Faith and The Power of Choice

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This morning I was reading the story of Enos, who goes out in the wilderness and thinks about the things his father had taught him about Christ.  As he pondered he decided he really, really wanted to know God, and to be pure before Him.  So he prayed, and prayed, and prayed -- for hours and hours.  He did not give up.  He poured out his whole soul to God.  He told God everything.  And finally Enos hears God's voice telling him he's forgiven and will be blessed and He knows God doesn't lie.  Then Enos asks an important question.  "Lord, how it is done?"  How is he forgiven?  Enos is told that it is "Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen."  He is told that "Thy faith hath made thee whole"  (Enos vs. 8)

This line struck me differently this morning than it has before.  It doesn't say Enos is made whole through Christ's Atonement, which would be true.  It says it is because of Enos' faith in Christ.  Enos chose to believe in Christ.  God gave us agency, but I think we don't often realize what power there is in agency.  If we read the scriptures we can read about God's love for us, but we have to choose to believe it.  He will not make us believe it.  He will send us tender mercies, but He won't make us recognize them as tender mercies.  He can point out that His voice speaks truth, and that we should believe His voice above anyone else, but He will not make us believe that voice.  He will tell us He listens to us, but we actually have to choose to believe He does.

We are told that miracles come after faith.  After we choose to believe God's love for us, we can have the miracle of beginning to see it.  If we choose to believe He sends us tender mercies every day, and we look for them, the little miracles in our days will become more evident.  We can read His words that guide our life, but until we choose to believe them above anyone else, and to find our answers in them, we will not have the miracle of courage that we need to act on those things.  We can pray, and feel like our prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back at us and still choose to believe that He is listening, and that He hears.  We can pray with our prayers feeling that way for a long time, but I know from experience that if we do not give up, in time He will provide the miracle that lets us knows He hears.

When we choose to have faith in Christ, who we have not seen or heard, then like Enos we will eventually understand that it is our faith in Christ that made us whole.

***Picture by Robert T. Barrett used by permission from churchofjesuschrist.org

Warrior of Light

Aren't I a scary warrior?  Ha ha ha ha!
I decided not to try to look fierce.  I'm bad at it.

Scary Sherie (not!)

I was trying to imagine myself as a warrior in the usual sense the other day.  I mean -- I own a sword!  But it is a very light wooden sword used to practice Tai Chi.  I don't really have enough muscles to do any fighting.  I'd probably lose an arm wrestle with almost anyone, and I hate conflict anyway so I might be inclined to duck my head, close my eyes tight, cover my ears and hope any conflict stops soon!

Why was I trying to imagine myself a warrior?  Because I have a book about being a Prayer Warrior.  Someone who takes the time to talk to God, to acknowledge his power, to be grateful for His gifts, to repent of sins, and to ask for help for others as well as self -- expecting that miracles will happen if the requests align with His will.  A prayer warrior takes time to study out what His will would be too, so that the prayers are more effective.
I can be a prayer warrior.  And so can you.  And if that's all we can do for good, we will have accomplished a great deal.  But is there something else we can do?

I believe that we can be Warriors of Light.  The Lord is my light, and as I do and say things that He would do and say, and stand up for Him and His teachings, then I am being a Warrior for Christ -- which is a Warrior of Light.  I like the idea of practicing being this kind of warrior.  The more I practice, the more His light can shine through me, and where light is, darkness cannot stay!

*The book on being a prayer warrior is called The Battle Plan for Prayer by Stephen and Alex Kendrick

A Prayerful Pause

Some days are hard for no reason at all.  Or at least no reason that I think is good enough.  And on some of these days I remember to pause, and to pray.  This doesn't always work.  Not because God isn't listening, but because I'm too busy letting myself be overwhelmed by my feelings.  I am feeling sorry for myself, or feeling unsure of what is best to do, and really just feeling so many things at once that I fail to stop, and really think of who I am talking to, how much He loves me, and how powerful He is.

Today, I remembered to stop, kneel down, and imagine myself going to talk to Heavenly Father.  Today I imagined myself crawling into heaven crying and begging Heavenly Father to just let my Savior hold me for a minute and tell me everything will be alright.  And I imagined Jesus doing just that.  And then, almost immediately, I knew that I was okay.  I remembered that it isn't my job to save the world.  That job has been taken care of.  I remembered that my Father in Heaven loves me and that He is never tired, or unsure.  I do not have to have the solutions because I know God, and when I come crawling, or running, or even just searching for Him, He is there waiting to help.

So, when my over the top feelings want to drown me, I am thankful that I can take a prayerful pause, and though I might begin by going to visit in my imagination, I get very real help from the Father who really did send Jesus to save me.

*Photo by Christian Widell on Unsplash

Praying and Working For The Success of Others

This morning I was reading in The Five Thieves of Happiness about a girl who was trying out for a sports team and asked the coach how another player was better than her.  The coach told her to not worry about anyone else, but to focus on being the best she could be.  On hearing this the girl realized that she did not want to make the team because someone else didn't do well.  She wanted to make the team because she did well herself.  Not only did she realize this, but she realized that it would be happier, and better to encourage others to succeed.

She started praying for individuals to succeed in the things they were trying to do, and even paid to allow a person to try out for the position she played because she felt they were better than her, but they couldn't afford to play otherwise.  In the end she found that she actually played better when she was not focused on how she compared to others, but on doing her best, and on encouraging those around her.

I like this story.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparison even though we would all be better off praying and working for the success of others, while at the same time trying to do our best at the things we do.

*Photo by Rachel Barkdoll on Unsplash

Hiding

A closet -- but not the one my Dad built for me.

