The Girl in the Purple Skirt

I saw the most touching thing this morning.

There is an elementary school bus that stops outside my house every day around 8:00 AM. I have to keep extremely close watch after I drop Jake off at school because there are cute little hooligans running around everywhere trying to make it to the bus on time.

So as I was waiting to pull into my driveway I saw the bus pull up and stop and the little kids start to pile onto the bus one by one.

As I was starting to pull into my driveway, I could see a little girl about 5 to 6 years old running her little heart out down the street with her pink princess backpack that was a big as she was flopping back and forth on her little back screaming "wait! wait!" with tears rolling down her cheek. I could see her, but I doubt the bus driver could.

I just thought "That poor little girl is gonna miss the bus even though she is running her heart out to get on it."

The first time I missed the bus for school I bawled.

Then, I saw something that pulled at my heart strings.

There was a girl, maybe 7 with a purple skirt, who was the last in line to get on the bus. As she was walking toward the bus, I noticed she caught a glimpse of that little girl sprinting down the street. I watched this little 7 year old girl take one look at the girl, then the bus, then back to the girl, and then continue to walk towards the bus. Then, she hesitated, and stopped right in her tracks about 6 feet from the bus as all the other kids piled on the bus. I could hear that busdriver yelling at her saying "Comeon! get on the bus! I can't wait forever." But the girl in the purple skirt stood her ground outside that bus until that little pink princess huffed and puffed her way onto that bus, and then followed her on.

Now you may think. OK Kait, that is really cheesy. Seriously? That almost brought you to tears this morning? You are pathetic.

This little seven year old girl in a purple skirt risked her guaranteed spot on the bus to help a friend (or maybe a complete stranger). Although the busdriver couldn't see that little girl with the princess backpack running her heart out, the girl in the purple skirt could. And she knew the busdriver Could see her and communicate with her. So, at possible personal cost, she stood her ground to help someone in need.

Sound familiar yet?

Sometimes in life I feel like that girl with that princess backpack. The stuff packed inside of my backpack of life seems more than I can handle-and it is heavy. But I know that I need to make it on the bus to go anywhere in life, but it just seems so far away, I have too much to carry, and I know I am already past the deadline of when I should have been on the bus. I am running my little heart out crying and just anticipating the worst- that I will be left on the sidewalk alone in my pity because I just couldn't run fast enough.

But then there is the girl in the little purple skirt.

Or should I say, our Savior, Jesus Christ, In his royal robes of violet.

As I was watching this scene unfold this morning, the spirit just spoke so strongly  to me and said "He will wait for you too."

I know that Christ was willing to wait for us, even when it meant it could-and absolutely did- come at great personal cost. Heavenly Father will never leave behind his Only Begotten Son, and Christ will never get on that bus without us as long as we are running to him no matter how long the distance to him is. Christ waits for us in our sins, in our pains, in our trials, in our sicknesses.

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12 Book of Mormon.)"

That he may know, according to the flesh, how to "run to" His people- according to their infirmities. 

I don't know what everyone's infirmities consist of. But I do know and testify that the Master of all, Jesus Christ, knows how EVERY pain feels, every heartache, every sorrow, every emotion, every sin, every disappointment, every stress.

He loves us. And he does run to us.

The Everlasting Well

OK. It's gonna get real here for a second.

Guys, life gets pretty tough sometimes.

I tell that to myself sometimes. And sometimes my mind screams back at me. "You are just a wuss!"

I guess its kinda like Bryan Regan's Skit on going to the ER. I can't bring myself to say I have a life "pain" or "trial" level of ten because, man... someone else has got a broken femur out there, and they have exclusive rights to a "10". And if I ever were to say my life is hard, someone with a "life toughness" level of ten would come out and say “Who the HECK… had the AUDACITY… to say he was at a level ten?!? You know nothing about ten. Give me a sledgehammer, and let me show you what ten is all about, Mr. Tummy-ache!”

How can I really say my life gets hard sometimes when someone is dying from cancer? Or is a single mom who's husband died young? Or who is grateful for being able to eat one meal per day?

Nope, my life is pretty cush. I am EXTREMELY blessed.

