2 Nephi 32:8-9 "...and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that they performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."
This is what I got out of my scripture study today. I need to include the Lord in all of my actions and decisions. I need to start asking the Lord for his input in even the smallest of decisions I need to make. I need to speak with him as a friend. To always ask for his help and to always desire to know what he would have me do. I hope that I can remember to seek his advice as a Father (for he is my Father in heaven) more frequently, in all that I do.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Happiness: A choice
For a while I was feeling quite depressed. I get that way sometimes. Some people can easily find happiness in all they do. Some people, like me, have to work for it every step of the way. I am a happy person most of the time because I make myself work for it.
Anyway, I had been feeling like my happiness had gotten away from me again. I am far from my family and I miss them a great deal. I am tired and feel like I can never get enough sleep. My kids are always demanding things from me and sometimes I just don't feel like filling that sippy cup up with milk just one more time.
I have found that when this happens to me there is only one solution. Find the spirit again. Somehow it had slipped away from me. I hadn't done anything monumentally wrong to loose it, I had just not put in the effort into keeping it. I was just going through the motions of life without any thought for what I was or was not doing. So I lost it. I was in tears almost every night. I was praying for answers. Finally one night while I was feeding Scott, I let everything out to the Lord. I prayed out loud. I don't know if it is just me or not but sometimes I feel that my outspoken prayers have more power than the ones I say in my head. Maybe it's because when I get to the point of saying them out loud, I am finally meaning everything I say. I asked for help to know what I could do to feel that connection with the Spirit again so that I could be happy.
The next day I was still going through the motions and one of the things that was on my checklist to do for the day was to go visiting teaching. Visiting teaching is not one of my favorite things to do and I'm very bad at actually doing it. But I have a great partner who always makes sure we see our visiting teachees. So I went. The woman we went to visit happened to mention that she had done a 40 day Book of Mormon feast where she read the Book of Mormon in 40 days. I knew that was my answer. I went home and started reading. The first day felt like I was reading my scriptures for forever. The second day felt shorter and I was really getting into what I was reading. From then on, I have felt so much better. I am happy again. I have also received answers to other questions and problems I have had through reading my scriptures. I love the Lord and I know that He loves me. He answers my prayers. I know that He is a loving Father in Heaven. And I know that above all, He wants me to be happy.
Anyway, I had been feeling like my happiness had gotten away from me again. I am far from my family and I miss them a great deal. I am tired and feel like I can never get enough sleep. My kids are always demanding things from me and sometimes I just don't feel like filling that sippy cup up with milk just one more time.
I have found that when this happens to me there is only one solution. Find the spirit again. Somehow it had slipped away from me. I hadn't done anything monumentally wrong to loose it, I had just not put in the effort into keeping it. I was just going through the motions of life without any thought for what I was or was not doing. So I lost it. I was in tears almost every night. I was praying for answers. Finally one night while I was feeding Scott, I let everything out to the Lord. I prayed out loud. I don't know if it is just me or not but sometimes I feel that my outspoken prayers have more power than the ones I say in my head. Maybe it's because when I get to the point of saying them out loud, I am finally meaning everything I say. I asked for help to know what I could do to feel that connection with the Spirit again so that I could be happy.
The next day I was still going through the motions and one of the things that was on my checklist to do for the day was to go visiting teaching. Visiting teaching is not one of my favorite things to do and I'm very bad at actually doing it. But I have a great partner who always makes sure we see our visiting teachees. So I went. The woman we went to visit happened to mention that she had done a 40 day Book of Mormon feast where she read the Book of Mormon in 40 days. I knew that was my answer. I went home and started reading. The first day felt like I was reading my scriptures for forever. The second day felt shorter and I was really getting into what I was reading. From then on, I have felt so much better. I am happy again. I have also received answers to other questions and problems I have had through reading my scriptures. I love the Lord and I know that He loves me. He answers my prayers. I know that He is a loving Father in Heaven. And I know that above all, He wants me to be happy.
Service
I like our "new" ward quite a bit but since we have moved into it I have felt that it isn't as closely bonded as our old ward was. Maybe it had something to do with the old ward being a relatively young ward with a lot of students in it. But what I feel like made the biggest difference is that we were constantly receiving emails of opportunities to serve others in our ward. We would get emails when someone needed dinners, when someone needed rides, when someone needed prayers, if someone needed help cleaning/moving etc. And people would respond, boy would people respond. If you didn't get an email back to them within a couple of hours of receiving the email then everything would already have been taken care of.
Our ward was close. I loved knowing who people were and that there were always people I could help out even if it was just by saying a prayer for them. I knew that if I ever needed anything, I could ask and it would be taken care of. If the people within the ward are feeling like they don't know each other, I think one of the best things you can do is to give them the opportunity to serve. Let them loose themselves in serving others.
I have found especially for myself that when I am feeling depressed or tired the best thing to help is to go serve someone. I remember as a kid that we would take cookies out to people frequently. We often did this for our service family night. I always thought it was funny when my dad would ask, "so, who do you think needs cookies tonight?". My thought was always, "does anyone actually NEED cookies?". haha. Now I realize that it was not the cookies that they needed but everything that came with the cookies. The love that was shown, the thought that was put into it, the opportunity to show someone that we were thinking of them and loving them. That they weren't alone. That someone cared. So now my question to you is, "who do you know that needs cookies?".
Our ward was close. I loved knowing who people were and that there were always people I could help out even if it was just by saying a prayer for them. I knew that if I ever needed anything, I could ask and it would be taken care of. If the people within the ward are feeling like they don't know each other, I think one of the best things you can do is to give them the opportunity to serve. Let them loose themselves in serving others.
I have found especially for myself that when I am feeling depressed or tired the best thing to help is to go serve someone. I remember as a kid that we would take cookies out to people frequently. We often did this for our service family night. I always thought it was funny when my dad would ask, "so, who do you think needs cookies tonight?". My thought was always, "does anyone actually NEED cookies?". haha. Now I realize that it was not the cookies that they needed but everything that came with the cookies. The love that was shown, the thought that was put into it, the opportunity to show someone that we were thinking of them and loving them. That they weren't alone. That someone cared. So now my question to you is, "who do you know that needs cookies?".
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