Healing waters........

" I've built a bridge all of my strength cannot cross over
I stand at the edge, the edge of a road that I have followed 
sinking from the weight of my own world 
wanting the waves of your ways to wash my feet 
healing waters, healing waters
solace flows through the river of forgiveness to my soul 
oh I need you healing waters "

No matter who we are, what we do in our lives, what mistakes we make or don't make at some point in our lives we will all need the healing waters of heavenly father and Jesus Christ. I know that the "waters" of Jesus Christ and the atonement really do heal both physical and spiritual wounds. The atonement works, the book is blue the church is true .... That is all :) 

SMILE , JESUS LOVES YOU , ALWAYS  

Faith ... making things possible since 4000BC

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. We first need faith in order to follow the other principles. Throughout the scriptures we learn that real faith in Christ can help us overcome obsticles and challenges that to some would seem impossible. Nephi built a boat, (1nephi:17:51) Moses parted the red sea (Moses 1:21) and Peter walked on water (Matthew 14:29).
Recently I have been asking myself how strong is my faith? Would I have enough Faith to walk on water, or to part a sea? Truthfully I don't know. I would love to think that if those times and trials ever came upon me that I would have the kind of faith needed to perform such miracles, however I am also sure that the people in the scriptures are prophets and apostles for a reason!!!!!! One thing I do know is that everyone's faith needs strengthening, including mine! There is always room for improvement!!!!! The scriptures, as always, are a great place to start if you are looking to strenghten your faith however, simply reading the pages may not be enough. You have to be faithful to what they teach. When we are faithful we are rewarded with greater faith. Through faithfulness our faith is strengthened and it grows!!!
I found a wonderful scripture recently that I think sums all this up perfectly. Enos 1:7-8 "How is it done? .... Because of thy faith in Christ"
Through real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ our faith will be strenghtened and we will be able to accomplish whatever difficult challenges we face! If we have enough faith we will be able to move mountains (Ether 12:30) resist temptation (Alma 37:33) and heal relationships (Alma 15:5-11) When we exercise true faith in the Lord we will be blessed with all the faith that we need to overcome challenges and trials. Whatever the question it seems faith is always the answer!!!!!!!!  

I know that my redeemer lives!!!

Its Easter Sunday, all around the world children and adults alike will be tucking into chocolate eggs, telling stories about the easter bunny and enjoying the long weekend with family and friends. While I agree that having time off work and eating chocolate is wonderful I sometimes wonder if people have forgotten why we are eating those yummy eggs and why we are having a holiday. I love Easter. Not just because I can eat chocolate for breakfast and get away with it but I love it because of what it is about. What Easter stands for. I love Easter because of my saviours sacrifice for me and because of the resurrection and the atonement and the wonderful joy that it brings to all of our lives.
Easter, just like Christmas, is all about the saviour!!! At Easter we celebrate the fact that he not only died for our sins and the sins, pains and afflictions of the entire world, but that he rose again!!!! We celebrate the resurrection of Christ!! That resurrection and the saviours atoning sacrifice allows each and every one of us to live again!!!!!! Christ conquered the grave for all of us. What a beautiful and wonderful thing. I can not and will never be able to fully understand the saviours sacrifice, I will never fully understand the atonement or the pain and suffering he went through for me, but what I don know and what I do understand is how much he loves me and how much I in turn love him and how grateful I am for all he has done for me.
Because of him we can start again, guilt becomes peace, hope takes the place of despair, we are given second chances, clean slates and new beginnings. 
I know that my redeemer lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Smile. be happy , you are exactly where you are supposed to be :)

Life has an uncanny ability to throw a curve ball at us at a moment when we least expect it.
Often we find ourselves getting to a point in life where things seem to finally be going to plan, that is to the plan we have for ourselves. when all of a sudden BAM, life throws us that curve ball and knocks us right off track!!!!
Some of these moments in my life have left me numb to the core, lost and wondering what to do next. It is important to remember, in those times of unsurety, that while things may not be going the way we would like them to, they will be going exactly the way the lord would like them to, after all he is the one who gets to create the plans. We all have a divine and wonderful purpose and there are things we are destined to do that we will never be able to imagine!!!! The lord knows who we are and who we can become!!!
One of my favourite scriptures is Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 "look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not" 
I love this scripture because it reminds me that the lord is always there, that we are not going through anything alone and if we look to him he will help us. He knows how we feel because he has already felt it. When we have faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and when we trust in Heavenly Fathers plan for us we have no reason to doubt or fear!!! 
So when things don't go the way we would like them to, we should remember that the Lord has a plan for us and all the trials and heartache are just a part of that plan!!! So smile, be happy, DOUBT NOT FEAR NOT!!!!

REMEMBER "you are exactly where you are supposed to be"

total geek ... just the way heavenly father made me

" so take me as you find me all of my fears and failures, I'd give my life to follow all that I believe in" These are the words to one of my favourite songs at the moment, its called mighty to save.
Society today, and sometimes even people within the church itself, expect us to be perfect. We are expected to look a certain way, dress a certain way, act a certain way. Society wants us to be beautiful models and the church would like us to be "perfect" mormons who can sew, bake, clean, raise children, look wonderful, attend the temple, teach children and recite scriptures all in a days work!!!!! But what if you don't fit into either of these catogories!! Does that simply mean you don't fit??!!! I don't think so!!!! As much as I would love to be beautiful, and be able to sew and quote scriptures left right and centre its never going to happen. Simply because I am not perfect and that just is not the way my heavenly father made me. 
Those people who know me will testify that I am clumsy, I love cake way too much to ever be skinny, I chill out in my house in my trackies, I have the worst memory ever so can never remember scriptures correctly, I love superheroes and comic books and to be totally honest am a complete geek... but I am ok with that and so is my heavenly father. Why you ask?? because thats the way he made me!!!!!!!!! 
Yes, sometimes I would love to look like the models I see on magazine covers but then I think would I really want to get up two hours early to make myself look like that. No I would not, I love my bed and my sleep way too much.
Our heavenly father doesn't expect us to be perfect, he didn't make us that way. He simply wants us to do our best to become more like him. In my opinion becoming more christ like shouldn't involve looking like a beauty queen or having the perfect home it should involve drawing our hearts closer to him and filling them with charity and love. 
I am not perfect, I am a geek and I have the glasses to prove it!!! (check out the pic) but my heavenly father is ok with that and so am I. So take me as you find me :) 

I'm epileptic ..whats your problem.

