in your mind and in your heart.

i read a talk that helped me a ton and i know it would help anyone who is around my age when there are so many big life decisions to be made.

"Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don't give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don't give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. "Cast not away therefore your confidence." Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

i love that last part "stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you". Heavenly Father trusts us to make good decisions and with his trust and by living a righteous life and striving to be like our Savior we can make good decisions, and as we make them and stick with them the Lord will open doors for us as we go, and there are so many doors that he wants to open for us! i also love how Elder Holland then talks about section 9 of D&C, "i will tell you in your mind and in your heart..." in your heart (does it feel right), in your mind (does it make sense). 

I've heard most all of these things so many times in my lifetime, but i am constantly amazed at the gospel and how incredible the Spirit is. i can hear one thing one day, and hear the same thing the next week and be completely converted all over again. and i wouldn't be able to take in any of it if it weren't for the gift of the Holy Ghost. i am always learning and growing and being reminded of how simple and wonderful the gospel is.

"When we dwelt in the presence of God our Heavenly Father, we were endowed with agency. This gave us the opportunity, the privilege, to choose what we would do—to make a free, untrammeled choice. When Father Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was given this same power, and we now possess it. We're expected to use the gifts and talents and abilities, the sense and judgment and agency with which we are endowed.

But on the other hand, we're commanded to seek the Lord, to desire his Spirit, to get the spirit of revelation and inspiration in our lives. We come unto the Church and a legal administrator places his hands upon our head and says, "Receive the Holy Ghost." This gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the right to the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead, based on faithfulness.

And so we're faced with two propositions. One is that we ought to be guided by the spirit of inspiration, the spirit of revelation. The other is that we're here under a direction to use our agency, to determine what we ought to do on our own; and we need to strike a fine balance between these two, if we're going to pursue a course that will give us joy and satisfaction and peace in this life and lead to eternal reward in our Father's kingdom."

-Bruce R. McConkie (Agency or Inspiration, link)

that talk is so good too!

Happy November!

we are right smack in the middle of the best time of the year (October-December) so let's all be happy about it. i was way stinkin happy to see that number one on my calendar app this morning.