Intuitive

 This morning I watched a testimony of a Sister missionary I know. She talked about how as she came to know her Heavenly Father better through studying more about him that her prayers changed to become more intuitive. That really made me think.

I don't need reminders to call my mom. I think of her often and call her almost daily. I don't have to think of an excuse to talk to her. I don't just call her when I NEED something. I call her because i want to feel close to her. I call to hear her breathing and check to see how her day was. I tell her my stresses and help her with hers. 

I think I will try to get to know my Heavenly Father better so that my prayers too will become intuitive.

Without Rain There Would Be No Flowers

 The rains ⛈️ last night had me thinking about the storms of life we must endure. Sometimes in the middle of a storm it is hard to remember that without rain and even sometimes destruction there would be no flowers or room for new growth. I know the Lord loves each of us. Perhaps it is only by suffering in our own personal Gethsemanes that we ever truly come to understand just how much He loves us. I hope that when the storms rage in your life you will be able to Look to Him in trust and faith and be able to see the “flowers” he sends to remind you of His love along the way. 🌸❤️ 

Find the Good - Be the Good

 This morning we talked about while we aren't supposed to judge other people, we are supposed to judge between good and bad and to choose the good. Mormon was one of the last prophets of the Book of Mormon and lived in very wicked times. But he was preaching to the people he called the "peaceable followers of Christ." He said he judged them this because of their "peaceable walk with the children of men." 

We live in wicked times and there is a lot that goes on in middle and high school (and the adult world too) that is not good. It does not bear good fruit in the end and bring happiness long term. Yes drugs may give you a momentary high but long term they destroy lives. We are to go into the wicked world and find the good. And we are the BE the Good. 

So I sent the kids off this morning with a challenge to be the good and look for the good. Find those things and people that are good and be the good in someone else's day. 

Noble's Thought and Mine

 This morning I asked Noble to give our spiritual thought. I figure I need to train him in thinking spiritually on his own and being prepared to give devotional thoughts in seminary next year. So here was his:

Everyday at school we see people doing things that aren't right. But Jesus teaches us that we should be loving to everyone and be kind and friendly to everyone. So even when we see people doing things we know are not right we need to not judge them and still be kind and friendly and love them. It's like the scriptures teach us to judge not because we each have our own things we do wrong too. 

Not a bad spiritual thought. I liked it.

As for my spiritual thought this morning - it came as I was praying this morning before going to wake up the kids. I was praying like I do most mornings that I would be helped to be a good mom. I mean we all need that help right? I have often said and thought that my role as a mother is to be an arrow that points my children to Christ. But this morning I felt something as I was praying that called me to a higher vision of my role as their mother. 

I am supposed to be more than an arrow. I need to walk with them and teach them to walk with Christ. I need to do more than tell them to do it. I need to take their hand and lift when they are weak and lend my strength to them to steady them in their wobbles. Just as I did when I taught them to walk, I need to cheer them on and comfort them when they fall. My job is more than just pointing the way, it is helping them walk in the Way. Yes, I need to talk and teach of Christ. Yes, I need to model the Way by walking the walk. They will learn by those things. But they need to stand up on their own feet and try it out themselves and they need me there to steady them and support them and cheer and comfort them in their efforts. 

And I need to have faith in them. They will learn to Walk in the Way. Even if they someday stray, They will know how to get back. And I will use this time while they are still young to teach them how.

Gratitude

 Our happiness is so tied to our ability to be grateful in all things. For our morning spiritual thought, we went back and forth saying things for which we are grateful. After as while, I challenged the kids to think of something that if a trial to them. Then I asked them to come up with something they can be grateful for about that trial. Harrison has a hard time with all the inappropriate things kids do and say in middle school. We have been working on loving people even when they do in appropriate things and don't stop when you ask them. He said he was grateful to be able to tell right from wrong because of this experience. I am grateful for his love of goodness and clear vision of right and wrong. 

Holding Hands with Jesus

 In primary we are singing a song about walking with Jesus. If we are walking with Jesus and holding His hand, He can strengthen us to do all things that are right and good even if they are seemingly impossible to do. As a friend in college once told me, "It is amazing what two people can do when one of them is God." 

