Good afternoon sisters Are we ready
for Spring?
THOUGHT: “You
are those whom the Lord has selected to glorify Him in His presence,
and may the Lord bless you and fill you with His Spirit, and may your
eyes be clear to discern the things that pertain to your salvation.”
Lorenzo
Snow
Visit the blog to enjoy news and pictures of the new babies and
recipe from the bread making class.
m12rs.blogspot.com
BIRTHDAYS:
Feb
10th
– Pat. H; Feb 14th
- Nicole L.; Happy Birthday to you sisters.
Tiffany W – Lesson 3 from Lorenzo Snow manual “Lifelong
Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth.
I have passed out some quotes that are meaningful and give great
insight to the lesson.
“Our religion
should be incorporated within ourselves, a part of our being that
cannot be laid off.”
We will skip over From the Life of Lorenzo Snow until later on in the
lesson.
Gaining a
testimony is a good starting point for Latter-day Saints.
“The
foundation upon which we have placed our faith is grand and glorious.
I know this for myself. I have been in this Church but a short time
when I succeeded in securing the most perfect knowledge that there
was a God, that there was a Son, Jesus Christ, and that Joseph Smith
was acknowledged of God as His prophet. It was a knowledge that no
man could communicate. It came through a revelation from the
Almighty. That is a very good starting point for a Latter-day Saint,
and it is something that every person, who has any ambition at all to
advance in this path, will need at some time or other. He will come
into circumstances of such a nature that he will need strength, and
that strength will come from a knowledge of the fact that the path in
which he is traveling will lead him to the possession of his highest
and best desires.”
As I read this and think about where he says that gaining a testimony
is a very good starting point for a Latter-day Saint – why is a
testimony only a starting point—not a final destination?
Karen M: We are continually growing, but if our testimony is
not fed, it will go another direction. My mother was not active when
I was growing up until my dad joined the Church, but I relied on her
testimony as she taught me. When I told her that, she was surprised
and said. I came so close to losing it.
Marlene L: When we were in the Philippines, we visited the
less active who had not been to church for years. In their homes we
could find Book of Mormons on the shelf and they would express a
small testimony of Jesus Christ and the gospel, but they were acting
upon it. They didn't teach their children. Need to act upon what
they had.
Amy W: It's a spiritual gift from God given in accordance to
obedience, but like all spiritual gits, it can be taken away. I like
to use the analogy of love with my children. When you marry you feel
that you really love your spouse, but if you never did anything for
them, it is possible to stop loving them. It takes work. So it is
with a testimony, in order to retain it and have it grow, you must
work at it. The greatest thing is to have God as your partner. He
is the perfect partner to have as part of your testimony.
I love that. It leads right into the next point.
If we desire to
increase in our faith and spiritual knowledge, we must exert
ourselves.
Quote 1 – Holly B: “A man can get information by the
operations of the Holy Spirit, and he approaches to God and increases
in his faith in proportion as he is diligent.”
Pat J: By doing what we need to do.
How can our actions and habits change?
Amy S: By being consistent. By doing a little bit better and
not try to get it all done at once.
President Snow: “We should all strive to get a little nearer to
the Lord. It is necessary for us to advance a little and obtain a
full knowledge of those things which we should more fully understand.
It is the privilege of every Latter-day Saint.”
Try a little harder every day.
Karen M: When we nourish our bodies, we don't eat a huge meal
on Sunday and then eat nothing for the rest of the week. We can't
catch up on our reading, but we do a little bit every day.
Sally S: I try to teach that to my grandchildren. You have
to constantly keep nourishing. Be diligent. It's not a one time
thing.
Yes, it can be a challenge – reading the scriptures, prayers,
developing a relationship with Heavenly Father. We need to balance
that with our other responsibilities. Mosiah 4:27 And see that
all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not
requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And
again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he
might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.”
And Alma 38:10 “And now, as ye have begun to teach the word
even so I would that ye should continue to teach; and I would that ye
would be diligent and temperate in all things.
There is a sense of balance implied here. I looked up the definition
of esteem and it said “to value highly; to take delight in doing,
to consider.” It is more than just obedience. It takes effort to
be concerned with spiritual things.
Lynette: I have an inactive grandson and I have warned him
that the more he tries to do better, the harder Satan will work on
you. Satan is working on him. He lightened up when he realize that
Satan will interfere with his desire to change. He will challenge
us.
