Kayla's Story; The Transformative Power of Grace and Self-Acceptance

What happens when you realize, deep within your soul, that you are not perfect, but you are enough? Today, we journey with Kayla, curator of the inspirational Instagram page, @kaylastreasuredthoughts, into the heart of this profound awakening. During her mission experience in Des Moines, Iowa, Kayla discovered the transformative power of grace - a divine assistance that perfects our efforts and reinforces our worthiness, even amidst our imperfections.

Join us as we explore the spiritual depths of grace, a powerful force that serves as the cornerstone of our daily lives. Together with Kayla, we traverse through the nuances of grace as it relates to our struggles, with invaluable insights gleaned from Doctrine & Covenants 121:7-8 and other scriptures. We unfold how the pursuit of perfection can sometimes obscure our spiritual growth, but with grace, our true selves can blossom. 

As we round off this enlightening episode, we reflect on the significance of self-acceptance and the inherent beauty of our imperfections. We discuss how grace, in its infinite wisdom, guides us towards becoming the best versions of ourselves. And before we wrap up, let us not forget to appreciate the power of grace, an omnipresent force that quietly works miracles in our lives every single day. So tune in, listen, learn, and remember to share your phenomenal stories with us on our Remember Podcast Instagram page.

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@kaylastreasuredthoughts

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Remember podcast. I'm your host, alan Dutler, and I'm joined with my amazing co-host.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Mikaela, it's nice to see you guys again.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Nice of them to join us, to hear us. We have an amazing guest with us today, so I met Kayla it's kind of funny. Mikaela and Mikaela. But we're not going to recognize our voices.

Speaker 1: 0:46

So yeah, who's talking? Yeah, so Kayla. We'll refer to her as Kayla. She runs an amazing Instagram page and that's how I got in touch with her. I am her. I messaged her and asked if she would like to come and join us and she's an amazing spirit and she shares some amazing stuff on I say amazing a lot, by the way. She shares some really good things on her Instagram page and so she's here with us today and go ahead and introduce yourself.

Speaker 3: 1:20

Well, thanks, I was really. I've never done a podcast before so this is all really new to me, but I do have an Instagram page where I share a bunch of thoughts that have just brought me peace and comfort and inspiration and times of trial, and so that's just kind of what I wanted to talk about today, when you invited me to come over and to do my first podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Yeah, happy to have you, Thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:48

So I was thinking about what I would possibly share, and the topic of grace just kind of kept coming back to me from time to time, and I definitely don't feel like I'm a grace expert, but I do feel like I've had some experiences that have. What's the word?

Speaker 3: 2:04

I'm looking for like have taught me grace in a really simple way that I hope I'm able to articulate in a way that resonates with other people. But it all kind of takes place in the context of my mission. I started an LDS mission in Des Moines, iowa, and, like, the process of me deciding to go on a mission was pretty simple. It was really straightforward. I just was prayerful about it. I was reading the scriptures, I was going to the temple and read in Dr Nicovean's section four, verse three if you have desires to serve God, then you're called to work. And that just really like hit me in my heart and I decided to serve a mission and it was really kind of as simple as that for me to go.

Speaker 3: 2:48

I went to the MTC and I had two weeks there, realized that I loved teaching gospel principles and talking to people about the gospel. I also like learned that I really loved learning about how to be a missionary.

Speaker 3: 3:06

So two weeks at the MTC felt really, really short For me. I was pretty nervous to like get booted out to the field so quickly, but I was always very assured that I'd have like a really awesome trainer and like I'd have a lot of support and the mission would just be there to support me on my, you know, process and becoming a missionary and so I was really excited.

Speaker 3: 3:29

But I got to the field and it was just like trial after trial after trial and you know, people really try hard to like prepare you for that right, You're preparing for a mission and people like it's amazing but it's really hard, Like and they want you to understand that it's really hard.

Speaker 3: 3:47

But like it was hard in ways that I didn't expect it to be hard. Like the missionary, the missionary work was awesome, Like I loved learning how to be a missionary and I loved like learning how to do those things, but it was tricky because like I had a trainer that didn't really talk to me much, which was kind of tricky, and then after that, like I got asked to train a new missionary, which didn't make any sense to me and I was really concerned when I was like having conversations with my mission president about it and like that whole training process was really hard because we did everything that we could and we just couldn't find people to teach or anyone that wanted to talk to us, and so, like it just seemed like thing after thing after thing.

