Some Sacrifice Required

I have felt the need to improve the consistency of my scripture reading for some time now. Lately, it seems that every night as I crawl into bed I realize that I forgot to read my scriptures. I kneel down and ask for forgiveness and for the desire to do a better job tomorrow. I pull out my scriptures and read 2 or 3 verses as I fall asleep. That is not the place I want to be spiritually, but that is where I am. Today at church the speaker said, "it is a sacrifice to read your scriptures daily." I have been thinking a lot about that and realized that I can't do EVERYTHING every single day. Something has to give. I now understand that in order for me to read my scriptures daily I need to give up time on the internet, watching TV or reading other books. It isn't so much a matter of asking Heavenly Father for more desire to read, but it is going to require that I look at my day and figure out, WHEN is it going to happen. Then it needs to happen at that time. It needs to become more of a priority in my life. I can recall periods in my life when I made scripture reading a priority and I had the spirit with me more consistently and I really was happier too. Now that I have made it public, this is what I need to do.

Incredible Mormon Young Women

I am happy to start this blog today, because I was so moved by the Young Women in our ward. In Sacrament meeting, I heard a 16 year-old girl give one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard (and yes that includes General Conference). She talked about her own personal conversion and testimony. After that a friend of mine shared her experience at girls camp. She described the dynamic young women that she had a chance to camp with. She talked about their spiritual growth. I already had tears in my eyes when all of those beautiful young girls got up in front of the entire congregation and sang. I felt so strongly that these were amazing girls with incredible spiritual promise. The spirit was present and I could feel that they knew that they were a daughters of God and by seeing their strength it reminded me that I am also a daughter of God. What a blessing it is to know that our Heavenly Father loves each of us and sees our divine potential. In a world where young girls are often pushed to lives that are immoral and unhappy, I feel blessed to have been raised in the "mormon" church. It is such a gift to be raised in a church where every Sunday you stand with other girls that are the same age as you and proclaim:

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will 'stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places' as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works andIntegrity We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values,we will be prepared tostrengthen home and family,make and keep sacred covenants,receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."