Easter Sunday Gratitude

I know today is Easter, not Thanksgiving, but I am full of gratitude this Easter Sunday for all of the amazing blessings my Heavenly Father has given me. I am grateful for a wonderful husband and for our two beautiful children. I am grateful that my husband has a good job that he enjoys and that I am able to stay home and care for my children full-time. I am grateful for all the ways I have seen God's hand guiding our lives and our decisions for the future recently. And I am incredibly grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and for the power it gives me to repent and to become a better person each and every day. I know that with the help of the Savior I am able to accomplish more than I ever could on my own, and I'm so grateful for the love, comfort, strength and courage He gives me. I testify that He lives and that His selfless sacrifice puts salvation and eternal joy and peace within the grasp of every single one of God's children that chooses to follow Him and apply His atonement in their lives. I thank my Heavenly Father this day for the beautiful gift of His Son that makes miracles possible for all of us. Happy Easter!

The Lord's Perspective

I recently started studying the Book of Mormon from the beginning again, and I just finished the part where Lehi and Nephi each had their vision of the Tree of Life, and I’ve been pondering on the very different ways that Nephi and Laman and Lemuel responded to the words of their father Lehi, the prophet, about the vision he had. 

When Nephi hears his father's account of his vision, his reaction is to immediately go to the Lord in prayer and ask to receive his own personal witness of the things that his father saw and shared. As a result, he received his own vision of the Tree of Life and an explanation of the meaning of the different things which Lehi saw in his vision and gained his own personal testimony and understanding of the prophet Lehi’s words. 

Laman and Lemuel, on the other hand, upon hearing the words of their father, the prophet, did not go to the Lord in prayer for understanding and their own personal witness of the truth of his words, but instead began “disputing one with another concerning the things [their] father had spoken unto them” (1 Nephi 15:2).

Nephi explains that Lehi “truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord…” (1 Nephi 15:3)

This is often true of the words of the Lord and His servants. As Jesus explain to Pilate in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and as He says in the Old Testament in Isaiah 55:8-9, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The Lord sees everything from an eternal perspective, while we see things from a finite, mortal, worldly perspective. It makes sense that in order to understand the words of the Lord, we must turn to Him and get help from the Holy Ghost to see and understand things from His greater eternal perspective.

When Nephi approaches his brothers and asks what they are disputing about, and they explain the words their father spoke that they did not understand, the very first thing Nephi says in response to their questions is, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” (1 Nephi 15:8)

Laman and Lemuel’s response is, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9).

Nephi reminds his brothers of the promise of the Lord: “If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you” (1 Nephi 15:11).

Nephi is teaching his brothers that other weak, fallible mortals are not the people they should be going to for greater understanding of the words of the Lord or His prophets; they should be going to the Lord Himself, the source of all knowledge and truth.

There seems to be a growing trend in society that when our modern day prophet and apostles say something that “is hard to be understood,” like the words that Lehi spoke to his family after receiving revelation from the Lord, people’s first reaction is to jump on Facebook and dispute one with another about the words of the Brethren like Laman and Lemuel rather than turn to the Lord in prayer for personal confirmation and understanding like Nephi.

As Nephi explains to Laman and Lemuel, disputations with other people about the Lord’s or His servants’ words is not an effective way of arriving at truth. You must personally go to the Lord Himself and ask with a sincere heart and real intent, with faith that He will answer you and with a willing heart to act on the answer you receive, whatever it is.

I think one of the biggest things that I have noticed that trip people up in following the Lord and His servants is that they have a bigger testimony of certain social agendas that are important to them than they do of the Lord’s prophet and apostles and their calling as prophets, seers, and revelators. They are convinced that their social agenda is equally as important to the Lord as it is to them and that the Lord has the same opinions as they do about the best way to bring it about. Therefore, if the words or actions of the prophet and apostles do not seem to further the cause of their social agenda(s), they have a difficult time believing that those words or decisions could possibly have come from the Lord, who obviously wants social justice just as much as they do and has that as His top priority in everything He does.