Speaker 3: 4:30

For, honestly, the whole 18 months of my mission was just kind of like weighing me down and I had a lot of shame around that, like the idea that things weren't working out the way they were supposed to, even when I was trying my best to be good, like I did everything to be obedient, I tried really hard to love people. But it was just thing after thing that I just felt like why is Heavenly Father like weighing me down or keeping me from being able to succeed? And it was frustrating and confusing and I spent a lot of time talking to my mission president, my mission president's wife and different mission leaders about it and they just kind of sang the same song to me over and over Sister Lane, you need to like focus on things that are in your control. You need to let go of things that are outside of your control, which was really really hard for me to do.

Speaker 3: 5:29

But, like just throughout this whole process, I came across a scripture that ended up bringing me a lot of comfort, and it's in Moroni, chapter 10, verse 32. It is, to this day, my favorite scripture. It says Yay, come unto Christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness. And if you shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, might and strength, then is his grace efficient for you, that by his grace you may be perfect in Christ. And if, by the grace of God, you are perfect in Christ, you can in no wise deny the power of God.

Speaker 3: 6:01

And that just really struck me as I was going through like this time of just feeling like everything was out of control and nothing was going good and even though I had like the very best of intentions and like the best desire to be a consecrated, like powerful missionary and it just wasn't happening. The scripture brought me a lot of comfort that if I could just deny myself of all ungodliness and love God, then his grace will be sufficient for me to be made perfect in Christ. And I put a lot of hope in that scripture and I just kind of made love the focus of my mission. I learned to love companions that were really difficult for me to love, and that's a more of a reflection of me than it is of anybody else.

Speaker 3: 6:46

But I worked really hard on that and by the end of my mission I still felt many, many regrets. You know, like people are always saying no regrets, leave it all out there for the Lord. You only have this many months to serve and that came with like a little bit of a sting at the end of my mission. But I was tired too, so I was like ready to go home even though there were like a lot of regrets, because there were a lot of things that I never learned and I never mastered and I never figured out how to do well.

Speaker 3: 7:16

And so I ended up coming home with like a lot of weight, like did I do my job? Did I fulfill my calling as a missionary? And I found myself in the state president's office at home after like seeing all of my family, and he released me from my calling as a missionary. And all of a sudden I was just like overwhelmed with emotion. I didn't think I would cry. I was like ready to be done.

Speaker 3: 7:42

But, I was just like overwhelmed with emotion, and like the sadness and regret that I never got to become the missionary that I wanted to be because of circumstances that were out of my control and that was a little bit painful for me in this moment and he like my sick president was really gentle and like didn't really know what I was crying about although I'm sure missionaries cry all the time so he just kind of like gently asks like what are you thinking about?

Speaker 3: 8:08

And I told him I was like I feel a lot like the people in Third Nephi when like Christ has come, he's done his ministry, he's taught them and like he tells them it's time for him to go to go see like his other flocks of his fold, and they're like sad, they're crying, and that's just how I feel, like I feel so far from being finished, like I recognize my time as a missionary is done, but I don't feel like I like completed my calling as a missionary and that was really hard.

Speaker 3: 8:41

And he just looked at me and was like that is like the perfect attitude, like we couldn't ask for any like more from a missionary, and I didn't really understand that. But I tried to take comfort in it, okay, like I tried to let that be okay and I asked him and my dad to give me a blessing after you know I was able to remove my tag and I was able to feel some comfort, but I really didn't feel like.

Speaker 3: 9:04

I still felt kind of broken. And it was the next morning, where, you know, I woke up. I started doing my personal study, as return missionaries do, because I wasn't ready to let go of that and you never should, for the record but I decided to read third Nephi in chapter 17, where that happens, and I was going to pull this up. I hope it's there. I just really love what happened, because all that came to my mind was you know, christ told him that he was going to leave and they were crying, but I couldn't remember what happened next in the story. So I went to those verses and just right after Christ sees them in tears, it says he beheld them and he said behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have any that are sick among you, bring them hither.

Speaker 3: 9:54

Have any that are lame or blind or halt or maimed or leprous or that are withered or that are deaf or afflicted in any manner. Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you and my bowels are filled with mercy. And I was reading these verses and I was just really overcome with a sense of healing that like I felt for my mission experience To like I felt like Christ took something that was like, honestly, my best effort.

Speaker 3: 10:24

It was the best I could possibly give given the circumstances that I was placed in, but it was very, very bad Like it wasn't something that I was proud to talk about Until I felt like this moment of Christ just like healing and like making it feel whole, and I like reflected on that experience and I've like just applied it to my life in so many ways since that moment happened, because that is like how I imagine grace like working in my life. It is my best effort given, like regardless of the circumstance, being made perfect and being made whole because of Christ and that's. I've been able to apply that in my life so many ways since experiencing that as a missionary many times, like as a young single adult and in setting goals and in circumstances that I feel I bear out of my control, I've just been able to find so much comfort in knowing that.

