Patience...and Faith

I am appreciating the line from Preach My Gospel - Developing Christlike Attributes:

"Patience is related to hope and faith - You must wait for the Lord's promised blessings to be fulfilled."

And in the patient waiting is the doing. Moving in the direction that we feel the Lord would have us move, trusting that His promised blessings will come.

I believe that the rocks and bumps and summits our family has been climbing is teaching us this very principle.

My testimony is firmer in this thing: That I can trust the Lord because His promised blessings DO come.

Mirroring

What I know and how I act seem to be in conflict.
I believe this road to becoming like Christ and Mirroring Him must be...okay, it is, a life long process.
Today, I discovered (why has it taken sooo long to discover this???) that what I know, and who I am do not always mirror what I know. That is a big problem since what I know is AMAZING!!!
I want the two to match. It is a long road there!
A great discovery today.

So, I am cleaning out my closet.

Selfishness

fault finding

laziness

criticism

anger

impatience

Just a few on the list I am wanting to dump and never see again!

I am reminded of Elder Neal A Maxwells' remarks:

" ...let us once and for all establish our residence in Zion and give up the summer cottage in Babylon."

Baptism...following the counsel of Church Leaders

Amazing day!

I saw/felt/experienced when we follow the words/counsel of our church leaders, we are blessed.

Earlier this year, at Stake Conference, our Stake President counseled us that if we have children that are almost to the age of baptism, to teach baptism, teach of Christ, teach of repentance, baptism, covenants. Teach them about making this covenant.

So, we did and more so than we did with our older two. We made a more concerted effort to teach her and prepare her for baptism. In our studies together and with our children, we tried to follow the Spirit about the subject of study. We would suggest to each other several subjects and several times, our studies were directed to answer specific questions she had relating to baptism. How would we had known had we not listened?

So, today, as our third daughter was baptized, I felt a confirmation of the Spirit. 
We, our whole family, were emotionally, spiritually, and mentally ready for this event.

Because we followed the counsel of our stake president, we have been RICHLY blessed.

Just a few of the blessings:

Testimony strengthened.

Faith in Christ increased.

Happy family.

Love at home.

Peace of the Spirit.

Hope to move forward.

Thankful Thursday: Tender Mercies

Today, I was offended. True story.
By those near and dear to me.True story, again.

I felt Lousy.

And I didn't want to feel that way because, well, I am connected to them, forever.

And feeling...offended...hurt...angry...
And carrying these feelings for a long time is really...
A big waste of time!
A big waste of emotional health!
And it is way too burdensome!

So after a lot of praying/pleading to Heavenly Father to help me let it go...to help me see differently...to lift me up out of the pit so I could breathe...and when I was calm enough to listen, He gave me some understanding.
He helped me forgive and move away from those feelings.

Today, I felt the tender mercies of the Lord.

This post was origianlly written June 4, 2011. Decieded to share it.

"I want to be a Missionary..."

Tonight, the sister missionaries called to see if I could go on exchanges with them.  So glad I could go.  We visited a member family in the stake with the purpose to invite them to invite a friend.

AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!

The gospel is such a HAPPY thing to have. Why not share it? Sister Fellman taught them the "how" in sharing and them invited them to practice inviting a friend.

The father of the home role played inviting a sister in the ward to an upcoming activity. And even though it was role play, the Spirit confirmed that the Lord's work is moving forward and that if we/I will, we/I can play a role in this.

We visited a few other people. And I had the chance to share my feelings how God answers our prayers, if we ask Him sincerely. That the Book of Mormon will give us peace will give answers that we seek.  Again, I felt the conviction that God's church IS ON THE EARTH today.  With Christ at the head, and all the keys restored, with living prophets who speak with God for man today, modern revelation, proper priesthood authority, eternal families, covenants and ordinances, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost.
It is in the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints that we can find these truths. 

Anyway, I know these things for myself. As surely as the sun shone today and will tomorrow, whether it is hidden behind the clouds of not, it is still there.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is here, again. And the beauty of it is that anyone can find out for him/her-self. That is the beauty of it!

I love missionary work!

White lines on a cross walk

I was walking with one of my children today.

An apology walk (as prompted by the Spirit...because I wanted to drive her).

The kind of walk that where we talked along the way before the apology...and then talked again after the apology to say in so many words, "You're doing okay. I love you."

Well, on the way, we crossed a street with 3 painted cross walk lines.

The two main lines were painted very distinctly. But, there was a third partial line, partially painted and partially worn to the outside of the lines. Looked like an "oops" line.

And the following conversation ensued:

Daughter-  Mom, I'm different than other people. I feel like that line right there (pointing to the partially painted partially worn line).  And it feels like everyone else is the perfect line (pointing to the white disctinct line).

