Category: spirituallity

I will hope in Him

This week has basically been about how we can get direct access to the Lord.  And today I wanted to focus on a section in the Bible, it’s Lamentation chapter 3.  In this Chapter the author is unknown and some believe that it is a personification of the city of Jerusalem, but others believe that it is simply referring to the author himself and his own desperation.

This man speaks about all the horrible things that are happening to him and then he says in verse 22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. 24 The Lord is my portions, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. 25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

And I chose this to finish off the week because there are times that no matter how hard we try or how much we pray, or how hard we are knocking there is still no relief to our suffering.  We are asking, seeking and knocking and stretching and drawing near and learning and pondering and studying and yet, we still feel that utter desperation of, why do these things keep happening when I’m trying so hard to reach out? 

When I was first diagnosed bipolar, my husband and I were already going through some difficulties. So this diagnosis was kind of like the last straw of our desperation.  And then came the problems of trying to find a medication or recipe of medications that would work for me.  I was a photographer and while I was in the hospital my husband had to go through my calendar and cancel all of my upcoming sessions and get by business in order, take care of himself and take care of me.  His business was struggling and there were a lot of things going on there that required his attention.  Plus we have the two boys (his sons) that required a lot at that time due to their young age.  To say that there was a lot of stress was a huge understatement.  It was hard on both of us.  But especially difficult for Him. He was just trying so hard to hold it all together.  I remember him coming home from work one day after another long and less than fruitful day, and saying with utter desperation in his voice, “over this past month I feel like I am constantly getting punched in the gut and getting kicked when I’m already down.  I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I just want to quit getting punched.”  

But the punches continued to roll in as we struggled through this crisis.  The stress was weighing heavy on him. He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping well, and he was losing hope and losing weight! And I became extremely worried about him.  

One day after much stretching and reaching and asking and knocking and pleading with the Lord.  We came to the conclusion that something was physically not right with him and that he needed to seek medical attention.  This was the last thing he needed on the long list of things to take care of.  But he followed his impressions and went to see a Dr.  Turns out he had what is called a stress reaction, brought on by everything that he was dealing with.  The dr. was able to help with it and he was able to slowly get back to his normal self.  He was finally able to find the “peace” that the Savior brings to us in our hour of great need.

As we close out this week I just want you to know with a surety that our Savior is behind that door.  Even when it seems like there is not one more thing you can take.  He will find a way to bring you the peace you are searching for.  To quote Elder Holland’s words, “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. Of this I can attest.”

Take hope in the Lord my friends. 

Have a beautiful weekend and I’ll talk to you again next week!

XO Wendy

Draw Near

Staying on our topic for this week, I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about how we can grow closer to Christ through our efforts of preparing to receive answers to our questions, to our trials, to our struggles.  

And I wanted to start by sharing a couple of verses from my favorite sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, section 88.  And I think that the reason that it’s my favorite is BECAUSE when it was given to the prophet Joseph Smith he said that it was given as the Lord’s message of peace  to us.  And I just truly feel that peace in several verses of this section.  But today I just want to read verses 63-64.  It says:

63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

64 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you;

So in these verses what stands out to me is  the words DRAW NEAR”.

What does it mean to draw near? Well if  I were to break this down let’s look at the word Draw.  First it is an action word.  The Lord is asking us to make an effort to do something to come closer to Him.  The definition that I believe is being used here is : To cause to move in a particular direction by or as if by a pulling force;  to bring toward oneself, as if by inherent force or influence. 

And I just thought that definition was so interesting because it really expresses a need or a force to be pulled toward.  It makes me think of a big windstorm where you have your back to the wind and it is actually pushing you in a direction.  So we draw near to Him and then He will draw near to us.  So it’s as if the force from the wind at our backs is pushing us toward the Savior.  He’s asking us to let that force move us to come closer to Him.

I came across another talk by President Nelson from april 2017  He describes several ways that we can draw near to the Savior.  But this is the one that stood out to me 

“An element in drawing the Savior’s power into our lives is to reach up to Him in faith. Such reaching requires diligent, focused effort.

Do you remember the biblical story of the woman who suffered for 12 years with a debilitating problem? She exercised great faith in the Savior, exclaiming, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”

This faithful, focused woman needed to stretch as far as she could to access His power. Her physical stretching was symbolic of her spiritual stretching.”  He goes on to say.

“Many of us have cried out from the depths of our hearts a variation of this woman’s words: “If I could spiritually stretch enough to draw the Savior’s power into my life, I would know how to handle my heart-wrenching situation. I would know what to do. And I would have the power to do it.

When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.

When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you.”

