Stronger Through Him

https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3Dt0PBIhHSnz1DL-aifJJ9D0Xw6p9f5hZHwDHCBv-JLZ-BVnoMiI1iShg&v=9sE5kEnitqE&feature=youtu.be&mibextid=Zxz2cZ  Music often speaks to me.  It calms, encourages, or fills me with joy. But every once in awhile I hear a song that I can feel in both melody and lyrics to the bottom of my soul.   Over the last month I've listened to this song so many times.   And each time it makes me close my eyes and feel the message and my heart says, "Amen! Yes that is truth!" Her voice is so rich and beautiful! Her smile lights up the room.  And her words become mine.   I have indeed been blessed by His Goodness.   I have lived in Heaven's love.   And I fully believe that His Goodness does come running after us.   Our Heavenly Parents WANT to bless us.  They are telling us how to get those blessings, guiding us away from pitfalls and preparing great things for us.  The 23rd Psalm is one of the best known.  It promises that even when things a

  A close friend shared this with me today.   "Heartbreak and hope are not mutually exclusive. We can be angry and sad and filled with longing for something we cannot have, and simultaneously we can be grateful for what we've got - aware, for reasons we'd never choose, of what really matters and what doesn't." It's the anniversary of her pregnancy loss.  And she feels a deep sadness, rightfully so.  It's an experience so many prospective parents have suffered.   And it's okay to have hope without saying everything is great, or to deny the very real loss.  That's the purpose of hope. To overcome that loss and have things made right in the end by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It's okay to be grateful and still wish things were different.  Whether it be in health, employment, relationships or other loss and difficulty.   My friend can be grateful for the time she had feeling her baby grow inside of her and still wish that she had kno

  I specifically remember the day of my oldest two children's 5th grade graduation.  It meant the end of their little cohort going through school together.  The end of their time at their elementary where I personally knew all the teachers and was an active part of the PTO.   I also recognized that was the end of that phase of childhood.  And I was right.  Things would change.   I would miss the story times and knowing they were just down the block.  Thirty second showers when we would have to send them back again.  The years of losing teeth and daily discovery about the world around them.  Knock-knock jokes and tickles.  Climbing off the bus and running to the door.  I would miss me being at the center of their worlds.   But I would shift to being at the crossroads of their days. There would also be more independence.  More deep friendships.  More of them making choices and less of me. But I knew that getting too hung up on the past could make me miss the "now&q

  Collosians Chapter 2: 6As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Thanksgiving is a principle of God.  To abound with thanksgiving means WE are overflowing with gratitude for what we do have, not that we are overflowing with material things, which is the tradition of men.   It means recognizing the source of all blessings as our Heavenly Parents and Savior.   It means pausing and recognizing each new day, each new breath, each friend, act of kindness, the miracles of creation around us and the peace that comes from eternal views. It also means recognizing the opportunities for growth and strength that come from adversity and the miracle of forgiveness that can bring healing to

 He knows. Those were the words that finally came to my mind this week. I've been reading, teaching and rereading Jonah Chapter 2 over and over again. So much imagery.   "I cried by reason of my affliction and he heard me". He heard and yet still Jonah had to finish his stay in the whale's belly.  He wasn't done learning but God heard and He knew.  When we cry out and plead because of our afflictions he hears.  It doesn't say he cried out but then realized Job or Moses had bigger challenges.  He cried out because of HIS afflictions.  And was heard. "out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."   From the deepest darkest place, even after Jonah had tried to run from God.  Even after he had tried to flee and hide, when he hit bottom and called out, God heard and answered.  He knew.  "and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me." It was hard.  Terribly hard.  And Jonah felt like he was drow

