"Can I Put On Some Real Clothes Now?"

If you haven't heard Girl In A Country Song yet, push play below and listen. 

Until this song, I'll be honest, I didn't really realize what how this so-called "bro country" was portraying women. Catchy lyrics objectifying women.

Am I going to stop listening to country music? Heck no! It's my jam! Would I love to hear more songs written about girls who have brains? And are ambitious? And worth more than their looks? YES! I really hope this song encourages Nashville song writers to take a step back and say "How can we change the way country music portrays women? How can we help them see that their worth is more than their appearance?"

There's something amazing about women who have a little sass in their step that allows them to stand up for themselves AND other women. I don't think the song is a risky move for them, I think it was the perfect way to get noticed and make a difference.

What do you think about the song?

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He Believes in Us

The other night I decided to open up an old favorite book of mine, "God Wants a Powerful People" by Sheri Dew and I found a quote that I've been pondering on and wanted to share with you.

"The last days are not for the faint of heart or the spiritually out of shape. There will be days when we feel defeated, exhausted, and plain old beat-up by life's whiplash. People we love will disappoint us-- and we will disappoint them. We'll almost certainly struggle with some kind of physical appetite, and perhaps several. Some days it will feel as though the veil between heaven and earth is made of reinforced concrete. 

And we may even face a crisis of faith. In fact, we can count on experiencing trials that will test our testimony, our obedience, and our faith-- because how do we know if we really have a testimony, if we'll really obey, if we really want to be honest and chaste and virtuous, and if we really believe in Jesus Christ, if those things aren't put to the test? 

I have learned in recent years, in ways I never would have anticipated, that none of us are beyond the reach of fear and pain and disappointment so intense that it can threaten, if even just for a short time, our testimony and faith. 

Lest this seem too negative a thought about our lives and our future, I hasten to add that I am nothing if not optimistic about our time here in mortality. 

Everything about our lives is an indicator of our Father's respect for us, that He recommended and selected us for now, when the stakes are so high, when His kingdom is being established once and for all, never again to be taken from the earth. He chose us to run the last leg of the relay, when He needs His strongest, fittest runners. He believes in us."

He believes in US. Even when we question his gospel, doubt his love and wonder if living righteously is really worth it. Even when I cry on my way to school over nothing and turn around and have a mental health day instead of facing reality. Even when we pick up old bad habits we've already repented of. Even when we say things we don't mean and fall short of our true divine potential. 

He still believes in you! 

And if we truly believed, that God actually knew our names, reserved us for these final days, and loved us unconditionally, and wanted him on his team, don't you think we'd all live a little differently? 

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Spending A Month With Isaiah

At the temple last night, I was studying the scriptures. I was praying and asking Heavenly Father to help guide me to something that would help me know what goals I should set for myself for the month of August. I came across the scripture in Doctrine & Covenants 101:37...

"Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; 

but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul."

I realized that I've been spending the past few months working really hard on my body, trying to improve it, lose weight, grow out my hair, etc, etc, etc. Are those all good things? YES! A million times yes, but I realized that this month I need to spend more time focusing on improving my soul. 

So I talked about it with my husband and told Him I'd be setting some new Happiness Project goals for August, especially working on my spiritual side. While he worked on some homework I was reading the August issue of the Ensign and came across this article, Technicolor Isaiah, which also happened to be an answer to one of my goals for August.

Anyone who's ever read anything from the book of Isaiah knows that it is a HARD read. It doesn't really have a story line, and it uses some weird literary forms. 

I'm taking the article's advice and studying it through while looking for references to Christ's Mortal Ministry and highlighting them in RED. That way the chapters will have some structure. One day I hope to go back through and mark these other references...

Christ's 2nd Coming and Millenial: ORANGE

Gathering of Israel: BLUE

Restoration of the Gospel: GREEN

Have you ever read the book of Isaiah? What are you currently doing to improve yourself spiritually? 

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love story part twenty three: the reception

Our reception was perfect. We had it at The Lion House in Salt Lake City, which was walking distance from the temple. After the dinner, we went outside to take a few more family pictures and then we realized, we were late! So we hustled in to our reception just a few minutes late.

My friend had made the sunset painting based off one of our engagements and it was stunning!

Feeding each other the wedding cake was hilarious. I did NOT want that cake in my face, so it took a couple tries before I was brave enough to feed it to him, and I definitely lost!

After having a formal line for about an hour and a half and then doing the cake, I danced with my dad. I picked "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw. If anyone wonders where I got my weak tear ducts from it was him, because we both cried for the whole few minutes.

Then he handed me off to my new husband, and more tears ensued. The happy kind, but the reminiscent kind. Colten and I danced to "Then" by Brad Paisley, which I've always dreamed about dancing to at my wedding. It was the perfect wedding song. 

Then I tossed the bouquet and my friend Danielle caught it. She was pretty excited about it.

Then we made our way down to our getaway car which had been decorated by my sister. We hugged our family and friends, got in our specified "Bride" and "Groom" seats, and drove off to begin our eternal honeymoon.

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50 Shades of... Tolerance?

I'm not sure where I really want this post to go. On one hand, I thought about writing a blog post about my disgust for the 50 Shades of Grey movie trailer, the book, and all it entails. I thought about talking about how it is against my religion, why I won't be seeing it, and how it truly is pornographic. I wanted to stand up for what I believe, and tell the world that I will never stand behind a story that doesn't teach women what healthy relationships are.

