A Bushel and a Peck

Toward the end of my freshman year of college, I began to experience increased anxiety. I'd always dealt with low-level anxiety, but this was different. I had moments where I lost my ability to function like a "normal" person. I wouldn't call them panic attacks, as I didn't experience the physical symptoms which I understand are typically involved in panic attacks. Rather, I became completely overwhelmed by the fear that I could not handle a single thing at that moment. Occasionally, I couldn't do much more than curl up in a ball and hope everything would stop feeling so...big. During these anxiety attacks, I felt like everything was just too open - something like the opposite of claustrophobia. I needed pressure on my body, especially on my chest. I needed things to just be smaller for a while. That fall, it just got worse. The attacks became more frequent and more intense, and I fell into severe depression as well. I struggled to get out of bed some day...

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." - Mother Teresa There have been a lot of conversations going on lately about controversial topics in the LDS church. I have seen a lot of comments flying around, many of the "you must not really have faith in God/be a follower of Christ/be a worthy member of the church if you believe that " variety. There's a good chance we've all thought things like this at some point. I know I'm guilty of it.  The problem is, if we are busy trying to determine whether we are more "worthy" than other people, we are too busy to love them as Christ loves them. Christ sacrificed everything for every single one of us, "worthy" or not. And really, none of us are actually deserving of that level of love and sacrifice from such a perfect, powerful being. Yet he suffered and died for all of us, even those he knew would fight him at every step, hurt him, and hurt those he loves. He chose to experience ...