A More Christian Christian

I had an experience last week, then I came home and decided to read a talk from General Conference.  The two ended up going hand in hand and I'm always humbled and amazed when that happens. 

I ran to the post office after picking the boys up.  As I was walking in I saw a woman turned toward me, she looked a little closer at me and I at her... Darlene?
Oh, I sighed, 'How are you doing?'

I met Darlene in 2006, yikes!  I started teaching modern dance for her that year.  I taught for her a couple of years.  She is going through a rough life change right now.  Divorce, husband moved out with another woman... you know the story...

We hugged and she just started sobbing.  It was good to hear her story, I'd only heard rumors, second stories.

As I held her my heart ached a bit.  I don't even know this woman 'well', but this is not the woman I know.  She was so broken and weak.  This was not Darlene.

Those were my words for her... please remember the truth about you.  You are strong, you have an inner power and strength that shine.  You are creative, have brought joy to so many lives through dance.  You are giving and caring. 

You may be hurting... but you are NOT broken.

As hard and painful things hit us it is easy to get torn down by the pain.  Then we get depressed, we give our power away.  We loose sight of truth, the glory and divinity that resides in each of us.  We stop our progress when we forget our truth.

Every word of this is true for me, it's a good reminder.  Even though there is pain I am not broken.  I will not be broken by the things that hurt me.  I will remember the truth about me.

We hugged many times.  It was comforting to hear her say that she needed to see me today.  She needed the lift.  God bless me!

As we parted I reminded her that whether we are with someone or alone, we are in charge of our own happiness.  Remember your truth, start living like you believe it, happiness will come.

In addition to this I believe that we truly can heal completely through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Any pain that is ours can be swallowed up in Him, quite literally.  I have felt this time and again as I turn to Him in my dark hours, when I am broken, and need Him to make me whole. 

For my study time later that day I picked up my General Conference issue of the Ensign.  I opened up to the talk by Elder Hales... Being a More Christian Christian.  It totally fit my day, my experience.

A few things he says...

What does it mean to be a Christian?

 

A Christian has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the literal Son of God, sent by His Father to suffer for our sins in the supreme act of love we know as the Atonement.

A Christian believes that through the grace of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, we can repent, forgive others, keep the commandments, and inherit eternal life.

 

The word Christian denotes taking upon us the name of Christ. We do this by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those holding His priesthood authority.

He asks, how are we doing in our quest to follow Christ?  Always a good question to reflect on.
He talks about all of us being blessed to have difficulties and to pay attention to where we are going in them.  Returning to old ways, as he puts it, instead of turning to the Savior.

He talks about Peter and how, after serving with the Lord, after seeing Him crucified, went back home to fish.  We know that the Savior comes to Peter and asks him what he's doing.  He'd returned to what he knew, his old ways.  The Lord then admonishes him to go and feed His sheep.  He wanted him to go and serve.  To be lifted up in the Lord, he was an apostle... go preach the gospel... feed these saints with the gospel, these sheep.

This is a way we experience growth and become a more christian christian... feeding His sheep.

This is the call of Christ to every Christian today: “Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep”—share my gospel with young and old, lifting, blessing, comforting, encouraging, and building them, especially those who think and believe differently than we do. We feed His lambs in our homes by how we live the gospel: keeping the commandments, praying, studying the scriptures, and emulating His love. We feed His sheep in the Church as we serve in priesthood quorums and auxiliary organizations. And we feed His sheep throughout the world by being good Christian neighbors, practicing the pure religion of visiting and serving the widows, the fatherless, the poor, and all who are in need.

The Savior has promised that He will make us equal to His work. “Follow me,” He said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

I love this promise.  As we follow Him, he will strengthen us to do His work.  He will provide opportunity... fishing for men.  Finding those who are in need.

I found one last week.  I hope that she felt lifted, blessed, comforted, encouraged and built up.  I love my Savior and that day I shared His love with Darlene, who felt broken. 

I didn't seek reward, but I know that as I listen and obey blessings are poured out upon me.  My reward?  An increase of love, for all.  A reminder of my truth.  A heart full of gratitude.  It felt wonderful.

Readjust...

Isn't this how it goes?  You make a plan, try it out, and make adjustments.
I made these scripture prompts thinking I'd put them up and just read the scripture that was on it for the day. 
Turns out this isn't enough to satiate my hunger/thirst!
This is a great way to study, to go farther into some specific scriptures.
So this is my plan.  Study these scriptures from the B of M in the morning and study the D & C in the afternoon.  I just need them both right now!

Here was my thinking for dividing up the Book of Mormon scriptures...
25 scriptures from 1 Nephi
25 from 2 Nephi 1- 27
25 from 2 Nephi 28 - Words of Mormon
25 from Mosiah
We are at 100 days now.
165 from Alma
25 from Helaman - 3 Nephi 11
25 3 Nephi 12 - 26
25 3 Nephi 27 - Ether 5
25 Ether 6 - Moroni 10

That is 365!  Yahoo!

So, I've started again! 

Here are some thoughts from a few prompts... I need time for me to think, study, ponder, simmer these thoughts, that is when they really have power to change us right?

