Stronger Through Him

  Happy Thanksgiving! In 2 Corinthians 9:11 Paul writes “Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” We are blessed.  And so we share. And when we use that bounty to share with others, those we share with can recognize that those gifts actually come from God and give thanks to Him.

  Friday at school, I had a student come into my room with excitement in his voice. He is a student who has some reading struggles I have been helping him with.  His low confidence has led to disengagement in the classroom for years.  We are trying to change that. He burst through the door and exclaimed, “Mrs. Potter!  Did you know that when the teachers are talking they actually give the answers to the next test!??” I bit my lip to keep back a smile at his discovery of what we assume is obvious to all. “You are right!  How have you been studying in the past?” “I just google everything, but it makes it really hard.” So true.   My young friend had figured out a piece of the bigger picture of education.   We aren’t hiding the answers.   We are trying to help them become part of their knowledge set and thinking process. Our Heavenly Father also doesn’t hide the answers from us.   They are in the scriptures.   From t...

 My thoughts have been kind of scrambled this morning. I actually woke up with the National Anthem playing on repeat in my head…. Those are days it’s harder for me to focus and I lean toward “go through the motions.” But as I was reading my scriptures this morning (literally staring at words as they swam around the page) a question came into my mind.  Am I asking God to rescue me, or strengthen me?  Do I want him to just do it for me? Or help me to gain strength, knowledge and experience and BECOME more than I am. When I arrived at school, I pulled out my daily checklist and began to prepare for my day with renewed focus.  Inside a stack of papers I found a folded note that a student had left for me. “Sometimes we just need to be our own hero.” It’s what I needed to read. The best heroes have the greatest mentors and coaches of all.   And there is no better coach than Jesus Christ. He pushes me to be better and grow, because He believes in me. And He believes in...

 I pulled up to the school and hurriedly parked my car. I ran inside to my classroom to grab the needed materials for the preschool classes I support and quickly returned to drive to their building, hoping to be on time for our coaching session.  As I opened the door, a little pink and white baby sock fell out.   I sighed as I glanced into my messy vehicle.   Cupcake icing was smeared across my leather seats. Some donation items collected for others were piled in the back. Some lesson notes and art supplies from my Sunday School class were on the floor.  And an empty juice bottle sat in my cup holder. “Uggh.”I thought.  “Why can’t I get my life pulled together?” As I tossed it inside, and climbed behind the wheel I felt tired and discouraged. But as I was driving, a quote from Sister Marjorie Hinckley came to mind.  “I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and w...

  I was staring out the window as we flew over the European Alps this morning. I was eating a decent meal of scrambled eggs and roasted cherry tomatoes and feeling the warmth in my belly.  It was toasty warm on this flight- so much so that I never even opened the blanket they gave us.  Then I noticed at the very bottom edge of my window a bit of frost on the outside.  Under magnification I could see the intricate pattern of nature in the crystalline fingers stretching from the tiny crystal.  I realized in my comfort inside the plane I hadn’t even thought about how cold it was outside. At 10,000 m up, the air is bitterly cold and that is true even if I can’t feel it.   Even if it doesn’t match what I am personally experiencing. But when I stop to look for the evidence it is there in intricate and beautiful patterns.  Sometimes in life we aren’t feeling God’s presence or love at the moment. It doesn’t seem to match what we are personal...

  A friend invited me to a small book study where we were discussing the role of the Bible and its history. The big question was whether or not we can personally have encounters with the Holy Spirit as we are reading, and thus be individually inspired by the words of God. That is such an integral part of my daily study, that it is something I find I forget to be grateful for.   I pray.  I read.  I ponder.  I listen.  I act. One of my friends shared her concerns that trusting the Spirit should be left to those who have come through Seminary.   That made me smile, as it is one of the core goals of our own seminary- to better teach teens how to have daily encounters with the Holy Spirit while reading scripture.   I came away more grateful that I know I can  “feast upon the words of Christ” and through that process be guided by the Spirit through life, becoming ever closer to the example Christ showed.

  This past weekend we decided to take a drive north to visit a section of road along the shores of Lake Michigan known as The Tunnel of Trees.  I wanted to see the fall foliage and spend the time on the scenic drive as we listened to General Conference. We decided to bring our daughter’s dog, Jett, with us.  This would save the cost of boarding or finding a caretaker for him and we thought he might enjoy exploring new areas with us. He hadn’t been on a road trip with us before and it turned out he laid perfectly still the entire 5 hr journey, not chewing or barking or even looking out the windows.   He did nothing except pass gas.   The whole way. From a stomach that apparently was nervous about the car ride. The windows would all come down and George and I would cringe and comment. It continued at the pet friendly hotel with George  exclaiming he couldn’t sleep and his eyes were burning. All humor aside, we could have focused solely on ...