Turn off that dang TV!

I have not written here in a while, and that is because I had nothing to say. It's hard to believe, I know, but I don't want to write just to make noise. I want my posts to make a difference, so I hope they do. Plus, I told the Lord that I wasn't going to write another post unless he told me specifically that I should.

Today, He told me I should.

What I'm going to chat with you about today comes from studying with my kids this morning.
Even though I've had a dramatic change of heart over the last few years, I still struggle with making myself sit down and study. And I mean study things that really matter like the Book of Mormon, Preserving the Restoration, or other "good books". I do it every Sunday, but every other day of the week... it's a real crap shoot.

Why, why, why?

Why is it so hard to commune with God even though once I start I absolutely LOVE it? When I study and pray, I feel beyond wonderful, and all of you out there who do it know what I mean. So what keeps me from doing it more often? I feel stupid saying, "Satan made me do it" (or not do it) because I have control over my own actions. At least I think so. *snicker*

I really want to share the gospel with my kids, and the Lord has specifically TOLD me to do it more often... during the week... and I don't.

My husband is out of town today, so we didn't take the sacrament this morning (and I seriously debated blessing it myself since God is no respecter of persons, so why not? but I'm not getting a yes answer on that so we skipped it today) I taught the kids from a section of the Lectures on Faith that talks about how we need to know that God IS, then understand who, what, and how He is, and then to understand that we are doing what He wants us to be doing in our lives. It's not about doing what's right per se, but about doing what is right for us specifically.

Each of  my kids (me included) wrote down what we think we are doing that the Lord specifically wants us to be doing and then we wrote down what we are doing that he doesn't want us doing. Like I said before, it wasn't a "right" or "wrong" lesson. I wanted it to be a soul searching experience of knowing where we stand with God. It was pretty cool. The younger kids (9 &11) had a harder time, but it still sank in, especially with my 17 yr old. He and I actually sat down together later and studied more of The Lectures on Faith. It was so fun, so empowering. Why don't I do this more often? Why am I so lazy? Why does Satan have so much power over me that I would rather veg out and watch TV than teach my kids the gospel? Well, it changes today! I've had too many awesome experiences with Him to waste what he's given me. So from now on, when he speaks to my mind and tells me, "it's time to teach the kids this or that," I promise to turn off the TV and do it.

I would encourage everyone to sit down with their families and do this--specifically talking about The Lectures on Faith. My kids know NOTHING about that book and it was exciting to teach them that it used to be part of the D &C, that it IS the Doctrine part of the D&C! They were amazed!

I want to share with you something that was on my list. Something I do that the Lord has specifically asked me not to. Can you believe I actually do things I've been told not to? I do. All the freakin time. Basically, I waste too much time doing things that don't matter. That's what He told me. I'm throwing away the finite hours I have left of this life. And when He says it like that, I feel very small. I don't like it when He gets after me. I don't like being scolded. Not many people do I suppose.

Now, I am healing and trying to get better, but I do still have to lie down and rest frequently. Which translates to "I watch too much TV". That is one of the things He has asked me to not do. It's very clear, and yet, I keep doing it. I mean, I'm tired. Why can't I watch TV? What's so wrong with it? I sound like a teenager, right?

Well, too much of a good thing isn't healthy, whether it's food, drugs, alcohol, or television! (or other technology) It's going to be hard because I developed habit while I was sick, one of which was television, and I enjoy it. A lot. But while I'm lying down, resting, there isn't much I feel like doing, but I could. I could pick up my scriptures or read other good books. I could meditate and pray. Good grief, these are way better things than wasting time watching mindless television that most of the time is NOT uplifting or wholesome.

My invitation to any and all who read this post is to sit down and figure out if you're doing what the Lord wants YOU to do, and also to pinpoint those things you are doing that you shouldn't be. (not right or wrong, but what is not effective in your life to bring you closer to HIM) It's a way cool experience, but be ready for the answer. He might just tell you to cancel your HBO account.

Turn off that dang TV!

I have not written here in a while, and that is because I had nothing to say. It's hard to believe, I know, but I don't want to write just to make noise. I want my posts to make a difference, so I hope they do. Plus, I told the Lord that I wasn't going to write another post unless he told me specifically that I should.

Today, He told me I should.

What I'm going to chat with you about today comes from studying with my kids this morning.
Even though I've had a dramatic change of heart over the last few years, I still struggle with making myself sit down and study. And I mean study things that really matter like the Book of Mormon, Preserving the Restoration, or other "good books". I do it every Sunday, but every other day of the week... it's a real crap shoot.

Why, why, why?

