Transformed through Righteous Choices

Transformed through Righteous Choices

In addition to President Monson, other living prophets and apostles reinforce the same message. “The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction” is evidence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s infinite love for each of us, says President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency. Through facing the challenges of mortality we prepare for “the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is eternal life. . . . For us to have that gift and to be given that trust, we must be transformed through making righteous choices where that is hard to do.”

The true test of life, President Eyring explains, is not adversity but “to see if we can endure difficulty. It is to see if we can endure it well. We pass the test by showing that we remembered Him and the commandments He gave us. And to endure well is to keep those commandments whatever the opposition, whatever the temptation, and whatever the tumult around us.”

A Gold Nugget...

A gem of truth!  I found one!  In Alaska people still go gold panning at times.  You take a pan designed for gold panning, scoop up small amount creekbank soil that hopefully is veined, cover with stream water and swish and swirl and tip and raise and lower the pan, this water movement will wash away the sand/dirt/rocks, the gold will sink to the bottom of the pan...one is ever hopeful of eventually seeing the glint of gold nuggets in the bottom of the pan.  some nuggets are big and rough hewn looking and others little slivered particles of gold shine.  It takes a lot of work and a lot of patience to pan.  

On my recent sabbatical I found many gold gems from my concentrated effort.  I want to share a real gem with you that I found while seeking gold for the health of my soul.

Do you ever feel that if you were a better person in the obedience factor of your life that the help you need, the blessings that you are seeking, the heavenly help you ask for that never seems to arrive... would suddenly be there?  So you try harder to live more righteously, to study more, to pray more, to serve more, to be more in all ways.  And yet...things stay the same and struggles still cling tenaciously.

Let me share my beautiful gold nugget story with you.  Sunday I had BYU channel on and President Cecil Samuelson was speaking and his statement took my breath away.  I hurried to see if I could write it down and I couldn't.  Then I saw it was going to be repeated so I recorded it but missed almost all of it except for my desired thought.  Then I tried to find the talk online and I couldn't.  I went back and painstakingly played and paused the talk to the one spot that I will ever cherish.  Then it came out in the Church news.  Here is the part that just hit me like a lightening bolt....

"One area of confusion not rare among us is the notion that worthiness is synonymous with perfection.  One can be fully worthy in a gospel sense and yet still be growing while dealing with personal imperfections...Perfectionism is corrosive and destructive and is the antithesis of the healthy quest of eventual perfection that the Savior prescribes....The uneasiness of which I speak is largely rooted in misunderstanding some have about timing and also about definition....With definitions...some mistakenly consider worthiness to be the same as perfection.  This is not true....Please remember that worthiness is vital but is not the same as perfection...not everything, especially perfection, can be achieved quickly or at once."

No wonder we get depressed at times,  in giving our all to the Church in obedience and service etc. and feeling unworthy, as needed help still doesn't seem to arrive and we deem ourselves unworthy and so goes the cycle.  The parts I highlighted shine as gold in my eyes.  I hit pay dirt!!!


 

Amazing...

 The way the Church just embraces all technology to spread the Gospel in these last days is incredibly amazing!  Have you seen this new one?  check it out!


Why I Believe: Episode 45 - Miracles

  
 Take a minute each time, after you read the blog, to click on the right sidebar button- with the Temple picture.  The very latest of everything Churchy and it's constantly changing.  

Lydia and Michael were here and I showed them the one about the scorpion and we talked about always doing what parents tell us to do.  Great teaching tools!  

A daily touch with the current Church happenings....amazing!!   Treat yourself to a dab of pure spirituality by clicking on the Temple or view the happenings on the new site featured above in this post.  (It's about the 17 Miracles show)


Have I thanked you recently for reading my little blog?  I don't think so! 

THANK YOU!!!!!

Homeward Bound!

The party is over!  I can hardly wait to see him!!  I enjoyed my sabbatical for a week and then I wanted my sweetie to be here!!  I know I will hear these stories of his Norway Trip, for the rest of our earth-time together.  The family will hear the same stories. Our friends will hear them (will we have friends that stay friends?!)  NO!!!! not in a testimony meeting!  PLEASE...not that!!  Whatever it is...it is!  I love the guy to pieces and I'll listen to re-runs (okay.  if I can repeat the story in my mind then I might allow my thoughts to wander and think of VT routes and what to cook for dinner, laundry etc.!  My face will appear to listen though.  I have to be honest here!). I will enjoy his dear company.  So familiar to me.  So comforting to me.  I know him.  I love him.  We accept each other...talkative story repeats and all!!!!

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Hey Momma,

Just wanted to let you know, we are taking Dad out to a nice lunch and then off to the airport. I am so sad

it's over, but know that Dad used up every single ounce of energy that he could muster and he is done. He

keeps saying "I miss Mom" "It'll be good to see Mom", "Can't wait to get home and see Mom" etc. He misses you.

