Marvelous Pigs in Satin

I was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting this Sunday. I was told I could speak on whatever I wanted, so I chose to share some experiences from my life that are foundational to my testimony of Jesus Christ.

Why should I keep the commandments?

When I was young, I often got painful ear-aches. My parents had a little rectangular heating pad, and when I had an ear-ache, I would lie down with my bad ear on that pad. The heat kind of helped reduce the pain in my ear. I remember one evening when I was ten or 11, lying with my ear on that heating pad and feeling miserable. Because I was feeling so miserable, my thoughts became miserable also.

I thought about how hard it was to be good all the time.  I thought, “I will spend my whole life working hard to keep the commandments and having no fun, and then I will die and go to heaven, and I’ll STILL have to keep the commandments!”  Suddenly, I felt that the commandments were like chains, holding me down forever.  Miserable tears trickled across my cheeks and dripped into my bad ear.

Why should I bother trying so hard to keep the commandments? What was all this effort worth?

And then I heard a voice, and the voice said, “Because Heavenly Father and Jesus love you, and they want you to be with them.” And just like that, the chained down feeling left me, and instead I felt intensely loved. The commandments are love, not restrictions!

From this point, the foundation of my testimony has been: I am loved, and keeping the commandments is worth it because my Heavenly Father and Mother and Jesus Christ love me, and they want me to be with them, and I want to be with them.

Is the Book of Mormon true?

As a teenager, I decided that I needed to pray and find out if the Book of Mormon was really true.  I thought it was true, but was that just me?  Did I just believe it because my parents had taught me when I was little? I didn’t know how to tell if what I thought and felt was the Holy Ghost or if I was just making it up in my head.  

I prayed and prayed and felt like I was not getting an answer. Maybe I was looking for some kind of miraculous event- my own first vision. Finally one day, I just had a thought, “You already know it is true.” I realized that I did not need the Holy Ghost to tell me the Book of Mormon was true. I knew it already, and that was enough.

Why should I stay in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

When I was in high school, I dated a boy who was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In fact, he was a member of one of those Christian churches that have Sunday classes on “Why Mormons are Wrong and Bad.” I thought that I loved this boy, and I thought that I would marry him. I knew that if I married him, I would never go to my church again. I thought about all the things I had learned in Primary and at home in Family Home Evening. It was going to be such a great black hole in my life to leave all of that behind. But I was going to sacrifice myself on the altar of (false) love. One day, my mother asked me, “You might be willing to leave the church for yourself, but what about your children? Do you want them to be born in a family that is sealed in the temple?”

I knew I wanted my children to grow up as I had, in a family sealed together. I wanted them to learn to sing “I am a Child of God” in primary, and to know that they had a Heavenly Mother and a Heavenly Father. I wanted them to have the Book of Mormon, so they could grow up with heroes like Nephi and Ammon and Captain Moroni.

I broke up with that boy. I am Rebecca, and I waited until I found my Isaac (who was actually named Benjamin.) My covenant husband who would help me raise children in righteousness.

True love always brings you closer to God.  

“The Church” is not some guys in suits in Salt Lake City making rules. The Church is all of us, working together to help each other walk with Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ. That is why you can’t really leave the church. You may think you have left, but you haven’t really left. You are still one of us, and we will always be here for you. The church is a forever family.

Why should I accept callings?

So as you know, my husband is a captain in the Army National Guard, but before he was in the Guard, I was in the Guard for 8 years, and my basic training was tougher than his! For one thing, it was back in the 1900’s. Everything was harder back then.

Well near the end of my basic training, we had a 15 km ruck march to complete. It was terribly hot, muggy Missouri weather, so we began the march at 8pm and rucked through the night. I was a platoon guide at that time, so I was in charge of a group of about 15 other basic trainees, and it was my job to make sure they all completed the march. We had on all our gear, canteen belts, heavy rucksacks (filled with gear we would not need just to make them heavy), helmets, and our rifles. We were lined up in single file, about 4 feet apart on the road, and we started marching.