Just as children walk holding their parents hand for safety in a parking lot or crossing a street, We need to have the humility of a child to understand we cannot see all the dangers around us or protect ourselves from every threat. Some tasks we are required to perform ARE more than we can do. God does sometimes give us trial, tests, or tasks that ARE more than we can handle - at least more than we can handle ALONE. 

He wants us to depend on Him. He wants us to know that is by Him that we are led, by Him that we are saved, and through Him that we can be made perfect. He does not want us to be independent of Him. He wants us to Come unto Him and to know Him and that through Him and with Him, we can do all things.

So how will you take the Savior's outstretched hand today? How will you walk with Him?

Preparing to Feast

 The other night I had a dream that President Nelson came and spent a couple days with my family. The whole time he was there I was just so thrilled to be with him and learn from him. I didn't want to go do any of my chores or errands. I just wanted to learn all I could from him. It was an amazing dream and in it he did give me a specific message. Just before he left he told me to tell Sabrina to stick to her goals and work to become a professor. He said she was going to be a great professor and touch a lot of lives in that profession. 

I called Sabrina up the morning after I woke from the dream and after I told her about the dream and President Nelson's message for her from my dream she said, "now i'm gonna have to come up with a new general conference question." I guess she had been second guessing her career path and her question she was taking to General Conference was what she should be doing with her schooling and career. 

Just like my dream, we will all have the chance to learn at the feet of the Lord's prophets and apostles for the next couple of days. What questions are we going in with? Will we focus on feasting on their words more than feasting on our cinnamon rolls? 

So my spiritual message for my kids today was to prepare for a feast. Think of what questions you want answered. Go into conference seeking and we will find. I can't wait!

Rooted

 I just returned home after doing an endowment session in the temple. After I sat in the celestial room praying for a long while. As I prayed, I was simply overwhelmed with gratitude and joy and love. I am grateful beyond words for my own spiritual experiences and answers that have given me a deep and abiding unshakeable testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ, his redemptive, enabling, and healing power, and of the restoration of his church which teaches his gospel with true authority and is led by Him today. 

I am also so grateful to know that my two oldest daughters also have their faith firmly rooted and that they are continuing daily to do the work to grow their roots deeper in their faith and grow closer to their Savior. I am also grateful my 3 younger kids are on the right path and working to grow roots as well. Lastly I am grateful to live so close to a temple, where I can go and visit a bit of heaven frequently. 

I have never been one of those bereieved mothers who goes to her child's grave often to feel close to her child. I know that is helpful to so many of my angel mom friends. For me, going to her grave is just a reminder of all I have lost. When I want to feel close to Camille, I can go visit heaven by going to the temple. 

I am also grateful for my roots - my ancestral roots. I am grateful beyond measure for the faithful men and women from whom I descend. I am grateful for the sacrifices they made for their faith and that I am honored to have a bit of their blood running through my veins. 

So I guess my spiritual thought today is, how are your roots doing? Are you doing the work to grow them deep to seek the living water of the Savior?  

Be a Tool - a Useful Tool

 Yesterday was such a good day for me. I got to do some work that allowed me to use my brain and earn some money. I got to share a great spiritual thought with my kids. Then I got to go visit some children who, due to some boundary changes, are newly a part of our ward. These visits are always fun. At the end of the first visit, the little 9 year old girl looked at me and said, "you know I was kinda nervous about all these changes and being in a new ward. But now that you are here, I'm not nervous anymore." 

Mic Drop. Mission Accomplished. Then I went to my next visit. This was to a family I had heard had never come to church. Mentally after I heard that I had put visiting them on the back burner because I had several families to visit and needed to get info out to the kids who come to church before tonight when we have our first activity days. But around mid day yesterday I felt like I should not put them on the back burner and reach out anyway. So I did. 

The dad answered my phone call and agreed to let me come visit yesterday afternoon. So, I went to visit. Apparently, they only moved in a couple months ago so I went under the assumption that they were generally active but just hadn't made it to church since the move.

The visit went really well and I think the boy will come to our activity tonight. We will for sure invite him over since he is Harrison's age and new here.  After a while i asked the dad (mom was in Florida visiting family right now) what kind of callings his wife liked. I had told them we were really excited to have more people to fill callings. 

He said she’s mostly been in primary but YW was her favorite. I asked if he had a favorite calling or if no calling was his favorite. 😉 He chuckled but said "No i like to serve." He’s mostly been in EQ Pres HP leadership or YM when his older grown sons were in YM. 

