When I was playing volleyball at Western Wyoming Community College, Kortnie (Christiansen) Ballesteros became one of my biggest role models. Kortnie was from Tremonton, Utah and was on the volleyball team. For those of you who know Kortnie, she is always upbeat and happy. I can't remember a time when she would ever say an unkind word about another person. She is easy to talk to and quick to help whenever needed. During the season, I asked Kortnie if she would fill my IPod with music. When she returned it, I found a folder called "From Kortnie" with 2 things in it. First was a talk from President Hinckley, one that I love to listen to when I need re-motivated for life. The second made a lasting impression on me. It was called "Advice from Elder Busche."
This talk was given at a BYU Devotional in 1996 from Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Quorum of the Seventy. It came to me at just the right time in my life. It is essentially a list of thoughts to ponder and seek identification with. Whenever I feel discouraged or simply down in the dumps, I have turned to this talk (which is still on my IPod). At various times in my life, a different individual thought I had not considered before touches my heart and make a difference for me. The very first advice he gives is this: "Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks." This thought always touches my heart first. At times in our life, we may wake up feeling physically tired or just emotionally weak, and this advice can help us through. "Embrace THIS day!" It doesn't say tomorrow or next Saturday or when you finish school or when this pregnancy is over! It says, "Embrace this day...., no matter how it looks." That is something I have tried to adopt into my life. Especially during this pregnancy, when I am constantly feeling sick and even when I do feel good, I am just emotionally drained and worrying all the time, learning to embrace THIS day can really help me through this difficult times.
When I was at Western Wyoming and Kolt was on his mission, there was another piece of advice from this talk that really helped me. It is actually the very last words of this talk. "When you are compelled to give up something, or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better. I can still remember how I felt when I listened to this the very first time. One of the things that I was compelled to give up was Kolt. That wasn't an easy thing for me at all. It was so hard to live without my best friend and my other half. Every day was a new test for me. However, when I applied the "Embrace this day" advice and listened to this advice, I quickly learned that "God wanted to give me something better." I didn't know what it was at the time, but I cannot even list all the "better things" I learned from the 2 years we spent apart. The most important thing God gave me was my eternal family with my sweetheart and our sweet little baby. I am so happy that I made that sacrifice because I got the best gift in the whole world...my family.
If you have 7 minutes, I really hope you all will watch this video. I promise you that you will get something out of it that will help you in your life right now. It's amazing how that works! And if you read this, you will now know the story behind the title of this blog, "Embrace This Day".
