My Journey to Forgiving......FHE

Recently my counselor and I got together to discuss the process of forgiving. As we talked, I realized I could not really define what forgiving is. He explained that when we are unforgiving, we are judging the guilty person and we are anxious and concerned about justice being done and about being repaid for our losses. But when we’ve forgiven, we no longer judge or expect repayment. We give up our tiresome wrestle with the issue and decide to walk away and do something else with our time and energy. In a figurative sense, we wrap up all our frenzied emotions, confusion, anger, and sadness and drop that burden at the feet of the Savior, at his request—in fact, at his command. We trust him completely to handle the whole thing in his perfect wisdom. We cease to be victims of someone’s sin or error, and we go on with other duties and joys of life, not looking back, not concerned anymore. This is what happened to me.

My Journey to Forgiving, Name Withheld, Ensign, Feb 1997

WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES; it takes away today's PEACE.....

WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES; it takes away today's PEACE!!!!!

Healing Balm Of Hope.....

This is the ultimate of all we might hope for. To possess this hope is to believe that today’s pain is only a way station on the road to deliverance. It requires patience with current circumstances. It is the belief that there will be a coming day when “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4). Hope’s lifeblood is faith, and like faith, hope is required to lay hold on eternal life (see Ether 12:32). Through “meekness and lowliness of heart,” we can receive “the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope” (Moroni 8:26).

Divine hope is sustained not because things always turn out as we wish but because we know that “all things wherewith [we] have been afflicted shall work together for [our] good” and to the glory of the Lord’s name (D&C 98:3).

The Healing Balm of Hope by Vaughn E. Worthen, Ensign, Sept., 2013

Hold On A Little Longer.........FHE

You Can Hold On

If ever you are tempted to become discouraged or to lose faith, remember those faithful Saints who remained true in Kirtland. Hold on a little longer. You can do this! You are part of a special generation. You were prepared and preserved to live at this important time in the existence of our beautiful planet earth. You have a celestial pedigree and therefore have all the necessary talents to make your life an eternal success story.

The Lord has blessed you with a testimony of the truth. You have felt His influence and witnessed His power. And if you continue to seek Him, He will continue to grant you sacred experiences. With these and other spiritual gifts, you will be able not only to change your own life for the better but also to bless your homes, wards or branches, communities, cities, states, and nations with your goodness.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Hold on a Little Longer,” Ensign, Jan 2010, 4–8

Our Spirits Need Constant Nourishment.......FHE

Stay close to God, every day.

One of the great, enduring lessons of the Kirtland period is that our spirits need constant nourishment. As President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) taught: “Testimony isn’t something that you have today and you keep always. Testimony is either going to grow and grow to the brightness of certainty, or it is going to diminish to nothingness, depending upon what we do about it. I say, the testimony that we recapture day by day is the thing that saves us from the pitfalls of the adversary.” We need to stay close to the Lord every day if we are to survive the adversity that we all must face.. There are Individual and collective trials that sometimes seem overwhelming.

That is when we need, more than ever, to draw near unto the Lord. As we do, we will come to know what it means to have the Lord draw near unto us. As we seek Him ever more diligently, we will surely find Him. We will see clearly that the Lord does not abandon His Church or His faithful Saints. Our eyes will be opened, and we will see Him open the windows of heaven and shower us with more of His light. We will find the spiritual strength to survive even during the darkest night.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Hold on a Little Longer,” Ensign, Jan 2010, 4–8

I believe...

That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel

The Power of Covenants......

All this is not to say that life in the covenant is free of challenge or that the obedient soul should be surprised if disappointments or even disasters interrupt his peace. If you feel that personal righteousness should preclude all loss and suffering, you might want to have a chat with Job.

This brings us to a second way in which our covenants supply strength—they produce the faith necessary to persevere and to do all things that are expedient in the Lord. Our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ and keep His commandments requires a degree of faith, but as we honor our covenants, that faith expands. In the first place, the promised fruits of obedience become evident, which confirms our faith. Secondly, the Spirit communicates God’s pleasure, and we feel secure in His continued blessing and help. Thirdly, come what may, we can face life with hope and equanimity, knowing that we will succeed in the end because we have God’s promise to us individually, by name, and we know He cannot lie (see Enos 1:6; Ether 3:12).

