A "New" Year

Sitting in my motel room in Billings this morning I missed the first day of Seminary.  I no longer teach but my heart is sure there.  There is much that I don’t miss about Seminary…mostly the early mornings and the incredible amount of hours put in to the lessons each day.  But I do miss the study and the special gift of understanding the scriptures in a way that I could teach them.  I feel a void in my life because of that.  I am going to try and fill that void by teaching myself the next 9 months!  I think the best way ~ bar none ~ to study and learn the scriptures is through the Seminary lessons.  I’m so grateful that the teacher’s manual is available on line, or in the distribution center, that anyone can access it now.  And so I have downloaded it onto my IPAD and I’m going to teach myself the Old Testament J

Today…ABRAHAM 3

•         Scripture Mastery, Abraham 3:22-23…

22) Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

           23) And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

•         Knowing who we are and why we are here can give us greater strength to meet challenges and find joy in life.

WHO AM I? WHY AM I HERE?

I am Rozla.  I am a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter.  I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother. I am a friend and a confidant.  I struggle to understand my worth sometimes.  I am a creator.

I am here on earth because I have parents who wanted me and created my earthly body.  I am on earth because that is the plan of Heavenly Father.  I am in Montana because we were led here by divine guidance.  I am here – on earth and in Montana – to learn and to become like my Heavenly Father.

Reading in Abraham 3:22-28 some important answers to these same questions are given but I especially like verses 23 and 25…

            23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

            25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

If I relate this scripture to myself…which we are told to do as we read…then I was chosen before I was born for this time and place.  And the Lord is proving me to see if I will be obedient.

So I AM…one of the souls that was good as I stood in the midst of God in the pre-existence

I AM HERE…to prove to my Heavenly Father that I will be obedient and do whatsoever He shall command

President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The great test of life is obedience to God” (Ensign, May 1988, 4).

Even though Abraham was chosen for certain purposes, he still had to “prove” himself through obedience.

President Benson said:

      “For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming. Every previous gospel dispensation has drifted into apostasy, but ours will not. … God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God. … Make no mistake about it—you are a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us. … Each day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go. The final outcome is certain—the forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this fight—and how tall we will stand. Will we be true to our last-days, foreordained mission?” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 36-37)

I am so thankful to know that I am a daughter of God! I am grateful for my understanding that this life is a time of testing and proving.  That makes it easier to move forward in the face of hard things.  I am thankful to know that as I am obedient the blessings of heaven cannot and will not be held back from me.  And as I am patient greater understanding comes!  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.  I know they live and I know that through MY obedience and when I turn to THEM that I can do hard things and I can find joy in my journey through life!

Prayer and Obedience

This morning as I was studying in Doctrine and Covenants 108 I had some profound experiences with a couple of verses.  It's funny how in 8 short verses in this section I spent some pretty awesome time with my Heavenly Father.  I was drawn to 2 lessons this morning that I know but was reminded of.

Lesson #1 ~ OBEDIENCE...

Verse 1 of Section 108 says "...Yours sins are forgiven you, because you have obeyed my voice..."  Lesson remembered ~ Following the prophet and being obedient lead to forgiveness!  

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin in October 1995 Conference taught:

     "The windows of heaven are open wide to the faithful and righteous; nothing closes them faster than disobedience.  The unworthy cannot access fully the network of revealed truth...
     "To open the windows of heaven, we must conform our will to God's will.  Diligent, enduring obedience to God's laws is the key that opens the windows of heaven.  Obedience enables us to be receptive to the mind and will of the Lord."


Two blessings that come from OBEDIENCE ~ Forgiveness and Knowledge of the mind and will of God in our life ~ the opening of the windows of Heaven!

Lesson #2 ~ PRAYER...

Verse 7 of Section 108 says "...strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers..."

I asked myself if there truly was strength given to another through my prayers for that individual.  I believe that there is.  As I sit here typing this I think back to the strength I felt when my parents passed away.  Each experience was a little different for me, but I felt strength in each.  So I wonder how much of that strength came to me from Heaven yet through the prayers of those that love me.  The spirit whispers to my heart right now that there is greater power than I realized through the prayers of others in my behalf.  WOW! Now my heart tells me that I must be more diligent, more faithful in my prayers for others because there is power in that! Power in praying for those that I love ~ power in praying for those that I don't know yet need strength!

