Don't allow Satan to put a question mark where God has already put a period.

Oh my goodness.

I hope many of you are reading this because it has seriously touched me.

If any of you are thinking of serving a mission or have wanted to in the past but are now having doubts about it: don't!  Don't allow Satan to put a question mark where God has already put a period.
And for those of you who have already served: continue to serve! Continue to share the light and love with others. Don't be afraid to share the gospel even though you don't have a tag and a constant companion by your side. This post is not only for those who are considering serving, but for everyone.

Today I was at the dentist -Man! My dentist is just the best! Plus, I've known him for forever! :) After he finished working on me, before his next patient, he took the time to tell me a story that really hit home. He was pretty emotional about it while relaying it.

My Dentist knows of a (returned) missionary from Spanish Fork who told him this amazing story from his mission....

The missionary and his companion started teaching an old lady (I think in her 80's or 90's).  They taught her the first lesson, and gave her a Book of Mormon.  She read it and decided she wanted to be baptized.  Soon after she told them that, she let them know she wanted her patriarchal blessing, even though she was in her old age.  She wanted the opportunity to have it before she died.

Some time after getting the blessing, she wanted to hear her blessing again (like we all do after receiving our own).  After getting a printed copy, she asked the Elder to read it to her, in which he replied: "You should read it.  Blessings are very personal and sacred....I don't feel I should read it to you. It's yours."

What the Elders didn't know is that this lady was blind.  She proceeded to tell them this, and said that is why she wanted him to read her blessing to her.  She then let them know that she was able to read the Book of Mormon though a miracle from God -- during her time of reading the Book of Mormon, God allowed her to see the written words. She read the whole book being able to see! Upon finishing the book however, her vision was again gone. But God loved her enough that He had temporarily allowed her to see, so she, too, could learn of the truth and have that happiness in her life.

So, naturally, after hearing this, the Elder gladly read her blessing to her.  (This is the part that really gets to me).  In this lady's blessing, it said that she was supposed to be baptized......but a long time ago.  It told her that there was a young man who rejected a [mission] call.  He was the one who was supposed to be prepared to bring her the gospel, but he didn't serve.  So many years went by before two more Elders were called and prepared, found her, and brought her unto Christ. Soon after becoming a member and receiving her very own blessing, she passed on to be with her Heavenly Father again.

Whether this story be true or not (which I believe it is), it really impacted me.  The message is so wonderful.  We all should try and be more willing to put others first because we don't know who might really be needing it.  I honestly believe only certain people can really get to and touch someone's life. I honestly believe that those who serve missions are called to a specific mission because that is where they are needed most.  This gospel is so beautiful and I cannot wait to go out and share it with others.

Also, this afternoon I went with a dear friend of mine to the MTC and volunteered.  One of the missionaries that taught us was actually a convert himself (I was acting as a convert) and he told us his story and it brought the sweetest spirit!  He was baptized only 15 months ago, and is now on his own mission.  What a courageous young man he is!  You can just feel warm rays of Truth gleaming from him.  His testimony was so, so strong.  Any doubt I might have had about my upcoming mission was washed away!  If he can go out and serve a mission, having the gospel in his life 19 years less than I have had it, so can I....  And I will! I AM! (My call should be here in a couple of weeks. Eeeek!)  I know the Lord will bless me as I serve His children.

Today has been such a wonderful day.  I love the little tender mercies the Lord sends us, and that He sent me today.  I can't wait to proudly wear His name for a year and a half and represent His glorious gospel, helping to bring His children back home.

Don't allow Satan to put a question mark where God has so lovingly and obviously put a period.  Trust yourself and your righteous desires.  Don't let fear hold you back.


Proverbs 3:5-6 
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Sister Kelsie Mariah Hadlock, lifelong missionary

This is SO Big!

Oh my gosh.



Oh my gosh!!!!!

If there is anything I got out of this conference it's that..........I am going on a mission.  I am meeting with my Bishop tomorrow in between sessions to start my papers.

I can't believe this is really happening! 

Some of you may be confused by this, because you know that I just submitted my nursing application to multiple schools and I have not yet heard back whether or not I got in.  I was going to wait a while before posting anything about this decision, but I just cannot keep it contained!  It's just too big to keep to myself!

Life is full of choices.  As President Monson announced the age change for young men going on missions, I just knew that an age change for young women was coming as well.  I thought maybe it was going to be 20, not 19, though.  I started sobbing when I realized what was happening.  I could not stop the tears. I felt so overwhelmed by the spirit and I was just so excited about this crazy-out-of-nowhere news! Not only for me, but for my brother who will be 18 in a couple weeks, who has now decided against completing a year of school but will go on his mission after he graduates in May instead.   My true emotion shone through in that moment.   I could not even believe what I was hearing.