There are challenges all around us. We have to double our efforts.
Alisa: This is how mortality is. Go from order to disorder.
Before I was married I was told that all will try to pull you apart.
Satan is part of that, but it is mortality. We have to work because
we have weeds; everyday we have distraction. I have that with my
children and as I deal with them, I ask, why can't I feel the spirit.
OK. So I open my scriptures. It challenges me to get stronger.
On page 65, we have the principle of exerting ourselves to being more
diligent.
Quote 2 – Jennifer K. “So in regard to us, respecting
the things which we are undertaking. If we expect to improve, to
advance in the work immediately before us, and finally to obtain
possession of those gifts and glories, coming up to that condition of
exaltation we anticipate, we must take thought and reflect, we must
exert ourselves, and that too to the utmost of our ability>”
Any thoughts? What stands out to me is if I expect to improve, I
need to take the thought and exert myself. I love the personal
experience that the Lord had with Oliver Cowdery. Oliver wanted to
translate and the Lord promised him the gift to translate, but like
many of us today, he had misconceptions in regard to the exercise of
the gift. He thought all that was necessary for him to do, inasmuch
as this gift had been promised him of God, was to allow his mind to
wait in idleness without effort, until it should operate
spontaneously. But when those records were placed before him there
was no knowledge communicated, they still remained sealed, as it
were, for no power to translate came upon him.
Although the gift to translate had been conferred, he could not
prosecute the work, simply because he failed to exert himself before
God with the view of developing the gift within; and he became
greatly disappointed, and the Lord, in his goodness and mercy,
informed him of his mistake, using the following language--
“Behold, you
have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you
when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say
unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask
me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom
shall burn within you,”
We probably have had similar experiences. The answers do not come,
things didn't turn out the way I expected. Heavenly Father knows us
and he blesses us with gifts, but sometimes things do not work out as
we think it should. We need to have faith in the overall plans.
Even with our concerns, disappointments, we will move forward. The
Lord will bless us for trying.
Gloria L: My favorite scripture is “Trust in the Lord
with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
That scripture came as I dealt with my family. It is an
effective part of maturing. Society is pretty simple and we forget
how easy things are. It brings ourselves back to reality.
Jennifer C: We all yearn to have a strong testimony. We
constantly yearn for the spirit. It's not a hard concept. We learn
it, then it's the stage of apply it and then teach. You will
continue to grow and develop. There are a lot of distraction, my
children can be a distraction. But we are Goddess in the making.
Now we are mothers. There is a channel of light, of truth and n the
next stage of our lives, we will not be distracted. We wonder why we
don not feel this spirituality with our children. But now they need
me to teach them. Now I need to teach them.
How can we teach children to be diligent and exert themselves?
Karen M: I used to observe my friends and family to see how
they taught their children. We never stop teaching. We need to
point out everything that has to do with eternal life. Teach them
that everyday is a bout eternity to help them fortify their
testimony.
Holly B: From their parents. What parents put their time
on. Do they take time for Family Home Evening? May not always be
happy about doing it, or about reading the scriptures, but it's
important for us as parents that we show them.
I had the greatest dad and he left his children a great legacy. He
was really diligent in the gospel. He never took a vacation from his
scripture and prayers. When he was sick in his hospital bed, what he
wanted us to do was read the scriptures to him. Example does have an
effect.
Gayla: I want for my children to say their morning and
evening prayers, but I don't want to make a have to do thing and have
them mark when they did it. Maybe say to them, ' would you like me
to stay here while you say your prayers? My older children will say,
no, I can do it. But I hope that it will remind them to say them
even when I'm not there.
Holly B: It's about personal revelation for your child. How
do I do that? The spirit teaches.
This leads us to the cucumber in a barrel vs., pickle talk by Elder
Bednar. Lorenzo Snow: I will [present a] figure in regard to
bringing about and getting this spirit in us, and digging deep that
we in the time of storm, many not be driven off. Place a cucumber in
a barrel of vinegar and there is but little effect produced upon it
the first hour, nor in the first 12 hours. Examine it and and you
will find that the effect produced is merely upon the rind, for it
requires a longer time to pickle it. A person's being baptized into
this church has an effect upon him, but not the effect to pickle him
immediately. It does not establish the law of right and of duty in
him during the first 12 or 24 hours; he must remain in the church,
like the cucumber in the vinegar, until he becomes saturated with the
right spirit, until he becomes pickled in 'Mormonism,' in the law of
God; we have got to have those things incorporated in our systems.
