1. For saying goodbye.
2. For embracing the new and new hellos.
3. For every need supplied.
4. For new opportunities.
5. For being able to choose again.
I am so grateful for a few things this year. Our dear eldest son, gave us a new daughter. As in he got married. And we love her. Many more days with my hubby, who I could be looking back and sadly missing him. For a very much missed son serving His Lord and Savior on a mission. Children whose cars were in accidents but they were not. Safe and sound and still mine. For the growth of the oldest one at home, living and working "on his own," and for another year with him. For new opportunities and friends in new places. For loving friends who will always be in our hearts and not far away. For new discoveries about myself, and seeing my dreams appear before my eyes. What a great year! Looking forward to 2013.
New Year's Resolutions?
I've decided no more for me.Since relationships are most important to me, I'm focusing my life on that. I want to focus my life on 3 areas. Developing a better relationship with my Lord and Savior. Developing a better relationship and spending better time with my husband and children, and family and friends when I can. And finally, spending my time serving others, professionally and every day opportunities with those in need.
Let's see where this goes. Every year is so busy. What's that song? I'm so
dizzy my head is spinnin'. Haha. That sums up our year. I am sure most
of you can relate. If you have kids and jobs and life events, you're
busy too.
The biggest news in our family is that we
have grown by one. You can see in the above picture, that we gained a
new daughter. Elizabeth Richins of Animas, NM, married our oldest son (An)Drew on March 16th of this year. The next biggest news happened the
very next week. We are very happy with Elizabeth as a part of our
family. She's the only one strong enough to put up with Andrew's antics and she is a
wonderful, happy balance.
If you look at the picture above closely, you will see that it was taken at the reception a week later. Joseph is not dressed like his brothers because he left midweek in between the wedding and the reception to the Missionary Training
Center to be a missionary for our church. It's cardboard Joseph in the
picture. He was surprisingly called to serve in the very same mission as
his older brother Andrew. So, he has been in Ogden, Utah since March of
this year. Actually he ended up spending 3 months at the MTC and call
center because he broke his foot the second week there. He really
enjoyed being an online missionary while he healed up. Joseph's MTC claim to fame was being in the MTC with David Archuletta. He ate lunch with Elder Archuletta often, but never took a picture with him because he felt Elder A deserved to be respected and treated like a normal missionary. So he ended up in
Ogden in late June the day Andrew's mission president left and a new
one came in. Joseph is loving using his musical talent singing at firesides and missionary trainings and conferences.
our Mother's Day chat, ain't he cute?
We decided to stay close to home for vacation this year and spent a few
days at a resort in North Phoenix and enjoyed swimming and local sites.
We want to see more of Arizona since we live here and all. :-)
Early this year, I took a serious look at our budget and discovered a HUGE
gaping hole in our gas budget. We were spending a house payment on gas
for Bret to commute 45 minutes each day to his work. And often 2 or 3
days a week I was also commuting to the same area. Since we have no
control over the price of gas, it was with great reluctance that we
agreed it was necessary to repair the hole and move our family. So, in
the Fall of this year, we enrolled our children in the new schools, put
our house on the market and crossed our fingers. We commuted, all of us
for 3 months. It was a very long, exhausting three months. At the same
time, I also changed real estate companies, and went back to Long
Realty. In mid November we found renters that are hoping to buy within
the year and we moved to Thatcher, Az.
We moved the day after Thanksgiving and its been chaotic every since. Now
instead of all of us commuting here for work every day, Bret commutes on
Sundays to our church in Duncan as he is still the bishop. He is
finishing out the year so that he can wrap up the details of some of his
responsibilities. We will finally attend church together however
temporarily that might be, and actually sit on a bench together
beginning 2013 for the first time in many, many years.We calculated that
in almost 25 years of marriage, we've traveled in the same car to
church only about 3 of those years, because of his various leadership
positions that required his attending meetings before church. His duties as bishop will be over on Jan 6 and perhaps he will stop graying so fast.
But the chaos is winding down, and we can still claim tremendous blessings in our lives.
Drew, Chris, and Jefferson all spent the summer in Des Moines, Iowa selling
DISH tv. Andrew earned a trip to Hawaii which he and his bride are
enjoying as I write this. The boys are going to repeat the experience,
this time with pest control in Denver, Colorado. When Jefferson returns
from that, he will head out on a mission, the location we don't yet
know. The age of missionary service for boys has been lowered to 18.
