Plan to be Unplanned

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am a MAJOR planner. Everything in my life is planned even down to the food I'll be having at my wedding. (No, there is no wedding in the works! Which makes this even worse!!) For me, planning every hour of my day gives me the security of knowing what I'll be doing and when.

As I was ranting and raving to my parents the other day about how anxious I was to figure out where I'm going to be winter semester (again, way too much planning) my attorney of a father said, "Don't plan so much that you don't leave any room for the Lord's hand." This took me by surprise. As a male, my dad is always one to try and solve my problems yet here he was saying that I needed to just trust the Lord instead of looking for all the ways I could solve my predicament.

This reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures of ALL time: Alma 37:37 -
"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings,
and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night
lie down unto the Lord,
that he may watch over you in your sleep.."

The Lord will direct us for good if we can just trust Him and trust that He really does know best. Can you imagine a loving Heavenly Father not really caring about the big decisions that we make or the large trials that we face? Of course not!

I also can't imagine a Savior who would die for us and feel all of our pains and sufferings and not be concerned for our well being.
I am so grateful for the Savior who is constantly pleading on our behalf. He is my greatest advocate and friend.
So my invitation to you this week: pray more and worry less!
Focus on sincere prayers and remember who you're talking to. Happy last week of June, everyone!

{Hannah}

This Song

Guys, it's Alyson! Depression is hard... I would know. I struggle with it almost every day. So when I heard this song, I thought of us as a group, and how important it is that we reach out to each other. This song solidifies everything Hannah & I are always talking about.

Keep holding on. Keep fighting.

Ladies and gentleman I give you The River by Imagine Dragons:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6SyQ4XvBxg

 

If you know anything about me you will know that I am obsessed with Imagine Dragons. And not because I heard the song It's Time two months ago and Radioactive is now all over the radio, I have loved them since they were a little tiny thing from Provo, Utah. They're my babes.

If you ignore the semi-lame video and just listen to the music, you will feel it. The sense of hope. Feel it with me, will you?

We're Supposed to Judge, but How Much is Too Much?

Throughout my life I have had a real struggle with judging. I am a fashion fanatic as well as a perfectionist and I will admit, there are times when I look at a person I don't even know and think things like, "bad outfit choice" etc. I realize this is a problem. I also realize I am not a perfect person. However, because the whole "judging a book by its cover thing" is something I constantly do, I figured I've got enough background in this area to tackle this often frustrating topic.

How much judging is too much? Let's start with this question. I have often told my friends that within just 5 minutes of meeting someone I can determine if we will be friends or not... Yeah that's just crap. (Please excuse my lack for a better term) People have so much more to them than you can meet in 5, 10, even 2,000 minutes. I continue to learn new things about friends that I have had for years and years. So can we really judge someone after 5 minutes of meeting them? Absolutely not.

I realize that as humans we are programmed to judge things, in fact we are here to judge good from evil and exercise our agency. However, I do not think that this type of judging applies to the people we have just met.

Story time: I knew a girl in high school. (yeah it's one of those stories...) I thought she had absolutely everything!! Her family rocked, she got good grades, she was popular and beautiful. In my mind she was perfect. I made that judgement until I really got to know her and then I learned about all of these personal problems she struggled with that I had no clue about! I learned a great lesson from this. No matter how great someone's got it going on the outside, you never know what they've got going on the inside.

I guess my point in telling you all of this is to teach a lesson that I am still constantly learning for myself. We never know what someone is going through. We just don't know. So stop judging. Just stop it. It is our Heavenly Father's job to judge, not ours. (See the link for the full beautiful version of this: The Merciful Obtain Mercy)

Lastly, there is the scripture that talks about the way in which we judge will be how we are judged. How terrifying a thought that must be for someone like me who is so judgmental! Ah!! I don't know about you but as I sure as heck need the easiest judging possible considering the crazy amount of mistakes I make!
So here's to giving the benefit of the doubt and letting God be the judge.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

"I'd Rather Kill Myself"

Alyson here! We as the Desert Daisies try to keep this a blog full of hope and uplifting messages, but tonight I want to focus on something a little more serious.

As teenagers/young people, we tend to exaggerate. Like, A LOT. We also like to use slang language and phrases that could be offensive such as:

"That's so gay."

"You're retarded."

You know, that kind of stuff.

The phrase I want to talk about is:

 

"I would rather kill myself."

 

I'm pretty sure we've all used this one.

"I have to go sit through a 3 hour math class." "Ugh. I would rather kill myself."

"I would rather kill myself than go on this date."

I could go on and on.

 

The reason I want to bring people's attention to this phrase is because I want to bring back the seriousness of the phrase.

 

According to WebMD, a sign of possible suicide is "talking about ... killing one's self". How are we supposed to know the real from the fake when everyone is talking about it? As a joke?

In every case of a suicide, people are always asking themselves "what could I have done? how did I not see the warning signs?" I think that people are asking these questions because warning signs that used to be so serious are now a part of our everyday language. Let's change the conversation.

 

"I have to go sit through a 3 hour math class." "Ugh. I would rather run full force into a brick wall."

"I would rather chew my own leg off than go on this date."

 

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday :)

 

Source: http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-recognizing-signs-of-suicide

"Let Me Know If I can Help" Is Never Enough

Being a part of a religious community where service is so highly emphasized, it seems as if people around me are constantly wanting to serve and help others. As great as it is that my neighbors and friends want to serve, I'm sure you'd agree with me in saying that it is all too often we hear the phrase: "Let me know if I can help." 

Now picture yourself struggling with depression. Your mind is emotionally in a horrible place as you are feeing things that do not make any sense to you. Do you really think you will take this offer to heart? More than likely, you will do no such thing.

I understand that this phrase is more often than not expressed in a genuine manner; however, it is not enough to simply offer help, especially in the case of a depressed person. 

In a session of the April 2012 General Conference, Elder Rasband stated, "If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help—or would it be better to just jump in and save them from the deepening waters? The offer, while well meaning and often given, “Let me know if I can help” is really no help at all."

How often did Christ turn to the blind, deaf or naked and simply say, 

"Well, let me know if I can help,"?

Christ always took action. 

He saw someone in need and He immediately came to their rescue. 

Those who suffer from depression are not exempt from this whatsoever. In fact depression sufferers may be the ones who need active assistance the very most.

A depressed person never wants to hear, "If you need help let me know." Of course they need help! But what can a person like you offer to them? In their mind, you are simply using a cop-out because the situation is too hard to deal with. Our society as a whole is extremely ill-informed on how to deal with depression. So it is no wonder that at the first thought of someone needing emotional help we cling to any excuse we can to flea the situation!

However, we can change this!! I LOVED reading this article from LDS Living,

  "Nine Things You Shouldn't Say to a Depressed Loved One (and what to say instead)." 

Juliet Miller perfectly addresses many issues that depressed people face when in need of help. (You can find her blog here.) This is a MUST read! Even if you don't know anyone who is currently suffering from depression, odds are you either will meet someone at some point who is suffering from this disease or someone you already know suffers and you have no idea.

This week may we take on the challenge to be more Christ-like as we strive to do away with the phrase, "let know if I can help" and instead let our actions speak for themselves as we serve others without having to be told what needs to be done.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

{Hannah}