Late Night Ramblings

I don't like getting to personal on here lately cause I feel like people judge you when you get too personal and I don't like being judged, but I can't sleep because of things that have been bugging me lately. The main thing that bugs me... I miss one of my best friends. I haven't spoken to him in a really long time and I wish I could. I remember all these wonderful times and know that things like that can never happen again, and to be perfectly honest it kills me inside. I wonder if I will ever be able to speak to him again and how I can possibly ever tell him how deeply sorry I am. I feel at times like I was there for him when he needed me most, but he can in no way be there for me right now. I guess in reality it is all part of growing up in life. I've learned that the Lord places certain people into our lives at certain times to help us grow from situations. For example, the past two years that I have lived in Bountiful I have met some pretty spectacular people... I'm just ashamed that it has taken me so long to realize it. Yes, I may never speak to that guy ever again, but I will always remember him, and I guess I have to let him go to make room in a way for others in my life... Like the amazing people I have met since graduating from college. I will always thank God for all the wonder people he has placed into my life. He is truly my Father cause he knows exactly who/what I need when I need it/them! There... my late night ramblings...

Think Twice before going to see the movie Magic Mike

http://mrsgoresdiary.com/2012/07/08/magic-mike-who/

I read this article about what this one lady thought about the most recent movie with Channing Tatum called Magic Mike and I must say that it said everything I was thinking! I used to adore Channing Tatum as an actor/person in general, but since this movie came out and seeing commercials and realizing more and more that this is a movie of his I will NEVER see I have lost respect for him. I mean... do we seriously live in a society where looking at porn is SO NOT OKAY for men, but if women look at it that is fine. I personally have seen how Pornography can pain someone to no end. And how hard it is to be healed from it. That being said... I also adore men like my father and my brothers who have never given in to the temptation. I also adore men that will do anything to overcome an addiction like that! Will I ever watch this movie... NO! And if any of my "friends" ever try to get me to watch that movie I will gladly walk away from that friendship FOREVER! So, all of my old friends be WARNED!

I wish more men decided to be like John Wayne!

Observations & Realizations

So, I have had to figure out lately how much the Lord has truly blessed me in my life. First of all he has blessed me with some of the greatest friends on this planet! I really couldn't ask for better. Every once in a while I get irritated with people that say they are "friends" of mine, but yet they never visit or they never want to do anything even just sending an email to say hi. Now, that being said I don't say hi to them much either... By the way, the likelihood of this being about anyone that constantly reads this blog is NOT likely. ;) You may not say anything but you are a true friend! ;) So, here are some realizations on that observation... when I left college I remember talking with my Bishop about how I met some pretty amazing people while in college, and then the thought that all of those amazing people would be my friends forever. I have since realized that can only be the case if all are willing to fight for the friendship or at least make an effort to see each other. Now, that being said I would love to give a quick shout out to some people and yes, I'm naming names of my amazing friends from college... First, to Chris & Sadie Freeman... I couldn't ask for anyone better. They have let me stay in their home any time I have gone to Idaho and needed a place to stay! Ever since I graduated 2 years ago. They are the kindest and funnest and loveliest and just all around wonderful! I make an effort to see them any time I am in Rexburg! Now, to Brad & Elizabeth Williams they may only be 3 months married, but I absolutely love them! They took me to dinner and just were so wonderful and even were accepting to meeting my other married friends! Let's just say I have some pretty spectacular married friends in Rexburg! Now, the friends I have made here withing the past couple of years I am ETERNALLY grateful to my Heavenly Father for! They are truly there when I REALLY need them! I have been in the dampers these past couple of months and they have helped me figure things out both on my own and with their help!

Now for another observation I've been meaning to post for a while... the older I get the more I realize how much I am like my mother! NO this is not a bad thing, but definitely weird... So, at certain times of the day there are talk radio hosts that I don't mind listening to... Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and (here in Utah) Rod Archet (or however it is spelled)... Yeah, I'm a nerd and a Rush baby who loves Glenn Beck! I am also so weird that at certain times during the week I don't mind watching Fox News... things like The Fox Report with Shepherd Smith and The O'Reilly Factor! YES, I'm PSYCHO! HOWEVER, I love it... don't worry I still love listening to music, and analyzing the lyrics and figuring out how to apply it to my life... in fact I will be posting a song to this and although not all of the lyrics apply I have been thinking loads lately about someone that I used to know...

THIS IS MY COUNTRY!

Sitting in sacrament meeting today my heart was basically beating out of my chest, but sadly time ran out to get up and bear my testimony. Well, I decided that if I didn't get up to say it all to my ward I could at least put it on my blog where everyone I know and love and then some could see it. Well, I then realized I've born my testimony tons of times, but not in this manner... What am I speaking of? I'm speaking of my testimony and gratitude that I have for this wonderful nation in which I live... a nation where I can choose to disagree with my neighbor, but still get along with them; a place where if I don't like how the country is being run I can  choose to vote that person or those persons out of office. I have a choice in how I live my life. I have a choice in how my country is governed! As I was sitting there in my sacrament meeting I noticed on the program sitting next to me there was a quote that basically said precisely all that I thought... "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"-Patrick Henry... when I came home I decided to look it up... well, there is this to add to it. " For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." This country is such a wonderful one to live in... it was designed by the hand of GOD and he designed by men of all types of faiths. Men who didn't want to be told what they "had to do." Now, going on with the whole patriotic theme as I was sitting there during the passing of the sacrament a few thoughts came to my mind and I had the thought to actually read through the national anthem... Have you ever actually taken the time to just stop and read The Star Spangled Banner? The lyrics to it just shine through... most people know the first verse, but it is behind the words of the other 3 versus that struck me hard today and I realized how thankful I am to this country...

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

this is the land of the free and home of the brave and we have the power to keep it that way! In my parents den area there is a copy of a painting I had framed for them... it is the signing of the Constitution. To me that great document is a document for all mankind. The Constitution along with The Declaration of Independence are inspired documents written by the hand of God. These Documents also remind me of another wonderful exclamation of Liberty that I am quite fond of that was also done in this great land long before it became the United States of America. This is THE TITLE OF LIBERTY written by every young LDS girl's dream guy Captain Moroni! Alma 46:12-13 " 12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—"

what a grand piece of history to add to all the other wonderful documents of this land!
In closing I'm going to stray a bit from my testimony and encourage all of my friends and family whomever else reads this blog to vote this November. Don't just vote to do it though... vote thinking of your future, you children's future, your grandchildren's future, or if nothing else the future of this GREAT nation!
Now, I leave this with each of you and let you know that more than anything else in the world I am ETERNALLY grateful to my Father in Heaven that I live in this great nation in which religious freedom is ever present and that I have the decision to choose how I want to live my life. I leave with you my testimony and my love forever... in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Please enjoy this song that is very to my heart sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Praise to the Man

Doctrine and Covenants 135

Martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet and his brother, Hyrum Smith the Patriarch, at Carthage, Illinois, 27 June 1844 (seeHistory of the Church, 6:629–31). This document was written by Elder John Taylor of the Council of the Twelve, who was a witness to the events.

1–2, Joseph and Hyrum martyred in Carthage Jail; 3, The preeminent position of the Prophet is acclaimed; 4–7, Their innocent blood testifies of the truth and divinity of the work.

 1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.

 2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

 3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more,save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

 4 When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.”—The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:

 5 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before thejudgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.

 6 Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.

 7 They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood,with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.

I put my testimony with what has already been said. And also say God Bless that man forever!