I Love to See the Temple...

The other night, I went and did Baptisms for the Dead with my Dad, and little brother, Cameron in the Draper Temple. I hadn't been in a while, and I was yet again reminded of what a beautiful place the temple is. When I am there, I can really feel that it is, truly, the Lord's house.

I love this so much! :)

I love this quote by Gordon B. Hinckley:

"I am satisfied that every man or woman who goes to the temple in a spirit of sincerity and faith leaves the house of the Lord a better man or woman. There is need for constant improvement in all of our lives. There is need occasionally to leave the noise and the tumult of the world and step within the walls of a sacred house of God, there to feel His Spirit in an environment of holiness and peace."

I love when the temple is referred to as "a refuge from the storm". I love the calmness and peace that you feel when you are inside it's walls. When you are there, you can truly feel "in the world, but not of the world". I also love that you can leave the world behind as you enter through the doors of His holy house.

I am so grateful for temples and living in Utah, how blessed we are to have so many, so close to us. I look forward to the day when I can go to the temple, with my future husband, in a beautiful white dress, and be married and sealed to him for time and eternity. And on that day, I will be able to "make and keep sacred covenants, [and] receive the ordinances of the temple". (Young Women Theme)

Love, Brianna

Closer to Him

Why do we only remember the sun after the rain starts pouring down? We take it for granted until it is gone, we're left with just storm clouds around. I'm standing in water that's rising fast, and these dark clouds are gathering speed. Just when I feel I'm not going to last, I look through the clouds for the rescue I need.
Lord, let this storm bring me closer to You. Help me pull through this. Lord, help me see letting fear flood my heart will just drown me. Bring me closer to You.
Why do we fear that we are lost to Him? Or faded to sink in the raging sea? Struggling for courage to rise up and swim, or walk on the waves if He's beckoning. I'm wading through water that's rising fast, and these dark clouds are gathering speed. Just when I feel I'm not going to last, I look through the clouds for the rescue I need.
Lord, let this storm bring me closer to You. Please help me get through this. Lord, help me see letting fear flood my heart will just drown me. No matter how many hurricanes I'm called to endure, of one thing I am always sure: That as hard it gets, I know when it's all through, I'll be stronger, and wiser, and closer to You.
I'll wait for this storm to end, just like they always do. And I'll be cleaner, and purer, and brighter, more loved and more sure and lighter, stronger, and wiser, and closer to You.
(Closer To You by Calee Reed)

Each of us have them in one way or another. Trials. Tests. Challenges. These are spoken of as "the storms of life". But most often, we feel, as we go through each of these, that we are truly being tossed about on a stormy sea. I love this song because it is full of powerful insights. It brings up the fact that trials are meant to bring us closer to the Lord, not pull us away from Him. However, we have that choice. I loving the saying, "Let your past make you better not bitter". We can either take everything we possibly can learn from an experience and use it to make us better, or we can become bitter over how life has treated us. As long as we trust God, He will help us every step of the way. "And now . . . I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 38:5) Let your trials bring you closer to Him! :)

With Love, Brianna