our covenants and transformation

I have made covenants with God. When I was baptized I promised to always remember Him, to take His name upon me, and to keep His commandments. In return, I was promised the gift of repentance and to be forgiven when I make mistakes. I was promised that I could have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help me each day.

I have made covenants in the temple. I have promised to keep the laws of obedience, sacrifice, the gospel, chastity, and consecration. I made covenants when I was married to Eric.

Yesterday I was thinking about each one of my covenants and how as I have tried to honor them blessings have come into my life and I have changed because of them. They do not restrict me--they help me to become so much more than I could on my own. They are transforming me.

Our covenants have the power to transform us. As we strive to honor our covenants we can become people of compassion, patience, hope, joy, light, love, and purpose. Striving to remember and keep our covenants brings us closer to Jesus Christ and to our Heavenly Father and allows a power to flow through our lives. Our covenants help us to become and to do so much more than we ever could on our own. 

My covenants help me to become close to my Savior.

As I keep my covenants, I can expect miracles in my life. And I see them!

3am thoughts to 8am thoughts

Something woke me up at 3am this morning--a noise, a thought, I don't know what it was. But my 3am thoughts turned on and wouldn't stop. 3am thoughts are racing, fearful, overwhelming little thoughts. 

And they soon became 4am thoughts. 4 am thoughts pulled me out of bed. I found myself in the closet with the light on trying not to disturb Eric. Maybe it was the light of the closet, but my thoughts became a bit more rational as I sat there stretching my body in a little mini yoga closet session. I grabbed a book off of my shelf. It was a poetry book of my mom's. 4am thoughts also feel a lot of grief and aching for their parents. I tried to sit with that. Why did my mom have to go?? 

I skimmed poem after poem until 5am thoughts arrived. 5am thoughts were soothed and ready to try sleep again. 5am thoughts knew that's exactly what I needed.

The next thoughts I met up with were 8am thoughts. By that time, the light was peeking through the shutters. All the middle of the night, dark thoughts stayed in the dark because these were new thoughts ready for the light and the day. 8am thoughts are bright and joyful. 8am thoughts are full of hope and excitement. They see the balance of life.

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Funny how I set a goal to block consistently this year and that turned in to less blogging than I have ever done. Some things that have kept me over extended are wrapping up this week. Hoping for my sake that means I can come back to this space more often.