Me- Really? You know, you may feel like that, but really, we are all like that line you think you are most like.

Daughter- Really?

Me- Yup. It may look like everyone else is "perfect" but none of us is. We all make mistakes.

Daughter- And those nice white lines are like Heavenly Father and Jesus?

Me- Yup!

Daughter- Because they ARE perfect.

And after the apologies happened, and we walked through the crosswalk lines again, the conversation continued.

Daughter- I feel terrible.

Me- Why?

Daughter- Because I always make mistakes.

Me- Honey, we all make mistakes. That's why there is a BIG word that can help us.

Daughter- Repentance?

Me- Yup. That's the word. We're like these crosswalk lines. There are times when we we are painted bright because we repent...but then we make mistakes and the lines look faded. That's why we have Jesus Christ and repentance. Then we can be painted bright again.

Daughter- Really?

Me- Really.

And so, I'm thankful for the Spirit who knew she needed to talk about feeling inadequate, and for Jesus who can heal us and help us remember...we are inadequate...and that's why we have Him and His atonement. And that HE loves us and wants us to come to Him. And hopefully, a little bit of this conversation has been tucked in her heart. And she will Remember Him.

Irritation Management

Ether 12:27- And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. 

Last night, DH and I went to the temple. It is always such a good thing to go. It helps me regain perspective, direction, peace and empathy/understanding.

So, what I discovered after a night at the temple is that I need to chill.

Too often, I get mental over little things...things that don't matter. I have blamed these mental moments on being too tired (which I am sure can have an affect on perspective), I have blamed it on "if only they would listen", or "if they'd try understanding my point of view", and I have blamed it on "they just don't understand!"

Anyway, after pondering "peace and contentment" this past month and wanting to know how to hold onto it when it comes. And after a good long time of trying to figure out how to get it back once it comes and goes, and hold onto it, I think I caught a little glimpse of how to achieve it.

Ouch! Good ouch! But ouch all the same.

So here are the thing I've discovered.

If I want to be happy, it is not by controlling others or situations. I find happiness when I respect my and other's agency.

Demanding others does not bring peace! To me or them. Just irritation and contention (I know...these are no brainers...but I am just learning these in my heart and hoping to get them to stick firm into memory).

Before I get in a rut of demands, when I think I am not happy because things are not going my way, I need to step back and say nothing. But silently, pray for eyes to see and ears to hear and a mouth to be quiet. And then act (PATIENCE).

I am discovering that happiness can be mine...not based on decisions of others, but because I choose it over being irritated.

There are things in my heart that I understand but cannot put into words. The Spirit speaks to me so.

Anyway, Heavenly Father is very patient with my learning curve. He knows I can overcome these things I do that set me back. He doesn't give up on me. He continues to teach me and trust that I'll follow Him. Thankful for His perfect plan and for His Son, Jesus Christ and His perfect atonement. One day, with a lot of prayer, and work, and help from Them, I'll have this mastered.

Spirit testifies Truth

I love feeling the spirit.

I love having the spirit work through me to touch others.

Today, I spoke in church, and I felt both.

Something I learned today, I need a lot of repentance. And to think I thought I was repenting enough...is there really such a thing?

This was a subject that I needed to give because I have been forgetting to Come to Him.

The Lord is very kind to remind me this way.

These are the sources I used for the talk.

Elder Neil A Anderson gave a wonderful discourse on this repentance (click here).

Elder Jeffrey R Holland talked about coming to Christ through Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism and temple covenants, and then living our covenants (click here).

The people of King Benjamin are a great example of Coming to Christ. They followed the same pattern that Elder Holland outlines (click here...see chapters 1-6).

Anyway, I felt the the spirit witness as I shared thoughts from these lovely scriptures. I felt the spirit witness as I shared my own testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. His church is restored on the earth TODAY and is led by LIVING PROPHETS. And these truths can be known by everyone...as stated in the introduction of the Book of Mormon:

"We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10: 3-5.)



Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah."

The spirit is wonderful!


I know Jesus wants us all to come to Him.

               Today!

His atonement can make me/us clean, and happy.

And that is worth living for!

Sink into the Heart

I am currently reading in the book of Mosiah.

A quick summary of where I am...

Abinadi, a prophet sent to call the people and more particularly a wicked king to repentance, has been captured,  imprisoned, and now tied up, is presented to the king.

His BOLD declaration of God's call to repentance and promises for the people and the king  if they choose to repent or not to repent mulls around and hardens the hearts of the wicked priests.

They try to slay him.

But, because he has not finished delivering God's message to the king, no one can touch him.

So, bound before the king, prophet Abinadi declares redemption through Jesus Christ. Repentance and Salvation.

