I always like to do something special for the month of December. Now that I have a child, it is all the more fun and exciting. This month we have decided to start something called "Jesus Is..." My daughter is still very young, but I wanted to find ways to teach her about Christmas, our Savior and what is so special about this time of year. So each night after scripture study we take just a few minutes to teach her one thing about Jesus. One night we showed her a picture of Mary holding baby Jesus and taught her that Jesus was a baby and He came here because He loves us. One night we showed her cut outs of the Nativity and taught her that the wisemen and shepherds came to see Him and that the animals were there, too. Through the month we plan to pick one attribute of our Savior each day and teach her who Jesus Is. For example, Jesus is Love. Jesus is Happy. Jesus is Kind. A simple and fun way to help her know who He is. Though this activity was intended to help and teach my daughter, I'm not surprised at how much it is affecting me. As I take time each day to think of all the wonderful things our Savior is, I find myself gaining a stronger testimony of His goodness and love and the blessings He brings to my life. So I decided to start my own little journal of what He is to me. I call this one "God Is..." Though I know that my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ are 2 separate beings, what they stand for is the same. I'm excited for this wonderful time of year and the opportunity I have to refocus and dig deeper and recognize their Power and Love and Blessings in my life. I plan to document some of my thoughts here, 

so follow along if you wish!

Merry Christmas Season to You All!

  Here are my entries from the past few days.

God Is...

December 1st, 2012

God is Personal

Today I had a special experience that reminded me just how personal God is with each and every one of us. How deeply He knows and understands us. He doesn't just know me, but He knows EVERYONE in this world. He is completely aware of what we need, what we want and how we need His help. He truly is our friend and lives to lift us up.

December 2nd, 2012

God is Answers to our Prayers

I believe we often don't see or even recognize the answers to our prayers. Most times the answers don't come in ways that we expect. But sometimes the answers are very clear to see. Today I'm grateful for the answer I received to a very simple prayer.

We had some friends over to watch the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. One of our friends is a newly baptized member of our church and this was a wonderful chance for her to get to hear from our Prophet and learn more about what we believe. I really wanted it to be a good experience for her. She arrived at our home and brought with her a very cute, but unhappy little baby (that she was babysitting for the evening.) I was excited to have another little one join us. I LOVE babies. As the devotional started the baby was having a hard time calming down. I was hopeful I could help and asked if I could hold him. As she handed him off I said a silent prayer that he would relax and stay calm for the rest of the evening. After a few minutes he calmed down, but I could tell he wasn't relaxed. Then my little girl started pulling on my skirt and I became worried that she would be jealous and want me to hold her (which normally is the case). So I said another prayer that she would be happy and not cause any distractions. The devotional continued and the Spirit could be felt. Then came time for our Prophet to speak. My daughter was tired and I was worried she would start fussing and the baby became more restless. I said another little prayer that they would both stay calm and handed my daughter her blanket and repositioned the baby. As our prophet started to speak, my daughter laid on the floor and silently listened. The baby relaxed on my shoulder and seemed to be asleep. There was absolutely no distractions as we listened to Him speak and sang the closing song. I was shocked. My heart was touched and I had NO DOUBT that my prayers had been heard and God had blessed us. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love and the watchful care that came from my Father above. I know He is watching over us and in the big things and the small things, He always hears our prayers.

December 3rd, 2012

God is Patient

Today was one of those days. Not a bad day, nothing went wrong. But something inside of me was just off. Call it hormones or lack of sleep or whatever...but I was not feeling at all good about myself. One of those feel ugly, stupid, pointless type of days. Most women know exactly what I mean. Anyways - point is, I didn't feel awesome. As the day came to a close I realized my daughter had been happy all day, which I'm assuming is rare for any 19 month old toddler. She hadn't thrown any fits or screamed at me or begged to watch movies or go 'bye bye'. She had laughed and played and given me loves and entertained herself a lot of the day. THIS IS NOT A USUAL OCCURRENCE. Actually, I'm not sure it has ever happened in her life! Because of my unhappy feelings inside, my initial reaction to this realization is that I am a terrible mom. I shouldn't have felt so down, I should have given her more attention and so on and so on and so on. But as I thought about it more, I knew it wasn't a coincidence that she had been so happy today. I felt a calm assurance inside that God was watching out for me and had blessed me through the goodness of my own little toddler. He knew how I felt. He knew what I needed and gave it to me in a way that I almost didn't see. I'm so grateful for His never ending patience and the many times He stands by me even when I'm down for no reason at all!

December 4th, 2012

God is Good

This Saturday we are having our church Christmas Party. It is going to be awesome. Anyone is invited, so let me know if you want to come and I can give you the info! Anyways - The Theme is "A Night in Bethlehem." We are creating the city of Bethlehem and eating food and playing games just like in the days of Christ. And there will be beautiful musical numbers and a reenaction of the Nativity. It has taken a lot of work from a lot of people and has been a neat experience just in the preparing. One thing we were concerned about is the food. Come Sunday we didn't have enough people signed up to help and we were concerned we may not have enough. So we sent out emails in hopes that people would reply and be able to help. I soon received emails from women in the ward asking what we needed and offering to help out. Some of them willing to bring way more than their fair share. I was really impressed. They didn't care what we asked them to bring or how much they needed to prepare, they were just happy to help. I felt the Spirit of Christmas in their willingness to serve. The Spirit of caring and giving and expecting nothing in return. I felt blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people. I felt blessed to be touched by the goodness of others. God is good. When we follow Him by loving and serving, His goodness not only fills our hearts, but it blesses the lives of all those around us.

December 5th, 2012

God is Change

Though God is unchanging Himself, He is the change we can find in ourselves. There are times in life when I've hit a wall. Or a pit. Or a hump. Or something that I feel is keeping me from progressing or being completely happy. No matter what I do to change or get around the wall or through the pit or over the hump, I cannot do it on my own. I find that through prayer and pleading and true desire and effort, God blesses me with the ability to change. HE changes my heart. HE changes my feelings. HE is 'the way, the truth and the life' as stated in John 14:6. He has helped me over the walls, through the pits and around the humps over and over again. I'm grateful He came into this world to show me the way, and more importantly, to provide a way for me to change.