Elder
Bednar in General Conference of April 2007 talked about the pickling
process and then he summarized it by saying:
As an adult I have reflected upon the
things I observed in our kitchen during canning season. This
morning I want to discuss some of the spiritual lessons we can
learn from the process by which a cucumber becomes a pickle. I
invite the Holy
Ghost to be with us as we consider the significance of
those lessons for me and for you as we come unto Christ
and are spiritually reborn.
To summarize, a cucumber becomes a pickle as it is
prepared and cleaned, immersed in and saturated with salt
brine, and sealed in a sterilized container. This procedure
requires time and cannot be hurried, and none of the essential
steps can be ignored or avoided.
“The spirit of prayer had departed, and the heavens
seemed like brass over my head. At length, realizing that the
usual time had come for secret prayer, I concluded I would not
forego my evening service, and as a matter of formality, knelt
as I was in the habit of doing and in my accustomed retired
place, but not feeling as I was wont to feel.
Read Elder Bednar's talk. A
great thought of how do I approach spiritual things.
Quote 3: Alison R: “We
ought to dig deep into the things of God, lay our foundation
upon the rock, until we come to that water which shall be in
us an everlasting fountain of eternal life.”
Quote 4: Rebecca W:
“There are men among us upon whom the Spirit of the
Almighty once rested mightily, whose intentions were once as
good and pure as those of angels, and who made covenants with
God that they would serve Him and keep His commandments under
every and all circumstances....But how is it now with some of
those Elders? They do not feel so to-day. Their affections
are set upon the things of this world which the Lord has
enabled them to acquired, that they wait now until they are
called, and in many instances when called, they obey more out
of a desire to retain their standing and position, than a real
heart-felt love of the labor to which they may have been
called.
President Snow had a marvelous
experience wanting to have a special manifestation of the Holy
Ghost.
“This manifestation did not
immediately follow my baptism, as I expected, “ he recalled.
“But, although the time was deferred, when I did receive it,
its realization was more perfect, tangible and miraculous than
even my strongest hopes had led me to anticipate. One day
while engaged in my studies, some two or three weeks after I
was baptized, I began to reflect upon the fact that I had not
obtained a knowledge of the truth of the work—that I had not
realized the fulfillment of the promise: 'He that doeth my will
shall know of the doctrine,' and I began to feel very uneasy.
“I laid aside my books, left
the house and wandered around through the fields under the
oppressive influence of a gloomy, disconsolate spirit, while
an indescribable cloud of darkness seemed to envelop me. I had
been accustomed, at the close of the day, to retire for secret
prayer to a grove, a short distance from my lodgings, but at
this time I felt no inclination to do so.
“I had no sooner opened my lips
in an effort to pray, than I heard a sound, just above my head,
like the rustling of silken robes, and immediately the Spirit
of God descended upon me, completely enveloping my whole
person, filling me from the crown of my head to the soles of my
feet, and O, the joy and happiness I felt! No language can
describe the instantaneous transition from a dense cloud of
mental and spiritual darkness into a refulgence of light and
knowledge, as it was at that time imparted to my understanding.
I then received a perfect knowledge that God lives, that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and of the restoration of the Holy
Priesthood, and the fulness of the gospel.
Why do we feel that we do not
want to pray. That we have the feeling that our prayers don't
reach to heaven. Then President Snow had that experience.
Amy S: Joseph Smith's
experience of the adversary is real. He wants to prevent than
need to push through.. We know rationally that he is there,
but don't feel close. The adversary is trying to hold us back.
President Snow continued to be
diligent in doing what he needed to do. He wanted a witness.
Heavenly Father knows us perfectly. He was able to receive
that for himself.
I hope that it all came together.
It offered us the opportunity to reflect and ponder about what
I can do more consistently.
We are working hard. The youth
are so prepared. Sometimes we don't recognize the progress
that we make. What we take away from the lesson is to continue
to nourish our testimony and then help others
Next week, our lesson will be #4
Strengthened by the Power of the Holy Ghost.
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