Which makes it all the worse when I can't help but feel sorry for myself when my blessed, cush life seems a little hard sometimes. But I feel like I have more first world problems. Stella got sick, stressing about debt from medical school, seeming like I have too much to do in a day and not enough time to accomplish it. Sometimes I just want to kick myself in the pants and say "HEY! At least you are able to GO to medical school! At least you can afford antibiotics! Ect." It doesn't matter what my trial is, my mind always tries to find a way to tell me my trials are so much less than another, and I am pathetic and selfish for even thinking my life is hard.

This process in my mind usually just makes me feel worse. Not only do I still feel like my life is hard in that moment, but I then feel GUILTY about FEELING my life is hard!

And as a result, I go to self  pity to soothe myself. "I just can't do it anymore, I have no more energy, I have NOTHING left to give. My well is dry. How can anyone expect me to give anything more because its gone." And as I repeat this phrase over and over again, I just feel more and more sorry for myself . But feeling this sorrow seems to justify my actions and behavior. I can act this way because "CAN'T YOU SEE I AM SAD?"

One of Satan's greatest tactics is to get us to compare ourselves to others. It is OK that I feel my life is hard sometimes, because those are MY feelings. And he tries to tell me that it is not OK to have those feelings so I feel that my problems are too small, too trivial compared to others, to go to Heavenly Father in Prayer about. And the only other way I have found to soothe that pain is directing that pain inward, internally, to beat myself up and justify my pain. It is selfish, internal, and keeps Satan right where he wants you, in a pit of despair right with him.

As I was repeating I have NOTHING left to give. My well is dry. over and over to myself one morning, I decided the Stella and Jake still needed me, and I needed to do something about it. I thought, I am telling this to myself over and over, maybe I should try to direct this pain externally instead of internally.

So I got on my knees.

I literally just said the exact same thing that was going through my head the past few mornings over and over again in a prayer. I just can't do it anymore, I have no more energy, I have NOTHING left to give. My well is dry. How can anyone expect me to give anything more because its gone. And instead of directing it internally, I said these same words as a prayer. And As I was repeating those words, This thought came to me immediately.

"I KNOW your well is dry, I have seen you struggling for some time just HOPING you would just TALK to me about it. I know you feel empty, I know you feel like you have nothing left to give. And that is ok, because you really don't. But I, I have living water. Your well may be empty, but my well is everlasting, and if you rely on me, I will fill your well. I don't just carry the lost sheep! I carry the wounded and weak sheep too!" Come unto me, ye who labors and is heavy laden, and I will give ye rest unto your soul.

And rest I did find.

It was amazing how literally just changing my frame of mind changed my whole attitude and look on life. There is NOTHING WRONG with thinking those thoughts. What is wrong about having those thoughts is when they drive us to pity and despair rather than to hope and light and GREATFULNESS that the burden CAN be lightened when we pray, and ask for Christ's atonement to strengthen us through our individual trials, no matter HOW big or small.

That day was a lot better. But it didn't get any easier. the next day I found myself leaning towards self pity again, but I decided to pray again, and I was filled again with the same answer- lean on me and I will help you walk today. And if you ask again tomorrow, I will be there to help you run. 

I am definitely not running yet, but I feel the strengthening power of the atonement help me walk through my days. Yes, Even though I am extremely blessed, that doesn't mean Heavenly Father doesn't want to help me through the small things I go through that can be big to me sometimes. And I am grateful for this wonderful gift of Grace that God has given me, that through the strengthening power of Christ's atonement, I can do anything.

"But why would you do this for me?

Because I love you..

But it doesn't seem fair.

That's right it's not fair-it's merciful. It is, after all, a gift.

But how can I possibly deserve such a gift?

Don't be silly. you can't. you don't - The gift is offered because I love you & want to help you, not because I owe it to you.

But how can I ever repay you?

There you go again. you can't repay me, not you or the billions like you. Gifts of this magnitude can never be repaid. For what I have done out of love for you, you can only love me back, and seek to become what I am- a giver of good gifts.

And that is good news."

