Being a Shield Maiden:

I think about war a lot. It comes with the territory. I watch/read the news and am always trying to gauge the hostilities. Because where there is war, there is a place my husband could go.

There is a different kind of war going on all around us. 

"For we  wrestle not  against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Ephesians 6:12

Those words are part of my favorite passage of scripture. If you have been following along, you already read my post about forging my sword of truth. Now I want to discuss another point mentioned in this passage.

In Scandinavian folklore, the shield maiden was a woman who had been chosen to fight as a warrior.

In this wrestle we face today, women are not left out of the call to fight. We've all been called to be shield maidens or rather women of faith.

I am so not perfect in this. Last week was a ROUGH week for us. I like the security in knowing what the future holds. But life doesn't cater to this usually, especially in the military. Suffice it to say our plans that we have been working on for so.many.years just got thrown for a loop. And I panicked. I mourned for the future we had planned on and sacrificed so much for. I was confused and hurt. I questioned. It was not my proudest day. But what this did was give me a clear view of myself. Where was my trust and confidence when the world seemed to crumble around me? Where was my strength?  Where was my Shield of Faith?

I had to really take a step back and check myself. This wasn't ok. I needed to repent and move forward. When I find myself lacking in an area I start to research like crazy. Thankfully I didn't have to look far to discover what it takes to be a shield maiden.

 In her talk called "A Woman of Faith", Margaret Nadauld outlined the qualities us women should have:

"The Latter-day Saint woman who follows Christ is a true Christian in the very best sense of the word. She is a woman of faith who trusts God and is confident and fearless...A woman of faith trusts God and faces adversity with hope...A woman of faith is confident because she understands the divine plan of our Heavenly Father and her role to bless lives. She is confident that any sacrifice she makes is worth something in an eternal sense. She knows about sacrifice from knowing of the life of the Savior. She knows that her sacrifices may be small by comparison, but she knows that Heavenly Father understands and values what she does to strengthen her home and her family and the world in which she lives...A woman of faith is fearless. She fears no evil, for God is with her... There is no ambiguity, no uncertain trump in her life...She is less than perfect, of course, not because she doesn’t have perfect principles or the perfect example in Christ, but because she is human...She knows that He loves her even though she is imperfect and still trying to be better. She knows that when she does her very best, that it is enough..."

So now I am choosing to trust that everything will work out. I am taking that leap of faith and trusting that God knows where my feet will land. I'm letting go of what I wanted and gaining confidence that he knows what is best for me and my family. 

(Image Source)

Social Media Arguments: The other reason I am trying to stop

By now you've probably all read a certain blog post by a member of my church about her opinion on what the movie Frozen was about. Now I disagree, respectfully, with her view. And a lot of other people do as well. But what ensued is another BIG reason I have been trying so hard to avoid any sort of disagreement or discussions on social media.

As I am reading the responses, while many respectfully disagreed and stated their own opinion, so many others were hateful.

They were hatefully accusing her of hate. And a lot of these hateful comments were coming from members of the church as well.

The hypocrisy of it all is disheartening and not who I want to be.

 If we are to believe the Bible to be the Word of God, then we must believe that on the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

I'm not going to write a post about how we shouldn't ever get angry. Mainly because I feel some great ones have already be written here, here, here and here.

But what I do want to write about is this:

Can we fight hate with hate?

Martin Luther King is someone who many could quite justifiably be hateful. But instead he said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

And this:

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. "

Robert D. Hales said:

"When we do not retaliate—when we turn the other cheek and resist feelings of anger—we too stand with the Savior. We show forth His love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return. That is not weakness. That is Christian courage."

We can't fight hate with hate. It doesn't matter whether you are on the right or wrong side of a discussion because if you say mean and hateful things, you are a bully.

 

Education is scary:

I will be enrolling my son in kindergarten here soon! So like any great parent I have been doing as much research as I can. 

Things I discovered:

1) They do all day kindergarten here!

WHAT? I had prepared myself for half day. I had accepted it! Come to terms with it!

But now I have to get over three more hours!

2) They start in AUGUST!

Ok I know this really shouldn't surprise me. It's not unheard of. But growing up for me, August was still prime summer time! And now I have less time than I thought to come to terms with number one!

And then there is me...

