more cupcakes

One of my first tender mercies came when I was 15 years old. I was getting my patriarchal blessing. Before I received my blessing, I had been earnestly praying to Heavenly Father. I wanted two things from my patriarchal blessing. Now mind you-these prayers were in secret. No one but Heavenly Father knew the desires of my heart. The two things I wanted…I wanted to know if I was going to be married and be a mother. You see, there is nothing I wanted more than that. But I was an ugly, unloved by boys girl who thought I would never be married. I was embarrassed that that was a desire of my heart. The other thing—I did not want my lineage to be from the house of Ephraim. I wanted to be different. The time came for me to receive my blessing. One of the first blessings I received was a promise from Heavenly Father that I would be a mother in Zion. (YES!) The next part of my blessing was counsel from Heavenly Father telling me how cool it was to be from the house of Ephraim. He made it become a desirable thing. Beyond the blessing itself, what I received from this experience is that Heavenly Father is real. He hears and answers our prayers. Even those of a 15 year old girl.