15km is long enough, but I didn’t just march 15km, because I was a platoon guide. Rucking spread out like that is lonely, and in the night it was eerie and discouraging as well. I walked forward and backward along the line of the soldiers I was responsible for, making sure they were doing ok. Making sure they were drinking water. Encouraging them.

Sometime in the early hours of the morning, as we got out of the forest and into paved road and buildings, the drill sergeants took direct charge, formed us back up into platoons, and marched us in formation for the last portion of the ruck. Suddenly, I wasn’t responsible for anyone but myself anymore. With no-one to worry about except myself, I became acutely aware of how tired I was. My feet hurt so badly, they felt as wide as pancakes, and every step felt like I was stepping on nails. My hip was stinging and burning (when we got back to the barracks, I found that my canteen had rubbed a patch of skin raw during the march). I almost quit. I was sure that I could not go on. The first three-quarters of the march, I had been happy and energized as I encouraged and helped others. I did not notice my own pain or fatigue. The last one-quarter, I was miserable and suffering as I had only myself to focus on. That night, I learned that I was able to accomplish much more distance when I was focused on helping others than when I was only focused on myself.

I have found this is true as a parent, also.  I might not be willing to work on overcoming my sins and weaknesses just for myself, but I am willing to change so that my husband and my children have a better wife and mother.

In the General Handbook of the church, section 4.1 it reads:

Leaders encourage members to engage in God’s work by becoming true followers of Jesus Christ.  To do this, leaders first strive to be the Savior’s faithful disciples by following His teachings and example.  Then they can help others draw nearer to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  In the process of helping others, they become better disciples themselves.  Being a faithful disciple in order to help others become a faithful disciple is the purpose behind every calling in the Church.  Each calling includes opportunities to serve, lead, and strengthen others.

True love is costly. We are interconnected, and we have to be responsive to one another.  Without each other, none of us would be willing to do all the work necessary to become like Jesus Christ.  We need each other in order to become aware of our own weakness and lack of love.  We need each other to learn how to love in the true way.

How can I be forgiven of my sins?

One Sunday I had guard drill, so I was working, but my Commander let us go a little early, and as I drove home, I realized that if I stopped at the church, I could just catch the last bit of General Conference. I slipped into the back of the chapel, eager to be spiritually fed, happy to have not missed it all. Whoever it was that was speaking in that moment said, “the atonement is more personal than we realize.”

I turned that phrase over in my mind for many weeks, wondering what it could mean. Then one day as I was reading the Book of Mormon, a vision flashed through my mind. I saw a tree on a small hill, and under the tree, Jesus Christ was kneeling. He was praying, and he was bowed down by a great weight. I was in a line of people, an endless line, as if it contained everyone in the whole world, waiting to go to the hill. And then it was my turn. I stood alone before my Savior. He raised His eyes and looked on me. I do not remember what His face looked like, but I remember the emotions I saw there.

He saw me. He knew me. He understood me.

He loved me.

He agreed “yes, I will take her sins upon me.”

And then I saw him wince as the weight of my sins dropped down upon His shoulders.

and then I was no longer there- it was someone else’s turn.

In 1Nephi 21:16, Nephi writes the words of Isaiah: Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands…

When Jesus visited the children of Lehi after his resurrection, 

They heard a voice from heaven saying,

3Nephi 11: 7-12

7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the dwill of the Father in all things from the beginning.

12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.

They fell down in surprise and fear.  But Jesus spake to them, saying, 

3Nephi 11:14-17

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

16 And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:

17 Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.

They fell down again, but this time in worship and love because each of them had felt the nail prints in his hands, and really knew who He was, and I wonder as they looked at His wounds, did they each see their own name written there?

If Jesus invited you to dinner, would you go?

If you didn’t like some of the other guests He invited, would you still go?

