An Important Week Indeed!

Happy Palm Sunday everyone! For those who need a refresher, here are some facts about this special day:

• Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. It initiates Holy Week, the last week of Lent.

• In many Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Reformed, Presbyterian, and Anglican Churches, worship services on Palm Sunday include a procession of the faithful carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.

• In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection.

• Christian theologians believe that the symbolism is captured prophetically in the Old Testament: Zechariah 9:9 "The Coming of Zion's King – See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey". It suggests that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin.

• According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of him, and sang part of Psalm 118: 25–26 – ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord ....

• The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war.[1] A king would have ridden a horse when he was bent on war and ridden a donkey to symbolize his arrival in peace. Jesus's entry to Jerusalem would have thus symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.

This time of year also brings on the remembrance of the Resurrection and is the time for General Conference. I am sure getting excited for conference! There has been talk that some big changes are expected to be announced. Not sure the source of these rumors, but either way I am always excited for conference.

Another event that is remembered this week is Passover. This week will mark the first time I celebrate passover with my family. This is something I have always wanted to do and I have shared in past posts some great links that are LDS centered on how to best celebrate passover as a family. In years past I have wanted to do this, but have always remembered when it was too late. This year will be different!

In church news this week I found this article pretty exciting; President and Sister Nelson as well as Elder and Sister Holland are embarking on a world ministry tour where they will visit 8 cities. There is that number again. I have talked about quite a bit in this year's video messages. It continues to be an exciting year! :)

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-global-ministry-tour-locations?cid=HP_FR-23-3-2018_dPAD_fMNWS_xLIDyL1-C_

Healing, Signs, Miracles, and Wonders!

What does it mean to operate in third day power while in the eleventh hour? I share some personal experiences of how healing, signs, miracles, and wonders are alive more than ever!

Here's Why You Should Celebrate When Things Go "Wrong"!

When life dumps challenges on you, get excited! The more you lose the more you are about to gain. This week's video message is one of my favorite yet! I share several incredible and recent miracles that have forever changed the way I view trials. Plus more insight on the 3rd day and 11th hour. 

 

My Birthday Present from God!

Wow!! God gave me the best birthday present.❤️ 

My ring with the missing diamond - right before we headed to the Jazz game.

On Friday I noticed the diamond had fallen out of my wedding ring. I was driving my car when I noticed and I looked down at the floor mat wondering if I’d see it, but instead found this sparkly red heart. If you know my stories about hearts, you know I took this as a positive sign from the Lord. He was saying, “Instead of panic, choose to feel my love.” 

Oddly enough, I wasn’t as troubled as I thought I would be. If you’ve followed my recent videos, you know that last month God has put my faith and trust in Him through the ringer. Several big trials all at once that should have knocked me down. He told me in a dream on New Year’s Day and through some signs that followed, I would be victorious this year! He would help remove all the obstacles standing in the way of becoming the person he created me to be. He would do this through helping me heal old wounds that I was unaware of, that were standing in the way of developing a greater faith! He did this by dumping a truckload of trials and challenges all at once. I knew what He was up to, so I decided to be grateful for these trials and embrace them. Daily I praised Him and thanked Him for them and what they were going to do for my faith. I held His hand every step through that valley of darkness into the unknown. I held onto that hope that if I didn’t let go of His hand, He would sustain me with peace and when I came out of the valley, I would receive back all that I had lost. The Lord told me, “You are about to lose much, but it’s a test of your patience and faith. If you are faithful and endure, you will get it all back and more.” He reminded me that He is the Great Redeemer and I was about to learn redemption on a whole new level. I was filled with peace, love, and gratitude throughout these experiences and came out with greater love and patience than I have ever known. 

True to His word, one by one each trial came to an end and all that I lost with each trial was instantly restored to me 100% and more. I came out the victor! Along with the temporal things I gained back, my increase truly came from the spiritual blessings and gifts I received. And the cherry on top - Thursday my trials had just about all come to an end and I celebrated! When I noticed my diamond was lost, I heard the Lord say, “This is the final test. I want to show you how these trials truly have changed you. I want to show you who you have become, and how strong your trust and faith in Me truly is.” I felt that my demonstration of faith, trust, and gratitude in this moment would determine the length of this new “challenge”. It could be drawn out or it could be quick - it was my choice. In that moment I knew that God knew where my diamond was, and even if it was in a landfill somewhere, He could make it appear back in my ring if He wanted to. I became so happy and full of peace. It was just a diamond anyways, I can’t take it with me when I die. The things of greater value, I already had. 

Top: The heart I found when I noticed the diamond was missing.
Below: My diamond!

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I decided to clean out my purse. My hand goes in there so often, I thought maybe my diamond fell out in there. Up to that point, I hadn’t even tried looking for it. The day I lost it, I had been all over the city and had been to several places. It could have fallen out anywhere. I didn’t find it in my purse, but at least my purse was now clean, so I was happy. I passed from my bedroom to the hallway several times yesterday always looking at the carpet and wondering if I might spot a diamond. Never did. The Lord said to me, “Do you trust me? Then don’t spend you’re time looking. Just ask and you’ll receive.” So, I said a tiny prayer in my heart and in that prayer I thanked Him for bringing my diamond to me, because I knew He would. Then right before I switched off the light I looked down and there on the carpet in front of the bedroom door was my diamond!! Right in front of where I stood. During my prayer He put it there right where I would see it!! Laid so gently on top of the carpet so I would notice it. I picked it up and shouted for joy! 

Manuel asked me to bring the diamond to Him. He couldn’t believe it! We had walked that path so many times and by now the diamond would have been trampled below and embedded into the carpet pad. We surely would have felt that under our feet. We knew that God truly had placed it there. It was His birthday gift to me. God is amazing and I can’t stop praising Him!! My faith is so strong I feel like I can move a mountain right now. Never give up on the Lord, and when things “go wrong”, be excited and believe that God is about to work something awesome into your life!! Even better, He is carving you into a diamond! We are all diamonds in the “rough”.