Recognize the Lord May Be Working With You In A Different Way. . .

This week I would like to talk about a passage of scripture that has really impressed me, ever since I was young.  This scripture is found in Mosiah 24:15 from the Book of Mormon and it says as follows,

And now it came to pass that the burdens which were

laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the

Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their

burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with

patience to all the will of the Lord.

I love this, because I think it illustrates to us the diverse ways in which the Lord works. In this case He did not take away the burdens from Alma and his people, instead He made them light.  I think the Lord works with us in the ways we need to learn.  Alma and his people needed to learn to fully repent, to pay for their acts of rebellion against the Lord.  But interestingly enough, once they did repent, the Lord "tried their patience" (Mosiah 23:21) to see if they really had turned their hearts towards Him.  When He saw that they did, they still remained in bondage for a while, and then the Lord delivered them.  Because their sincere desire was with the Lord, He was able to make their trial easier to bear at the time.  I think more often than not this will happen in our lives.  We have trials that may not ever go away as part of this mortal existence, but the Lord will find ways to make them light if we but turn to Him.  God loves you, more than you can comprehend, and He will work with you in the way He knows you need to grow the most.

               

   www.pinterest.com                                                               christianpf.com

The Temple; A Piece of Our Heavenly Home

Something that has really hit me this week is the importance of temples.  And not just going to the temple, although that in itself is commendable, but also what you get out of the temple when you choose to go.  I think part of the reason we stress going to temples so much is because it reminds us of our heavenly home.  The place where all of us were before we came here, still exists on this earth today, but only a piece of it.  And that is in the form of temples.  Not only do I feel renewed because of the sacred covenants I am remembering I have made, but I also feel this sense of belonging and love emanating from the walls, and also on the faces of the people there.  Surely we all knew each other once!  The temple is the one place I feel like I can go where I can see people for who they really are.  Not superficial attitudes, no judgement on fashion or occupations, just people as God sees them. The temple provides that perspective I need in my life to continue going forward without feeling discouraged, but with encouragement to want to do better and be better.  My voice echos Elder David A Bednar's as he says,

"I invite you to begin making the spiritual preparations
so you can receive the blessings available only in the holy
temple. Please cast away the things in your life that stand
in the way. Please seek after the things that are of eternal
consequence" ("Honorably Hold Thy Name in Standing". Ensign. May 2009)

May we all make a more conscious, collected, united effort to go to the temple and remember our heavenly home.

                                                                               www.ldschurchtemples.com

This Week's Compilation

What does it take to reach perfection?  A few words initially pop into my mind: perseverance, faith, humble attitude, but what does it really take?  Well I don't know if there really is a concrete answer to that question.  But what I do know is exhaustion is not a prerequisite to perfection.  Unfortunately, I did not come up with that conclusion on my own.  In an October 1993 Ensign Cindy K. Peterson gave a talk entitled just that.  (you can access the link at the bottom of the page).  She discusses how she thought that unless she was exhausted at the end of each day, she had done something wrong. Somehow perfection translated in her mind as being busy all the time.  When in fact that is not true.  I unfortunately fell for the same trap.  The more accomplishments I felt I did in a day the more successful the day was.  But I had to realize sometimes you can't measure some of the accomplishments you have made, nor do we recognize all of them.  How do you measure the love and time spent with a child, or spouse?  Are the relationships you are building with them helping you become better and a more perfect and whole being?  Yes!  But those are not things easily checked off in a calendar, or on an agenda.  This talk really helped me gain the perspective I needed to remind myself what this life is for, and to really strive to come close to my Savior in differentiating on what is really going to help me become better in the long run.

Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/10/exhaustion-is-not-a-prerequisite-to-perfection?lang=eng&query=%E2%80%9Cexhaustion+prerequisite+perfection%E2%80%9D

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Our Unique Role

Something that has really impressed me lately, is how unique gender is to our identity. We truly are sent down here with different tasks and goals to accomplish in this life. Personality traits and characteristics are always fun to talk about with people, but I believe our true chore characteristics are divine.  We are all children of God, and as such we all have a responsibility to represent Him in our lives on earth.  As I have been thinking about what it will be like to be a mother Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles talk really impressed me.  It is called, "The Moral Force of Women" and a particular passage caught my eye stating,

                         "Dear sisters, we rely on the moral force you bring to

                         the world, to marriage, to family, to the Church. We

                         rely on blessings you bring down from heaven by your

                         prayers and faith. We pray for your security, welfare, and

                         happiness and for your influence to be sustained."

Never underestimate the influence you can have on those around you!  Our influence is important! Not to say that men do not have a good influence, more on that later, but as women we can be empowering without being manly.  We are a force of good.  We are His Daughters.  I hope we can all live our lives to bring the blessings of heaven on those around us and righteously sustain and stand by, not behind or in front, but stand by our spouses in our worthy pursuits here on this earth.