Then he said “im sure you know we have not been active recently. But if funny you called because i was just talking to my wife and she snd all my family were praying about whether to evacuate because of the hurricane snd she said she heard a voice tell her to stay. After the prayer everyone in the family had felt the same feeling to stay. And she and i were talking about how we need to go back to church. And then you called.” 

I love it when I get to be a useful tool in the Lord’s hands. Really there is no better feeling in the world. So my spiritual thought for my kids this morning was to say a little prayer and go out and be a useful tool. Pray for opportunities and the ability to see where you can help or lift another, even if it is small thing like giving a compliment. Go out and make someone's day better. 

Stripling Warriors

 The Stripling Warriors did not doubt that the Lord their God would deliver them because of the faith and teachings of their mothers. They had FAITH big time. But that didn't mean that once they got out to the battle the sat down and took their helmet off. It didn't mean they slept through training or ignored their captain's warnings or directions. 

These young men had incredible faith and they combined it with putting on the whole armor of God both literally and physically. They trained and prepared and fought with their full strength. They were young men and probably were not stronger than the full grown soldiers in the opposing army. But they didn't give up. They let their faith fuel their works. They did the work necessary to know how to fight, they practiced and then they put that practice into action in battle. 

They were also exactly obedient to their leaders every command. There was no arguing or questioning or suggesting a better alternative plan. 

These three ingredients are essential to our youth today.

 FAITH

WORK

OBEDIENCE

Each day I send my kids out into the battlefield. When kids leave primary, there is about a 95% rate of activity in the gospel from active families. Once kids are 19 the activity rate or rate drops hugely. I'm sure it is different in different parts of the world but recently in our area stake conference a visiting authority said it was close to 30% active by 19. 

Make no mistake that these middle and high school years are indeed a battlefield. I have been and continue to teach my children and strengthen their faith. I can see them growing in that faith. I can see them putting in the work (though often begrudgingly) to train and to put on that full armor of God. We are working on being exactly obedient. It's still a process- for all of us.

And just like those stripling warriors I have seen my kids take battle wounds from the enemy. Each one hurts me right along with them. I want them to come out without a scratch but they are doing battle and they aren't perfect and they are young and learning against a seasoned powerful enemy. But I have faith that they will emerge from the battlefield victorious. 

So today I encouraged them to put on their armor, have faith, do the work, and be obedient. 

Wickedness Never Was Happiness

 This is a quote from scripture we often hear but I don't think we fully understand correctly. I think language is such an interesting thing because on the one hand it enables us to communicate our thoughts and ideas with others. On the other hand, it limits the true transmission of these thoughts and ideas to the meanings associated with the words we choose to  use and sometimes those words don't really adequately or accurately describe the thought, feeling, or message we wish to convey.

With this quote I think for most of my life it was trying to tell me that people who do bad things can't be happy. But I have seen lots of people who tell me they are pretty happy doing things that are not "righteous." I have even had friends tell me they are happier after they left the church and stopped living the commandments. 

On a more recent reading of this scripture in Alma 41:10-11 where Alma tells his wayward son that wickedness never was happiness, I noticed in the next verse that Alma kinda defined what he meant by happiness.  He says that all men who are in a state of nature, or a carnal state are in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. "They are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness."

This last time reading this I came to see that Alma's definition of happiness is to be with God.  

There are lots of things in this life that we must do or not do to live "after the manner of happiness" or in other words - to live with the Spirit of God abiding with and in us in this world. Sometimes we think we would be happier to just do them or stop doing them. But I have experienced enough of sin and repentance to know that when we are brought to a perfect understanding of our guilt, it is not happiness we will feel. 

True happiness is living with the sanctifying presence of the Holy Ghost burning within us. It is living in daily repentance and striving to do and act and become like Christ so that at that last day or any day before then we can know we are right before the Lord and can call on Him with confidence in our trials. This is true happiness. This happiness is independent of the circumstances of our lives and can be like a fount of living water to our souls. 

Pride

 I’ve been reading 4th Nephi and the Book of Mormon today and I was once again reminded about the insidious problem of pride. I think pride is one of those sins that creeps up on you over and over even when you keep trying to put it down. 

Annie recently posted a question on Facebook about why we prayer. Maybe one of the reasons is to bring us back before our Maker regularly so we can get a reality check on our “standing” and realize there’s a reason we kneel before Him. 

