No greater joy

To recap, my resolution this year is all about Motherhood and trying to be the Mother my kids deserve.  This week I focused on:
A mother gains a testimony of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.  She shares her testimony with her children daily. 

I am going to report using a method that I have stolen from another blog I love to read because I think it will help me stay focused.  Here it goes:

Physically

Not a great week for me.  I lost my voice midday on Thurs. when I was teaching after mentally battling the thought for three days that I may be coming down with something.  Not being able to talk was a struggle but it gave me time to re-read the scriptures and talks I have been going through nightly.  Doing that proved to be relaxing.

At the gym, I have been taking it easy and enjoying myself because I have zero goals there.  Focusing on Motherhood has taken a load off of the constant thought of burning calories.  Plus, I missed a jump on the wooden box thingy last week and tore up my shin and bruised my left leg pretty badly.  Let me tell you, you know it is bad when the bruise shows up immediately on brown skin like mine!

Spiritually

 

Growing up I have always heard that reading your scriptures and saying your prayers is the first thing you should do to become closer to Christ and God. SO TRUE, so true!  I am a hit and miss personal study type and this week proved to me (once again) that reading scriptures can make your day. I have a great app called DAILY VERSE 2013 for LDS members that posts a scripture, church article, and hymn for each day.  It even has a reminder option!

 I can't tell you the number of times I thought about what I read during work and how that helped me.  It was amazing too that many of the scriptures and church articles I had on my app were about Parenthood.  Here is my favorite new scripture from John 1:4  

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

It seems like my whole life since the birth of my kids has been about what this scripture says!  What a journey it has been.

I also had the chance to testify to my kids about my belief in Jesus Christ.  It was not strange or uncomfortable to do that and that's when I realized that I've been doing it all along.  What a comfort that was to know that my beliefs were not news to my kids. :)

Prayer has always been a big part of my life however, this week I concentrated on my children and prayed for them by name.  It was powerful and I highly recommend doing that if you haven't tried.  Somehow, I started clumping my kids together in prayer and thinking "the kids" rather than stating their name and my concerns for them.  I believe that Jesus and Heavenly Father know me and my children by name and opening up a conversation about my sons as individuals through prayer released a lot of anxiety on my end.  I know that my sons are being watched over and the daily reminder of that made our home life happier.

"AH-HA" Moment!

I performed a flute & piano duet with a young woman from my church today.  I had to practice quite a bit and that did something to my brain that I have not experienced for a long time.  Driving home on Thursday (very sick!) it donned on me that I was not using my gifts wisely.  I  was taking for granted my ability to play piano and read music.  I cannot believe that I let that happen and on top of that I had let it become a burden.  Never again! Never again!

For so long I have seen playing the piano as part of my work rather than a gift I was born with.  I had let it start to drag me down instead of lift me up.  Thanks to my friend Meg, who plays the flute beautifully, I turned back the clock to when I was 16 and I fell in love with my piano once more.  I feel a lot younger now and hopefully that will show in my face for the rest of the week.

New Goal

A Mother communicates positive thoughts  and love to her kids.

I found these wonderful Lunchbox Love's when I was shopping for Christmas gifts in Utah.  In each box are various messages you can leave for your kids every day!  I am hoping to find more fun ways to tell my kids exactly what I think of them.  Any ideas you want to share?  I may have to let this new goal last for two weeks and include photos in my next post.

In closing, I just want to say THANKS to all of the mothers out there that I have the privilege of knowing.  You are doing a great job, I admire you, and I love you for doing your job so well that it inspired me to blog more about my own role as MOM.