Freedom

While studying the scriptures this morning, I had an insight that I wanted to share from Mosiah 21-22.  This applies to anyone struggling with any sort of trial that they feel is restricting their freedom.  I highly recommend you read these chapters!

 2 And it came to pass that they [the people of Limhi] could find no way to deliver themselves out of bondage, except it were to take their women and children, and their flocks, and their herds, and their tents, and depart into the wilderness; for the Lamanites being so numerous, it was impossible for the people of Limhi to contend with them, thinking to deliver themselves out of bondage by the sword.

{Mosiah 22:2}

Have you ever experienced a trial that you felt bound by?

Have you tried to fight it, only to find that you are too weak to do it on your own?

We can learn from the people of Limhi.   When they faced such a trial, they found that fighting was not the answer.  It only hurt them.  But this verse points out that the only way they could deliver themselves was to "depart into the wilderness."

What could that mean?

To me, it means instead of fighting against my big trials, I am better off departing from them.  Departing does not mean giving into them--it means diverting your energy to somewhere/something good.  Mentally, this could mean diverting my thoughts away from whatever temptation I'm struggling with and losing myself in a good cause (e.g. working on my research, finding someone I can serve, reading something uplifting, exercising, etc.)  Mentally departing into a new and good place.

Anyways, those are my thoughts.  I hope it helps someone out there!  

Peace.

Our powerful roles as women, and men. As God's children.

Though I don't know everything, I know this:  

I am a daughter of God, my Heavenly Father, who loves me, and has great plans for my growth and happiness.  

This speech is pretty long (almost an hour), but it is worth listening to, especially if you have concerns about how Mormon's regard and treat women.  Please, listen with an open heart to the beliefs of Sharon Eubank, director of Humanitarian Services and LDS Charities.  I enthusiastically agree with her.  There is more to life than this temporary world!

Link is here

One step at a time

Mosiah 16:9

"Lead kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom;

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home;

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou my feet;

I do not ask to see

The distant scene--

One step enough for me."

"Lead, Kindly Light"

LDS Hymn #97

So often we get overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once, to know everything right now.

But that's not how it works.

Just as little children learn to crawl before they walk,

We as God's children are taught and led by Him one step, one stage, at a time.

The way to heaven/eternal joy/salvation (however you choose to describe it) is not by teleportation.

I like to think of it as more like the ladder Jacob saw in a vision.

God knows and loves you.  If you seek to submit to His will, He will reveal what your next step is--

Not the whole plan, but certainly enough for you to move forward.  

Then you apply your faith by actually taking that step.

You have something to contribute

I've been thinking a lot about spiritual gifts lately...

What exactly are spiritual gifts?

They are blessings given by God to His children for their own benefit, and for the benefit of others.

Everyone has different gifts; nevertheless, everyone does have a gift.

Moroni 10:8-18, 1 Corinthians 12, D&C 46:11, "Gifts of the Spirit"

Find out what your spiritual gifts are by considering what you're good at,

What you're passionate about,

The compliments other people give you, 

etc.

Kneel in prayer 

and ask Heavenly Father what spiritual gifts He has blessed you with.

Then, use them to bless others' lives!

“One of the most comforting teachings of the gospel is that each son and daughter of God—every one of us—is born with an inheritance of gifts, talents, and abilities that can help us through our earthly mission…We cannot be happy and successful in life without gratefully acknowledging those gifts and doing all we can to develop them.  Our problem is never that we have no strengths; the problem comes when we do not recognize our strengths and build upon them."

- Gerald Causse - 

"For When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong"

Shout out to my dear, dear mother who has the gifts of:

Teaching

Pure love of God and man

Sacrifice

Learning

Obedience

{I am so grateful for her}

Peace out.

The Savior wants to forgive

I met this humble and good man at the Utah Valley University Addiction Conference last year.

These words are true.  God is still with you, with His hand stretched out still.

(see Isaiah 5)

Beautiful is the peace that repentance brings. 

No matter how many times you have to do it.

peace

This really hit my heart strings (and tear ducts) tonight.

I needed it.  

I hope it helps you, too.

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>

"To the individual who is weak in the heart,

fearful in the heart:

be patient with yourself.

Perfection comes not in this life, but in the next life.

Don't demand things that are unreasonable,

but demand of yourself improvement.

"As you let the Lord help you,

through that, He will make the difference."

Peace in the knowledge of God,

and our identity as His children,

is beautiful.

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>

What's in a face?

That's my face.

Isn't it beautiful?  ;)

^^^^^^^^^

Looking at another person's face is one of the most profound ways by which we can lose ourselves, 

and remember another person's innate human value.  Making both of us happier.

^^^^^^^^^

"Hearkening to the call of Christ from His Spirit,

or through another's countenance,

or both, we become genuinely honest, simple, solid, true--

often together with someone we may not have trusted before.

[do you want to be that?  genuine.  honest.  simple.  solid.  true.  i sure do.]

"Whether it is felt in His breast or in ours, 

the Savior's love can achieve what force cannot

because where force calls forth counterforce,

love calls forth love...

"How then shall we come unto Christ...?  

