Sharing

Remember when you were a kid and begged your parents to let them bear your testimony?  Well maybe you don't because you weren't that kid, but I was.  I remember my dad telling me I had to wait until I was old enough, and then one day I became old enough and I stopped wanting to (I know sad...). I feel like I don't have any great experiences or anything important to share, so why get up there.

Anyway.  I was sitting in sacrament meeting today, it was at the beginning and I was toying with the idea of getting up and sharing my testimony.  And then my bishop called us to action.  He told us if we had those feelings to get up and share our testimonies.  (Just a note, I'm not in a ward that often has awkward pauses, in fact I can't remember the last time that we had one...)  I knew that he was speaking to me, so did I get up right away? No, not me.  I waited until the last minute and was the last person to bear my testimony.  Yep, pretty cool, huh. 

But I did get up!!:)  And I shared about how God has a plan for us (because He really does), he really wants to turn us into temples like one of the sisters from the Relief Society broadcast shared last night.  He wants to help us so bad, but we have to ask him for help.  Anyway, I know I shared more along those lines, but that was the topic!:)

And then after church I had 3 people thank me for sharing my testimony.  Wow, really, something I said made a difference.  Sometimes I feel so insignificant.  Sometimes I feel like I don't have anything worth sharing and that my experiences are so small compared to other people's.  Sometimes I feel unworthy of sharing what I know because I have so little experience.  (And sometimes I don't blog, because I don't have anything worth sharing.)  However, I am still an instrument in the Lord's hands and if I listen to Him, I can say things He wants me to say and do things he wants me to do, and become what he wants me to be.  The intermediate song last night really touched me:
It may not be on the mountain height
Or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle's front
My Lord will have need of me.  This part is really how I feel sometimes, I don't have big trials, I don' feel needed...
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,  even if they are small and seemingly insignificant
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

 

 Perhaps today there are loving words
Which Jesus would have me speak;
There may be now in the paths of sin
Some wand'rer whom I should seek.
O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,
Tho dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet:
I'll say what you want me to say.  Because I am his instrument!:)

There's surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth's harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life's short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I'll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I'll be what you want me to be.

And in the end that's all that really matters, being what God wants us to be, not our neighbors, not our friends, not our family, not the world, but God!

What is in your heart?

At the "Celebration of Real Beauty" event that I went to recently, Tara Starling spoke about using makeup as a tool instead of a mask.  She compared it to using a hammer to build or tear down a house.  The hammer is used the same way for both tasks, even the motion is the same; the only difference is the intent - or what is in your heart.  So many things apply to that.  When you give a gift what is your intent, to make someone happy or to look good?  When you invite someone to go with you what is your intent to make them happy, to make you happy (both:), to fulfill an assignment?  When you smile at someone, is it because they have broccoli in their teeth, or because you want to help them feel happy? It is all in the heart; which is a big reason why we our eternally judged on what is in our heart.  Sometimes I have to go through the motions and do something because I know it is the right thing to do, but I know that if I persist my heart will change and I will be able to do it for the right reasons!!:)  Sometimes I do things for the wrong reasons.  Sometimes I do things for the right reasons!:)

My DH and I recently finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo and we decided that a lot of that book is based on his heart.   Why he did the things he did was often to help him get revenge, his heart wasn't in the right place and the repercussions of that was that he wasn't happy.  Even though he did exactly what he wanted to do, he wasn't happy.

So I suggest that when we do things for the right reasons, or at least try to do them for the right reasons we will be happy.  And not the artificial happiness, but the real true Godly happiness!:)  Sometimes it might just be for a fleeting moment that you can feel that happiness, but it does happen!:)  I can't judge what is in your heart.  I can only judge what is in my heart (and I can judge fictional characters, because they are fictional and might help me better analyze my own motives!!:).  But I challenge you to look into your heart and figure out why you do the things you do.

Being healthy and beautiful

So yesterday was the second ever Celebration of Real Beauty event; I loved the last one so much that I went again (and took my sisters!:)  Anyway while we were there we went to a vendor called isagenix.  They wanted us to guess our metabolic age, so we did, and then they told us how close we were (I was 25).  Anyway, it was so confusing and I felt like that company really didn't jive with the rest of the messages about how we are all beautiful.  So I decided to do this post on BMI.  I did do a little research on the internet, but most of this post is based on my own experience and what I remember from classes back in college!:)

First of all BMI is not the most accurate test for telling if a person is overweight, for the biggest reason, it doesn't factor in a person's muscle weight. It is simply how much you weigh divided by your height squared.  When finding out how fat you are, there are a lot of other tests that you can take and a lot better ones.

This test we took to discover our metabolic age told my SIL that she needed to lose about 5 pounds, but she was 7 pounds under her perfect BMI.  How does that make any sense?  Then my SIL's mother came and they told her she was obese.  That didn't make any sense to me.  I wouldn't call her obese by any means, overweight, yes, but obese? Wow.  I'm sure that made all her training for 5Ks and triathlons (yeah she'd run a triathlon that morning.) worth it.  My SIL said that she was the healthiest that she had been in a really long time.

Anyway, my point is that BMI doesn't  describe how healthy we are.  It doesn't describe how beautiful we are.  I decided to put my scale away and I have felt so happy about where I am physically since I did that, instead of worrying am I at my perfect BMI, which is about 136 pounds, and I currently weigh 143.  I am still healthy.  I try to eat right, I exercise - and I'm getting even better at exercising!!:) At this point in my life it isn't a priority, my kids are. So when I use these tools to tell me how healthy I am and how beautiful I am I am just making myself feel bad.  And honestly I don't need anything else to point out how bad I am, because those pressures are all around me.  I need things to help me feel good about myself and valuable and beautiful!:)  Because I am and so are you!!:)  Society is so good at telling us that beautiful is this or that, but it isn't.  We are all so beautiful.  We are all daughters of God!!:)  So celebrate your beauty, celebrate you and your uniqueness!!:)

Exercise

So recently I've noticed something in myself.  When my allergies picked up the beginning of August I stopped exercising because I felt so yucky,  and then I had a harder time with stressful situations that occurred (like car repair problems *3, or kids).  I'd only been exercising for about 20 minutes 2-3 times a week, but it made a huge difference for me.  This week I started exercising again and I feel so much better.  It is amazing to me that such a little thing can make such a big difference.  When I finally made the connection I remembered this post that I had read a while back: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/how-exercise-can-calm-anxiety/?smid=fb-share&_r=0
on exercising mice.  In my own experience now I can say that I agree with the results of this study.

Another thing that I have found is exercising is exercising...5 minutes is better than nothing.  Sometimes all I can do is 5 minutes, but when I do it I feel that much better!!:)  My brother told me about a site called, sworkit.com and I love it!!:)  It gives you random circuit training exercises and you don't need any equipment to do them.  Sometimes I do a harder workout and sometimes I'm like I can handle doing some stretching in between my workouts today.  The best part for me is that you can set it to do just 5 minutes!!:)  It is so awesome and I paid $1 for the app and now can see videos if the pictures they put up aren't clear enough.  I love this program!!:)

So I think I'm going to start exercising every day since it really is so good for me, even if it is only 5 minutes!!:)  I like being able to handle stress in my life!!:)