Through my now daily study in the scriptures or other material I've been learning new things. A lot I have learned before but either forgot or the way someone wrote it hit me different now. I share things on Facebook sometimes but I thought I'd share some things I've learned or liked weather scriptural our just other things.
First I will start with this one blog post I found on motherhood, here is the link if you want to read the whole article: http://www.scarymommy.com/motherhood-rediscovering-myself/?utm_source=FB
Let me first say only parts of the article apply to me, I don't agree with everything she says so I will post my favorite parts.
Motherhood-rediscovering myself:
" I made a promise to go looking for that girl, but I am not going to find her by going backward. The past has passed, and my experience with motherhood and marriage can bring about a deeper awareness of myself if I allow it. So I go looking forward, I go looking for the woman, and not the girl—the woman who is enough for herself and needs no validation to feel secure and valued in this world."
I agree that once you get married and have kids that you sometimes lose who you used to be. Not that you aren't amazing but sometimes you feel like you miss parts of yourself. Because you do become this different person to help love your family and raise children and fill new positions.
"I go to the gym, but not to melt off the muffin top. I go to the gym to get away from the kids, turn my music up loud, and reconnect with my body. I go to the gym to feel more comfortable in this body that has birthed two amazing children and manages to keep up with them on a daily basis. I refill my tank by taking the time to put the energy into my body that equals what I give out."
Now I do go to the gym to get fit and lose weight or tighten areas. By going I have connected with people and found great friendships and bonding. But when you have a baby it changes your body so much in some cases that by working out I've found i'm finding the new me. By a baby growing inside me it seemed to swallow up my old self and now i'm shading all that experience and finding now a new person. (Like a caterpillar in a cocoon into a butterfly!)
"I am enough. Yes, I am a mother and a wife, but I am also a woman. In my journey to discover my identity outside of my home, I found that all I need is within myself, and the compliments, care and compassion of others are an added bonus. No one knows how to treat me better than myself if I allow it, and there is so much strength and confidence in knowing that."
Oh yes, so many times I feel I'm not enough or so much is required of me and there is only so much of me to go around and help everyone and still make time for being true to me.
Next is from another blog post I found! =] https://ldswomanatthewell.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/hello-world/
An honest testimony from a not so typical Mormon: <I think Mormon or not you should read this article. I LOVED this!
"Living the Gospel demands a lot, but living “in the world” I found demands a lot more and it gives a lot less. It has an insatiable appetite with standards that are impossible to meet. Unlike finding completeness in Christ, who came in the fullness of Truth and Grace, the world offers us nothing. It will never fill you up, permanently. You will always come up short and be found wanting. There will always be more and more that you have to do prove yourself to others. "
"What starts out as a little fun, eventually you will find yourself having to do MORE to feel that same thrill. And if your curious about that, just ask an addict. I found myself feeling depleted. I knew I was living a lie. I felt confused and conflicted with my life. I wanted the world to like me, but I also wanted to get right with God. And I knew it was best for my family. I wanted to be better, but I wanted to be the BEST ME with exactly what I had to offer the Kingdom. I knew the times I felt the most satisfaction was when I was trying to live the Gospel the best I could without all the fancy footwork."
Its very true, no matter how many times I've thought I wanted this or that or so and so to like me. When I got what I wanted or felt I needed it never fully satisfied me. I've felt the most full and satisfied recently since reading my scriptures and finding love from my Savior. I still have my moments though of still thinking if I just had this or this person liked me I'd feel complete, I struggle with that, but I'm working on it!
"There comes a point in everyone’s path towards true adult like faith that a decision has to be made and obtained. Will I sit on the bank or will I dive into the stream of God’s love? Complete surrender of an unknown future to a known God. I, finally, decided that I was going to dive in. Head first. Not as some carbon copy of what someone wanted me to be and it’s made all the difference. Accepting the Gospel as me has allowed me to “approach the throne of grace with confidence” but also with a certain vulnerability which after everything is said and done, the only thing I have really to offer in my relationship with God is my authentic self."
"Have I been judged by my past or my tattoos? Yes, on both accounts. Absolutely, I have been offended by comments and actions by others and I have wrestled my faith because of it. For every one person that has made me feel loved and included, there have been one person to make me feel like I didn’t belong. But at the end of the day, at the end of this journey, it’s about me and God. When you are offended it helps to ask yourself these questions: Where is your heart? Your commitment? Is it on God or is it on your community? Because even if your heart lies within your church community, that it STILL aligning yourself with “the world” because your church community is made up of mortal men and women and they WILL disappointment you (even those with the best intentions). Your heart needs to transcend your community where offenses are not heard and received."
I loved how she said even in the church community its still worldly. Because the pure love is from Christ, doesn't mean we shouldn't love everyone and never talk to anyone or be friends with them but our heart belongs with God. We all can be mean to anyone and make mistakes and hurt others but one person that wont ever disappoint us is God.
"I am a Sinner. If you’re looking for perfection, you will be disappointed by me. I am a broken woman with a broken past, but it’s through that brokenness that light is able to shine through. When I learned to accept my past, accept WHO I was….those mistakes and transgressions no longer have power over me. “My chains are gone…I’ve been set free.” There is “freedom in Christ” because I am no longer bound to what I have done."
We should never be held down and bound to our mistakes and past. I struggle sometimes with letting go 100% of the past mistakes and I think that weighs me down. But our past has shown us how much we have grown and changed.
"Elder Maxwell said this,
“Personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the alter. Instead it is a willingness to place the animal in us upon the alter”
The animal IN us, all of us. I loved that because my former self was this wild untamed thing, from the way that I acted to the way I reacted to life. We all struggle up the same path to Eternity. We are God’s greatest work, no matter what condition we may be in. We are the ONLY creatures on Earth that bear the image of God. That is an incredible honor and I am humbled by it. I cherish Him whose image I reflect. There is joy in this journey, but we have to choose it and KEEP choosing it. Joy isn’t an emotion, but a decision"
LOVE that it says the animal IN us is what we are sacrificing. Letting go of that wild, bad side of things we've done. And of course love that we are made in His image!
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