Pride is something I am continually working to eliminate in myself. I have learned through experience that it is easier to humble myself than to be caused to be humble. Yet still I struggle. And so I pray. And as I pray I hope to feel the humbling all encompassing love of our Savior for myself even in my struggles and weaknesses and for others even in theirs. 

What do you do to help strip yourself of pride?

Switching Sides - Justice and Mercy

 Today's Spiritual thought actually comes from Jared Halverson who does a YouTube and podcast called Unshaken Saints. I was listening to his one for this week on Isaiah 36-49. One thing he pointed out was how Isaiah up till Chapter 40 is heavy on the Justice side of things. There are lots of warnings and prophecy of scattering etc. 

Then in Chapter 40, the tone changes. That chapter starts "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." These chapters lean heavier to the mercy side of the justice scale. Halverson pointed out that before we sin, Satan speaks to us mercifully - "its gonna be fine. no one will know. nothing bad will happen, you can fix it later, quit tomorrow, repent another day etc." The Lord on the other hand give Wo Wo Wo warnings beforehand. It is the Spirit and is quietly whispering that you know better. And in some cases, it is the Lord sending bigger signs to save you or warn you away from sin. Maybe it is a text from a friend of family member checking on you or even a clear and distinct thought that pierces you or even a voice. 

After we have sinned, the tables turn. Satan begins preaching justice to us. "You are the worst person ever. You can't ever change. You will always just give in so why try to do right. God doesn't want to hear from you. Don't pray, you aren't worthy. etc." But he speaks in first person in our thoughts. 

On the other hand, the Lord holds out His hand to us and begs us to Come unto Him. He offers mercy if we will make the little efforts to begin repenting. 

I remember feeling this distinct contrast as a youth during a significant day of repentance. How grateful I am for the loving Friend our Savior is. I am so grateful that he is merciful when we come to Him in the sack cloth an ashes mindset and brokenness of a repentant heart. 

How can I repent today? How can I make a change for the better today? How can you? 

Micro Miracles

 Yesterday as I got up I put my AirPods in my PJ pocket and went to the business of getting my boys off to school. I remember the thought coming to my mind that I should probably put them in a safer place since my pj pants pockets are loose and things can easily fall out of them. I ignored the thought. 

Then last night I remembered the thought and decided to go find my AirPods. I went to my closet and pulled out my pj pants. The AirPods were not in the pocket. I looked all around where I had taken them off and around and in the basket where I keep my pjs. No luck. I turned on my find my device app. It couldn't connect to the AirPods. I thought maybe they fell out in the car when I took Noble to school. No luck finding them there. 

I searched under and around my bed, the kitchen, the laundry room, the music room, upstairs, downstairs my closet several times, the bathrooms. I just couldn't find them. I prayed and looked and still nothing. I was fairly certain they were somewhere in the house or my car so I decided I should just go to bed. 

This morning when I woke up they were the first thing I thought about. I really hate losing things. So I got on my knees and prayed and in that prayer again I asked that I could find the AirPods. I went to closet and again took out my pj pants. I put my hands in the basket I keep them in and right there was the case. First place I looked.

Now many people would discount this as luck or a coincidence. But I saw it as a micro miracle. God cares about the details of our lives that maybe aren't huge in the grand scheme of things but they are big to us in that moment. I have had numerous similar micro miracles where I have been able to find lost things with the prayer and searching.

I know that God cares about lost things. What's more, I know God cares about lost people. He is mindful of each and every one of His children. We are never too lost for Him to guide someone to find us. The only real question is, are we ready to be found?

iOS 16 Flaw - Gap in Parental Controls Fix

 I am taking a break from my spiritual thoughts to bring a PSA to parents with kids who have Apple phones and use their screen time restrictions for parental controls.

I have toggled off Safari and Siri use for my teenage son's phone. I basically want him to only have a flip phone but as I have an extra Apple phone laying around while his sister is on a mission, that is what he is using. I have been pretty happy with Apple's ability for me to go in and take off all the apps I don't think he needs (which is most of them.) 

A couple of days ago he updated the operating system to iOS16 (as did most of his friends.) A couple hours later he told me there was a problem with the new update. While I had taken Internet searching totally off his phone, this new update put a search button on the home screen that brought up pictures from the internet of whatever he put in the search field. 

