Right Now

Happy Sunday! :)

As the Provo part of my summer comes to a close I want to reflect on one of the most surprisingly awesome summers of my life. A few months ago I did not expect to be where I am right now. I expected to be in Varanasi, India. I had planned it all out perfectly. I had the plane ticket, the excitement and the internship. And then it was canceled. I remember sitting with Julie, dazed and wondering... what now? Of course it wasn't that bad. But at the time I just couldn't understand why my wonderful plans had crashed. Didn't Heavenly Father know how much I could have learned from going there? I didn't know where to start with planning my summer. I prayed about it constantly. The answer was: just go with the flow... trust me.

So I went with the flow-- something that I haven't done for a long time. Here's a fact about me: I like to have exciting plans to look forward to. They give me drive and enthusiasm for my day to day life. But that is also one of my weaknesses: I don't enjoy 'being in the moment' as much as I should. Going with the flow was a challenge for me at first-- I felt like Heavenly Father should be giving me more direction, I felt that maybe I just wasn't understanding what he wanted me to do.

Eventually I realized that what  he wanted from me was for me to be RIGHT HERE, right in the moment, doing what he asked me to do from day to day... even if it felt unplanned, unpredictable, and very unusual.

As I look back on May, June and July I am so amazed at EVERYTHING that has happened, all the opportunities I've had, all the AMAZING PEOPLE I've become friends with, the cool places I've seen and the lessons I've learned.

Let me share a few.

Draper Temple visit with Curt!

FHE family hike at Rock Canyon.

Hanging with Shybree one last time before she leaves on her mission. 

Hiking in Moab with my new friends :) Delicate Arch!

Helping out with Provo Rooftop Concerts (realizing how uniquely awesome Provo is); Kylie and I got to meet the Blue Aces-- we were pretty dang excited. 

Going camping in Strawberry... actually, the girls stayed in the cabin. We went shooting and swimming and overall it was perfect :) 

Making new, amazing friends! I have met sooo many new people in the last month. They are amazing and I'm so grateful I was here this summer to get tight with them. 

So there has been plenty more! But overall I am just overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude for the lessons I have learned about myself and about life and about others. I know I couldn't have had this experience any other way. My plans pale in comparison to God's plans. Because what I have gained from this summer is a greater satisfaction with my life, every day, and a greater sense of knowing who I am. I am confident that I am worth something and that I am filled with much more strength then I ever imagined. God doesn't want to us to be happy in the future. He wants us to be happy right NOW. Of course sometimes he lets us experience pain and sadness, but the juxtaposition makes feelings of joy that much more pronounced. 

For those of you who were part of this summer, thank you :) It gets even better from here! 

I'll be leaving Utah for a month but that is all part of this summer of blessings. Everything and anything is an opportunity to grow stronger and better when you keep Christ is your life. He is the light and the way. 

Love, 

Stéf