Life Goes On, Better Have That Armor.

As you go through life you stumble upon challenges. Some of them are easy, and you are able to skip through them unscrached. Others, you fight for you life, you take a the advanced training ypu have learned and you give it all you have. The time for holding back is gone. You take the armor that has been given you and strap it on, making sure you have full mobility. You have taken the time to prepare your armor for this day and this battle. You polished it so that a speck of rust never had a chance. You had is fitted, and reshape, and fitted again until it was ready to do its job. It was going to he there to protect you from the dangers in this life. It was there to make sure that when you where in a situation that was harmful you would make it out safe, with your armor intact.

Some ask, what armor, others ask, what battle? The answers are simple while the reasons for them are not. The armor that has been painstakenly made to perfection is our testimony and our learning in the gospel and our precious knowledge of the savior. The battles are the temptations that Satan send our way. From choosing to trip your brother or not, to making the desicion to not go on that date with the cutest boy in the world, became ypu know his standards are far below yours. Satan wants to destroy your armor. He wants to make it rust am fall apart from lack of care. We must remember to do the things that will keep our armor strong and battle ready.

As a teenager you go through a time in your life where everywhere is a battle, school, activities, the movies, popular music. How do you stay away from it? How do you make sure that your armor will be in battle ready condition when it is needed? The answers are not new, but just because you have heard them before does not mean they are any less effective.

Say your prayers. Talk to your Heavenly Father. He want to hear from you. You may think that he already knows everything so why do I need to tell him again. You tell him again because he wants to hear it from you. He wants to hear your voice as you reach out to him. He is your Father and loves you very much. Talk to him, tell him of the things you have been doing, tell him about the class you are taking and how you love science but math is a struggle. He wants to hear it all. After you talk to him, let him talk back.

Read your scriptures. This is one of the ways Heavenly Father talks to us. He has had prophets write spicific things for us to read. For you to read. He can direct you to a place where someone else was having the same or a similar problem. And you can read and find out what they did to over come it.

Go to church. Get support from others. There is strength in numbers. When you are around those that are also strengthening their armor it is easier to remember to strengthen and polish your own armor. When Satan comes, do you think 1 warrior of God or 10 warriors of God will have an easier time pushing him back and away.

Follow the commandment. The Lord gave the commandments because he knew that we needed rules and guidelines to follow. We needed to know the does and don'ts. With out th we would be left to our own devices to try and figure out what we must do to keep our armor strong.

When we follow these 4 basic actions we are able to have armor that is stronger than anything else we could possibly be given to fight temptations. It is our job to make sure it is battle ready and in tip-top shape, to fight off the attacks on our physical and spiritual bodies.

How to Stand Tall

I think sometimes there are people that tell us we need to have integrity. But there are only a few that go on to tell us how to have integrity. So I wanted to make a list of ways that help me have integrity and I hope that it will help you also have integrity.
So here goes nothing:
1. Always remember that you are not alone. Our Heavenly Father is always with us. Where ever we go, what ever we do, or who is with us. He is always there watching us, to see what we are doing. This has helped me keep my integrity because I know that if I were to do something wrong when I think no would even see I know that my Heavenly Father can see me, and if I do something that is not right he will see me doing that. I also know that when I choose to do things that are right I know that he is watching me and is pleased with what I am doing. I was told by someone who I look up to that when we do good thing we are him happy. So that means that I can make Heavenly Father happy! How awesome is that! You can make Heavenly Father happy! And all that we have to do is choose to do what is right.
2. I have plans that will keep me busy. That way I don't have a lot of down time. When I am busy it is always easier to do what is right when you have planed to do what is right. Think of the times that you get in trouble or do something that is not right, when does that usually occur? When you were bored or didn't have any plans. That is when I always had trouble. My mom would always ask, "Why in the world did you do that?" my reply, " I was bored." or " I didn't have anything to do." Now I'm not saying that we should always be going somewhere, busy, busy, busy because we have also been asked not to do that, but to always have something in mind to do that will be uplifting and will keep you close to the Savior and our Father in Heaven.
3. Listening to happy music. Now happy music does not always mean church music. I like to listen to Disney songs, BYU choir, and other good music that is just happy. I have learned to stay away from music that talks about inappropriate things, or actions. Sometimes the music it's self and not the lyrics can be harmful to our minds and we need to be aware of those times of music so that we can learn avoid them. Listening to certain types of music can affect our mood and attitude that we carry with us where ever we go, and if we listen to music that makes us happy and the Lord happy then we will be able to have a clean and clear mind to make the right choices.
4. Do not go places with the opposite sex alone. This can lead to inappropriate behaviours wether or not they have been planed or not. Satan has been perfecting his technique in manipulating people to think it is ok to do these wrong things. Girls if a boy try's to do something to you that is not acceptable you tell him. Say that it is not ok, and then either tell him to take you home or you leave if it is safe. Boys if a girl is trying to get you to do bad things then you make her stop. You all have the power to say NO! Use that power. Do not let someone make you think that you want this. And if they ask if it is ok, do not be afraid to tell them NO! You are all important, and if you feel like the person you are with will not want to be with you because you will not do those things then they are not worth your time. Leave. And make sure they know that you do not believe that that is ok.

