How Can I Faith in this Scary World?

How Can I Have Faith When The World Seems So Scary?

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin - Friend January 2007

* Always have faith, first of all, in our Heavenly Father and in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

* Just move forward regardless of the world. As you read the scriptures, you will know what you should do.

*In every age we are faced with a choice. We can trust in our own strength, or we can journey to higher ground and come unto Christ.
* Keep busy in doing the right things. Peace and hope come from knowing the Lord and our Heavenly Father and following Their way of living.
*Sometimes the world appears dark. Sometimes our faith is tried. Yet we should not despair. We should never abandon our faith. We should not lose hope.
* Be of good cheer. Have faith and confidence. The Lord will not forsake you.

The Ordinary Things in Life....

Do Not Fear

Boyd K. Packer

"Find happiness in ordinary things, and

keep your sense of humor."

Why Would People Rally Against a False Claim?

Bruce R. McConkie

Pearl of Great Price Student Manual pg 57

Why should so many religionists unite against an unknown youth of no renoun or standing in the community?

Would the whole sectarian world shiver and shake and call for a sword if some other unknown 14 year old youth in an obscure frontier village should claim that he was visited by angels and that he saw the Lord?

The problem when Joseph Smith announced such a claim was that it was true and that Lucifer knew of its verity.....

Is not the persecution itself a witness of the reality of the First Vision? Or if it were not true, would the worldly wise and the intellectual religionists today devote their talents and means to defaming Joseph Smith and the work that bears his imprint?

What is it to anyone else what we believe unless they in their unbelief fear lest our doctrines are true and our practices may have divine approval.

Over, and Over, and Over AGAIN!?!

Teachings of Elder Henry B. Eyring:

"When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention."

Let Go and Let God.....

From the book Simplify- A Guide to Caring for the Soul by Carolyn J. Rasmus

Nancy M. Christensen shared in an Ensign article that all of her life she had been worried about "what if?"..... As she grew.... she continued to have even more plaguing questions that resulted in anxiety attacks.... She became even more anxious when she realized such feelings were not "reasonable expectations for a mother of four young children."

Her answer came one fast Sunday.... As soon as the meetings were over, her 5 and 7 year old sons raced to see who could get home first. They each grabbed the door handle, trying to turn the knob of the locked door. When mom arrived home, she put the key in the lock, but because of the boys' strong grip, she couldn't turn the key. Out of her mouth tumbled the words, "If you would just let go for a minute, I could turn the key and let you in."

"As I said those words.... I imagined the Savior standing next to me, repeating my own words back to me. 'If you would just let go for a minute, I could turn the key for you. Let go. Let me help.' "

Gardening in the Gospel....

Elder Hugh B. Brown, member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for many years told of purchasing a rundown farm. One day he noticed a currant bush that had grown more than 6 feet high. The bush had no blossoms and currants. Having been raised on a fruit farm, he recognized the problem, got his pruning shears, and went to work. He clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps.

"It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying.... And I looked at it and smiled and said, 'What are you crying about?' You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:

"I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn't make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here."

"I said, 'Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn't intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, 'Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, Thank you, Mr. Gardener.'"

Christmas Poem

It's Christmas time at our house

And we're putting up the tree

I wish I could find one simple way

To remember Christ's gift to me.

Some little sign or symbol

To show friends stopping by.

The little babe was born one day

But He really came to die.

A symbol of his nail-pierced hands

The blood He shed for me...

What if I hung a simple nail

Upon my Christmas tree?

A crimson bow tied 'round the nail

Like His blood that flowed so free

To save each person from their sin

And redeem as for all eternity.

I know it was His love for us

That held Him to that "tree"

And when I see this simple nail

I know He died for me.

Author Unknown

Defining Mercy....

"My favorite 1828 dictionary defines mercy in a beautiful way: 'That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant.' In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy."

Simplify - A Guide to Caring for the Soul

by Carolyn J. Rasmus pg 52

FEAR!

F E A R

Fear leads to Anger

Anger leads to Hate

Hate leads to Suffering

-Yoda

Prayer Alone Is Not Enough....