I think there is a false belief here that is the cause of so much of the confusion and dissent among members of Christ’s Church. Is social justice important to God? Of course it is. Would God prefer that all His children treat one another with kindness, respect and love and see each other as equally important in His eyes? Of course He would. Is it good for us to strive for greater social justice in our society? Of course it is. However, even though God loves all of His children equally and believes in social justice, I do not think that social justice is His top priority. 

Think of Christ’s mortal ministry. The Jews were convinced that when the Messiah came His top priority would be the same as theirs: to free them from Roman rule. But that was not what Christ did when He came, which is why so many of the Jews had trouble recognizing Him. Christ’s top priority was not their social agenda of being freed from Roman rule. His top priority was something with much greater eternal significance than any social injustices His people were experiencing in mortality. His top priority was, and still is, the eternal salvation of God’s children, and that can be achieved whether or not God’s children experience social injustices during their time on earth. 

We have power to hurt one another during our time here in mortality, but our power to truly harm one another in any way that is eternally significant is actually incredibly limited. We can enslave each other, discriminate against others for one reason or another, do physical harm to one another, say hurtful words to each other, but we have no power over how others choose to respond to our treatment of them. We cannot stop them from continuing to make good choices about how they treat those around them, from finding peace by forgiving us for our harsh treatment of them, from turning to the Lord for love and healing that transcends any amount of harm we could possibly do to them, from choosing to keep commandments and follow the Lord’s will for them in their lives and gain eternal salvation. No matter what we do, other people and the choices that will affect their eternal salvation are out of our reach. We have the power to make others’ journey through mortality more or less pleasant, to help or hinder them on their path to eternal salvation, but ultimately we cannot stop them from turning to the Lord for the love, healing, knowledge and strength necessary to achieve their eternal goal and reach their divine potential, if that is their true desire.

Indeed, challenging circumstances in mortality are often what lead people to humble themselves and turn to the Lord for help when they have nowhere else to turn. When others are cruel to them or do not meet their needs, they learn to rely on the Lord’s love and strength instead of trying to rely on other imperfect people who will always end up letting them down in one way or another. By humbling ourselves and turning to the Lord in our distress and committing to follow His will for us, we are able to feel a peace that transcends the horror of even the very worst of mortal circumstances.

So, while it is good and right for us to treat others the way Christ would and for society to encourage and give everyone the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential during their mortal life, what is most important to the Lord is that His children achieve their greatest eternal potential, and that can only be accomplished if they know the truth of who God is and of the plan He has prepared for them to gain salvation. It is the primary responsibility of the Lord’s servants to teach these truths that are most important for the eternal progress of God’s children. 

When we do our best to act in accordance with God’s laws and use the power of the atonement in our lives, we can continue to learn and grow and progress on our path to eternal life, irrespective of how others are trying to oppress us or limit our potential in this world. We can find peace and joy and a testimony of our eternal and divine worth as we apply God’s teachings in our lives and grow closer to Him. No one has the power to take that away from us when we have a true understanding of who God is and who we are as His children and of the ordinances and other tools God has put in place to allow us to unlock the powers of heaven in our individual lives. 

Without sufficient knowledge of God, His eternal plan for us, and how to access His love and power in our lives, however, we are much more likely to allow the difficulties of this mortal life to lead us to despair rather than to learning and growth. That’s why God places knowledge of eternal truths and of His plan of salvation for His children as His top priority. Rather than trying to achieve a heaven-like existence for His children in mortality, He uses the inequalities and other challenges of mortal life to refine and teach His children the lessons they must learn to qualify for life with Him in heaven after this mortal existence. This refining process includes a lot of lessons on compassion, patience, and forgiveness towards those who treat us poorly in mortality as they also struggle to learn to become more like Christ, achieve their divine potential, and qualify for heaven. We can't control how other people treat us, but we can control how we respond, and that is the true test of mortality and of the people we are becoming as we learn to rely on the Lord and His great love and wisdom.

Back to the story of Nephi and his brothers in 1 Nephi chapter 15. After first teaching his brothers the importance of turning to the Lord when they have questions, Nephi proceeds to address some of his brothers’ confusion about the meaning of their father’s vision using the knowledge he gained from the Lord during his own vision. 

