That Your Burdens May be Light

First, let's watch a talk from Elder L. Whitney Clayton from the last General Conference:

http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2009/10/10/GC_2009_10_107_ClaytonLW___eng_.wmv

I repeat the scripture that he quoted:

“I will . . . ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that . . . you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

“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.

“And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.”

I testify that Heavenly Father will deliver us out of bondage as we are but worthy of those blessings. As we humble ourselves to "the dust of the earth" we are blessed with comfort and strength and the ability to rise above our challenges. Sometimes this comfort comes straight from the Holy Ghost and sometimes it comes from angels on earth. To me- Jim has been my angel. I pray that we might continue to be angels and blessings to one another as we lift each others burdens and help us all to make it to the celestial kingdom together.

FHE Scripture from Kendall

Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and aprophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.

Joseph Smith History 1:73

FHE - Thought

Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love. It includes believing His teachings. It means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does. Because He has experienced all our pains, afflictions, and infirmities, He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties. He has "overcome the world" and prepared the way for us to receive eternal life. He is always ready to help us as we remember His plea: "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not".

We Are Our Brother’s Keeper

“Now, let me say a few words to those of you who are currently unemployed. The responsibility for finding employment or improving your employment rests with you. Continued guidance comes from the Lord through regular fasting and prayer. Your quorum leaders, bishops, specialists, and employment resource center staff will help in your efforts. We fear, however, that often priesthood leaders are unaware of your situation. Speak up! Let them know you are looking for work. And bishops and priesthood leaders, rise up and let the brotherhood of the priesthood engage themselves in the wonderful opportunity to truly be a quorum, a brotherhood, a brother’s keeper.”

Richard C. Edgley, “This Is Your Phone Call,” Ensign, May 2009, 54–55

Topics: Welfare

Above All

Above all kingdoms
Above all thrones
Above all wonders
The world has ever known
Above all wealth
And treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure
What You're worth.
Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began.
Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all.

Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all.

Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all.

Like the rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all.

Sung by Randy Travis
LISTEN TO THE 'YOUTUBE' VIDEO

FHE Scripture--from David

For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
Exodus 9:15

FHE THOUGHT: Blessings of Repentance

"Our willingness to repent shows our gratitude for God's gift and for the Savior's love and sacrifice on our behalf. Commandments and priesthood covenants provide a test of faith, obedience, and love for God and Jesus Christ, but even more importantly, they offer an opportunity to experience love from God and to receive a full measure of joy both in this life and in the life to come."
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "A Matter of a Few Degrees", Ensign, May 2008, 57–60

FHE Lesson 10/19/09

How the Atonement can help us prepare spiritually for the second coming

I recently finished reading The Peacegiver by James L. Ferrell. I recommend it. I can’t recite the book or even tell you what it’s about; I can only tell what I learned from it and how I feel it applies to my life.

In my preparation for this lesson, I thought about my own experience with the Atonement, how I have felt its effects in my life. I thought of one aspect of my life where the Atonement has been very necessary, especially in recent times.

I want to preface this by admitting that this is an area of my life that I am still very sensitive about, an area that I admit to being insecure about, and an area that I don’t talk openly about with people I don’t know very well.

I choose to relate my experience because I believe the best lessons/talks I have listened to have been ones that speak from personal experience rather than any recent research done in preparation for the lesson/talk.

I also felt inspired to speak very personally in the hopes that it would not only offer more toward my own healing process but perhaps might reach out to those of you who may be struggling or who have struggled in the past to allow the Atonement to work in your life as well.

22 years ago, my parents separated and divorced. Some very ugly things were said and done by both parties in the heat of such an ugly situation; ugly things that caused us, their children, much pain and suffering; ugly things that unfortunately continue presently. The ugliest thing was the actual tragedy of divorce:
· Not having our parents together
· Not having our father there every day to prove himself as a father, to raise us, to have influence on us as a good father should

I was very angry that my father was gone. I of course was not old enough to understand at the time.