1 Nephi 1:20 - Tender mercies of the Lord.
The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, the Lord suits “his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men” (D&C 46:15).  Elder Bednar April 2005

I like that Nephi says he is going to show us these tender mercies.  Do we look for them?  Do we see them?  Do people need to point them out to us?  My guess is if we look we will see these sweet things from the Lord.  And Nephi does show us time and again that the Lord does indeed pour these out upon his faithful.

1 N 7:1 - Divine plan for parenthood.
In particular this verse speaks to me.  Not only for the delight that parenthood has brought into my life and the divine purpose of it all, but in the realm of building up the kingdom of God.  Raising faithful children who know their Savior.  If I give up, and don't teach my children, if many of us do, our numbers vanish over time.  This is what happened in days of old.  How can the Lord get his work done here w/o us?  He can't, and likewise we lose.

I also liked the cross reference to Psalms 127:3 -Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

We can draw in yesterday's thoughts of covenants and blessings.  There is a promise, basic as the rising sun, in the fundamentals of parenthood.  As we covenant to stay within his boundaries, the laws of God, we will be rewarded.  That reward or blessing may not come until later than we can now see, but it comes.

1 N 7:15 - Ye have choice
'Decisions determine destiny.  You can't make an eternal choice w/o and eternal consequence.'  - President Monson

There is always a choice.  What Laman and Lemuel couldn't see is that they would've been destroyed had they gone back to Jarusalem.  We know that now, but they didn't.  I don't think they believed, really, but they erred on the side of caution and didn't go back.

There is always a choice and if the choice we make is to obey, there will be a blessing attached to that choice and law.

Regardless of faith, there is a principle of the Lord blessing us for being obedient. 

A New Year... Doctrine and Covenants

This blog has gone unwritten for a while, surprising!
I finished the Book of Mormon last year and struggled a little to find what to study next or how to study the Book of Mormon again.  I've since started the D&C, but am not reading/studying like I want to be.

This year I want to tackle the Bible, but since we've just started D&C at church I think I'll continue and finish with my study there, then get into the Bible.  I want to study for an hour each day and see how that gets me through.  I'm not in a hurry, just committed to good study time.

I'm like 25 sections in, but now am going back.  Back in October someone left piles, boxes of books on a table at church for anyone who wanted them.  I took 3 boxes home!  Many of them are church books.  I don't spend time reading literature, but I will read this!  I will see what these two books add to my study, they are 'The Message of the Doctrine and Covenants' by John A Widtsoe and 'Prophesies and Prophetic Promises, from the D&C' by Roy W Doxey.

The book points out there are different ways to study D&C, but as you go through, realize that each section is a topic, D&C isn't in 'story' form, if you will.

So far, the piece of information that has impacted me the most is this thought... this is a book of both doctrine and covenants.  'Doctrine means information, information regarding any subject pertaining to the church... Covenant on the other hand, implies that the doctrine has a definite purpose.  It is not merely information... it has a definite purpose implying cause and effect.  A covenant means a promise of man to the Lord.  So, doctrine and covenants are really two aspects of the same thing.  We cannot have one w/o the other... They may be compared to knowledge and intelligence.  Intelligence is the use of knowledge.  In some such way doctrine and covenant  may be compared... They are studied together and not separately.  Every covenant implies a doctrine and every doctrine implies a covenant.'

This thought was with me today as we studied in Gospel Doctrine.  The doctrine of things and the covenant associated with them, and the blessings that are associated with each covenant or promise.

Section 19  (16-19) we hear the Savior speaking of his own Atonement, the only scripture where He speaks first hand of his experience.   I was impressed not only to read again of the atonement, this doctrine, but the covenants associated with it.  The Savior made a covenant with His father to do this, and he was obedient... 'I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.'  It was hard for him, we can clearly see that, but he chose to be obedient.  Not only does He receive reward for his atonement/sacrifice/obedience... but the rest of us do too... unique.

When we are baptized we promise or covenant to use the atonement.  As we keep our covenants we are blessed.  I don't just mean blessed, I mean rewarded.  As we keep the covenant to use the atonement, we are cleansed, healed, sanctified and changed.  The result of that is being able to enter into Gods' presence.  That is the reward for being obedient to the covenant. 

As we do, there is a reward.  V 23... learn, listen and walk.  These are things for us to do.  The reward is peace.

6:20 ... I will encircle the in the arms of my love... this is the blessing after we are faithful, diligent and keep the commandments of God.

Last, in 19:1-3 We read about our Savior.  I love his statement about who He is.  I think of his statement in the context of the restoration.  People have forgotten, so here is a clear reminder.  Here is a restitution of Jesus Christ.  Our God is not gone, our Savior is not forgotten.  We see in these latter days a complacency, a turning away, a neutral zone.  Does it really matter if there is a god or not?  This book of scripture is unique, the Savior revealed to Joseph Smith, in our day, that He is still there and now is the final preparation for His second coming. 

What a treasure we have.  Only now can I see that.  I'm sorry it's taken me so long!  I'm so excited to study D & C.