Your body is a gift

Hello I am sister Carlson, I have a sufficiently healthy body. One that gets me through I suppose you could say. Some times. I gain a lot of weight. some times I lose weight freakishly fast, and not a moment passes that my stomach is not in pain. I am not writing this for pity or for sympathy i am writing this to tell every one in the same type of body that our bodies are one of the greatest gifts from our father in heaven.

" 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s."

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/1-cor/6.19?lang=eng#18

Days I become frustrated and angry with myself because I cant push myself as much as I desire. I cant walk for hours on end, I can't run and at times it even hurts to breath. My diet right now consists of spinach, tomatoes, raspberry's, blackberry's, yogurt and cereal. why? Because every thing else makes me intensely sick.

Some days I just want to stay in bed and forget that I exist. But I can't. So what do I do? I get up and put my smile on and I thank the lord for giving me hands to feel, eyes to see, a mouth to smile, and a nose to smell. I thank God that he loved me so much that he wanted to me to become as He is. So he sent me here to earth. To gain experiences, that at times bring sorrow, that are painful, or that are complicated to understand.

I am thankful for these experiences. Especially the ones that seem like they are the worst. Why? Because often times after the storm passes God gives us rainbows. He brings in the light, and greater happiness than we can imagine comes together.

So if God has such a great plan for us, then why is it so hard to act upon the answers to our prayers and to follow his council? Why do we often times feel like we are where we are supposed to be and nothing we do seems to work out? Why do we feel so certain we are in the right place and then God completely turns things around? This video has brought me great comfort in knowing that God knows where I am. He knows what I am feeling. He knows where I need to be and how to get me there.

My mission is the BIGGEST BLESSING OF MY LIFE. Every day has been a blessing. I have enjoyed every moment of it. My body and it's minor complications has taught me to understand the atonement in a way that I would never have understood with out the complications I have passed through and continue to over come. When I get up and put on my best smile and get to work the Lord provides the strength I need to perform the labors he needs me to perform that day. He pushes me through when I feel like I can't do it on my own. He picks up my heart and he teaches me to be stronger. With out receiving our perfectly imperfect bodies.. we wouldn't be able to make it home to our heavenly father and Jesus Christ. With out our experiences we can never become as they are.

Whether you feel like you are too tall or too short, too thin or too wide... YOU ARE JUST THE WAY GOD MADE YOU TO BE. When you are in pain it's because God knows you are strong enough. If you aren't strong enough, he will teach you to be stronger.

Have you ever received a gift from some one you love that you absolutely wonder why on earth they gave it to you? Maybe a hideous sweater, or something you would never dream of wearing? But because this person loves you so much they gave you the best they could because they wanted you to know they were thinking of you.  They hoped so much with all their heart you would stay warm wearing that sweater, or that you would wear it until the sleeves are ripping off. They gave it to you in hopes that you would feel their love each time you looked at it.

I used to view my body like that sweater. Until I came here, until i put on my black badge that wears Jesus Christ name on it just underneath mine. Every time I look in the mirror the first thing I do is look at my tag to see his name and to remember he lives within in me. That he gave me this body in hopes that I would love it. that I would use it to the best of my ability each day. That I would take caution and care for my body, to not harm it, or put anything in it that could be hurtful, toxic or addictive, he gave me this body in hopes that i would build it up and make it stronger.

Now when I look in the mirror I see the saviors love for me. I see that I am his. That even when I don't wear his name over my heart he will still be with me each day. My mission has been the most pivotal moment in my life. It is Gods way of putting me on the right road in the quickest way possible so that I would know that I am heading in the direction he wishes for me to go. It has taught me to first love my savior, then love my self, then to love others.

I know that one day when Christ comes again my body will be resurrected and made perfect.

(The Resurrection consists in the uniting of a spirit body with a body of flesh and bones, never again to be divided. The Resurrection shall come to all, because of Christ’s victory over death. Jesus Christ was the first to be resurrected on this earth (Matt. 27:52–54; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:23; Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). Others had been brought back from death but were restored to mortality (Mark 5:22–43; Luke 7:11–17; John 11:1–45), whereas a resurrection means to become immortal, with a body of flesh and bone. LDS.ORG)

My body is a testimony of Gods loves for me. It is a perfectly imperfect gift that with him will become whole and healed. Through his son Jesus Christ We can ALL be healed and made whole. Through Jesus Christ we can pull through the times that we wish to give up and give in. As the video clip above said, don't jump ship, don't freak out, hold on and keep working. Keep trying and keep your faith.  

" God’s whole purpose—His work and His glory—is to enable each of us to enjoy all His blessings. He has provided a perfect plan to accomplish His purpose. We understood and accepted this plan before we came to the earth. In the scriptures God’s plan is called a merciful plan, the plan of happiness, the plan of redemption, and the plan of salvation."

" Life on earth is an opportunity and a blessing. Our purpose in this life is to have joy and prepare to return to God’s presence. In mortality we live in a condition where we are subject to both physical and spiritual death. God has a perfect, glorified, immortal body of flesh and bones. To become like God and return to His presence, we too must have a perfect, immortal body of flesh and bones. However, because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, every person on earth has an imperfect, mortal body and will eventually die. If not for the Savior Jesus Christ, death would end all hope for a future existence with Heavenly Father.

While we are in mortality, we have experiences that bring us happiness. We also have experiences that bring us pain and sorrow, some of which is caused by the sinful acts of others. These experiences provide us opportunities to learn and to grow, to distinguish good from evil, and to make choices. God influences us to do good; Satan tempts us to commit sin. As with physical death, we cannot overcome the effects of sin by ourselves. We are helpless without the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/what-do-i-study-and-teach/lesson-2-the-plan-of-salvation?lang=eng 

We truly are helpless with out the Atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. He lives and he heals, he provides strength safety and solace in times of need. Trust in him :)