CAPSTONE: Education

We have been commanded and asked to get as much education as possible.  God has asked us to do this for a reason.  The only thing we get to take with us in the next life is our education.  Being educated also helps us in so many ways.  We are able to protect ourselves if we are educated and we are able to keep things fair if we are educated.  We need to gain education in temporal matters as well as in spiritual matters.  It has been said that it isn’t just a suggestion, that it is a commandment and we need to be putting forth all the effort we can to get our education.  I am going to be graduating with my Bachelors Degree in July.  I have been so thankful for the opportunities to get an education and to learn so much as I have been going to college.  I have recently been considering getting a Masters degree as well because I know that it is so important for us to get as much education as possible.  I need to be making the most out of the education that I am given and prepare to educate the children that I will be blessed with some day.  If I do not do so, I will be held accountable before God.

CAPSTONE: Prayer

Oh, what a blessing prayer is.  God truly loves His children and wants them to pray unto Him about everything.  Praying sincerely when we are going through a hard time is the easy part.  It is also just as important to pray to God when we are having good times and when we have had successes and are thankful to Him.  Without prayer, we cannot have a relationship with our Father in Heaven.  Without this, we cannot have the faith that is required for us to make it back to live with Him again someday.  Because of the importance of this, we are asked to “pray always.”  I have found this kind of hard for me to do.  I really have to think about it if I want to pray always throughout the day.  I think it would e a good measure to get a CTR ring or something that I can look at that will remind me that I can always pray and should always pray, especially when I could use help from God.  God always answers our prayers.  I know this is true.  He does not always answer them when we would like Him to, and He doesn’t always answer them the way we would like Him to but He truly does know what is best for us and He can see and understand so much more than we can.  We should involve God in our lives by praying always.

CAPSTONE: Forgiveness

This seems to be such an important yet sensitive topic.  It is so hard at times for us to forgive others and even harder at times for us to forgive ourselves.  It is so helpful to know that God does not expect us to be perfect nor does He expect anyone else to be perfect.  I have learned that I should not expect others to be perfect either.  The Lord requires us to forgive all men, so we must do so.  If not, that is a great sin.  It is so important for us to remember to forgive others and to realize that it is ultimately up to them to take care of whatever it may be, but it is not our place to judge.  I have held grudges in the past in my life and have been learning to never hold grudges and to just forgive others right away.  I can just take a look at myself and remember that I am not perfect and it makes it that much easier for me to forgive others when they make mistakes.  I have also come to realize that I should forget the things that have happened that I forgive others and myself of.  It is never healthy to be thinking about the issues and problems of the past.  We must keep those things in our past.

CAPSTONE: Roles of Men & Women in the Church

This has been such a wonderful topic to study.  It is such a great reminder to know what is expected of me as the wife and what the roles of my husband are as well.  We have been given the roles that God knows we can best perform and carry out.  The best part about it though is that even though men and women both have different roles in the family and in the church, they are still equal in God’s eyes.  They are to work together as equal partners.  My husband and I have talked about this quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that we truly are a team on everything and we must counsel with each other all the time on every aspect of our lives.  When we have children, we plan to continue being a team and counseling with each other.  It is so divinely inspired the way the family unit is set up.  God knows what is best for His children and He knows what His children do best.  I have felt that I need to continually review the roles of women in the church so that I can carry out my duties and responsibilities all throughout my life.

CAPSTONE: Pornography

Pornography is one of the biggest problems in the church and it has been said in the past that it is like a plague.  I will always avoid it like the plague.  I have taken measures so that I will hopefully never come across it (at least as much as I can control).  I have put filters on both mine and my husband’s computers so that we can not run into it ever when we are on our computers.  Pornography is such a degrading thing.  It can ruin lives and can tear apart families.  Once it has been tapped into, a person can almost never forget that.  The prophets and apostles’ hearts ache when they are required to speak on this matter, especially in the regular sessions of General Conference.  The world is getting worse and worse and this horrible plague is becoming more and more available to everyone.  As future parents, my husband and I plan to talk to our children about these things and to avoid them and to keep our kids away from them.  I know that it is so important to always pray to God for strength, and with the right attitude and feeling in our hearts, we can overcome anything that may be a temptation for us or that may come our way.  We must trust in God.

