..Christmas Miracle 3..

..today's miracle isn't necessarily an event or something great that happened. it was simply a thought that strengthened my testimony. today we woke up to that "blizzard" that was supposed to happen on wednesday and with church at 8:30 AM the idea of not going did cross my mind-don't act like you've never thought that-but, thankfully, immediately after I thought to myself "no. no. no. it's not like it's never snowed before." and I rolled out of bed, threw on my boots, and off we went-there was some additional effort in getting ready in there somewhere. when we got to church-keep in mind, church is at 8:30 AM-we were 1 of maybe 5 couples there. it was awesome. by the end of the meeting about half the ward finally showed up. now getting to church in a blizzard isn't the Christmas Miracle I'm writing about but the fact that we were on time (which is hard enough on a regular sunday) is right up there. our stake president came to our ward today and spoke for a few minutes after the scheduled speakers. I enjoyed his brief words and the phrase that stood out to me was this.."Do not be casual in your church attendance. If you are casual in your actions, you will receive casual blessings." Isn't that interesting? given it's not a new concept or even something I had never heard before but the power of the statement, especially on the morning of those tempting thoughts, was something special to me. he continued to discuss the topic of being a covenant making people. basically in summary, even though someone may have gone to Temple and "made" those sacred covenants with God doesn't mean they have actually MADE the covenant. if you are casual in your covenants you didn't truly make them. if you haven't renewed those covenants through by taking the sacrament or by attending the Temple regularly then what was the point of those covenants that you "made"? a person that MADE those covenants honors them through his or her actions and presses forward in their effort to be obedient. they are not casual in their covenants or actions. interesting thoughts huh? so all in all my Christmas Miracle was the realization of the importance of my actions and effort to be obedient. my gratitude for the power of the Holy Ghost also grew. I couldn't be more grateful for those little promptings Heavenly Father sends us to push us just a little further..