Andrew has been attending ASU, through a program at our local Jr College. He
will be very close by (2 blocks) studying business for the next 2 years.
Chris has been attending the local Jr College and playing basketball. (He is also very close by, next room over, same house, haha) He is serious with a beautiful young lady and we may have news on that next year. Jefferson is enjoying his senior year at Safford High School and participating in their show choir. He is thinking about trying track since he is not allowed to play the sports he wants to because of his transfer. He finished his Eagle Scout paperwork hours before the
deadline. Emily and the other children are in Thatcher Schools. They are
all happy with their new situations. And we are grateful for that.
Emily played volleyball and is now playing basketball. Noah is playing
trumpet in the band. Olivia will finally be taking art lessons soon.
Bret
continues as an Institute teacher which is college level religious
classes. And as I said, being released as the bishop of our former ward.
We have been warmly welcomed into our new ward and will enjoy getting
to know new people and having new opportunities. Dawn continues studying
self improvement, nutrition, EFT, and has added essential oils to her
bag of tricks. She enjoys opportunities to help others heal from
physical and emotional stress and has new opportunities opening up to
her that she will be excited to share as well. She has found a Master's program in Functional Nutrition. She will also be taking a training to be a Wellness Educator for Metagenics and hopefully working with patients to help them heal on every level instead of just getting a prescriptions to cover symptoms. (Which means her real estate days will be coming to a close very soon).
Well,
that is nowhere near a nutshell, but that is our year in summary. We
have so much to be grateful for. A family, our faith, employment. We had
November elections disappointment, but we know WHO is in charge. And we know we
can be prepared for whatever comes by following the teachings of a
loving Heavenly Father. We are grateful for the loving grace of His Son and His influence in our family.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that you and yours are well. Love, The Nortons
1. I allow myself to feel how I feel.
2. I am able to move on.
3. I'm still free to express myself. (today anyway)
4. to enjoy the Sabbath day.
5. for cooler weather.
So, the gist of my little crying fest, was the feeling that America just died.
Why do I feel that way? Because it ended up being so close. We now know that HALF of America is for receiving a handout. (NO it wasn't a "mandate to raise taxes." That's what it boils down to. HALF of America would rather be entertained and lied to than look at the facts and roll up their sleeves for very hard work. I don't mean to offend those few friends of mine who voted for Obama for what they felt were informed choices. I just think this election shows that HALF of America is completely uninformed.
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
Benjamin Franklin
It is more evident than ever that if you get your information from CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, or the gosh awful MSNBC, that you aren't getting the truth. You aren't. When a so called journalist on MSNBC can go from getting a quiver up his leg four years ago, to becoming a screaming, angry, anti-white, racist accusing maniac, and still have a job??? There's something wrong. When any reason at all for disagreement is labeled racist? How about I don't like his policies, plain and simple. Our media is now in control of the truth, and they are only telling us half of it. It's propaganda and it's Satanic.
This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation
of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights
which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of
ignorance that tyranny begins.
ditto
And not only that, I am so disappointed in those who claim to be conservative in leadership. Already left and right, they are abandoning conservative principles because they think America wants more moderation. I couldn't disagree more. We need more conservative leaders and principles and most of the people I know in rural America agree. We've reached the tipping point folks. While American principles will always be true, America has been given possibly a fatal blow. It's apparent there was rampant voter fraud, that will likely continue. The winners are sore winners. What's up with that? An example.
This newsweek cover is the equivalent of na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye. And notice the caption. You're old, you're white, you're history? It's that double standard again. Liberals get away with everything. If Mitt had won, and he was in that Napoean garb, and the headline said You're young, you're black, you're through, there would be no end to the outcry.
And by the way, I know a lot of old white men who are pretty darned decent, hard working, the backbone of this country. They worked hard jobs, fought for our nation, raised families, bailed out their bratty kids, and sometimes raised their grandkids. I know a guy in Washington. We were friends. We are no longer. Because of his highly smug holier than thou condescending attitude toward me and others who dared argue with his brainwashed liberal double standard thinking. Out of one side of his mouth he advocated Christ like behavior. And out of the other, he castigated stupid, racist, tea party conservatives. Who needs that kind of friend? Not me.
