Not Shrinking

      For the last month, we have been taking the March CES Fireside around to all the Branches for the Young Adults and Institute Students.
      The speaker is Elder Bednar and his talk has made me think about a lot of my experiences out here. His topic is about how important it is to Not Shrink when hard times come.  He talks about the verse in the scriptures when the Savior says, and I am paraphrasing here, " would that I would partake of the bitter cup and not shrink" Elder Bednar talked about how Not Shrinking is more important then surviving.
       Even though what I write on the blog is usually all the amazing things that happen out here, there are and have been a lot of hard times. I thought back on the last year and a half and had to ask myself, did I shrink? and the answer was YES, I am ashamed to say that when many of those hard times came, rather that confront them head on, I shrank, I just survived through them, instead of growing and learning from them. But then as I continued to ponder, I realized, that I also, in many of the hard things, did ask myself, "What am I suppose to learn from this"
     Never Shrinking ! I honestly don't know if that is possible. I think we all have our moments when we Shrink, when we just survive and we all have our moments when we rise to the challenge and continue to move forward and grow and become stronger and learn and are able to do the Lord's work even better.
    I think I have learned even more how much we are totally dependent upon the Lord, not just in the mission field, but in everything in our lives. I think the whole point of not shrinking, is being able to accept the Lords will and timing, not just accept it, but drink the "Bitter cup without becoming Bitter"
    I know HE loves us, I know that no experience is wasted,unless we waste it and do not learn and become what the Lord wants us to.
    I think, I will not Shrink so much from now on. I know that as I face challenges and struggles, HE will be with me to help me Not Shrink.
    HE can make so much more of us, then we ever can, we just have to choose to let Him.
    I love the Lord, I know this is His only Church and I know that it is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is True. I know these things, because He has helped me gain my own testimony of them.
   May we all move forward with our lives, and NOT SHRINK, when the Lord sends us learning experiences.