Letters to Pearl

Read Pearl's story here.

Dear Pearl,

At the beginning of your life, you are a symbol of hope for so many people. As hard as it may be to hang on, you're helping the rest of the world hang on through whatever trial they may be facing--including me. It's always hard climbing up the mountain but once you get to the top, the view is spectacular.


Remember you are a daughter of God. He loves you and sent you here to remind us all of His love.

I want you to know that God is with you. He has angels watching over you constantly.

I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. John 14:18

The world simply needed a miracle and it was you. I want you know that everyday miracles happen and they will continue to happen. You have helped bring so many people together.

Please remember that beauty comes from the heart. Being beautiful isn't about makeup or models in a magazine. It's about love and how much love we can share. Beauty is what is inside your heart and  you have a perfect, whole heart. You are so beautiful Pearl and God has a marvelous plan for you.

You are great, wonderful and noble sweet baby. You bring the world joy every single day. Everyone is praying for you to pull through.

Love you lots.

xoxoxo

~Lis

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Keep Walking

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I have had to remind myself several times to keep walking, keep trying and to move forward.

When God closes a door, He always opens a window. I am currently looking for my window. The hardest trial of life came this summer unexpectedly when my husband asked for a divorce. He said that I wasn't enough and that I am an awful person. 

In the beginning I broke down. I went to New York and saw my favorite city alone. Luckily, my aunt understood that I needed that time. I remembered my passions and what I used to love before I was married. I remembered who Lisa is and what she wants to do in the future.

As I've been working on divorce papers, packing up my dream home or what I thought was my dream . . . I have had help. Thanks to my sweet friend Lauren for being my rock through it all. To Kylee for amazing dinners and lifting my spirituality when I thought God had abandoned me. To Lindsay for late night walks and a spontaneous trip to Trader Joe's as I needed some motherly guidance since my own mother is so far away. 

Through the thick and thin, I have had to work to find joy. Yes, I have found it. It's in the quiet moments of the sun setting. It has been in the sweet text messages of an old friend making sure I'm okay. It has been in the music that I love. Even with the world crashing down upon me, joy can be found.

It is a reminder that it will be alright in the end. 

There are still several things for me to figure out. There's the question of where to go to from here. I've been waiting to hear back from a couple of internships back East in pursue of my dream to be a journalist. There's still the question of how much alimony and if I get to keep my car or not. There's still the question of what to do with all my stuff and how to get it to wherever I'm moving.

I just have to remember to trust in God and believe in good things to come. 

Yes, there are many good things to come. I am growing stronger and I have learned that I am enough.

Sail On

I have been learning more about enjoying the simple things. I now find myself on a new adventure where things that once mattered, won't matter anymore. Time to clean out, take only what's important and move forward. 

That's all one can do . . . keep moving forward and sail on.

"Many a sailor has been storm-tossed on a windy night in the midst of unfamiliar seas. Brave seafarers know that they must press forward. "Sail on! Sail on! Sail on and on!" they call to their crew. And so must we. When we are tossed and turned by life's currents, we move forward, we carry on. Difficult though it may be, we set our sail and find our way.

American scholar Oliver Wendell Holmes wisely observed: "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. . . we must sail sometimes with wind and sometimes against it,--but we must sail, and no drift, nor lie at anchor."

The well-known saying is true: A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are made for. And neither are we. We are designed to learn and grow--in wisdom and in experience. We are created to sail--sometimes in calm and smooth waters but often through rough storms.

In physics we learn of inertia, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its state of motion or rest. We may feel the same tendency when we have suffered setbacks and experienced heartaches. We may feel defeated. We may want to stop trying in an attempt to protect ourselves from future failures. But by challenging such thoughts and not surrendering to the forces of inertia, we discover new strength. We keep sailing, and we become better at it. We refuse to stagnate, and somehow we find ourselves moving forward.

Yes, mistakes, setbacks, and even disasters happen. But the only way to find growth and happiness is not give up but to move forward--and keep sailing." 

Sunday Thoughts

This is what I've been thinking about lately. Some words are hard for me to say to myself. "I am enough. I am beautiful. I am strong."

It's a struggle and a goal of mine to say those words.

"You are enough. You are beautiful. You are strong. You can do anything."

Happy Sunday!

photos taken by me: Tucson night view, Long Island Beach-NJ, NYC night view from the airplane

Sunday Thoughts-Light

Taken one sunny afternoon while walking through Central Park.

When I first moved back to Arizona, I thought it had the brightest sun of anywhere in the world. I loved it and it's warm January weather constantly brought a smile to my face.

Lately, the light has been fading. It feels that even though this is one of the hottest, brightest times of the year--darkness is everywhere. I've never seen the sun and still felt like it was dark outside, until now.

Major life changes have been spiraling downward and all I can do is watch for the most part. You'll have to forgive me for my blogging hiatus.

Yet, even in darkness God knows how to put light into our lives.

Sunset in Sahuarita

He gave me my sweet friend Lauren and a safe place to stay. He gave me the strength that I have needed to organize my things. He gave me the love of a complete stranger who to this day, I've never met or even spoken with.  God has given me the sun and gorgeous sunsets. He gave me love from my family.

When struggling, I believe that one can choose to become closer to God.

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." -Doctrine and Covenants 84:88


I am being lifted up. Things will work out. There is light at the end of the storm.

Last night's storm with light at the end in Sahuarita.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -Martin Luther King, Jr. 

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Sunday Thoughts

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

We don't know why, they just do.

I once asked myself, "Why?" in tiny town, in the middle of nowhere, all the way in Brazil. It was my first day in the mission field. My companion had taken me to lunch at the Area President's home and once it was over she announced that we were going to visit a sick woman. Little did I know that meant we were visiting a woman who had had a stroke and we were going to bathe her.

That moment must have been humiliating to the woman as two American girls undressed her, bathed her, changed her diaper; yet, she couldn't tell us. Old age was not kind to this woman.

I was told that she was a very faithful member of our church and used to go to church devotedly every Sunday. Now the stroke had left her paralyzed and since no has cars in that part of the world, she wasn't able to go.

While I was lost in thought and a little shocked, my companion turned to me, "You need to give her a message of hope."

"Ohhh-kay," the word barely came out of my mouth. My Portuguese wasn't understandable and I could only say phrases here and there.

All of a sudden in my mind this scripture came to me, "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be heard." (Doctrine and Covenants 25:12) I wanted to sing a prayer for her and the song came to mind.

"Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace? Where in my need to know, where can I run?"

I pulled out my little Portuguese hymn book and began to sing like I never sang before.

"He answers privately, reaches my reaching, in my Gethsamane,  Savior and Friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant he is and kind, love without end."

A feeling of peace came. A smiled followed.

It turned out to be her favorite hymn.

And it became a theme for the rest of mission as I battled hardships and illness. Only the Savior knows what we're going through and He will always love us no matter what.

I did finish my 19 months in Brazil and worked diligently. I survived.


Today, I sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" in sacrament meeting and thought of the story above. Lately, I've been battling a long and hard battle. I was able to remind myself that peace will come and that the Savior knows of my needs. He has been through my personal Gethsemane and will not leave me alone in my darkest hour.