A Most Beautiful Painting

I have a friend, Nathan Pinnock, who is an artist. One day he asked me if I would like him to paint a picture for my therapy room. He wanted to do something on a spiritual theme. We talked about it on several occasions. I wanted something that was spiritual in a suttle way because I have people of every walk of life and religion come to me for physical, mental, emotional and sometimes spiritual help. I didn't want a painting that would 'offend' someone because of their religious or ethnic background.
We talked about different ideas and I told him that I would like a picture of a child, with dark hair and dark eyes, with the Savior's hands cupping her face. I gave him a picture of me when I was 2 1/2 years old.
Well, this is the picture that he painted for me. It has great meaning to me because it is a symbol to me that the Lord doesn't stop bad things from happening to people, but he does help us heal IF we allow it.
Thank you Nate, there are NO words to describe how this picture touches me. It is Perfect.

Accept and Respect Your Current Body

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I received this quote in my email today and I wanted to pass it on.
You must unconditionally and completely accept and respect your current body--right now--no matter how many pounds you wish to lose. If you don't fully accept and respect your current body, you will never treat it as the most precious gift that has every been given to you. If you don't respect your body and treat it as a precious gift, then you will never find the willpower and motivation to exercise each day, stick to healthy food portions, drink plenty of water, and get enough sleep. Jorge Cruise - 8 Minutes in the Morning for Real Shapes Real Sizes
I have spent the past year losing weight, but for several years before, I really worked on learning to love, accept and respect my body as it was. My entire life I have never had the energy, health or looks that I would have chosen, but before I started Fat Loss 4 Idiots, I had really learned to accept myself as I was. Not the type of acceptance that gives you permission to stay the same, but the acceptance and positive attitude of my current situation, so that I could move forward and make appropriate changes. This weight loss program has helped me not only lose weight, but have more energy, it has stengthened my immune system and has improved my overall health and wellness. Along with all of that, I find myself being happier and more spiritually focused because I feel good.

Discouragement - NEVER GIVE UP!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wow, last night I was so discouraged. I was working on my website and everything kept going wrong. All this computer stuff is enough to turn me into a grey haired old woman! Hey, I'am a grey haired woman, but I try not to be to old. But I sure feel old when everything goes wrong. Once again I was ready to throw my hands up and quit.

Well, I went to bed to pray, read my scriptures, and see if I could find some comfort, strength, a lift, and some courage. After I read the scriptures, I picked up the Ensign that was sitting on my night stand and started to read an article about the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was about the night that a mob broke into Joseph's home, dragged him out into the street, beat him and covered him with tar and feather's. After the mob left him in the street, he had to pull tar from his face so he could breath. He stumbled home and for the rest of the night he and his wife Emma pealed tar from his broken body.

The next morning, instead of staying in bed to heal, he was out on the street preaching the gospel to the people. There were even members of the mob there listening to him. How many excuses could he have come up with that day to not even go outside. But he found strength in the Lord to get up and do his work.

I found that strength last night also. I sat and wept because of the Love that I felt from my Heavenly Father. I know I can keep learning all this 'computer stuff '. I'm still kind of scared of it, I know I will throw up my hands again at another time in the future and want to say "I QUIT"! Then I will do what I did last night and seek for divine help and strength to go on.

