He continues to enjoy summer time with the pool, since its too hot to do anything else. His hair is a little crazy but we love the curls and don't want to cut them off. Recently, Connor has begun to repeat everything he hears. He's ready to learn to pray so we've been teaching him. It has become such a routine now that if we forget to pray he reminds us. I just love little his little voice and the way he pronounces words.
This guy LOVES books
messy hair
how does this even happen?
chilling at the mall…..waiting patiently
I was asked to give a talk in church about the atonement. To put my fears into perspective, I have only been asked to speak one other time…in a youth speaker time slot (5 minutes)...6 years ago! Public speaking is one of my biggest fears. So, immediately satan started working on me by filling my mind with negative thoughts about being assigned the subject of the atonement, as well as, the actual thought of giving a talk. I know I'm far from perfect, and I did not want to speak about how all of us, including myself, need to repent for our sins. Additionally, I was one of the adult speakers with a much longer time slot to fill. I was very nervous!
While preparing and reading different talks, I realized that God had chosen me specially for this talk because in fact it was something that I needed to learn more about to help me with the current trials I was going through. Here is the actual talk I gave:
Good morning. For those who don’t
know me I am Hanna Harris. My family and I moved into the ward 6months ago from
Utah but we are originally from Georgia. We have a two year old named Connor.
This is my second time giving a talk and no this is not an invitation to be asked to speak
more often.
I feel it is impossible to
put into words the full meaning of the Atonement, which is the most important
event in the world. The Atonement is the sacrifice Jesus Christ
made to help us overcome sin, adversity, and death. Jesus’s atoning sacrifice
took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. He paid the
price for our sins, took upon Himself death, and was resurrected. As
we accept His Atonement and apply it in our lives, we can return to live with
Him and our Heavenly Father forever.
We can’t fully understand how
Jesus suffered for our sins. But we know that in the Garden of Gethsemane, the
weight of our sins caused Him to feel such agony that He bled from every pore. As
He hung upon the cross, Jesus again felt the weight of our sins even as He
willingly suffered painful death by one of the cruelest methods ever known.
We live in a world full of suffering
and trials. The Atonement is the greatest evidence we have of our Heavenly
Father’s love for us because we can use it on a daily basis. Much
of our suffering is not necessarily our fault either. Unexpected events, circumstances,
illnesses, and even death surround us and our lives here on earth.
Additionally, we may suffer afflictions because of the actions of others.
Why does the Lord allow
suffering and adversity to come to us in this life?
Elder Dallin H. Oaks
taught, “Our needed conversions are often achieved more readily by
suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquility.” These trials and oppositions
we go through are part of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. We all must encounter
enough to bring us to an awareness of our Father’s love and of our need for his
help through the Christ’s atonement.
What can cause a lot of
frustrations, as we face these trials and oppositions, is that they seem to
never go away. Even though the burdens aren’t lifted from us, we can receive
strength through Christ’s atonement. By calling on Heavenly Father for this
help, He will help us to bear each burden; thus enabling to continue with joy through
this soul-stretching journey. After all, while the adversary clearly desires
our lasting misery, the Father and the Son truly and constantly desire our
everlasting happiness.
Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote:
“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to
our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith,
fortitude, and humility. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and
tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”1
While in Liberty Jail, Joseph
Smith was given the following council from the Lord, “And if thou shouldst be
cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death
passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge
conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens
gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above
all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know
thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be
for thy good. The Son of Man [Christ] hath descended below them all. Art thou
greater than he?”
No. We are not greater than
Christ. However, Christ suffered through the atonement so that we could seek
strength from him. Christ describes his suffering in Doctrine & Covenants,
section 19 verse 18 which reads, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the
greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to
suffer both body and spirit and would that I might not drink the bitter cup,
and shrink”
As we confront our own trials
and tribulations, we too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we
“might not … shrink”—meaning to retreat or to recoil Not shrinking is much more
important than surviving! Likewise, partaking of a bitter cup without becoming
bitter is part of the emulation of Jesus.
How much I wish life could be
an easy blissful experience. I know through the trials I have endured I am a
stronger and better person. When looking back at my hard times I see how much
growth has taken place inside of me…and for that I am grateful!
I know I am guilty of
retreating into myself and wanting to push everyone away when I come to a trial
in life. But learning to push through the hard times with a smile has taught me
that hard times will past.
One of the things I have
learned to place myself in others shoes to have empathy. I strive to do this
even if I’m not experiencing the same trails. Another lesson I’ve learned, as
I’ve relied on the Lord’s atonement while going through trials is that we can
either choose to be miserable or happy during the trial. It is easy to be
bitter and hold a grudge against others, if they’ve afflicted us, but doing so
will only hurt yourself more. This bitterness eats away at your soul. Lastly, it’s
when we rely on the power of the atonement because we know Jesus has felt our
pain, stress, and hardships; to help us let go of all the unfairness. This is
when we see a change of attitude and become better people who are capable of
feeling joy during difficult times. Brothers and Sisters, He is waiting to help.
We just need to ask for and rely on the strength of the atonement, having faith
that the help will arrive.