Speaker 3: 11:26

Christ has the power to make broken things whole and the purpose like and sometimes he will let us be broken. That's the other thing that I learned, like my whole mission. He could have put me in circumstances where I could have excelled, but it was more important for me to learn this lesson of grace than it was for me to just be the best missionary and I have the rest of my life to be the best missionary and clearly I'm trying here on Instagram, but that was like such a powerful lesson. It has brought me so much peace throughout my life to know that your best is always enough and even if God leaves you a little bit broken, it's not because he can't work with you in that way. So that's my story on how I learned a little bit more about grace and how it's brought me a lot of peace in my life.

Speaker 2: 12:23

Yeah, I love that, like I have experienced like that, and kind of my perspective on grace too, the past like couple years has been like like one thing at a time, like oh, like that has onto it like all that it's just so eye-opening like you don't understand how amazing grace is until you see, like being made, like in your life, like having it what is it called?

Speaker 2: 12:48

like applied in your life without you know, and seeing it in the works. Um, I like how you mentioned, um, how your best effort, like how, if you put your best effort in God will finish the rest and make it into something beautiful. And I love that because, like I've noticed that too, you know, like I, and one of the things like in order to go into the temple too, it's like do you feel worthy? And that's one of the other questions, like things that kind of that I applied to grace is am I putting in the best efforts, do I, do I, to make myself like, do I feel worthy? Like, am I doing all that I can?

Speaker 5: 13:31

I may not have that perfect knowledge of everything.

Speaker 2: 13:33

Yet I may have questions, doubts, but am I doing everything that I can? And one of my bishops said you know that is, honestly, sometimes all you can do and that makes you worthy is are you doing like you don't have to be perfect to be an effort. You don't have to be perfect to be worthy. You don't have to be perfect to receive the blessings and miracles that God can put into your life? It's are you taking the time and faith and energy to allow Christ to work in your life? Because that's the whole purpose of why he's like, why he came and why he sacrificed his life for us is because he knew that we aren't perfect and he was the perfect example and like sacrifice for us.

Speaker 2: 14:21

And like and as I like read and I I've read lots of things like the past year about how can we realize who Christ is in my life and his grace is so beautiful, like the whole reason why we are here is because, like, like we would be nothing without Christ, we would be nothing without the atonement, like we, in order for us to be who we are, we were supposed to be made by his love and like his example, like going in the temple and learning the things about what we like the plan of happiness, the purpose of our lives it's all like and nothing can take place without Christ and without him being our mediator, without like he brings us that purpose and he brings us that that ability to be perfected again, and I don't know if there's.

Speaker 2: 15:17

This is a lot of things that I can encircle upon like grace and I don't know, and especially with myself, like putting myself on high standards and like expectations and being proud and stuff. Like you know, without trying to be, but like thinking that I can do this alone is impossible, like you need to humble yourself. And one of the things that I want to bring up is it's in my gosh, it's in one of the talks. It's called Lord. I think it's Lord is an eye, but it's by, yeah, by President Dideras Uhtdorf, and I just love this talk because you know, like it talks about kind of humbling ourselves and recognizing our weaknesses and our imperfections.

Speaker 2: 16:13

And you know, when Christ was talking to his disciples and like before he died, and they're like is it going to be me that like denies you? Is it me? Is it me? And it's he. President Uhtdorf takes it on a turn on how we can question that in our lives. Like, am I doing everything that I can? Like am I turning to you? Am I humbling myself? I mean, I just think it's so cool, like it's just like that's a cool perspective, like am I allowing your grace to be worked in my life? Like am I allowing you in? Like the door, like the path is there, like his hands reached out, but are you opening that door for him?

Speaker 2: 16:53

or like he's always going to be there, but like it's up to you and it's an interesting how, like perfection sometimes closes the door on Christ.

Speaker 3: 17:00

Yeah, like when we think we can do it all by ourselves like when I thought I could be an amazing missionary all by myself, if you'd just like. Let me right. Like, what's the purpose of Christ if we?