So my study of prayer in this verse led me to the Bible Dictionary about prayer. This is what especially stood out to me...

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."


We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ—when his words abide in us. We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart."


I realized this morning that my prayers have become repetitious again.  I must correct that and REMEMBER my relationship with my Heavenly Father and pray with the spirit so that I will know what to pray for, who to pray for, and what blessing to ask for.  Then I must pray with greater gratitude.  Then I believe that I will begin to understand the will of my Father and then what I want for myself will become what He wants for me.  That is my greatest desire - to have what I want become what He wants for me!  

Doctrine and Covenants 97

My studying this morning took me to Section 97 in the Doctrine and Covenants. Just a couple of thoughts to record as I was reading.

This comes from the Seminary lessons…

When the Prophet Joseph Smith received section 97, the Saints in Missouri were already suffering persecution. It seemed an unlikely time to build a temple there.

"God was, if we may say so reverently, anxious that His people should rear a Temple in which they could be endowed with power from on high before the conflict with the adversary. The history of Temples teaches us that the people of God have been strong, or weak, in proportion to the faithfulness with which they have attended to their sanctuaries. . . . Since the completion of the Salt Lake Temple, the adversary has had less power to injure the Church than he had before. If we remember that the Temples are the palaces of God, where His Presence is manifested, we can understand why, when the adversary was marshalling his forces against the Church [in Missouri], our Lord urged the Saints to build the Temple speedily. We can also understand why the evil one planned to have them scattered before they could rear that sacred edifice" (Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, The Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, rev. ed. [1972], 612).

Unfortunately, as Elder Parley P. Pratt, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, attested: "This revelation was not complied with by the leaders and Church in Missouri, as a whole; notwithstanding many were humble and faithful. Therefore, the threatened judgment was poured out to the uttermost, as the history of the five following years will show" (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt [1985], 77)

My thoughts turned to the Temple and a couple of lines in that above quote really stood out to me.

• God is anxious that we be endowed with power from on high before the conflict with the adversary. There is power in the Temple covenant. Power that I know I have not even begun to tap in to. Power that enables us to win in the conflict with the adversary.
  
• People of God have been strong, or weak, in proportion to the faithfulness with which they have attended to their sanctuaries. As I look over my life can I see that correlation between my strength because I have attended the temple on a regular basis and those times when I have not? Lynn and I have always tried to be, at least, monthly temple attenders. I have come to notice when it has been a while since attending that I yearn for that. Some months we go at the beginning of the month and then the next month it is at the end ~ that time span is hard. I need the consistency if nothing more than to keep me grounded and keep my perspective in check. President Simpson (our Stake President and friend in Blackfoot) always taught us that THE BEST MARRIAGE THERAPY IS A MONTHLY TRIP TO THE TEMPLE WITH YOUR SPOUSE! More than once in my marriage I have been grateful for that counsel J
  

My heart aches for my friends who should be "endowed with power from on high" through the temple but are not. I wish for them the peace that comes in daily life through that blessing! And I pray that my children are using that blessing in their lives regularly. They each are within 30 minutes of a temple! They are days when my heart yearns to be within 30 minutes of the temple again! We travel 4 hours and I'm proud to say that we go every month! I'm grateful for my testimony of the temple.

Okay back to Section 97…The second part of that section "Doctrine and Covenants 97:18-26. The righteous will escape the Lord's vengeance if they keep the commandments."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said this…

"Now we are entering times wherein there will be for all of us as Church members, in my judgment, some special challenges which will require of us that we follow the Brethren. All the easy things that the Church has had to do have been done. From now on, it's high adventure, and followership is going to be tested in some interesting ways" ("The Old Testament: Relevancy within Antiquity," in A Symposium on the Old Testament [1979], 12)

Wow, all the easy things that the Church has to do have been done. Now we are in times of "special challenges". I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave us a Prophet and Apostles to lead the way. All we have to do is follow! I do believe that they know the special challenges ~ and I do believe that they know the way THROUGH those challenges. President Monson is a pretty big guy physically. I don't have a problem standing behind him (figuratively speaking). I think he would protect me J

This quote was in the Institute Manual…

These same principles were taught in the October 1940 General Conference by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith:

"We have the means of escape through obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Will we escape? When I see, even among the Latter-day Saints the violation of the laws of the Lord, I fear and I tremble. I have been crying repentance among the Stakes of Zion for thirty years, calling upon the people to turn to the Lord, keep His commandments, observe the Sabbath Day, pay their honest tithing, do everything the Lord has commanded them to do, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.