There is much that I do not
know. I do not know the details of the organization of matter into the
beautiful world we live in. I do not understand the details of the Atonement,
how the Savior’s atoning sacrifice can cleanse all repentant people, or how the
Savior could suffer, “the pain of all men”.
But while I don’t know
everything, I know the plain and simple gospel truths that lead to salvation
and exaltation. I know that the Savior did suffer the pain of all men and that
all repentant people can be cleansed from sin. And what I don’t know or don’t
completely understand, with the powerful aid of my faith, I bridge the gap and
move on. President Monson said “If the foundation of faith is not embedded in
our hearts, the power to endure will crumble”.
As Elder Craig A. Cardon of the
Seventy has explained, “If we exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
enabling power of His Atonement strengthens us in our moment of need, and His
redeeming power sanctifies us as we ‘[put] off the natural man’…. This brings hope
to all, especially to those who feel that recurring human weakness is beyond
the Savior’s willingness to help and to save.”
The Apostle Paul taught, in Hebrews
chapter 11 verse 1, that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen”. I want to expand on the word “Hope” in correlation with
enduring through trials.
Real hope keeps us “anxiously
engaged” and is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the
spiritual spine. Hope is serene, not giddy, eager without being naive, and
pleasantly steady without being smug. Hope is realistic anticipation which
takes the form of a determination—not only to survive adversity but, moreover,
to “endure … well” to the end.
Genuine, ultimate hope helps
us to be more loving even while “the love of many waxes cold”. We are to be
more holy, even as the world ripens in iniquity; more courteous and patient in
a coarsening and curt world, and to be of strong hearts even when the hearts of
others fail them.
Just as doubt, and despair go
together, so do faith, hope, charity, and patience. The latter qualities must
be carefully and constantly nurtured, however, whereas doubt and despair, like
dandelions, need little encouragement in order to sprout and spread. Alas,
despair comes so naturally to the natural man!
President Henry B. Eyring
taught: “It [HOPE] will comfort us when we must wait in distress for the
Savior’s promised relief that He knows, from experience, how to heal and help
us. And faith in that power will give us patience as we pray and work and wait
for help.
Faith and Hope are principles
of action and they are strong beliefs of truth within our souls which will
motivates us to do good.
I have experienced relying on faith and the atonement as
well as not relying on it.
Prior to and during my pregnancy I worked full time while
my husband was pursuing his degree in Finance, full time.
Pregnancy was not easy for me but I knew I had to push
through work to help provide for my family. I was bitter, angry, and hopeless.
So much so, that I was seriously thinking I wouldn’t be able to endure that
current trial. Everyday was full of misery.
Obviously I made it through the trial, but I came to
realize there was a better way. I realized that I could have turned and relied
on the Lord. He could have given me the strength to focus on the eternal
perspective and allowed me to focus on the miracle that was taken place in our family
life.
After our little guy was born, the thought of going back
to work and leaving him dug at me. My husband and I knew there was no other way
since he still had a year till graduation. Learning from my struggle through
the pregnancy, we relied on the Lord to guide us and give us the strength to do
the right thing. We felt a prompting that everything would work out and that I
needed to quit work and learn how to be a mother. I quit work soon after. Within
two weeks the Lord blessed my husband with finding a part time job to make ends
meet, and then a month and a half later was offered a position that turned into
his career. I’m not saying life was easy during that time, but I was at peace. I
knew that everything would work out.
I know the Lord was waiting for my husband and I to learn
to have faith and to ask for His help, so that he could bless our lives and
give us strength to overcome the trails of a young, growing family. When I am
in the mist of a trial, I rely on this experience and the knowledge that I can
plead to the father to help. The blessings may not come immediately but I hold
tight to the past blessings and have faith that he will bless me again.
I bear my testimony that the atonement of Jesus Christ is
here for all of us. The atonement is more than the forgiving of sins. It is for
us to cling to during daily life. Through faith and hope in the atonement we
will have the strength to push through and learn the things to that will refine
us into becoming the best we can be.
Say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Started a baseball team at the recreation center called the Run Homers with a group of guys from church. Saturday mornings they meet up for practice and have games on Tuesday nights.
The Boyd's Visit
Some of our best friends when we lived in Macon, Ga; Eric and Liz, happened to be passing through Dallas on their way to Utah. We had not seen them in almost 3 years and they had not yet met Connor. We met at a mexican restaurant that happen to be in a bad part of town. We joked around that we had to recreate the atmosphere of how it use to be living in Macon. It was great to see them for the short visit and made us realize how much we miss their genuine friendship.
Grandpa Jack Visits
Grandpa (Dad) said he wanted to come out to visit us and of coarse we were ecstatic! We were, however, very sad that Nana (Mary) wouldn't be able to come out with him. Since Dad owns his own business it is difficult for him to get away and leave his clients without his aid for a few days. He worked it out, however, and was able to do a long weekend with us. We had a great time just being together and hanging out. I love the relationship Connor has with his Grandpa, they love each other so much. We were able to go to a hands on science museum that was a lot of fun, not sure who had more fun Connor or Grandpa.
Picking Grandpa up from the airport
Giant sit-n-spin
pure enjoyment
tippy toes
selfie
Big Bubbles
lego car making time
Logan's tower
Bedtime story with Grandpa
Can you tell someone likes to swing?
