Look to God and Praise Him All Day Long

Gratitude

Today I'm grateful to have

spent time listening

to Lara Casey as she

did a webinar on goals.

I got some good inspiration

to help me get past some

fear and press forward

with some things I

feel like God is writing

on my heart to do.

If you'd like to get the 

replay and an ebook

on goal setting

click here.

The Word

1 Nephi 18:11-16, 20-22

"And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness; nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked.  

"And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass which had been prepared of the Lord did cease to work.

"Wherefore, they knew not wither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.

"And on the fourth day, which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be exceedingly sore.

"And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon the, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.

"Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions...."

(Nephi tells how many family members--parents, Jacob, Joseph, Nephi's wife and children--tried to convince Laman and Lemuel to let Nephi go.)

"And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had don, insomuch that they loosed me.

"And it came to pass after they had loosed me, behold, I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm.

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again towards the promised land."

I read this chapter this week and loved a few things about it.

First, I loved how Nephi had faith that the Lord was letting 

this hard thing happen to him so the Lord could

show forth His power.

It made me think about the hard things

in my life--past and present--do I 

have that faith?

That the Lord is letting it 

happen to me so that I 

can see his power

and share it with others so

they can see his power?

I believe I do now.

There have definitely been

times in my life when 

it took me some time

to see that.

The next thing that I loved

about this chapter was that

Nephi doesn't murmur because

of his afflictions, but he did look to God

and praise Him all day long.

I know that this is something

I would like to work on right now.

Looking to God and 

praising Him not once

or twice a day, 

but all day long.

I've decided to make verse 16 my scripture for this month.
I'm choosing to
Look to God and Praise Him All Day Long.
If you have any suggestions,
let me know!

On my heart...

My heart is so full of things

I want to share.

This entire month I've

had one thing after another

come to me that I wanted to

share with you,

but I let the moments pass.

I plan on doing much better

this month.

Also, if you don't already,

go follow my blog on Instagram

@uncoveringstrength.

I decided to have a separate

account for my blog so

that I can leave it public

and get the message out there.

I'm going to start posting

there at least once a day.

It will be things that I 

share here and things

that I just share on

Instagram.

August

Well, August is over.

I feel like I did really well

with my August goals.

We went to the temple.

I cleaned out my nightstand.

I created and outline for my ebook.

I read 5 books.

I didn't learn an entire song on the piano,

but I got halfway through the song.

I looked back at my summer goals.

We didn't do so good with date night this month.

I also didn't write very often on this blog.

We went on a few family adventures.

I studied my scriptures almost every day!

I exercised almost every day the last two weeks.

I didn't do so good with my journaling.

I practiced the piano about three days a week.

I also did pretty well with my eating the last two weeks.

September

I'm really looking forward to September.

I have so much I'd like to share here

today, but it's so much I'd never get to bed,

so I'm going to stretch it over the month.

Here are my goals for this month:

Monthly

-Enjoy our trip to Michigan.

-Read five books.

-Write 1,000+ words of my ebook.

-Do my visiting teaching.

-Continue learning my piano song.

-Love on my family.

-Be vulnerable on the blog and in the book.

-Be a prayer warrior and cultivate my relationship with God.

Weekly Goals

-Date Night/Temple Trip

-Write a post here.

-Read on chapter of The Finishing School.

-Work on ebook.

Daily Goals

-Scripture Study

-Prayer

-Exercise

-Send a love note to someone.

-Healthy eating.

-Practice the piano.

-Daily chores.

-Post on @uncoveringstrength (Instagram)

-The One Thing

Click on the link!

This is an awesome challenge

I'm going to be participating in!

Looking at all these goals,

I feel ready to step in

and own them.

It looks a little intimidating, but 

with His help I'll accomplish

everything I am supposed to do!

God is good!

His love unconditional!