MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

As I sit down to write this blog post…my life has been changed forever. When someone special comes into your life they have that effect. Some of you might have seen my changed relationship status on Facebook. Yes, I have a girlfriend. I haven’t had a girlfriend in over two years! Quite ironic that my last blog post was all about what it means to be alone. I never thought it would happen to me. I was beginning to be a professional on alone time. But, Heavenly Father in his indiscriminate outpouring of love decided to give me an early Christmas present.

Heather came into my life as I like to call it, from out of thin air…literally, because she added me on Facebook! I popped up on the “people you may know” list on the side. She has family here at Midwestern university in the medical school and so that was the connection. I wasn’t going to let a drop dead gorgeous girl casually just add me like that without some sort of dialogue and so I pursued. This was way back on october 23rd. We didn’t go on our first date until the saturday after Thanksgiving, the 26th. We were both dating a lot when we met, in fact we both had multiple dates that week and I had already cancelled on her on a Monday and tried to make her a Wednesday morning date!!! But something was telling me this date would be special. So I saved saturday night, the night before I was supposed to leave, for her. I am so glad I did. We both had the most amazing first date of our lives!!! I never believed in love at first sight until I met Heather. My jaw dropped instantly when she opened the door. Not only was she pretty but she was poised and confident and beaming with light. At dinner we were finishing each others sentences. She had read my blog before the date so we were able to dive deeper into conversation instead of the standard first date questions.

Since then it has been a beautiful blur. I have told myself before I would never date someone from Utah…in fact I left the taste with a bitter taste…but the Lord has a sense of humor. So the next weekend after we met I found myself on a plane flying back to Utah, and dying to get there as soon as possible. Ha!!!! She is now with me in Arizona and has been for a few days…Im flying her out to CA for New Years. We are making the distance work because we both want to. Life could not be sweeter and the opportunity to date during the Christmas season is magical. I am so happy. I already care about Heather so much…

Christmas is all about being selfless and giving of yourself. This Christmas season the story, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is always popular classic. It was mentioned by Pres. Monson in his Christmas devotional. Scrooge’s heart is changed forever as he lets love back into his life. Recently I went to the play at the Hale Center Theatre and read the book. There was a point in the play where I was overcome with emotion and the spirit of the message entered my heart.

Bob Cratchet is kneeling by the grave of Tiny Tim in what is part of the vision shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come…He starts to sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman…

“God rest you merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our Saviour

Was born on Christmas-day,

To save us all from Satan’s pow’r

When we were gone astray:

O tidings of comfort and joy,

comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.”

I never cry but my eyes definitely filled with water as I thought about those words. Here I was on a date at this play with my dream woman. I feel undeserving of her in so many ways. Yet I was able to apply the words of the song directly to me in that moment.

God loves us so much that he will give us gifts even when we feel undeserving. He loves unconditionally, even when we have gone astray. Sometimes we feel abandoned in the painful trails off the path of righteousness. But the Lord has promised,

3 Nephi 22:7-8, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord they Redeemer.”

For awhile I felt abandoned by the Lord in the dating scene…I got discouraged after years of tireless dating and doing whats right and not having the results of a companion. A+B=C right? If I was praying and doing everything I could I should be entitled to have the blessing of finding the woman of my dreams right? I felt cheated by the Lord. All of my friends married and moving on and even my baby sister with two kids. I sank into dating depression and was very hard on myself, thinking it was all my fault. I gave up for a while.

Oh how wrong I was in my thinking!!! The “blessing” as we call it of meeting someone special is not the result of a righteous formula but is a gift. It cannot be purchased or found on ones own. It is a gift from heaven, and God will give it to you when the time is right. If it is a “blessing” then it is one of those blessings often withheld. I know that my Heavenly loves me so much. He never stops giving me good gifts, even when I don’t deserve them.

In fact he has told us that he would in the scriptures…

Matthew 7:7-11 states, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

My earthly father is a great gift giver. I am the oldest of five, yet he loves us all unconditionally. He has given me some pretty awesome gifts over the years…He knows just what I like and want and no matter what stage I am at in my life he shows he loves me through gifts. Just recently i flew home and he took all us kids to Kohls clothing store. Everything was a good deal he said so get whatever you want. I got a nice new winter jacket. My brother, recently returned from Africa on a mission and so he piled both arms high with clothes. My dad was giving to us freely. He does so much more that I can’t even begin to write it all here. And so the above scripture helps me relate to how my Heavenly Father feels about me.

Heavenly Father wants us to continue to ask him for the gifts we desire. He needs to know our heart is with him. This desire is often tested. Before I was ready to meet Heather I had to go through some real tests. When I moved to Arizona I renewed my hope in the plan. I decided the worst possible thing I could do would be to give up hope, and that there had to be some girl out there for me. I changed some of my habits and I really slowed my life down. I was trying to show the Lord that I still desired the gift of finding someone to love. I got on my knees and prayed to Heavenly Father to hear my prayers. With Thanksgiving break approaching I decided to exercise faith and go on a quest to find that person the Lord was going to prepare. I had some great prospects and so I was going to explore each one to see. And so I sat out on a quest to find her. I drove over 1,000 miles and spent a ton of money before I did.

From Arizona to Los Angeles to Las Vegas…and then Utah it was a vacation just me and my Pontiac G6. I lived out of my car and stayed in multiple friends houses. There were plenty of ups and downs along the way. Towards the end of my quest I became discouraged again thinking I will just have  to give up again because this is too hard and I don’t feel like I’ve found her. But on my very last date of my quest, the night before I was supposed to drive back to Arizona for school, I found Heather.

How grateful I am for her as an early Christmas present. She is such an angel. Like any precious gift I want to treat her right. I wouldn’t want to break what we have, share her with anyone else or give her away. I am the luckiest man in the world. I know God gives us good gifts if we ask and exercise faith. It may feel like he doesn’t love us if we don’t get what we want right away but this is all part of his plan. He wants us to continually seek after him and then he will give us what we desire when the timing is right.

He gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ to a world who had gone astray. Christ can save us from Satan’s power. Let us all look to him during this Christmas season and thank him and cherish every good gift he has given us. Lets spread the comfort of joy of Christmas and give our own good gifts as well.

Marry Christmas to everyone!!!!!