Shot Through My Heart!

For those of you who know me, you know my love for guns. Ever since I was a little tyke I have loved them. Partly because it is a way that I was protected by my daddy. Another part is because shooting and reloading bullets is one of my daddy's biggest hobbies. But I think the thing I have love most about having guns involved through out my whole life is how many lessons we can learn from them. How guns can apply to so many things that we are involved with daily. Today I want to relate shooting and my love of guns to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Okay so to start off there are some basic rules that I had to repeat to my daddy (EVERY SINGLE TIME) before I picked up my gun and was ready to shoot. They are:

1. A gun is ALWAYS loaded.

2. Know your target and what is behind it.

3. Never cross the barrel over anything that you aren't willing to destroy.

4. Always have ear and eye protection.

5. Never put your finger on the trigger, unless you are READY to shoot.

6. Know your gun.

How do these 6 rules apply to the Gospel?

1. A gun is ALWAYS loaded. Well that is not true, a gun isn't loaded at all times, but we are supposed to treat it like it is. My daddy never let me say, "Treat it like it is loaded." Only, "a gun is always loaded." I have always had that mind set and therefore I treat guns very carefully. Since I was little my dad ingrained that in my mind. Even when I know for a fact that the gun does not have a bullet in it, I still have a feeling in the back of my head that it is. Well this principle applies to the Gospel because the gun is our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is something so precious, so dear. We need to treat it that way! We need to realize what an amazing thing it is and the power that our testimonies have. No matter what I can never refuse my testimony because I ALWAYS have the feeling in the back of my mind, that I know the church is true. I CAN NOT deny it. Nor do I ever want to. It is so precious to me.

2. Know your target and what is behind it. Our target in this life is to get to the Celestial Kingdom. We want to get there and we need to be able to know the limits. We need to know how to get there and make sure that we don't do anything that would make it so we don't get our target. We need to be aware of Satan and be able to push him out of our lives and work towards Christ.

3. Never cross the barrel over anything that you aren't willing to destroy. Imagine that we are at a shooting range right now. You pulled the trigger and you heard a click. You realize that the bullet is jammed, this ONE time you think, "It will be okay, I will rest the barrel on my foot while I unjam it." Well as soon as you put the gun at that angle on your foot the bullet came out and fired. You just shot a hole through your foot. What lesson do we learn? Never cross the barrel with anything that you aren't willing to destroy, but also that it only takes ONE TIME to make a permanent damage. You may think this one time you break a law or commandment that God has given us that it will be okay. Why would you ever chance that? NEVER CROSS THAT LINE! There are standards and commandments that God has asked us to follow and we need to do that. We cannot give into even one temptation, because that could be the time the gun is misfired and if it is pointed at something that you aren't willing to destroy (your salvation) then that is on you.Of course we all will mess up and God understands that, that is what the Atonement is for. But don't willingly give away your right to Eternal Glory.

4. Always have ear and eye protection. We read in Ephesians chapter 6 about the armor of God. There is the Girdle of Truth, The Breastplate of Righteousness, The Shield of Faith, The Sword of the Spirit, The Preparation of the Gospel of Peace Shoes and The Helmet of Salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we need to have faith. We need to choose the right. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit. We need to do all these things to protect ourselves and gain eternal life. When we keep the commandments and do what is right, we are building up a protection around ourselves. What a blessing that it is that we know what to do to protect ourselves from Satan!

5. Never put your finger on the trigger, unless you are READY to shoot. Lets say that you died right now. Would you be ready to face God. If the final judgement was in a few minutes, how would you be feeling? We cannot wait until last minute to repent and make things right. Start your preparations to meet God right now. We need to get right with God. We need to strive ALWAYS to be better daily. We don't have to be perfect, but we have to be trying our hardest to be the best we can be.

6. Know your gun. We need to know what we are dealing with. We need to face the reality of our salvation. We need to humble ourselves and realize that we cannot do it alone. We need to rely on our Savior. We need to know Jesus Christ. We need a personal relationship with him and God. We need the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Okay so the rules of gun safety teach us a little about how we need to live our lives.

