Forgiveness...... His Grace.....

“And what about those who believe they have sinned beyond Christ’s redeeming grace? They can take comfort in His promise: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Or perhaps there are some who believe their lives are shattered beyond repair. Can they not have renewed hope in these words of the Savior: “[I will] give unto them beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3)? There is no problem, no obstacle to our divine destiny, for which the Savior’s Atonement does not have a remedy of superior healing and lifting power. That is why Mormon said, “Ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ” (Moroni 7:41).”

Our Identity and Our Destiny, Tad R. Callister, BYU, August 14, 2012

TRANSFORMED.......

TRANSFORMED

Mere Christianity—C.S. Lewis

I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald.  Imagine yourself as a living house.  God comes in to rebuild that house.  At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on:  You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.  But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself.

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas.  Nor is it a command to do the impossible.  He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.  He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words.  If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us all into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness.  The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for.  Nothing less.  He meant what He said.

HIS Grace........Is.....

Should there be anyone who feels he is too weak to change the onward and downward course of his life, or should there be those who fail to resolve to do better because of that greatest of fears, the fear of failure, there is no more comforting assurance to be had than the words of the Lord: “My grace,” said He, “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

Thomas S. Monson, “Your Eternal Voyage,” Ensign, May 2000, 46

What If.......

VAIN IMAGINATIONS

One Day at a Time

“What if….”  How often we hear these words from those who live with an addicts problems.  Only two little words, but they’re heavy with dread, fear and anxiety.

“What if he doesn’t come home?”—What if she doesn’t take care of the children while I’m at work?”---What if he spends all his pay on drugs?”

What if he is living on the street?”---What if he goes to jail?”---What if…anything our desperate imaginings can project.

Granted, these things can happen, but when they don’t, we have put ourselves through needless suffering and made ourselves even less prepared to deal with them if they should come.

TODAY’S REMINDER

In ARP, the answer to “What if… is “Don’t project!  Don’t imagine the worst; deal with your problems as they arise.  Live one day at a time.”  I cannot do anything about things that haven’t happened; I will not let past experiences make me dread the unknown future.

“It is a vain and unprofitable thing to conceive either grief or joy for future things

which perhaps will never come about.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience..........

We must learn that in the Lord’s plan, our understanding comes “line upon line, precept upon precept.”6 In short, knowledge and understanding come at the price of patience.

Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience,” Ensign, May 2010, 56–59

Boundaries in Marriage......

“…loving God must be first.  He empowers us to change. He tells us how to change.  And, most of all, God becomes the one that keeps us from being ultimately in charge.  If we try to be in charge, we will do it our way, and then our own limitations become the limitations of the relationship as well.  We all need someone bigger to answer to so we will make the changes we need to make.

Love God first, with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Lose your life to Him, and you will gain it.”

Boundaries in Marriage,  Cloud and Townsend, p 118

Things Will Be Set Right In The Millennium.....

“The Lord has promised that in the eternities no blessing will be denied his sons and daughters who keep the commandments, are true to their covenants, and desire what is right.

“Many of the most important deprivations of mortality will be set right in the Millennium, which is the time for fulfilling all that is incomplete in the great plan of happiness for all of our Father’s worthy children. We know that will be true of temple ordinances. I believe it will also be true of family relationships and experiences.”

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Great Plan of Happiness,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 75.