Birthday Quote

I was over at my parents' house today and was able to take a picture of a quote that my mom shared with me cause she loved it and cause it was on my birthday. Now it is on her fridge. This is from her Mr. Roger's quote desk calendar. 

"It's not honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life that ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is firm."

I am so thankful to have a bedrock testimony of the Jesus Christ. I love Him, I love his gospel and I love his church so much. He knows I will follow him. I will give all my life to him. He is my firm foundation. 

Living with Contradictions

Listened to this lecture tonight as I did dishes, found it on fb page of Dr. Heward who was just interviewed on the Follow Him podcast. 

Excellent lecture!

Why Doesn't God (Fill In Blank)??

Lily and I just had a little conversation about God's justice when we read about this sweet little boy, who I think is just barely 2 years old, from the Worldwide Unified facebook page:

"My sweet baby boy is dying from a rare genetic disease and we are asking all to please pray and spread awareness so he can receive the treatment he needs. More info can be found on my personal bio. Thank you."

So Lily asked me: "Why didn't God heal every leper?" "Why does he let some people suffer and let other people control their lives?" (like mother's who choose to abort their baby - the baby didn't get to choose, their life got controlled by someone else).

It reminded me of this article that I've posted before - about winning debates against God. This time I noticed two comments, one by Janet: I remember one day when I was a teenager, in frustration I "informed" God that the world was a big mess, but I had some good ideas on how He could fix it if He'd only ask me! I distinctly heard His response, "My dear, you can't even manage yourself so what makes you think you can manage the world?" He had a good point. Since that time, I've been less inclined to judge God's ability to manage His children as a loving Father, and I try harder to take counsel from His hand.

And the author of the article added this reply in his comment: I should add that in sharing this, I recognize that some will wonder why God would help or attempt to help one individual on their journey while millions suffer, as if small miracles don't count when big problems remain unresolved. Why doesn't he solve global problems now and make everyone better off more directly? In fact, many of us are shocked that God doesn't do things our way. Some conclude that He either must not exist or is simply incompetent based on His failure to accept our arguments and comply with our logical demands. Incredibly, so far He has still failed to stop all disease, eliminate death now (not in the distant future!), ensure high wages for all, prevent climate change, stop tooth decay, provide us with more sustainable packaging materials, reduce traffic jams, redistribute wealth in our direction, and ensure that all students have above-average grades. It takes little more than a third-grade education to recognize the absurdity of God not doing everything our way and failing to distribute unlimited blessings uniformly and immediately. Instead, it seems that He only occasionally works miracles and often rather minor ones, healing a few random people long ago in Israel, for example, instead of providing cures for all globally. So unfair! Believers may opine that His purpose is not to make us as comfortable as possible on earth, but to send us here briefly to learn, grow, face trials, get a body, choose good over evil, etc., however brief the journey. The needs and purposes of each journey may differ, and God's personalized responses may differ wildly from person to person even if they seek Him in faith. For those who view God as a loving parent, some will say that the purpose of parenting is not to spoil kids with all the toys and treats they want now nor to ensure they never have to struggle, study, face consequences, or experience grief and pain, but rather to help them grow, mature, make decisions and realize their own potential, even if it means being sent away from home and facing painful trials, even the risk of failure. Believers will say that each of us are on a unique journey through mortality and that God is there with great love for us and sometimes inspiration, regardless of where our journey takes us or even if we make choices that take us far from His intended path. Some will die or suffer today by His will, others by their errors or the sins of someone else. Some will be guided to avoid a crisis such as a war or a pandemic, while others will be needed to stand in the heat of battle and play a painful role. Some He may try to guide one way or the other, but they may not listen. But many will testify that even in their darkest hours, they found His love and sometimes even tender mercies. We could complain about God allowing harmful viruses to spread at all. We could complain about why millions are trapped in Wuhan and so many are dying. The complaints are many. Answers are few. Certainly we should be concerned and pray for relief and do what we can to help, if we can do something. But whether one is trapped in a prison, a locked-down city raging with disease, or forced to leave home in an unprepared manner, when we turn to Him for guidance, there are blessings that await in our ongoing journey. There may be comfort and peace in times of trial. There may be the "tender mercies" like Nephi experienced on his painful 8-year trek through Arabia that helped shape and prepare him for great things. For some of us, there may be a second chance to get a valuable record that a stubborn soul should have brought. My journey has been a mix of trouble and joy, with many tender mercies but very few of the big miracles that I have wanted. But while His ways are not my ways, I'm gradually learning that for wise and eternal purposes, it's best for me to not criticize His ways and to endure in faith and patience. I fail frequently and am tempted to rail and moan, but am gradually learning that His ways are worth accepting and His gentle, personal whisperings are worth listening to when they come.

It reminded me of Elder Renlund's recent conference talk about Infuriating Unfairness. God has done something about all these problems. God hasn't overcome death for us now, today, but HE HAS OVERCOME it.  Another talk by Elder Hallstrom - Has The Day Of Miracles Ceased? The day of miracles has not ceased

Glory

Senator John McCain Oct 2020 - Foreword to "Devil At My Heels" book by Louis Zamperini:

"Like Louis Zamperini, I learned the truth in war: There are greater pursuits than self-seeking. Glory is not a conceit or a decoration for valor. It is not a prize for being the most clever, the strongest, or the boldest. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely, and who rely on you in return. No misfortune, no injury, no humiliation can destroy it.