34TH ANNIVERSARY

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Today is our 34th anniversary and we almost forgot about it. That has never happened before! Last year on this day we were celebrating on the beaches in Hawaii. This year we talked about our anniversary several times over the past couple of weeks, but because of the economy we chose to NOT buy gifts for each other, but we would just go out to dinner. For me, it is enough that we are still together. George's health has been on the blink for the past 24 years from severe chest pains to chronic neck pain. He has had 34 surgeries (about 30 of them during our married life) and there were many times that I was afraid that I would be a young widow and would have to raise our children alone. But THANKS to our Heavenly Father, who chose to keep him here on earth, we have raised our children TOGETHER.
I am so grateful for my sweet husband. Our life together has not been an easy one. We have both been very very stubborn, stiff necked, and bull headed. We have made life so much harder than it needed to be, but we chose to stick it out together. Now that all of our children are raised and moved from home, we are finding more time for each other, showing more patience and love, and I am so
very very grateful that we have had this time to literally FALL IN LOVE AGAIN.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009. I began the new year as I usually do by staying away from the crowds and going to bed early. In return I woke up early this morning, with NO hangover, and I am ready to get the NEW YEAR off to a good start. I have a huge list of things to accomplish today, but mostly I am focusing on ALL the many blessings I have. I won't take the time to list them all here, but I spent a long time last night just thinking of what I have and THANKING my Father in Heaven.
I know that our country is having a difficult time right now, but I am kind of excited that it is happening. I pray that it will get the great people of our nation (which means "US") to cut back on all of our material 'wants' and things that we think we 'need' and get back to the basics.
I have been reflecting on the Christmas gifts that my 4 daughters-in-law gave me. Maybe my sons had some input on them too, but they were gifts of love and they 'KNEW' what I like and what I value. Larkyn gave me a gift card to Deseret Book, I have had quite a long list of books and music that I would love to have to help me stay more spiritually focused. Tawnie gave me the book "Reflections of Christ" and I have already ready it a couple of times. I keep it on my nightstand next to my bed, and it is a constant reminder of where my thoughts need to be. Aspen knows that I am 'storage' nut and she gave me a box of garden seeds that can be kept in storage. As I was reviewing my storage needs the past month or so, I had decided that garden seeds were to be my next preparation. How did she know? Mindy gave me a basked full of canned food along with a few goodies. Every gift so practical, yet so full of love.
Again, we all need to continue to get back to basics, back to love and appreciation and knowing that nothing in this world can beat having a great family.

CHRISTMAS

Friday, December 26, 2008
What a wonderful Christmas this has been. Sunday the 21st we had a wonderful family dinner at Jeremy's house. Everyone contributed to the meal which made it really special. After we stuffed ourselves, we read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2. Everyone takes turns reading a verse or 2. The grandkids were excited to get their gifts from the aunts and uncles and grandparents, so it wasn't as reverent as it could have been, but the spirit was still there as we took the time to remember the Savior, his birth, life, and the great lessons that he has to teach us if we will just take the time to review and remember.
All the gifts we shared with one another were wonderful, but the feeling of family and togetherness was the best. George kept saying all the way home, "Isn't our family wonderful." "This evening was so great with our family." "Isn't it wonderful that the kids love being together." and he continued to make similar comments all week.
Yesturday, Christmas day, was the continuation of this great week with family and remembering our Savior. I pray that all the love we have for one another will continue throughout each and every day of this coming year.
There is NOTHING in this world that can take the place of FAMILY. I love you all and hope and pray that we will all keep pulling together and find strength in one another during these troubled times. I LOVE YOU ALL. MOM

AVOIDING THE APPEARANCE OF EVIL

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
When I first started my website - liteandjoy.com, George and I decided that we would NOT do any computer work on the Sabbath day. Which meant that I would NOT write any posts for my products. Well, today I was thinking about different ways of improving my website and my business blog, liteandjoyblog.com. I thought that I could write the post on Saturday and program my computer to post it automatically on Sunday. That way I wouldn't be working on Sunday but the post would appear on its own. Brilliant huh! For those who may not be aware, it's the daily posts on the blog that catch the attention of the search engines so they can put your website and products higher up on the lists on Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask.com, etc. The higher you rank on their lists, the more traffic you receive on your site, and eventually you get more business.
Well, I am grateful for the promptings of the Spirit, because the thought immediately came to me that that would give the appearance, to the entire world, that I was working on Sunday. It was an interesting thought. Anyone, anywhere in the world can pull up my site and look at the date on it and believe that I have no regard for the Sabbath day as far as business and selling to get rich on the almighty dollar.
I very quickly decided that it isn't important to get a post out on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is the Lord's day, a day to read, study, serve him by serving others, and of course, resting from the constant grind of everyday living. I have heard many many times in my life that it is the little things that make the biggest difference. So this is one of those little things that I choose to do to honor my Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed ALL to give me the opportunity to choose the right, and hopefully come back to live with Him again.

THANKSGIVING DINNER - ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Last Sunday we had an early Thanksgiving dinner with our family. We had it early because some of my kids go out of town for the holiday. I am so Thankful that my Daughter-in-law was the one to suggest that we do it early. After dinner she asked that everyone take a minute and say what they were Thankful for. One thing that came up over and over again was "FAMILY". What a wonderful 'payday' for a MOM, to hear her children who fought and quarreled for many years, now say that FAMILY is the most important thing to them. It was a glorious evening.

I have a few programs that send me a "Daily Thought" on my email and this one came today and I wanted to pass it along.