"By doing this we shall escape the calamities.

"I am going to repeat what I have said before, for which I have been severely criticized from certain quarters, that even in [the United States] we have no grounds by which we may escape, no sure foundation upon which we can stand, and by which we may escape from the calamities and destruction and the plagues and the pestilences, and even the devouring fire by sword and by war, unless we repent and keep the commandments of the Lord, for it is written here in these revelations.

"So I cry repentance to the Latter-day Saints, and I cry repentance to the people of the United States, as well as to the people of all the earth. May we turn to live in accordance with divine law, and keep the commandments the Lord has given." (In Conference Report, Oct. 1940, p. 117)

President Wilford Woodruff said that those who honor the priesthood would be the only ones to have the right to the Lord's protection:

"Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments which are even now at our doors? I'll tell you. The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood, and who are worthy of their blessings are the only ones who shall have this safety and protection. They are the only mortal beings. No other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They are at our very doors; not even this people will escape them entirely. They will come down like the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah. And none but the priesthood will be safe from their fury." (Young Women's Journal, Aug. 1894, p. 512)

I know that through my temple covenants I have the right to that Priesthood. I have a righteous Priesthood holder in my home. Through his priesthood and the right that I receive to it through the temple I can be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments. Will they touch my life? Probably. Will they bring me down? NO ~ unless I choose to be disobedient and turn from the commandments and follow a different path.

The plan is laid out so perfectly! It is there in black and white in the scriptures and in the Prophet. We don't have to come up with the plan ~ we simply have to follow the one that Heavenly Father devised. It is better than any I could come up with J Each day our goal is to REMEMBER TO BE OBEDIENT! Life is still gonna be hard, things worth having are always hard to obtain. But with obedience and remembering even the weakest of us can succeed. Oh and thank heaven for repentance so when we fall short we can start anew the next day! Life is just so much better when I obey the commandments.

So this was my "PACKET of SPIRITUAL SUNLIGHT" today!

 

 

Armor of God

Today's lesson was Doctrine and Covenants section 27 specifically verses 15-18.

We talked about war ~ what concerns the kids have about war, what weapons they would want to take with them into battle, what protective equipment they would like to have…

Then we talked about the spiritual war we are all fighting ~ the war that began in the pre-existence when Satan was cast out of heaven and into the earth (See Revelation 12:9). We talked about the weapons that Satan uses and what weapons we can use.

We read Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-18 and then talked about our armor – our WHOLE armor and how we were doing. Kiera was our warrior ~ she dressed up in the armor as we talked about it. President Harold B. Lee said, "We have the four parts of the body that…are the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The loins, typifying virtue, chastity. The heart typifying our conduct. Our feet, our goals or objectives in life and finally our head, our thoughts…

"We should have our loins girt about with truth…And the heart…a breastplate of righteousness. Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gauged by that thing which we know to be true…Our feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (repentance, faith, Holy Ghost, prayer)…And then finally the helmet of salvation…Salvation is to be saved…saved from sin."

"Holding in our hand a shield and in our other hand a sword…the shield of faith and the sword of the word of God. I can't think of any more powerful weapons that faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in the which are contained the Word of God." (Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 9 Nov. 1954], pp 3-7)

I gave the kids a piece of foil and they wrote on that foil a fiery dart that the adversary throws at them ~ something that they struggle with. They then made arrows out of the foil and threw them at Kiera. She did a great job at dodging them. Then she got to throw them back at the kids and they used their scriptures as their shields. It was a fun object lesson.

Our Armored Warrior

Then in closing I used another object lesson. Mary came to the front. I introduced a potato which the kids affectionately named Sam Spud. I asked them a couple of questions and they had to truthfully answer yes or no. If they answered NO to the question then Mary was to peel the Sam. One peel off for every no in the class. Question 1 – Did you say your personal prayers last night and this morning? Question 2 – Did you have personal scripture study? Question 3 – Did you have family scripture study? Question 4 – Did you have FHE this week? Question 5 – Did you strive all day yesterday to be obedient? By the time we got done with the last question Sam had lost his armor ~ (his skin). It was gone! We are going to watch Sam over the course of the next few months to see what happens to him without his armor. We talked about how not doing all those things leaves us without our armor – without our protection. I told them to put their armor on – don't take it off!