Last night I was remembering a time when I was somewhere between the age of eight and 11 when my family lived in Kentucky.  My Dad had built me a room in the basement -- right at the bottom of the stairs.  In my room he built me a fabulous closet.  It was a walk in closet with very sturdy shelves, and it was my very favorite place to go when I felt like hiding.  I would climb up those shelves and sit at the very top and just listen.  I liked that nobody ever found me until I wanted to be found, but that I could hear them looking.  I liked being up high looking at things from a different perspective, and I liked the break from dealing with whatever seemed hard for me at the time.

Over the years I have often hidden when I feel overwhelmed.  Sometimes I hide and pray.  Sometimes I hide and listen to people looking for me.  Other times I hide hoping that I can find a different perspective, or at least the energy to deal with whatever it is that seems hard at the time.  Hiding in this way has sometimes been a good thing like hiding in my closet was when I was a child.  Other times it has just been me avoiding dealing with a problem.  It has been me wishing that the hard things would fix themselves.  It is me feeling inadequate, and just not knowing what to do, and being afraid to try.  I have hidden instead of asking for the help I really want.  I have often convinced myself that hiding when I am having a hard time is doing everyone else a favor.

Hiding is a way of coping, and I do not think it is always bad, but there are cases when it is just pride.  It is not wanting to admit that I need help and can't do everything by myself.  It is me trying to hide my imperfections as if everyone doesn't already know that I am imperfect.  Sometimes hiding is as foolish as trying to hide sins from God.  He knows about the sins, and wants to help, but can't help until we come out of hiding and let Him.  When there are problems to solve, and challenges I don't know how to deal with, hiding in the closet is really not often going to be the quickest way to a solution.  It's okay to hide and pray, and take a small break, but then it is time to come out of hiding and get help.

*Photo by Jose Soriano on Unsplash

Easter Week: Thursday -- Jesus Prays For Me

A lot of things happened on the Thursday of the original Easter week, but today I want to focus on the fact that Jesus prayed for me twice that day.

The first time was when He gave what is called "the great intercessory prayer" recorded in St. John chapter 17.  Why do I say He was praying for me?  In verse 20 He says He doesn't pray for His apostles only but for "them also which shall believe on me through their word".  I have not seen Jesus like those original apostles have, but I believe they saw Him, and I believe their teaching and testimony that Jesus is the Son of God.  One thing He prays for is that the love the Father has for Him will be upon me.  I feel His love as I picture Him praying for me.

The second time He prayed for me was in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, and began His atonement for my sins, and my suffering, and my sorrow.  I love Isaiah Chapter 53 -- especially verse 5.  "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

I love that He prayed for me, and was willing to go through such pain for me.  Today I will pray with gratitude for Him.

*Image used with permission from churchofJesusChrist.org

As A Human .... Dealing With Problems and Challenges

Used with permission from churchofjesuschrist.org

As a human, I often want everybody's problems to be solved quickly, especially those that I can see, and feel, including mine and my family's.  I'm sure I often just pray that they will go away -- and we will all feel good and happy.  It is normal to just want to feel better, to be better, and to not have to deal with hard things.

Once, when I was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, and like life was really, really hard, I was given the counsel that some challenges and problems just take time.  That is true.  Unfortunately I often have in my mind exactly how long something "should" take to heal from, or to solve, and I get frustrated when that time comes and goes with very little progress seeming to have happened!

As a human, I need to remember that problems and challenges are the rule, and that I can allow them to break me, or I can learn and gain strength from dealing with them.  Instead of praying for problems and challenges to go away, it would serve me better to pray for courage, strength, and direction, and the ability to accept help from others if it is needed.  It is important that at all times I allow Christ to walk with me so that my burden can be light.

A Way To NOT Improve Prayers

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

The other day after praying I said, in what must have been a discouraged voice, "and everything I forgot".  Dan said, "Mom, it was a good prayer". 
I have tried to get rid of the non-helpful method of criticizing myself to spark improvement.  This method not only doesn't work, it sends me into fits of depression. 

I have been studying, and working on improving my prayers, but Dan's comment helped me realize that I had fallen into the old pattern. I was looking for what I did "wrong" somehow thinking that would help me to improve.  It didn't.  In fact, it was starting to make me dread praying!

I realized that day that it would be better if I noticed every good thing about my prayers. Everything that worked.  Everything I did remember.  I could hold on to those things, and maybe, slowly, the things that I forget would be remembered, and the inspiration I want would come.  In fact, a day after this realization, I went to say my morning prayer, and was prompted to changed something I usually say to something similar that felt more grateful, and worshipful, and to ask for something more useful.  This gave me hope for the improvement that I had been hoping for.

Looking for what I was doing wrong, instead of improving what I was doing right, was NOT a way to improve my prayers!

"God Delights In Spending Time With You"

This is my favorite quote from the introduction to my "devotional planner".  I have pondered this, and really enjoy thinking of prayer time as spending time with my Heavenly Father.  Sometimes, when I am tired and sitting in my room, I have thought, "I am just going to close my eyes, and spend some time with Heavenly Father."

This can mean that I am still, and try to feel God's love, peace, and reassurance.  Sometimes this means that I take the time to visualize the beautiful world He created for us to live on, and the things that I love about it. Other times I may think of all of the people I am blessed to know.  Surely Heavenly Father put them all in my life for me to love, and I am so thankful for the love I receive in return!

I like that one little sentence gave me a different perspective, and helped me to remember that Heavenly Father wants me to talk to Him, to think of Him, to learn from Him, and to be grateful for Him.  I am His child and He is interested in me, and in what I think and do.  He delights in spending time with me, and with you.