Day 3.

T.G.I.S. -- Thank God it's Sunday! Sunday, I believe, is one of the few days that I actually get to be in God's glory and presence all day long. It's a shame that I don't make it that way every day. In this new journey of mine leading up to my mission, I have challenged myself in several ways, one way being that I make God a part of my day, every day. 
My mom is one person in my life that I absolutely adore with every part of me. She has been my rock, she has been my crying shoulder, she has been everything to me. Recently she's been getting pretty sick. She's visited the ER 3 times in the past 2 months. She's been retired for almost a year now and she tries to do more than she can do sometimes. Today, we visited the hospital again, this time going by ambulance. She's been having these extremely sharp pains in her lower back. I pray for her so much in these times. If there's one thing I've learned in the 20 years I've been on this earth, it's that there is no earthly love like a mother's love. I want to keep my mama on the earth as long as Heavenly Father will allow. During our time in the ER waiting on tests, nurses and doctors I read through Jacob, Enos and Jerom. 
           Jacob 5 was one of the toughest chapters for me to read. I am not overly great at interpreting scripture and Jacob 5 was a huge obstacle. There were a few verses that I had highlighted throughout the chapter and I can only best sum up what the chapter means to me by saying that it means that the Lord is the Lord of our vineyard, or the earth and we are his servants. Heavenly Father does not toss away the "trees" that are about to waste away but yet He tends to them and uses us to help Him. These trees are the people of the earth and we, as the followers of Christ, are his servants. When He uses us to build up the trees that are about to waste away, the trees blossom and fruit and they fruit the most wonderful fruit. The Lord of the vineyard does not overlook even the poorest looking tree, yet he uses the branches of the other beautifully blossoming trees and uses them to build up the branches of the trees that are suffering. This to me is like mission work. There was once a pair of missionaries that visited me as a non-member. The Lord of the vineyard saw me as a broken, rotting tree. He took the branches of these missionaries and used them to build me up, to make me fruitful and in turn I was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There were then another set of missionaries that fertilized my soil and nurished my growing branches by teaching me lessons and coming to visit with me, they helped my branches grow long. Then there were finally another pair of missionaries that tended to my growing branches and that will continue to tend to them so that the Lord of the vineyard can trim them off to use for another broken down tree as I go on my mission. 
        Isn't scripture great? I think the greatest part of scripture is that we can all read the same chapter and interpret it in the way that we need it. Heavenly Father is truly amazing and He never ceases to shock me!
           I know that the scriptures are true! I know that everything in the Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price is true. I know that Heavenly Father's words are in these books and I love my scriptures! 
I say all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.