I am sorry to say that it took many years for me to forgive my mother. I was able to find that forgiveness in my teens, after I had made some very sad choices in my own life. It was not these sad choices that helped me find this forgiveness but rather my mother’s reaction to those choices and her reaction to me. She was given the opportunity to prove herself as a mother and she did prove herself and then some. It’s very easy to forgive someone when they are given the opportunity to make up for their mistakes and then they take that opportunity and exceed expectations.

Unfortunately my father has never been given this opportunity. He remarried shortly after he and my mother divorced and then in turn, they moved to Las Vegas and essentially started a new life. I distinctly remember my eight-year-old heart breaking at that point, for the first time that I can logically comprehend what a breaking heart feels like. I felt abandoned, replaced, cheated; among other very negative feelings, as a result of my parents’ divorce. I admit with some apprehension that I still struggle with these insecurities today; they still impact me.

I understood very soon after my parents had divorced actually why they had divorced. It was apparent to me, even at a very young age, that they simply weren’t compatible and had married when they were far too young and immature to understand the full impact of their decisions. As I grew older, I also started to understand and consider what my father must have faced, and continues to face, in losing his family so many years ago. I can honestly really only even begin to imagine the anguish he experienced. It’s impossible for me to really understand because my perspective of the situation was so different, being a child. Unfortunately my understanding and consideration of my father’s feelings really had little impact on me because I was so consumed with my own grief and suffering. I selfishly thought, to a certain degree, that his feelings were irrelevant and didn’t matter because he had made his choices. For him to suffer as a result of his choices was a natural consequence; for me to have to suffer as what I felt was an innocent victim was completely unfair, unjustified, and at times unbearable for me. At times, I felt like he deserved to hurt, deserved to be punished for abandoning me and my brothers.

As I matured and my testimony of the Gospel strengthened, I started to realize how important a relationship with my father was; how important it was to my life, to my eternal progression, and to my future marriage. This is not to say that a relationship with one’s father is this imperative to everyone but it certainly was for me.

I felt (and still currently feel) that there were and are many things that I either needed to overcome or accept (or maybe both) in order for me to have healthy psychological well-being and to continue to progress spiritually. I found this to be a very difficult task. I normally consider myself to be a rather strong person emotionally but yet, I couldn’t (and still can’t) even speak to my father about this situation and my feelings about it without completely losing control emotionally and becoming abnormally sensitive and insecure toward him. I hate that he sees me this way. I wish he could see the strength with which I normally approach difficult circumstances in my life.

I realized some time ago that we really don’t know each other at all. He probably sees me as an emotional train wreck. I see him as a bull in a China cabinet, continuing to tear open a 20+ year old wound that just won’t heal. I’m starting to recognize, in recent times, why it won’t heal; why my heart is still broken after all these years and why I just can’t seem to get a grip on this situation and get on with my life.

I have had years of failed personal attempts at a better relationship with my father. The reason why all of my attempts have failed are many.

I have been selfishly hanging on to the notion that only my feelings were justified because I was the innocent victim. One cannot heal from the emotional tragedies in this life that are the result of someone else’s decisions until they can see the pain and suffering of that other person as something real and as something that deserves just as much attention and understanding as our feelings do. This is a tough thing to do; to think of the person who has caused us pain and suffering in such a compassionate way; to see that person as our Heavenly Father sees them…that is so difficult when there are so many hurt feelings involved. It is so difficult when we’re so consumed with our own grief.

It is truly a Christ-like attribute, an attribute that will truly help us prepare spiritually for the second coming, to be able to set aside our own feelings of pain and suffering and consider with compassion the pain and suffering of those who we feel have wronged us. The first thing I think about when I hear something like this is HOW? How does one get to this place? How does one go about accomplishing this? A different perspective is what has been helping me to work toward this. When the Savior went through Gethsemane He didn’t just suffer for your weaknesses alone or only for what you might suffer in this life; He went through all of the anguish and pain for those who would wrong us in our lives as well. In fact, this is exactly WHY the Savior suffered as He did. The Atonement is truly all encompassing and covers for the guilty as well as the innocent. Who are we to judge whether or not someone else is worthy or deserving of the power of the Atonement?? Are we really that narcissistic that we would have Christ’s suffering made null and void for another simply because they have hurt or offended us?