"Like Louis, I discovered in war that faith in myself proved to be the least formidable strength I possessed when confronting alone organized inhumanity on a greater scale than I had conceived possible. In prison, I learned that faith in myself alone, separate from other, more important allegiances, was ultimately no match for the cruelty that human beings could devise when they were entirely unencumbered by respect for the God-given dignity of man. This is the lesson many American's, including Louis, learned in prison. It is, perhaps, the most important lesson we have ever learned, 

"Through war, and in peace, Louis Zampernini found his faith."

Divine Discontent

Sister Craig: Divine Discontent: "These prophetic calls to action, coupled with our innate sense that we can do and be more, sometimes create within us what Elder Neal A. Maxwell called “divine discontent.” Divine discontent comes when we compare “what we are [to] what we have the power to become.” Each of us, if we are honest, feels a gap between where and who we are, and where and who we want to become. We yearn for greater personal capacity. We have these feelings because we are daughters and sons of God, born with the Light of Christ yet living in a fallen world. These feelings are God given and create an urgency to act.

From Elder Maxwell: Notwithstanding My Weakness - A few suggestions to help us manage our vexing feelings of inadequacy:

1. We can distinguish more clearly between divine discontent and the devil’s dissonance, between dissatisfaction with self and disdain for self. We need the first and must shun the second, remembering that when conscience calls to us from the next ridge, it is not solely to scold but also to beckon.

2. We can contemplate how far we have already come in the climb along the pathway to perfection; it is usually much farther than we acknowledge. True, we are “unprofitable servants,” but partly because when “we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10), with every ounce of such obedience comes a bushel of blessings.

3. We can accept help as well as gladly give it. Happily, General Naaman received honest but helpful feedback, not from fellow generals, but from his orderlies. (See 2 Kgs. 5:1–14.) In the economy of heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job.

4. We can allow for the agency of others (including our children) before we assess our adequacy. Often our deliberate best is less effectual because of someone else’s worst.

5. We can write down, and act upon, more of those accumulating resolutions for self-improvement that we so often leave, unrecovered, at the edge of sleep.

6. We can admit that if we were to die today, we would be genuinely and deeply missed. Perhaps parliaments would not praise us, but no human circle is so small that it does not touch another, and another.

7. We can put our hand to the plow, looking neither back nor around, comparatively. Our gifts and opportunities differ; some are more visible and impactful. The historian Moroni felt inadequate as a writer beside the mighty Mahonri Moriancumer, who wrote overpoweringly. We all have at least one gift and an open invitation to seek “earnestly the best gifts.” (D&C 46:8.)

8. We can make quiet but more honest inventories of our strengths, since, in this connection, most of us are dishonest bookkeepers and need confirming “outside auditors.” He who was thrust down in the first estate delights to have us put ourselves down. Self-contempt is of Satan; there is none of it in heaven. We should, of course, learn from our mistakes, but without forever studying the instant replays as if these were the game of life itself.

9. We can add to each other’s storehouse of self-esteem by giving deserved, specific commendation more often, remembering, too, that those who are breathless from going the second mile need deserved praise just as the fallen need to be lifted up.

10. We can also keep moving. Only the Lord can compare crosses, but all crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving. Men finally climbed Mount Everest, not by standing at its base in consuming awe, but by shouldering their packs and by placing one foot in front of another. Feet are made to move forward—not backward!

11. We can know that when we have truly given what we have, it is like paying a full tithe; it is, in that respect, all that was asked. The widow who cast in her two mites was neither self-conscious nor searching for mortal approval.

12. We can allow for the reality that God is more concerned with growth than with geography. Thus, those who marched in Zion’s Camp were not exploring the Missouri countryside but their own possibilities.

13. We can learn that at the center of our agency is our freedom to form a healthy attitude toward whatever circumstances we are placed in! Those, for instance, who stretch themselves in service—though laced with limiting diseases—are often the healthiest among us! The Spirit can drive the flesh beyond where the body first agrees to go!

14. Finally, we can accept this stunning, irrevocable truth: Our Lord can lift us from deep despair and cradle us midst any care. We cannot tell Him anything about aloneness or nearness!

Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage, and our personal progress should be yet another way we witness to the wonder of it all!

True, there are no instant Christians, but there are constant Christians!

Build Zion In Our Lives Today

Some thoughts and notes from the Sunday School Lesson today - Doctrine and Covenants section 45

D&C 45:9 - And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me.

The EVERLASTING COVENANT is the Standard, Is the messenger, is what God has sent to be the light to the world. It is what we are to seek to! The Everlasting Covenant prepares the way before him and his return/his coming. What is the Everlasting Covenant? Maybe it's FAMILY! Sealed families, families sealed in the temples of God.

Elder Richard G. Scott - Trials are either for our progression or because of transgression

If ye are prepared ye shall not fear - Bumpy road, shock absorbers, potholes in the road

How Can We Build Zion In Our Lives and Communities Today?

5 Principles delivered by Joseph Smith:

1. Faithfully Endure Trials
2. Obey God's Law
3. Exercise Agency
4. Preach the Gospel
5. Purify our Hearts

Elder Christofferson - Zion is Zion because of the character, attributes, and faithfulness of her citizens. Zion will come only as they happen. 

AND in that talk, Elder Christofferson quotes one of my favorite verses! 1 Nephi 14:14! "And so today the Lord’s people are gathering “out from among the nations” as they gather into the congregations and stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are scattered throughout the nations. Nephi foresaw that these “dominions” would be small but that the Lord’s power would descend “upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, … who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they [would be] armed with righteousness” (see 1 Nephi 14:12–14). The Lord calls upon us to be beacons of righteousness to guide those who seek the safety and blessings of Zion: “Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations; And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth” (D&C 115:5–6).

Demand of yourself improvement, Divine Discontent by Elder Maxwell