"Sunshine Patriot?" I think not.

A lot of thoughts have been rolling through my brain these last few days. I've tried several times to record them all, but nothing seems to fit what I'm feeling. It's a feeling of "Oh yeah, this is what life's all about" that I'm receiving witness of in everything that I do.

These last few days I've felt a great hunger to learn. It's always there within me to some degree, but lately, I can't soak it up fast enough. I love it when I hit times like these in my life when every concept is seen in a new light & everything is fresh again.


On Sunday, I met an apostle for the first time in my life. I almost missed it. I was studying so hard for my Doctrine & Covenants midterm that I thought I didn't have the time to go in person to the CES Fireside, but my roommate coaxed me enough that I succumbed. I made it onto international television too as I was sitting in the 3rd row. Just before the camera panned the back of my head, Elder Hales said

"If we have the Spirt to be with us, we have light & Satan, who is the prince of darkness cannot stand light. Therefore, with that light, if we tell him to depart, he must depart."

That, I know, was said at least in part for me. That's what's filled me of late that has given me such a desire to soak up the entirety of the world of knowledge: the Spirit of the Lord & an outright refusal to fall prey to the trappings of the adversary. That's why everything feels new but comfortable. It's because it's the truth & I'm trusting enough to receive it.

President Hinckley said at the conclusion of my favorite talk,

"I carry with me a statement that I took from an article published some years ago on Commander William Robert Anderson, the man who took the submarine Nautilus under the North Pole from the waters of the Pacific to the waters of the Atlantic. In his wallet he carried a tattered card with these words: 'I believe I am always divinely guided. I believe I will always take the right road. I believe God will always make a way where there is no way' (quoted in Look, 20 April 1971, p. 48).

Said the Lord in a dark and troubled hour to those he loved, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). May the Lord bless you, each of you, with faith, with affection, with hope, with charity, I ask humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

This is what I feel right now. I know that I am divinely guided, & I am indeed unafraid. I am filled with a gratitude that enlarges each passing moment, & my greatest wish is that all could feel what I feel right now.