CAPSTONE: Atonement

It has been such a blessing in my life to learn more about the healing and the infinite power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  All of us sin.  We are all human beings and none of us are yet perfect.  It is so wonderful and so comforting to know that when we make mistakes, there still is hope.  God wants us to use the Atonement and to understand it as best as we can.  The Atonement helps us to understand and realize that God loves all of His children and we are all important and precious to Him.  I have been working on not judging others for anything they do and let God be the judge.  Jesus Christ understands everything that we go through thanks to the Atonement.  Because of this, I need to utilize the Atonement more in my life and need to strive to understand it more.  I should never hold grudges or look down upon others.  We are all children of God and the Atonement was performed for each and every one of us.  No exceptions.  The only catch is that we must choose to implement the Atonement in our lives and to feel and recognize the blessings we can receive because of it.   

CAPSTONE: Family

The family is the most essential unit of the Gospel.  Family is so important in every aspect.  It is so important for us to learn to love our families and to enjoy them, no matter who they are or what they may do.  We can be good examples to our family members and help them to become better people or to have more of a desire to do what is right.  Husbands and wives should always love and respect each other.  Not only should they love and respect each other, but they should love and respect their children as well.  I have had the opportunity to learn to love my family more and more throughout this semester and have made goals to treat them all better.  I am definitely not perfect at it and I still get grouchy and treat them unkindly some days but I know that as I continue to work on my weaknesses and continue to show love and appreciation for my family, I will be blessed and I will have the ability to love them all for who they are.  The prophets talk about how important it is that we respect our families and I also know that this is such an important thing to do.  We should spend our time caring for them and serving them as much as possible.

CAPSTONE: Overcoming Trials

Even though God allows His children to go through trials, this does not mean that he doesn’t still love them.  God cares so much about His children, but part of our reason for existence is to become more like Him and to learn how to endure to the end and to be able to handle the things that come our way.  Trials are not fun.  It is not easy to handle hard things and trials either.  The best thing about it is that we have the Gospel and we have the ability to turn to our Father in Heaven and our brother Jesus Christ when we need help or when we feel that we are struggling.  God will not expect any of us to deal with something that we cannot handle.  I plan to give my will over to God’s and to search out a good attitude as I go through the various trials that I have gone through and will continue to go through.  It makes life so much better and easier if we will just learn to rely on God and follow the promptings of the Spirit so that we can know what things we need to do in order to overcome trials.  Although it is hard, it is possible to keep a good attitude throughout the hardest times.

CAPSTONE: Time Management

Throughout my life, I have found it to be extremely easy to waste time.  Time is such a valuable thing and yet so many of us take it for granted each and every day.  I am thankful though that I have the opportunity to learn and grow and figure out how I can spend my time more wisely.  As I found these quotes it made me feel even more of an obligation to keep doing good things with my time rather than silly or time wasting things with my time.  Back in October or November, I deleted my Facebook account.  This has actually been a great blessing in my life as well as in my husband’s life.  I have noticed how much more productive I can be when I do not have something like Facebook to distract me and give me something wasteful to do with my time.  The prophets have talked about how important it is to choose to do the best things with our time and not just the good and better things with our time.  They have also greatly emphasized the importance of spending time with family.  My husband and I go and plan to continue to go and visit our families often, especially our grandparents.  We love spending the time that we have with our family.  I plan to keep spending time with family when we get the chance.

CAPSTONE: Agency

Agency is such an important things for all of us and that we can and do have the opportunity to use each day.  In my life, I can choose to do things that are pleasing unto God, or I can do things that would not please God.  I am so thankful for the opportunity that I am given to choose for myself.  I have known this for a long time, but have come to realize even more the impact our decisions have on those around us.  While we have all been given agency, we also have consequences for the things that we choose to do with that agency.  I think this is so important for everyone to remember because even if we think we are making a choice that only affects us, we are wrong.  There is nothing that a person can do that will not affect other people around them.  I have made it a goal in my life to use my agency in ways that would be pleasing to God and in ways that would make my family and those close to me that I love happy.  I do not want to let anyone down and I must have control of myself and of my agency in order to make good decisions.

Teachings of the Living Prophets

This semester, I am taking an online class about the Teachings of the Living Prophets.  As a part of this class, I am making an inspirational quote journal on ten different topics. As you can see on the side, there are pages for each topic.  I hope to touch someone's life as well as change my own life while gathering inspirational quotes and applying them to my life.

Elder Robert D. Hales said, "... if we will listen to the counsel of our prophet, we will become stronger and be able to withstand the tests of mortality. We will have hope and joy. All the words of counsel from the prophets have been given so that we may be strengthened and then be able to lift and strengthen others" (Ensign, May 1995, 17)