  It was one of those days...in the midst of one of those weeks. Two close friends are going through really hard personal things.  Two others  are going through cancer.  And there is a weariness that comes from helping carry that burden.   My manageable lupus was feeling very unmanageable.   And the personal events others had gone through were triggering some negative thoughts that I let cascade into raging thoughts of failure and discouragement. Why was I still struggling with the same things?  And then, even though I could rationally see I wasn't being rational, I still spiraled.  I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Some things were dumb.  I made waffles for Ella and her friends and left the last one in the waffle iron for 45 minutes.  Yeah.  Black and gross. So naturally I surmised that I am the very worst cook ever. I sent an email to a coworker that was pretty snippy on Friday night and woke up Saturday morning incredibly grateful that she said it se

  A group of teenage boys was gathered together at one of their houses and laughing together headed off into the woods at the rear of the property. As they stepped into the woods, one of the boys reminded them that hunting season had just opened and it wasn't wise to head into the woods. The other boys shrugged off his warning and continued on their way. A short distance later, a hunter came running up to them and with anger in his voice exclaimed, "What were you thinking crashing through the brush like this?!!! I thought you were a deer and could have shot you." The boys had been warned by a wise friend and had carelessly shrugged off the alarm, drawn by the allure of the forest.  They had heedlessly walked into danger and were lucky to have escaped unharmed.  Amos 3:7 reminds, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets." The prophets see things we don't.  They are the wise friend, offering counsel that wil

  Satan is a liar.  And he laughs about that and at us.  "And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced. (Moses 7:26)." I've been thinking about that a lot lately.   He laughs and he lies.  Specifically in Moses it says when we don't show love to one another, but contend and find reasons to hate.   One of the best ways I have found to combat those lies is to identify them and name them.  At school we have a student who when he gets upset flies quickly into a rage and will cover his face and say repeatedly "I'm just a piece of #%|<<."   It's what he has heard hundreds of times growing up.  Those who said it to him mostly likely learned it from someone else shouting it at them. No wonder Heavenly Father weeps. When he was calm we said, "I'm sorry they told you that lie.  It's simply not true.  Y

  I told my seminary students that today we would be reading the greatest love story ever. We turned to Hosea and read of the good man he was and that he married Gomer and had a child. But then she was unfaithful and had two children that he hadn't fathered.   She had traded her body for worldly goods. She eventually ends up in prison.   I asked them what they would have done in that situation. Divorce.  Fight back.  Ignore her and leave her in prison. Maybe it would depend on the situation.  Then we read of Hosea paying her fines and for her freedom and adopting her children.  He loves her deeply. They decided that was nice,  but didn't feel realistic. Then I shared that it was a parable. That Christ is the husband and we are the wife.   And they understood.   We break our covenants, we get ourselves imprisoned when we focus on the wrong things. We covet, we let Him down, we mess up.   And still our Savior steps in.  He paid the debt, and nothing can

 My friend Carla loves the outdoors and learns and connects there as well as anyone I've ever met. She had offered up an invitation to join her at a group meeting for some spiritual reflection and time in nature and I accepted and met her there.   It was a beautiful November night in the 60s and the final remnants of autumn still clung to the trees giving us a last breath of fading color. We sang a hymn and participated in a grounding exercise and then headed out on 30 minute walks with an invitation to be open to Ruach Elohim, Hebrew for the Spirit of God - the wind, the breath, the Spirit.   As we walked in companionable conversation through the county park, I suddenly saw a young boy waving frantically.  I recognized a  student from our school, there with his mom and brother.  Their family has been through one upheaval after another and I was able to take a moment and encourage this momma trying to create a memory with her boys but finding the details nothing at all like she had

  Lord, thank you for the gift of children; those born and raised in my family and those who I have the privilege of knowing and loving in other paths.  May I always remember to find the joy in their existence and the love and patience to reflect your love.  Several years ago my daughter, Alex, was sitting in a college and preparedness high school class in which they were all to share their career aspirations.   Considering that more than 80% of college students change their majors during college, the seriousness of the discussion was a bit laughable.   Only then it wasn't laughable at all.  When she spoke up that she wanted to be a mother, in addition to going to school, she was openly mocked by even her friends. "You could help cure cancer and instead you are going to overburden the world population?" "What a waste.  Why would you want to be stuck taking care of some kids?" She came home disappointed in the views she had heard.  Isn't it