The question that Nephi gets the most passionate about when teaching his brothers is when they ask what the rod of iron that led to the Tree of Life represented. Nephi explains that the rod of iron in the vision “was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). After Nephi explains this, he then begins to exhort his brethren “with all the energies of [his] soul, and with all the faculty which [he] possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things” (1 Nephi 15:25).

Nephi knows that it is by continually  hearkening to and applying the word of God in our lives that we will be protected from Satan and his temptations and lies that can blind us and lead us to destruction. That is why it is so important to study the word of God in the scriptures, listen to the words given to Christ’s current prophet and apostles to speak, and seek the Lord in prayer to understand these words and how He would like us to apply them in each of our individual lives. If we hold fast to God’s words and keep the commandments He has revealed to His prophets, both anciently and in our day, we will be supported in all the trials and suffering of this mortal life, feel God’s immense love for us and the peace and healing only He can give, and be brought safely home to live with Him again after this life. Eternal life is God’s most important goal for us, and it should be our top priority as well, and hearkening to and seeking to understand the words of God and His eternal plan and perspective are what will help us achieve this primary purpose of mortality. I share these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

How Can You Feel Grateful In All Things and At All Times?

I was reading over a talk I gave in church a little over a year ago, not too long after we moved to Heber, and I decided it would be a good thing to share on my blog. Here it is.

November 9, 2014
TOPIC: Gratitude in all things and at all times

The topic I was assigned for my talk today is "gratitude in all things and at all times." So, the question is, “How can we feel gratitude even when we are facing trials and difficult times in our lives? What is the source of this gratitude that transcends the suffering we sometimes experience here in mortality?

People often joke that they have read the first verse of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1:1, more times than any other verse in the Book of Mormon. If you start reading the Book of Mormon and that’s as far as you get, you’ve actually already learned quite a bit from the very wise prophet Nephi. Let’s take a look at that first verse: 

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; 

• Nephi had good parents who taught him well, which is very important, but this next part is the part I want to focus on:

and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; 

• This sounds like a contradiction. How can you both have many afflictions and at the same time be highly favored of the Lord? We know Nephi did indeed experience many afflictions in his days. He had to leave his home in Jerusalem and all his possessions, travel in the wilderness for a long time where sometimes food was scarce, his older brothers hated him and tried to kill him multiple times. And yet, although Nephi acknowledges that he’s seen many afflictions in the course of his days, in the same breath he says that he has been highly favored of the Lord in all his days. It seems like Nephi has figured it out, how to be grateful even in hard times. Let's keep reading and see if he gives us any clues to this secret. Nephi goes on to say:

yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. 

• Nephi feels blessed and highly favored of the Lord because of his knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God
• We often think that there are certain things we need in order to feel happy and blessed in our lives: maybe we think we need a nice home, or to get into the college that we want, or to get a certain job that we want, or to get married, or for our kids to behave and make good choices, or for our health to improve
• Nephi is teaching us that it is knowledge of God and His goodness and of eternal truths that brings us peace and hope in the midst of affliction, that allows us to feel greatly blessed, no matter our circumstances. 

How can knowledge of God and His goodness help us in times of trial? 

President Uchtdorf tells us that "Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of faith in God. It requires that we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true." He says that "True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony" (“Grateful in Any Circumstances, Ensign May 2014).

Trusting God is something that I've struggled with a lot in my life. Most recently, this last spring when Ted was getting ready to graduate from USU and was looking for a job, I struggled to trust God in the face of so much change and uncertainty in our future. We had been living in Logan for four years, and I had made a lot of friends and gotten quite comfortable with our life there. I was afraid of having to start over somewhere new where I didn't know anyone. I was pretty sure what I needed to be happy, to live close to people that I loved, and I was afraid that God wasn't going to let me. I didn't feel that I could be grateful unless He did, unless the outcome of Ted's job hunt looked the way I wanted it to look. My struggles with all the changes in my life finally pushed me to humble myself enough to realize that I needed to change the focus of my life. I needed to rely on God and His love to meet my needs, not on other people. When I stopped focusing so much on specific people in my life and my fear of losing them, I was able to see that God had been right there beside me the whole time, but I had been too distracted to notice because I was holding on so tightly to the things I thought I needed to be happy instead of relying on Him and trusting His greater wisdom and knowledge to guide my life. Once I was able to recognize my weakness in this area and work to change and make God and His will the center of my life and trust Him to take care of me, I was able to feel so much more peace.