In my church, the old guys are in charge. The President of our church, his counselors, and the highest leadership...I don't think any of them are less than 60. See, a younger than 50 year old President, is likely to be worldly, concerned with how he is thought of, and hip, cool, popular. That is exactly what we got. Someone who'd rather party harty with Hollywood and rockstars, than show up to briefings and care whether people are being murdered in another country on his watch. An "old white" man, or even black or hispanic or what have you, has been around long enough to raise children, have a career or two or three, enjoy grandchildren, think about what's really important in life, and lived through enough Presidents to know cycles and to remember back to stories told decades before by his "old white" grandfather. It's called perspective.
Our President did nothing the first four years except get us deeper into trouble and then blamed all the back lash on someone else. I don't recall Ronald Reagan blaming one thing on Jimmy Carter. He simply stepped in and got to work. Our token "old white" Democrat, Harry Reid is pushing today to raise the debt ceiling ANOTHER 2 TRILLION DOLLARS! It is unsustainable. Let me ask those of you who are so into Obama being so kind and handing out goodies to everyone in trouble. If YOU were out of a job, didn't have enough money coming in, were behind on your mortgage payments, were almost out of food, and your neighbor knocked on your door, and said, I'm hungry, I don't have insurance and I have a hospital bill, I want a cell phone, I need my light bill paid, would you give me $10,000? What would your response be? Hold on a second, I'll go steal $10,000 from my neighbor's safe and you can have it? I'm thinking you'd likely apologize and tell him you don't have the money and you are sorry you can't help.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”C.S Lewis
But that is not what our government is doing. And we are about to lose the house and every resource we have. We WILL go bankrupt. I don't know what that looks like, but America had better wake up and get prepared. Speaking of waking up, here's something sobering to listen to.
“Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.” Voltaire
My rant is over, but here is what I'll end with. Where are we in the collapse of our nation? I learned about Carle Zimmerman and his work when I was a student at BYU almost 30 years ago. When I heard it, I scoffed. AMERICA would never....Here are the 8 steps to the decline and collapse of a nation. We just missed our opportunity to hold it back a little longer.
1-Marriage lost its sacredness [and] is frequently broken by divorce
2-Traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost
3-Feminist movements appeared, and women lost interest in child bearing and mothering, preferring to pursue power and influence.
4-There is increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general.
5-An acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion occur
6-There is refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities
7-A growing desire for, and acceptance of, adultery is evident
8-There is increasing interest in, and spread of, homosexuality, sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.
PS. I'm not proud to have this opinion, but based on all the intrusive federal departments that we have to tell us how to live our lives, I made up a saying a few years ago. "We are only as free as THEY want us to be, and when they don't want us to be that free anymore, we won't." (Buries her head and cries because it is sad but seems true) Fortunately, I can still prosper in any circumstance, I can live and love and choose happiness no matter what my circumstances are, and I can worship publicly and privately.
So, I sat there with hopeful expectancy, wondering which side was right, who would be ahead, whether it was really close, whether there would be a landslide either way, and watched the results coming in early. First one or two states to one, and a few to the other. And then the moment everyone was waiting for; Ohio. After it was called, I waited to see if Rove was right or not, and knowing the necessary combinations, kept watching. And then Colorado fell. And I was dazed. I waited long enough to hear Romney's concession speech. And then I went to bed.
The next morning I poured over the news sites I access, and then it just hit me. What hit me? Well, it hit me that the ugliest campaign in history had just been waged against a TRULY good man. Whatever the disagreements in his politics or his taxes or his business, he was a man of true integrity. (And on many more than one occasion, Romney simply took the high road)
And no, I think Obama has very little if any integrity. Is this what politics has really come to? Character assassinations? Vilification of those who are focusing on policy and problem solving? BILLIONS of dollars on both sides were spent toward something that in a grander scheme is meaningless. I have a gift for ideas. And maybe they aren't the most brilliant. But if *I* can come up with better ideas than how we are doing it, then brighter people can as well.
I'd like to see an equal number of debates where each candidate gets to choose the moderators for "their" chosen debate/s. I'd like to see the networks have to sponsor for FREE (or paid by the campaigns) one or two channels where the candidates can choose the programming they want and once a week go on their channel and have a chat with the American people tuning in. If Mitt had an hour every week for him to discuss things, rather than being misrepresented by sound bytes? It would have been all over. And it occurs to me with the technology we have, they could have done that anyway. Why didn't they?
And I think I speak for millions of Americans when I say, there are some of us who believe that America died on November 6, 2012. The principles that made America great were on the table. We had someone espousing those principles. And it seems at least 50% of America said those principles don't matter. I know that is an oversimplification. But when an election comes down to birth control and health insurance, we are far beyond Constitutional principles.