This is my first gun. It is a Ruger .357 LCR. Here is a picture of it:

Just by looking at a picture of this gun you would probably assume that there isn't a lot of power. You might say, "That it is ugly and no one would ever want a gun that looks like that." Well looks are deceiving. I remember the first time I shot this gun. I shot once and put it down immediately. I was used to shooting 9 millimeters and to go from those to this. It was CRAZY! The power was intense. There sent a sting right down the grip of my hand. I wasn't expecting it! So I looked at my daddy, he just about died laughing at me. My face must have said it all. Well I picked it up and shot a few more rounds, holding the gun a LOT tighter than before. The sting wasn't bad this time. As I shot it more, the more I got used to it and it's power. The more I shot it, the more I wanted to shoot it. It might be an ugly gun, but it gets the job done. This revolver is so reliable and accurate.

So what do we learn from this story? That when life throws us curve balls, we can push back. We can endure and overcome them. The more we use our testimony in our lives the more we can increase our desire to gain it even more. We can do what our tools allow us to do. So what tools do you have in your life that you can use to strengthen your testimony? What can you do to ensure your salvation. What can you do to prepare for those hard times that will come time to time?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answers.

The UNREAL Life

Something I have tried to do on my mission is live it to the fullest. I write home every week about my adventures and my love for the Gospel. A few weeks ago I got the response back, that said my mission was unreal.

It is true! My mission is unreal. It is something that I never thought I would have in my life. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me and the best thing that will happen for my family now and in the future. All my adventures and good times are because I choose to have the attitude to make it happen.

It is up to us to decide how our day is going to go. We decide if our lives are going to be the "real" life where we are forced to do the same things and is boring and all that, OR we can choose to make our life "UNREAL". We can choose to make an adventure out of everyday. We can choose to be happy. We can choose to do good. We can choose to be extraordinary. 

A lot of people have said that the world is an awful place and we just have to endure in it. I believe the exact opposite! We can live and LOVE our lives in this amazing place God created for us!

Think about it, how incredible is the world around us? Every time I walk outside I am amazed at what God has created for us to enjoy! Look up and around and just embrace it, soak it all in! If God wanted us to be miserable and bored all the time and live the "real" life, then he wouldn't have given us all he has given us, especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us the essence of love!

I don't ever want to live a "real" life. I want my life to be unreal. I want it to be joyful! I want to live everyday to the fullest! I want to share the Gospel. I want to smile. I want to jump in puddles. I want to laugh. I want to embarrass myself over and over again. I want to make silly faces. I want to read my scriptures daily. I want to sing as loud and obnoxiously as possible. I want to love everyone. I want all these things because they make me happy. God wants me to have this things. But one thing I want you to notice, is that every single one of those things I listed that I want, have to do with my attitude. 

Who actually wants to be embarrassed? I do! Know why? Because it makes for a good story and laugh. It is an adventure. I want to be a total dork some days, just to lighten someone else's mood! I can't be one of those mundane people who never does anything other than the same old thing everyday. I would be MISERABLE! Because of that, I have an UNREAL life!

This is me and my  mom living our lives to the DORKIEST and having Cheetos as our smiles!!! :) Got to love the little things and laugh! 

Everyday you wake up, decide that your attitude to everything that happens that day is going to be UNREAL! Do something different than you normally would. Make your life the unreal life. Have the attitude that you are going to be the person who puts a smile on someone else's face. BE THAT CHANGE TODAY!

There is an incredible speech given by George I. Cannon about living to make good memories. Here is the link: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=120 I love this talk so much! It truly spells out how we can live our lives to the fullest and have those good memories that we need in our lives! 

I know this post was kind of everywhere! But I just feel so passionate about living our lives to fullest so we can be happy and make others around us happy. Making the difference in our lives is the best thing we can do for everyone! Make the difference by starting it off right by saying your prayers! Read your scriptures! Go to church every week! Love the tender mercies God gives us daily! Smile! :) Have the attitude that you are going to have an unreal life starting right now.