And so today as you think about that word and how it is like a force, almost an urgency to get to the Savior.  Think about what we talked about on Monday about the hike to see the Savior.  Imagine that the last stretch is the most difficult of the entire journey, it takes everything you have to get to the door where He awaits.  But then there will  be peace.  I promise you that He longs for you to draw near to Him with such force that He has no choice but to enfold you in his waiting arms.   

Guys, have a great day and remember that He loves you and you can do this! We’ll wrap up this topic tomorrow! Talk to you then.

XO Wendy

Ask, Seek, Knock

When I first was given the prompting to start a podcast along with this blog, I’ll admit I was quite overwhelmed.  I didn’t have any experience in podcasting or editing or building content… other than my blog which I have struggled to stay consistent with.  So this undertaking has taken a lot of faith and trust in the Lord, even during the weeks that I am not recording.Thats when I find myself doubting my abilities and the little ripple that I am making in my little corner of the world.

One thing that I am sure of is that we all doubt ourselves and our abilities at times.  It is Satan’s way to discourage and distract us away from the things that will bring change and so much goodness into the world. 

Reading back in my journal recently, I realized that I had lost sight of what my original prompting was.  And so I felt a little chastised maybe as I read that what the intended need in the beginning, was to give daily upliftment in the form of mini snippets 5-7 min. easy to listen to recordings of the word of God.  Through scriptures, conference talks both past and present and examples of great women and men of the gospel.  Think 9th article of faith: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. And if you don’t know what an article of faith is, click here and you can find out more about what we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ believe.

When looking back at the past recordings that I have done.  I have weaved that into my presentations.  But I just never felt completely at peace with what I was doing.  There was always that nagging, that I wasn’t doing it the way that the Lord intended for me to do.  

I’m not sure why I struggled with the original prompting.  Maybe because I don’t feel like a scriptorian, or a student of theology so to speak.  I tend to see my flaws as most of us do.  But one thing that I am completely sure of is that my Love for the Lord and his gospel is the most prominent  part of my life.  I LOVE the scriptures, all of them.  I love our prophets and for members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I love our heritage and history.  Are we a perfect people?  No, we are not.  But most of us strive, we STRIVE, to live the gospel in the best way we know how.  Of course we are going to fall short at times.  Of course we are human and will offend and not be liked at times.  And that’s ok.  It is ok.  After all, the church was not built for perfect people, the scriptures do not teach perfect people, nor do they teach OF perfect people. Except Jesus of course. The scriptures and church are for the imperfect, the broken, the lost and wandering.  For those who are seeking the truth.  And oh how they are given to us with such deep and abiding love from our Lord and Savior.  

So this week and for who knows how long,  remember I am striving.  I will be coming to you daily with a little pinch of hope, peace and joy.  I hope you like the new change and will stick around.  It might be a little bumpy at first.  But I know that what the Lord has in mind is the best direction to go.  So let’s go.   

This week’s topic comes from scriptures that can be found both in the bible Matthew 7:7-8 and from the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 14:7-8 and D&C 88:64-65

On Monday’s we will shallow dive into the Book of mormon, and modern day scripture. We’ll call it Book of Mormon Monday.  So we will start with 3 Nephi 14:7-8 it reads: Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

And just for reference we will read D&C 88:63-64 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall recieve;  knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you.

I chose this particular scripture one because I have been using it to figure out my next steps with this podcast.  I was going back and forth about whether to keep doing the podcast or give it up all together, when I came across this passage.  And I love that it is in all of the scriptures despite a few wording differences.  I also like to use the KJV study bible version of the bible because I think it’s important to note the differences and similarities with other Christian translations of the Bible than the one Latter Day Saints normally use, when studying.  And I love that it also has a section at the bottom that gives more insight into that particular scripture passage.  We will be discussing that more on Friday.  So stay tuned for that.

So I just wanted to talk for a few minutes on how we can put this scripture passage to work in our lives.  It’s a popular scripture that many christians know by heart and for good reason.  It holds beautiful promises from our Savior that He is ALWAYS there for us.  No matter what is happening in our lives. I love the words ask, seek, knock.  

The word “ask” means to request information, to inquire of, to try and get something.  We usually do this in the form of a prayer.  We settle upon a question or struggle that we are having and then we take it to the Lord. I imagine in my mind that I am about to approach the door to which the Savior stands behind pondering what my particular request, or need is.  I think of what I am seeking in His answer as I knock.  Seeking means to go in search of, to try to find, discover, or obtain.  

