Just By Living A Righteous Life
I worked two jobs while I was in college, to help pay for my extravagant life style.... well, mostly just to pay for tuition and food to eat, but that can be extravagant to some, I suppose. Fall of 2009 was an extremely stressful semester for me. I was working both jobs, was barely ever home, had an awful roommate, and decided for the first time that law school was not for me and proceeded to change my minor from political science to humanities. During the holiday season we stayed open until midnight at Kmart, and I had class at 7:45 each day, so I was also lacking a lot of sleep during that semester.
On one of my late night shifts at Kmart, as I was working the service desk, an eerie thought went through my head. We didn't really get a lot of foot traffic late in the night, so at this time, which was about 10:45, 11pm, there were only 4 of us in the store - myself, a manager, one softlines (clothing representative) employee, and one hardlines (appliances representative) employee. I was all alone at the front, right by the entrance of the store, and started thinking about how scary it would be if someone came in and tried to rob the place right then. The service desk has a bunch of cameras placed watching it, as well as the front entrance and the rest of the store, and there was actually a TV in my managers office that showed the exciting world of the service desk all day, every day, so I knew that people were watching me, and that if there was a robbery, we'd have it all documented, but still.... that didn't mean I wanted it to happen. And me, being me, proceeded to think the worst, and used my dramatic mind to scare myself almost to tears.
As I was standing at the service desk, allowing these terrifying thoughts of murder, kidnapping, and robbery to mull over in my mind, the hardlines representative came to the front desk. I honestly can't remember his name, because he was only seasonal and therefore was only with us for about two months. Anyway, he came up to the front of the store, and this overwhelming feeling came over me that everything would be ok. This guy, whose name I cannot remember, held the priesthood, and the Lord would be protecting us that night. I knew that no harm would come because this guy was living a worthy life, and had the power of God with him. It was a testimony building moment, and one I look back at with gratitude, because I was scared, and the Lord sent a tender mercy to show I was not forgotten.
About a month and half prior to this experience, I was having a really hard time. As mentioned above, this was the semester I decided not to go to law school - maybe someday I'll write a blog explaining why I constantly go back and forth with law school, but this is not that blog - and was lost as to what I wanted to do. Most people who knew me in college knew my ten year plan - Bachelor's Degree, mission, grad school, law school, then marriage. Thank you, 18 year old Cassandra, for thinking that was the best plan for you. The subtraction of law school was the first chip in my ten year plan... and through out the next 6 years, the Lord proceeded to chip away the rest of it - that's a different blog as well. I wasn't sure what to do, and was really stressed, and asked my good friend, Phil, to give me a blessing. He agreed, and gave me a blessing that said a lot about being guided by the Spirit, and how the Lord was watching out for me, and how my decisions needed to revolve around the family. It was a really powerful blessing for me. I had only really asked for blessings to help with my homesickness up to this point in college, and this blessing was one asking for guidance, which I had really only ever had my dad give me.
I grew up in a family where my father held the priesthood worthily and could give me a blessing whenever I asked. I never truly appreciated that until I was in college, and for the first time in my life, hundreds of miles away from my daddy, and therefore had to rely on the men around me to be living worthily to hold and exercise the priesthood, and be ready to use it when called upon. I gained a testimony of the priesthood, and the power it has while I was in college, as I watched the men in my life live worthily in order to protect those around them. Yes, the priesthood is a protection to us, because it is the power of God, and what is the power of God unless it is protection?
Because of this blessing from my friend Phil a month and a half earlier, I had gained a testimony of those who are worthy to hold the priesthood and exercise it, and knew that the Lord was watching out for me, and so, that night, at a late hour at Kmart, a guy, whose name I can't even remember, unknowingly offered protection to a scared, 20 year old stressed out college girl, just by living a righteous life.
I was watching this Mormon Message this morning:
I am so grateful for the many worthy priesthood holders in my life who have watched out for me. Some have been very obvious, such as my dad, and my brothers and brother-in-law, or close friends, like Phil, my Bishop, or my home teachers. Some have been less obvious, such as this nameless coworker, or countless coworkers since, men I meet on the bus, men I meet at the temple, or pass on the street, who have a glow because they are full of the power of God. I am so grateful to live in a day and age where the priesthood is restored! Where God's power is real, and is used by those who are living lives in a righteous way.
You men, who hold the priesthood, don't even know the half of what a good influence you are. Don't let Satan and the world pull you down lower than you deserve. You are sons of God! You are men who hold the power of God, and can therefore protect us from the very power of Satan. You, with the power of the priesthood, can work miracles. You can provide peace to a troubled mind. Satan would have you believe that virtue and trust and honesty and dependability are obsolete, and not manly anymore. Oh, how wrong and lost is Satan. Please don't listen to his lies!
I loved Sis. Burton's talk from this previous conference:
"It must be difficult, at best, for covenant men to live in a world that not only demeans their divine roles and responsibilities but also sends false messages about what it means to be a “real man.” One false message is “It’s all about me.” On the other end of the scale is the degrading and mocking message that husbands and fathers are no longer needed. I plead with you not to listen to Satan’s lies! He has forfeited that sacred privilege of ever becoming a husband or father. Because he is jealous of those who have the sacred roles he will never fill, he is intent on making “all men...miserable like unto himself”!