Back to caring. I am in the healing arts. Yeah, I'm a realtor, but my greatest successes outside my home have been being a part of the healing of hearts, minds, and bodies. For 20 years I did it in my own home, and then I started reaching out to the hundreds around me I could help. I'd love to make a living at it, but most of the time I volunteer to help those who are suffering. Because I know I can help, and because they need it or have asked me to help. One of my greatest complaints I have in certain situations, is that some leaders, teachers, people seem simply not to care about those who are suffering. In effect they SEEM to be saying, "I don't care what your problem is, stick it in your ear."
So, I may be sounding like (along with the evil conservatives) I don't care if someone needs help with food, shelter, health insurance. But I'm not. I don't think most Americans have stopped to think whether it is the function of government to provide ANY of that. And I propose that it is not. You know what? I don't propose it, the CONSTITUTION does. People in our day don't get the importance of that divinely inspired document. You think the issues we have today have never existed before? Think again.
Some of the brightest minds in history got together over 200 years ago and they studied every form of government in history. And they said, "how can we take the best of what there was, and leave the worst behind?" And then they argued for months. They drafted legal documents and argued some more. They finally locked themselves in a room and determined not to come out until they all agreed. And they themselves proclaimed it to be a miracle when they did. That was the spark that made our nation great. What did they have? a REPUBLIC (if they could keep it). I bristle when I hear the leaders at the highest level calling it a democracy, something our founding fathers thought was evil. Do the research.
Guess what it says? It is summed up in the preamble.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America."
The Constitution limits the power of the Federal government. And the Bill of Rights grants us the rights we are guaranteed. THE ONLY THING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should be allowed to do, is:
1) Insure domestic tranquility.
2) Provide for the common defense.
3) PROMOTE the GENERAL welfare. (This does not mean PROVIDE).
4) Secure the blessings of liberty to them and to us who came later and to ours who come later.
THAT IS ALL. Anything else, the states get to do. If any law infringes on any of those purposes, it is simply un-Constitutional. So yes, I DON'T CARE about the suffering of others if it means our sacred documents and liberties are trampled upon, and if people expect the government to relieve that suffering. Here is how I DO CARE.
America is and has been, and God please bless that we will, continue to be a "shining light on a hill" as Reagan described. We take care of our own and we take care of others. We come to the rescue of those in need, not only in our own country, but in other nations. Where would Europe be today, if we had not intervened in WW2? I'll start locally. We had a tragedy a few months back in our little town. Tragic loss. And the TEENAGERS of our town pulled everyone together and made a HUGE difference.
In our state. A few years ago, Arizona's largest wildfire (I think) ravaged Northern Arizona. One particular community was evacuated, and the neighboring community literally opened the doors to their own homes and invited that community in. Ranchers and farmers got all their trailers together and rescued all the livestock. It was an AMAZING act of neighborly kindness!!! Last year, that community had the chance to have the favor returned, when yet another MASSIVE fire ravaged Arizona. The tables were turned, and the other community did the same thing. And guess what, the federal government didn't have to do it. The hearts of a free people were moved to action. Neither does the federal government have to take care of individuals.
In our nation. 9/11. How many people dropped everything and stood in long lines to donate blood? Donated their time to go to NYC and other places like Louisiana and now the Northeast, to help clean up after terrorist and national disasters. Our uniformed servicemen and women are some of the best there is. We see over and over and over how GENEROUS Americans are. And that is right how it should be. Churches, families, neighbors, helping those around them and near them. If the trillions of dollars taken from Americans each year in taxes were returned to them to spend or share how they wished, we'd return to being unstoppable as a nation. And don't get me started on income tax. THAT was also originally UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Corrupt men changed it.
So, I guess I haven't really said why I think America died. But maybe that is best left for part 3.
1. The election is over.
2. God is in heaven. (We're going to need Him).
3. It rained today.
4. We're moving and the awful commutes are over.
5. I have a roof over my head.
So, it's 3 days after the election. I've never been so disappointed in my life in an election. I mean, I was annoyed during the Clinton years. And I thought there couldn't possibly ever be a worse President (I'm speaking mostly here of his horrific morals). But I was wrong. Lest anyone reading think I've been HUGE fans of Republican presidents, you'd be wrong. The Bush's were only marginally better in my book. And it was GB2 that made me leave the party. Sure he handled 9/11 great, but the spending and the medicare, and the wars. When he left, we were in a mess, that can be argued was created by Clinton, but I'm not even going there.