Our Soul Account with Christ

 We often think that having faith in Christ means believing in his identity as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But believing in Jesus's identity as the Christ is on the first half of it. The other half is believing in his ability, his power to save- to make stumbling, unworthy sons and daughters worthy... We must not only believe IN Christ, but we must also BELIEVE Christ when he says he can clean us up and make us celestial. 

He says he can MAKE us celestial material, no matter where we start, and we have the audacity to sit here and say ,"No he can't? I'm too broken? I am too far gone?" We may believe in Christ, but many of us don't BELIEVE CHRIST. We believe Christ makes promises he can't keep.

Many within the church are trying to save ourselves, to do it all with Jesus Christ merely as an advisor. But he wants to do so much more than that!!! Members know why Jesus can be called a coach, a cheerleader, an advisor, a teacher, our elder brother, the head of the church, and even God. Most of us understand all of that. But we don't understand why he is called the Savoir.

When we enter into the baptismal covenant, by taking Christ's name upon us, it is like our soul's our entering a "joint soul bank account" with Christ. Christ's balance in his bank account is ALWAYS positive Infinity. He earned that positively endless balance by performing the Infinite atonement. Thus, by joining our "soul account" with his, no matter what WE DO, as long as we try to keep the terms of the agreement, our balance is the same as his- making us perfect. Each week we come to resign that contract by taking the sacrament. Some weeks, we may have feel that we have over drafted, we fell short of our covenants, messed up, made mistakes, and made the balance go negative. But Infinity plus any number... 0, 2 million, negative 5, or even if we feel like we have hit negative infinity.... Infinity plus any number, positive or negative, is always infinity. 

That means whether you are the prophet and you feel you put in 1,000,000 a week to the "Joint account of your soul & Christ" --Infinity . Whether you try your best to wrestle with sin and slip up but covenant to try to do better each week- still infinity. Or even if you are an addict who has been authorized to take the sacrament for the first time in months or years...The moment we take the sacrament and TRULY enter into that covenant with a promise to do are best, we all join our account with Christ. We ALL become equal to the lord. Because when we have Christ we can do ANYTHING.  No matter how little you feel you can bring to Christ, if you will let him enter, HE (not we) will make us celestial. 

I want to gain a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ as my Savoir. I know he has saved my from many things, pain, sadness, sin, but I know there are many things that he has also saved me from that I haven't discovered yet. I believe in Christ when he can save me from my personal weaknesses too, and need to be better at BELIEVING Christ that he can save and help me with WHATEVER I need.

Was Blind But Now I See.

There once was a story of a man born blind.

He lived a life of loneliness, seclusion, misunderstanding. He was exiled, cast out, and disowned from his family, forced to beg on the streets for survival. Hoping one would come along and show mercy to keep him alive. 

All believed that either he, or his parents, had done something to bring this misfortune upon this evil blind man. "Master who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" 

As I read this story, my heart mourns with this blind man. What a life of loneliness he must have lived, a man acquainted with grief, I am sure. I may have not been born blind, but I have been born with some characteristics and tendencies that have caused me spiritual blindness at points in my life.  But most of the time, I do not even have my "nature" to blame. I cause the blindness myself by my own choices and actions. I lose track of what I want to be doing with my life, where I am supposed to be, and why it even matters. 

But the tale of  the blind man is characterized not by his long life of exile, depression, and darkness, but he is remembered by his supreme act of faith and hope.

As Jesus passed by this blind man in the streets of Jerusalem of an early Sabbath morning, one of his disciples, no doubt trying to understand more fully the nature of sin, asked his Master, essentially, whose fault is it that the man before them was born blind. In their day and age, it was seen to be a sign of sin and loss of favor with God to be born with any type of physical disability or impairment.

Jesus, surprised the multitude with his answer, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." 

The Prince of Peace did not see this man as a sinner, and in no way brought that blindness upon him as a punishment, but as an opportunity, if the blind man chose to accept it, to manifest the love, power, and mercy of the Son of God.

As Christ bowed and put a "spittle" of mud on his eyes, he commanded the man born blind to "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam."

