Well, I should have been in bed a long time ago. I had the option to be in bed a long time ago. Buuuut… I let myself get distracted. 🙃
So now it’s after 10:00, and I’m still not in bed, and I’m just barely starting this journal post.
Oops. 😅
Totally slept in today. Not even sure exactly how it happened because I haven’t really been able to sleep in since I got to South Dakota.
Certainly, I woke up a gazillion times like I always do, but when I finally got up, thinking it was probably something like 6:30 because that’s what it usually is when I finally got up for the last time, it was like 8:00!
😶
So I guess I got some good sleep. 🙂
Some morning routine stuff. Some morning study stuff. Getting dressed, and then heading off to church.
They got my records transferred to the Hot Springs Branch today, though they didn’t welcome me in, perhaps because they weren’t officially in by the beginning of the meeting?
Not sure. I didn’t notice that I had been officially swapped over until after church was over when I went to look up something and noticed that the directory was for my new branch.
Interestingly, one of the messages shared today during sacrament meeting echoed pretty extensively what I had expressed in my journal last night–about wanting to have the joy and light of Christ shining in my face, so other people might see and be interested, so I could share with them what’s been so wonderful for me.
After coming home, I ate lunch, and I chatted with Heather a little bit about gospel stuff, lovely little conversation. 🥰
Then I headed over to Cascade Falls for a little bit. Pretty crowded, water all murky from so many people stirring the bottom up, but I enjoyed it for a little while, and hopefully it’s good for my body. It’s a nice way to remove pressure on my nerves and thus give me some physical relief.
Spent some time recording myself reading some scriptures and quotes I want to memorize, and I uploaded those to my memorization folders. Overall, that effort is going well, but the apps struggle with recognizing file names, so organizing them in music apps has been quite the challenge.
But I’m still making good progress. 🙂
Ate dinner and had another lovely little gospel discussion with Heather and Hans. 🥰
Went on a little walk around the pasture with heather. Went on a little walk down the dirt road past when neighbors house with the horses and Zora in tow–the horses enjoying the green grass along the side of the dirt road, and Zora I think slowly resigning herself to the fact that she’s going to be wearing doggy goggles as she walks around on little adventures like that to protect her eyes from getting smacked when running into things.
And now here I am. It’s 10:20ish, and I’m about ready to wrap this up, so maybe I won’t be terribly off in my hoped-for morning routine. I don’t remember how close I am to yesterday.
…
Ok, just checked… guess it was 10:30 last night as well. Oh well. I’m going to get up on time tomorrow, come what may. 5:00, baby.
💪
I’ve got this. Alarm set. Boom.
Gratitude:
- I’m grateful to feel much better today–positive, upbeat, and happy. This morning, I felt a profound sense of gratitude that what happened yesterday was so powerfully motivating to me in the sense of driving me to want to do whatever it takes to not have a repeat of what happened yesterday–of my pride owning the moment. I expect I probably will relapse in that pride on occasion, because it’s not a simple thing to overwrite years worth of behavior and mental and emotional reaction, but God willing, I will do it. And I want to. And I know the Lord will help me.
- I’m grateful for the wonderful storm today. The cool weather, the thunder, the lightning, the little bits of hail. We missed out on the tornadoes that hit Eastern South Dakota today. Would have loved to have seen a tornado. 🙃
- I’m grateful for the wonderful gospel conversations that we had today.
- I’m grateful for the progress that I’m making, through the grace of God and his strength and through the power of the atonement.
- I’m grateful for the reminder that God gave me either last night or this morning, I don’t remember, and please forgive the repeat if it’s a repeat, that it doesn’t matter how much effort I put into something, it won’t be the effort that changes my heart or that enables me to overcome my great challenges: It is the grace of God, changing my heart and giving me power to meet the challenges I face. And I’m grateful to God for that Grace and that power. I’m grateful that this time around, somehow, through the gift of God, I have, to this point, been able to maintain the perspective that “there but for the grace of God go I.” (St. Francis if Assisi? 🤷)
- I’m grateful for the softening of soul with which I am being blessed.
Success:
- I’m trying to think of a success today. It was a good day… Oh! I had another one of those occurrences at Cascade Falls, with a woman I think changing right there in the parking lot. And I got myself out. 🙏 All glory to God for the strength to walk away.
Improvement:
- Definitely can do better at getting to bed on time. I’ve excused myself from company with Heather and Hans I think two nights in a row in time to get to bed on timeish, and both times, I end up getting to bed much later. 🙃 Definite improvement desired here.
Thought of the Day:
Daniel 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Love and hugs. 🥰
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 