I used to get these fund raising calls from the Rs. And I gave it to them straight. The trouble in this country is because most Rs abandoned true conservative principles. When Rs start acting like Rs again, I MIGHT consider a donation. Until then, TAKE ME OFF YOUR ROLLS! There wasn't a nickel's worth of difference between an R and a D. Until Obama.
Let's just start with his character. Yes, he has a beautiful family. So what? I get told a lot that lots of people voted for him because he cares. Really? Cares about what? Mitt Romney has a beautiful family and he cares. Well, he has a very quiet history that you have to search out to find out if he cares, because if you listen to the lame stream media, they say he's a liar, a cheat, and a murderer. A dirty venture capitalist who doesn't give a darn about employees. WHATEVER! And that came straight from Obama's campaign. So much for caring. Sounds like slander and dirty politics to me.
Compare their histories. A hard working, business man with a family, education, experience in business and government, who was a former missionary, pastor, and known for his kindness and generosity. So squeaky clean, that the only dirt that could be found was a story from his school days about bullying. The rest of it simply had to be manufactured.
And then there is Obama. An international civilian with friends who are truly frightening, a former drug user, fraternizer, and candidate so vicious that he won most of his elections by getting sealed information out of court documents and revealing them days before his elections, destroying the reputations of those he ran against. A man who voted to leave aborted babies who survived on a table to die. Who does that? Does that sound like someone who cares? Not to me. A man who says government should be the keeper of our brother, but whose own brother lives in a hut in practical squalor. Hmm.
Ok, well maybe his policies are better. I mean he got elected. Let's start with the economy. He had no business experience, practically no political experience (since he very rarely ever voted for anything), and he has a tendency to blame everything on others. Like the Republicans. It's really all their fault. Except his first two years, he had both branches of Congress controlled by Dems. What was the trouble then? He reaches across the aisle by basically saying, "Look this is the way it's going to be. PERIOD. If you don't like it tough! Pass the bill, then we'll talk." That's not reaching across the aisle, and it's not compromise. When you are the president and your budget is defeated 99-0 in the Senate which is controlled by the Democrats??? Doesn't it make you wonder? What was wrong with that budget that not one single Democrat would vote for it? FOR THREE YEARS!
But he CA-RES. He wants women to have their birth control and unlimited government funded abortions. And he wants every person in America to have insurance forced upon them whether they want it or not. And he wants every brown skinned person to get a free pass into America and all of her social programs so they can vote for him. And that Mitt Romney. He wants to go into every one's house and take away their birth control, and force them to keep babies when they are raped, and let people die without insurance and he hates brown people. OK? You really have to venture out of MSNBC people.
Any woman in the world can walk down to Wal Mart and get her $10 birth control prescription or buy a box of condoms. Why in the WORLD do my tax payer dollars or do insurance dollars need to go to cover that? Abortion. It's murder. There, I said it. And women who kill their babies in utero without a darn good reason are...I'll stop before I say something offensive. Yeah, I know. It's not very touchy-feely. I'm going to walk that back. Because I know there are some very difficult circumstances that women have to make. I am not unsympathetic to SOME of them.
Since abortion is legal in America and a President can't take that away from ANYONE, I think it ought to be between a woman and her doctor and her God. And a doctor shouldn't be forced to provide it. But government needs to get out of it. Why should I have to pay money for someone else to kill her baby because it's inconvenient in 93% of the cases!!! The other 7% truly have my sympathies because they are making heart breaking decisions. I get that. I'm a woman. Almost 1 million dollars a DAY goes to fund abortions at Planned Parenthood. That's almost 3500 lives snuffed out a day in just America, again FOR CONVENIENCE. Those numbers don't include rape and life or health of the mother. What happened to safe, legal, and RARE?
So, that seems like enough issues for one post. I'm not going to be "getting it" for several days. So, I'll just keep letting you know what other things I don't get. I've never cried after an election before. I did this time. And I'll tell you more about that in part 2.
1. the election is almost here.
2. that my talk is over.
3. that I heard from EN3 today.
4. that it's beautiful Fall weather.
5. that the next president is OBVIOUS. To me anyway.
So, a week ago, I was asked to give a talk at the Institute for devotional Tuesday. It was on citizenship, being involved in the community, and voting. Ugh! A hard talk to give without losing people. I found a great resource to help young and old alike in making a decision. I included these in my talk today. Here they are.
