F.A.I.T.H

The last couple weeks have definitely been rough ones. Work + school + friends + not very much time = a very stressed Brianna. On top of all of this stress, I have been faced with some difficult trials. Things where I have had to search deep down, to find out who I really am, and who I want to become. While going through these trials, I found something that I wrote a few years ago in a journal of mine. Something that really helped me through. What I found was an acronym for the word faith that I came up with while in Young Woman's. We had discussed the value faith, and had been asked to write what it meant to us. I didn't write very much, but what I did write has been exactly what I needed these last few weeks. The acronym I came up with was this, Faith is...

Finding
An
Inner
sTrength in
Him.

When I read this I knew that if I had faith in my Savior, I also had the strength to get through my trials. Not only the trials I was, and am facing now, but everything that I will be faced with in the future. I have learned that the only way we receive true strength is through our Savior Jesus Christ. When we have faith in him, we are given the strength that we need to make it through this life. None of us can do it alone. Not one of us on this earth. We all need the love and mercy of our Savior in order to return and live with our Father in Heaven. This life is hard, we will be faced with things that will test our faith, and shake our testimonies, BUT if we have true faith, we will be blessed more than we can imagine. We will become closer with our Savior, and as we become closer to him and our loving Father in Heaven, we begin to see who we really are. We will begin to see ourselves as they see us. And when we know what are potential as children of God is, when we see ourselves as God does, that is true strength. Satan does not want us to see that, he does not want us to know our true potential, and he will do anything to try and stop us. So, when life gets tough, remember to have FAITH. It will give you the strength that you need to make it through.

Once Upon a time. . .and They Lived Happily Ever After!

Everyone has a story; each person's life could be written down and published like a book. I like to think of my story as a fairytale! It started with Once Upon a Time, and will end with and they lived happily ever after! My life is like the fairytales we all know. No I do not have a wicked step-mother, seven dwarfs, mice that do my cleaning, I don't live under the sea, I have never been on a flying carpet, and I have no fairy godmother. But I do have trials. of my own, I face setbacks every day of my life. Just like the princesses did in their stories. There is not one fairytale I know where the princess just had everything perfect. They all had things they had to face and over come before they reached their own happily ever after. As do we all! Cinderella, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid, they all had their problems and struggles, but the kept going, tried to be happy, and eventually the found their prince charming and lived happily ever after! That is how we have to be in our lives. When we face trials and difficult times we have to try and be happy, keep going, and the hard times will pass. I have a favorite quote that says, "Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, It's not the end." Fairytales are known for their happy endings. The ... and they lived happily ever after. I bet if you were to ask Cinderella how things were playing out in her life in the middle of her story, she would probably be a little discouraged. Fairytales aren't happy all the way through, they don't go straight from once upon a time right to and they lived happily ever after, they have their rough times the times when they just want to give up and cry and call it quits. At the same time look how they all end. They all end happy, with them falling in love and riding of in to the sunset with their prince. It was okay all the way through, but in the end it was. That is what keeps me going, it's what keeps me writing my story. Even though it is hard now, and sometimes I want to cry and give up, knowing that it will all be okay in the end make me want to keep going.
We all have the opprotunity to have a happily ever after. No matter who we are we can all get through the struggles we face, find love, and with our prince charming live happily ever after. It is possible!

I know I probably sound like a hopeless romantic with this crazy view of love. But we a can all have our own fairytales, we can make life whatever story we want it to be, we just have to choose. Each of our lives has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Many times throughout our stories we will be faced with hard times, don't let it get you down. It will all be okay in the end!

Change...

So last night I attended a meeting where they combined our singles branch with another one from Syracuse to form a ward. We knew change was coming, and that this was probably going to be what happened but that didn't make it any easier. Our branch presidency was released, which is the hardest part of this change. We have had the best presidency, and we were all really close. With new boundaries in effect, we also will lose a few of our dearest friends. Last night was a tough night. Our branch didn't want to make this change. We wanted to keep things just the way they were. But this got me thinking.. Life is full of change, most of which we have no control over. Sometimes we like the changes that take place, but most of the time we don't. Change is good for us, it's healthy, and it keeps us on our toes. We can make the best of every change, if we go into it with a good attitude, and give it a try. I look back at the many times in my life that something changed that I wasn't happy about, and how more often than not, it ended up being a very good thing for me. Things turned out way better than I thought they ever would, and I met people I never would have met. Things happened in my life, that needed to happen, whether or not I wanted them to. We have a loving Father in Heaven, who knows what we need way more than we do. He can see how it will affect our future, where as we can only see how it effects the here and now. If we trust in the Lord, and have faith in His plan for us, and accept change with a good attitude, our lives will be blessed!

