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Dear God
I wanted to share a story of lightness and humor. This morning, God told me a joke which I have never experienced before. I was meditating and praying in my bed and thinking fondly of all that God provides for me. I asked God to send me an image of how He views our relationship. Almost instantly in my mind, I received a picture of a child in a harness, running ahead of a parent who was holding onto the leash. It made me laugh out loud immediately. I could feel God smiling with me. Then I got a second image. It was just me walking with an older Grandfatherly…
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Hope Through the Pandemic
Today I learned that chocolate prices are going up in January 35%. As always, my first thought is how are we going to survive another chocolate price hike? I then remember that the Lord knows me and anyone involved with our little shop and that regardless of what happens, everything will be ok. You see, four years ago when Covid 19 became a pandemic, we were getting ready for our biggest convention of the year in Seattle. ECCC. We were waiting to see if they were still going to do the convention, after finding out that Seattle was ground zero for the virus. We had spent thousands of dollars preparing…
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Have hope
Recently my daughter and her husband were struggling to maintain their marriage. Things had been especially bad for the last 10 days and I was feeling bleak, worrying about my grandchildren and my daughter. One very bad night, I went to bed but was unable to sleep because I was so worried. I tossed and turned. “What was going to happen? How would the children respond? How would they live?” Dark scenarios and accusatory speeches rushed through my mind. I prayed fitfully, hoping to sleep, but not able to turn my mind off. After 2-3 hours of this, I once again closed my eyes trying to sleep. After a few…
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Trying to be like Jesus
This is a story about my spiritual and mental journey. I love the scripture that says, “47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ…” Moroni 7:48 I’ve done that throughout my life to different degrees, but about 6 months ago, I got serious about praying for charity. For some reason,…
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Saved by a Voice
Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting and share the story of a near death experience that I endured about 6 months ago. To paraphrase, I was running down the highway through American Fork Canyon, blasting music at an unholy volume, and I felt a prompting to remove one of my earbuds. Because of this, I was able to hear a car that was approaching from behind and be able to move off the highway accordingly, but since I was running in the oncoming lane, I wasn’t in too much danger of being struck by the car from behind…. Later on down the canyon,…
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Gratitude
Hi Friends! If you’re in a similar space as me, you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or just spending time with the people you love. It’s a really busy time. Even busier if you’re in the retail world, making sure you have what the people want. Slowing down to take the time to be Grateful for what you have; Your family, friends, life, etc. seems even more difficult than it may have been last week or even yesterday. The one thing we can be confident in is that we have a loving God who is in the detail of our lives, woven through our connections with people, blessing us, and…
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When Your Problem Turns Out to Bless You
I have been working with realtors and lenders to purchase a property in Virginia for my Mom’s trust that my brother found and that he is going to manage. The lending process feels especially long because we are forced to find something due to an eminent domain. We were looking at other properties that didn’t pan out before this one, so we’ve been working with Stephanie at Fidelity Mortgage for 8 months. Finally we got a property under contract and our loan was almost fully approved except we needed a letter from Mom’s CPA stating that our “use of business funds will not negatively affect our business operations.” It had…
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A God of Infinity
This song. What a beautiful reminder of a loving God who is aware of us even if we don’t always see it. Have a beautiful week friends. God Bless.
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Prayer From a Distance
During World War II, Elder Graham W. Doxey was in the navy posted to China. He and several others went by train to the city of Tientsin to look around. Later they boarded a train to return to their base, but after more than an hour, the train turned north. They were on the wrong train! They spoke no Chinese. They pulled the emergency cord and stopped the train. They were put off somewhere in the countryside with nothing to do but walk back to the city. After walking for some time, they found a small pump-handle car, the kind that the railroad workers use. They set it in the…
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Hope
Recently my 25 year old son stopped by my house to do laundry. I was preparing to eat some breakfast which I had made the previous evening. “Hey, try this,” I said, raising a half teaspoon of chocolate chia pudding on a clean spoon. He looked at me hesitantly and did not turn his body toward me. He looked at the barely half filled spoon. He looked at me, as years of this, my normal behavior, crossed his mind. He had obviously had other experiences with chia pudding that I was not aware of, and had his own opinion on it. And yet, after a pause, he took the bite.…