How do you know which
candidate to vote for? We know the church does not support particular
candidates even if one of the Presidential candidates is a member of our faith.
The church is strictly non partisan on this point. Where the church will speak
out is on moral issues of doctrinal importance. Whether you think members of
the same gender should be able to marry, it is a moral issue the church has
addressed, and they ask us to support that issue. In the end, we each have the
choice to support it or go with our own opinion. The church has taken stands on
other similar issues.
Here are some suggestions for
weighing the differences with candidates.
1-Use REASON instead of
emotion. Especially be aware of fear tactics to sway you.
2-Use KNOWLEDGE. Go to the
candidates websites and read their plans, stands on issues, etc. Use several
sources of news. Its very easy in our day to fact check. But I’ve found even
with fact checking, the truth can be hard to identify.
3-Study the ISSUES. Are they
real or contrived? Some may be running around screaming the sky is falling.
Maybe it’s not. Maybe it is. But find out why they are making the claims they
are and whether they have merit.
4-Look at the candidates IMAGE.
Write a list of your most important character traits or characteristics. If
honesty, ability, experience, patience, determination are important to you,
look for evidence of those traits in your candidate.
5-Look at their STRENGTHS real
and perceived, and their weaknesses. Is their any validity to claims by their
opponent?
6-Pay attention to PROMISES. A few presidents back, “read my lips, no new
taxes,” came back to haunt that President. Ask what power the office that is
being sought has, and whether the candidate will be able to carry through with
promises being made.
7-STANDING on principle or
POSTURING for ego? Can you trust this person to do what he/she says, or is it
all for the bigger show?
8-ACCOUNTING vs ATTACKING. It’s
expected that there will be an accounting of experience and the course each
candidate claims they will take. If the majority of a campaign is spent
attacking the other candidates, see if you can figure out why. Ask yourself: Is
the charge a legitimate call for accounting or a personal attack? If personal
deficiencies are claimed, would they in actuality hinder the execution of duties,
or are they immaterial to the office sought?
9-ACTION or REACTION. Be
independent in your thinking and choosing. Base it on what YOU have researched
and found and believe. Ask those you respect their opinion. Use their
information to draw your own conclusions on candidates and issues.
10-A or B. Make your choice and
then find someone who feels opposite and ask them why. Have a good discussion
NOT argument. Determine if you still feel the same or has your opinion changed.
These came from an article in my church magazine from 1972 and I thought some of them were excellent. Particularly 1, 5, 7, 8. I think those are critical. Pray, vote, trust.
1. Vehicles that work.
2. A home that is safe.
3. Friends who are there even if they don't realize it.
4. Surprises.
5. Work.
There's this little "B" movie that I love. It's called Facing the Giants. And it has several scenes that are thought provoking. I came to blog today with the words on my mind, "if we win, we praise Him, if we lose we praise Him." That's from the second clip I'm sharing. Then my mind immediately went to a song we sang when I was in choir in High School. "I will praise ye Oh Lord Among the People." It's now running in the back of my mind. I tried to find a clip of a choir singing it but can't, but that's what my heart is singing. I love the reminder from the movie, that praise and gratitude are in order no matter what. We can always find something to be grateful for. It's something I try to remind myself of daily. And then the Giants move in. You know the Giants? Fear, failure, doubt, and so forth. I love the idea of the Lord as a stronghold. A place that has been fortified with strength for protection. We can go to Him for that needed strength, defense, protection. I love this scene below.
And it reminds me of my favorite Psalm. My Granny taught me to love the Psalms. I love the 27th. When He is your light and strength, who really should you fear? In times of trouble he hides us in His pavilion and sets us on a rock. The whole chapter is filled with applicable wisdom for me in the last few years and right now. I just love it. Every time I read it.
And I'm a believer in faith being made manifest in action. When there are things I want to accomplish I try to remember to have faith but also not to just sit back and wait. Brigham Young said, (ok, I can't find it, I'll insert it later), but he basically said you can't pray for rain and not plant your fields or expect the Lord to plant the fields. And that idea is a part of this clip below. I love the idea of praying for rain and preparing fields. And open doors. And the Lord's timing.
Anyway, there's lots on my mind. But, in spite of my own "trials" I can think of ever so much I have to grateful for. 8 right off the top of my head. I love my family. I'm going to ignore the Giants.
