"Prepare" - Ponderize - Week 24

There's so much on my mind at this time.  How I wish I could find words to adequately give my thoughts expression.  Maybe if I could lay them all out, I'd be able to make some sense of them for myself a little better?  For some reason I've really struggled to find the right verse for this week.  I've skipped all through my scriptures almost at random, searching for something to catch my eye but not really with any particular subject to study.  Despite all the time I spent browsing with-out any particular direction, I somehow kept finding the word "prepare."
Maybe that's my message?
Maybe the Lord wants me to just focus on this word?

Am I prepared for what lies ahead?  There is certainly plenty that I need to get my heart and mind in the right place for:  The children have been preparing for the Cultural Celebration of our new Temple.  The dedication is this Sunday.  A week after that, we celebrate Easter and then General Conference. Am I prepared to let the Savior in?  Am I prepared to hear and apply the words of the Living Prophets?  How do I prepare myself each day to receive the Spirit into my heart and my home?  How am I preparing to be ready for my children's future struggles?  Have I prepared them sufficiently for the stage they are currently in?  And what if like Alma asks...what "if [I]were called to die at this time... have [I] been sufficiently humble? [Have my] garments been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ...?  [Am I] stripped of pride? ...if [I am] not... [I am] not prepared to meet God." - Alma 5:27, 28

My prayer is for Him to meet me here and teach me how to purge my heart without becoming discouraged with all the countless areas in which I lack. I want to be ready for the Lord whenever He needs me.  Am I ready to go where He needs me to go?  Am I where I need to be?
... There's so much on my mind... and maybe I don't have to sort it all out right now.

"Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again." - 3 Nephi 17:3

-Alicia