Prayer Alone Is Not Enough

(Rabbi Jack Riemer)

We cannot only pray to You, O God, to end war;

For we know that You have made the world in such a way

That we must find the path to peace

Within ourselves and with our neighbors.

We cannot only pray to You, O God,

To end starvation;

For You have already given us the resources

With which to feed the entire world,

If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot only pray to You, O God,

To root out prejudice;

For You have already given us eyes

With which to see the good in all people,

If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot only pray to You, O god,

To end despair;

For You have already given us the power

To clear away slums and to give hope.

If we would only use power justly.

For You have already given us great minds

With which to search out cures and healings,

If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore, we pray to You instead, O God,

For strength, determination, and will power,

To do instead of only to pray,

To become instead of merely to wish,

For Your sake and for ours, speedily and soon,

That our land and world may be safe,

And that our lives may be blessed.

Ma the words that we pray, and the deeds that we do

Be acceptable before You, O Eternal,

Our Rock and our Redeemer.

A Funny One!

"I'm so unfamiliar with the gym I call it James."

Chi McBride on the Ellen Show

Changing Your Family

"Big changes in you will lead to even larger changes in your children."

James M. Harper "Creating Healthy Emotional Bonds In Families"

~Like a Child~

Ways to be Like a Child

When children try to reach something on a high shelf without help they often make a mess or break something. When we as parents find out we say something like "why didn't you just ask me for help" or "I would've helped you if you had just asked." Like us, ,our Heavenly Father wants to help if we will just ask Him.

"Big Boys Don't Cry"

"Growing Young"

by Greg Simpson

I've gone so far from my home

Seen the world and I have known

So many secrets

I wish now I did not know

'Cause they have crept into my heart

They have left it cold and dark and bleeding

Bleeding and falling apart

And ev'ry body used to tell me,

"Big boys don't cry"

Well I've been around enough

To know that was a lie

It held back the tears

In the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons

Well we are children no more

We have sinned and grown old

And our Father still waits

And He watches down the road

To see His crying boys

Come running back to his arms

And be growing young

I've seen silver turn to dross

Seen the very best there ever was

And I tell you

It ain't worth what it costs

I remember my Father's house

What I wouldn't give right now

Just to see Him

And hear Him tell me

That He loves me so much

Chorus

And when I thought that I was all alone

It was Your voice I heard calling me back home

And I wonder now, Lord

What it was that made me wait so long

And what kept You waiting for me all that time

Was Your love stronger than my foolish pride

Will You take me back, now

Take me back and let me be Your child

'Cause I've been broken now

I've been saved

I've learned to cry

And I've learned to pray

And I'm learning

Learning even I can be changed

Chorus

And be growing young

It's the Hard-Knock Life.....

"Let's quit viewing life as a long, hard, uphill ride

to the ultimate destination of heaven.

I'm sure heaven will be wonderful,

but so is life right now."

-Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard

Life's Challenge!

"Our challenge is to learn and not be defeated by the package life

hands us or by our attitude about that package."

-Norma B. Ashton

Spiritual Learning

“To keep spiritual learning in its proper place, we will have to make some hard choices of how we use our time. But there should never be a conscious choice to let the spiritual become secondary. Never. That will lead to tragedy. Remember, you are interested in education, not just for mortal life but for eternal life. When you see that reality clearly, you will put spiritual learning first and yet not slight the secular learning. In fact, you will work harder at your secular learning than you would without that spiritual vision.”

Henry B. Eyring, “Real-Life Education,” New Era, Apr. 2009, 5

The Man's Responsibility.....

"The man presides to assure order, but with that comes the burden of

responsibility . . . The call to preside is a call to serve. It is a

call of responsibility to assure that all is done in righteousness and

that order prevails."

-Sherrie Johnson

Youth ~ Hungry for Things of the Spirit

“President [J. Reuben] Clark described youth as ‘hungry for things of the Spirit [and] eager to learn the gospel.’ He said: ‘They want it straight, undiluted. They want to know . . . about our beliefs; they want to gain testimonies of their truth. They are not now doubters but inquirers, seekers after truth.’”

Boyd K. Packer “Counsel to Young Men,” Ensign, May 2009, 50

Family Experiences

Family Experiences Provide Important Development Opportunities

“Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Liahona, Jan. 2001, 41