I think everybody goes through times when they say, "Things aren't working right," Or "Things are going bad." Once, when there were some things going on in my family, I found a rock, and I just sat holding it. I took this rock, I stuck it in my pocket, and I said, "Every time I touch this rock I'm going to think of something that I'm grateful for." So every morning when I get up in the morning, I pick it up off the dresser, I put it in my pocket, and I go through the things that I'm grateful for. At night, what do I do? I empty my pocket, and there it is again.
I've had some amazing experiences with this idea. A guy from South Africa saw me drop it. He asked, "What is that?" I explained it to him, and he started calling it a gratitude rock. Two weeks later I got an email from him, in South Africa. And he said, "My son is dying from a rare disease. It's a type of hepatitis. Would you send me three gratitude rocks?" They were just ordinary rocks I found of the street, so I said, "Sure." I had to make sure that the rocks were very special, so I went out to the stream, picked out the right rocks, and sent them off to him.
Four or five months later, I get an email from him. He said: "My son's better; he's doing terrific." And he said, "But you need to know something. We've sold over a thousand rocks at ten dollars apiece as gratitude rocks, and we've raised all the money for charity. Thank you very much."
So it's very important to have an "attitude of gratitude." Lee Brower - The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

We should all think of some little thing that we can do to remind ourselves each day to remember what we have to be thankful for.

PATIENCE

Saturday, November 15, 2008
As I was reading a few days ago, I came across a scripture in Luke 21:19 that said 'In your patience possess ye your souls" I marked it but then forgot about it. Since then I have had several things happen that has really tried my patience. George (my husband) is on very heavy medication because of chronic pain, anxiety, inability to sleep, muscle spasms etc. He is like a walking Zombie. His speech is slow and he can hardly keep his balance standing in the middle of the room. He fell the other night at 2:30 a.m. which scared the daylights out of me. I jumped out of bed when I heard the glass doors of the shower being knocked off their tracks. Luckily they didn't fall and shatter all over him. He was scratched and bruised but not seriously injured. It took me 2 1/2 hours to settle down and get back to sleep. Needless to say I was a bit over tired for the next 2 days.
Last night I hurt his feelings when he wanted to read something to me in the newspaper. He is extremely slow in speaking and I have 'things' to do. So instead of 'waiting' to hear him read to me, I just grabbed the paper and said, "I'll just read it." It really made him feel bad. As I have pondered on it I realize that I just need to keep slowing my life down and take time for him so he can enjoy a better quality of life.
We live in such a 'hurry up' world' and I have been slow all of my life. My thought processes and learning ability has always been slow and people and have been telling me to to get moving, don't be lazy, why can't you keep up. Now I find acting the same way I was treated.
Today I was reading Pres. Monson's talk that he gave in the Priesthood session of the October Conference, 2008, and he quoted an old adage: "Do your duty, that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest." My DUTY is to learn as I serve my dear husband. Oh, I pray that the Lord will forgive me for being in such a hurry and continue to teach me Patience, Love, and Understanding. I certainly have a great opportunity to learn it right now and to help George through this life of trials and give him something to live for with MY TIME AND MY LOVE.

A NEW HEART

Several years ago as I was reading the scriptures and I came across one (of many) that talked about receiving a new heart. I thought about that for a long time, and prayed that I might understand what that meant. I felt like I really needed a huge change in my attitude and my ability to love. I knew that I could not do it myself so as I continued to read, pray, and even fast I began to see a change within myself. I began to understand that until I could really begin to love myself, my ability to love others was greatly diminished. I was overly judgemental of others because my judgement of myself was so harsh. Therefore my judgement of my husband and children was also overly harsh.
As I began to really look at myself and give myself permission to be 'human' and make mistakes, I started giving others the same consideration. I haven't really mastered it yet, but I am improving. Although I do find it is easier to give friends, family, neighbors, and my clients more room for error than myself, but I am still working on it. I feel like tons of pressure has been lifted off of my shoulders as I allow the Lord to bless me with a new heart, and he can only do that as I put forth the effort to improve.
Not only has my love for my family improved, but it seems to have helped pull my family members closer together. It never ceases to amaze me how our own attitude affects others. I am so grateful for the love and forgiveness I have received from my family members over the years as I have worked to improve my life and my attitude. They have all helped me to continue to improve my ability to change. I love you ALL so much.