We must also remember that our feelings and the feelings of others are neither right nor wrong; they are just that, feelings. We cannot control what others do or feel nor do we have the right to tell someone that their feelings are wrong or bad. We are all entitled to our feelings no matter how those feelings might impact others. This is one of God’s greatest gifts to us; freedom. We must respect that we all have that freedom.

Another reason why my attempts at a better relationship with my father have failed is that my expectations have been too high at times. Having unrealistic expectations of those around us will always leave us feeling cheated, unfulfilled, and hurt. Bringing my expectations to a more realistic level will help me to be grateful for what the situation is and for what I have with my father, instead of feeling angry and bitter for what it’s not.

It is taking me longer than I feel comfortable admitting to accept that my father is who he is and that no amount of obsessing over the situation will change who he is. I am certain that he is more aware of his weaknesses than anyone. Is it really my place to point out those weaknesses and constantly seek out the negative in him?

It is truly a Christ-like attribute that will help us in our preparation for the second coming when we accept and look past the struggles that each individual has and see only the positive in that person. By doing so, I believe they actually become a better person; or at least they become a better person from our point of view.

Everyone moves along in life at a different pace; not everyone is ready to face certain situations simply because we are ready. It is unrealistic and unfair for us to expect things of people who are not ready to give those things. Also, not everyone is ready to forgive or to ask for forgiveness simply because we feel ready. We must respect and accept that. Luckily the Atonement covers for this as well however.

It is truly another Christ-like attribute, and one that will help us prepare spiritually for the second coming, for a person to ask for forgiveness from another and then continue to feel that penitence when the other party has not accepted the apology. It is also truly Christ-like to forgive before we are asked to do so and it is especially Christ-like if we are never asked for that forgiveness and yet we still forgive.

I feel that by far, the principal reason why my attempts at a better relationship with my father have failed in the past is because there are certain situations, certain challenges that we face in this life that require more than our best efforts. There are certain situations that require something that many of us just are not able to give or at least find it incredibly difficult to give. There are those situations in this life that are so painful to us, so life altering, so traumatic that the only thing left that will provide the necessary healing for us is to let everything go; all of the pain, bitterness, hurt, negativity; even all of the over-analyzing, obsessing, and torment; the grip that it has on us, the ability it has to cause us pain. We must put it upon the Savior and actually allow the Atonement to make our burdens light, to make us whole again. The Savior and His Atonement are the end-all and catch-all. They are the only thing that can and will provide us with the true release that we seek and that we so desperately need in our lives. When we find this ability within us to let it all go, that is when we will be able to put our own feelings aside and compassionately consider the feelings of those who we feel have wronged us; we will be able to recognize that the people we feel have wronged us are still just as worthy and deserving of the saving power of the Atonement as we are; we will be able to overcome and accept the things of this life that we have little or no control over; we will be able to bring our expectations more in line with reality and look past the struggles and weaknesses of others; we will be able to ask for forgiveness and find forgiveness more readily in our hearts and subsequently find that our broken heart is being wonderfully mended as only the Savior and His Atonement is capable of doing.

Shaping Our Lives By Faith

A Christian writer wrote, “Faith is not a thing which one loses, we merely cease to shape our lives by it.”

