alma 10:11

Jan 10, 2016 by

I haven’t followed through on choosing a Ponderizing scripture the past few weeks, but this week I did and every time I read it, my heart filled with a cup of peace.

This verse is Amulek sharing his experiences with the prophet Alma with his community. He is trying to encourage them to listen to Alma’s message of peace and hope in Christ.

For behold, he hath blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake.

As I pondered this verse, I thought about the many blessings that have been poured out upon my family as we have followed the words of the prophets. We have been financially and spiritually blessed as we have paid tithing. We have children that love goodness and understand scripture. We have peace in our marriage. We have experienced miracles of healing as we have put our trust in the Lord. We are anxiously engaged in good causes which bring us great happiness. Truly the Lord has blessed us as we have tried to follow the teachings of the prophets, both ancient and modern. My heart wells up with gratitude just thinking about the magnitude of the care of the Lord.

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2 peter 1:2-9

Dec 8, 2015 by

This has long been one of my favorite scriptures…at least the verse about adding virtue to faith and knowledge to virtue. It is on the painting that hangs at the bottom of my stairs on the way into our school room. It is a daily reminder to me that faith must come first, then virtue, THEN knowledge. I grew up valuing knowledge above all else and my mind still craves information like an addict, so daily pondering the correct position of faith and virtue helps keep me grounded.

Last week I found this scripture when I was searching for verses about the promises of God and was pleasantly surprised when it was my same faith, virtue, knowledge scripture. I know God keeps His promises and I want to fill my heart and mind up with a whole pile of promise keeping scriptures that I can turn to at any moment I or a friend needs them.

Grace and peace multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virute; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindenss; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Becoming a partaker of the divine nature is such a beautiful thought to me…and He has promised that we can…that we will! My heart leaps with joy at the thought of being transformed by His grace into someone with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance (yes, even someone with temperance!), patience (can it be, that I could be patient?), godliness, brother kindness, and charity. I have no doubt that God is good enough and powerful enough to change me. I know He will do what He says He will do.

I love, love, LOVE Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. That book transformed my life. In the chapter “Counting the Cost” this idea is laid out powerfully.

I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said in the last chapter about Our Lord’s words, “Be ye perfect.” Some people seem to think this means “Unless you are perfect, I will not help you”; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant “The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.”

Let me explain. When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else.

I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie; if you gave them an inch they took an ell.

Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of (like masturbation or physical cowardice) or which is obviously spoiling daily life (like bad temper or drunkenness). Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.

That is why He warned people to “count the cost” before becoming Christians. “Make no mistake,” He says, “if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away.

But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect—until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.”

And yet—this is the other and equally important side of it— this Helper who will, in the long run, be satisfied with nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling effort you make tomorrow to do the simplest duty. As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said, “God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”

The practical upshot is this. On the one hand, God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures. Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection. On the other hand, you must realise from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, ca prevent Him from taking you to that goal.

That is what you are in for. And it is very important to realise that. If we do not, then we are very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point. I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not out it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone. As we say “I never expected to be a saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary chap.” And we imagine when we say this that we are being humble.

But this is the fatal mistake. Of course we never wanted, and never asked, to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us. He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture. How should we know what He means us to be like? You see, He has already made us something very different from what we were. Long ago, before we were born, when we were inside our mothers’ bodies, we passed through various stages.

Oh, how I love this! God’s whole purpose is to bring us back to Him as beings like Him. He will not do anything else. He will not work for any other goal or be deterred from this goal. His promises are sure and I can trust that as He is working in my life, it if for my happiness, my development, my overall good.

Oh, how I love the Lord Jesus!

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3 nephi 29:6

Dec 1, 2015 by

In my topical guide search for scriptures on healing, I came across this gem in 3 Nephi 29:6.

Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!

The God I believe in loves His children and is working among them as He always has, speaking to our hearts with the Holy Ghost, revealing truth, blessing us with healing, and so much more. Some may not believe those things are happening, but I see them on a regular basis in my life.

Last week I was given a (one of many I have received) priesthood blessing after an episode at church and the words spoken were so precious to my heart. I know Richard would never have said the words he uttered. They were straight from my Heavenly Father. I may or may not be healed from this connective tissue disorder in this life, but I know, without any doubt, that God is with me.

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jeremiah 17:7-8

Nov 24, 2015 by

I’ve long been a fan of the book of Jeremiah. It is full of prophecy, hope, and redemption. Our son, Fisher Eli, is named after the prophecy in chapter 16 about the latter-day gathering of Israel. This past week I searched my scriptures for verses on hope as I felt I needed a bit of hope added to my bucket. I read many verses and was buoyed up by the power and love of God, but when I read Jeremiah 17:7-8, I knew it was the one I needed to ponderize.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

This verse reminded me of the life-giving abundance of God. His water can grow things so strong, so fortified, that when the heat and drought comes, they still produce fruit.

Oh, how I need His living water so that I can remain steadfast and producing good fruit in the midst of drought.