No promise of healing was given, no immediate light bestowed, no grand performance in front of the crowds. Just a quiet command to go, and do.

And the blind man did just that.

I always pictured Christ leading this man to to pool with the multitudes following him, then the crowd gasping as they watched their community cripple become a man of sight. But I read too quickly. This man's journey was much different than that, and much more symbolic of the journey of a disciple. 

"HE, went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing." (John 9:7)

HE. Not they, not the multitude, not the disciples, just HE.

This blind man, after an encounter with the Son of the Living God, given a command with no promise blessings verbalized, journeyed to the Pool of Siloam alone.

Now one may say, "Well that doesn't seem too hard!" until we remember that is man is blind. 

We do not know how far this pool was from this man's regular begging spot, and we do not know how familiar he was was the landscape of the city. We are not given that information. But I would supposed it would be quite the feat.

He must have heard some people walking by day after day talking on this Jesus of Nazareth, and the miracles they had witnessed. He must have had some degree of skepticism, not ever being able to see these miracles with his own eyes. But whatever doubts he had, it was not enough to deter him from the possibility of sight. He was willing to make the journey, not knowing what the outcome would be. 

Imagine, a blind man stumbling down the stony steps of Jerusalem alone, believing the Savoir's statement " I am the light of the world." With no promise he would receive sight, just believing enough to take step after step, hoping that the Savoir's declaration was true. Many must have mocked him, the blind man with muddy spit on his eyes. "What is he doing?" " Doesn't he know who he is in himself? A blind man? He must be a fool." Slowly, and painfully, trying to make his way to a destination he could not see. But he did make the journey, and he arrived, I would supposed, with some bruises and scrapes from his lonely voyage.

He arrived, and did as commanded: he washed. And as he washed, he received his sight. 

Now we know that Christ was not there with him during this miracle because the neighbor's asked him " Where is he? And he said "I know not."

Now one would think this man would get to celebrate after having this wonderful miracle performed, but he was immediately taken to the Pharisees. He was questioned, and essentially was told the Jesus was an evil man, and that he should disown Christ as a sinner. But he would not. As he held true to the one thing he did know. "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing."

As he said this, he was reviled, declared unclean, and cast out of the synagogue. 

What a day. A man who was condemned by his own community since the day he was born finally could see. A wave of emotions must have been running through his mind. Who is this man whom opened mine eyes? Who I have been cast out of the synagogue for? I have never seen him, but he hast change my life. Bruised, bleeding, rejected, he probably stumbled in the dark of night to find the few belongings he had at his beggar's post. 

I would imagine and he reached his old shelter of many years, he would have stopped short, knelt to the ground and touched the dirt that brought him sight, and sobbed at the miracle he was blessed to be apart of. 

But Jesus would not leave his newfound disciple comfortless. When he heard the blind man had been cast out, he went to find him. The once blind man, never having seen the Savoir, could not have recognized him by appearance.  I picture Jesus, slowly approaching this man, who could have been sobbing on the ground, wet, dirty, and broken, and asked "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"

The blind man,  in a third proof of his faith that day, asked a faith promoting question, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?"

He does not stop at "No, I do not know him." Or "I am not sure." But he says "Who is he?" (implying that he does not know or else he wouldn't be asking), and continues with "that I might believe on him?" He does not know at that moment who the Son of God is, but he wants to know. Then Christ, as he always does, reveals himself to one seeking him.

"Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee."

What a moment that must have been. A man, on his first day of sight, was privileged to not just see the savoir physically, but to know of his true character and divinity the same day. He knew in that moment that Jesus Christ was who he said he was, and I imagine him falling into the arms of his Savoir, sobbing and "worshiping" him. 

"And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him."

There is power in the words. "Lord, I believe."

Now we, on our paths to discipleship, sometimes expect the Savior to walk us down to the pool. We expect him to verbalize a promise that our faith will be rewarded. We expect him to show up when we are being mocked and ridiculed. We may think the path he has commanded us to take is unconventional, is unsafe, the path may seem to stony and crooked for our blind selves to navigate. "It is impossible!" we can declare. "How am I supposed to get where he has asked me to without sight! Doesn't he KNOW I am BLIND?"