Speaker 1: 17:10

don't like if we can do it all by ourselves exactly so for those of our listeners that are like me and I can't really remember the proper definition of grace, it's been a while since I've looked into grace. Grace is the divine help or strength extended to us through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the grace of God, everyone who has lived will be resurrected. Our spirits will be reunited with our bodies, never again to be separated. Through his grace, the Lord also enables, enables those who live his gospel to repent and be forgiven. So thank you guys, both of you for sharing those amazing things. But obviously I need to study on grace a little bit more. To me, grace is a. Was a girl, I had a crush on it. I thought I'd throw that joke, but grace is a very, very powerful thing. And what you were saying, kayla, about your mission, it reminded me of these very, very popular scriptures and the doctrine of covenants. I was actually looking for another scripture and I opened up a page on my phone was doctrine of covenants, and then this one popped into my mind and I don't remember what the other one was. So we have this one. So it's in doctrine covenant, section 121, verses 7 and 8, and it says my son, peace be unto thy soul. Thy adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment, and then, if thou endure it, well, god shall exalt thee on high. Thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. And so I thought of this verse and backtracked into what you said. Sometimes God leaves us a little bit broken, right, and he gives us opportunities. I see them as opportunities, opportunities to be broken, to not be whole, because then we look for something to fill us right. And it says, president Nils, I think there's president Nelson he mentioned or he said in conference once that you should oh I can't quite remember the quote fully, so heavily paraphrased you should seek to, to involve the Lord in your life, or seek to grow your faith with the same energy as someone who is drowning, looking for their next breath right, which is powerful. And I think when, when we find ourselves broken and we stay broken, we seek him, well, him or other things, but hopefully him right. And when we do seek him, in those moments we seek him so earnestly. And I think, like looking back into my own life, my mission was really hard, I struggled, but time and I served during COVID and it was, you know, everything was closed down and, yeah, like I was just miserable. But I, from my experiences on my mission and even being home, I have grown such a wonderful and sweet relationship with my savior and I think that has been his grace in my life. I feel myself growing each and every day and I am so much stronger now.

Speaker 1: 20:52

And that reminds me of my other scripture that I was going to share, which was in and I've shared it so many times on the podcast because it's just amazing, but I also can't quite remember exactly where it was, but it was when Alma the elder and his people were in bondage and people were restricting him and his, his people, and they wouldn't let them pray, they wouldn't let them worship the Lord.

Speaker 1: 21:26

And so they prayed in their hearts and God came to them and he said I will, I will, gosh, I'm terrible today, goodness, but he he made a promise that he would Make their burdens go away, or maybe not go away, but that they would seem light.

Speaker 1: 21:49

And I love what it says in that verse because, well, the next verse, it wasn't the burdens that were made lives, the people that were made strong. And that's how the Lord works. He doesn't take things away from us unless, of course, like we absolutely need it. He will not give us a challenge that we can't handle, and so he, he strengthens us, he builds us up so that we can tackle the next one. And you know, you're tackling all these mountains, all these hills, all these trials and before you know it, you're, you've gained so much elevation. The gospel is always referred to as like a hiking and algae all the time, but it's true, and as we tackle these challenges, that we grow and we, you know, get higher in elevation. We are so much closer to our Savior and I think that I don't know that's how grace works to me.

Speaker 3: 22:48

Yeah, I think that's such a beautiful thing, especially because I haven't thought like why you're talking and I'm trying to like grow out it because I started talking to soon. Like that I'm having. Is that there's like? No shame in the struggle Right and I think I felt that as missionary and I felt that since being a missionary, right. Like I have things that like I. I struggle with in my life and I don't want anyone to know that I'm struggling right because For some reason I think that makes me weak, right.

Speaker 3: 23:18

But they're like that struggle is so necessary for you know the growth and you know the hike or so, that we seek God in a really meaningful way. And I Think that's really like where grace and repentance kind of like do a dance together in my mind, because grace Like really just gives you the right to struggle.

Speaker 3: 23:42

You know it's just okay. It's okay to struggle with things because grace is there to take care of the rest and repentance is the active process that you go through to choose to become more like God and so that's like the thought that came to my mind as you were talking, because there is so much purpose in our pain Right and the reason why God leaves us broken and allows us to Um Struggle so that we can choose in what ways we want to grow.

Speaker 1: 24:12

Definitely, and I think such beautiful things come from broken things. All right, what happens when we break the soil? We can plant seeds. What happens when we break bread? We protect of the sacrament. The Lord loves broken things. That's me. I heard that on Instagram somewhere. Oh, that's good. I just brought that from Dianne. Yeah that's me, that's me.

Speaker 2: 24:41

That's this guy. Yeah, as you were talking, Caleb, but I'm still going to go all reference this talk that I'm reading, but clearly, what you said is how sometimes you feel like you need to hide, like you hide.