We have had an extraordinary time together, priceless every moment, everyday. So many stories. You will

hear all about it for the rest of your life.

Things he said over and over this trip: "Why would ANYONE leave Norway?" "So how are we related?" "So

do you like lutefisk?" "They have the BEST bread!" I heard these questions and statements too many times

to count. At one point when we were visiting a cousin in Bergen, I was sitting in a place where Patty could see

me, but no one else could, as Dad started on his questions, I mouthed them silently along with him... she and I

had a good laugh later about it. Believe me, he got his use out of that genealogy chart!!

Thanks for sharing Daddy with me. He is precious, wonderful, full of love, kindness, goodness and innocence.

I have cherished every moment together.

Love you,

Jeanee
xoxoxox

The Dash

Our neighbor died not to long ago.  I thought of him when I heard his lawn being mowed on his side of our backyard fence by the lawn service, on the regularly scheduled day.  I thought of how he sat in his backyard and read and relaxed with his cigarettes.  He suffered a lot of pain, on many fronts, from his Marine time in Vietnam.  A few days before lung cancer claimed his life, at 62, he wrote a statement, part of it was in his newspaper obituary and then it was read at his funeral.

"I was born January 1, 1949, I died in Vietnam January 11, 1969."

How sad that is his summation of his life.  

Today I thought of this moving poem...

The Dash

By Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth

And now only those who love her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cars…the house…the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;

Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what’s true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile…

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is read

With your life’s actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

"Can't trust the Name."

09/10/11 Faith Happenings - Yakima-Herald Republic

Workshop today to focus on witnessing to Mormons

Grace Lutheran Church will hold a seminar from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today. The title is "Sharing Christ with Mormons" and features Pastor Mark Cares.

Cares serves as the president of Truth in Love Ministries, www.tilm.org, and is the author of "Speaking the Truth in Love to Mormons."

The seminar will feature a Scripture-based approach to witnessing.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. The cost is $15 per person or $20 per couple and includes lunch and materials.

The church is at 1207 S. Seventh Ave. in Yakima. Info: 877-887-3436.

***********************

I was startled when I read this in the morning newspaper!  I called the phone number and asked the woman....Why would you find it necessary to share Christ with a Church who bears His name?  Mormon is a nickname.  The official Church name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She said...You can't trust the name.  She then went on to explain that when they went door to door and met with Mormon's that they realized they worship a "different Jesus".  When faced with words like sin, grace, salvation...the Mormons don't understand those words.  They don't believe in our Jesus that died on the cross and rose from the dead and saved all of us and we don't need to do anything but believe that.  You can't trust the name of their Church.  What religion are you?

 I told her.... I am a member, a believer in the Jesus Christ of the King James Bible.  That I know Jesus was crucified and resurrected and the Church is a Restoration not a reorganized or man-made religion.  I know it to be true and love being an active member.  I do trust the Name of The Church.

The woman I talked to was actually the Pastors wife and she was helping him get set up for the meeting.  I thought it was a local person as presenter but his ministry is preaching against our religion!  Truth in Love. He is out to save our souls. That is how he makes his living. She said they use our manuals to preach against our teachings.

**************************

Flashback to Homer and visiting the Church of Christ next door, really, right next door to our Ward building.  I was visiting to worship with them and interview the pastor for a newspaper article.  In the entrance foyer pamphlet display, I was caught off guard when I saw a picture of Joseph Smith on the front.  I picked it up.  Scathing and horrible about the Church.  I took an assortment of their doctrinal tracts including that one.  At the end of our time together, the minister invited me to join them on a more permanent basis.  I pulled the one offending pamphlet and told him...if I had a mind to change religions, this tract alone would stop me from ever being a part of your group.  I would be embarrassed and ashamed to belong to a religion that preached against and printed information against another religion.  I then shared that wonderful WONDERFUL 11th article of faith....

11- We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.

*******************

I remember going to one Anti-Mormon meeting in the late 60's.  I didn't know  people did things like that.  Preach against the Church in public.  His remarks were not accurate.  I was upset and wondered why our Stake President, in attendance, didn't stand up and defeat this man.  He remained silent during the tirade.  Afterwards, I asked him why he'd not spoken out as he knew the truth.  He basically said, we shouldn't contend over the Gospel and he'd gone because a group of us Stake YW leaders wanted to go and see and hear this man.  He said if people wanted the truth or to hear the truth they would seek it from the Church and not from someone speaking against the Church.  I decided to not go to meetings or read anti-literature but to focus on the truth.  To stay on the Gospel wall of activity.  Like Nehemiah.  (see June 15th blog)

***********************

My life is so blessed because of my Church membership and conversion and involvement in serving and associating with people that are also believers like me.  I trust the Name!!!

September 11th

 Terry will be flying from Norway to Florida today....September 11,2011

Conversations: Episode 32 - Kenneth and Jeanette Howell