With the Lord, everything will be okay!

It has been a fast couple months. It is so strange to think that tomorrow is December. I have enjoyed my first half of a stressful senior year and look forward to what looks like a more enjoyable second half of my last year in high school. As the year has been flying by, my time to start my mission papers is looming. I'll most likely start them around Christmas Break and I plan on submitting them on February 17th. And hopefully get my call around the time that Elder Rulon Dahneke returns home from his mission on March 4th! It'll be an exciting next couple months for me! Well, I did not bring up my mission and how stressful life has been for no reason. Since life is passing by so quickly, I've have grown continuously more nervous about my mission and my future. Looking back though, I have come to realize, that the Lord has been there every step of the way. 

I, like many other latter day saint teens get the marvelous opportunity to wake up at five am or earlier every school day to attend seminary. It has been amazing these past three and a half years but it has been a tiring journey. When I see most people start to fall asleep during class, I am somehow awake and engaged in lectures and work time. It is amazing to me because I know that I am receiving strength every day from Heavenly Father to keep on pushing through my long days. I know that on my mission I will experience the same physical and spiritual strength that will carry me through hard times and long days. Because if there is one thing I have been reminded of through all of this, it is that Jesus Christ knows us perfectly. He knows what we need, what we want, what we dream, what we know, and what we don't. I know that since He came and suffered for my sins, that He can be with me whenever I need him; that He is beside me every step of the way cheering me on down the path that leads to happiness and eternal life. I know that He can be there for you whenever you call upon Him through prayer. He is all-powerful and full of mercy. I am so elated and honored to be able to bear His name and preach His Gospel to my brothers and sisters. If there is one thing I want everyone to remember, I want them to know that no matter WHAT you are going through, WHO is causing conflict in you life, or WHY something is happening to you, everything will be okay as long as you rely on the Lord. When He is by your side, YOU ARE UNSTOPPABLE. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.