Speaker 2: 24:57

Like you tend to hide, we all tend to hide the things that we are going through and like how social media portrays like the perfection of our lives, Because we all hide the rawness of it and we hide everything. And so in this talk, because I enjoyed the questions, this little section that kind of just refers to that. And then I have another thought that I want to share that I just got when I was talking and I was like, oh, but, anyways, over this, and then we can go on. And he says brother and nun of us like to admit that we are drifting off the right course. Often we try to avoid looking deeply into our souls and confronting our weaknesses, limitations and fears. Consequently, when we do examine our lives, we look through the filter of biases, excuses and stories we tell ourselves in order to justify unworthy thoughts and actions. But being able to see ourselves clearly is an essential to our spiritual growth and well-being.

Speaker 2: 25:49

If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured and the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths. Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us. So how can we shine the pure light of God's truth into our souls and see ourselves as he sees us, and so I think that's so true Like don't hide yourself from the war.

Speaker 2: 26:18

Don't I mean, yes, like, as humans we don't really want to. Like we see someone on the street like hey, my name's this and this is why I'm going there. Like no, that's just like, ooh, you know, but still like it's so good, I try to be, I try to live my life, just being myself, not trying to hide, like I mean, if an opportunity comes up, then share.

Speaker 2: 26:43

Then when an opportunity comes up to like be, empathetic, or, you know, share that, some of the raw things that I've gone through, some of the things that I've struggled with. Then, of course, share that that's how the Lord wants you to work and help people, because that's how you can comfort people, you know. But, yeah, just don't like and that's another thing that I want to go off of that I was thinking of when Dallin was talking is the idea of being perfect you know, and I just had like a big, like big brain moment there for like when Dallin was speaking, because I don't know, this is just my thoughts on the topic.

Speaker 2: 27:16

You guys can kind of say no or whatever.

Speaker 2: 27:19

But I think when Christ says to be perfected and I mean yes, when we die we are going to be perfect, all everything's going to you know the bruises, the like, you know all the stuff that really affects us and like the illnesses and stuff, we will become perfect. But I feel like when he talks about us you are on earth and being perfected and him, I feel like we shouldn't have that idea or like that belief, or how am I supposed to say it Like standard that we set ourselves on.

Speaker 2: 27:57

like I deal of I have to be perfect, all my weaknesses have to be perfected, everything like I have to live my life on a certain standard. I feel like what he means by that is becoming who we truly are meant to become. Through him, you know, and our weaknesses, he will show us the strengths that we have to overcome those weaknesses and like that's the whole point of being on earth. You know, we're born as kids.

Speaker 2: 28:28

We learn all the things we go through things and that's kind of I know he would be a major, so it's just so awesome to see how we develop and how everything affects us, you know. But being perfected and what he means by that is allowing his grace to work in your life to bring you to that potential, that whole being that you were meant to become when you were brought to this earth. Like that's the whole reason why you were supposed to come here is because you couldn't ever reach that potential that you were supposed to. Not having experiences, you were ever. So. Struggles and everything are supposed to be important, but don't think that you have to be perfect.

Speaker 2: 29:09

Being perfect is being yourself you know he's not going to leave you where you are, but he's not. You know he loves you for who you are, but he's not going to leave you where you are. He's going to bring you to your potential, to who you're supposed to become. So when you die, you can then realize your work. And behind all the perfect, like you know, I don't know, I just was like a big epiphany and like, oh my gosh. But I just thought I wanted to share that because, I don't know, I struggle with seeing myself like or believing that when he says that I have to disregard everything else that makes me who I am, so like the commandment to be perfect.

Speaker 2: 29:48

Yeah exactly yeah. Be yourself for perfect, yeah, so it's just like it's intimidating, you know Like whoo yeah, when.

Speaker 3: 29:55

I'm over here like violently shaking my head, agreeing with you, because I like I even just posted on that, like on my own page, like a week ago about like the commandment to be perfect and how it has nothing to do with, like our works, like it has everything to do with Christ. Exactly so I like his grace and allowing that to be part of our life, because we have to make the space for him to work in our life. Yes, and so I love that. I 100% agree.

Speaker 1: 30:18

I think, yeah, it's not perfect in action, it's perfect in purpose. Yeah, we, if we make Jesus Christ our purpose, then we will be perfect. And I don't know, I just had that thought while you were talking. It's like oh, bam, bam, bam, all over the place I have another one.

Speaker 3: 30:37

We'll take another van, Because that kind of like loops me all the way back around. To like the story that I just told and like the advice that it gave to missionaries that like I'm going on my mission. What do you want me to know? And the thing that always came to my mind after having that experience was there is no such thing as a perfect missionary.