My hope is God. I love Him. I trust Him. I am learning to completely depend on Him.

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matthew 10:28

Nov 8, 2015 by

A few years ago when I was dealing with the lump in my breast a dear friend wrote this scripture, Matthew 10:28 down for me.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

It has stuck in my head ever since and helped me to realize that staying alive is not the most important thing (even though it is SUPER important to me to stay alive and raise my babies and lavish nurturing, snuggles, and read alouds on my future grandchildren). Loving God, loving His children, keeping covenants, and becoming like Him are the most important things.

A few years ago, I heard a talk about prayer and the somewhat rote prayers we sometimes say at the end of meetings to “bless us to get home safely.” The speaker talked about how that is a nice sentiment and physical safety is important, but that we need to understand its place in our lives. He told us that we need to be far more concerned about our spiritual safety than our physical safety. Instantly this scripture came to my mind and I decided to focus more on developing spiritually than on merely staying alive.

Since this whole connective tissue blessing/nightmare started, I have been praying to come through it with more faith, more love, more kindness, more patience, more acceptance, and more gratitude and not more bitterness, more flippancy, or more hardness. The reality is, this could kill me. I don’t think it is going to, but it could. People with EDS do die of it. The collagen in their blood vessels finally cannot stay firm enough to effectively transport blood and oxygen and they die. Or their nervous system shuts down. Or they fall and get injured so badly that they wither away in bed. It happens. I don’t at all think that I am that serious of a case, but in the midst of really hard weeks, it does cross my mind, and then this scripture comes to me and I remember that my focus needs to be on becoming like Christ. I am doing all I can to be healthy and strong, but that needs to be my secondary focus. My first focus must be giving God my heart and trusting Him to walk with me and help me become like Him.

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alma 5:14

Oct 25, 2015 by

No news on the MRI front yet. The images did not turn out well and we will most likely have to go through the process again to get some clearer images.

My ponderizing scripture for the week was Alma 5:14 which says:

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change of heart?

More specifically, I repeated this phrase in my mind all week long. “Have you received His image in your countenance? Does the light of Christ shine in your eyes?” Which is from a song by Janice Kapp Perry.

I SO want my countenance to reflect my Savior’s light and goodness. I want His kindness and gentleness to become so much a part of me that that is what comes out of me in times of stress or when I am caught off guard. I want my children to come to know Christ by the love they see in my eyes.

And yet, I get exasperated. I lose my patience. I have anger in my eyes and in my voice. This week has been one of deep pondering of my Savior’s character. I have been reading Elder Bednar’s book, Act In Doctrine, and been thinking about myself and what I want my character to be. It is hard. Really hard to take a deep look at my flaws and see how far I have to go. At the same time, it is lightening to know just how powerful my Savior is at working a mighty change of heart in those who are desirous to change. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity the following.

Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.

That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost’ before becoming Christians. ‘Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.’

Oh, how I love that thought. My Savior will not help me become anything different than what He is.

As He teaches me and lifts me and cleanses me, I am ever so slowly becoming a kinder, gentler, more loving person. It is a journey worth taking, no matter how far the distance. And so, I will keep singing those words to remind myself to strive to become more like Him.

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hebrews 2:13

Oct 19, 2015 by

This past week I ponderized Hebrews 2:13. We studied the book of Hebrews in Sunday School last week and I fell head over heels in love with it. What a treasure trove! Of course, I have read it before, but this time through, my soul was hungry for its plain answers and powerful testifying of Christ and His mission.

And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

I have trusted in God. Many times. And yet, I need to keep trusting. Again and again and again, I need to make the choice to trust Him fully. There are so many times I do not trust Him. So many times I lean unto my own understanding and rely on my own strength and allow fears and worries to kick out the peace of God.

We are facing some pretty big things right now and it is hard to stay in a place of trust. But I am actively trying. Every day, I am taking a few minutes in the morning to let Him speak to me and reassure me that I am in His keeping.

The greatest desire of my heart is that my children will trust God, that they will turn to Him and trust Him with their whole hearts. This week, my mind has more fully realized that I must model God’s love for them. Teaching and showing them how we trust Him needs to more evident in our daily lives.

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d&c 76:24

Oct 12, 2015 by

Last week at the General Conference of our church we were issued the invitation to ponder and memorize a verse of scripture every week. Elder Durrant that issued the challenge, called this ponderizing. I used to do this when my children were younger, but we have gotten out of the habit the last several years and this was a great reminder to me to get back in the habit.

My scripture for this past week has been Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.

That by Him, and through Him, and of Him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters of God.

I am so grateful to live in a world created for me by my Savior, the person whose sole mission it is to redeem me, bring me happiness deep in my soul, and teach me to love as He loves. I am so grateful to know I am a child of God. It makes all the difference in my life to know I am His. Back in July, I wrote a post about the things I know, the things that have transformed my life and given me peace. I reread that post this morning and nothing I say today will say it better than what I said then, so I will let those thoughts be my message for today.

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