We are here on earth to gain knowledge and experience and to become like God. For me, the true learning began when I recognized that the way I was going about trying to secure my own happiness was not working. I had a plan, and my plan was not giving me the results I wanted. Realizing that I actually didn't have any idea what I really needed to be happy, that my plan was actually causing me way more suffering than just following God's plan, humbled me enough that I was finally able to say, "Okay, God, you're right. You know best. I thought I knew what I needed to be happy, but I was wrong. I will do things your way. You know what I need to find joy and peace, and I don't. I am ready to accept your plan for my life and trust you to take care of me."

What is it that we actually need to find true joy and peace in our lives? If it isn’t other people or power or possessions, then what is the source of that joy and peace that is available to us even in hard times, when nothing in life seems to be going well? In his famous dream of the Tree of Life, the prophet Lehi finds himself in “a dark and dreary waste” (1 Nephi 8:7). After traveling many hours in darkness, Lehi prays to the Lord for help and relief. It is then that he sees what Lehi describes as “a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass,” Lehi says, “that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted...And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy…” (1 Nephi 8:10-12). Later we learn that the fruit that Lehi ate represents “the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men" and "is the most desirable above all things...and the most joyous to the soul" (1 Nephi 11:21-23). 

God's love - that is the true source of joy and peace. And the great thing is that God's love is something that we can have access to at anytime, no matter what or who else is in our lives. At the time that we make our very first covenant with God, at baptism, our Heavenly Father gives us a great gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost. We learn from Paul in his letter to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy and peace (Galatians 5:22). The Holy Ghost helps us feel God's love for us when we are living righteously. Paul also tells us in his letter to the Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, nor death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature - nothing (Romans 8:35, 38-39). Paul says that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us" (Romans 8:37). Jesus Christ and His atonement have the power to heal all of our wounds and to purify us of all our sins and weaknesses. What a great blessing this is, and what a reason to be full of gratitude to a loving and merciful Heavenly Father who will not leave us alone in times of distress and who is willing to forgive us time and time again and has a wonderful plan to help us return to Him and gain eternal joy and peace in His loving presence. 

When we gain a true understanding and testimony of God and His goodness and mercy and love, we are able to trust Him, to know in hard times that He is there to help us and that by following His perfect plan a bright future awaits us, that all our sorrows will ultimately be swallowed up in the love of our Redeemer. We know that God will never give up on us or on our loved ones and that His greatest desire is to bring us all safely home to Him and that He will not rest until He has given us every opportunity to make that choice and achieve that glorious objective. 

At the last General Women’s Meeting, Sister Marriott, the second counselor in the YW presidency, shared an experience where during a struggle in her life she turned to the Lord and was able to have her testimony strengthened and her burden lightened as she came to a greater understanding of herself and of her relationship with the Lord. Sister Marriott recounted:

“Some years ago our family encountered a major challenge. I went to the temple and there prayed earnestly for help. I was given a moment of truth. I received a clear impression of my weaknesses, and I was shocked. In that spiritually instructive moment, I saw a prideful woman doing things her own way, not necessarily the Lord’s way, and privately taking credit for any so-called accomplishment. I knew I was looking at myself. I cried out in my heart to Heavenly Father and said, “I don’t want to be that woman, but how do I change?”

Through the pure spirit of revelation in the temple, I was taught of my utter need for a Redeemer. I turned immediately to the Savior Jesus Christ in my thoughts and felt my anguish melt away and a great hope spring up in my heart. He was my only hope, and I longed to cling only to Him. It was clear to me that a self-absorbed natural woman “is an enemy to God” and to people in her sphere of influence. In the temple that day I learned it was only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that my prideful nature could change and that I would be enabled to do good. I felt His love keenly, and I knew He would teach me by the Spirit and change me if I gave my heart to Him, holding back nothing.”