Luke 24:35 he was known of them in breaking of bread.

John 21:12 12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine

You ARE invited. He is inviting you now. Will you come?

Today in Relief Society we discussed this talk from October 2022 General Conference: Building a Life Resistant to the Adversary. Elder Zeballos gave us an analogy from his experience as a civil engineer. While in the university, he looked forward to taking classes on how to design buildings that could be “Anti-seismic.” However, the professor of the class explained on the first day that no building can be anti-seismic, “because earthquakes will occur anyway, whether we like it or not… What I can teach you is how to design structures that are seismic-resistant, structures that can resist the forces coming from an earthquake, so that the structure remains standing without suffering serious damage and can then continue offering the service for which it had been conceived.”

Since this was to be a metaphor for our spiritual lives, I asked my sisters:

“What are the earthquakes that occur in our lives? What things happen that shake us, a little or a lot?”

We listed many, including: death, serious illness, divorce, abuse, having a gay child, loss of job/money problems, changes in church policies, unfairness/injustice, complexity of our lives and the world, family members leaving the church, internal conflict with pride/selfishness, and unmet expectations about how the church should be, how God should be, how life should be, or how we should be.

Elder Zeballos said, “The joy promised in the scriptures should not be understood to mean… that we will have no ‘cracks’ as consequences of temptations, of adversity, or from actual trials of our earth life.” I asked,

How does recognizing “earthquakes will occur anyway, whether we like it or not,” help us to be resistant to the adversary?

Here we had a discussion about THE PLAN OF SALVATION: how it began with Creation, how then there was a Fall, and finally an Atonement. Even though we like to pretend that we don’t have to experience the Fall, each of us lives this creation-fall-atonement story arc many times in our lives. Our children go through it. Our marriages go through it. We go through it. Happily for us, our doctrine embraces the Fall. We know that we could not stay in the Garden of Eden. Mankind had to Fall in order to move forward. But God so loved the word that He sent His Only Begotten Son. There was an Atonement made to help us overcome the Fall and return to God’s presence.

Our faith goes through this same path. We begin in the Garden of Eden phase. Everything is tidy, clean-cut, black and white. It seems strong, but it is actually fragile, because there are unexposed weaknesses. Then life happens, earthquakes happen. We are shaken. We have a crack or a broken window, or our roof collapses, perhaps the entire life feels in ruins. We enter the Fall. Here we realize everything isn’t tidy. Everything doesn’t match up. It is complex! It’s a mess! It is scary to be in the Fall. We can feel like we are off the path. It is hard to get our balance. Here is where it is important to remember that earthquakes will happen to everyone. Being in the Fall is part of being on the path. It is accounted for in THE PLAN. Within the Fall, we may wish for those good old days when everything was simple. We may be afraid to talk to others for fear of shaking their faith. we may become bitter and try to bring others to join us, or we may become apathetic. The important thing when we are in the Fall, is not to build our house there. It is not a great place to stay long term. We need to find hope and move forward. We may wish that we could go back to the garden, but it is impossible to go back.

Even though we know that the Fall is part of the path, its uncomfortable for us to be there or to acknowledge it. When are children or friends are there, we get even more uncomfortable, even afraid. We want to rush in and bear our testimony about how we overcame that particular earthquake, or tell them why we don’t think they should feel shaken in the first place. A fascinating thing happened during our Relief Society Lesson. When one sister brought up that changes in church policy have sometimes been an “earthquake” for her, immediately, 5-6 hands went up. It was obvious that most of us had struggled with this because almost everyone had a comment to make to share how they had mended this particular crack in their own foundation. I think it is good to share our experiences. I also think it is important that before we start trying to mend cracks in our spiritual houses, we need to acknowledge the extent of the damage. If we skip over this acknowledgement, whether due to fear, discomfort, or eagerness to share our own journey, we may alienate the loved one we are trying to help. We may miss the actual damage, placing a bandage over where we think the crack is, instead of where it actually is. We may apply a surface treatment, not realizing how deep the damage goes.