But after posting a link to THIS BLOG POST by Fight The New Drug, I started a controversy. A small one, but a controversial conversation nonetheless. It was mostly civil. And I was glad to see it was.

Something that has been on my mind lately is inclusion, tolerance and love. I've been trying to picture Christ in every situation of my life, and thinking, "What would he do if he were here?" And in this situation, I knew he would NEVER be okay with media such as 50 Shades of Grey. He wouldn't watch it and he would probably have encouraged his friends and family to avoid it as well.

But he wouldn't attack those who went to see it would he? He wouldn't tell them they were awful, or horrid or disgusting right? Would he warn them though? Would he tell them it was poison? That the influence of such could truly ruin sexual relationships? And in turn eventually ruin marriages and families? Or give young men and women the wrong ideas about intimacy and marriage?

Bible prophets foretold a time when men would be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." (2 Timothy 3:4) And it's easy to see that that time foretold is now. But we've also been taught to "live peaceably with all men." (Romans 12:18) So how do we do that when we disagree? When we KNOW someone else is wrong?

The current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Thomas S. Monson, has taught: “The face of sin today often wears the mask of tolerance. Do not be deceived; behind that facade is heartache, unhappiness, and pain. … If your so-called friends urge you to do anything you know to be wrong, you be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone." 

And in a talk by Dallin H. Oaks he said, "Our obligation to tolerance means that none of these behaviors—or others we consider deviations from the truth—should ever cause us to react with hateful communications or unkind actions."

We don't have to read the book or see the movie to stand against it, but we also don't have to spread hate to those who are fans. We can each prayerfully decide how to respond to those who love Mr. Christian Grey. Or what to say if someone says, "It's just a story." And we don't have to clutter our minds with the words, thoughts and feelings that the book and movie will most certainly bring. 

We can be tolerant, loving, and patient without being submissive. I stand against the concept of 50 Shades of Gray, but I have friends that LOVE it. I can still be their friends. We don't have to argue about it, but we are EACH entitled to our own opinion. Agency anyone? 

These words of President Hinckley have never rung more true...

“Let us reach out to those in our community who are not of our faith. Let us be good neighbors, kind and generous and gracious. Let us be involved in good community causes. There may be situations where, with serious moral issues involved, we cannot bend on matters of principle. But in such instances we can politely disagree without being disagreeable. We can acknowledge the sincerity of those whose positions we cannot accept. We can speak of principles rather than personalities.”

Principles rather than personalities. Beliefs don't make a person good or bad. We can choose to love as the Savior would, it may not be easy, but it will be worth it.

____________________________________

If you feel that other's could benefit from this message, PLEASE share.

To read more of my thoughts....
Balancing Truth and Tolerance
50 Shades of Grey: Why We're Not Cool With It
50 Shades of Confusion

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The Parable of the 14 Minute Mile

I remember in elementary school when we would participate in the "President's Fitness Challenge" at school. You know the drill- push ups, pull ups, sit ups, sit and reach and the dreaded one mile run. I don't think in all those years I ever ran below a 10 minute mile, even in the best shape of my life.

So as I've started this journey to live a healthier lifestyle, I decided to run the same types of tests monthly. Instead of being stuck in the diet drama by continuing to weigh myself all the time, I decided to look for "non-scale victories." And a faster mile run would be a non-scale victory to me!

But I had to start somewhere. I kept putting it off, but one day I decided to do it. I was at the gym next to my husband running my heart out and gasping for breath. Every inch of my body hurt and was shaky. My husband lapped me. I kept going. I was out of breath but I kept running. And at 14:06 the treadmill showed the one mile mark.

I spent the rest of the evening being sad about it, I was upset I ran such a crappy mile. Couldn't I have pushed myself harder? I should've ran until I passed out. Or not gone so long without running a mile. The negative thoughts kept coming and coming. 

The next morning I realized something, I was PROUD of myself. I ran a whole mile as fast as I could! My leg muscles were sore where I didn't know there were muscles. What a great thing! I had pushed my body hard. And best of all, I ran this mile as a starting point. A beginning of a journey to a faster mile. 

I realized that sometimes the journey is hard. But it has to start somewhere. There has to be a time where you say, "I know I"m not where I want to be, but at least I'm on the right path." Start your journey today. A 14 minute mile is better than never running one. 

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The Book of Mormon

When I was 14 I truly grew to love the Book of Mormon. It became my friend in times of need and strengthened me in times of sorrow. I learned about how to serve and love my family from that book and how to stay positive when life was hard. It taught me even more about my savior Jesus Christ, and what he really was like. 

The Book of Mormon has changed my life because knowing it is true has led me to my most important decisions in life. Knowing it is true means that Joseph Smith saw God, and that there are prophets today. It meant that I needed to do whatever it took to get to the temple, and raise a family. Knowing The Book of Mormon is true meant I lived before I came here, and that I would live again after I die. It meant that I would have eternal family relationships. The knowledge I have gained from my study of The Book of Mormon helps me make daily decisions and inspires me to be a better person. 

And guess what? You can get a FREE COPY of The Book of Mormon because I believe everyone is entitled to the knowledge and peace I have found through it. If you want to learn more click HERE to learn more about what The Book of Mormon is and where it came from!

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