Sister Marriott continued, “I still fight my weaknesses, but I trust in the divine help of the Atonement. This pure instruction came because I entered the holy temple, seeking relief and answers. I entered the temple burdened, and I left knowing I had an all-powerful and all-loving Savior. I was lighter and joyful because I had received His light and accepted His plan for me” (“Sharing Your Light,” Ensign November 2014).

Notice in this example that going to the temple did not make the major challenge in the life of Sister Marriott and her family go away. However, recognizing her weaknesses and calling upon Jesus Christ for help to change allowed Sister Marriott to feel God’s love for her and gain confidence in His ability and willingness to help her and her family achieve their divine potential and the eternal joy He desired for them.

When life seems hard and we feel that we are surrounded by darkness and despair, like Lehi in his dream, sometimes it can be really hard to find Christ’s light and God’s love in the darkness. How do we get out of dark emotional places to a place of gratitude?

When we are in dark places, Satan would love for us to stay there. He is the one that gives us feelings of discouragement and despair, tries to convince us that we are worthless and can never change or accomplish anything good and that our lives are terrible and will never get better. Those feelings do not come from the Spirit. You can tell because they do not motivate you to do good, they just paralyze you. The Spirit gives you feelings of hope and faith that you can change and improve with Christ's help and that God is taking care of you and life will get better. I’ve noticed that it's easier to feel the Spirit in my life when I am pushing forward, making goals, and working to make good things happen in my life and in the lives of others, rather than just sitting around contemplating the things in my life that make me sad or that I wish were different. Like Lehi, often we need to call on the Lord for help to find the light in the darkness. 

When I was struggling with all the changes in my life and trying to change my focus and gain a more eternal perspective on things, I prayed to know what my new focus should be in my life. What I had been focusing on hadn’t been working well for me, so I didn’t want to focus on that anymore, but I needed something to replace it with, something that was worthwhile and that I felt good about. I had just recently had my son Sam and quit working, and I needed to know what my life should be about besides nursing and changing diapers. I decided to read my patriarchal blessing with this question in mind: What should I be doing with my life right now? How should I be using my time? It was like God had just been waiting for me to ask that question. As I read my blessing, I received so much inspiration about what things God expected me to accomplish and work on at this time in my life. I received so many ideas about ways I could use my talents to help build God’s kingdom. It was amazing. And as I worked to implement these ideas, I felt God’s love more in my life and gratitude that I could use my strengths to help bless others’ lives in ways that worked well for me during this new stage in my life.

As I mentioned earlier, the main purpose of this life is to learn how to become like God. That's why we're here. No matter what is happening in our lives, if it is helping us to grow and to seek answers and truth and to change and to become better and stronger and to trust in the Lord more deeply and feel His love more strongly, then we are succeeding in obtaining the treasure we came to earth to find. Struggles help us to be humble and to recognize our need for a Savior and to seek to learn the lessons He is trying to teach us. Lots of times we want to say, "Oh, I'm good. I'm as good as I want to be, I've got all the blessings I need, I don't need to learn anything else.” God loves us too much to let us sell ourselves short though. He knows what experiences we need to become who we need to be to qualify for celestial glory, and He will not settle for any less joy than that for His children. He lets us go through hard things because He knows we need those experiences to be purified and molded and shaped into the best people we can be and to receive the greatest amount of joy in the next life and throughout eternity.

Gratitude comes when we recognize our great need for a Savior and come to know personally that He loves us in spite of all our weaknesses and mistakes and that He is willing to forgive us and bless us as we turn to Him and repent and try to change. His great patience with us as we continue to stumble and fall again and again as we try to become better and more like Him is what creates a spirit of gratitude in our hearts.

Adam and Eve felt this great gratitude in their hearts when, after partaking of the forbidden fruit and facing the consequences of their choice of being cast out of the Garden of Eden and out of God’s presence, they were told that their Heavenly Father had prepared a Savior for them who was willing to suffer for their sins and give His life so they could have the opportunity to return to God’s presence and feel His great love for them again. They were eager to make covenants with their Father and live their lives by those covenants for the opportunity to have that great blessing.

Ammon, the son of Mosiah, and the prophet Joseph Smith both have beautiful chapters where they praise God in joyful gratitude for His great mercy and longsuffering towards the children of men and His eagerness to forgive us and bless us and bring us home. 

