Tender Mercies

We don't always get the answer we want to a prayer we so desperately give.  But we always get the answer we needed in that moment... As an 18 year old teenager I wasn't the easiest to get along with, at least not with my parents. I attribute most of this to my naturally type-A personality exacerbated by my over-training at the ice rink and not eating enough. Ya, not eating enough and being tired physically is a sure way to mess up the emotional stability of any teenager, let alone any human being.  Over the course of 4 years living away at college and then 3 years up in Alaska with my husband, there really wasn't a time that I could (or took the time to) mend my relationship with my mom. For some reason I just needed to be independent and strong and do things my way, not allowing for proper communication with my mom over the short holidays when we were together for a brief moment. I didn't realize there was anything between us; I felt like we had a perfectly ...

You ever hear that saying, "If life gets too hard to stand, kneel" ??  Well, life had gotten hard for me. Everything around me was great--I had my bills paid for and a comfortable life and a family to love--but it was the stuff inside my head and heart that were hurting. Nothing I did seemed to help for more than a few hours. I am at a crossroads in my life right now where I am trying to choose between many good options for where to steer my life. I seemed to be at a roadblock and didn't know what to do. Finally, after weeks of searching and praying and talking to trusted friends, a light emerged in my life. However, it was only after I decided to go to a place where I knew I would not be distracted from the demands of life, where I would truly be able to look within myself and seek an answer, that I was able to find what I was searching for. This place for me was the Kansas City Temple.  It is inside the temple, a place I believe to be the House of the Lord, tha...