"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 storms 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." -Helaman 5:12
This scripture has always been a favorite of mine. I believe 1000% that if we have a strong foundation, if we rely on and look to Christ, and if we stay strong in the gospel... we will not fall! It doesn't mean that we won't have trials and be tempted if we are doing everything we should... those things are just a part of life. But having a strong foundation will make those things a heck of a whole lot easier :) We do not have to be strong on our own. We are not put on this earth to get through things alone. We simply are just not alone. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ who loves us and cares for us. We also have a merciful and loving Father in Heaven who is with us always. He wants us to succeed! We also have many many others such as: family members, friends, YW/YM leaders, church leaders, the bishop, the prophet and apostles, etc. who love us and are cheering us on as well. We even have others beyond the veil watching over us. With this great of a support system and the gospel, The devil "shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo..." We have a body of flesh and bones, the devil does not. We who are embodied have power over the UNembodied. He CAN NOT tempt us and he CAN NOT discourage us unless we let him. We have power over him, simple as that! Since these Motivation Mondays are meant to be short and sweet, I will just end with a couple quotes (of course:)) "No one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying." -Jeffrey R. Holland "We can do hard things." -Elaine S. Dalton "All men have fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well." -Thomas S. Monson "I've had to evict some thoughts a hundred times before they would stay out. I have never been successful until I have put something edifying in their place." - Boyd K. Packer I hope you guys have a great Monday and a great week! <3 Ness
0 Comments
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Imagine if all of these things were crammed into the greatest gift given to us... Well guess what? It is! I'll give ya a hint: You received this gift when you were baptized and confirmed. Ding Ding! You guessed it. The Holy Ghost. Good job guys, you're so smart. ;) haha but really, this gift should be treasured and something that we always hold on to and cherish. The Holy Ghost has been a huge blessing in my life, I always want to strive to be worthy of having it with me.
I remember one Young Women's lesson where us girls were handed a cute little mini cardboard box. It had a tag tied to it titled, "The greatest gift". We were invited to open it up and as we did we saw that there was nothing in it. Not a single thing. This box represented the Spirit or The Holy Ghost. This special gift is not tangible, nor is it something we can hold and play with. Yet, it is priceless. I also remember another lesson where we discussed ways that we can "Filter out the static of Satan" or ways that we can invite the spirit into our lives. Here are the 9 ways! 1. Sincerely and humbly pray. 2. Act promptly on spiritual impressions. K, hold up. All of these that I'll name are super important but this one stands out to me the most. I remember times that I have actually done this and acted on promptings, and other times where I haven't and I have definitely regretted it. I'll share one of those times... It happened actually this past Friday! Me and my 19 yr old brother Enrique went to the Provo Town Center Mall to just walk around and return some things. He was taking forever so I just sat by myself waiting for him on a bench. It was later in the day so it wasn't very busy and there weren't very many people walking around. A few would pass by me here and there. As usual, I was just scrolling through my phone when I looked up to my left and saw this older guy walking slowly down this walkway towards where I was sitting. I didn't think much of it until he got closer and kept staring my way. Eventually he was only a few feet away from me aimlessly pacing back and fourth super sketchily (if that's even a word ;)) he wasn't carrying any shopping bags or anything with him. Just empty handed. The longer he paced and stared the more uneasy and uncomfortable I felt. At this point, I just did not have a good feeling. Something wasn't right. I quickly said just a short prayer in my mind to keep me safe and know how to handle this situation... There was an escalator just a couple feet away to my left and I felt I should get up and head down it away from him. And so I stood up to do so but then I hesitated. At this point the guy slowly began walking away and heading towards the "exit" door. That was definitely a blessing but I do regret not fully leaving. I'll never know what this guy was up to but I can't deny the horrible feeling I felt. Looking back, I should've went completely down the escalator. But who knows, I could've been followed. Everything happens for a reason and I believe I was totally being watched over. So basically, listen to the spirit and always be open to act upon the promptings quickly :) 3. Search the scriptures daily. 4. Live the law of the fast. 5. Be worthy and worship in the temple. 6. "Trifle not with sacred things." 7. Be prepared to move forward in faith. 8. Let the Lord decide details of what and when he chooses to reveal. and last but not least 9. Heed prophetic warnings. To end I just wanna share a quote by Linda K. Burton. She says, "One of the best blessings we can receive as we learn to hear the voice of the Spirit is the ability to see ourselves as we are seen by our Father in Heaven, and, 'slowly by slowly, small by small,' become our very best selves." Hope all you lovelies are having a fab Sunday! Much love, Ness. As I was reading my scriptures during sacrament meeting while I was waiting for the water to be passed to my row, I came across Jacob 3:1 it says "But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction." After reading this I thought of a quote by Thomas S. Monson, Life is tough. I mean, it is just downright hard sometimes. We may feel stuck at times and feel like there is no way out of this dark hole of trials/challenges that we are in. But there is a way up and there is a way out... it is through prayer. I think we sometimes forget just how powerful prayer is. Prayer is our literal way of communication with our dear Father in Heaven. He hears them. I can testify to you with my whole heart and being that He does indeed hear your prayers. Every single one. It does not matter if your prayers are clumsy or if you're sobbing so hard that you can't muster a single word out... He understands your heart and He understands your pain. Prayer for me has always been my lifeline. It is my go-to. It is my comfort, peace, strength, light, and hope. It is all of these things because I know without a doubt that I have a Father in Heaven who is listening on the other end. Now, prayer isn't always a ask-for-it-and-get-what-you-want type of thing. I have had to suck up my pride and learn that for myself. During the darkest times of my deep depression, people would always tell me "Be patient". Nothing would frustrate me more than hearing that phrase. I would cry out in prayer pleading and practically begging to my Heavenly Father saying, "I have been patient long enough! You don't understand. I can not handle this any longer. I just can't." Little did I know at the time that patience was the biggest lesson I needed to learn and that God did understand. Just like our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson says that He won't always take our afflictions from us, but he will comfort us. And that is exactly what prayer is: a comfort and a lifeline! I hope you all have just a fantastic blessed Sabbath. Ness <3
|
Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
Ponderize Of The Week:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." - James 1:5-6 Quote Of The Week:
"Give it to God and go to sleep." - Unknown |