In Alma 26, starting in verse 11, Ammon says: “...behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.” Jumping down to verse 14: “Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell. Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy his church. Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?....Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls….Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo....Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.”

What a beautiful tribute to an all-loving, all-powerful, all-merciful Heavenly Father. Joseph Smith also gives witness to the greatness of our God and His gospel and the great blessing we have to be children of God and to know His plan for us in D&C 128:19, 22-23:

“Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth!....Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free. Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!”

God’s plan for His children is amazing, and we can be eternally grateful for His love and wisdom and mercy towards us and His great desire to make a glorious future possible for us. This is the difficult part of our journey towards Godhood, but the blessings we will receive as we press forward and endure to the end will be greater than we could ever imagine. Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

I know that we have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves each of us dearly and knows what experiences we need to return to live with Him again and have an eternal peace and joy that will never be taken from us. I know that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who suffered for all our pain and sins so that we might repent and be forgiven and receive all the blessings God has to bestow on His precious children. I know that we are here on earth to learn, and that the experiences we have will help us become perfected as we turn to the Savior for help and comfort and allow the Spirit to teach us important eternal truths through our sorrows and struggles. I know that we can trust our Father to take care of us and our loved ones, to give us the strength and comfort we need to carry on, and to guide us home to His ever-loving presence. I know that all wrongs in this life can and will be made right through the Atonement and that all wounds will be healed. What a huge blessing this is. My heart is full of gratitude for my Heavenly Father and for my Savior, His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for their love and wisdom and mercy and their great patience with me and my weaknesses as I seek to learn and grow and become more like them. I am grateful that They never give up on me, no matter how many times I stumble or fall short. I know that they will take care of me and that they will take care of you. You can trust Them. Give your burdens to the Lord and let Him sustain you during the hard times. Pray for an eternal perspective, to feel joy and peace from the Spirit, and to gain your own testimony that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

D&C 42:61

If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.

And you will always have reason to be grateful and to rejoice. I say these things, in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Their Power Is in Their Mouth

I was reading in the book of Revelation the other day, and these words in Revelation 9:17-19 struck me:

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them...and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19 For their power is in their mouth…

I don't pretend to understand all the symbolism that John uses in the book of Revelation, and I’m sure there are many possible interpretations of these verses, but the meaning that struck me when I read them this time was the power we each have to do good or evil, the Lord’s work or Satan’s work, through the words of our mouths.

This can apply to the words we speak to those we know and love, to the words we speak to acquaintances and strangers, and to the words we speak about others. Through the words of our mouths we have the power to build others up or to tear them down, to lead them to truth or away from it. 

We do a lot of communicating in our lives, especially in this age of social media where our words have the power to go a lot further than to just our immediate acquaintances, and I think sometimes it can be beneficial to take a step back and analyze the words of our mouths and if those words have greater power to bring about harm or good in the world, to serve God’s purposes or to thwart them.

Do our words reflect the charity, patience and forgiveness of the Savior? Do they reflect our knowledge of the infinite worth of each of our Heavenly Father’s children and their potential for greatness, or do we demonize some and promote others whose opinions more closely match ours? 

When we communicate about concerns or disagreements we have with the words or positions of others, do the words we use speak out against evil, or do they speak evil of good, but imperfect people and thwart the good they are working to accomplish by focusing all the attention on the weaknesses we see in them? Are we building people up with our words and celebrating their strengths and the good they are doing, or are we tearing them down and demonizing them for their weaknesses or differences of opinion? Are our words bringing people to Christ and the truths of His gospel or making it more difficult for them to find them? 

I think we would all do well to take a look at the words of our mouths and make sure that in all situations in our lives we are using their power for good and not evil.

Words of Warning--Signs of Love

I love that when you experience troubling emotions you can turn to the Lord for help, and He will help you. I used to do a lot more wallowing when I experienced difficult emotions, or else I would try to use methods of coping with them that were not very effective. My emotions controlled me a lot more than I controlled them. It has been amazing to see the difference now that I have developed the habit of immediately turning to the Lord in prayer as soon as I recognize that I am experiencing emotions that I know do not come from the Spirit. The Lord is actually amazing at helping me see things in a different, more truthful light that changes the way I am feeling about any particular situation, and He is always prompt to do so when I ask.