Why is it so hard to commune with God even though once I start I absolutely LOVE it? When I study and pray, I feel beyond wonderful, and all of you out there who do it know what I mean. So what keeps me from doing it more often? I feel stupid saying, "Satan made me do it" (or not do it) because I have control over my own actions. At least I think so. *snicker*

I really want to share the gospel with my kids, and the Lord has specifically TOLD me to do it more often... during the week... and I don't.

My husband is out of town today, so we didn't take the sacrament this morning (and I seriously debated blessing it myself since God is no respecter of persons, so why not? but I'm not getting a yes answer on that so we skipped it today) I taught the kids from a section of the Lectures on Faith that talks about how we need to know that God is, then understand who, what, and how He is, and then to understand that we are doing what He wants us to be doing in our lives. It's not about doing what's right per se, but about doing what is right for us specifically.

Each of  my kids (me included) wrote down what we think we are doing that the Lord specifically wants us to be doing and then we wrote down what we are doing that he doesn't want us doing. Like I said before, it wasn't a "right" or "wrong" lesson. I wanted it to be a soul searching experience of knowing where we stand with God. It was pretty cool. The younger kids (9 &11) had a harder time, but it still sank in, especially with my 17 yr old. He and I actually sat down together later and studied more of The Lectures on Faith. It was so fun, so empowering. Why don't I do this more often? Why am I so lazy? Why does Satan have so much power over me that I would rather veg out and watch TV than teach my kids the gospel? Well, it changes today! I've had too many awesome experiences with Him to waste what he's given me. If he speaks to my mind and tells me, "it's time to teach the kids this or that," I promise to turn off the TV and do it.

I would encourage everyone to sit down with their families and do this--specifically talking about The Lectures on Faith. My kids know NOTHING about that book and it was exciting to teach them that it used to be part of the D &C, that it IS the Doctrine part of the D&C! They were amazed!

I want to share with you something that was on my list. Something I do that the Lord has specifically asked me not to. Can you believe I actually do things I've been told not to? I do. All the freakin time. Basically, I waste too much time doing things that don't matter. That's what He told me. I'm throwing away the finite hours I have left of this life. And when He says it like that, I feel very small. I don't like it when He gets after me. I don't like being scolded. Not many people do I suppose.

Now, I am healing and trying to get better, but I do still have to lie down and rest frequently. Which translates to "I watch too much TV". That is one of the things He has asked me to not do. It's very clear, and yet, I keep doing it. I mean, I'm tired. Why can't I watch TV? What's so wrong with it? I sound like a teenager, right?

Well, too much of a good thing isn't healthy, whether it's food, drugs, alcohol, or television! (or other technology) It's going to be hard because I developed habit while I was sick, one of which was television, and I enjoy it. A lot. But while I'm lying down, resting, there isn't much I feel like doing, but I could. I could pick up my scriptures or read other good books. I could meditate and pray. Good grief, these are way better things than wasting time watching mindless television that most of the time is NOT uplifting or wholesome.

My invitation to any and all who read this post is to sit down and figure out if you're doing what the Lord wants YOU to do, and also to pinpoint those things you are doing that you shouldn't be. (not right or wrong, but what is not effective in your life to bring you closer to HIM) It's a way cool experience, but be ready for the answer. He might just tell you to cancel your HBO account.

Going, going, gone!

Isn't it sad that the movies that lift the spirit the most are shoved under the carpet the quickest?

In a previous post I wrote about Miracles from Heaven. I loved that movie. So many good things to say about it. Today I watched, The Letters. The story of Mother Teresa.

Was there anyone who was a better example of following the Savior? I'm not sure there was... or is. How many people do you know who have left everything to LIVE among the poor and take care of them? Who gave ALL to care for the hungry, naked, and lonely?

From my youth, I've looked up to her, but as I watched this movie today, I found myself wishing I could be more like her. To have her faith, her determination, her grit.

But I don't know how to be like her. I can't drop everything and live among the poor. I have a husband and young children to take care of. Now that I know what it means to follow the Savior, I really want to. I want to teach my kids to. I can look for people to serve, but will it truly ever be like what she did? We all have our own paths to follow, but somehow I want one more like hers... sometimes.

Her life was lonely. She faced so many hardships along the way, yet saw so many miracles. She felt abandoned by the Lord at times. Can you believe that? Her, feeling abandoned? Most people only see what she did on the outside, but don't realize how she was feeling on the inside as the years moved along. She was humble and gave all credit to God, but she also was human. She cried, she ached, she mourned.

So maybe we can be like her. Someone who keeps going despite our hardships. Someone who prays in faith even when they feel their prayers aren't being heard. Someone who steps out the door to ease someone's suffering even when you're suffering yourself.

This movie is on Netflix right now, so go watch it. It will fill you with such love that you will be near bursting to share it. This is what we need more of in the world. People who want to be like Mother Teresa. People who hear the Lord's voice and stop at nothing to do what he has commanded them to do.