Here are just a couple things that you can do to help you maintain your integrity and stay clean.

If you know of other things that you do to stay clean feel free to leave a comment to tell us more of what we can do to stay worth to enter the temple and be with our family and friends and Heavenly Father in the end.

Really Working At It

I have come to learn that I am NOT good at blogging. However I am going to strive to do better.
So here I go.

I started this blog for my project in Personal Progress on Integrity. I had always thought that Integrity was one of the easy ones to follow. Then I found that it was, when you were not being tested. Then it becomes harder to maintain the integrity that you have. But you always can. I have learned different things to do that help remind me that I am here for a greater purpose. I can always sing a hymn, call a friend, or read an uplifting book. I can also think of those that I admire and that always helps me to go and do something productive.

Standing for Truth

Standing for truth and right is not solely a Sunday thing. Every day our neighborhoods and communities are in desperate need of our support and our commitment to safety and law and order.

Joseph F. Smith was 19 when he returned from his mission in Hawaii. As he traveled from California to his home in Utah, he was confronted one morning by a “wagonload of profane drunks … , shooting their guns, yelling wildly, and cursing the Mormons.” One of the drunks, “waving a pistol,” came toward him. Although Joseph “was terrified, he felt it would be unwise and useless to run … , and so he advanced toward the gunman as if he found nothing out of the ordinary in his conduct. ‘Are you a — — — Mormon?’ the stranger demanded. Mustering all the composure he could, Joseph answered evenly while looking the man straight in the eye, ‘Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.’ Almost stunned by this wholly unexpected response, the gunman stopped, dropped his hands to his sides, and, after looking incredulously at Joseph for a moment, said in a subdued tone, ‘Well, you are the — — pleasantest man I ever met! Shake. I am glad to see a fellow stand for his convictions.’ So saying, he turned and walked away.”

^{We might not all be faced with the challenge of standing true with a gun in our face, but we do have many other challenges that are very real in the world we live. We still need to have the courage that Joseph F. Smith had and stand for what we believe in. I know that not only will it help you, but it could also help the person that you have talking to. I have learned that when I stand up for what I believe in those around me respect the things I believe in and will do what they can to be respect full. I have also had friends that will say," Well Rebecca doesn’t do that.” or “Don’t talk about that around Rebecca." and it really shows me that my friends are true friends and respect me and my beliefs.}

Box Of Crayons

Like a box of crayons, We are very similar but each person is also very unique.

The shade people bring to the world is all their own. … We each have our own individual strengths and weaknesses, personal longings, private dreams. But together, they blended into a color wheel of amazingness.

We need to remember that even though people are different than us we still need to be kind to them. We need to always build others up. Everyone is different, no two people are the same. We tend to catogarize people and put them where we think they will go, even if we do not know them very well.

I have learned that if I get to know someone before I judge them, it is much easier to find out who they are as an individual. Not only does it help me keep an open mind I am sure it makes everyone else happy when they know that they are  not being judged, wether on how they look, dress, or talk. It is sometimes hard to be kind or even just not mean, to those that are different than us. We just need to remember that to others we are different and we do not want to be looked down on because that does not feel good either.

Think Thanks

We can speak our thanks, we can write our thanks, we can sing about how thankful we are, we can feel thankful in our hearts. There are many ways to show our thanks to our friends, family, and anyone that you come in contact with. It is good for us to thank people often. Jesus Christ asks us to be grateful—to express our thanks—because He knows that a grateful heart helps us feel happy. ~  Sydney Reynolds

I had the opportunity to get to go to youth conference this last week. We were able to go to Nauvoo, IL for 3 days. We got to see the pageant and the many other sites that are there. On our last day there we had the privilege of walking down Parley St. As we walked there were signs of the trail that told of the events that happened to the saints from Nauvoo. Many of then talked about how thankful they were for all that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ had done for them, even thought they were being driven from their homes. This helped me see that it doesn't matter what is going on in my life, I still need to be thankful for all I have, my family, my friends, and for the Gospel that I have in my life. Not only do we need to be thankful on the inside, we need to tell people that we are thankful. One of the best ways to make people fell happy is to tell them how they have helped you, or how thankful you are for something that they have done.

I challenge you to show your thanks for the people around you. Try and tell people you appreciate the many things they have done. Everywhere my Father goes he tells people how thankful he is for them working. It does not matter if he is in a business meeting, or getting food at McDonald's he always tells them, "Thank you for working." He has become an example to me on being thankful and I hope that you will start showing your thanks for those around you. Help spread that happiness that comes from saying thank you.

Obedience is Freedom

“Obedience—that which God will never take by force—he will accept when freely given. And he will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of—the freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be, at least a thousandfold more than we offer him. Strangely enough, the key to freedom is obedience” (Obedience, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 7 Dec. 1971], pp. 3–4).

When we are obedient it is much easier to do what is right and stand up for the truth. Wether we are following our parents, teachers, or our boss at work,  when we are obedient we become respected for following them. When you are respected by someone it makes telling them the things you believe in much eaiser for them to accept. So as you go about your day, think of the people that are trying to help you and try to do what they ask, so that when the time comes you can stand True At All Times.