The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

I mentioned in my last post that one of my New Year's resolution was to do scripture study by topic instead of just reading straight through. I feel like sharing the little insight I had the other night, because I have a blog and I can. I found myself studying the topic of having a broken heart. I had started by looking up scriptures on the topic of being meek and a meandering scripture path led me to reading about a broken heart. In Mormonism (and perhaps other religions, I'm not sure), I think we hear the phrase " a broken heart and contrite spirit " quite often as something we should have. It has been explained to me in the past that it means to be obedient and repentant. As I was reading the other night, I kept thinking why did the Lord choose the term "broken heart?" When I read that, I think, "I don't want a broken heart, I've had one more than once in my life and it hurts!" Then a simple thought came to my mind, "What does ...

Hey, January is almost over, so let's talk about goals and stuff. I've got to be honest, January always brings a small dose of anxiety for me. I distinctly remember thinking on January 5th "We are five days into the new year and I haven't done anything!" Now, I don't have these type of thoughts on February 5th or July 5th or October 5th, only in January. However, I believe goals are a good thing. Let's be honest, it has been a goal of mine just to write this post for over 2 weeks now, so time to get some goals, at least one, accomplished! First, let's see how 2014 went. 2014 Highlight Reel Road Trip to St. George (We always have a couple of those) The Announcement Some Bucket List Adventures Buying a new house and moving The arrival of the cutest baby in all the land Family Mountain Adventures and Festivities And every Instagram post full of baby pictures . 2014 was a really big year for me. Experiencing pregnancy for the f...

While being sick and stuck at home wouldn't be my first choice on how to celebrate Easter, it has given me time to go through all my notes from General Conference. It is hard for me to pick a favorite talk. I really loved the Saturday Morning Session. It felt like such a powerhouse session to me with Elder Holland 's, Sister Reeves's and Elder Andersen's talks. I also appreciated  Pres. Uchtdorf's and Elder Bednar's talks. I'm a bit behind on this post (and all other posts) , but here are some quotes from this past conference that really stuck out to me. "The adversary would have us be critical or judgmental of one another. He wants us to concentrate on our differences and compare ourselves to one another...When we compare ourselves to one another, we will always feel inadequate or resentful of others." - Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson   (This quote is from the General Women's Meeting. I loved Sis. Oscarson's talk. I had the chance to m...

As many of you know, General Conference was a week ago.  I felt spiritual fed, which I have been really needing lately.  I usually make a list of questions of things I need help with in life to listen for during conference, but I didn't do that this time.  I feel like my questions have been relatively the same for the past couple of years. Instead, I just thought I would listen for what I needed to work on.  By the end of the first Saturday session, I already had a long list!  This usually would make me feel guilty, but not so much this time around, which makes me think it wasn't just me being hard on myself, but instead me gaining some guidance and insight. I just tried to pick one or two things from the list to work on for now. There were so many great talks, that it is hard to choose a favorite one.  If I did have to choose one, it would be  President Monson's talk on Sunday morning.  Many of the speakers testified boldly and lovingly. ...

General Conference this time around was an interesting experience.  Right before conference I received some disappointing news.  Fighting frustration, I didn't feel like I was in the best state of mind to listen to spiritual messages.  I wish I could say I had an amazing spiritual experience as I listened to the different talks, but honestly I fought discouragement and frustration the whole weekend.  I was a bit up and down on a not-so-fun emotional roller coaster.  However, I found as I have gone over my notes since conference, a lot more has stuck out to me and I've just been more at peace. I'm very grateful for that.  I would say my favorite talks were by Elder Quentin L. Cook and Sister Elaine S. Dalton .  I also really liked Elder Ballard's talk on the priesthood, Elder Holland's talk and President Uchtdorf's talk both on faith and hope. Here are some of my favorite quotes from this past General Conference. "The Lord has a way of pouring p...

Before I post some of my favorite quotes from Conference, I wanted to share my thoughts concerning the announcement about the change of missionary age, 18 for Elders and 19 for Sisters.  I'm excited for both groups but especially the announcement concerning the change for the sisters.  As everyone knows, I loved my mission to England.  I honestly think/talk about it every day.  To put it simply, those 18 months changed my life for the better in every way.  I hope with this age change more young women will see a mission as a viable option in their future.  I think in Mormon culture there is has been a stigma that girls who go on missions go because they didn't have anything else to do when they were 21+.  I didn't find that attitude in any of the sisters I knew on my mission.  Missions are difficult things and quite honestly, I don't think you would last very long if that was your attitude. My hope is that with this age change, it will do away with...

“I feel fat.”* Nothing makes my husband more nervous than these words. He once told me when we were dating that there is nothing he can say that won’t get him in trouble in response to this statement, which is probably true. But I couldn’t help say it after our Thanksgiving feast. Danny’s response was, “And what you would like me to say to that?” I didn’t really want a response, just sharing how I felt. To steer away from the dangerous waters of this conversation, Danny suggested we read the scriptures before we went to bed, a habit we are working on since we got married. We were in the middle of 2 Nephi chapter 9 and it was Danny’s turn to read. He suddenly perked up while reading this verse . He turned to me and read “Come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.” I couldn’t stop laughing and Danny seemed pleased he found an answer to my pervious predicament. The scriptures really ...