Speaker 3: 30:55

Like put that out of your head right now, because there is no such thing as a perfect missionary. But if you are a worthy missionary, if you go on your mission and just seek all you can to be worthy, then you will serve a perfect mission, and I think that applies to missionaries.

Speaker 3: 31:11

But I also think that applies to us is just the human experience, like people that covenant with the Lord and are worthy of those covenant, promises and blessings will be made perfect. And it's not because of anything that we did, it's not because of our works, it's because of Christ and the covenant that we've made with Him. Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Yeah, it's like when you're saying that it's how Christ makes, like all the efforts that you do everything. If you try and be worthy and try and obey the commandments and then help people and serve and be the disciple that you were made to become, you know the world's going to happen. Things are going to happen, but it'll become perfect because of how Christ can work through what you do. You know also, my husband is here soon and he has been poking at me saying he wants to share something.

Speaker 2: 32:06

So, Casey, you can share what you want to share. Lucy off with that.

Speaker 5: 32:11

OK, this will change the topic just slightly, but it goes back to what you said at the beginning, and I actually do think there is a perfect missionary in his name, jesus Christ, and what made him perfect was he went around giving charity, and charity being the pure love of Christ. Back to your story about how you felt like you didn't do enough as a missionary, but it was all out of your hands. Mission, I work is about giving charity and extending love and that allows for healing. But not always is someone ready to receive that healing or to receive that love. And that's actually God's plan, because Satan's plan was I will be healed, I will be saved.

Speaker 5: 32:51

And if that were state, we wouldn't have a choice, whether we want to accept God or not to accept that healing. And at different times in our life we are able to accept that healing. It's through us. When missionaries go out, they extend that charity, that love, and it adds that third person into the room and that's Jesus Christ and he can help work through their lives. But sometimes we can just be the ignition of a fire, but sometimes we don't get to see that loving fully extended or the work done all the way through.

Speaker 3: 33:21

Thank you, that brings my heart comfort.

Speaker 1: 33:25

You're like Casey, shares a lot of good thoughts. It's usually in the background. Yeah, that reminds me of something that I thought of when going back to what you were saying of your mission and the advice that I give to missionaries when they go out. And I had a. Actually I had a really cool spiritual experience. I was.

Speaker 1: 33:52

I was in Alaska over the last summer. I was being a tour guide was really cool. I was telling people about all the plants that I knew nothing about and all the animals and other things is a lot of fun. And we were taking guests from the cruise ship pass. We're taking cruise ship passengers into the mountains on the ATVs and having some fun. And I was actually driving the bus this particular day, just shuttling back and forth I can't talk Back and forth between the cruise ship and the mountain that we were on. And I picked up a family. It was like a family of seven people or eight people, I don't remember but they asked questions, like they always do, like where are you from? Oh, utah, no way, we're from Utah.

Speaker 5: 34:43

Are you guys?

Speaker 1: 34:43

Mormons and they're like yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:46

And that was the first time I had seen an LDS individual besides my little 15 person Branch in like a month or so. So it was a nice breath of fresh air. And they had a son with them that was actually about to leave on his mission and, like I took him, I dropped him off and I didn't have any passengers with me as I was driving back to go pick up more passengers and I was just thinking of, like what would I say to this kid, like what would I tell him? And I just like start bawling, like as I'm driving down the road, so like a 45 minute drive, and I just cried the whole time and I was just thinking like wow, what would I say to this kid? And what I did end up saying to him.

Speaker 1: 35:40

It's the advice I give to all missionaries and to anybody listening to this episode that wants to go on a mission. This is the advice I would give to you. There are two great commandments Love the Lord, thy God, and love thy neighbor as thyself. As long as you focus on those two commandments, everything else will fall into place. You will receive God's grace and you will receive so much direction, inspiration, so much clarity and peace, so much comfort in the things that you do, as long as you follow the two great commandments.

Speaker 1: 36:18

I was not always the most obedient missionary, but I did things out of love. I remember the handbook and a lot of the rules in the mission. Like you, weren't allowed to do service more than X amount of hours in a day, and we did one service project took us five hours and we tore a guy's rear axle out of his suburban and then put a new one in. But I was the only person there and I'm not talking myself up, but I was the only person there that had the skills and the abilities to do it. And the gentleman needed a car, and so that's what we did, and because of that he came to church.

