Lead, Kindly Light

Oh what a semester is has been so far! I thought it would be good to have a little bit of an update of fun and cool happenings!

Things that have happened since Spring Semester:
- Got to spend time with Julie who came to visit from WA
- Went to D.C. for two days to go to Ricky and Katie's Wedding!!
- Went to a concert here at school
- Spend lots of time with Saskia and on the phone with Kimberly
- Lot's of school... and art. Art is life.
- it snowed. a LOT a few weeks in a row.
- Went to Raleigh to visit Jeremy for a weekend :)
- Went to the Valentine's Dance with Lyzzie and Bekah. Most of the people there didn't have dates haha!

Here we are in D.C. stuck in traffic. Yeah... I swear I was not driving AND taking pictures!


The happy Couple! YAY!!!! :D

Lots of snow! I was waiting outside for Saskia. It was kind of cold...
Valentine's Dance! Man I am SHORT even in heels :) My face is kinda dorky.


But on to serious life:
Life since my last update has been very interesting. Extremely taxing and challenging. And here I thought that last week was difficult (which it was in its own way). This week it got to the point where it wasn't even school stress bothering me, but life in general(most everything). The feelings of complete helplessness and feeling lost was overpowering this week. Then, at one point, I felt like my support system was failing in one of the biggest areas--- my family.
When you feel like your family isn't supporting you, then where do you go? If your friends just aren't enough, what do you do? When all else seems to fail where do you turn? To Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, of course!
I feel like a trend has happened for the last 2-3 weeks. The week will start pretty good, and eventually it will escalate (or get worse) and by the end of the week things hit the highest peak and when I feel like everything is falling around me and I can't even stand anymore and want to fall apart, the Lord picks me up. Obviously there are some wonderful gospel principles in there. Ex: The Lord will not give us more than we can handle.
This week I hit my peak on Thursday, which was spurred by a conversation/argument with Mom. Thursday was a very horrible day for me. It's like the water works were on and didn't want to turn off. Friday I find out that I get to teach Relief Society. At that point I just couldn't fathom teaching in the emotional, physical and maybe spiritual condition I was in.
I prepared a lesson on Acquiring Spiritual Guidance and Personal Revelation (a mix of two conference talks be Elder Scott and Elder Nelson). Sunday I woke up feeling OK about my lesson, but still feeling blah from the last few days. In Sacrament meeting I wanted to cry all through the meeting because the talks were wonderful (and just what I needed) and I could feel the spirit, but part of me was pleading that I could keep it together enough to teach my lesson. In the opening exercises for R.S. our opening hymn was 'Lead, Kindly Light.' I feel that that song was a tender mercy for me. It made me want to bawl my eyes out because it embodied exactly how I was feeling. But I couldn't cry before my lesson! I pleaded for help and calm, and I pleaded that the lesson would be taken into His hands because I felt so lost and I wanted those girls to learn something and be able to feel the spirit. I couldn't do it alone.
I know that the only reason why I got through this week is because of the Lord, and because of my friends (and family). The lesson went really well. I was completely under control during the whole lesson, and I think that it flowed better than I thought it would. I'm grateful for people who comment in class, and I'm grateful that Heavenly Father answered my prayer in regards to taking over the class.
Teaching that lesson was also a tender mercy. I really needed to rely on the Lord and I know that my trials will pass and that they are for my good. I do have big decisions to make, and I finally feel that I have the ability and the resources to make them. Although some things are still unsure, I need to just have Faith and keep praying and I will receive the answer when I need to.
And now after my really long post, here is some current artwork that I have experimented with for senior art show. I finally have a concept, and I'm going to start working on it this week. EEEE! Wish me luck...