Okay, so for the purpose of this post...

I was struck by a couple of verses where Abinadi BOLDY tells them the condition of the their hearts...

Mosiah 12:27

"Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise..."

Mosiah 13:7
"Yea, and I perceive that it cuts you to your hearts because I tell you the truth concerning your iniquities..."

Mosiah 13:11
"And now I read unto you the remainder of the acommandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts..."

I was struck by the contrast of the condition of the heart of righteous King Benjamin and his people. 

Before he turns over his reign to his son, he too preaches repentence and redemption through Christ to his people.

Preparing them for his message he declares:

Mosiah 2:9
"My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view. "

First they are instructed to use their senses.

And they do...

And, in contrast to the wicked king and his people, we read:

Mosiah 4:2
"And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men."

Mosiah 5:2
"And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

And this change of heart caused for outward actions...and the people covenant to follow Christ.

And again with the heart...

Mosiah 5:7
"And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."

finally...

Mosiah 5:11,12,13
"11 ... therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress, that the name be not blotted out of your hearts.

12 I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts...
13 For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?"
 
There is something peaceful and enriching about letting Christ sink deep into my heart...

...something beautiful about REMEMBERING to retain HIS name in my heart

...and something POWERUL and SAFE, KNOWING HE is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIGHT.

I know that He makes the heart soft...

When I REMEMBER Him, and He is sunk into my heart, I am softer and kinder...patient and more understanding...

I am His.

So, tomorrow, I'll try again to rememember...

Knowing that when I forget...which I do too often as life busies around me...

I can trust in His perfect atonement...and repent and try again...

And when I do, I will feel His love just as King Benjamin's people did.

School and Blessings

With the beginning of school I've heard the anxieties of our children.

They are real. They have taken up a bulk of their thinking the past couple of weeks.

Some of these anxieties are familiar anxieties I had at the beginning of the school year and some are different.

Here are just a few:

Am I going to do well in school?  What if I don't? What if I am behind?

Will I make any friends? What if no one wants to play with me?

What if my friends want me to choose wrong things? If I don't do what they want me to, they might not like me.

Are there bullies?

Is my teacher nice?  What if she's not?

As a family, we have been praying for several weeks that our children will feel the Lord's love for them. That they would have the courage to make good choices in school. That they would feel confident in their learning.

Knowing that the Lord is ALWAYS aware of us and will bless us IF WE ASK HIM, we have been asking and waiting.

Today, listening to their school experiences and watching them as they did homework, I saw and felt a reassurance of the Lord's love for them. I saw His hand in their lives.

One child came home overjoyed that she found a friend.

Another child was able to concentrate and FINISH her homework. Her focus and determination was AMAZING! By the end of the night, she was reassured that she can learn...VERY WELL! She could feel the happiness that comes from growing

Our other child felt confident in understanding her studies. I could hear her excitement for learning. This same child, after several years of feeling like she has been without true friends, has extended friendship to others. 

I see the Lord's hand in these small...yet big things today.

"In the STRENGTH of the LORD, we can do hard things!"

Music Appreciation

D&C 25:12
     "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing on their heads."

I lead the music for sisters in Relief Society.

Today, the music was BEAUTIFUL!

We have a small group of sisters that attend this meeting. When we sing, the voices are few. But, today, it was enriched with Primary children's voices...and voices of testimony!

As our practice song/hymn for August, the RS president asked us to learn, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me".

So, for the past weeks, we've been learning this song (Click Here to Listen).

Today, before singing together, a sister read about how the song came to be (Click Here).

I invited the older classes in Primary to sing with us...
So, after this sister read, the children sang...
and the sisters joined in...
and the Spirit was sooooo beautiful...
testifying of Jesus Christ and His love for each of us. And our love for Him.

Music is such a powerful tool!

It can Bring us to Christ.


It can Remind us of our Divine Nature and Potential.

It can Testify that God lives and loves us and is very much aware of our needs and cares and lives.


It can Testify of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A couple of great short reads about the power of music
click here and click here and click here and finally click here.

Today, I witnessed the power of music. I felt the love that the we sisters and the children have for Jesus Christ and I felt His love for each of us.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

Book of Mormon Game

Before reading to our children tonight, we played a game that was introduced to us by the Sister Missionaries in our area.

They call it "The Scripture Search Game".

So the object of the game is to see how a randomly picked scripture applies to the subject chosen.

The first subject our 9 year-old daughter chose was baptism.

I opened the book and let the pages fan through my fingers until one of the other children shouted, "STOP!"

I asked, "Left or right"(referring to which side of the page we would read from).

Another daugher answered, "Right".

I asked, "Left or right" again (now picking the column from which we would be reading).

