So this week I've been a workoutaholic. I forgot how good it felt to push my body to it's limits but also how good it felt to think and ponder about life. I haven't been doing this as much as I'm used to lately. Anyway, I really have come to learn so much about myself already. Some things I already knew, some I just discovered and many more I've yet to discover. Pretty general I know, but here are some specifics:
1) I like people who are honest with themselves and with me.
2) I don't like people who are superficial just because they want to avoid conflict or really any reason for that matter.
3) I am a daughter of God and should expect to be treated as such(including treating and talking about myself with respect.)
4) Gratitude for my trials and hope that they will end makes them A LOT easier to bear.
5) Life goes on even when you think it won't.
6) I really like making goals and then accomplishing them...I'm more than halfway done with my 2008 ones! Yea!
7) Family is AWESOME. They accept you for who your are and not who you aren't.
8)I love my job, taking care of people and being a nurse.
9)God intended life to be happy, so make the most of every day.
10) I am blessed. I mean, immensely blessed!

"Enforced change usually does not last, while productive enduring can ingrain permanent change." Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

This made me think tonight...God does not force me to change, I mustdo this on my own. "Productive enduring" denotates action. I must constantly be active in embracing the gospel and it's doctrines and principles and desiring to become better. The trials that I am faced with daily help bring about this lasting change. Persistent endurance acts as a catalyst for permanent change to ingrain these truths on my heart and I become more like the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Savior who endured every individual pain, affliction, weakness and sin. Looking forward with hope can help make enduring easier, even when I don't always know the Lord's plan/timing for me. I am so grateful for my trials. Honestly, I know I have changed and become better because of what I have experienced and endured in the past. Isn't it fantastic to know that he knows us all individually and that through His ultimate act we can change our hearts and will to become like Him? I am not as eloquent or articulate in expressing my testimony as Elder Maxwell is, but I know that his words are true.