Spring!

What a beautiful time of year! Spring is finally here! After a long cold winter the flowers and animals are starting to come out again. The trees are budding and the grass grows greener and greener. We are approaching Easter and we are again reminded of our Savior Jesus Christ's Atonement and Resurrection. Through his sacrifice for us we are able to have eternal life and live with our families and our Heavenly Father again.

May we each remember the love that our Heavenly Father has for us individually. May we each try every day to be a little better, try a little harder to be more Christ like, and love one another more deeply and willingly. Let us make this time of life our own personal spring, to use the atonement to become clean again. We read in D&C 18:10-13

10 Remember the ^aworth of ^bsouls is great in the sight of God;

 11 For, behold, the Lord your ^aRedeemer suffered ^bdeath in the flesh; wherefore he ^csuffered the ^dpain of all men, that all men might repent and ^ecome unto him.

 12 And he hath ^arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of ^brepentance.

 13 And how great is his ^ajoy in the ^bsoul that ^crepenteth!

After Christ was resurrected he visited the Nephites, He asked them to bring all their little children to him that they would sit in front of him, then he knelt and prayed to our Heavenly Father. This is a good time to make sure that we are remembering that we are all praying together in our families daily; morning and night. If we do this we will feel more in tune with the Holy Ghost and more unified as a family. The love in our homes will grow and we will be able to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Fear

Today while I was talking to a dear friend she told me that she tries not to make decisions out of fear. It was just a casual comment in a conversation we were having but it really struck home to me. I have many time in my life made choices out of fear, mostly fear that I would make the wrong choice and something bad would happen to me or someone I love. I strongly dislike feeling like this, it traps me causing me to think on the dark side of things instead of on the bright side or the Christ like way of thinking.
The one fear I do like to always have in the forefront of my mind is Godly fear. Why? because I want to please him, I want to become more like him, I want to be obedient to him because I love him....ultimately that's why I fear him because I love him. I don't want to disappoint him. I have always loved this scripture and it has brought me a lot of peace over the years.

D&C 6:36
Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

Plainly put. If I always have him in my thoughts I will DOUBT NOT AND FEAR NOT. What a beautiful calming way to live.

2 Nephi 10:19

 19 Wherefore, I will ^aconsecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God.

This verse makes me happy I think about it a lot. It makes me feel proud to live in a free country where we get to choose which church we want to believe in. Where I get to decide to worship a Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me on a personal level. If I worship him and am obedient this land will continue to be a huge blessing for me and my posterity.

Something to think about...lds.org

Forgiveness

Why is it so hard to forgive the people who you trust and love so much? Why is it so hard to forgive ourselves? Having a forgiving heart is a blessing, some people even have it as a spiritual gift.

3 Nephi 13:14-15

14 For, if ye ^aforgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 

Ouch that definitely puts motivation forward to want to forgive more freely. We all need forgiveness in our lives because we are all imperfect beings. I remember as a new mother to my first child, I would see something that I did not approve of that another mother of another child would be doing I would say ,"I will never do that". Only to find myself doing the exact thing I had said I wouldn't a couple days later. Realizing that we are all prone to make mistakes and several of them daily when we accept this we learn what it is like to walk in other people's shoes. And that makes it easier to see things through their eyes and so when they do something to hurt us we can say, "it's ok I forgive you".lds.org

Buried

There have been times in my life when I have felt buried. Buried under the pressures of the world. Burried with busyness of things that really have little eternal reward. Buried with thoughts of wanting to overcome sin and challenges but not knowing exactly how to follow through with them.
 This winter was long the longest coldest I can remember. But somehow I rarely felt trapped, isolated or buried.
My kids had a total of 19 full or partial school days that they missed, a record high for the area. I heard a lot of complaints from other people about how they wanted their kids to be in school so they could get more done or go to work like normal. Not me, I loved having them home with me. Watching them all play together, using their imaginations hearing the excitement they had in their voice when they looked out the window and saw more snow tumbling down. reliving moments from my childhood with them remembering warm feelings of love and protection in a house filled with people that loved me.
I know for a fact that after a long winter here, where it seams like the sun will never shine hot again, Spring will come and things will all be replenished and new.

Ether 6:6-9

 6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

 7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being ^atight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ^bark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

 8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were ^adriven forth before the wind.

 9 And they did ^asing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did ^bthank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.

 10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither ^awhale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.

I have thought of the Jaredites many times wondering what it would be like to cross the sea in awkward barges that they built themselves. Buried in the sea and only relying on the Faith I have in Jesus Christ to bring me out of the depths so that they could have fresh air again. And also knowing that the Lord would bring you safely to the promised land. What an incredible miracle. I love this story. One of my favorites.

Putting my trust in the Lord gives me the hope that he will always bring me up, to the person I need and want to be.

Go To LDS.org

Kneel to Pray

 13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should ^akneel down upon the ground.

 14 And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am ^atroubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

 15 And when he had said these words, he himself also ^aknelt upon the earth; and behold he ^bprayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

 

After Christ was resurrected and visited the Nephites in the Americas he blessed them and healed them. He told the people to bring their little ones to him so that he could bless them as well. After they did that he told  everyone to kneel while he was in the middle of them, and then he knelt too. Then he started praying.

I was thinking about this, sometimes it is much easier to stand while we pray together as a family, sometimes it is ok. We don't kneel at the dinner table. But when we have morning family or companionship prayer we try to always kneel. I feel it shows our humility to our Heavenly Father shows him that we really need him that he is our king, that we put our respect and love for him above our own comfort and pleasure.

lds.org

Alma 26:22

22. He that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing-- unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never hath been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our bretheren to repentance.

This sounds so poetic as I was reading through it the first time I thought this doesn't sound so hard, this should be easy... Then I read it again and again, to do this it takes hard work and dedication.

So here is a list of to do's to be able to accomplish the end goal of bringing thousands of souls to repentance.

1. repent
2. exercise faith
3. do good works
4. pray continually

Is it doable to a human who is not close to being perfect? I think so. I look at it as a challenge everyday trying to become a little better, change the small things. Start with #1 and work them individually and then build upon each other.
Then why would we want to bring souls to repentance? I believe it is the ultimate service we can do for anyone. Bringing them to the light as they say, or teaching them the gospel or even introducing them to the gospel. Nothing will bring us more happiness in this like then to serve others.

Their burdens were made light

Alma 24:14-15
Yesterday morning I didn't want to get out of bed. Some of this feeling was because my little 10 month old sweetie wanted to stay up half the night. The other part of feeling like this was just me being depressed. Life is great and I have had many other times where I have dealt with a much deeper depression. This morning was the same, I found myself putting the kids on the bus and then putting PBS KIDS on for my 3 year old and then getting back in bed. I just got off the phone with my little sister and I told her how I was feeling, she gave me encouragement and told me I was wonderful. Somehow almost immediately I felt a smidgen better. I then opened my Book of Mormon and this is where I opened it to.

Alma and his brethren were being persecuted, they were feeling a huge burden on their shoulders. Literally they were not aloud to pray for help or they would be put to death. They finally received the peace of these words.

 14 And I will also ease the ^aburdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as ^bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their ^cafflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did ^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord.

 

The voice of the Lord brought so much comfort to them, when they needed it. Their afflictions were not taken away immediately but he made them so that they could get through them with his help.

 

Life is so good I have been so blessed but some days are just hard. I am grateful to know that the Lord will always ease my burdens spiritually if I ask and if I always without hesitation turn to him.