My husband spent an hour on the phone with Apple trying to find a fix or roll the software back to the old software. They were able to remove the search button from the home screen (that is under Settings - Home Screen - then toggle off the search button on home screen option.) But the function of being able to search and have web images still came up when using the spotlight search (when you pull down from the middle of the home screen and there is a search bar. In the old iOS this is a great way to find an app or contact or other info on your phone. In the new it also was bringing up web images related to any word put in.)

I called Apple later that night and spent 90 minutes on the phone going over every single option under the screen time parental controls. Nothing worked to stop the web images from showing up. Finally my call got sent up to a supervisor named Casey. (The first guy was great but we just couldn't figure it out.)

Casey was like, "I think you have found a major gap in our software." I was like "ya think?" We finally did find a fix but it was not intuitive or easy to find. So I thought I'd share it here for anyone else in my boat.

First you have to go into the screen time content and privacy restriction to allowed apps and toggle on Safari and Siri. Then you have to go to the main Setting pager to Siri and Search. Then you go down to the Safari app in this and turn off the show in search button" (I am not an Apple Genius, so I am hoping I am remembering this correctly!) None of this part is secured by a parent passcode. So first check to make sure web images no longer come up when you search for ... flowers? If only photos of flowers come up from your photos you are good. If web images of flowers come up - call Apple support? If no web images come up then you need to go back to screen time content and privacy restrictions and to allowed apps and toggle safari and/or siri off again. That should remove the Safari app icon from Search and Siri menu on the main setting page if you just toggle off safari. If you toggle both off it should remove the search and siri button from the main setting page all together so your kid can't get in and turn it back on. 

Ok I am not sure if that was clear enough to help. Let me know in the comments if you need more info. I guess I could take pictures or do a video?

By the way, Casey thanked me for calling. He said very few people do call in and that he would be escalating my issue to the engineers. He said it would likely be fixed (maybe in the next update?) and that it would be because of my phone call. Kudos to my son for pointing it out.

Spiritual thought of the day - we are living in a time of insidious spiritual warfare. Put on the whole armor of God everyday. Always put the first things first and make sure you (and your kids) are well acquainted with the shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit.  These are your most critical tools to defend against and defeat the enemy.

Prayer

 This mornings thought came from a spiritual impression I had last night. I was thinking about how I had taught my children to say their prayers but the question that came into my mind was "do they know how to really pray?"

We pray in our family regularly. We probably need to do it more than we do. We don't often eat together and so often we forget to pray individually before we eat. But we are pretty consistent on morning and nightly family prayers and praying before a family meal. And I remind my children to pray in the morning when I wake them and at night when they go to bed. 

We have taught them the basic structure of a prayer - Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee for ....., We ask the for ....,  in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We have also talked about how important the gratitude part is and what is appropriate and not appropriate to ask for. 

But have we taught them to really TALK to their Father? Like when they are feeling down or have a question, have I taught my children to get on their knees and spend time there praying, like PRAYING. 

So this morning, on the way to school I talked to the boys about how important it is to really pray to the Father, not just simply say your prayers. We talked about how we can talk to Him and listen for answers in our thoughts, feelings and impressions. We talked about Enos and how he prayed for a whole day and wrestled with the Lord. 

Our Father is always there. Wherever we are, we can always turn to Him. He will listen when we are sad or confused or scared, or lonely. And if we keep praying when we are down till we can find just a pinprick of hope and light, He will flood our souls with the peace and light the Savior offers us. 

After Camille died, this was a truth I learned. If you dive into the darkness, praying doesn't help to bring you out of that until you can find a pinprick of hope. It just needs to be a tread light tendril of hope reaching down into the darkness of despair. The Lord will send it down, but we have to watch for it and when we feel or see or become aware of the thought of hope, that tiny faint thread, we must grab onto it.

It is only through grabbing on to the thought of hope, the tiny thread of light in the blackness, that we can be brought up to find peace in Christ.

It is only by bravely coming before the Father and forming the words in our minds to ask forgiveness that we can find cleansing from our scarlet sins. 

Both of these kinds of prayer are much more intensely feeling acts that the simple prayers we commonly say night and morning. I do not mean to detract from those prayers for I have felt their power too. But I hope my children will also turn to their Father with their deepest innermost thoughts, feelings, and doubts with faith that they will be heard and answered.

