Beautiful Day!

Today was a better day all around for Ryan. We all went to church together today, and it was a beautiful day. I spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and Becca gave a talk in Primary. Ryan helped Becca with her talk -- I'm so grateful he's still here to do things like that! 💜💜💜

After church we took the dogs on a short hike and held family gospel discussions in the great outdoors. It was almost a perfect afternoon...except Ryan got pulled off balance twice by one of our dogs and fell on the ground. Thankfully he fell as carefully as he could and didn't get seriously injured! Balance and coordination are still struggling points for Ryan, but he that felt hiking over rough terrain was good practice for him.

Yesterday we worked as a family on small projects and cleaning around the house. We are almost done with Nicole's room, and she was very happy to be able to sleep in it last night! Thank you again to everyone who has helped us on that!!!

In my talk today I spoke about how we have seen the hand of God in our lives throughout our trials this summer, and about how God answers prayers. I quoted quite a bit from a General Conference talk called "Answers to Prayer" by Elder Brook P. Hales (April 2019). I'll share a few of those quotes here.

"An important and comforting doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that our Heavenly Father has perfect love for His children. Because of that perfect love, He blesses us not only according to our desires and needs but also according to His infinite wisdom. ... One aspect of that perfect love is our Heavenly Father's involvement in the details of our lives, even when we may not be aware of it or understand it."

"We seek the Father's divine guidance and help through heartfelt, earnest prayer. When we honor our covenants and strive to be more like our Savior, we are entitled to a constant stream of divine guidance through the influence and inspiration of the Holy Ghost."

"The Father is aware of us, knows our needs, and will help us perfectly. Sometimes that help is given in the very moment or at least soon after we ask for divine help. Sometimes our most earnest and worthy desires are not answered in the way we hope, but we find that God has greater blessings in store. And sometimes our righteous desires are not granted in this life."

Another quote I shared was from Elder D. Todd Christofferson:

"Each of us needs to stop and think, 'Jesus Christ died for me. Jesus Christ thought me worthy of His blood, and He loves me. He has hopes for me, and He can make a difference in my life. His grace can transform me.'"

I also wanted to share Becca's talk here. I love her sweet testimony!

2 Corinthians 9:7 says, "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

To give grudgingly means to whine or complain about it. We should not whine or be grumpy when we help others.

I can give my time to help my sister with her chores. When I do it with a happy attitude, Heavenly Father is happy, too.

I believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I will choose to be baptized when I'm 8 years old. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

💙💚💛💜💖💜💛💚💙