When you cannot see the hand of God trust His heart

“…Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine attributes of our Father in Heaven.”

 

James E. Faust

 

 

“When your first child is born, you become a father. The title father is sacred and eternal. It is significant that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to Deity,

He has asked us to address Him as Father.”

 

 

Being male is a matter of birth,

being a man is a matter of age, but being a gentleman is a matter of choice.

 

 

"A father's calling is eternal and its importance transcends time.

It is a calling for both time and eternity."

 

Ezra Taft Benson

 

Tender and mercy. Two synonyms for the Savior.

He is Tender.

He is Mercy.

How gentle He truly is.

How truly sensitive his soul is. Uniquely sensitive.

Each time he reaches out to us in an act of love, of compassion, of understanding,

each time demonstrating His mercy.

so tender and so caring when He reaches…..especially in our hardest days.

But there seem to be times when it is more difficult to see the hand of God.

Moments where we will be left wondering.

Moments where we wonder if He even cares that we are perishing.

Moments where the crack of thunder and

spray of the storm tossed sea can drown out the sweet whisperings of the Master.

Moments when we need to hold on to this advice:

“When you cannot see the hand of God trust His heart.”

Remember who He is.

Remember His gentle character.

You might not see it clearly now, but His goodness will rise to the top.

Even tragic experiences can become opportunities to testify of His tenderness and His mercy.

Lemon Chicken Pasta

Lemon Chicken Pasta

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces linguine

1/2 stick butter

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1/4 cup mixed chopped parsley, chives and thyme, plus extra for garnish

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish

Thin lemon slices for garnish

Directions

1. Cook pasta in heavily salted water until done. Reserve one cup pasta water and drain.

2. Meantime, heat butter in large skillet over medium heat until melted. Add chicken and stir for 1-2 minutes until heated through.

3. Stir in herbs and lemon juice.

4. Add pasta and cheese to chicken mixture and toss. Add just enough pasta water to form a light sauce.

5. Divide among plates, garnish with extra herbs, cheese and lemon slices and serve.

 

He can fill us to overflowing with peace

Drops of Awesome! Every time you do something good, something kind, something productive, it’s a drop in your Bucket of Awesome. You don’t lose drops for every misstep. You can only build. You can only fill.

I believe that you are not the only one adding these Drops of Awesome to your bucket. Christ commanded us to be perfect, but through His atonement, He is with us every step of the way.

As an object lesson when I was teaching this to the teenage girls at church, I gave them each a small dropper and I put a 2-quart bowl on the table. I told them that throughout the lesson they would get the chance to put drops in the bucket for every Drop of Awesome they could think of that they’d done. I promised them that we would fill the bowl to overflowing by the end of the lesson.

With about 5 minutes to go, we had barely begun to fill the bowl and the girls were looking around at each other nervously. The promised overflow did not look likely. Were they not awesome enough?

At that point, I pulled out a large pitcher labeled ATONEMENT and poured water into the glass bowl until it was spilling out all over the table and the towel the bowl was resting on. The class went silent.

When we are in a relationship with Christ, striving as God’s sons and daughters to do His will, He pours more into our buckets than we can ever hope to imagine. He can fill us to overflowing with peace, with joy, with perfection, with Awesome. And then what do we do if our bucket is overflowing like that?

Where does the Awesome go then?

I pulled out an identical bowl, twice the size of the original. Our capacity for joy and light increases. And we just keep working, one tiny drop at a time. And we don’t compare today’s drops to yesterday’s or tomorrow’s. And we live and we love and we repent when we do wrong and we allow ourselves to be glorious, beautiful, and dare I say perfect in Christ, children of God.

I believe in a God who loves us and roots for us and cheers for every Drop of Awesome we can manage. Our victories are His victories and He wants us to feel joy. Not later, when we no longer make mistakes,

but right now.

…by small and simple things are great things are brought to pass…

Small and simple. Tiny drops. Go forth. Be Awesome. 

by The Daring One Daring young Mom 2012

 

Drops of Awesome. this is a really great way of looking at ourselves in a Christ-like way. Be as awesome as you can be every day and don't worry too much about the times when you are less than awesome, because Jesus is always there to pick up the slack and make you as awesome as you can be. even when one drop of awesome is all you can do. because the Atonement is a endless well Awesome.

 

 

 

We tend to judge others by their behavior, and ourselves by our intentions.

 

Apple Pizza Recipe

Apple Pizza Recipe

Ingredients  

• 2-1/3 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
•  
• APPLE TOPPING:
• 4 cups sliced peeled tart apples
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  
• CHEESE TOPPING:
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
•  
• STREUSEL:
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan, heat water, milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat for 2 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface; cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook and stir apples in butter over medium heat for 2 minutes. Combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon; stir into skillet. Cook 3 minutes longer. Reduce heat to low; cook, uncovered, for 4-6 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring frequently.
• In a small bowl, combine the cheese topping ingredients. For streusel, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until crumbly.
• Pat dough onto a greased 14-in. pizza pan, building up edges slightly. Spread with cheese topping, then apple topping. Sprinkle with streusel. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve warm or cold. Yield: 10-12 servings.

