This is THE MOST significant testimony I can share at this time, and it's about surrendering our will to God. I pray that it can help many people. The experience I’m going to describe happened while my husband was away for a six-week work training, and our kids and I were staying with my parents. I was a mom of two children age 2 and under, and I was run ragged. Everything was overwhelming for me. I didn’t feel safe or secure in anything. Although two and four years had passed from the dates of two spiritually and emotionally traumatic miscarriages, I still carried the pain within my heart, no matter how much I longed to be healed of it. I was short-tempered with my precious little toddlers, was crying or close to tears almost all the time, and could barely leave the house with my kids except for church because of how heavy my heart always felt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ One day, my dad approached me and said, “Lui, do you think you can carry anything else on your plate?” “Oh, NO,” I thought. “He’s trying to volunteer me to help someone at church. But I can NOT. I can NOT help anyone. I feel like I’m barely surviving as it is.” Aloud, I said, “No, Dad, I don’t think I can.” He considered me for a moment, and then said “I think you need to forgive.” I stared at him. He returned my gaze. "He’s serious," I thought. Aloud, I said “I don’t hold any grudges against anyone, Dad- I don’t have the emotional energy to carry hate or anger like that. Why and who would I forgive?” “I don’t know,” he answered. “I just really feel like I needed to tell you that.” “Okaaaay,” I said. “Thank you. I will think about it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~ For the next few days, I did. I slowly started warming to the idea that maybe there WERE people and situations which I could forgive, and thereby free myself from burdens I didn’t even know I was holding. One night during this time, I’d just gone to the room I was staying in with our kids. I was trying to process things after having lost my patience with them, apologized, and gotten them down for bed. I heard a soft knock on the door, but wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, so I ignored it and lay on my bed as though I was already asleep. Soundlessly, the door opened. Cracking an eye open, I watched my dad’s hand slide through the opening while holding a paper he’d printed out. He pressed the paper to the wall, where a pre-placed strip of tape at the paper’s top edge secured it there. Then his hand withdrew and the door silently closed. I left the bed, quietly crossed the room, and read the words printed on the paper. “As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life.” – Neal A. Maxwell I stood there, absorbing the words. As I did, the Holy Spirit touched my heart, saying “Keep going this way.” So I looked up the quote by Elder Maxwell and found it came from an October 1995 talk called “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father.” I read the talk and came upon this part: “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” “Keep going this way,” the Spirit whispered again. ~~~~~~~~~ For the next few days, I turned the ideas over in my mind and heart. Forgiving anyone and everything that had ever hurt me. Surrendering my will to God. Trusting Him… no matter what. But I couldn’t commit to actually DO IT because of the fearful thoughts and doubts which came thick and fast every time I steeled myself to pray about these things. The loudest fear was this one: “As soon as I surrender my will to God, He’s going to take everything away from me to see if I really meant it. He’s going to test me. Watch and see. Or if I just don’t pray about this, and then He won’t have to test me. I can just keep going as I have been…miserably, but at least I’ll have my husband and kids.” I will forever be grateful that my dad issued this invitation, and that I chose faith instead of fear. Because after just a day or two of those fearful thoughts, I had had ENOUGH. That night, I prayed- and my life was changed forever. After I had gotten my kids to sleep in the room with me, I extricated myself from holding their hands and crossed the room to the mirror. I stared straight into my own eyes. I visualized that Heavenly Father was the one looking at me, and imagined I was speaking straight to Him with all the energy of my soul. “Heavenly Father,” I began. “I forgive…” and proceeded to name every person and situation that had ever caused me hurt. The last Person I forgave was …Him. And it was so, so hard. I was crying as I said, “Heavenly Father, I forgive You for breaking my heart with that first miscarriage. I forgive You for taking the second miscarriage, too.” (While it may sound overly dramatic to say He broke my heart with that first miscarriage, I can promise you that it is exactly as I describe. I had fully, 100% trusted Him and the blessing I’d received after I’d started bleeding, where I was promised that “Nothing is wrong.” But when the bleeding worsened and we rushed to the OB, she told me that I’d passed it already… I’d felt as though God had kicked me in the teeth, right off a mountain, and was laughing as He watched me fall. I’d had to fight for every fraction of an inch of spiritual ground I’d recovered in the four years since the miscarriage, and was still several years away from gaining a beautiful witness of how, truly, nothing WAS wrong… but back to my prayer in the mirror.) I was openly sobbing at this point, not even aware of my children sleeping just feet away from me. I’m surprised they never woke up and that no one else in the house came to check on me, but I’m grateful they didn’t, as I wasn’t done praying. Now that I’d forgiven, it was time to surrender. “YOU’LL REGRET THIS,” a fearful thought came. “I don’t care,” I thought back. “Heavenly Father, I surrender my will to You. You can take my life, and I will still trust You. You can take my marriage, and I will still trust You. You can take my children, and I WILL STILL TRUST YOU. You can take my family, my home, my mobility, my health, our livelihood…You can take it all, and I WILL STILL TRUST YOU. Forever.” Something subtle and deep shifted in the reflected eyes onto which my vision was locked. The desperation was replaced by a peace so sure and deep that I knew this was a defining moment, one which was setting the scene for the rest of my life. ~~~~~~~~~ I have so much more to share, at another time- tangents and backstories and more testimony. But for now, if there’s just one thing I wish I could impress upon all who read this, it would be: Do not fear to surrender your will to God. Trusting Him unlocks the door to abundant and abiding peace which will endure with you in every trial through which you pass. I echo the testimony of the prophet Paul: The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I also affirm the witness of the prophet Alma: For I DO know that whosoever will put their trust in God will be supported in their trials and their troubles, and their afflictions, and will be lifted up- at not just the last day, but EVERY DAY. And I share this true witness with you in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