My most recent experience with this was yesterday when I was studying my patriarchal blessing. This sounds like it would be an uplifting activity, but lately when I’ve studied it, it’s been a little difficult for me to feel the Lord’s love for me through it. The things that stand out to me are all the warnings and cautions, and they make me feel like the Lord sees me as weak, easily tempted and not to be trusted. That’s not how I usually feel about my relationship with the Lord right now in my life though. Lately in my life I’ve been feeling the Spirit guiding me a lot to do different things that bless my life and the lives of others, and I’ve really been feeling like more of a partner with the Savior in doing His work on the earth.

So, generally in my life I feel like the Lord loves me and is pleased with me, and it troubled me that when I read my patriarchal blessing that is not how I felt. I prayed and talked with the Lord about my feelings and asked for His help in being able to see and feel His love for me through my blessing, to know that I am loved and cherished by my Father in Heaven for the good I am trying to accomplish in my life and in the lives of others.

As I prayed and thought about my blessing, it was like the Lord flipped a switch in my brain, and I was suddenly able to see how the words of warning themselves were a sign of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. Heavenly Father wanted to clearly tell me that Satan would try to tempt me and the ways he would do so. He wanted to make sure that when Satan tries to lie to me, I will not be taken in by his lies but will see them for what they are and know that those thoughts and feelings do not come from my Heavenly Father and do not reflect eternal truths. Heavenly Father wants to make sure I understand clearly His expectations of me, the great blessings that will come to me as I keep His commandments, and the methods Satan will use to try to draw me away from Him.

My Heavenly Father knows what information and counsel I need in order to stay strong in the face of adversity and temptation, and He loves me enough to give it to me. Not because He fears I will fail, but because He knows that with an adequate amount of truth and information and an eternal perspective I will have the knowledge and power I need to succeed. The words of warning in my patriarchal blessing are tools given to me by a loving Heavenly Father to help me succeed in my battle against Satan and my own weaknesses. He gives them to me not because He fears I will fail, but because He knows that armed with them I can and will succeed.

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me so well and loves me enough to give me all the help and support I need to make good choices and make it back to Him. And I am so grateful for the increased light and truth that I can receive from the Lord when I ask that has the power to change my troubling emotions to feelings of peace, love, and hope from the Spirit.

*Note: If you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you are wondering what a “patriarchal blessing” is, here are a couple webpages that kind of explain what they are:

https://www.lds.org/topics/patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2004/03/about-patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng

The True Source of Joy and Peace

I recently read these verses in Helaman chapter 3 in the Book of Mormon, and something different stood out to me as I read them this time:

Helaman 3:33-35 (Book of Mormon)

33 And in the fifty and first year of the reign of the judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to enter into the church--not into the church of God, but into the hearts of the people who professed to belong to the church of God--

34 And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.

35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

What struck me as the most interesting in these verses is how "the more humble part of the people" who were being persecuted chose to respond in the face of this completely unjustified persecution from other members of Christ's Church. Those being persecuted were completely innocent victims of those persecuting them; the "great evil" done by their persecutors was causing the persecuted to suffer and "to wade through much affliction," all at the hands of those who should have been the most ready to love and support them as fellow disciples of Christ. But the persecutors had succumbed to the weakness of pride and completely lost their way, and the more humble part of the people was suffering for it. 

So what did they do? Did they leave the church of God where they were being treated so poorly by those who professed to follow Christ? Did they lash out at their persecutors? Surprisingly, they resorted to neither of these seemingly justified courses of action. Instead, the scripture says that they turned to the Lord in fasting and prayer in the face of these persecutions, waxing "stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ," which led "to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts" as they "yield[ed] their hearts unto God" and to "the filling [of] their souls with joy and consolation." 

There are a couple of things about these people's response to persecution and its results that I find amazing. The first thing is that when faced with the completely unjust and evil actions of others, the more humble part of the people did not spend their time pointing out the sins of their oppressors, but instead used these difficult circumstances as an opportunity to look inwards, to purify and sanctify their own hearts, to become more Christlike themselves as they suffered these persecutions and to allow the Lord to teach them through their trials. 

