We all have a destiny, we just have to find it
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I apologize that I took so long to make another blog post, one day I hope to have a consistent basis on writing, but right now it's when I feel inspired to share another story of finding your destiny.
This last week I made the mistake of running a little too close to the time of departure of the train. As I was rushing towards the train, I felt the clinks of materials fly from my backpack and land on the asphalt. I turned around to see my badge, my COB badge and other important materials scattered across the parking lot. I really hoped nothing else spilled out, but I shoved them back in my backpack, zipped it up and continued running until I barely got on. It was a little crazy, well apparently I still forgot something, but somehow, it ended up on the train instead of on the parking lot. I get a notification through my Facebook from someone I've never met mentioning that he found my temple recommend and not only that, but he also lives in Salem and works at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. How convenient is that? Not only convenient, but a true tender mercy. He hunted me down through Facebook, so I tried to hunt him down to get my recommend. So Sister Garrett and I came over to the Joseph Smith Memorial to try to find him, but by the time we got there and got a hold of him, we realized he was already getting on the train back home. He said he could just drop it off at my house. Now usually you don't give your address to random strangers. But I did for this special circumstance. I explained to my mother the situation so she wouldn't be approached with a stranger giving her my temple recommend. Luckily, he dropped it off later and happened to be there just as I got home so I got to meet him, he explained to me: "I was getting off before I came across a picture of Christ on the floor and thought 'hm, that looks like a temple recommend and sure enough, it was". I will say, I am truly grateful to know there are good people out there, but not only that, that the fact that a good person happened to come across my temple recommended. And this person took the effort to try to find me so he could get it to me. Our destiny doesn't just involve us, sometimes we need to help others as well. This man had done something very generous to me because he took just a half a second to reach down and pick up my recommend. He knew I needed that and tried to find a way to reach me, and the best way these days is through Facebook. I realized that anything we take even the slightest time of our day from to help someone else, it brings the world to them. That man was able to allow me to attend the temple trip the next day and serve in my Friday shifts at the temple as well. That man let me know that miracles happen when someone else chooses to serve, even if it means merely picking up a left temple recommend on the train. If he wouldn't have picked it up, it would've either ended up in the wrong hands, been caught on the bottom of someones shoe or bag, or ended up with the train Host to get lost in the UTA lost and found inconveniently out of the way for me. This man was my good Samaritan and I feel we all can be a good Samaritan if we choose to take just a few seconds or even minutes from our day to help someone else. Because that too is part of our beautiful destiny.
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First things first, if you are wondering why I titled it this is because if you have ever watched Pixar's UP, when the dogs get distracted by... "squirrel!", that basically describes me. I often like to consider myself like Anne Shirley of Green Gables who just dreams herself into everything, but upon that, distractions is something I am known for. I even have a Girls Camp badge to prove it. As I described this to one of the sisters, she explained that instead of shouting "squirrel!" at the COB, we shout "apostle!". The irony of this all was when she was demonstrating the pointing of an apostle, Elder Rasband happened to be there right at that moment, exactly where she pointed. It was one of those moments of, "hey, there's actually an apostle there!"
Anyway, I would just like to say how neat of an experience it is to serve at the Church Office Building, I have met some remarkable people and am set on moving forward as the sister missionary I am supposed to be. The message I would like to say for finding your destiny today is to smile. Smiling is the best medicine, especially when you try to find a reason to smile. I find joy in everything and that so everything makes me smile. I smile as I walk through Temple Square and listen to inspirational music, I smile while walking through the revolving doors, I smile as I see all my new friends I had made in the SMTC, I smile when I find a new thing to do or standing in line for my yummy lunch. I love this acronym that I've heard in the church for smile: Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal I would just to testify how grateful I am to have breath in this life, I am grateful for the people I have met and the opportunities I have been able to do, I am truly grateful to be able to have the chance to serve a mission and serve the Lord in a way I would never expect, and for that, I would just like to leave you on this blog in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Like seriously, Satan is on the warpath, especially to those who have chosen to serve. He knows what God has in store for us, so must he create that opposition we all despise, but guess what? We're stronger than he thinks we are and we can go through this! He's pulling my strings alright, those 'flaxen cords' as you would call them and it has become quite difficult to truly accept what is best to avoid that. Let's take for example wanting to spend the two weeks of summer Shakespeare. They are doing Henry VI and man I can't tell you how much I want to do it, but is it really right while I am called to serve? It's such a difficult decision when my passion still leads to theater and I'm still living at home, hanging out with friends, etc. What do I do with that? I continue to pray about it, but even something as minor as that has bothered me and brought me with a lot of questions. I really really want to do it, I can't even tell you how much I want to, but like the scriptures (or my mother) say: "oh be wise, what can I say more', I must make decisions that will impact and strengthen me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There is nothing wrong in it, but there is a fine line between good things and great things and serving this mission is the great part of this destiny
