B+: the first seven weeks of reality

The past seven weeks have been full of family, cleaning, finding out about weddings and engagements, band concerts, friends visiting, road trips, food, birthdays, and awkward adjustment.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

Coming home from a mission is so much harder than I ever anticipated. Finding that balance between being in the world but not of the world becomes the challenge of every single day.
Seven weeks later, I think I'm finally figuring it out.

Pray daily. Multiple times a day.
Read your scriptures. Nothing happens until that happens.
Those are the daily non-negotiable priorities.
It's just living the basics.
And everything else works out from there.

I came across this article that had this powerful statement:

"Frequent the scriptures often enough that your brain craves that kind of input - that your day feels incomplete without it."

Scripture study has been the struggle of struggles since I came home. My desire to really feast on the words of Christ grew weak. I missed the power of morning study on my mission. Prayer, time, and, of course, studying helped strengthen that desire, and now I can feel the Lord's direction for this next phase of my life.

One of my friends suggested a study of the topic "balance."That led to several powerful studies in the scriptures, but especially with the words of modern-day prophets. Elder Ballard, one of the apostles, stated in his talk from April 1987,

"Just do the very best you can each day. Do the basic things and, before you realize it, your life will be full of spiritual understanding that will confirm to you that your Heavenly Father loves you. When a person knows this, then life will be full of purpose and meaning, making balance easier to maintain."

That's a powerful promise.
I know I am a daughter of God. I know He lives and He loves me.
I know the same to be true for you.
There is power in that truth.

This past weekend in Nauvoo, one of the characters made a simple observation: "When the pioneers left, they didn't know where they would end up. West wasn't a destination, it was just a direction."

That hit me. Hard.
I have no idea where Heavenly Father needs me to end up. But I'm starting to get a sense of where He needs me to start moving. And for now, that's enough.

So that's life on the home front. Different from being out on the mission, but still where Heavenly Father needs His work done. He continues to build me in His own ways each and every day. The gospel is true, no matter what part of life we find ourselves in. How grateful I am for that simple fact! This is His work, His plan. He will always be with us.