Sam Spud

Day one without armor

I hope it was effective – I hope every time they see a potato they will think of Sam Spud and what is happening to him because he has lost his armor. They are great kids! Together we are going to win this war! Their armor is strong ~ We all have to be reminded to put our armor on and to continually shine it through prayer, scripture study, family home evening, obedience, following the prophet and our other leaders. One step at a time!!!!

Thursday

Today we talked about this quote...

"Don't let the workings of adversity totally absorb your life" 

(Richard G. Scott)

I put a sponge in some water to see how much it could soak up.  It pretty much absorbed all of it.  Then we talked about being absorbed by something and what that means and how our trials sometimes totally absorb us.  We talked about some of the trials that Joseph Smith was facing during this period of time.  We talked about the trials that the Savior faced during His life.  I posed the question - Does the Savior understand adversity?

Then we talked about this scripture...

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." (D&C 24:8)

And we looked for the Lord's counsel and promises and how they can help us in our trials.  We substituted our names in the scripture ~ Rozla, be patient in affliction because you are going to have many; but endure them.  I am with you even until the end of your days.

Then I shared with them this quote by Elder Richard G. Scott...

"I testify that when the Lord closes one important door in your life, He shows His continuing love and compassion by opening many other compensating doors through your exercise of faith.  He will place in your path packets of spiritual sunlight to brighten your way.  They often come after the trial has been the greatest, as evidence of the compassion and love of an all-knowing Father.  They point the way to greater happiness and more understanding and strengthen your determination to accept and be obedient to His will." (Ensign Nov. 1995)

I love how he said that the Lord will send packets of spiritual sunlight to brighten our way.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have that Heavenly Father loves me - little old me - just a humble seminary teacher in Helena Montana trying to do the best I can and praying to help these precious youth understand the same! 

Today I'm grateful for my packets of spiritual sunlight!

Gratitude

This week in Seminary we have been talking about General Conference this past weekend.  Particularly what the Prophet had to say.  Our scripture block for the week included Doctrine and Covenants Section 21 which is basically Joseph Smith's call as Prophet of the church.  We talked about what it means to be "a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ..." (D&C 21:1)  A seer is "one who sees with spiritual eyes...he is an interpreter and clarifier of eternal truth.  He foresees the future from the past and the present. This he does by the power of the Lord operating through him..." (John A. Widtsoe)  Elder Widtsoe also said that "a prophet is a teacher.  He is an expounder of truth. ...He shows the way to human happiness is through obedience to God's law...All this he does by close communion with the Lord..."

So we talked about GRATITUDE.  President Monson asked if we remember to give thanks for our blessings.  Do we walk with gratitude?  A couple of things that I shared with the kids that touched me from his talk...

HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Give THANKS and then WATCH MIRACLES HAPPEN

 To be grateful is to touch Heaven

By being OBEDIENT we give to God GRATITUDE

I made a GRATEFUL board in our room.  Every day the kids are to write one thing they are grateful for that day and it can't be repeated!  When the board is full then we will write it on pieces of paper and put them in a jar.  When the jar is full maybe we will do a chain around the room.  But everyday we will be grateful!  

On Monday two of the girls are going to come to class with a letter they have written to President Monson expressing gratitude to him.  We will all sign it and then I will send it to him so that he knows the freshman Seminary class in Helena are striving to be obedient and grateful :)

Thank you President Monson for the reminder to be more grateful! And for your clear view of the future.  Thank you for being the one person on the earth that we can follow with complete faith!

List the first 5 things that come to your mind that you are grateful for... Today mine are...

• Lynn
• being a grandma
• being a mom
• my home
• good friends

Doctrine and Covenants

It's almost time for another Seminary year.  We begin on August 31st at 6:55 am.  This year we will study the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. 

I'm so grateful for the days Lynn and I took off to begin our vacation in Palmyra NY and journey with the saints to Salt Lake City.  I hope that I can share this year with the kids my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Savior and help them gain or strength their own testimony. 

The pioneers knew God ~ that is why they did what they did!  They knew God and they loved Him and they sacrificed everything for Him and the gospel. 

So I ask you and I ask myself ~ Do You know God?  Could you sacrifice everything you have for Him and the gospel? Would you sacrifice everything?  DO YOU SACRIFICE EVERYTHING?

It's going to be a great year!