By sacrificing all taking of offense.  

By giving up criticism, impatience, and contempt....

By giving these practices their true name, 

violence, 

and abhorring even their first appearance.  

By renouncing war in every form and 

proclaiming peace....

"Listen attentively to the teacher whose lectures may be a little dry.  

Read with particular care the papers of students who struggle to write.  

Befriend the one who feels different, lost, or lonely.  

Embrace the child who seems to resist you.  

Take seriously the advice of parents who have trouble following that advice themselves.  

Invite to dinner those who lack the graciousness or the means to invite you back.  

Even 'love your enemies, do good to them which hate you' (Luke 6:27)....

"This kind of love is who we really are.... 

And anything less

--judging others and withholding our favor from them--

capitulates to Satan."

[Quote from this speech by C. Terry Warner]

{He's founder of Arbinger Institute, the group that wrote The Anatomy of Peace and Leadership and Self-Deception}

^^^^^^^^^

I have seen through personal experience how true this is.

Join me in putting these promises to the test.

Whether you're renewing your previous commitment, or turning over a new leaf.

Let us forget ourselves, and go to work.

Rethink how you treat others

It's only about 3 minutes.  You'd spend that much time trying to decide whether or not to watch this, anyways!  I promise you won't regret pressing play.

Beautiful:  The Savior loves each and every one of us, His children, more than we can comprehend.

Our Savior's Love

I was so moved by how much the Lord loves and cares for this man.

He longs to embrace you, too.

peace.

Keep our eyes fixed on Christ

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14.29?lang=eng#28 

24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

 25 And ^ain the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good^acheer; it is I; be not afraid.

 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was ^aafraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little ^afaith, wherefore didst thou ^bdoubt?

 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

- Matthew 14 - 

Resistance training

Disclaimer:  

These are my own sincere thoughts, and do not represent the views of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (except for direct scriptural quotes).  

If I make a mistake, it is my mistake and not the Church's, or God's.

Just look at this guy.  
What do you see?  (Besides the popping veins.)

In my Exercise Physiology class, we've been learning about resistance training and all of its health benefits.  

(There's a ton)

What is the purpose of resistance training?  

To grow, to increase our muscular strength.  How do you think this olympian got shoulders as big as his head?  By training, with weights.  Do you think he had to put a lot of effort into it?  Please.  Just look at his face.

But what if he had been training without weights?  Try doing a bicep curl with no weight.  It's pretty easy, huh?  But will you get stronger doing this exercise without resistance?

It's kind of like life on earth.  

Here, we experience constant opposition.  Constant resistance.  We need it in order to grow, and increase our spiritual strength.  To come out better and closer to God than we were before; closer to our potential than we were before.  It requires all our effort.  Just look at people's faces, and you can tell.  You can really tell.

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things."
 - 2 Nephi 2:11 -

"Know thou, my son [or daughter] that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
- Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 -




peace

Perfection

{Image from the Mormon.org Facebook page}

"There is certain frustration awaiting anyone who attempts to perfect themselves without the aid of the Holy Spirit.  It is not uncommon for someone to make a list of everything they feel they should be doing in their lives, then select a few to begin working on.  As wholesome as this sounds, it will only create feelings of impotence and frustration.  Read all the scriptures, and nowhere is there an account of someone achieving spiritual power by making lists of needed improvements, and then working the list!

They all did it by obedience to the voice of the Lord.  You must also; there is no other way...The Lord knows the exact course our lives should take, which sin should be eliminated first, which weakness should be addressed first, and which blessings we will need to accomplish these things...He will direct us, step by step...He will change and purify our hearts...

The way to perfection is not through the disciplining and reshaping of the soul by the will of man, but through the discipline of obedience and reshaping of the soul by God...To what are we to be obedient?  It is the voice of the Lord in our hearts and minds."
(see Enos 1:10-11, 1 Nephi 22:2)

- John M. Pontius -
From the book Following the Light of Christ into His Presence

between those ears

What do your thoughts look like?  Are they full of faith?

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

- D&C 6:36 -

This is a good depiction of how I visualize the God's admonition to "let virtue garnish thy thoughts." 

(click on the hyperlink for the scripture reference)

peace out

Just keep swimming! ;)

You know what's beautiful?

Your faith.

It's an amazing, and powerful thing.

And you don't have to be religious to have faith.

All you've got to do is believe what's true, even when you're tempted to doubt.  

Especially when you're tempted to doubt...

But faith,

Is what fuels our ability to push through the hard times,

Knowing that if we are true to what's right,

It will all work out.

Not saying we have to be miserable and put off our rewards until everything's perfect.

Not at all.

But there are inevitably going to be hard times when all you can do is push through.

So do it.

Push your hardest.

No matter what opposition faces you, 

No matter what distractions divert your path,

Get back on the right path,

And keep longing.

Keep trying.

Keep praying.

Keep loving.

Keep moving, and hoping, and working at it.

And I promise, 

You will be rewarded.

God promises,

You will be rewarded:

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your ^breward in heaven: for so ^cpersecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Matthew 5:12

(I believe this applies even when the persecution is all in your head.)