So just for the sake of an example.  Imagine that you have your question or struggle and in order to get the answer you have to hike to a steep place where there is a door that you will knock on and the Savior will be there to give you the answer.  All along that path you are encountered with rocks and detours and branches of which you need to navigate.  It takes work.  Seek is an action word. It suggests that you are putting forth some effort.  So you might prepare yourself by searching for the answer on your own or coming up with some sort of plan and then as you are hiking you are thinking about that and what you might expect in return from the Savior who is beyond the door awaiting your knock.  I picture Him waiting anxiously and in anticipation.  Much like that of a mother or father who is always willing and waiting to give advice to their children.  He cares so much about you and knows that this is really important to you.

As you ascend to the top of the mountain you have done a lot of the work needed to receive your answer.  You have questioned, you have pondered, you have done the work to get there but you need to know that what you are pondering is right or maybe you have no idea and you just need to be guided in the right direction.  You knock and wait patiently.  And your patience is rewarded when the Savior is there to open the door promptly and invite you inside to sit with Him.  

I feel like when I imagine this process, I come knocking with a more humble and open heart to what the Lord has for me in return.  He promises “it shall be given…It shall be found… it shall be opened to you.”  

I can’t promise that you will find the answers to your questions immediately upon your “knock” but I do know that when you come to the Lord with an open heart and mind, that He will not let you down.  He is there to surround you in His peace, comfort and knowledge.  He will never ever turn you away.  

So today if you journal or write things down.  I want you to think of a time when you have gone through the process we talked about and what your experience was.  Write it down.  Because being able to go back to these experiences in times of need will remind you of how willing the Savior is to open that door wide when we come knocking.

Have a great day my friends and I’ll talk to you again tomorrow!

XO Wendy

Daily Dose

Wow it’s been a hot minute hasn’t it? I really did not plan it to be like this however, I did take a 10 day trip to visit my family in Utah when my daughter had a new baby girl!  It was so much fun and a much needed break out of the pandemic routine. And for those of you wondering about travel.  Rest assured that the airlines are doing everything they possibly can to keep everybody safe while traveling and everyone that I saw was masked and being super careful to keep their social distance.  I’ve been home since the 10th and have not gotten ill, so I feel like I’m in the clear.  But I have missed you guys so much or at least missed writing and talking to you all.  And I felt moved this week to get back on it and hopefully I haven’t missed out on too many opportunities to help you grow closer to your Savior over these past weeks.

With that said, we will just jump right in to this week’s show.  When I was visiting Utah I had the chance to reflect on this past year and what I have learned and how I have grown.  I am choosing to look at it, not as a terrible, awful situation. Although, losing a loved one to this virus is definitely awful, and I if that is you, I want to send you my sincere condolences and please know that I am not diminishing those losses in any way. I was reflecting on how all of the Latter Day Saint temples around the world have been closed.  And just thinking about how much I have missed the strength and peace that comes from regular temple attendance.  

My husband was asked to speak in church on the blessings of the temple and when he practiced it for me, I was so touched by the spirit telling me that I can have that peace and strength that comes from the temple, within the walls of my own home.  I can find it in my own personal space, be it through meditation, scripture study, or just a moment of quiet time to myself. I was reminded of the quote that President Nelson shared in the April 2019 conference when he said “in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” 

One of the blessings of attending the temple is the increased influence of the Spirit in our daily lives.  We are able to renew ordinances and strengthen our testimonies through attendance at the temple.  But can we find those same blessings in times like this when we are unable to attend the temple?  The answer is an unequivocal yes!

Absolutely! We can receive those same blessings of comfort, strength, and testimony building, within the walls of our own home.  But….. we have to want it.  We have to prioritize it. We have to work for it.  And it’s not easy.  Especially if you have young children who constantly demand attention.  If you live in a part member home.  If you are caring for loved ones who are ill.  If you struggle with mental illness or other ailments.  The list goes on.  We have so many challenges pulling at us from all directions.  And it can become quite daunting to find moments of peace and clarity from the spirit amongst it all.  But not impossible!

So let’s just talk about a few of the ways that we can make our homes a little bit of Heaven on Earth and fill them up with what I like to call “holy moments” or “holy minutes” for most of us.  

I am going to plug an app here just because I have found it to be so helpful for me in inviting the spirit to be with me more readily.   It is called “come follow me”. It’s icon is just a gold square with the words come follow me in white.  My daughter told me about this one when I was visiting and oh boy, I love it so much!  One, because it is right on my phone so I see it everytime I open my phone.  And two because it is just a quick dose of two of the most important things that I feel we can be doing to keep the spirit with us during these times.  The first one being, following along with the Come Follow Me lessons that the church puts out. And second, read the Book of Mormon daily. 