 

An Elder's story

An airport experience of a young LDS missionary on his way to serve in South Korea, in his own words.

 OK, now I've deleted two letters to you. Gosh dang it. I'll try to sum everything up but I'm runnin' out of time. Alright. Airport story for the third time! So me and Elder S. were lookin' for some food and we couldn't find any, so we went to some weird place in the airport and there was some Korean on some signs. We're in Seattle, remember, and anyways we were walking and I was reading the Korean and we turn around 'cause it was clearly a dead end and I'm still speaking Korean and a guy looks at me with big eyes and so I said hello in Korean and he looks at me funny, then asks us if we could give him a blessing. And me and Elder S. were like what!? So we gave him a blessing. It turned out he was a member from Montana and he was kinda special so they weren't letting him on the plane 'cause he was acting up or something. I'm not really sure. But ya he needed a blessing to calm down so they would let him on the plane. I'm not sure what happened exactly but I know God loves all his children and we were an answer to his prayers. It was way cool and I told it better the last two times but I'm running way low on time. Sorry. (One of the Sisters took a picture of us giving him a blessing. We didn't know it at the time, but she emailed it to us.)

 

 

Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake Yummmmmmmm

1 cup butter softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided

1 lemon, zested

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces plain Greek yogurt or 8 ounces vanilla, greek yogurt

12 ounces fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325*. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.

Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

 

 

Hold fast to what you already know

 

 

I would say to all who wish for more faith….. In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, …affliction or …. desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. It was of this very incident, this specific miracle, that Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.

 

 

…be kind regarding human frailty your own as well as …. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fullness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all.  Those finite vessels include you and me,

so be patient and kind and forgiving.

 

Jeffrey R. Holland

 

 

“If we exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the enabling power of His Atonement strengthens us in our moment of need, and His redeeming power sanctifies us as we ‘put off the natural man.’ This brings hope to all, especially to those who feel that recurring human weakness is beyond the Savior’s willingness to help and to save.”

Craig A. Cardon

“As we do what He would have us do for His Father’s children, the Lord considers it kindness to Him,

and we will feel closer to Him as we feel His love and His approval.”

Henry B. Eyring

“God is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, …He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God.”

 

George Q. Cannon

 

 

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

 

James E. Faust

 

Recognize and acknowledge your angry feelings.

Pray for a feeling of forgiveness towards those who have hurt you.

Don’t respond by seeking revenge. Let justice take its course and let it go.

Seek peace through the Atonement. Be willing to cast out negative feelings of anger, spite or revenge.

Forgiveness is not always instantaneous. Most of us need time to work through pain and loss.

Forgiveness is freeing up putting to better use the energy consumed by holding grudges,

harboring resentments and nursing unhealed wounds.

Forgiveness comes more readily when you have faith in God and trust in His Word.

 

   

They watch over us

“Now, this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing, we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God’s love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are children of God and that He has actually given His angels … charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.”

George Q. Cannon

He cannot forget us; we are engraven upon the palms of his hands.

“If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill. To choose the Lord’s way is to choose higher ground.

The Lord is anxious to lead us to the safety of higher ground, away from the path of physical and spiritual danger. His upward path will require us to climb."

Henry B. Eyring

“You cannot lift another soul until you are standing on higher ground than he is. You must be sure, if you would rescue the man, that you yourself are setting the example of what you would have him be. You cannot light a fire in another soul unless it is burning in your own soul.”

Harold B. Lee

"We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor. In this way he can bring discouragement and surrender. But we must not lose hope. The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope."

Ezra Taft Benson

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist,

but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

G.K. Chesterton

Your once upon a time is now for a moment, think back about your favorite fairy tale.  In the story the main character must overcome Adversity…..you  will experience your own adversity…. It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop…Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your “once upon a time” is now.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Jesus said, ‘I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.’ Start with yourself, and forgive others as well. If God will not remember our repented-of sins, then why should we? Avoid wasting time and energy reliving the past.”

Anthony D. Perkins

Why Wish Upon a Star when you can pray to the one who created it.

"The voice of the Lord is unto all men"  The heavens are not closed, God is not silent, and each of us can, individually, receive specific and personal revelation from God that can bless us with direction, insight, and comfort.

“The Lord’s purposes are often accomplished as we pay heed to the guidance of the Spirit. I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more the Lord will entrust to us His errands.”

Thomas S. Monson

“Heavenly Father is ever mindful of those who need, who seek, who trust, who pray, and who listen when He speaks. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. God’s gift becomes our blessing.

May every heart open wide and welcome Him this day and always.”

Thomas S. Monson