My mother gave me a good reminder this morning when she told me I needed to remember to add more spiritual things in my emails. For those who read my emails, I apologize for not further adding my spiritual moments as much as I should. It's all fun and all that, but this has truly been a spiritual experience as well. I was told that I will receive miracles every day, I just need to open my eyes and look at them. While I write in my journal every night, I try to include the miracle I noticed that day, even if it was something as minor as having the perfect amount of change to pay for my lunch or even something as big as getting on the train in time and my dad happening to be in Salt Lake to drop off Lunch money for me. As I think about it, it doesn't have to be just me to notice this. We all will go through some form of tender mercy, what we need is to look for it. Perhaps that is a part of the destiny that we fail to recognize unless it's something big, but every day there is a miracle. So I would encourage you, as you write in your journals, or even add in your thoughts, what miracles you found today, or maybe even throughout this week. Some examples: maybe you dropped your pen and while walking away, someone calls you over and gives it back; or perhaps you had just enough time to eat your lunch before attending a mandatory meeting, or maybe even finding yourself stuck in a traffic jam needing to get on the exit and a car happens to let you pass. Even in the roughest of times, miracles happen, they may be more difficult to find than other days, but they are there. Another word for them is Tender Mercies. I do have a testimony of God's power and how he can provide tender mercies on a daily basis and I would encourage everyone to look for those because they really do exist. Like seriously, I'm starting a new mission almost like a job and before I know it, I'm one of the chairs of the planning committee, a choir director for the choir committee and now the official sister missionary greeter (supposed to show them around even though I don't know my own way around, hahaha). As of today, I am now graduated from Information Processing and now moving on to communications! Crazy right?! I had no idea it would happen that quick! Ahhh
This has made me realize pretty quick that I am supposed to do this. I am supposed to be doing this mission at this time, not anywhere else. Yes, I couldn't serve a proselyting mission, but that was because Heavenly Father had a different calling for me. A unique one. That's just kind of how life goes, you expect that it's going to turn out the way it's supposed to, but instead it makes a different turn. I was expecting I would go on a full-time mission because that was what I was supposed to do, I didn't actually think they would come up to me and say, 'you can't serve one because you sleepwalk'. No! I was pretty darn sure I was going to serve a mission, and when I found that out, there was a lot of confusion and doubts and unsurety. Then I realized I was still supposed to serve a mission, a different one. Not one I was expecting and here I am! God had a different plan for me and my own personal expectancies did not realize it until I had to go down on my knees and ask God if this was what I was supposed to do. Let me tell you, it's more than just my mission that plans had to change quickly. That is one thing I am grateful of having is willing to be spontaneous. I am not afraid of change, but this particular event was hard for me. It was hard for me because I was 95% sure I was going to be serving a full-time mission, go to college then get married. Simple as that right? That's what makes life, life. Change happens and that is just part of this wonderful destiny. My family has moved a lot, and the reason for that is because my parents have followed their heart of where they needed to go. Some moves were harder than others, others were exciting and I enjoyed it. I know how change is, I have been in places from all over Utah to Hawaii and have met unique people, been in different complicated situations, faced trials that strengthened me and my family, and so much more. Life is filled with change. So as you continue your wonderful journey, just remember how much change can happen, even when we least expect it. It may be hard, perhaps too much that we can bare, but it is possible. Right now I'm at another changing point in my life from high school childhood to the young adult missionary life. This is a big change for me and I am still trying to learn to accept it, but in good time, it will come to me if it hasn't already. So good luck on finding your destiny, even if a few things have to change in order to find it. There is one thing that I noticed about setting your heart to things. Sacrifices. It's the ugly part of the journey, but is so worth it. I sacrificed my time and money for this mission, looking for future husbands and college. From 7 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon I am out there serving, wearing that tag on my chest while I walk in my skirts. While those are big sacrifices, there are a few minor things that makes it interesting to adjust, one; wearing skirts every day and two... guess.... sleep!
I mean, we can wear slacks now, but I don't have any yet, haha. Broke me. I actually enjoy wearing skirts, it just means I can look cute every day, I just get cold legs when it's freezing outside. Sleep? Well, that's something I need to take care of. I need to go to bed earlier, which means sacrificing my writing a book exploring time in the evening. Either way, I am sacrificing something, but I need to decide which one will provide for me in the long run. Writing is good, I'm going to get my book published, but I need to be focused on the Lord right now and that means more sleep. It's worth the sacrifice, that's really how I should have titled this, because it truly is. Like I mentioned in the last post, we can't choose the mediocre way, we need to make sacrifices in order to try our best. Time, money, even doing things that may not necessarily be bad, sometimes need to be sacrificed to create a bigger turnout by the end. So allow me to ask you, just to get you thinking, what sacrifices have you made to be in the position you are now? Would you be willing to sacrifice more if you knew it would help accomplish your objective? Our past influences our future just as much as the present does. Think of the past sacrifices you have made, where it took you? Because of sacrifices my family and I have made, I ended up in Spanish Fork where I went to an amazing school and met amazing people, I could make a whole list of how past sacrifices had strengthened me into the individual I am now. So as I close, I would just like to say the best of luck to all of you! I could probably even say you have sacrificed a little bit of your time to read some of my blog posts and I really appreciate that! Life is good, and if doesn't seem good right now, with prayer and sacrifice, blessings will rain down like an April Shower. |
Kaylee CasuttI have been writing for over eight years now and have been both building to publish my first book and serve as a service-missionary of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Everything I write will contribute to the journey destined I have been striving to find and build. Archives
May 2020
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