Yes, he knows us. And he knows what path we need to take to become like him. He has walked the blind path before, and carved marks along the walls of the path through the nails in his hands and feet.  Will we still stumble? Yes. Will we take a wrong turn sometimes? Possibly. But as we feel for those marks in the walls and search for our Reedemer, we will know he is with us along our path.  And as we show our faith, consistently, never faltering, there will come a day where we can kneel at his feet, recognize those marks, come to know him, and say "Lord, I believe."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHBo7ka3YZQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHBo7ka3YZQ

Verses taken from John Chapter 9.

Forging Relationship Ropes.

Jake and I have been married for almost three years now. And while I am no marriage expert, I have learned a lot in the past few years.


After we got back form our honeymoon, Jake and I went through all of the gifts and cards that everyone gave us. Pretty much everyone wrote some kind of marital advise on their gifts.

"Get over the little things!"

"Make sure you put the toilet seat DOWN!"

But the most repeated advice Jake and I got was this.

"Marriage is not a I give 50% you give 50% relationship. Marriage requires you to both give 100% to work."

Jake and I try our best to give each other 100%, but there are times and trials in life that make it impossible sometimes to give your 100%. And it is in those times where you find out the stuff that your marriage is made out of. There have been two distinct experiences I can recall that I would say were where our marriage was strengthened the most. And they weren't in the 100-100 ratio times. They were in the 0-100 and 100-0 times. It is the times where one spouse can give nothing, and how the other spouse reacts, that defines your marriage.

The natural thing to do when you are in a relationship and you feel like you are giving "more" than your spouse is to match what they are giving. Everyone knows that through your dating years if someone is more "invested" in the relationship than the other, it usually ends or fizzles out. That marital advice of 100-100% makes it seem unfair at times if your spouse isn't willing... or can't give their "fair share" to the relationship.

"Well If he/she is not going to make the effort to plan special things, then I won't." 

"Well if he/she is going to criticize me and never compliment me, I am going to do the same".

How is that fair if my spouse is constantly doing x,y,z wrong... and I feel like I am giving 110% all the time and it seems like they are only giving 60%?! This relationship is not going to work!!

So out of anger, we as human beings purposefully stop making the effort out of spite and vengeance. And then your spouse follows suit. You each keep on decreasing your "effort" to match what you feel like your spouse is giving, which makes NO ONE happy.

Luckily, in a time when I needed it most. my husband showed me what true Christlike love is. Even when someone could say I was giving -10%... not only not giving but taking other's strength, my husband continued to give his 100%. Was that fair to him? No. Was it fair that I was taking away precious study time during his first finals week EVER of medical school to talk to him about all my insecurities? No. Was I draining his spirits? Yes. But did he stop giving? No. But there soon came a time afterward where I would like to think that I may have returned the favor to him. But THIS, these are the moments where you find out how willing you are to make your marriage work. Marriage was instituted because God knew that it was in moments like these, that ALWAYS happen in marriage, where we have the opportunity to become more like the Savoir.

It is in these delicate times of marriage where the true bonds of love are formed. We can use our spouses weaknesses to "serve them right" to stomp them even deeper into the ground in their delicate vulnerable state. Or we can show selflessness and compassion, using our own strength to try to lift them up. One way turns a marital bond of rope into gold, the other shreds it so it is only holding on by a few threads.

This life's purpose is to become more like Christ, and Christ gave his EVERYTHING, and got NOTHING in return. Well, not nothing. This is what Christ got for his 100%"

"He was despised, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and WE HID ...OUR FACES from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem his stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of his peace is upon us, and with his stripes, we are healed." (Isaiah 53: 3-5)

What did the savior of the world get for giving up his honor, his glory, and coming down to give us his 100%? Well....He got something- crucified, tortured, bruised, rejected, spat upon, and so much more. And yet, even when we were doing those things to him, he still loved us, and gave us his 100%. By his actions of pure Love and Charity, even in the times where we gave him much less that what he TRULY deserved, he still gave us his 100%, and by doing so, lifted us through his efforts to escape our dark hole where we couldn't give him anything, to a place where we could try to give him something back to show our love for him.