If your reward hasn't come yet,

It will.

Have faith.

(As much as I love Josh Groban, he's not the most important person who loves you ;) But this song is great.)

If you could see yourself grow and glow are you're going through this,

You would be in awe of the person you are becoming.

peace out

Readjust your lens

Sometimes what we think is super important

Really doesn't matter at all.

And sometimes what we think isn't a big deal,

Makes the difference between life and death.

Like little choices, added up.

It's time for me to readjust my lens, 

to see as God does.

Not as man.

beautiful thing:

truth

peace out.

Wake up!

The most important things we can do:

Love God

Love ourselves

Love each other 

that's beautiful.

[peace]

Why we fear

[Disclaimer:  Most of what I post on this blog is not official LDS doctrine, as far as I know.  Just my thoughts and beliefs.]

Have you ever been afraid to come close to God?

Have you ever been afraid to really open your heart up to Him?

To truly be converted?

To commit all that you are, do, and desire, to Him?

To really feel His love, and accept it into your heart?

To believe Him, and trust His word?

If you've never felt that way... you're probably not human.  ;)  Or you're just a saint.

[no real reason for this picture, except that it's beautiful! :)]

It hit me the other day, why I'm sometimes afraid to come close to Christ.

I know He's all-loving.  I know He's true.  I know I can trust Him...

I found the answer in Ether 12:27: (these are the Lord's words:)

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness."

That's it.  

I know that when I come unto Him, He helps me see things as they really are.  ...Which necessarily includes seeing my weaknesses.  And aren't we humans so good at avoiding our faults/failures/weaknesses?

But the verse goes on:

"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."

Don't I want to become stronger?

Don't I want to become more like Christ?

The only way that can happen is if I come unto Him and, through faith on His atonement, let Him turn my weaknesses into strengths, until every last impurity is refined into perfection... 

Slowly, but surely, with faith.

So I want to know my weaknesses.  

I want to know them so that I can do all that's in my power to improve on them, and let Christ take care of the rest.

I know that Jesus Christ lives.  He knows and loves each and every one of us, His children.  I know He has been through every little (and big) thing that we've ever been through, and will go through, and He knows how to succor His people.  

Come unto Him, despite any fears you may have, and you will never regret that decision.

{beautiful thing}

The infinite atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

peace out.

Don't worry

This scripture hit me in a new way today:

 15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can ^adefile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that ^bdefile the man.

Mark 7:15

Usually I see this as saying that food can't stop our spiritual progression, but our words and deeds can.

But today, my view was broadened...

I don't know about you, but I often find myself worrying about the trials I go through.  Sometimes I'm even tempted to think that they make me less of a person.  For example, if I have a negative thought come into my head about someone or something, it's easy to berate myself for having that thought, and/or fearing that I'm a bad person because of it.

[photo from the Mormon.org Facebook page]

But, no.  That's not true--nor is it right.  

Those thoughts are just as much "from without" as any germ or bacteria that could make me medically sick.  No onslaught of temptations, trials, negative thoughts, etc. could ever compromise my spiritual progression, unless I choose them over God...

And the same goes for you.  

No matter what you're going through--financial troubles, loneliness, abuse, negative thoughts, addictions, divorce, doubts, bullying, illness, disability--whatever you're currently struggling with, it cannot destroy you without your permission.  

The things that "come out of" you--your own decisions right now--words, deeds, etc.--those are what have the potential to destroy you.  

But remember, they are also what can allow you to be saved.

The saving itself, that's done by the Savior.

As we choose to let Him, by using His atonement.

It's our choice.

And even as we make mistakes--and do choose to defile ourselves with our choices (which, being human, we inevitably will)--we can always turn back.  We can always elect to return, ready to change, to the Savior.  No matter how far gone and hopeless we think we may be.

And He will cleanse us.  Completely, wholly, infinitely...

beautifully.

[Isaiah 1:18]

Peace

Live Right Now

"...Isn’t language interesting?

For example, a bus station is where a bus stops. 

A train station is where a train stops. On my desk is a work station. It is where . . .

At church we hope those who sit on the stand understand how long we can stand to sit.

When they grow on vines, blackberries when green are red. 

Wireless BlackBerries when read in class make green instructors blue.

The title of my talk—Live Right Now—also has dual meaning. 

“Live right now” can mean “live—right now.” It can also mean “live right—now.” 

Both meanings testify to the supernal blessings of choice—what the scriptures call “moral agency” (D&C 101:78)."

[Gerrit W. Gong]

This is from an insightful, uplifting, and inspiring speech by Dr. Gerrit W. Gong called "Live Right Now,"about decision-making in our lives. 

You can find it here, on LDS.org.  

I mean, who doesn't wonder about quintessential existential dilemmas? :)

{Don't worry, definitions are included in the speech}

{From Google Images; think it's a good representation of how it feels to live right now!}

A quote from the talk: 

"The remarkable truth “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) assures us existential choice need not engender forlornness, anguish, and despair (as described by Jean-Paul Sartre) but, ultimately, the joy for which men and women are."

beautiful thing:

our power to choose

peace out.

Positivity