I'm a work in progress!

I bore my testimony in sacrament yesterday (right when the meeting was closing, of course. I have a problem with ignoring promptings!) I've learned some things about trials this week and shared the experience I had of reading the Ensign the other night when a part of an article about Peter stuck out to me. When I read it, I quickly opened my scriptures to read the whole account again of Peter walking on water out to Jesus. Peter had so much faith, and life (his walk) was going along so smoothly. I can just picture the water having barely a ripple as he glides across it. Then he starts to think, "What am I doing? I can't walk on water!" and he looses his faith. He starts to sink, and I'm sure that Christ didn't immediately pick him up. I think Peter probably started to sink a little at a time, and wondered what was happening. As he got deeper and deeper into the water, he started calling out to Christ for help. Ali Doctrine :) would tell me that Christ was constantly mindful of Peter's sinking, but wanted him to learn a lesson about doubting faith. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wonder if Peter had to struggle in the water for a while before being rescued by Christ. That doesn't mean that Christ was ignoring his pleas. There was just a lesson to be learned.
Anyway, I spoke about my insights on Peter, and also about another thought I had while planning my Primary lesson (I've been substituting Brynlie's CTR7 class for quite a while, and I think I've finally convinced the presidency that I REALLY want to teach her class, along with having my scouts calling. I LOVE teaching Bryn's class). A part of the lesson spoke about building your house upon a rock, and not on sand that would wash away. We had to sing the simple song with the hand motions that says, "The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down." Maybe the reason I like teaching Primary so much is that the lessons are on my level! I know I've heard it over and over, but the new insight I gained was that the wise man will still have trials (rain) . . .in fact, his trials might be even worse than the foolish man! It's the foundation we build on that's the key. There have been times in my life where I look at people who belong to other faiths and think, "Hmmm, I have the fulness of the gospel and understand the 'plan of happiness,' but am I really any happier than they are? They seem pretty darn happy on their own." This is something I've thought about more in the past few years since moving away from Utah and seeing that there are really happy, spiritual, moral people who are of other faiths. For some reason, in my naive mind, I just imagined that I was somehow more happy than most of the world that didn't have the fulness. I'm a happy person, and the gospel is absolutely a huge part of that. But what I've come to realize is that I will have real struggles down here (as much, if not more than everyone else), but the HOPE and FAITH I have about the eternities is what brings me everlasting happiness. I know who I am, where I came from, and who I can become someday. I know that my Father in Heaven is constantly mindful of me, and that I used to walk and talk with him as he taught me. I know that he knows me much better than I know myself. I know that he knows what is best for me. He knows my weaknesses and he wants to turn them into strengths. This fact was reaffirmed to me a couple days ago when Brevan was (once again) complaining that I'm the meanest mom in the world because I was making him clean the whole kitchen. He said there was no way he could possibly finish his job in the hour we had before we needed to leave. I told him that of course he could, but he would have to work hard. He said that he'd be happy to work hard, but that he should only be required to work for a short amount of time, so that he could run off and have fun. I told him that the things in life that don't take much effort also don't give much reward. The harder he has to work for something, the better his happiness and excitement will be when he accomplishes it. Why do I forget this principle in my own life when I'm struggling through a problem?
I have had experiences pertaining to this gospel that I could never deny. Those are the ones I need to focus on when I don't understand some of the other parts of the gospel very well. When I went to the temple last week with some good friends, we talked a lot about this topic. One of my friends said that she struggled for quite a while with believing in modern-day prophets and accepting Joseph Smith. This was interesting to me, because I have my areas I struggle in, but prophets has absolutely never been an issue with me. I don't have one doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that President Monson is the prophet of the whole earth today. Not one doubt. I need to focus on those strong areas as I have faith to fill in the gaps in the other areas.

Whew!! What a bunch of random thoughts! Anyway, as always, I'm so grateful for the gospel and I hope that others who are watching me can see that, whether or not we have the same beliefs. While I'm on the topic, the Relief Society broadcast on Saturday night was so wonderful (despite the fact that I was with good friends and got a serious case of the giggles for a minute! I'm so sorry, Heather and Brenda!). I especially enjoyed President Uchtdorf (sp?) talk the most. I fell in love with him as an apostle that night.