Ponderize- I love the Lord

I've always been blessed with a believing heart and most of the time obedience is easy for me. I realize the great truth that the Lord will bless me when I obey His commandments.

Today in General Conference Elder Devin Durrant gave us two challenges... tonight I want to talk about the second one (but the first one is excellent advice also).

He introduced his made up word-

(And anyone who knows me knows I love made up words!)

So in that spirit of obedience I accept the challenge! I want my *packets of light* to increase. I want my confidence to wax strong. I want to enjoy the blessings of having a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.

And why have I chosen this scripture over all the thousands there are to choose from? As part of my commitment to increase my spiritual strength I will go back to my paper scriptures instead of my electronic scriptures. So tonight I opened my scriptures at random and found these words- already loved and highlighted from an early time.

Prayer has always been a great comfort to me and I bear testimony that the Lord hears and answers our prayers...

Do we always get what WE WANT? Thank goodness, no. The Lord, in His wisdom, guides us down the path He wants us to tread... carrying us when necessary.

269- More Glorious Light

I am so grateful for glorious light! Not only the kind we can see but that which can be felt as well.

Saturday night was the General Relief Society broadcast.  It is held the last Saturday in September, just before October General Conference each year. It is one of those meetings that I don't want to miss, and I've only missed a couple since their inception. Saturday's broadcast did not disappoint... but I knew it wouldn't. I'm so grateful for the continued light and knowledge we receive from our leaders.



There is usually one or two things that just stick out in my mind as I sit there taking notes. This time is was Sister Sylvia Allred's comments:

She asked, "What helps us stand steadfast and immovable?"  I love the answer... it is so simple-

• Prayer
• Scripture study
• Obedience [!]
• Service

I CAN do that! 

(You know what else I love?  Each of these bullet points was already a tag on my blog!)

213- So What?

I want to share a thought from today's Sunday School class. Brother Terry Reid does such a wonderful job of helping us apply the scriptures to us here and now. He used to teach an institute class where he encouraged his students to ask, "So What?" One of his students was a 30-year old down's syndrome brother who would always pipe up at precisely the right moment with the question, "So What?"

We are studying the Old Testament this year. Today we discussed the story of the Prophet Elisha and Naaman, Syrian Captain.

First we read about Elisha's call in 1Kings 19:19-20

So he (Elijah) departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray the, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. (emphasis added)

Then we read about Naaman, who had leprosy. (2Kings 5:1-14) A little Hebrew maid (a captive slave from conquest) commented to Naaman's wife that if Naaman "were with the prophet that is in Samaria!... he would recover him of his leprosy." We know the story: Naaman went with all his pomp, his horses and his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha... but Elisha sent a messenger telling him to wash seven times in the Jordan. But Naaman was wroth! But his servants persuaded him to follow Elisha's counsel and he was healed.

SO WHAT?

How do I apply this to my life?

Elisha ran to the call to do the will of the Lord.

Naaman balked but ultimately obeyed.

But both men were blessed when they were obedience.

The Lord wants us to love and trust Him! Don't make it too complicated, just give the Lord your trust. He is trust-worthy.

It just resonated with me today and I wanted to share.

Today's photo of my beautiful shade-loving hostas really doesn't have anything to do with what I've shared. But they are beautiful, green, cool and have delicate light purple flowers and they make me happy.


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The Wise Man

One day recently when I was studying the scriptures I gained an interesting insight into the parable of the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. It was so glaringly obvious to me that day I wondered why I’d never thought of it before. But that is the beauty of constant scripture study, there is always something new to be learned.

As I read in Matthew
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” (Matt 7:24-27 italics added)

Then the thought came to me that the wise man had to endure the storm just as the foolish man did! Just because the wise man built his house upon the rock didn’t exempt him from the storm. The wind still blew and the rains still descended, the floods came and great was the storm thereof! Hmm… epiphany! We still have to weather the storm, BUT if we are built upon the Rock (our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his Gospel) we will still be standing when the sun comes out again. Happy thought!

Since then I’ve found other scriptures that support this idea:
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundations; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12)

I can bear fervent testimony that this is a true principle. Trials will come, we will all face adversity BUT if we build upon our sure foundation, Jesus Christ, He will support us and strengthen us through it all!

With love for President Hinckley

I knew this day would come... the day when we had to let President Hinckley go. But that doesn't always make the letting go any easier. How grateful I am for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! How grateful I am to know that we are led by His Prophet. How grateful I am to say that I knew and loved Gordon B. Hinckley.

No, I don't know him personally or have a daily interaction with him... but that is not important in my knowing with all my heart and soul that he was the Lord's prophet! He has made such a profound impact in my life.

The first strong impact President Hinckley had in my life came in the spring of 1993. He came to Los Angeles for an Area Conference. The Saturday night meeting was held in our Palmdale Stake Center. (In preparation for this meeting we got a whole new pulpit and A NEW ORGAN. Hooray, the old one was a nightmare to play!) Sunday's session was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was at this conference that President Hinckley challenged us all to read the Book of Mormon - 4 (four) times in the coming year.

This was a pivotal time in our lives. Our little children, Stuart, Camille and Spencer, were only 8 & 9. Stuart had already shown that he too had dyslexia like is Mama. We accepted President Hinckley's challenge. I made cool bookmarks, each with a different little DJ Inkers clipart to suit our individual personalities, to keep us on track for reading the Book of Mormon not once, but four times in the coming year. What a wonderful blessing in our lives! I can testify to the power of that great book and the blessings that come from following the Lord's Prophet. Through our daily reading together, not only did we reap the spiritual blessings, but there was a hidden blessing in that Stuart was able, at a very young age, to get a handle on coping with dyslexia. It made a world of difference for him!

The second pivotal moment came when President Hinckley spoke to the Relief Society in September 2000. He stated, "We--the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve--have taken the position, and I quote, that "the Church discourages tattoos. It also discourages the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes, although it takes no position on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings." " ( From Your Greatest Challenge, Mother ) I can still see his characteristic mannerism of waving his arm to emphasize each word (and for me there is a memory of him saying, "...one pair of earring, only one." but that doesn't appear in this text).

I had multiple earrings (as you can see in the 1999 photo with my friend Jaquelle). I was the YW President in my ward. These earrings defined who I was! I was hip... I was Joanie... JB! I am ashamed to admit that I didn't immediately take out my extra earrings. It took getting the November Ensign and reading that address again. I had to ask myself, "What has the Prophet asked me to do?"

With tears of sadness (hmmm... pride that I was losing this identity) and repentance (what took me so long?), I asked Camille, then 14, to help me get out the top hoop because I couldn't do it myself. I told her why I was taking out my top earrings. She said, "Mom what should I do?" (She too had top piercings). I told her we knew what the Prophet had asked, but it was her choice. Sweet, sweet girl... with no trouble at all she removed her earring as well.

Because I had set the example of cartilage piecing in our ward, I felt that it was my responsibility to share my experience with the YW and other members of our ward. I told them that I didn't think the Lord really cares how many earrings I have, but he does care about me being obedient to the counsels of his Prophet. I have since come to realize that that this was a line in the sand, so to speak. It was a dividing line between being obedient and drawing our selves away from worldly practices and joining in.

So much has already been said by so many writers who can express it so much better than me. But I loved him for his wit, his candor, his courage (He did not take counsel from his fears).
What a marvelous man... a man raised up by the Lord to carry out His great latter-day work here on the earth during this last dispensation. To use a quote I have heard about Joseph Smith, "I want to shout hooray that I ever knew such a man as Gordon Bintner Hinckley!)

President Hinckley "knighting" Pres. Eyring after his call to the First Presidency in Oct 2007