judge ye not

i love reading other people's blogs. especially when they're uplifting and talk about their trials and successes. it makes me want and try to be a better person. one particular one that i read was a simple post about a happy birthday shout out to her SIL. first off, this girl and i go way back to the beginning of my semesters at byu-idaho. we played basketball against each other and she was the off-the-wall type of girl. very outspoken. show off during time-outs. the list goes on. well, i was very judgmental about her. a few semesters into transferring there, we got stuck in a science lab together. i was going to freak out. we were the only girls in that group. now, to make the story short, i was very wrong about her. we got to know each other and i actually started to like her. no, we didn't become best friends, but i gained respect for her. since then, she has returned from a lds mission and her facebook status updates are amazing, she loves, loves sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and her blog posts are just the same.

before the post about her SIL, she blogged about one of her guy friends there in rexburg. about what an example he was. about not being judgmental. just what i needed to hear. crazy that it was on her blog, whom i had judged from the beginning. why not sacrifice your blessings to bless others' lives? we're not going to run out of blessings. our father in heaven loves us too much to withhold those blessings. i need to do better. i want to do better. it's just sometimes i don't know how or where to start. i do know that i have been blessed with the best sister anyone could have. stuck in between 6 mean, ugly, loving brothers, we definitely had to work together so we didn't get our hair permanently torn out. she was always there when i was going through a rough patch of my life, even though she was clear across the other side of the world, serving the lord, being selfless. she was able to serve many communities through her platform of music and share her love for it, to help young women be their best self. i love my sister. we've had our ridiculous moments of stealing one's clothes, but we'd get over it 10 minutes later. there's no way i could go without talking to my sister. it was the hardest thing to not verbally talk to her while she was on her mission. i'm so glad that we could both be mommies, especially have new babies the same time. both boys. what a great example she is to me. love you janelley belly!