I have been seriously thinking about going to school for a while now. I have finally decided on what I want to major in. Child Development. My husband looked at online courses a couple nights ago and sent them my email address. I spoke with a councilor and its looking like it could actually happen...

There's still a lot that has to come together to make this possible but there is a chance it might!

Which has me both so excited and incredible nervous all at once. Being a mother is so much more than what I do. I'm passionate about it. When the councilor asked if I was currently working in child care I laughed and told him I was a stay at home mom. He said, "That most definitely qualifies!" 

I thought my putting off school to have my family was something I was going to get some negative vibes about (goodness knows I have already!) but they were so supportive and didn't treat me like I had made a dumb mistake. My family comes first. But now it just may be my turn and I am so excited. If it doesn't work out like we hope it will, at least I know what I want to do and will just be working towards making it a reality!

If you need me, I will be working on stress reduction, doing yoga, meditating and trying desperately to keep it together!

When I Have Your Wounded: An Attitude of Missionary Work

Charles L. Kelly is a name you may not know. But you should.

He was a United States helicopter pilot during the war in Vietnam.

Specifically, he was a med-evac pilot. 

His job was to fly in and pick up injured soldiers and bring them back to safety. 

He earned himself the name "Crazy Kelly" for his willingness to fly into hostile situations to retrieve his fallen brothers in arms. 

On July 1, 1964 when warned  to return to base because the area he was trying to land in was too "hot", Kelly bravely uttered his last words:

"When I have your wounded."

A bullet entered through an open cargo door and pierced Kelly's heart.

When asked if the med-evac pilots were to continue to fly so aggressively, CPT. Patrick Henry Brady replied,  "...we are going to keep flying exactly the way Kelly taught us to fly, without hesitation, anytime, anywhere."

Kelly's last words have been immortalized as the motto for the Army Aviation Med-evac teams.

Kelly lived by this motto:

“No compromise. No rationalization. No Hesitation. Fly the mission. Now!"

We can often times can get discouraged if we look at this life as a battle of good versus evil. Sometimes I watch the news and it feels like the evil side is winning. But this isn't a war of good versus evil necessarily. We already know which side is going to win in the end. 

The war is, as Durrel A. Woolsey said, "...for the souls of men"

I want to be like Charles Kelly in this war for the souls of men. I want to have that same attitude of no hesitation. No compromise. No fear. And his sense of urgency.

With the change in the missionary program it has been so inspiring to see kids I used to babysit, boldly proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ on Facebook or their personal blogs. They have entered this war head on, with the same spirit that Kelly did in Vietnam. But as church members we can't leave it up to them. We have a responsibility to have that same fire inside us as well! 

Elder M. Russel Ballard, when talking about the essential role of member missionaries, said, "...as we raise the level of expectation for the performance of our missionaries, we must also raise the level of expectation for the performance of all of the members of the Church in fulfilling our missionary duties." (Source)

One easy way is to create your own profile on Mormon.org!

You log in using your lds.org sign in and follow the steps to set up your profile!

It's that easy!

There are so many ways to share your profile as well. 

I'm going to challenge myself to have a more Charles Kelly attitude when if comes to missionary work! It's important and I need to be better!

A Visit and a Birthday:

Last week my mom and little sister flew into town! We surprised them by meeting them at the airport. Which my mom seemed to love!

They were coming because Clay was to be headed to WOCS soon and they wanted to be here to help. Which I so greatly appreciate!

We went to Panama City which is probably one of my favorite beaches ever! (Ok they are all my favorites...)

(Fried pickles are heavenly!)

 

The next day I took Clayton to post and said goodbye only to have him call me to come back and get him! Turns out we get a couple more weeks with him!!! THANK YOU ARMY!

Then we went to the Army Aviation Museum!

Yesterday we went to the Florida Caverns!!!!

There were some pretty amazing cave formations, but there is a no touch policy but I was still like:

And then we entered a room where they guide said we could touch a column!

(Getting to touch my first cave column! My geology geekiness was so obvious!)

       I introduced my mom and sister to the amazing world of Duck Dynasty! And they got us these:

(You can see I am still sporting my Washington tan!)

It has been such an amazing week having them here! I miss home so much. But I am also loving Alabama thus far! Mainly because we are so close to Florida but still!