In All that I Do and Say

   Last year in an assignment for another religion class I wrote basically a casual research paper in lesson form which I subtitled "Learning to Question my Beliefs."    I've never really been big on questions. I'll discuss things, read things, listen to things, occasionally talk about things, but hardly ever question things. It's a habit carefully formed by waiting until the absolute last second to ask a question in case it gets answered and I'm spared the effort (I mean, it's a theory, don't look too hard into my self-explanations). However, one of the things that has been impressed upon me especially in college is that educated people ask questions and question what they have been taught. I still don't necessarily wholeheartedly agree with that last part, to me it's more questioning how things function or how it got to be this way than questioning my beliefs like doubting that the sky is blue.    Having to think about these things in the r...

Do you ever have those days where everything goes perfectly? All your plans and goals are accomplished, all the people you interact with are nice and helpful, no curve-balls are thrown your way, and it could not possibly be better. Yeah, me neither.    What I do remember are good days that became great, not because they were perfect, but because they were hard and worth it. Typically I can remember the things I wish would have gone better, but those days were great because I got over it and focused on the good. (one from a while ago ) I had one such day recently.    It started early. Not just because I was going to observe high schools and had to be there on time, but also because I was performing with the Women's Chorus at Devotional that day. It was cold, something you wouldn't have seen on my face through layers of makeup. I had been nervously looking forward to this day because I knew there was only a slight chance that everything would work out to my sati...

(He loves me not, he loves me...)    Thankfully, the answer to questions of eternal importance don't depend on the outcome of a flowery game of chance. Does God love me?    I think that paramount to the belief of God, is knowing that he loves us. That the Earth and its inhabitants were made for a reason. As a child growing up in the LDS church, I learned a lot of songs that distilled the principles of the gospel and put them into words that children could understand and learn. My mother is a firm believer in the fact that information put to music is easiest to memorize, and it must be true because I can remember words to songs I barely thought I knew just by hearing the music.     Two songs I distinctly remember loving as a kid are "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and "I Feel My Savior's Love." (You should also know that I love singing, and words, and playing with words to make jokes.) A year ago in the university female chorus that I'm a part of...

Hello Everyone! (which right now is just Mom and Alayna) As you may know, I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while. There's so much to say, and almost no pressure to make it sound good or even halfway decent because hardly anyone usually reads them! (Or not, because you're still here... awkward) Anyway, this pet project of mine has been jump-started as part of a self-improvement project for one of my religion classes at BYU. The plan is to post once a week and talk about the things I know to be true. I'm not talking about 2+2=4 kind of truths, I'm talking about the real, hard God-loves-me-and-I-know-it kind of truths. (In fact, that will probably be the first official post because it's such a great place to start) These truths are part of my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and its teachings. (The main title of this blog and this as its first post is courtesy of Janice Kapp Perry's "I'm Trying ...