feeling the spirit

feeling the spirit use to be so hard for me to recognize (or so i thought). until i learned that the spirit is quiet, not always words, can be blessings, can be other people, and is a refreshing feeling.

lately, Hunter and I have had a lot of decisions to make. most of them not being able to be made until other things fall into place. as time as gone on i've been able to feel the spirit whether its directing me or whether its letting me see what the Lord has blessed us with. things may come up unexpectedly (such as completely changing our plans of when & how we are going home from NC) but the Savior knows as we follow the spirit, the blessings that he has in store for us + our faith, will be showered upon us. I can see the blessings and feel the love of the Lord for us. He is so aware of us, more than i can comprehend.

i was able to meet an adorable family and help them out by being their nanny for their two twin girls, we are able to live with hunters grandparents for a little while until we find our own place, hunter just got a full time job in utah, i have the opportunity to go to school and get my degree + work part time at a job that i love, we get to live by our families again in a month (YIPPEE), our marriage gets nothing but better and stronger every day (thanks to our loving Heavenly Father who brings us closer together) and many more tender mercies. 

yesterday in church the teacher said something along the lines of...always be thinking to yourself, "what would the lord be having me do right now?" even if i have had my schedule planned out since the day before. what am i willing to self-sacrafice to do what the lord wants me to do?

one more cool thing that i learned from the sunday school lesson is that although we are asked to sacrifice all that we have for the gospel, the one thing that God will never take away from me is my temple marriage. He may have me sacrifice other things for HIM, but he will never take that everlasting, eternal marriage from us. i will be with my family forever, that i know is true.

be ALL IN. [Acts 9:16]

pondering on the temple

Hunter & I have had the opportunity to go and attend 2 sealings in the past week. One for my little sister, and one for our best friends. It has been such a good reminder, although we haven't been married long, of the covenants we made together and the promises that were sealed upon us. During one of the sealings i whispered to Hunter that we need to make a goal to attend the temple at least twice a month. We both agreed with the desire to do better, together. Living out of Utah where there isn't multiple temples within 30 minutes of us is much different. Not impossible, but i see now how life can become such a distraction when we need to make time for the most important opportunities. 

I love this quote, that is such a powerful promise. There are so many blessings awaiting us. We must always make God the center of our marriages and our lives. We just need to make the time and effort to accept them into our lives. We have been told to go OFTEN and go REGULARLY. Its for our benefit and happiness. I truly believe that. 

I love the comparison of the temple and our bodies. How we treat the temple should reflect how we treat our bodies. With respect and cleanliness. We should feel the same feelings we feel in the temple within our spirits. Just as the temple is a place we go for answers and peace, so should our bodies and souls be a place we can go for pondering and peace. The spirit cannot dwell in unholy temples, so we must strive to be worthy and ready to receive the spirit within our own spirits. 

This is something that the sealer said and hunter reminded us of when he bore his testimony the following sunday -- if we keep the covenants and promises we made at the alter when we were sealed...we WILL be exalted.  

 The promises we are given really are PRICELESS. I hope Hunter & I can be better and make more of an effort to remember the covenants we have made and attend the temple more often.