Soul Carving

   With the many voices being raised today, we can feel bombarded with conflicting opinions, uncertain what to believe as the many voices clamor for our attention. When I start to feel this panic and confusion welling up in me, I turn to the scriptures for clarity. Helaman 5:30 of the Book of Mormon says:  "And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul"    I've been privileged to share my voice on a website specifically for women of faith. You can read my previous contributions here and here .    Today, you can find the final installment of Embracing Grace featured on A Voice of Gladness. I hope my voice brings you some needed clarity and peace in this tumultuous world. Share the link with others you think may benefi...

       I'll be the first to say, my life has been pretty easy. I am tremendously blessed and when I look at some of the challenges that others must face, I feel great admiration for them. I pray that they will be strengthened in their trial and I will admit that I thank God I was spared that particular challenge. But I also ask for similar strength, should I ever encounter such struggles.       Every once in a while though, something presents itself in my life that has a much more powerful affect upon me than I anticipated. It may start out as seemingly benign and I think like any carefree, go-getter girl, that I can simply brush it off and continue with my life. But sometimes it's not that easy. Recently, I learned that some things will interrupt your life and demand more time and energy than you may be willing to give them in order to be processed and moved passed.        My experience taught me at least two important lessons....

     The morning had not started well. I'd made the mistake of saying good morning to the children and telling them it was time for breakfast. This was met with outbursts of how unfair it was that they never  had any time to play and how I was always  interrupting their games with such trivial things.      Well, excuse me for living.      I felt the anger rising in me. A dozen accusations bubbled in my mind, threatening to spew out in spiteful words from my lips. It was early enough that my husband had not left for work yet. So, biting my tongue and clenching my fists, I burst out the front door and into the morning air in hopes of releasing that pent up frustration.      I walked briskly, determination in each step. I'm so sick of this! How can they be so ungrateful? The list of injustices began to multiply in my mind. But I knew, I had a choice to make. I could continue my tirade and succeed in making this a long...