"Right."

Then I had them pick one of the verses (31-34 in this particular column)from that column.

So, think baptism.

And this is the verse that was randomly picked.

Moroni 10: 32
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

Our 11 year-old described it this way...
When we come to Christ, we have faith in Him. And when we deny ourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all our might mind and strength, we repent. And that leads to Baptism.

She talked about the steps that lead to baptism.

I thought about how having faith in Christ leads us to repentance...wanting a change of heart. Which leads us to making covenants with Him. Because we trust that His grace is sufficient for us and we can nowise deny the power of God.

The second topic was prayer.
And the scripture was 3 Nephi 11:7

"Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him."

So, the answer from our daughters, "The people of Nephi were praying a lot and because they had been praying, they could hear Heavenly Father speak."

Finally, the last topic was missionary work.
We landed on Alma 11:23

Amulek is preaching to the people of Ammonihah.

"Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?"

And with this verse, there was a laugh and giggle because Amulek is preaching repentance and faith on Christ.

So, thank you, Sister Missionaries for introducing this game.

Caused for some pondering and really nice gospel discussion.

Alive in Christ

Yesterday I was feeling very blue.

At some point, I curled up in bed to take a nap hoping to sleep off some

of the sleepy sadness I was feeling.

It felt familiar...depression of not too long ago.

As I lay in bed, I reached up for the scriptures and read where I had left

off the night before.

Mosiah Chapter 3

A beautiful chapter on Jesus Christ's atonement.

When I came to verse 19...which reads:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

...my spirit felt the need to reach for the Atonement to heal and lift and

pull me from the place I was in.

I had been relying on my dear husband to help pull me out of the blue and

depressed state in which I felt stuck.

And when I read this verse, I knew to Whom I needed to turn.

Only in Christ can my burdens truly be lifted.

So, in that quiet moment,

I poured out my heart...

and waited...

and listened....

I felt His peaceful reassurance,

and comfort

that coming to Him is the only sure Way to find peace.

Sometime later, after sleeping for just a short while,

I woke,

my spirit lifted,

filled with hope and reassurance of God's and Christ's love for me.

Conference

Tomorrow is General Conference and we will be going to our ward house to watch.

I love General Conference. It is like a dear friend who's visit we've been anticipating. And when it comes, my spirit is recharged.

It reminds me that the Lords' Church is here.
Now.
Led by living prophets.
And, oh, how the Spirit sings this in my soul.

Watching the prophets speak, listening to them testify of Jesus Christ and His gospel is electrifying. The Holy Ghost witnesses they are truly latter-day apostles. What a magnificent thing to feel, to know, to see!

And when they speak, I feel a rebirth to follow my Savior.

These next two days will go, oh too quickly.

And when Conference ends, my heart feels as though my good friend's visit has wrapped up. I am comforted to know that for the next six months there is counsel to follow that will protect and guide me and my family. And then in six months when living prophets will gather again to teach us, my dear friend will visit again.

Choice and Agency

Wow!!!

I love how the Spirit can help me learn things in a way so I don't feel offended. Even if I start off feeling offended.

I learned a very, very valuable lesson today about choice and agency and Heavenly Father's patience with us and the need for me...yes ME...to be patient.

I have...much too often...taken offense where offense should NEVER have been taken. And, too often, I've taken things personally whether or not they were meant to be handed out so.

I heard not very long ago, from a wise person, "The only thing you should take personally is the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

Okay, so, my aha!!

In this, life I will be faced with situations where choices affect life...for good or bad, to bless or hinder. I know this sounds black and white...bear with me. I am just learning this principle (Wow! The learning curve at 40 is AMAZING!).

So, knowing this, and knowing that this life is a time of proving, a time of choosing.

I think of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and their choice to take the fruit of good and evil...well, it affected all of us. And here we are. There are many who are taught only a small portion of this principle, that the fall separated us from God...forever. But the missing meat, the missing truth and bulk of this is that Heavenly Father prepared a way back. His son, Jesus Christ. And if we have faith in Him, to repentance, we make covenants that will help us return back to His presence.

Okay, so, today, while I was thinking of choices of others and the gift of agency...Isn't it amazing that Heavenly Father lets us have this very precious gift. Wow!...the Spirit whispered to my spirit that in this life, I will make choices and others will make choices that will have a happy or sad or mean or kind effect on myself and/or others.

When this happens, I don't need to be offended. Because, we are all learning how to use agency. And if the choice that was made was one that caused distress, well, I can forgive this because this life is about learning how to make good choices.

And being 40 and just starting to learn this principle has greater reason for me to be more forgiving and understanding.

A special thank you to all of you who have been patient in my learning. It has been a long time coming to learn this principle!