Lately I have been feeling a bit down at life, wondering what it is I am supposed to do, and just sad because I've felt like my life is on hold.  (For those of you that don't know, I applied to nursing school at SUU last semester for this current semester but was not accepted so I am just taking this semester to work 4 part time jobs and take a BYU independent study course.)  But like I was saying, lately I have just been feeling frustrated about multiple things in life, such as:

 --wishing I could continue on with my career plans instead of not doing much this semester with not being in the nursing program right now

   --my dating life not working out while my facebook continues to flood with friends around me getting engaged and starting their "Happily Ever After"

--fighting with myself about what I really want deep down...Would I rather stay and do nursing and get married and start a family? Or would I rather go on a mission and have to worry about finishing school upon getting home? ....What if I forget the things I've learned?

These are the things that have been stressing me lately.

I wonder: is a mission going to be the right thing for me?  I mean, maybe I will be accepted into the nursing program, right?  Maybe I'm supposed to be there. Who knows?  What I do know for sure is, is that I love this gospel.  I love the pure joy I feel when I am able to share it with others who don't know.  I know that I am doing my part by showing my Heavenly Father my willingness to take care of His children.  I'm making this decision to start my papers now so that if I am needed, and don't get into a program, I can go as soon as possible.  On the other hand, if I do get into a nursing program, maybe I will turn them down anyway... until after a mission, that is.....I guess I will just cross that bridge when I reach it.  I will hopefully know if I'm accepted or not by November.


But deep down, I know what will happen.....and I am so excited!  I think a mission is for me.  My mind is practically made up, even though I could always change it and stay for my nursing degree. But a mission has been on my mind since I was 15.  On and off I have really wanted to go, or been so terrified and just wanted to stay here. But my sweet mother has always told me that I'm a "natural-born missionary".  I think I believe her. I mean my heavens!  Lately I've been feeling jealous of the girls who are already 21 and receiving their calls!
I can't wait to go and serve the Lord full time for 18 months, spreading His gospel to many more souls who are searching. When Ruben got baptized a few months ago (see my other posts if you don't know what I am talking about: And He's Getting Baptized!!!!, and A New Chapter Has Begun)  I didn't know he was going to be the first of many that I would bring unto Christ.

What a day this has been....

Tomorrow is going to be even better, I can feel it. 

D&C 18:10, 14-16:

"10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; 14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.  15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

"If you had a friend that treated you the way you treat yourself and said the things you say about yourself, how long would you stay friends with them?"

How do we view ourselves?

How does God view us?


For many people, these two answers are different.  We need to learn to love ourselves, because we are who we are, and that is who we will stay! :)

Just think:  what if someone close to you (let's say, your mother) decided to make you a quilt.  And let's also say that she's not a very good sewer-seamstress lady (or whatever you wanna call them!), but she does her best and over the course of a few months and getting some help from a few neighbor ladies, she makes you a beautiful quilt.

You can tell that she is so proud of her work and how the quilt turned out, and you know just how excited she is to give it to you to take with you down to your first year at college.

You got all that pictured in your head?

Okay.....so as you have already guessed, this happened to me.  My mother (who doesn't sew) decided she loved me enough to make me a quilt to take down to college to use as my bed spread :)  She worked many hours on it and got some helpful hints from different ladies in our ward.  It was a stressful project for her!  But in the end, it was the perfect gift.

She finished the strips! Now to sew them together :)

Continuing on with my first story however, let's say that on the other hand, unlike me, you didn't like the quilt that was made for you.  When your mother gave it to you--despite knowing her excitement about it--you picked it apart saying things like, "It's too bright.", "I thought it was going to be bigger.", "I don't like the way you did this part."......etc. etc. etc.  Basically, you completely found fault with almost every thing about it.  You could imagine this might break your mother's heart or at least make her very, very sad.  After all the love and time she put into it, if you just pulled it apart critiquing in and not even saying anything good about it, I could image she would be sad!

I'd like to compare this to how God feels about us, when we continue to tear ourselves apart each day saying things like, "I'm fat."  "I wish I could look like him/her."  "Why can't I be prettier?"  "What's wrong with me?" "I'm so ugly." "I wish I had darker skin." "I wish my eyes were blue." (I think you get the point I'm trying to make.)  

God made each of us, His children, so unique and beautiful.  He loves each of us. It makes Him sad when we are not grateful for the gift He so graciously gave us: our body.  He wants us to be happy and be grateful for that gift. We need to take care of and love our body because it's the only real place we (our spirits) have to live! 

I am guilty of not always being grateful for the beautiful Daughter of God I was made to be.  I need to work on it.  I hope all of us will do just that: work to love ourselves for who we are.  Just like I loved the beautiful quilt my mama made for me, I need to love the beautiful body I was given to house my spirit on this earth.

August 2010: With my new quilt before heading down to SUU

The Book of Kelsie

People say I am easy to read........Apparently I'm a book, not a human?


.....Now, this can be good, but this can also be to my disadvantage.

Sometimes, I don't want people to know how I feel.  I want to seem strong, even when I really am not.

I want to keep certain things to myself so others don't worry.

And I want to put on a happy face for those who might need it.
   But
                                           sometimes that is hard.

  

And I'm not always the best at it.
             That is why I am not currently a theater major,
             nor will I ever be...... but that is beside the point.