Now, I am not saying that if you are in an abusive relationship it is OK for you to give 100% and never get anything. There is ZERO tolerance for abusive situations. And there are always circumstances where it is time to move on, and I am not one to judge when that point is for anyone. But I do know one thing for sure, It is is the times that people seem to just take take take, and we STILL choose to give, that forms us into a new creature, that helps transforms us closer to the image of Christ.

So to my wise friends and family who gave me that wonderful marital advise, I would like to add one more sentence to supplement that....Our marriages WORK when we both give 100% at all times. Relationships THRIVE and GROW when we are able to give each other 100% in the times where the other can barely muster up 1%. 

It is in those pits where charity- the pure love of Christ- is created. And when our spouses act in the example of Christ to give their 100% to help lift us out of those pits, that is where I have found the unbreakable bonds of MY marriage being forged.

Thoughts and Questions on The Baptism Requirement of Gay Children.

1. “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the Living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.” (D&C 68:25.)
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression

The Church hasn't come out with an official statement yet- But it is all over the media." LDS Church: Children of Same Sex Couples Not Eligible For Membership."

When I first saw this- I thought "This is seriously going to be the last straw for many members of the church." What a trial of faith for many saints. I have compassion on many of those who are struggling with this, and pray that we may all find an understanding and peace of how this (potential) announcement is consistent with the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints.

Now. I don't expect everyone to agree with what I am about to say in the rest of my post, but this is how I have (so far), been able to reconcile my faith and feel at peace with this decision. I am going to continue to study and pray to seek more truth and wisdom, but these main points are what I have come up with so far, I ENCOURAGE POSITIVE DISCUSSION. ANY PERSONAL ATTACKS OR NAME CALLING ON EITHER SIDE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED! If you find fault in my logic, that is OK. I am still formulating my opinion and respectful conversation with those who disagree will help me to think more deeply about this topic, I very well could be completely wrong, I am not a gospel scholar, but I think I can learn through expressing my thoughts.

 “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the Living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.” (D&C 68:25.)

• I think this is the most important scripture to me in reconciling the decision of the church. These children who will inevitably be in this situation, are not going to be allowed to be baptized at the standard age of 8, and there are some consequences associated with that. One of those consequences is not having the constant companionship of the spirit that comes with confirmation only after baptism. That is a sad thought to deprive children of that because of their Parent's actions But this scripture states that the sin will be on the head of the parents. That may sound harsh, but it is true only to those who are apart of Zion and who have known the truth, but don't follow it for whatever reason.
• "Well what about all those other children who are baptized with parents not living gospel standards? How is that any different? It seems the Church has come out directly against Gay people! What about the Alcoholics? You still allow their children to be baptized even though you say thy are sinning!" Some are saying within the church that those children are the ones who need the blessings of baptism and the companionship of the holy ghost the most in their situations, why would you punish the precious children who need it most!
• I don't know the answers to all these questions. I think the way the church sees it is that the Gay parents are outwardly living a life that directly contradicts church doctrine, and are out there ACTIVELY promoting others to do so, and whether we like it or not, children are associated with their parents. I don't think alcoholics go out and try to convince OTHERS to embrace alcoholism and become alcoholics. So now I have the question then of "Well then why are the children of Such and Such excommunicated couple that is actively opposing the church allowed to be baptized?!! Are they? I don't know. I don't think that there are enough widespread excommunicated couples with children who want to get baptized to warrant a general statement. I would imagine that is just taken care of on a case by case basis since it is such a small number. But The Church is probably anticipating a wide number of these situations, so to guide the current leaders, they have given us application to follow.
• God Loves his precious children, and will always bless them. This is not about whether or not god Loves the children of gay parents, for he loves EVERYONE. Period, no matter what you do or who you are. It is about what requirements there are to be a member of His church- which comes with associated blessings. You don't have to have the root for the same sports team for your parents to love you {or maybe you do in some households!! ;)}. But if they invite you into their club party for that team where there have been rules and standards set for entry, they would expect you to respect the rules as anyone else does to become a member. And in this case, they are saying in this situation, the children need to be 18 for admittance if their parents are rooting for a specific rival team. I think there is GREAT wisdom in that. I have literally seen families torn apart by rooting for different FOOTBALL teams PEOPLE!!!!! Imagine what kind of strain on a relationship between parent and child could result by them believing that WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE is wrong or a sin. No child should have to make that decision at such a young age. The church is not in the business of tearing families apart, but respecting agency and providing guidance to protect us and the precious children who seek after truth. 
•  I believe God loves us so much, and there must be wisdom in him doing this to protect his precious children. We may not see it that way right now, but I am sure that is why he did it. Not to punish his children, but to protect them

