Ups and Downs

I am sorry I have not posted a picture in a while. I will have one for next week!!

As we all should know, life is meant to have its challenges so that we can grow. I am not complaining and saying I have an awful life, but believe me when I say it has been a fairly disappointing week. We can always find the bright side though, and I do have a great experience to share with everyone.

One day this last week, I was not feeling the best about myself as a missionary. I felt that I was not making enough progress in becoming the person God wants me to be. I know that what he wants me to be will be the happiest person I can possibly become. I just felt that I made some backwards progress on this specific day. However, I have learned to love prayer because of days like this. When I really want to communicate with God, I kneel down with my scriptures at my side. As I expressed to Him the feelings of my heart, trying to imagine my real Father in Heaven listening to me, I could feel His love. Psychology would describe this as a relationship that we have created based on fiction, but what happens next is evidence to me of a real God. He communicates with us by His Spirit and also by His words found in the scriptures, written by prophets who He has given authority to speak His word. I thought something so random that it just seemed like my own thoughts being silly. "Jonah 2:3" I thought..no way, I'm just making this up, but I'll check just in case. This is not a scripture I would have remembered specifically, but it turns out that Jonah's experience in that verse and the rest of chapter 2 was very applicable to mine. As I read, I could picture myself being in a "whale." That is very much how I was feeling. As I finished the chapter, I was filled with peace and hope for the coming days. 

This experience may seem insignificant to anyone else who reads it, but to me it was evidence of the reality of God. I would encourage each of you to take all of your compiled feelings at the end of each day, positive or negative, and bring them before God in prayer. If you are willing to look for His counsel and guidance, He will show it to you. Just listen and then keep your eyes open and ready to see His answers. I wish that all of you can have experiences through which you can feel God's love for you. Many people say that if there is a God, he is not influencing society today. That is because people are not seeking Him in their lives. I know that the way to become most successful and happy in life is to keep your heart close to God every day, sincerely searching for Him and His will for you.