I don’t think that they realized when they asked me to speak on Faith and Hope this Sunday that it was exactly on this day a year ago that I made the decision to start coming back to church. I had been inactive off and on for close to 10 years. About this time last year, my husband and I were having a rough time with some things in our lives. For some time, I had actually started having the desire to return to church, but I didn’t know where to start. It was my husband who suggested we pray together. As we did, the spirit began to fill our home and our hearts. One day my husband asked if we had a picture of the Savior. He felt that we should have one in our home. I thought that I remembered seeing one out in our shed. So I went out and dug through the boxes until I found the picture. Now, I had known it was a picture of Jesus, but I could not remember what picture it was until it sat before me. It wasn’t just any picture, it was the picture of the Savior and the one hundreth sheep. It had been a gift from my parents for Christmas, six years earlier. At the time they had given it to me, it was probably the last thing I would have wanted, and what my mom had written on the back was just a source of irritation. But now, as I sat in my shed and turned it over, what they had written was exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment. “And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Luke 15:3-7.” Then my mother had written the personal note, “With all our love at Christmas. Love this picture! Hope you enjoy it as well. It portrays some of the love and concern we feel for you, one of our dear lambs. Hope you know how very special you are to us. Forever, Dad & Mom”

At the time that I needed to hear that I could be forgiven, that my heavenly and earthly parents were always there, here it was written out for me. I took the picture in and hung it on the wall where it has been for year now, a personal reminder of the power of forgiveness, enduring faith and eternal love.

The last year has been a year of great spiritual growth for me. I am reminded of the saying, “faith isn’t faith until its all you’re holding on to.” Because I was having such a difficult time, it became increasingly obvious that I couldn’t do this alone. As I learned to rely on heavenly father through daily prayer, searched the Book of Mormon diligently and started attending church again, my troubles didn’t seem quite as bad as I learned to overcome them.

I had not totally lost my faith, like the quote said, but my faith had lost its shape. Deep down, I really did still believe that the church was true, as I’m sure a lot of inactive people do. At one point in my inactivity, I had a college philosophy professor say that “if you do not live what you truly believe you will never be happy.” That comment really bothered me. Instead of telling myself, “Yeah, that really makes sense” I remember thinking, “I’ll show him!” As time went by, I tried to find happiness despite my wrongdoings. But I was never truly happy until I had found my way again. It was such a great feeling to have that hope and happiness return to my life. This lesson was so important to me, in my life, that I want you all to know, that if you do not live what you truly believe, you will never be happy. I believe this applies even to those who are active in church. There is always something more that we could or should be doing. The cornerstone of faith and our religion is Jesus Christ. We express our faith not by words alone, but by the way we live. If we are not constantly focused on the Savior, we will not know true happiness. As we are instructed in Alma 13: 27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance; Now is the time to live what you truly believe.


How do we shape our lives with faith and hope?

Alma 32:21 tells us that “If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” True To the Faith tells us that hope is “sure, unwavering, and active” and that when we hope, we are trusting God’s promises. Shaping our lives by faith is a lot like shaping bread dough. If we try to make the perfect looking loaf by hand then set in on the table, it slowly loses its form. To keep that shape of perfection would take constant reshaping and work. That’s why we have bread pans. Bread pans are forms by which the desired shape is ensured. We have these forms for faith. They are prayer, scripture study, studying the words of the prophets, attending church, service, following the spirit and many others. I know that I must do these things often. When I don’t, I can actually feel my faith losing its shape. My life just doesn’t operate as smoothly as it should. I don’t have the guidance that I need and it becomes easier to do things I know I shouldn’t.


If faith is our dough, then hope is trusting that our recipe and some heat will give us bread. From True To the Faith we read about hope as a “principle that extends into the eternities, but it can also sustain you through the everyday challenges of life. “Happy is he, “said the Psalmist, “that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” With hope, you can find joy in life. You can “have patience and bear with afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions” You can “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

Like any other portion of the gospel, faith and hope are calling us to work. We cannot sit by and have exaltation just fall in our laps. We have to be active in our endeavors and overcome our fears. D&C 68: 6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come. Faith and hope have the ability, when strong within us, to eliminate our anxieties and worries. Mahatma Gandhi said, “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”


How can we help others shape their lives?