Elder Zeballos said, “The event of an earthquake leaves its mark even on structures that were correctly designed and built…” We need to acknowledge the cracks before we try to repair them. What has been shaken? How deep are the cracks? We need to put our arm around our friend (or our-self) and just listen for awhile. We need to acknowledge that the earthquake happened. That damage was done, and that it was scary and it hurt. Repairs cannot begin until the extent of the damage is known and acknowledged.

When we or someone we love experiences an earthquake, we need not be afraid. They are not doing something wrong because they have been shaken. Instead, we can celebrate the progress that has happened! This is part of THE PLAN! It is a necessary part of the journey. The important thing to remember is to keep progressing. As Jared Halverson says, “Don’t let a good faith crisis go to waste.” A good faith crisis will move you closer to God. We also need to be patient and be okay with letting them move slowly through the repair process.

We need to allow their repair process to look different from our own. I was once in a counseling group trying to process an event in my life that I needed to grieve over. Another woman in the class was very uncomfortable with my grief. She kept insisting that I should not be sad because of this and that. That I would not be sad once I realized, as she had, this other thing. But I was not ready for any of those things yet. First, I just needed to grieve the loss I had experienced. When I was ready, the Lord spoke to my heart the truths that healed my wounds. While a friend could be the way that the Lord speaks healing words to a wounded heart, always remember, that heart needs to be ready to heal- else the balm may not sink in.

Elder Zeballos said, ” ..because of the grace that reaches us through the Atonement of our Savior, we will be successful in constructing a life resistant to sin…” Through the power of Jesus Christ, by His Grace, our shaken life can be repaired. Our tumbled down house can be rebuilt. When we enter the Atonement stage, our faith is stronger than before. Instead of a foundation build on incorrect expectations, we have learned more about the nature of God and ourselves. We have moved from simple to complex, and on to simplicity beyond the complex. Our faith is now more firmly settled on Jesus Christ. We are more comfortable with not having everything easily explained. We realize that we don’t know everything yet, but our trust in Jesus Christ and his ability to give us beauty for ashes gives us hope and peace. We are much stronger here than we were in the beginning. What used to be a hidden weakness is now made strong in Christ.

Another great talk on Faith that is resistant to the adversary is “Love is not Blind: Faith and Ambiguity” by Bruce C Hafen

We also discussed “Beauty For Ashes: The Healing Path of Forgiveness” by sister Kristin M. Yee

Sister Yee reminds us, “the Savior–in an incomprehensible way– [took] upon Him our sins and the sins of those who have hurt or offended us. In Gethsemane and on the cross, He claimed these sins. He made a way for us to let go of a vengeful heart. That ‘way’ is through forgiving–which can be one of the most difficult things we ever do and one of the most divine things we ever experience.”

“I don’t want what is fair any more. I want to be like Jesus.” Bob Goff

Sister Yee spoke of her own path learning to forgive her father. I also love Sister Sheri Dew’s story of forgiveness and grace:

My father had many virtues. He served faithfully in the Church his entire life. I doubt he ever missed home teaching in 60 years, though his home teaching route was a 100-mile round-trip. My earliest testimony of priesthood power came from him. After his death, we heard story after story about his quiet generosity. And my father’s word was gold. But my dad had an Achilles’ heel—a temper he never conquered. We knew he loved us, but we often bore the brunt of his anger.

One afternoon a few days before he died, I was sitting at his bedside as he slept. Suddenly, I found myself asking the Lord to forgive him for years of angry outbursts. As I prayed, something unexplainable happened to me. In an instant, I felt decades of hurt simply fall away. The feeling was spiritual, but it was also tangible. I could remember his anger, but I couldn’t feel any of the pain. It was gone. It was “beauty for ashes” (Isa. 61:3). It was sweet.

