GMH

www.givesmehope.com

I get so many laughs out of failblog and probablybadnews, but this site… well, it gives me hope (GMH).

We could all use a daily dose of hope.

Here are a few of mine.

One time I bore my testimony in Church about a talk given by Joseph B. Wirthlin shortly before he passed away, “Come What May and Love It.” I talked about how during my family’s toughest year I had a hard time being happy, and Elder Wirthlin’s talk reminded me the importance of staying positive through our hard times. That night I was at home and the doorbell rang. It was a lady from church with a gift for me: a tile stenciled with “Come what may and love it.” She said they had made the tiles during an Enrichment activity and at the time she felt impressed to make two of those tiles. She said she never knew why until she heard me bear my testimony. Every day I look at that tile and remember her kindness and closeness to the Spirit, and it GMH.

My friend Connie has a favorite book, The Little Prince. It’s a children’s book, originally in French and translated to English. It’s a story about a little prince from a distant planet, and it has deeper meanings about life and love and our relationships with others and ourselves. Connie loves this book; she reads it often, has her own thoughts and feelings written inside, and often lends it to her friends to read and be inspired. I wanted to borrow it, and on my birthday she brought it to me. I told her how excited I was to read it and that I would get it back to her quickly. She said no, she was giving it to me. I was shocked, because I know how much that book means to her, and told her that I could just borrow it. She said “A book is replaceable. You aren’t.” She told me to read it and I would understand why I needed it more than she did. Her giving heart GMH.

When my grandma passed away, I was up at school and already having a hard time due to other family situations. I told Mary about my grandma, and a couple hours later she showed up at my work with flowers. Her friendship GMH.

I have friends serving missions in New Zealand, Detroit, Paraguay, Mexico, Texas, Chile, Arkansas, Kenya, the West Indies, D.C., and California, and numerous friends who have returned home from serving missions in South Africa, Ecuador, Seattle, New York, the Phillipines, Salt Lake City, Bulgaria, Russia, Argentina, Germany, Thailand, Illinois and other places. They each GMH for my mission.

This picture GMH.

My parents were engaged 10 days after they met. They celebrated their 25^th anniversary this year. They GMH.

What gives you hope?

operation beautiful

I am an avid reader of Soulpancake.com.

Ok. Not so avid. But when I remember to check it out, I do. And every time afterward I feel edified.

Basically it’s a place for people to share their thoughts and feelings about different subjects and questions proposed by the site creators. It’s one of those things that reminds you, OH YEAH, there’s good in this world.

Today I was on that website and, via someone else’s comment, I stumbled across this website:

operationbeautiful.com

Their mission? To inspire women around the world, to remind them that they are beautiful, to uplift and encourage them and help them remember the beauty in the world and inside of them. They do it by leaving different types of "you are beautiful" notes in different places, like the mirror in a public bathroom or the inside of a book in a bookstore.

The website encourages everyone to participate in operation beautiful.

So I did.

I often have days where I don’t feel beautiful. Very often I feel far from it. And being a girl, I know I’m not the only one who feels that way sometimes. So I hope that leaving this note on the mirror in the southeast bathroom in the basement of the WSC on campus this morning is appreciated by someone today, and reminds her that she really is beautiful.

This is for all the beautiful women in my life. Especially my incredibly gorgeous mother and my two stunning sisters.