For those of you who don't know my name is Jade and not only am I the coolest Mormon girl you know I am also the most awesome epileptic girl you know too!!
so this week I have realised that I would really really hate having epilepsy if I didn't have the wonderful people I am blessed with in my life around me. I suffer from both photo sensitive and general epilepsy and have absences and tonic clonic seizures. I've only been epileptic for 3 years since having an accident so I'm still getting used to it!!!!
My friends and I are able to laugh at the many absences I have.... An absence is simply where I zone out for a little while... Unless they tell me this has happened I am not aware of it at all. We have some good laughs about the Jade world I must visit!!! ( I imagine it to be a bit of a princess fairytale world, with batman thrown in for good measure)
The biggy seizures are not so fun and we find it harder to laugh about those but my wonderful friends and the amazing team of people I get to work with everyday make those harder times ok too.
This week I had a seizure at work, something which upsets me greatly, but the awesome people I work with know how to deal not only with the seizure but also with me. The love, care and support they show me often overwhelms me. I love each one of them greatly, they really are all amazing people and the reason I can fight epilepsy every day and win. They help to make it
 Jade 1 - Epilepsy-0.  The foundation team I work with are my real life superheroes!!!!!!!!!!

no get out of jail free card!!!

The words of David A Bednar have been ringing in my ears since I heard them on Sunday evening. We all have a load to bear, carrying a load is infact essential in the lords plan for us. the load we carry should provide us with the spiritual traction required to stay on the path to the celestial kingdom.
Does the lord then expect us to simply shoulder the burden and carry the load on our own?? No he does not. He will walk side by side with us and help us carry it, taking on the heavest part of the load himself, making our burden light, if we let him.What a wonderful and beautiful blessing that is!!!!!
No this life is not easy, no it is not pain free and being a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints does not give you a get out of jail free card against suffering or afflictions, but what it does do is offer the atoning sacrifice of the saviour and the everlasting and unwavering love of  a Heavenly Father who wants to share our burdens with us and who will. when the load is too heavy, carry it for us.
In the words of David A Bednar " there is no physical pain, no spiritual wound the saviour has not felt and borne, he understands, he has perfect empathy, he can heal us" What perfect words!!!!!!

charity never faileth

Well its the eve of my half marathon! Tomorrow I run 13 miles to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research! Im excited!!! Im also a little nervous!!!!!
Over the past 4 months as I have been preparing for this challenge I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of those who have sponsored me and offered me words of encouragement and support. Their willingness to give has made me think alot about charity and the role it plays in our lives. while my run has been about raising money for a specific charity, charity itself does not have to involve giving money, it simply involves giving. Giving time to help a neighbour or friend, giving a hug or kind word to someone who needs one, offering a prayer for someone, being understanding and more tolerant of others around us.
All these small acts show charity and I feel truly blessed to have people in my life who show me charity and love on a daily basis. When we show charity to our fellow brothers and sisters we are truly becoming disciples of Christ and becoming like him because charity really is the pure love of Christ.
I feel honoured to have the opportunity to run and raise money for such a wonderful charity and worthwile cause and to be able, in some small way, to help change lives.
So tomorrow, when my legs are telling me I can't run anymore I will remember why I started and I will run for all those who can't.
To all those who have supported me THANK YOU !!!!
#runfatgirlrun

Remember, our work is not finished!!!!!

So this has been on my mind for a few days now, It might seem like a random topic to some people but hey Im a random kinda girl!!! There is a very personal reason why its been on my mind, recently I lost a very good friend. She returned home to live with our heavenly father. She had suffered from a particular illness and there is a very personal side to this story that I don't feel needs sharing right now but the lovely sarah and I went through alot together!!! After she passed on to the next life I had so many questions whirling around in my head. One of them was why do some people die from illnesses and others don't?, why do some people survive tragedys and others don't?. Luckily for me I knew where to find the answers to those questions........ THE SCRIPTURES OF COURSE!!!!!
Heres what I found out ... we survive because our work is not finished. Just like Alma said in Alma14:13 - "our work is not finished, therefore they burn us not" . No one goes home before their work is complete. We have a work to do, thats why we are here. Some people survive illness that others don't simply because their work is done and they return home to live in glory with our heavenly father.  Does this knowledge make it any less painful to witness or survive  a tragedy?? no it does not, but what it can and will do if we let it is reassure us that the lord has a plan for each and every one of us, that he has not forgotten us. We all have a divine purpose and that purpose is not finished yet, our work is not finished yet.
It is always a more bitter pill to swallow when the person passing is young, we feel robbed of the life they should of had , however I think it is important to remember that those who pass back through the veil at a younger age simply get to spend less time on this miserable earth and more time in paradise, living in glory and peace. Without pain, fear and suffering. What a beautiful thing.
So the important lesson I've learnt... my work is not finished and more importantly ... The answers are always IN THE SCRIPTURES!!!!!!!!
THE BOOK IS BLUE THE CHURCH IS TRUE