That is grace. The amazing power of grace. No earthly remedy could have done for me what the Savior did in that moment. It was the redeeming power of Jesus Christ that prompted me to pray for my father and even gave me the words to say; and it was His healing power that healed a lifetime of wounds.

I really appreciated that Sister Yee warned us not to try to rush other people (or ourselves) on this journey of healing and forgiveness. She said, “The timing of that healing is individual, and we cannot judge another’s timing. It is important to allow ourselves the necessary time to heal and to be kind to ourselves in the process.”

S. Michael Wilcox shares a beautiful story about learning to forgive his father in episode 12, season 2, of the Follow Him Podcast. The story begins at time 59:20. I encourage you to listen to it. I attempted to tell it in class and did not do the story or it’s lessons full justice.

Sister Yee encouraged us. She said, “I know that our Father in Heaven desires goodness and hope for each of his children. In Jeremiah we read, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace.’ Jesus Christ is your personal Messiah, your loving Redeemer and Savior, who knows the pleadings of your heart. He desires your healing and happiness. He loves you. He weeps with you in your sorrows and rejoices to make you whole. May we take heart and take His loving hand that is ever extended as we walk in the healing path of forgiveness…”

You never know how much good you do.”
Now, my dear sisters, that is the way with you. You are doing the best you can, and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do. Then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord. You will discover that you have accomplished something beyond price. ~Gordon B Hinkley

Tonight at church someone read the words of Jesus, “will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be comforted, that I may heal you?”

And I felt those words pull on my heart, “be comforted that I may heal you.”

He loves us so much. He asks us to let go of hurt, let go of anger, let go of needing retribution, and let Him heal our hearts. I’m glad I was at church tonight.

Later, I read the passage, and the words are actually “be converted” but the Holy Spirit knew what I needed to hear. And now the words converted and comforted seem to have a shared meaning that adds richness to my understanding.

Take joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her!
Then will She come and often sing to thee
When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
It is a comely fashion to be glad—
Joy is the grace we say to God.
—J. Ingelow

When my husband asked me to speak in church a few weeks ago on the topic of “the relationship between Joy and Gratitude” my first thought was,

“He doesn’t know it, but I’ve been preparing for this talk all year!”

Every year as part of my new year’s resolutions, I choose a word as a focus for the year, and last December, I knew already that my word for 2019 needed to be “JOY.” I felt strongly that I needed to learn how to be joyful despite my circumstances—that I needed to learn how to return to joy.  On Dec 18, 2018, I wrote in my journal:

This morning I woke up at 4a.m. and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I made breakfast,  washed the dishes and had an hour to read my scriptures, all before 6a.m.  I read in Mosiah 3 where King Benjamin explains that the wicked have a guilt which causes them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery.  It struck me that if misery  is the place far from God, that joy is a closeness to God, and that the further I get from God, the more miserable I become.  I guess this is a “well duh” moment, but it seemed  so significant to me this morning that the answer to happiness—not just eternal happiness, but every day TODAY happiness—is to stay close to the Lord.

I had forgotten that flash of insight until this week when I looked back through my journal to find something else.

What is Joy?

Joy is a connection.

Joy is a child playing with a puppy or a kitten.

Joy is a new baby.

Joy means someone is glad to see me.

Joy is our response to Grace—the Greek word for grace translates as unmerited favor or unmerited specialness.  Just think—you are special to Jesus Christ without having to work for it.  You are special just because you are you.  (from Joy Starts Here,  E. James Wilder, et al.)

President Nelson says, “For Latter-Day saints, Jesus Christ is joy.”

Alma described to his son what happened to him when he called on the Savior in his darkest time (Alma 36:21) he said, “Oh what joy and what marvelous light I did behold; yea my soul was filled with joy.”

This is not a blog post about how being grateful will keep you from being sad.  We all experience sadness, discouragement, heartache, and pain in this life, and the thing we do not need is some well-meaning person guilt-tripping us that if we’d just “count our blessings,” we could be happy in a snappy.

