I have received so many wonderful emails and comments from those of you who have read my first two posts. Thank you so much for your love and support! What I am most humbled by is the fact that so many of you have struggled with these same issues in some shape or form. My heart goes out to all of you that have struggled or are currently struggling with issues such as this. I have also realized due to your comments that I need to correct something I said in my last post. The one thing that drove me nuts about trying to find healing was that everyone seemed to say their plan or program would work and was THE way out. So I jumped in with both feet thinking it would work for me too. When it didn't, then I would be thrown right back into my pit of despair and addictive behavior. However, just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean its not going to work for everyone. For example, I did try the LDS church's 12 step program and I completely and wholeheartedly support that program. It is saving lives. So by no means do I mean to say that the way I found relief and peace is the only way out there that works. I think the 12 step program didn't work for me because I didn't follow it through all the way. I was doing another program at the same time and when that didn't work I dropped both of the programs together. That doesn't discount the power and truth and ability behind that program to change lives.
I truly believe that God wants us to be happy. I also believe that He is going to ask us to go through tough things so that in the end we can help others get through tough things as well as one day be like He is. After all, one of the reasons why Christ suffered for each one of us was so that He could succor and be there for us in our times of need. So in some small way, wouldn't that be part of our plan too? I believe that we are all led to whomever and whatever program that will give us the help we need in order to find peace. Everyone is different and different things will work for each one of us. What I am supporting and wanting to share with you in the path of healing that I found is truth. The concepts and tools I have learned are based in truth which is why, if you apply them and use them, they will work for you. The trick to permanent healing and change is applying and using the truths we learn. I believe any program whose foundation is based in truth can bring peace and relief. And that is exactly why I love the scripture in John 8:32:
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
That IS the truth! So thank heavens for different programs and different people who have used truth to change lives. It is only through all of us reaching out through our different paths of healing that we can spread peace and joy throughout the world.
However, even though there are different modalities of healing through truth, I believe the core truth of the gospel of the LDS church still needs to be at our foundation if we want lasting peace and joy. I will not and cannot shrink from my testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true and living church of Christ on the earth today. I have great respect and love for all faiths and people of all faiths. I am currently reading a book about Taoism. Amazing truths are in that philosophy! I love philosophy! Truth can be found everywhere in all faiths and in all philosophies. But I do believe that the LDS church contains all of the saving truths that will allow us to be reunited with our Father in Heaven and with our families again someday. As President Hinckley once said (I paraphrase), "Bring all the truth that you have and let us add to it." Everything that I have learned over this past year has complimented and increased my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. While I don't want to preach in this blog, I cannot shrink from my belief in a living God who loves and cares for us and a Savior who paid the ultimate price for all of our sins through the Atonement. It is a huge part of who I am and what I stand for. By no means do I want to offend anyone through my beliefs so I will try to be tactful. But I have to say that I am happier, more at peace and a more fulfilled person because over this last year I have finally defined myself according to how God sees me and not by how the world says I should be. I have been able to let go of my need to please the world. I have stopped comparing myself to all the women around me and have stopped feeling the need to be and do what everyone else is being and doing. We are all different! We have each been given different gifts and talents in order to bless others and make a difference in this world! Doesn't the fact that we are all different and unique further support the idea that God loves us more than we could ever know? He created us each individually, one by one, not on a factory assembly line out of cookie cutter molds. We are each so special to Him that He spent His precious energy and time making us each unique and different from each other! Why are we trying to squash that?
Favorite quote #3:
Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?
We were each placed on this earth for a reason, for a purpose. We each have amazing things to offer this world. So why are we trying to crush our own amazing in order to be like everyone else? That is Satan's trap towards misery and despair!!! We are each our own kind of beautiful which is why I named this blog be.YOU.tiful. However, Satan wants us to believe that we have to be and do what everyone else is being and doing in order to be liked and accepted. That is NOT truth!!! Stand up for who you are! Embrace your own beautiful and your own amazingness! God made you that way for a reason!!! Might I add that who we are is NOT our body! We are our spirit! I absolutely love Stephanie Nielson and her coined phrase, "I am not my body!" Only in and through embracing who we really are are we going to find the peace and joy that each one of us so desperately yearns for. So my challenge to you is to start embracing your own beautiful!!! Be who YOU were created to be and in doing that you will find more joy than you ever dreamed possible!!!
be.YOU.tiful!!!!
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