No change won't always go our way, and we probably won't like some aspect of it, BUT change is good for us. It provides us with learning experiences, and opportunities to get out of our comfort zone and become stronger, more knowledgeable people. Make the best of every change that comes your way, and you will be made a better person.

P.S. Although I am sad to see our old branch presidency go, and I will miss them tons and tons, I am very excited to get to know our new Bishop, Bishop Read and his counselors. They will do an amazing job.

Laughter!

The final post of my week of gratitude! I have to say this has been a very good experience for me. I have taken time each day to reflect on things that I am thankful for. I wish I could write everything that I am thankful for, but the truth is that there just wouldn't be enough space. I am so blessed and cannot express enough gratitude to my Father in Heaven for everything that he has blessed me with! I am one lucky girl!! I have everything I could have ever asked for, and so much more!

Laughter..such a simple thing, but today I am extremely grateful for it. Laughter is one of my most favorite things. I love to laugh, make others laugh, and hear the sound of laughter. Laughter is something that I think we all to often take for granted. We get to caught up in our busy lives to take the time to relax, have fun, and laugh. Laughter is healthy, and fun! I am so very thankful for all the times that I have spent rolling on the floor, in tears because I have been laughing so hard. Laughter has gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life. When I learn to laugh about what I am going through, and finding something to make me laugh, things seem to go so much smoother. The sound of laughter brings a smile to my face, and it is contagious. When I hear others laugh it makes me want to laugh. I will admit, if someone around me just starts laughing a lot of times I do to. I know this sounds weird, but I do. A couple of people I work with will try to get me to laugh by doing nothing at all, the will just randomly start laughing or something stupid, because they know they can get me to laugh. I am so thankful for laughter. For the chance every single day I have to laugh at myself, and to help find the positive happy things in life. :)

So in conclusion of this week of gratitude I have learned a lot but to sum it up i will use a quote!

LIVE!!! LAUGH!!! LOVE!!! (and of course appreciate everything you have been given!)

To My AMAZING Friends!

I was so tired yesterday that I didn't write my gratitude blog.. so here is yesterday's, and today's will come later. :)

I am extremely grateful for my friends. I truly have the most AMAZING friends, and yesterday was proof of it. I had kind of a rough day yesterday. I wasn't in the best mood at first, and I was struggling to stay positive. BUT my day got better and better as the day went on. I have to give credit for this to my friends. They are the best! They know just what to say and do to cheer me up, to reassure me, and to help me through things that are tough. They are always right there to pick me up when i am down, to make me smile when I frown, and to help me stay positive about any and every situation. My friends give good advice, just listen when I need to cry, and make me laugh when I don't feel like it. I don't know what I did to deserve such good friends, but whatever it is I am so thankful for them. One of my favorite quotes is "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes." My friends have done just that for me in the last few months. There have been so many times when I have forgotten how my song goes, and my friends have been right there to remind me. They know me, yet love me anyways. They really are the best friends. I have been very blessed through out my whole life to have amazing friends. Friends I will never forget, even after our lives went separate ways. They have left a mark that will never go away!!

So to all my AMAZING friends. You know who you are! Thank you and I love you!

Sleep!

Because of my lack of sleep this week, and adjusting to my new schedule, I am very grateful for sleep! It is Wednesday night, and I have already started to drag. It's only been 3 days of this schedule, and I am dead tired! But it sure makes me appreciate the sleep I do get so much more! I take all the sleep I can get now. I love every minute of sleep I can get!! Not that I didn't before, but even more so now!!! I hope that my body adjusts to this new change, so that I am not as tired all the time. But nonetheless, I love my sleep, no matter how long I sleep I am grateful for every minute of it!

And since I love my sleep so much, I am gonna cut my blogging time short so that I can go to bed! :)

School. Yes, I am thankful for it!

So, like I said in yesterday's post, I started back to school this week, and so far I am loving it! Yes, I have only attended my classes on time, but I can already tell that I am going to enjoy them! I am excited because I know that there is a lot to learn! I love learning, and I am so thankful for the chance I have to go back to school, and to get a college education. After being out of high school for two years, and saving my money for school, it feels so good to finally be doing what I have been planning. I could have gone to school right out of high school, I would be knee deep in student loans, but I could have gone. But because I waited two years, and worked hard and saved the money, and it means so much more to me now. I appreciate the opportunity I have to go to school , and that I was able to save the money myself. I will work harder, and do better because I know how much effort it took for me to get to the place where I could pay for school. No it hasn't been easy to save the money, and no this semester probably won't be easy, but it will be so worth it. I am so grateful that I could go to school. My professors are great, and the classes fun! I will learn a lot this semester, not just about the subjects I am studying but about life in general, I can already tell. I forgot how much I love to learn, and study, and broaden my knowledge. I have missed being able to spend time each day learning new things! And now that I have gone back, I want to learn more! I am so grateful for the chance I have to attend college, and to have done it myself!