Like St. Francis of Assisi, this is my prayer.

The rains came down and the floods came up!

Okay, so it wasn't rain, but we still woke up to a flood this last Sunday morning.

Seriously.

We found an inch of water in our basement.

For the first time this season, we turned on our sprinklers to water our yard. It went fine, but the last zone would have been on late and our timers aren't hooked up yet. My husband decided he didn't want to stay up til midnight and that he'd just get up early the next morning to water the last zone.

A glue joint failed in the sprinkler line and blew apart. A one inch line with a hundred pounds of pressure. Yep. A flood.

My husband woke me up out of a sound sleep at 7:15 AM, and I have a really hard time waking up fast. It's left over ridiculousness from my past illness. Normally, I have to lie in bed and drink water and detox tea for about 20 minutes to a half hour before I can get up and go. So, in a stupor, I stumbled down the stairs to have my feet squish into the lake that was my carpet.

This is no way for a morning-challenged individual to wake up.

I made my way to the back bedroom where my husband was firing orders and helping my 16 yr old son empty his room. In the beginning, tempers were short and everyone was bleary-eyed and confused. If it were a fire, I don't think--as a family--we'd make it. We'd be too dang slow getting out of the house.

In my son's room, water was streaming in through the base of his window. I looked out between the slats of the blinds to see the window-well half full of water. A lake really. I turned to my husband and asked, "Shouldn't we take care of this first?" It seemed comical to see him with the shop-vac, sucking up water from the carpet, when there was at least twenty gallons--or probably more--of water left in the window well.

I think as humans, we do this often. Focus on the wrong thing, thinking we're solving our problem, when really, all we need to do is turn a few degrees to see what we really need to work on.

Lucky for me, my husband is a plumbing contractor and he already had a pump, pumping water from the window. Dang, he's good! He was the only one who had a working brain that early.

We spent the rest of the day emptying three bedrooms, pulling up carpet and padding, taking it out to the truck to go to the dump, and taking our belongings out to the back lawn to dry (blankets, clothes, and part of one mattress was wet)

Here's the cool thing, and it's something my husband brought up to me. We were SO lucky! It could have been so much worse! Most of our stuff was already in rubber totes and off the floor. The ONLY thing that is probably totally ruined is my son's iPad that he had lying on the floor next to his bed--oh, and his scriptures, which I'm now trying to dry. We seriously couldn't believe it. Even my cedar chest, which was against a wall that had flooding around it, was only damp on the very bottom!! Nothing was harmed on the inside AT ALL! And I'm talking keepsakes, one-hundred year old family bibles, pictures of ancestors, old letters etc...

We also pulled together to work in harmony--for the most part--and it was something I really prayed for first thing in the morning, because it was really hard to feel cheerful, and everyone was a little ornery. Understandably. But we got along, everyone helping, and I realized there is hope for mankind. If we can make it happen under that kind of stress, anyone can.

And then there is the miraculous fact that my husband felt like waiting to water the last zone until the morning, and that he even remembered to get up early, that it was only an inch of water and not a foot! And who knows how long it was running? And that the only thing ruined was an iPad! Wow! We feel so blessed.

Just because you are doing your best, trying to always choose the right, trying to deepen your relationship with the Savior, doesn't mead bad things won't happen to you. Sometimes terrible things. What the Lord does, is help you through it. He'll inspire your mind to wake up early, or tell you to wait until morning to finish watering.

Do we hear that little voice in our head and think it's the Holy Ghost or do we just assume it's our own mind, droning on in that boring monotone voice we've become accustomed to? My husband and I have learned to not ignore that voice or those gut feelings that have saved our bacon more than once.

Yeah, we all go through bad things, but if He can, He'll try to make it as easy on us as possible, because we'll all walk through hills and valleys in this life--and sometimes even the shadow of death--but He is always with us if we open our eyes to see Him.

His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

A prophet! A prophet! We don't need another prophet!

I frequently go a spiritual healer and she has become a close friend, someone amazing who has done SO much to help me on my road to healing... physically and spiritually. I would even go so far as to call her a prophetess of sorts.

We don't put much stock in spiritual healers in the Church, and she (let's call her Maggie) is LDS, although I would call her fringe LDS because of what she does and teaches. Even so, her testimony in the "Church" is still rock solid. It's the only place we really differ in our opinions, but that's okay. She's living her truth and I'm living mine. If you want to know how two different truths can be true at the same time, read this AWESOME post about "truths" from Journey to the Fullness. 

