In the Strength of the Lord

Today is the day - Day 1 of a new 21-Day Challenge.

This morning, as I walked from 6-6:30am, I listened to Elder David A. Bednar's talk "In the Strength of the Lord." He gave this talk several times - the first time was at BYU-Provo, and that was the version I listened to. He gave a modified, much shorter version of this talk in his first General Conference address when he was sustained an apostle. If you have never heard the full talk, I highly encourage you to go to the link above and read it. Even better, you can go to BYU Broadcasting, do a search and listen to the talk. This one talk has changed my understanding and perspective on the Atonement and it's ability to help us to change for the better more than any one single thing. I believe I have listened to it at least 15-20 times.

In honor of our new challenge, I've created a little inspirational thought from this talk, and I hope to do several more, which I will continue to post over the next few days. Hope you enjoy it!

I truly have a testimony of the power and ability of the Atonement of Christ to enable us to "change from bad to good, from good to better, and to have our very natures changed." I felt it this morning as I walked, keeping my promise to myself to make a small change for good. I am so thankful for this enabling power, and for how I feel when I am working on becoming the woman that I know Heavenly Father wants me to become.

I hope you can feel that today, too - the power for good we have when we rely on the strength of the Lord.

Another 21-Day Challenge!

Dear, dear readers, I give my humblest apologies. I have been missing-in-action, I know. We were in Utah, visiting family for two weeks, and then we came home. And I kept thinking that I needed to have some stellar photos to show you of our trip before I posted. And I haven't done ANY photo editing since I've been back, namely because I have about 800 photos to edit, and it's overwhelming, and I'm procrastinating. Sorry Mom. I'll get those family photos done soon.

While we're waiting, I wanted to announce the beginning of another 21-day Challenge. We'll start on Friday, since y'all have probably stopped checking my blog, since I haven't posted for 3 weeks. Here's my new goal - to get up early (5:30 or 6), and exercise everyday, except Sundays. Along with this goes going to be by 9:30 or 10, since I really need my beauty sleep, phew... I look like a tired 31-year old mom of 4 without my beauty sleep.

By the way, how did your last 21-day challenge go? I made it through my no-sugar pact, faithfully, then fell of the bandwagon on vacation. But I'm back on it, now. That's what we do when we goof up, right, we get right back on that horse. It's so easy to stay off - horses aren't very comfy. Or maybe they are - I don't know, since I've only been horse-back riding once, and it was with a guy I was dating, and I was rather focused on him, not the horse. Point is, it gets more comfy going back to our old, familiar habits. But I'm doing great again - I hope you are, too.
Who's with me for another 21-Day Challenge?