Institute...

so tonight i was reading in the ensign...and i came across an article titled "making spiritual education a priority"...as i read it makes me think about my own experience and how much institute and spiritual education mean to me in my own life...wow what a blessing. i attended college for almost 3 years before ever going to institute...i never wanted to go alone so i just didnt go and i missed out on so much...but i cant focus on that but i can focus on the blessings that came when i finally decided to make the decision to begin going. It almost brings me to tears when i think about the eternal blessings that came from attending. I encourage every college age person to attend institute because i have never heard of anything bad coming from it, it has always been good. for me i gained the 2 biggest blessings in my whole life. Because i attended institute i met my best friend tommy. If i wouldnt have gone i would have never met him. looking back i know that heavenly father put him in my path. i was at a low point in my life. i felt so alone, i felt like i had no friends. Yes i decided on my own to go to institute but its not like i put myself out there and talked to people. i was shy and im not very out going so i would just sit there with brett and talk to each other. every week tommy would come and talk to us and be nice to us. just what i needed. a good friend to talk to. thats what we truly became. the best of friends, it got to the point where we saw each other everyday and i never knew at the beginning that tommy would become someone i love so much and someone that means so much to me. I dont know what i would do without him. He completes me and is my everything. even though he is so far from me i still feel so close to him as i drawer nearer to my savior and as i hear from him and his miracles as a missionary. its amazing how close we have become even though we have been so far from each other. Its like a different kind of closeness if that makes any sense at all. The next big blessing i recieved from attending institute is my answer to serve my mission. I would have never had the idea to even serve a mission if it werent for lessons heard in institute and honestly i dont think i would have been intune spiritually to recieve my answer to serve. what a great decision i made and something that will bless me for the rest of my life. i will forever be grateful for institute, my best friend and boyfriend tommy, and my mission. Im grateful for the reminder i had tonight of how important it is to gain education spiritually and thru-out our busy weeks. it keeps us strong and helps us feel close to god. even though my schedule doesnt always although me to go to institute i need to be better about studying and being close to my father in heaven because when i really think about it, nothing else really matters in life, what really matters is that i do what i need to now so that i can live with my father in heaven again one day...=)