This is where I turned in the pre Google age of my youth and young adulthood and I received then and still receive today powerful answers and teachings from my Father about questions I have, things I don't understand, and guidance I will need.  No answer is to any question is every more powerfully felt or deeply understood than when it is answered spiritually by our God straight to our souls.

May we all take time to truly commune with Him today. 

Desire

 I was just reading in 3 Nephi 28. This the chapter were the 12 disciples Jesus chose to minister and teach the people of the Nephites/Lamanites are basically each granted a wish. "What is it that ye desire of me?" is the question Jesus asks them. Later in the chapter, Mormon writes about how the Lord explained that a change was made in the 3 who desired to continue bringing souls to Christ until he came again. 

Our bodies and our minds and feelings are constantly undergoing changes. Cells die and new cells form. We learn and our ideas and perceptions about life and people and the world around us alter based on our life experiences. Our feelings can alter vastly in a matter of moments and can ebb and flow like the ocean tide. 

But all these changes are guided in their direction based on our desires and our commitment to those desires. We all have desires we don't see happening. I desire to lose 30 pounds. But I also desire to eat ice cream. So while I am working on the weight by working out and trying to eat healthy, it is not coming off too quickly because... well ice cream (and other treats I also desire to eat.)

When life experiences happen to us, it is only through aligning our will with the Father's, that we can truly change to become like our Savior. When our will (our desires) are in line with the Father's, we learn in His light. We seek to perceive in His views. And our desires for things of the world fall away.

The problem is that it is hard to live in the world and maintain our spiritual desires to be on par with the Father's. That whole physics law of everything going to chaos - entropy - it is real. It takes constant effort to maintain our spiritual desires. We don't live in heaven any more. We don't have the Savior living among us. But we have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost if we will receive it.

This is why the little daily things of praying and reading scriptures and serving others etc are so important. These little things help us feed and grow in our spiritual desires. They help us feel the Spirit. They help us align our will with the Fathers. And as we feed and grow in our desires, change will come. We will become a bit more like our Savior, little by little. Change will come. It will start by honing our desires.

Difficulty Writing

 This morning as I took Harrison to school, I began sharing my prepared spiritual thought for today. (It was about why the Lord commanded Mormon not to write down all that Jesus taught the Nephites including his "expounding" of the scriptures from the beginning of time. I mean that would be helpful information to my learning right? But I guess He wants us to seek and knock and ask so we can hear Him expound the scriptures to us straight from the source.)

Anyway, as Harrison and I were talking, he brought up that it must have been hard writing all that stuff down. I told him about how they had to engrave it on metal and they did it to be obedient even when it was hard and they didn't always understand why. (Like Nephi retelling his family history even though it was already written down in his fathers history.) I have always been grateful for the efforts of the prophets of old in this respect.

 Then later I was reading 3 Nephi 22 with my neighbor, which is where the Savior is quoting Isaiah. My last blog post was about this chapter. But readying it again today, I got new layers of meaning out of it and saw more profoundly the depth and masterpiece of poetry that is found in it. I saw how it is applicable for the time of Christ and the latter days, and Isaiah's day and for me in my life today. 

Then I thought of the effort it takes to write a masterful blog article. Most of the time, I just get on here and write whatever pops into my head. But a few times, I have crafted a piece that I have worked on and prayed over. I do know what it takes to craft language to suit my purposes. And yet, I am not Shakespeare. I am not Isaiah. I'm no Neal A. Maxwell. Today I am grateful for their work in crafting language with their time and talents and efforts to create literary, and in Maxwell and Isaiah's case, spiritual works of art. I am sure that was even more difficult than engraving words on metal. 

It also made me think about how I need to not be lazy and keep up my own record. I need to put in the effort to get down my humble writings so my children and children's children can know of my steadfast faith in Christ. In this way, I can better fulfill my purpose of being an arrow that points them to the Source of joy and healing and connection and everlasting life, even Jesus Christ.

The Heirtage of His Servants

 Today's spiritual thought comes from 3 Nephi 22, which ends with saying "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me."

I am learning more about Isaiah as I am studying the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and am seeing it as poetry more this time than in previous readings. In the Book of Mormon, after Christ preaches about repentance and baptism and the baptism of fire by receiving the Holy Ghost and after He teaches about taking the sacrament, he quotes Isaiah. He is quoting poetry to the people.