The Power of Covenants , Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Ensign, May, 2009

Finding Joy in the Journey......

“If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.”

Finding Joy in the Journey, President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Nov., 2008

I believe... That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

This day I will concentrate on the inner meaning of the Commandment “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self.”  I will accept myself, for that is the primary condition under which the good in me can grow.  Unless I am at peace with the child of God I am, I cannot love and help my neighbor.  Regrets are vain.  They interfere with the good I could do today, the making of the better person I want to be tomorrow.

Condemning ourselves for mistakes we have made is just as bad as condemning others for theirs.  We are not really equipped to make judgments, not even of ourselves.  Thomas A’Kempis said: “All perfection in this life is attended by some imperfection and all our farseeing is not without obscurity.”

Today I pray for the wisdom to build a better tomorrow on the mistakes and experiences of yesterday.

I believe...

That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

What Others suffer From Us......

Weighing Decisions

(One Day at a Time)

“There are some things I absolutely refuse to accept,” says a member at a meeting.  This is too often true of someone who is unable to admit there really is a way to weigh our decisions and admit that they might have some fault at hand.

Before I decide I cannot accept this or that, I had better examine MY part in the deadlock.  Were my expectations unreasonable?  Did I demand too much?  Am I being confronted with a natural reprisal for my rigid, uncompromising attitude?

If we have hurt someone or demanded too much of them, swift retribution may dismay or infuriate us.  Shouldn’t we search out the causes and do something to correct them?

TODAY’S REMINDER:

I may feel ever so justified in “taking a stand,” but let me consider whether it was something I did that led to the crisis.  To remain unyielding may result in disaster I am still less prepared to accept!

“We are quick enough at perceiving and weighing what we suffer from others, but we mind not what others suffer from us.”

(Thomas A’Kempis)

Righteously hang on....

There are times when you simply have to righteously hang on and outlast the devil until his depressive spirit leaves you. As the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Thine adversity and thine afflictions, shall be but a small moment;

“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.” (D&C 121:7–8.)

Do Not Despair, President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November, 1974

Saints For All Season.......

“As I look over my own life, it is apparent that many of the times of greatest growth have come to me while passing through stormy seasons.

The question is not whether we will experience seasons of adversity but how we will weather the storms. Our great opportunity during the ever-changing seasons of life is to hold fast to the faithful word of God, for His counsel is designed not only to help us weather the storms of life but also to guide us past them. Our Heavenly Father has given His word through His prophets—precious knowledge designed to lead us through the challenges of difficult seasons toward the unspeakable joy and brilliant light of eternal life. It is an important part of our life’s experience to develop the strength, courage, and integrity to hold fast to truth and righteousness despite the buffeting we may experience.”

Saints for All Seasons , Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, Sept., 2013

When Help Hinders......

When Help Hinders

Darla Isackson

Her are some of the ways the Lord serves:

*Comforting us when faint…To listen to another person without judging or advising is one of the most helpful of human gifts.  Really hearing the soul’s complaint of one we love without trying to talk them out of how they are feeling is a gift of the heart that often heals and blesses.

*Silencing all our fears…Only the Lord can silence all our fears.  However, our example of leaning on the Lord, of trusting, of choosing to live in faith can be a huge help to silence another’s fears.

*Wiping away our tears…Only Jesus can ultimately wipe away all our tears; in His earthly ministry he exemplified ultimate compassion.  He wept with those who wept. Showing compassion and empathy for each other’s grief is one way we can follow His example.

*Imparting Blessings…The Lord can guide us to know what would be a blessing to those we love and what would not.  He is all-wise in making the distinction between those things that bless and those things that would hinder or weaken.  Codependent parents want to take the place of the Savior—save them, bless them, and give them everything.  But parents possessed of a Christlike love would pray, “Lord, let my children have the experiences they need to bring them back home to thee.  They pray and let go.  Say “Thy will be done.”

When the billowing surge seems to conspire against our children (loved ones), when we are tempted to rescue, to shield children from consequences, to give help that hinders, may we remember the words of the Lord to Joseph Smith in D&C 122:7-9:

If the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.  The Son of Man hath descended below them all.  Art thou greater than he?  Therefore, hold on thy way…For God shall be with you forever and ever.