Speaker 1: 36:59

And so it's not focusing on the rules, it's not focusing on your insecurities, it's not focusing on the things that you're lacking. It's focusing on the love of the Savior, the love of your heavenly Father and the love that you will have for everyone else around you. And in Mosiah 2.17 it says and I tell you these things that you may learn wisdom, that you may learn that when you're in the service of your fellow beings, you're only in the service of your God. It's my dad's favorite scripture so I had to memorize it. It's a good one, yeah, it's the best one Service and love and charity, what Casey was saying, that is some of the most powerful forces of the universe and that gives I think that gives everyone that surrounds themselves with those things the power of God in so many ways.

Speaker 3: 38:02

I agree. This has been such a fun conversation because we've talked about so many things. I feel like that's what happens often when you talk about grace it just automatically brings up so many other topics because it's so intertwined with everything there's a lot of things that we share, like scriptures that I share.

Speaker 1: 38:27

How many times have I shared this on this podcast?

Speaker 2: 38:30

I'm like, should I share it again? Some people don't listen to all of them, and then you don't get to the time. But, scriptures are just so good and every time you breathe them, something else comes up that you didn't realize that before and you're like, oh, this could be applied in this part of my life. So Absolutely. That's the gospel, that's great.

Speaker 1: 38:50

That's the gospel. Everything is so intertwined, as you were saying, and so I've been studying so much about virtue, what virtue is and how I can involve that more into my life, and it goes right along with grace. Basically, all of the enabling powers of the Spirit, all the enabling powers of the gospel, they all work together as one. The gifts of the Spirit, virtue, grace, like it's all. It all is warm.

Speaker 3: 39:26

It's just so hard to kind of articulate it without like having experienced it for yourself, you know Like once you experience it, it's like so exciting and it's like all you want to talk about. At least in my experience I'm like everybody listen to this like cool experience that I have, but like Speaking it is sometimes like wait, I'm not quite getting it, like I it's hard to like nail right on the head, and I think there's some wisdom in that because it helps.

Speaker 3: 39:52

Like the process of just like speaking is also, like often for me, teaches myself. Sometimes I say things that I'm like whoa, until it came out of my mouth right now, and so I think like there's some wisdom in that, like, just like the practice of articulating your faith Will automatically just teach you so much more. And I think that's really cool that you guys are just constantly doing that through podcasts. Yeah, I try to speak as little as I can.

Speaker 2: 40:29

But I I guess I don't know if this will close it or what- but, I just it's a story that. What an experience that happened in my life that I can relate to. Grace, the atonement, whatever you know how it can be intertwined, but it's also kind of an embarrassing story.

Speaker 1: 40:47

We love those.

Speaker 2: 40:50

So my poor husband. He deals with my closeness and right. Like I don't think things all the way through sometimes, but this isn't wasn't the first time this happened, but anyways. So my husband was cleaning one of his Temple clothes to be cleaned. Before that I actually stained all her garments and they were all red. So we cleaned his temple clothes, his shoes, his like pants. I guess that's what you can say with the other ones and stuff.

Speaker 2: 41:38

And of course there was a Pink sock or some sort of sock or something in there that had a different color to it, that stings or like, left a pink tint, I guess, on his pants and shoes, and so when I was taking out the laundry and like folding them, put a little way, I noticed this. That was Like I was like, of course, okay.

Speaker 5: 42:03

Of course you do that.

Speaker 2: 42:04

Thank you. No, I'm not surprised. I was so nervous to tell Katie. I was like, oh my gosh, I was going to be so sad. But and of course it was his too, so I just had to add on to it. But I don't know, this experience was a little harder for me just because, like I don't know, it just hit harder for me because it was temple clothes and how the temple is so significant and our marriage and our lives.

Speaker 2: 42:33

And like our cabinets, you know, of course, you can replace them of course these stores and it's awesome, but it just it was kind of it was heartbreaking. I was like man like this is sad, especially. You know it wasn't my mind but I don't know.

Speaker 2: 42:50

So I like started like crying a little bit so I was like I'm sorry, like you know, like it just is a simple silly mistake, and I was, I prayed, I was like, please, like you know it's silly, but like, help me find something to help at least get the stain out the best that I can See, if I can try and revive this a little bit. You know, and you know I was reminded way back in my home where there was a lady that she had kind of like a similar experience and I remembered what she did and I don't know how I remember this, but like it stuck with me.

Speaker 2: 43:34

After that I was like, oh, that's cool, but I like that thought instantly came to my mind. My mind was like okay. So I got up and I was like I don't know if this is gonna work, I don't know if this is even what she said, but I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 2: 43:46

And so I got more water, I put some vinegar in the water and I got like a cloth and I didn't even touch the pants first because that was bigger and it wasn't like a very noticeable on the pants, but on the shoes it was really noticeable because it was silk or like that type of texture, so like picks up all colors. So I was like I'm gonna focus on the shoes first, and so I got the water on the cloth and I was on the floor and I was just kind of like scrubbing it nicely and like so hard I don't know, I just wanted to be extra careful and I was like praying, like before I did that I was. I prayed as like okay, this is what I thought of, like this is all that. Make my effort, this is my best effort to try and say this is not.

