Love Conquers All Things ...

As I was putting finishing touches on my post tonight, I had a very strong feeling to put it aside and post it another day! As I am sitting here writing this right now, I have no idea what I am going to post about, but am going to let the spirit guide me through.

This evening I was catching up on Conference from this past weekend. The first couple speakers were amazing, and then S. Mark Palmer started speaking, everything he said was what I needed to hear. He talked about so many wonderful things but there were four main things that touched my heart.

1. "As we learn to see others as the Lord sees them rather than our own eyes, our love for them will grow and so will our desire to help them." What does this mean? Everyone on this earth is worth loving. Everyone deserves to be loved. I feel that we can show our true potential and help others feel theirs if we sincerely love unconditionally. "Remember that those who are hardest to love need love the most."

2. "No true teaching or learning will ever occur when done in frustration and anger, and hearts will not change where love is not present." How true is this? Elder Palmer goes on to say "Whether we act in our roles as parents, teachers, or leaders, true teaching will happen only in an atmosphere of trust rather than condemnation. Our homes should be safe havens for our children --- NOT hostile environments." This reminded me that my home should be a place for peace and calm. I need to work on being more patient and realize that at the end of the day, my boys are the biggest gifts from God. I truly need to embrace every single moment I can with them and make sure they are loved unconditionally.

3. "Love should NEVER be withdrawn when a child, friend, or family member fails to live up to our expectations." I have learned that when expectations are not met it is much easier to love, forgive and move on, then it is to hold onto the anger or frustrations. Life has many ups and downs and people are not perfect, you are going to be disappointed. Love conquers all things, even disappointment.

4. "Because He loves us, the Lord expects much of us. If we are humble, we will welcome the Lord's invitations to repent, to sacrifice and to serve as evidence of His perfect love for us. After all, an invitation to repent is also an invitation to receive the wonderful gift of forgiveness and peace." When you forgive you truly will receive so many different blessings. When you sincerely repent you will feel the love from the Lord. You will feel a peace in your heart.

This talk was exactly what I needed to hear today. It has strengthened my testimony of love, forgiveness and even the repentance process. I realized that I need to be a much better friend, daughter, mother, wife, & sister. I need to kneel down and repent and ask for forgiveness of the things that I have done. I hope that we all can embrace those around us and love those who are the hardest to love.

We all have room in our lives to improve and we can, we will most likely need an army to help us, between that and the Lord all things are possible. Love can and will conquer all things.

xoxo,

Chelsea