 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression

• Now I have already seen many people stating that the church is being a hypocrite because of this statement, but they don't understand the true meaning of this declaration. This is stating that the original sin of Adam- which consequence was death- will not hold sway against the children of men because the Savior- through his atonement. Because of our savior was resurrected and broke the bands of death, ALL god's children: Gay, straight, purple, black, "righteous", "wicked", evil, saint- will ALL be resurrected to an immortal body. You don't have to choose to be resurrected, you just will be, no matter what. That is a gift that has been freely given no matter what. People who construe this article of faith to say " We believe that men (a child) will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's (gay parents) transgressions, have taken this article of faith out of context and misconstrued the words to fit their own benefit. This article of faith only pertains to the Father of Humanity's original sin, and how because of Christ's atonement, the consequence of his sin (death) in the end does not affect us. 

OK. That is all I have so far. I am sure my opinion may change and evolve based on discussion. And contrary to the media's belief today, someone is NOT a hypocrite for seeking more knowledge, and changing their opinion because more knowledge has been received. That is what bothers me about the media today. They say "You said this 10 years ago!!! you believed it once! You don't believe that anymore? OH MY GOODNESS YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE AND A FLIP FLOPPER! No, I am an educated human being with an open mind that will always accept further light and knowledge. We are not all knowing beings, so it is OK when our opinions change.

In His Constant Care

Stella and I were shopping the other day when we came across this picture. We stopped and looked at it, And for the first time in the HISTORY of Stella. She was still, calm, and reaching for this picture among all other pictures. It is entitled "In His Constant Care." I couldn't help but smile after a few minutes of Stella's uncommon reverence.

This picture stuck with me the rest of the day, and I remembered a Devotional President Monson gave while I was at BYU. He stated that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience... and proceeded to quote the Lion King smile emoticon

"Look deep inside yourselves. Remember who you are. Remember."

Looking deep inside yourself to find your spiritual "DNA" can be a painful process. Searching the depths of the human soul for our identity also requires discovering some other unpleasant flaws and traits about ourselves along the way. When we search for truth about ourselves, God does not give us a partial answer. He will let us know who we are, Good and Bad. Many halt at this painful point of self discovery, declaring their ugly inner selves not worthy of anyone's care- let alone a perfect, holy, all powerful being! But they are stopping just short of the FULLNESS of truth, where we learn and understand why all of those imperfections ARE OK. Once we push past the doubt and despair of our personal weaknesses,and realize we have LIGHT within us that overcomes the darkness...then we feel the love and promise of Christ: which is that we are in His constant care! And when we understand that, all those painful character traits don't seem to hurt as much.

The principle of forgive and ye will be forgiven applies to forgiving ourselves too. the FULLNESS of Christ's atonement -love- cannot work on or in us... if we haven't forgiven ourselves. It is hard to feel the warmth of love from anyone if we are surrounded in a blizzard of self loathing and pity.

The reason I know this is because I have stopped short many times, and it is a CONSTANT rediscovery too! It is not just a one time process and you KNOW. In time, if you don't return to him, you may forget, and think that you just imagined the whole thing. But as we allow ourselves to come to him and fix our impaired DNA, we become stronger, and more like him.

Who are we? I believe we are precious children of a All Powerful Being who wants us to call him Father. And our Savoir Jesus Christ loves us as his precious children. We truly are in His constant care, and I think Stella knew that as she peacefully looked at this picture the other day.