Please don't ever live the kind of life where, when lightening strikes, you are unprepared.
On one of my late night shifts at Kmart, as I was working the service desk, an eerie thought went through my head. We didn't really get a lot of foot traffic late in the night, so at this time, which was about 10:45, 11pm, there were only 4 of us in the store - myself, a manager, one softlines (clothing representative) employee, and one hardlines (appliances representative) employee. I was all alone at the front, right by the entrance of the store, and started thinking about how scary it would be if someone came in and tried to rob the place right then. The service desk has a bunch of cameras placed watching it, as well as the front entrance and the rest of the store, and there was actually a TV in my managers office that showed the exciting world of the service desk all day, every day, so I knew that people were watching me, and that if there was a robbery, we'd have it all documented, but still.... that didn't mean I wanted it to happen. And me, being me, proceeded to think the worst, and used my dramatic mind to scare myself almost to tears.
As I was standing at the service desk, allowing these terrifying thoughts of murder, kidnapping, and robbery to mull over in my mind, the hardlines representative came to the front desk. I honestly can't remember his name, because he was only seasonal and therefore was only with us for about two months. Anyway, he came up to the front of the store, and this overwhelming feeling came over me that everything would be ok. This guy, whose name I cannot remember, held the priesthood, and the Lord would be protecting us that night. I knew that no harm would come because this guy was living a worthy life, and had the power of God with him. It was a testimony building moment, and one I look back at with gratitude, because I was scared, and the Lord sent a tender mercy to show I was not forgotten.
About a month and half prior to this experience, I was having a really hard time. As mentioned above, this was the semester I decided not to go to law school - maybe someday I'll write a blog explaining why I constantly go back and forth with law school, but this is not that blog - and was lost as to what I wanted to do. Most people who knew me in college knew my ten year plan - Bachelor's Degree, mission, grad school, law school, then marriage. Thank you, 18 year old Cassandra, for thinking that was the best plan for you. The subtraction of law school was the first chip in my ten year plan... and through out the next 6 years, the Lord proceeded to chip away the rest of it - that's a different blog as well. I wasn't sure what to do, and was really stressed, and asked my good friend, Phil, to give me a blessing. He agreed, and gave me a blessing that said a lot about being guided by the Spirit, and how the Lord was watching out for me, and how my decisions needed to revolve around the family. It was a really powerful blessing for me. I had only really asked for blessings to help with my homesickness up to this point in college, and this blessing was one asking for guidance, which I had really only ever had my dad give me.
I grew up in a family where my father held the priesthood worthily and could give me a blessing whenever I asked. I never truly appreciated that until I was in college, and for the first time in my life, hundreds of miles away from my daddy, and therefore had to rely on the men around me to be living worthily to hold and exercise the priesthood, and be ready to use it when called upon. I gained a testimony of the priesthood, and the power it has while I was in college, as I watched the men in my life live worthily in order to protect those around them. Yes, the priesthood is a protection to us, because it is the power of God, and what is the power of God unless it is protection?
Because of this blessing from my friend Phil a month and a half earlier, I had gained a testimony of those who are worthy to hold the priesthood and exercise it, and knew that the Lord was watching out for me, and so, that night, at a late hour at Kmart, a guy, whose name I can't even remember, unknowingly offered protection to a scared, 20 year old stressed out college girl, just by living a righteous life.
I was watching this Mormon Message this morning:
I am so grateful for the many worthy priesthood holders in my life who have watched out for me. Some have been very obvious, such as my dad, and my brothers and brother-in-law, or close friends, like Phil, my Bishop, or my home teachers. Some have been less obvious, such as this nameless coworker, or countless coworkers since, men I meet on the bus, men I meet at the temple, or pass on the street, who have a glow because they are full of the power of God. I am so grateful to live in a day and age where the priesthood is restored! Where God's power is real, and is used by those who are living lives in a righteous way.
You men, who hold the priesthood, don't even know the half of what a good influence you are. Don't let Satan and the world pull you down lower than you deserve. You are sons of God! You are men who hold the power of God, and can therefore protect us from the very power of Satan. You, with the power of the priesthood, can work miracles. You can provide peace to a troubled mind. Satan would have you believe that virtue and trust and honesty and dependability are obsolete, and not manly anymore. Oh, how wrong and lost is Satan. Please don't listen to his lies!
I loved Sis. Burton's talk from this previous conference:
"It must be difficult, at best, for covenant men to live in a world that not only demeans their divine roles and responsibilities but also sends false messages about what it means to be a “real man.” One false message is “It’s all about me.” On the other end of the scale is the degrading and mocking message that husbands and fathers are no longer needed. I plead with you not to listen to Satan’s lies! He has forfeited that sacred privilege of ever becoming a husband or father. Because he is jealous of those who have the sacred roles he will never fill, he is intent on making “all men...miserable like unto himself”!
Please don't ever live the kind of life where, when lightening strikes, you are unprepared.
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