Old Posts

June, 20th

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Ephesians 6:1-4

What better day to honor our Father’s than on Father’s Day. Whether we agree or disagree with our fathers, we can always honor them and respect them in their role as our fathers. I remember working with one client who really struggled with her father and the verbal abuse that he had put her through. Even though she had distanced her self in their relationship, she could still recognize that she loved him and honored him as her father.

Some of my greatest memories as a child contain my father and the time that he spent with me and showed me that he loved me through the various different acts that he continually showed and still shows to this day. I am grateful for my father and appreciate the time he spent teaching me about the gospel and instilling the gospel principles in my life.

June 21, 2010

“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures. I ran across it one day while on my mission on a really bad day and it changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s such a simple statement, but it is so true. I saw it on my mission, I see it in the church, and I continually see it in counseling, that when someone loses that simple hope of the future they lose the simple desire to progress and fall into a degree of despair.

When we look at the wonderful gifts and blessings given to us everyday and promised to us for our future when we keep the commandments all there is, is hope. And when we believe in the most grand promise of all, Exaltation, our faith in that will always bring about the purity and greatness of hope, which can fill a hearts with joy.

June 22, 2010

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22-25

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a woman about her oldest daughter, and how she has fallen away from the church. The woman’s husband and her have been trying to help their daughter get her testimony back. We talked a lot about the gifts of the spirit and how the spirit can speak to us in our lives through the peace we feel at the temple or while reading the scriptures. The calm at church, or in other places like praying. The love that we feel from our Father in Heaven.
We also talked a lot about how a testimony is an ongoing and living thing that we have to constantly nurture through daily scripture study and prayer because if we neglect the simple things our testimonies can more easily be chipped away. This happens because through our scripture study and prayer we can feel of the spirit, which everyday strengthens our testimony. I also brought up the idea that we shouldn’t just stop there, that we should seek the spirit in all that we do, “If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” As we “walk in the spirit” and seek it, we’ll continually find guidance. I can’t tell you how many times a week this simple truth becomes vital in my job, family, and life. As I continually strive to have the spirit, I’m humbled weekly by the small miracles the spirit allows me to be involved in to bless other’s lives.
June 23, 2010

“6 Now ye may suppose that this is afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
7 And the Lord God doth work by ameans to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very bsmall means the Lord doth cconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” Alma 37:6-7

As I’ve been running around all morning trying to get things done and beginning to get overwhelmed I stopped myself, realizing I was getting frustrated. I utilized a simple anger/stress management technique where you simplify and focus in on one task at a time and stop thinking about everything that needs to be done.
My mind also went to a scripture that states, “by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass” and through out my life I’ve seen such a simple principle constantly impact my life from small issues like today to bigger things like my book, education, or my testimony.
The scripture becomes more profound because it states that even God uses the same method and approach and doesn’t just do everything at once, which can be seen with the creation of Earth, to the restoration of the gospel, or to what this scripture refers to of the development of the Book of Mormon and it’s impact.
Savor the small steps and be patient for the end result.