As of the last two semesters, and culminating today, I am a lifelong fan of @TAMU 🥹🥹🥹🩵🩵🩵 I have so many more things to say about this soon. So much love to this amazing university and the angelically heroic students and staff in their biomedical engineering program 🥹🥹🥹

I think about Joseph Smith's "fly to pieces like glass" quote every time I see members of the church balk against anything that goes "contrary to their traditions." There have been lots of opportunities lately for this quote to come to mind as I see people's knee-jerk reactions to the recent changes. Whatever changes come, I want to ROLL with them and "be easily entreated" to sustain and support Church leadership in making those changes successful. If it happens that a change comes with which I'm supremely uncomfortable, I can take it to the Lord in prayer and work it out with Him. Everything is going to be okay! <3 The Lord leads His church and surely knows better than we do! We can trust Him and remember that to them that love God, ALL THINGS work together for our good. Even things that we view as bad ideas. <3 <3

Thank you so much, @TracerBuIlet !! 🩵

@PurpleKoya21 , thank you so much for reposting!

@jmbrim3, thank you for reposting and praying for them 🥹🩵 I’m so grateful! Their need for miracles continues.

This dyslexia program really does change lives!! A few weeks ago, a fellow homeschooling mom in my neighborhood asked if I could tutor her almost 11-year old son with severe dyslexia. We’ve used your book for our lessons, and now his confidence is soaring!! I am enormously proud of him and so grateful for all the effort that went into creating this incredible program!! Thank you!!

Global friends, what does homeschooling look like for your societies?

Our Primary is learning “Forever” by Kari Jobe (as performed by Becky Foster), so we put together this video for them to have the lyrics and images of the Savior accompanying the music. youtu.be/6Cw6QedKfls?si=ugb3… Happy Easter….Forever, He is risen!!!

Our 12-year old homeschooled son made this today and is calling it a meme. 🤣 He’s incredibly proud of himself, and I’m delighted, as well.

Brigham’s burner rn:

Do we believe a prophet(s) leads the church? Instead of finding (and spreading) reasons why this won’t work, we can focus on learning the Lord’s reasons for this change (through humbling ourselves as needed) and lean all-in to cheerfully and faithfully support it, encouraging others to do so as well. The Lord is hastening His work before our eyes. We have the blessing of helping move it along through our attitudes and efforts.

In honor of the incredible Japan America timeline revival, I present: My Husband and Me: Our First Time Ever Tasting Alcohol (Sake), Which Was Unintentional and Does Not Want to be Repeated but Which Makes for a Funny Story A few weeks ago, after our five year old was discharged from an outpatient hearing aid implantation surgery (he’s the one in the photo collage with the huge white bandage), we took him to a hibachi place for dinner. The hibachi chef (not actually Japanese, sadly) was heavily accented and spoke very quickly. First, he poured white YumYum sauce into small bowls at everyone’s places. “Sake, sake,” he said as he poured. “Sake!” My husband and I exchanged amused glances. Of course it wasn’t sake. Finished with that task, the chef grabbed a squeeze bottle of liquid and called, “Sake, sake, who wants some sake??” Aiming at the children spaced among the diners, the chef launched the clear liquid into their mouths. Again, my husband and I smirked. This guy calls everything “sake.” Turning to his supply cart, the chef exchanged that squeeze bottle for another, and this time, aimed at the adults seated around the grill. “Sake, sake!” he called. The mom at the far end accepted some, followed by her husband. It was a contest; the chef counted how many seconds each person could last before turning their head away. It was my husband’s turn next, and I watched as he took it in for a moment and then turned his head to signal he didn’t want anymore. “Sake!! Sake!!!” cried the chef. It was my turn, and my competitive side was determined to last longer than the others had. After several seconds, I held up my hand, the chef stopped, and my focus shifted from “winning” to noticing the taste inside my mouth for the first time. “Is this vinegar?” I thought to myself. “This doesn’t taste like water…” I looked over to my husband, who was on our son’s other side. Using ASL, I signed to him, “Water??” “No,” he signed back. “Vinegar?” I finger spelled. “No,” he signed. Then he did the 🤙🏻 gesture at his mouth to indicate alcohol (we didn’t know the actual sign for alcohol. It had never come up in our ASL conversations with our 5-year old thus far). Still holding all the liquid in my mouth, I stared wide-eyed at him for a moment, then quietly left the table, went to the restroom, spat, and rinsed everything out. The aftertaste was ricey and mouthwashy. I went back to the table, but stopped to lean in and whisper to my husband, “That was actually sake!?” “Yeah,” he said. “I thought he was calling EVERYTHING sake, but that nothing was actually sake!” “Same here…what did you do with yours??” I asked. “Spat it all out into my napkin,” he whispered, indicating a soaked cloth napkin on the plate beside him. “That was my first time tasting alcohol!” I said. “Mine, too!” he replied. ☠️ So now we know two things: 1. What alcohol tastes like and 2. That often, things called “sake” are NOT sake… …but sometimes they are. 🩵🇯🇵🇺🇸🩵