Special Times

A week ago today, my husband and I were attending church in Italy, partaking of the sacrament with

fellow saints in Rome. During our previous visit to Italy a couple of years ago, we had an American missionary translating for us, but this time, even though translation was available, we decided to forgo it and just enjoy the meeting in Italian. We loved being there, and though we could only pick out a few words here and there, the spirit was still present in abundance and I felt so grateful and blessed.
We met some very nice people during this visit to Italy while on our tours of the Vatican, the Colosseum, and Pompeii, and had more interaction fellow tourists than normal, so we got to know each other a bit. There was a young couple from DC, a middle-aged couple from England, a mother and daughter from Australia, and a wonderful gentleman from Ireland (who incidentally was on a European tour, and had just traveled to Rome from from Budapest where he had been robbed by a taxi driver.)
It was truly fun visiting with these people, and though we will most likely never cross paths again, the experience left a huge impression on me. We were all there from different walks of life and diverse cultures, but during those hours we spent together on those tours, we were of like minds. We were there to explore and learn about a people whose lives left a big echo in the winds of today - a people whose history affected so many things, and as we laughed and talked and gleaned knowledge, any difference there may have been between us were nonexistent.

Even now, I still think about these 'tour friends', and I pray that the ones who may be without God in their lives will one day find Him, and the ones who do have God in their lives will grow even closer to Him.
This is my prayer for every individual I am blessed to come in contact with.
And who knows? Maybe . . . just maybe, we will be fortunate enough to see one of our tour friends again one day.

Who Will Claim You?

The words 'surrender' and 'give up' are not in Satan's vocabulary, except for when he is using them to
break down a spirit and bend it to his will. During the times when we are on a spiritual high and feel closest to the Lord is when the Adversary and his minions work the hardest to pull us from God's light back into darkness and misery. Misery really does love company, and sadly, Satan is never lonely. He makes sure of it. He is a hunter and collector of the lost, and he is good at his job because he is so organized.
But God and His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, are far stronger and far more organized. As long as we keep our eyes fixed and focused on Them, we will never lose our way, and the Adversary and his minions will have no claim.
What a beautiful thought!

The Masterpiece

I cannot tell you how much I love this quote! Because so many times in life when the road is rocky

and the path is hard to tread, it is so much easier to hear the loud words of the adversary telling us it's hopeless, and that we will never make it, than it is to hear the gentle, peaceful voice of the Lord whispering, "I am right here, just hold onto Me, and you will be okay. I won't leave you to face this alone."

Yes, life is hard, the seas are sometimes rough, and it's going to get even harder, the seas rougher. But we have to remember that we are never traveling alone. The view in front of us is only a tiny glimpse of the bigger picture that is our life, and we only see in part what God sees in full. Our eternal existence is a million-piece jigsaw puzzle, and we can only see the fifty, maybe one-hundred pieces that we have managed to fit together. It's like viewing a Leonardo Da Vinci painting with just a few brushstrokes. We have to be patient and wait on the Lord to reveal His individual plan for each of us, in His own time and His own way.

I promise that if we patient seek the Lord's will, trusting that He will reveal it, clinging to our faith and never give up or give in to the whispering of the adversary, His will will be revealed little by little. Then one day, the unfinished picture we only glimpse will finally be revealed to us as the masterpiece that Heavenly Father has been looking at all along :-)

To Know Him

Like so many others, there have been times in my life when I have been presented with choices that
would determine my immediate destiny - and I'm not talking about a "future set-in-stone" destiny, but an "at-the-moment-and-possible-future" destiny. Some of these choices would bring about accomplishments and the "things" of the world that so many seek after. And all that would be required to receive these worldly treasures is the sacrifice of values and lowering of standards. But in doing that, I could not come to know my Savior, because of the wall of sin I built with my actions. I never want to do that to Him, nor to myself.
So, I choose to let no worldly thing or goal stand between me and my Lord. I will give away, not only all my sins, but all that I am to know Him.

He is Alwas Here

With everything that is going on in the world (violence due to the forces of nature, and of men,) it
seems the chaos surrounding us is growing steadily and is showing no signs of stopping nor turning back. As humans, we seem to continually react to these changing earthly dynamics in different ways:
*Some sink into sorrow, despair and hopelessness.
*Some see the signs for what they are and turn their hearts to God.
*Some refuse to see the signs for what they are and choose instead to live as if all is well.
*Some choose to sink further into evil, fueled by the darkness, unfeeling and uncaring, following after the lusts of their own hearts.

Regardless, each of those reactions are just more signs of the times - signs that testify of the fast-approaching return of the Savior.
I pray that the faithful can hold fast to the knowledge that until the day comes when He appears in glory, He is still here NOW.

Only the Gospel

Contrary to popular belief (and no amount of positive thinking will change the fact,) all is not well in

Zion. This is something we must face. However, within the scriptures, we will find much comfort in the promises of the Lord to His people.
Over the past week, I have been pondering the Lord's beautiful intercessory prayer found in in John 17. I find comfort in knowing that His prayer was not just for the disciples of old but for His disciples today as well. All who follow Christ and proclaim His gospel are His disciples.
I encourage you to take the time to read the Lord's intercessory prayer this week. I am so grateful for the love that prompted His prayer and how much His words have strengthened me right when I needed it.