Faith is in the Courage

Hello world. This is a new experience for me. I have blogged before, years ago, but I was so careful to keep things sanitized, general, and non-offensive.  (strap in, this is a long one!!!) I am actually quite private about who we are and what we do in our lives. We run a very public business, and we have received so many threats over the years, and had so many things go wrong, that I wanted to maintain a little “anonymity.”  I am not very open about who we are and what we do–especially because so often, we are judged harshly. In today’s world, privacy is at a premium. When you are successful, people assume you don’t have problems. This just isn’t true! We are human too. We also have often become targets for frivolous lawsuits, threatened, robbed, damaged etc. and even copied and then slandered all over the internet. So, in an attempt to give my family a normal life, I usually keep my business VERY separate from my public persona and business profiles.

I bring this up because I have had a spiritual prompting that I have been scared to act upon.

I had a very spiritual experience back in March of this year. I had just dropped off my children at school, and I was listening to a conference talk from Elder Hallstrom. (I am including links to all of my inspirational talks in this post.)

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/…/what-manner-of-men…

After the talk was over, my mind pondered on what I have learned over the years that has built my testimony and faith in Jesus Christ. I was thinking about the trials we have overcome, the work we have accomplished, and how my more conservative political leanings are rooted in my faith. I felt this overwhelming urge to share with the world these things, because I feel often like I am in the minority. It is interesting, because when I visit with friends etc, we all are feeling that way, but we are quiet because we don’t want to offend.

As I was pondering this, the thought came to me that I should start a blog. I felt this overwhelming confirmation by the Holy Spirit that this is EXACTLY what I should do.

Recently, we have been encouraged to do this too. Here’s an EXCELLENT talk by Elder Bednar.

https://www.lds.org/…/youth/flood-the-earth-through-social-…

Anyhow, I am terrified. I am terrified that this will hurt my business, put my family in the limelight, destroy our privacy, and that I will be ridiculed. (Crazy that I am that petty, but I guess I am just not as mature as I think!)

So, I decided to wait. Wait until I had courage.

Then…conference April 2017 came along. I heard Elder Christofferson’s talk and I was hit with a spiritual prompting like I have felt few times in my life–and usually before something HUGE. https://www.lds.org/general-confere…/…/the-voice-of-warning…

These words in his talk hit me like a brick. A huge spiritual brick.

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” Matthew 5:11-12

Anyhow, I am happy to say that today I found the courage to post my blog. It isn’t super pretty–yet…but I will work on that as I have time.

I am hoping that people read what I have to say, and I hope that I can comfort those that stand with us. We are not alone.

Warm regards,

Jenni