I love poetry. I am often heard to quote a line or two of a favorite poem or a bit of Shakespeare when something comes up where the poem or sonnet describes the situation more eloquently than I can. And so here the Savior uses poetry to speak words of comfort to these choice people he is teaching. 

These people had been through incredibly hard things. They had experienced unprecedented destruction and the death of entire populations of cities. We don't know exactly how much time had passed since this great and terrible day of storms when cities were burned and others swallowed up in the sea and others buried under mountains of earth. But it was said it changed the whole face of the land. And you can believe it was terrifying and devastating both nationally and personally for each of these people. I bet they felt forsaken.

So when Christ tells them in Isaiah's poetic words, "for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee," I think they could feel His "everlasting" kindness. He is teaching these choice people that the covenants He has just taught them (baptism, confirmation of the Holy Ghost, the sacrament) are the anchors of peace to their soul. 

"10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." 

He does NOT promise an easy way. He is saying the opposite. Life is going to be hard. Trials are guaranteed to come. And we are not always going to be able to feel that comfort of the Comforter. "11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted!" Some storms must be suffered. 

But the heritage of his servants is that through these storms, His covenants will be anchors of peace because they anchor us to the Prince of Peace. 

"16 Behold, I have created the smith that blowers the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy."

When we are being refined in the refiners fire, let us remember the covenants that tie us to promised peace to come and His everlasting kindness and mercy that will fill with overwhelming joy the cavities of sorrow personal devastation carves into our souls. May we hold true to those covenants and be fit instruments for His work allowing the fires of affliction to destroy the waste within us.

Turning Over A New Leaf - Go Before/Rearward

 It has been a long time since I last blogged. I kinda gave up blogging when I started doing Instagram. Also, as my kids got older, It became more important for me to keep their stories more private. In any case, I have been away. 

This morning I was walking with my neighbor/friend Veronica. When we walk we almost always read a chapter from the Book of Mormon together. It just gives us a good start to the day physically and spiritually and we talk about what we read. After we read, I told Veronica that I have been trying to give a daily devotional or spiritual thought to my kids each day in addition to our family prayers and scripture study. She misheard me and thought I said I was blogging it and asked if I was blogging it on my blog. 

LIGHTBULB MOMENT

WHY AM I NOT?? So, I am back! I am going to be blogging me daily spiritual thoughts that I am doing with my kids so that they can be recorded for my posterity. And y'all are welcome to them too. Feel free to add any of your thoughts or questions in the comments. As always, I just ask that you keep it positive and sincere. I won't publish comments that are spam or hurtful/negative. 

So, here is today's thought:

GO BEFORE; REARWARD

This morning we read 3 Nephi 21. The last verse repeats a phrase I had noticed a couple of there times in Chapter 20 and 21. In Chapter 20, Jesus says, "for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel shall be your rearward." And in Chapter 21 Jesus says, "for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward." 

In both these verses, reading them this time, I took them to mean that God the Father is going before us, and Jesus Christ - the God of Israel - the God of the Old Testament, is our rearward. 

God created a plan for us. He created a world for us to live on and sent us to Earth to parents of some sort or another. He placed our spirits into these mortal bodies knowing in advance the trials and tests and blessings and helps we would be given. He is mindful of each and every one of His children and has prepared the way before us. He sends prophets, scriptures, earthly ministering angels, divine peace, the light of Christ, and ultimately He sent His Only Begotten who did nothing save the Father commanded Him, to show us the Way and make it possible to return HOME again someday. 

He has prepared the Way, he has gone before us. 

But He knew we would screw up. That is an inevitable part of living in this mortal world. We would be hurt through no fault of our own and we would hurt others unintentionally and we would just make bad choices that we would come to regret. And thus He prepared The Way, Jesus Christ, to be our Rearward.

Jesus Christ has our back. We need to stick close to Him. It is He who can clean up after our mortal messes. It is He that we can lean back on when we are hurting and need rest. He will not keep everything bad from happening to us. All of that is part of living a mortal life. But He will have our back when we need His help to strengthen us, put our broken pieces back together, make our sins white, and aid those we have injured along the way. 

May we live this day tied to the Savior in our thoughts and actions, knowing wherever the day takes us, the Lord has gone before us and the God of Israel is our rearward. We are not alone.