Lehi tells us (2Nephi 2:23) that in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had “no joy, for they knew no misery” and did no good, “for they knew no sin.”  After Adam and Eve leave the garden and are taught the plan of redemption, Adam expresses his gratitude, saying (Moses 5:10-11), “Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy…” and Eve says, “Were it not for our transgression, we never should have known the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth to all the obedient.”

I don’t think gratitude pulls us out when we’ve fallen into a pit of despair. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is what rescues and redeems us from the pit.  I do think gratitude helps us stay out of the pit as much as possible.

Here is what I do know: it is not possible to be grateful and resentful at the same time.  It is not possible to be grateful and bitter at the same time.  It is not possible to be grateful and mean-spirited at the same time.

Sister Bonnie D Parkin taught

Luke chapter 17 records the experience of the Savior when He healed 10 lepers. As you recall, only one of the cleansed lepers returned to express his appreciation. Isn’t it  interesting that the Lord did not say, “Your gratitude has made you whole”? Instead, He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

The leper’s expression of gratitude was recognized by the Savior as an expression of his faith. As we pray and express gratitude to a loving but unseen Heavenly Father, we are also expressing our faith in Him. Gratitude is our sweet acknowledgment of the Lord’s hand in our lives; it is an expression of our faith.

One of my favorite talks by President Eyring is one where he tells about being inspired to keep a journal where he recorded each day how he had noticed the hand of God in his family’s life that day.  He said:

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I  was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us  that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what  He had done.  …  More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more  certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ.   And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.

Sister Parkin said:

Gratitude requires awareness and effort, not only to feel it but to express it. Frequently   we are oblivious to the Lord’s hand. We murmur, complain, resist, criticize; so often we are not grateful. In the Book of Mormon, we learn that those who murmur do not know “the dealings of that God who … created them.”³ The Lord counsels us not to murmur because it is then difficult for the Spirit to work with us.  Gratitude is a Spirit-filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God’s love. This  heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude  happiness and carries divine influence.

Joy is connection with God.  What creates that connection? Expressing gratitude!

About half-way through this year, I decided that I needed help to learn how to return to joy—Heavenly Father was sending me the messages, but I wasn’t doing very well at putting them together alone. So I started working with a really great counselor, and these are the things I’ve learned to do to make a place for joy in my heart.  All of them, it turns out, are rooted in gratitude:

1. I let go of worrying over something that wasn’t my responsibility and feel gratitude that someone else will take care of it.
2. I express appreciation and give compliments to my family (especially my husband) aloud, and not just in my head.
3. I have learned to watch for the encouragement and affirmation that God sends to me, often through the words and actions of others.

This week the verses in James 1:2-4 spoke to my heart:

Count it all joy when ye fall into many afflictions; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect (finished) work, that ye may be perfect (complete) wanting nothing.

Count it all joy!

In Luke 7 Jesus eats dinner with Simon, a Pharisee.  A woman comes in and washes the Savior’s feet with her tears and dries them with her hair.  Simon is offended—he thinks that if Jesus knew what this woman had done, he wouldn’t allow her to touch him.  Jesus tells Simon a parable about 2 debtors.  One owed 500 pence, and one 50 pence.  When neither could pay, the man frankly forgave them both.  Jesus asked Simon who would love the man most, and Simon answered, “he who was forgiven most.”  Simon didn’t understand the parable.  He didn’t understand that the two debtors were him and the woman.  Simon did not think he needed to repent of much, and thus he felt no gratitude or joy for the Savior.  But the woman who was forgiven much, her love and gratitude and joy overflowed.

President Nelson said:

Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God’s power into our lives. As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!

May you find more room for joy in your hearts in the coming year,

❤ Glowworm

This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24

And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto his holy name. Doctrine & Covenants 138:23-24