But what I have loved about this app is that it is bite sized doses!  Like, I am talking, a question prompt, a couple of verses and a quote or two.  So easy to get a 2-3 minute slice of study in.  Because let’s face it, for some of us this pandemic has made things even crazier than before and 2-3 minutes sometimes is a “holy moment”.  Generally I just use it for the Come Follow Me section and the Book of Mormon section.  But there is also a section for kids, and a section for general conference.  Seriously, it’s the best daily dose of goodness, and I highly recommend trying it!  And it’s FREE. 

So let’s just go back and talk about these two things, following along with the Come Follow Me lessons and reading the Book of Mormon daily.  

I have never had it testified to me more clearly that we indeed have a living prophet on the Earth today than when the pandemic hit and we already had the Come Follow me program in place.  In fact, we’d been studying it for over a year!  Not to mention many other changes that had taken place before, to help prepare us to make our homes more holy places. And many of us had already found ways to implement these programs into our lives and homes so it was a smooth transition.  I can’t even tell you what a sweet experience it was when we were able to partake of the holy sacrament in our own home.  And I know that many of you have had that same experience.

Having the come follow me program available to us at our very fingertips has been such an amazing tool to help us bring “holy moments” into our lives on a regular basis. That’s one of the reasons that I love the app so much is because it really does make it so easy.  Instead of scrolling mindlessly on Instagram or Facebook or pinterest or any of the other apps, just open this one and take a few short minutes to fill your cup. With all of the distractions that we are bombarded with daily, our spirits really need, crave actually, a dose of “holy moments” on the regular.  

That got me thinking about daily doses and I am a big supplement freak.  I am one of those crazy people that is going to go kicking and screaming into old age, lol.  I mean, age has it’s advantages for sure.  But I just don’t want all the crazy stuff that goes along with it.  So I take about a million supplements everyday, kidding, not kidding.  And I am vigilent in this!  I have my little daily pill container and each week I go through and fill up all the days and I am always on the lookout for new and better supplements.  My vitamin cupboard looks like a drug store shelf! But enough about that.  What I’m trying to say is that these “daily doses” or “holy moments” can literally be lifesaving and life extending if we allow them to be.  So what I encourage you to do is to try to implement “supplements” daily, from the Come Follow Me lessons.

Read just a paragraph with your family.  Or one or two verses of scripture.  Trying to do an entire lesson all at once can sometimes be overwhelming, for the giver as well as the receiver (especially if they are children).  Plus I believe it brings the lesson into focus each day allowing us to look for opportunities with our family to “create” holy moments.

Think of the great promise that President Nelson gave us in that same general conference. “I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow.  I just love that promise so much and I have truly witnessed the miracles that he speaks of.

The second important way that we can increase our faith in Jesus Christ and have those holy moments is to put our face in the Book of Mormon every day.  I remember when Joe, my husband, was being taught by the missionaries before he was baptized.  They told of an experience where Elder Bednar of the 12 apostles came to speak with them.  They said he spoke for like 2 hours straight without any notes!!!! Crazy!  Anyway, at the end he left all of the missionaries with an apostolic blessing.  He promised them that if they would read the Book of Mormon everyday that they would never fall away from the church when they returned home.  Since I had gone through my own faith crisis shortly before that, I vowed that I would try to read the Book of Mormon every day so that I would never fall away again.  And I can truly testify that this has been such a strength to my testimony of the Savior and of his love for each of us.  There have been so many times that I have been struggling and have opened up the Book of Mormon to exactly the passage that I needed at that particular moment. 

For example, right before the pandemic hit, we had a tornado here in Nashville.  I was so distraught over it and I was constantly thinking about it and having anxiety about it happening again. Luckily we did not receive any damage but lots of people we knew well did.  The temples were still open,  so I decided that I’d go to see if I could find some personal peace.  I’m so glad I did because the temples closed the next week. That day it was so peaceful as it always is.  The cares of the world just melted away.  But after the service, I grabbed the Book of Mormon and randomly opened it.  I believe that this was one of the holy moments that I’ve been talking about, I am not even kidding when I say this is the exact spot I opened to.  

Heleman 5:12 It reads,  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 foundation; 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.

That scripture became such a strength to me as a few days later we were told to shelter in place… for who knew how long, as this virus would overtake the world.

This experience is not singular.  I have had so many times since I first heard that promise of reading daily, that I have had scriptures come into my mind at the exact time I needed them.  Or when my daily reading included something that was important to whatever I was experiencing that day.  Since I have been doing this I have felt my testimony of our Savior and of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon increase. I love the Book of Mormon so much because it draws me closer to my Savior with every page. 

