Life: The ordinary miracle

The other day a friend asked me a very sincere question, "Ashley, who are you besides spiritual" At first I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or a complaint. The truth is I didn't have an answer in that moment and it has been on my mind ever since. To answer the question I think two other questions must be addressed. First, who am I? Second what is spirituality? The answer to these questions together can solve the mystery here. First, who am I? Well I am your typical Mormon girl and wear a few different titles. First, I am child of God. Second, I am daughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, -a member of a family. Third, I am a social media guru, and a merchandiser- I am a worker. Fourth- I am a friend. Fifth- I am a writer, image designer, music lover, event planner- I am a creator. Sixth- I am a BYU, U of A, Steelers, Cardinals, Red Sox watching sports fan! Seventh- I am a get lost in the words, lose track of time, book worm. Eighth- I love to ask questions, parti...

 This is from a guest blogger. He says it well so I'm spreading the word! :) So this is is going to be kinda long and I apologize, but too bad, nobody is making you read this. So I've seen a several people link to the article about the fact that Ordain Women is going to be wearing purple to the general women's meeting, and saying that you shouldn't wear purple. So if you didn't know, Ordain Women is wearing purple to the meeting. Now, I'm all for avoiding accidental profe ssions of support for creeds you don't support, but I have a totally different view on what we should do to about it. Now, this is not a post about my feelings for the ordain women movements, my feelings about about the general church memberships response to the ordain women movement, or my feelings toward the color purple, that would be a different post for a different time, but for the sake of understanding where I am coming from: I disagree with ordain women but support t...

As you watch the news recently, you may have noticed the media trying to portray that Mormon women want the priesthood. I think it should be made clear that this not the stance of most Mormon Women! There is a small group of extremists going around claiming that they are ready to receive the priesthood. Many of these sisters say that they are active LDS women. If this is true, why are they directly going against the council of the prophet who has asked them not to demonstrate on temple square?   One of the unique positions that we as members of the church have is to know that here is a prophet on the earth today and that God speaks through that prophet. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read “whether by my voice or the voice of my servants it is the same” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38) The way that I understand this scripture is that if the prophet and first presidency of the church are speaking it is the same as if the Lord is speaking. Well, the council has been given. T...

Recently, I had the chance to take a long road trip with my family. Road trips are the best because so many crazy things can happen, but you also have quite a lot of time to think. We had a minivan and a moving truck in a caravan from Utah to Washington. When I began the trip I noticed quickly that it was easier for me to watch for the all clear so that when I changed lanes, or speeds, or anything it would be possible for the moving truck to follow too. I was watching in my rear view mirror for the ideal time to get over and out of the way. Things were going pretty smoothly. Every move I made was calculated and planned. If traffic was coming up quickly behind us I would wait and let them pass before making our move. My little brother was driving the moving van. Like clock work if I moved over he would quickly follow my lead. He would check his mirrors too, but my path was an extra insurance that he wasn't missing something in His blind spots. We also had a walkie talkie set and w...

Have you ever had those days when you wake up and your to do list has more things on it then there are hours in the day? Have you ever felt like you had too much to do and far too little time with which to do it? Well recently this is where I found myself. With good intentions abounding I started to commit myself to helping people with thing after thing. Suddenly along with 2 jobs, 2 side jobs,  and 2 callings in church, I also had several other volunteer opportunities, and many commitments that I was unable to fully complete. Meanwhile, I also had a growing pile of dirty laundry, an empty refrigerator, black circles were forming under my eyes,  I was becoming less patient with everyone around me, and I was becoming unhappy from a thing that usually brings me great amounts of joy. The things I said that I would do were happening very slowly, if at all. Then it occurred to me that even though I had the intentions of helping people I wasn't helping them at all because I wa...

Yesterday a family friend passed away suddenly. Last week was the 10 year anniversary of my Father's passing. My friends just got out of a very long relationship. My other friend's wife walked out on him. There are wars, crime, and violence all around.We live in a world that is not exempt from things that are sad and hard. As I have been pondering these events a beautiful and simple scripture has been coming to my mind. Said the Savior, "Blessed are those that mourn, they shall be comforted." At first I wondered how on earth someone could consider mourning to be a blessing, but as I reflected on my life's experiences I gained a testimony of this principle. Mostly I came to understand for me at least, the value of comfort.  In John 14:26-27 we read:    26  But the  a Comforter ,  which is  the  b Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my  c name , he shall  d teach  you all things, and bring all things to your remembr...

Sometimes in life you find yourself in what could become a sticky situation.Tonight I was asked to teach a class about Google+.  Beforehand a presentation was made and practiced, activities were prepared, and it was scheduled to be smooth sailing. Fast forward to 3:45 PM, the precise moment when I showed up to give this said presentation. I walk in and upon further inspection I realized that the room I was teaching in didn't have a computer. Within about 6 minutes students started showing up. So, what did I do? That's right I went old school and taught a class about social media using a white board and a marker. What I learned from this situation comes back to the age old adage, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or "Come what may and love it" from Joseph B. Wirthlin. I think that life can be a lot like that classroom at times. We get going on a path and we think we have everything planned out and prepared and then the good Lord uses his sense of humor and m...