The second thing I find amazing is that by purifying and sanctifying their own hearts through fasting and prayer and by yielding their hearts unto God and remaining faithful in the face of bitter persecution, the more humble part of the people found that their faith in Christ grew and that their souls were filled with joy and consolation. NOTHING in their circumstances had changed, but in the midst of their afflictions, they felt joy and consolation. What an amazing gift from the Savior to His long-suffering, faithful followers. 

I have experienced in my own life the joy and peace that comes from yielding my heart unto God. I have seen personally how purifying and sanctifying my own heart through fervent prayer and reliance on the Savior and His Spirit and Atonement can turn my sorrow and suffering into joy and peace, even when nothing in my circumstances has changed. I know the Lord can replace feelings of hurt and suffering with feelings of joy and peace and forgiveness when we turn to Him and seek to find and do His will. I can bear witness of the truth of Christ's words to His disciples in John 14:27:

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When we choose to follow Christ and take His yoke upon us, we will find indeed that "[His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light" (Matthew 11:30) and that our hearts need never be troubled or afraid. I bear my personal witness of these things and that Christ is the true source of the joy and peace we seek here and hereafter and that no other creature or circumstance can separate us from Him and the joy and peace He offers all those who faithfully follow Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

As I Have Loved You

I've been trying to figure out what it means to love someone as Christ loves them. Through all my learning over the past couple years, I've realized that my definition of love has some major flaws, and I've been trying to replace it with a more truthful definition and understanding of what it means to love someone in a Christlike way. I read John 15:9-12 the other day, and it added some illumination to the topic for me, or at least some food for thought:

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

So, Christ has loved us the way the Father has loved Christ. I tried to think about how Heavenly Father showed His love for Christ. He basically sent Him to earth and asked Him to do some really hard things. He taught and strengthened and supported Him as He completed His earthly mission, but when Christ asked, when faced with His ultimate challenge of the atonement, of taking on Him the sins and suffering of all of God's children, that if possible that bitter cup be removed from Him, Heavenly Father did not show His love by removing the burden Christ had to bear. Rather, He sent an angel to strengthen Christ that He might bear it, and asked Him to go forward and complete His earthly mission, despite the extreme personal suffering it caused Him. Heavenly Father knew that Christ had the strength and ability to do what needed to be done, and that all of God's children, including Christ, would be blessed by His willingness to make this sacrifice on their behalf. After Christ's earthly mission was complete, Heavenly Father exalted Christ and gave Him all He had.

It is when we obey God's commandments like Christ did, even when obedience to those commandments requires great personal sacrifice for us, that we will "abide in His love." Christ explains this connection between God's love and how we can access His love through obedience to His commandments "that [Christ's] joy might remain in [us], and that [our] joy might be full." Christ Himself experienced God's love for Him and obtained a fullness of joy as He sacrificed throughout His life to serve God and to accomplish what God sent Him to earth to accomplish. We, likewise, can feel God's love for us and find a fullness of joy in our lives as we sacrifice to serve God and His children and keep His commandments. 

This scripture gives Christ's commandment to love one another as He has loved us, and as Heavenly Father has loved Him, a new meaning for me. We are to love and support and strengthen one other through the trials of this life and help bear one another's burdens, as Heavenly Father helped Christ bear His burdens and how Christ helps us bear ours. If we are to help people fully feel God's love and find a fullness of joy though, we must also help them turn to Christ, teach them of God's commandments, and encourage them to keep them, even if they must sacrifice to do so. That is the path Christ has shown us that will allow us to abide in God's love and receive a fullness of joy. It is the way Heavenly Father showed His love for Christ, the way Christ shows His love for us, and the way we must show love for one another: by teaching God's children His commandments, which He gave us because of His great love for us and His desire to help us reach our full, divine potential, and then supporting and strengthening God's children as they strive to turn to God and follow His commandments, forgiving them freely when they fall short, as Christ forgives us freely, and encouraging them in their continued efforts to carry out God's plan and mission for them in this life and become who He knows they can become, that He might be able to exalt them and give them all He has, and that their joy might be full. So interesting.