i love visting teaching!

yesterday my roommate and i planned to do our visiting teaching. this month was to choose a talk from general conference and talk about that. i chose to do The Love of God, by President Uchtdorf (read it, i highly recommend it)

anyway, one of my visiting teachees just had a relative pass away and it was very difficult. i figured this could help her. the wonderful thing about it though was that as i was preparing for it, I got more out of it than i think she did. last night, i was kind of stressing about lots of things (tests, homework, church calling, room swaps, etc.) and i was just feeling overwhelmed and not adequate enough for everything. but as i read through this talk there were a few quotes that really stuck out to me:

1. "No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

i thought about it and it's so simple, and yet it's so true. if we love God, we will do things to make sure that we are able to be with him later.

2. "Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you... Though we are incomplete, God loves us COMPLETELY. Though we are imperfect, He loves us PERFECTLY. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love ENCOMPASSES us completely."

i needed to hear this. sometimes it's hard to comprehend or remember how much our Heavenly Father loves us, but this was like a gentle reminder that i AM loved and remembered and someone does care about me.

3. "My dear brothers and sisters, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to TRY. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you."

this was an answer to a prayer. as i said, i was feeling like nothing i was doing was going the way i wanted it to, and that i was incapable of making things to work out because i wasn't good enough. this was exactly the encouragement that i needed.

God answers prayers, sometimes not how we expect. but he answers them. today, he answered mine with visiting teaching! =)