             I don't want my emotions on my sleeve for the world to see.

And yet, people see through me. 

Being the kind of person I am, that is really hard.  I am capable of caring for and loving people so easily; it comes naturally to me. So on top of me being an easy person to read, this basically makes me pretty vulnerable. 

 But y'all wanna know something? I  am   blessed.  So  blessed.

In the end, nothing else will matter.

So I should just stop with my little pity party right now and just go enjoy life. 

Move on.

Take it a day at a time.

Even though certain situations in life are super tough:

I will never stop LIVING, 

       I will never stop LAUGHING,

            And I will most definitely never stop LOVING.

No matter what situation I may be in.

Embracing life.

Ohh my goodness. Life.


Life has so much to offer.  I'm learning more and more every day, not only about life in general, but about myself.   I love that!  Even though I've known myself for 20 years and some odd months now, I am capable of learning more about myself every day.  Interesting thought, right?

Well, I'm not exactly sure what I really want to blog about today....I just know that I felt like blogging (probably 'cuz I am procrastinating packing and such as long as I possibly can. Bleh.).  But really..blogging is fun! :)

So I'm blogging about life as my title suggests.... Where am I at in life right now?  Currently I am living at home with my family while working not one, not two, not even three, but four jobs.  The cool thing?  I may have four jobs, but I don't work a day in my life. I LOVE what I do.  And the people I come in contact with have become oh so dear to me.   Seriously.  Three of my four "jobs" are home health jobs.  I go into people's homes and care for their daily needs--things that may seem simple to us, but these people aren't capable of doing.  It really has made me grateful for where I am at. I have met some very amazing people who have been through a lot. Frankly, more than a person should deal with in one lifetime. Sometimes I get really sad for them, but then I remember: hey! They are not going to be this way forever.  One day, they are going to be perfect again.  This life is short in relation to eternity :)

While we're on a similar topic, I wanted to share a great video with y'all.  The song is entitled "Beautiful Heartbreak."  It's by a wonderful LDS artist, Hilary Weeks. Basically the message of the song is even though we go through some heartbreaking things in our lives, they can become something beautiful if we allow them to.  We can become stronger through the trials we face. So the video is below, and I'm also gonna post the lyrics so you can read it if you'd like.

BEAUTIFUL HEARTBREAK:

I had it all mapped out in front of me, 

Knew just where I wanted to go; 

But life decided to change my plans, 

And I found a mountain in the middle of my road. 

I knew there was no way over it, 

So I searched for a way around; 

Brokenhearted I started climbin', 

And at the top I found... 

Every fear, every doubt, 

All the pain I went through; 

Was the price that I paid to see this view; 

And now that I'm here I would never trade... 

The grace that I feel, 

And the faith that I find; 

Through the bitter-sweet tears, 

And the sleepless nights; 

I used to pray he'd take it all away, 

But instead it became a beautiful heartbreak. 

I never dreamed my heart would make it, 

I thought about turning around; 

But heaven has shown me miracles, 

I never would have seen from the ground. 

Now I take the rain with the sunshine, 

Cause there's one thing that I know; 

He picks up the pieces, 

Along each broken road. 

Every fear, every doubt, 

All the pain I went through; 

Was the price that I paid to see this view; 

And now that I'm here I would never trade... 

The grace that I feel, 

And the faith that I find; 

Through the bitter-sweet tears, 

And the sleepless nights. 

I used to pray he'd take it all away, 

But instead it became a beautiful heartbreak. 

I would never trade... 

The grace that I feel, 

And the faith that I find; 

Through the bitter-sweet tears, 

And the sleepless nights. 

I used to pray he'd take it all away, 

But instead it became a beautiful heartbreak.

Isn't that such an inspiring song? I sure think so!

I don't know who knew this, but my family and I had the fabulous opportunity to go to Hilary's home for dinner and a private concert in her basement last Friday.  Can I just say, she's not only an amazing singer-songwriter, but she is an amazing person, too! She was so welcoming and so kind to everyone in attendance; I felt like I'd known her for ages!  That night was actually the first time I've heard her song "Beautiful Heartbreak", or at least first time seeing the music video. She sang it live while the video played on screen behind her.  Oh man.  It was a touching moment.  I'm so very grateful for the wonderful talents of people, and their willingness to share and touch the lives of others.  Uplifting music really is so great! It always helps lift my mood and brings the spirit in a way I don't think anything else can.  If you've never heard of Hilary Weeks before, I highly suggest you look up more of her stuff--it's all amazing!

So, I don't exactly know how I got from talking about life to talking about uplifting music.....random tangent I guess..  But the point is: life is good.  Life is even great! It's all in the attitude in which we carry ourselves.  And when life gets tough, and we feel we have mountains to climb, we have been given other human beings to lean on for support as well as a loving Father in Heaven who cares.  

I hope each of you will never take for granted the little things in life, even as simple as getting out of bed in the morning on your own, or playing your guitar.  Life is as beautiful as you make it out to be....so let's create a masterpiece.