Speaker 2: 44:34

we can go to the store and I'm sorry you know, but this is my best effort. Please help me, Please help this work, and so I was sitting there scrubbing it and I got it all wet and everything. And then, like I started thinking about when Christ washed his disciples feet before he, died.

Speaker 2: 44:55

And like washing, like the shoes, is very symbolic of I don't know, feet are the worst part, you know like they're nasty, especially back then, like how awesome that was for him to do that, like how like amazing that picture and like active service was, and symbolically, when we go to the temple, and like the shoes that we wear like it's nasty, but it's it, you know. Like the clothes, like they help unite us and make our symbolizing, like how God can make us clean and like perfected, you know, and so I was thinking about that. And like how we, as people, we as disciples.

Speaker 2: 45:37

Our feet bring us to do the work you know, like that's how we get places, and so I was thinking of that. And then I thought of Mary, who washed the Savior's feet with her tears and the finest oils, and just like thinking of all this stuff, and then I thought about myself and. I imagined myself washing the Savior's feet. I don't know, I don't know why these like I started thinking about these, but it was such an amazing experience, just like sitting there I was crying and I was just like in the shoes and it was just like a humbling experience.

Speaker 2: 46:06

And I like my testimony grew because I was like wow, like I don't know, like I just I can't wait to see the Savior and like give all my efforts and that's all I had. Reminds me of little drummer boys song and the Christmas, like oh, he had this his drum and that's what he sacrificed, not to the Savior, but anyways, it was just a cool experience. And then after that I like my tears, you know, and I was like, okay, well, let's see how this, like if this does anything, and so I folded the like the pants. I didn't do anything to the pants, I was like I just want to see if this works on the shoes, and so I folded them and set them aside.

Speaker 2: 46:48

A couple hours went by and my husband came home and I was like I'm sorry, you know, and like I went to show him the damage. I didn't tell him what I did, but I just want to show him and we went and like I wanted to show him and like we kind of observed it and I didn't see any pink the pants, the shoes or anything like it was made, like it was white, like we, I feel like we've read it before and I was like like in my head I was like like no way, like this totally just happened, like that's so cool. Like I don't know, guys, maybe gonna grow like does the job, maybe that's I don't know, but either way, it was such a cool experience and I knew that God was aware.

Speaker 2: 47:31

It was Temple clothes. You know the importance of the temple, the importance of doing his work, but and also helped me realize how our sins maybe scarlet, but they can be made pure, white, as smell, just like the scripture says. And how, if we put our best efforts with the Savior, like what you were saying, what we've kind of been talking about do the best that we can.

Speaker 2: 47:57

We are imperfect, we have our sins, we have our weaknesses. But if you do your best work to make, to repent and allow God to work in your lives, he can make that scarlet white as snow and he can't help you and his grace can help you. He's very merciful and she's got to turn to him. Put your best effort, pray and know like this is what I've got and I know, without a doubt, my father, jesus Christ, will bring us out of that and they will guide us. They will guide us and help us become who we were meant to be and I don't know. The Atonement is so amazing and I'm so grateful for it and what it could do in our lives. And even though they're simple, silly mistakes, he also is aware of them too and he can make them better or help you grow from them. But that's just my story and I think it just resonates really well with what we've been talking about, just kind of give you an image of what he can do in your life, I think that's a great way to end it.

Speaker 1: 49:14

Amen, well, on that note, thank you, micaela, for sharing that. Yeah, we are getting pretty long, we're about 50 minutes, so I think it's safe to say that. But, yeah, so for our wonderful listeners, thank you so much for joining us today and thank you, kayla, for coming on with us, and your Instagram is Kayla's treasured thoughts. Yeah, Kayla's treasured thoughts Awesome. So for our listeners, feel free to go and give her a follow. Check out her amazing thoughts. I know a few of them have helped me.

Speaker 1: 49:50

It's amazing things that you're doing, so thank you. And yeah, so for any of you that haven't followed our Instagram, it's at rememberpodcast. That's where we post updates, cool, spiritual, inspirational things. We like the podcast Micaela or the podcast Instagram. Micaela does an excellent job of renting that, and if any of you folks have an amazing story that you'd like to share, feel free to DM us, reach out. We have a calendar that you can sign up on and we'd love to hear from you. And, yeah, remember him.