthood blessings he miraculou...

I loved the movie "Meet the Mormons" that recently came out in theaters. I especially love the song that David Archuleta sings called "Glorious" that gives me goosebumps. What I love the most about this movie is a quote by the "Humanitarian" that says: "I am perfect in one thing, I am perfect in trying."  This is how I feel as well. There are days where I try so hard and despite my efforts fall short, there are days that I try so hard and things fall perfectly into place just the way I had imagined. No matter the outcome, what's important is that I keep trying. A few months back I wrote a post called "Perfectionism" and the struggle I face almost daily.  I feel like because of social media, people get a wrong idea of our lives. Most people only post the best things happening in their lives and leave out all the hard, negative moments that we each face daily. It's easy to play the game of comparison and wonder why everyone else h...

I believe dreams can be a gift from God. I truly believe that God sometimes blesses us with answers to prayers in the form of a dream. I have had many dreams about my dad since he passed away, but two that have REALLY stood out to me.  They are so vivid..... every color, fiber and particle of the dream is enhanced one hundred fold. I'm not going to go into all the specifics of my dreams, because they are very personal and spiritual to me.  But, a piece of one of the dreams has stood out to me for some time and I've felt the need to share. Part of the dream went like this: I pulled up to a mall (could be described as something close to the Gateway mall).  I wasn't really sure why I was there, but I looked out my front window of my car and noticed my dad.  But, he didn't notice me.  He was pushing one of those big trash carts.  While he was pushing the cart, he would open each garbage can along the sidewalk and throw whatever trash was inside each g...

The other day as I was driving down the freeway, minding my own business, a car came barreling up behind me.  The car got right close up to my back bumper and swerved around me at the last minute and then proceeded to lay on the horn.  As the car drove past me, I looked over to see who could be so angry and to my surprise, I saw a really darling looking girl in the drivers seat.  While she looked darling, she had the most disgusting scowl on her face and was screaming something at me from where she was sitting.  I honestly was in shock, I couldn't believe that she was really so upset at me that I was in the right hand lane, going the speed limit, and she had to go around me. I was kind of bugged there for a minute, like really bugged.  To the point I wanted to yell something back at her just to make myself feel better.  Then I got to thinking... I shouldn't take it personal.  She is probably having a bad day.  She is probably stressed.  ...

Keep in mind:  This is very personal for me, but it was quite therapeutic to write this all down and to share with others. I hope that by me sharing it can help at least one person out there. There have been a few points in my life where I have really needed to make a big choice.   This isn’t just the little choices or decisions we all make on a daily basis, but a big choice.   Over the last what seems like couple years I have really struggled with something… something that has consumed my thoughts and actions.   Something that has crippled me at times, which has made me not want to even leave my house.   I am learning that many people out there struggle with this same thing called “perfectionism.”   This isn’t the perfectionism that we all think of, but more of a deep, dark pit of despair that I found myself in. I was such a perfectionist that I was never good enough for myself.   I’d look in the mirror and something wa...