Our daughters became friends at the charter school we both send our kids to and they wanted to get together and hang out, so I called Maggie who I didn't know at all, wanting to introduce myself. I was still very sick at the time and did not want to drive a lot and hoped she'd bring her daughter to our house. She asked about my illness and then offered her services. She is a licensed Naturopath as well as having a degree in physics and I think something else, I think. She's pretty dang smart.

The last thing I wanted was another doctor and I told her I was happy with mine. She said, "I'm not that kind of doctor." I didn't know at the time that she was a doctor of the spirit, which honestly, I'd never heard of. She kept pressing me, so I relented. I later learned that she'd felt really impressed to meet with me. She does accept pay, because she does this for her living, but she doesn't put a price on it. She tells people to pay either what they can afford or what the Spirit tells them to.

Long story short, she has taught me some amazing things. Some of which I had to go home and really study and pray about. You see, our minds, traditions, and habits, often don't LET us think past what we already know. Some things are just too impossible, too far fetched or difficult to understand. I find this happens all the time, even with the people who have left the LDS faith in search of higher truth and light. Some still can't wrap their minds around things that are too "far out" to grasp. Even when the Spirit whispers it's true. It's like reading Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith or reading the Lectures on Faith for the first time. It blows our minds that OUR beloved prophet would teach such wild, "out there" things.

Maggie has taught me how to cast out devils, demons, dark spirits etc... and what their differences are and why they get attached to us (and we ALL have spirits attached to us, which is why the Savior spent so much time casting out evil spirits while he was here). She taught me how to make sure I am connected to the REAL Jesus Christ. There are a lot of bad guys out there, ready and willing to be "your" savior and some people get connected to them and then wonder why when they raise their arm to the square to make an evil spirit leave, it doesn't work.

She taught me that you have to use "qualifiers" when you do things in Jesus' name to let everyone and every "thing" know you are talking about THE Jesus Christ. Qualifiers are other names the Savior goes by, like the Holy one of Israel, Alpha and Omega, the Great I am, The Son of God, Savior of the world etc... So, in other words, when casting out evil spirits you'd say something like...

"In the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, the Son of God, I command all evil spirits, demons, and devils to depart. I ask Heavenly Father to send holy angels to escort these spirits to wherever they need to go, and to fill that vacuum they leave behind with light and healing, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

We do not need the priesthood to cast out evil spirits, just faith and the power Jesus lends us. He expects us to do these things and yet they've been forgotten. When was the last time you saw someone cast out an evil spirit in Gospel Doctrine class? That would be one class I would attend!

When my son was on his mission, he had the opportunity to do this. He and his comp went to the Elder's Quorum prsident's house one evening. The guy lived in a house with a bunch of other people, because they were poor and were pooling their resources. In the back room there was a man lying naked on the table, thrashing and looking totally possessed (Think The Exorcist. Seriously.)

Immediately my son had a powerful feeling to put his hands on the man and command the evil spirits to come out. It terrified him to do it, but Maggie and I had taught him how and he had the faith and ability, so he did. He placed one hand on the guy and the other to the square, and in Jesus Christ's name, voiced the command. My son's companion had gotten totally wigged out before this and had fled the house before my son had time to do anything, so he was alone with the EQ pres and this wigged out stranger.

The guy stopped thrashing immediately. He jumped off the table, his wits having come back to him once again, and grabbed a blanket to wrap around himself. He said he was freezing and to call an ambulance. He'd been doing drugs, you see. Drugs and alcohol give easy access to bad spirits who want inside us.

Anyway, my son told me that it was an amazing and powerful experience that gave him a firm testimony of the power the Savior holds over demons.

Evil spirits will frequently be drawn back to their "victim" under certain circumstances and Maggie has taught me the different techniques that need to be done to keep them away, healing through energy and prayer. Everything physical leaves a spiritual footprint. Both need to be healed to be completely overcome.

There is so much more to the world of spirits than we are aware of and yet it is very real. We can become connected to spirits and unseen worlds when we become addicted to things like video games, drugs and alcohol, or suffer abuse. There is so much information that I can't even begin to share it all. Maggie puts on seminars and lectures to teach others how to do these things themselves and has a great mission to get this information out there. It's hard work and she's busy doing these things almost 24/7.

If you have addictions you can't overcome, demons that haunt you, anger issues you can't get rid of or understand, or any other issue that plagues you, she can help. If you can't come to her house, she uses Skype. She and her husband help people all over the world! It can get pretty deep and heavy, and some people have a hard time with what she teaches, but whenever I have difficulty doing or believing something, I come home, study and pray about it, and ten the Spirit usually whispers that she was correct after all.

What she is doing is absolutely what the Savior wants her doing. Of that I have no doubt. I am so grateful there are people here on Earth who have this kind of knowledge, who can help those of us who don't.

If you want more info, let me know.