So, You Think You Have a Plan?

I tend to cling to my planning and organizational skills. I imagine my role as a single parent has only served to increase my need to have a plan and a system for everything. Even while I understand this about myself, I have also lived long enough to realize that a big part of living life is learning how to adjust when the best laid plans go awry… I have not yet learned how to live entirely without a plan, but I have learned that family life and planning are only partially-compatible. There are unending surprises and adjustments that need … Continue reading

General Conference From the Past: “Look to God and Live”

In October 1978, Elder Carlos E. Asay of the Quorum of the Seventy gave a talk entitled “Look to God and Live.” In this talk, he described the importance of keeping our gaze focused on Christ. In doing so, we, too, might look to our Father in Heaven and receive eternal life. Elder Asay provides various stories, in and out of the scriptures. He begins by speaking of a man who had sunk low. Involved in drinking and in drugs, this man always kept his head low, focused on the feet of those around him. Said Elder Asay, “this alcoholic … Continue reading

Want to Lose Weight? Try These Three Steps

You want to lose weight, but you don’t know where to begin. Should you take weight loss supplements? Is online support the way to go? Which diet plan really works? Weight Watcher’s, Jenny Craig, whose system should you choose? Take a look at these three steps to help you conquer information overload. Step One: Things to Consider 1. What is your personal weight loss goal? How many pounds do you want to lose 5, 15, 50, 100, or more? 2. Why do you want to lose weight? Is it for yourself, a loved one, or for your health? 3. How … Continue reading

RS/EQ: Why Does God Let Tragedies Happen?

After my daughter started crawling, I had to resist the urge to rescue her all the time. This proved significantly harder with her than with the other two because she was the first. When she slipped, when she fell, when she strained for something just out of reach, my maternal instincts screamed for me to rush to her aid. Over and over again, I repeated to myself that she needed these slipups, these errors, these trials to grow and develop. After all, if I held her hand every step of the way, she would never learn to walk on her … Continue reading

Discipline and the Plan of Salvation

I am the kind of person who overplans and overanalyzes pretty much everything. Lest you think I am exaggerating, at the age of thirteen, I worried that someone might break into our home, so I practiced walking around barefoot in the woods in case I had to flee, shoeless, in the middle of the night. So you can only imagine how far into overdrive I shifted before I gave birth to my daughter five and a half years ago. And if you are a parent, you can also imagine how much of that has gone out the window. Not that … Continue reading