So I encourage you to put a dose of the Book of Mormon into your daily habits.  It doesn’t have to be long or drawn out.  Just one verse a day and I promise your faith will grow and your life will be impacted in a positive way. I thought of  another promise that Dale G Renlund shared in a recent conference address about temple and family history work. He said of the blessings that can come to us, one is increased faith, so that conversion to the Savior becomes deep and abiding.”  I love that word “abiding”. It means that it STAYS or LASTS A LONG TIME.  So essentially our conversion to the Savior becomes deeper and stays with us longer when we are taking the time to bring the spirit into our lives daily.  And isn’t that what our ultimate goal should be?

 

So there it is.  Two ways that you can increase the spirit and make your home more of a temple.  Study the Come Follow Me lessons daily and put your face in the Book of Mormon every day!

 

I will not leave you comfortless

Good morning! Well actually…it didn’t start off as a good morning. It started off like this: (you can listen to it in a little more detail by clicking on the podcast link.)

It started out with my usual morning routine.

Journal entry: “I’m tired today. And feeling just kind of blah. I think I slept pretty good. But my motivation is pretty much drained. It’s frustrating to me that I can just wake up and feel yucky for no good reason. I hate bipolar! I hate that it’s just always there. I hate that despite trying so hard to do all the right things that it just is there… If I miss a workout or maybe eat the wrong foods or my sleep is off a little. It’s just frustrating and I hate that I am broken.

Luckily God restores broken… eventually. And I know This, but hard days are just HARD. And there is just no way of getting away from that.

Gratitude: Grateful I have a husband who tries to understand and catches me when I fall.”

Scripture Journal: (still distracted and trying to sort things out) “I guess I should have seen it coming. It’s kind of like a freight train… I can’t hear it until it gets close and starts blaring the whistle, and then its too late. It’s already here. And I have to back track and ask why? What did I do different? Why is it coming or happening now? And a part of me just wants to go back to bed and not deal with these feelings of despair and worthlessness. I hate it and I hate that my children will probably have to deal with it at some point.

A thought comes to my mind.  I will not leave you comfortless.  And suddenly I have to find the scripture that those words come from. It’s palpable, I desperately need to find it. I go to my phone, the Gospel Library App. I click it open….and there it is staring me so hard in the face that I had to take a screenshot to prove to myself that this actually happened. It clicked right to comfortless: will not leave you comfortless, John 14:18!

I must have been in the topical guide when I last studied but I don’t remember searching this topic. But God knew. He knew that I would need this today.

This is what I wrote after to document my experience: Sometimes we go to God and sometimes He comes to us. That’s how I felt this morning. I could feel the depression settling in like a black storm cloud that I have grown accustomed to feeling. Waiting to enfold me in its blackness. And just when the tears began to fall and I was feeling so alone, I had a thought. Not my thought. It was the spirit sending me this message. “I will not leave you comfortless”… Where is that scripture I thought and I grabbed for my phone to look it up in the Topical guide to search it out. And then… a miracle.

 

I don’t know how He does it. I guess because He is God and He knows what we need when we need it. It was almost as if He was saying… No really– I won’t. You see it was the VERY FIRST thing that popped up when I opened the app. I didn’t even search it out. Staring up at me from the phone was the word comfortless, will not leave you comfortless, it read. And the scripture reference. Here’s the screen shot I had to take to remind myself how quickly God works sometimes. I couldn’t believe that for some crazy reason, it just happened to be on that exact page when I needed it the most. I needed to know that He knows where I’m at and what I’m feeling. And He was reminding me with absolutely no room to even doubt, that He does. He really does know me individually and wants what’s best for me.

And for you as well! You are His and He is yours.

As I thought about that word and that promise I am reminded of the covenants that I renew each week in church as I partake of His sacraments. (I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we do this each week to remind us of the covenants that we made with the Lord when we were baptized.) I promise that I will keep His commandments that I will always remember Him, that I will take His name upon me. And then He promises me that I will ALWAYS have His spirit to be with me.

As I contemplated on that I realized that promise is one of the greatest promises that we can have. It’s no wonder or no mistake that those prayers are repeated to us every single week. He wants us to know without room at all to doubt…. that He will never, ever, even in our darkest moments, that He will not leave us comfortless. That we will ALWAYS have His spirit to be with us.

I think I may have to frame that scripture to remind me daily that I am worthy of His comfort. I am His and even through the times in our days and in our lives, He says, “I will not leave you comfortless and the final phrase of the scripture….. I WILL COME TO YOU!”

John 14:18

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

XO Wendy

He restores playlist