We cannot talk about faith and hope without touching on charity. If faith is our bread dough, and hope is in our end product, then charity is what we do with the faith and bread we’ve created. Moroni 7:45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. We can help others, gently. It is up to us to love and to live an example of charity, but only the Savior can truly heal those around us, and that happens in His time, not ours. Ps. 27: 14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.


As I read the Book of Mormon this last year, I felt a special connection with Alma the younger, as I’m sure a lot of us do at one time or another. Specific to his conversion, was a vision of an angel of the lord. How scary and wonderful all at the same time! But it wasn’t until recently, that I realized something important to my own conversion. Ether 12:6 reads And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. I realized that while there had been no mighty visions of angels, my life had truly been touched by servants and messengers of our Father in Heaven. These were people who had been trialed by my choices, but waited with patience and long-suffering. I am amazed and grateful for the faith of my parents, and their hope for me all these years. I had brothers serving missions entreat me to read the book of Mormon. I had the missionaries coming by at “coincidental times”. I work with my aunt, and I want her to know that she was a great example to me. She started telling me about what was happening at church. At first I thought, “geez, she knows I don’t go.” But she was never forceful and always told me just enough to get me interested. It wasn’t long and I started to feel like I was really missing out. There was my visiting teacher, who respected my comfort zone. And of course, our bishop and his counselors that honestly care about each of us deeply. There are many other instances and occurrences that helped me find my way back. Do not underestimate what you can do for another person. No act is too small. As explained in Alma 37: 6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. All these seemingly small acts of charity were seeds planted in my heart, preparing me to return to his fold. Singularly, these acts may seem insignificant, and many probably don’t even remember their roles. But together, these things brought about a great change in my heart, and helped me to restore faith and hope once again in my life.


I know that this church is true, that Jesus Christ is our savior, that through him all can be healed, all can be forgiven. I know that He and our Heavenly Father love us and that they will not give up on us. I testify of the power of prayer and the need to pray always. Not because I should, but because I know what its like to not have that blessing in my life and I can’t do without. I have come to love the Book of Mormon. When I started reading it, I intended to take Moroni’s challenge and pray for a testimony of its truthfulness. But I never had to, it was revealed to me again and again through daily study, and I know without doubt that it is true. I am grateful for my husband and the things that we have learned together. While our trials have at times been very hard, I would not trade the good experiences that came from them. I am so grateful for my family, for my mother’s passionate faith and for my father’s quiet, steady example. I have no better friends or examples than my brothers. Each of them holds their own unique strengths that make me feel weak in comparison. I love them so much and I am especially grateful for late night talks that always helped me sleep better. Most of them are younger than me, but they are so much wiser. I am grateful for my extended family and the examples and support that they are to me. I know that our families can be together forever and that so much more is possible through our faith. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Coming Soon.....

An exclusive look into the Power and Glory of the Atonement. We often make the connection to the Atonement as relating to our sins but it encompasses much more than just the restitution of iniquity. This behind the "scene" look will be published, on this site only, within the next 3 weeks.

Repentance

Repentance is one of the first principles of the gospel and is essential to our temporal and eternal happiness. It is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments.

Our Test in Mortality

“Our challenges, including those we create by our own decisions, are part of our test in mortality. Let me assure you that your situation is not beyond the reach of our Savior. Through Him, every struggle can be for our experience and our good (see D&C 122:7). Each temptation we overcome is to strengthen us, not destroy us. The Lord will never allow us to suffer beyond what we can endure (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). “We must remember that the adversary knows us extremely well. He knows where, when, and how to tempt us. If we are obedient to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we can learn to recognize the adversary’s enticements. Before we yield to temptation, we must learn to say with unflinching resolve, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan’ (Matthew 16:23).”

Robert D. Hales, “Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually,” Ensign, May 2009, 7

Topics: Enduring to the End, Purpose of Mortality