A Little Drawing Lesson

"He looks like a roly-poly!"

My companion and I were trying to draw an elephant on a sticky note. We had a couple of images of elephants that we were trying to use as something to go off of but it wasn't working very well. I'm no artist. We were struggling to get the proportions right so that it would actually look like a presentable little elephant.
Finally my companion threw in the towel, per se, and said, "You do it." Ah! So I thought for a couple of minutes about elephants. I looked at the three images that we had and went back to the drawing board. There was nothing wrong with the elephant that we had, but I wanted this drawing to look more like an actual elephant instead of a caricature. Some things needed to be changed. I took the penciled image that we already had and began drawing a new elephant on top of it. Suddenly I had an epiphany! The drawing came together and looked like a beautiful little elephant!
I realized that once there was an image or a vision of the elephant I wanted drawn in my head, my hands could put it on paper. I simply had to have the correct vision.

Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." If we don't have at least an idea of what we want to accomplish, we aren't going to get very far. Let's say that a king decides that his kingdom needs going to go to war against another nation. He needs a vision or a cause in order to rally the people together to fight. Then he needs a plan: what is he going to do to accomplish the vision of winning this war? He is then accountable to the people in the kingdom, the people he is counseling with, and God for what he does, how hard and effectively he works, and what is accomplished. Elder M. Russell Ballard said, "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential." Vision is important!

With my little elephant, I knew what I wanted done. I had a vision: there was going to be a cute little elephant on this little piece of paper. What did I need to do in order to accomplish the vision? I needed to practice. (There were a number of little pieces of paper on the table and in the garbage by the time I was finished.) I was accountable to my companion (who also wanted this elephant drawn)as to whether or not I finished the drawing of the elephant.
It may seem very silly and small but if I hadn't cared and if I hadn't had the desire to see this little elephant drawn, I would never have accomplished it. I was a little shocked when I finished! It actually looked like an elephant and I was able to show myself that I can draw hard things! Without a vision, "the people perish." However, Elder Ballard continued and said, "When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life." With a vision, "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." (Alma 37:6)

It's As Simple As That!

I was talking to another missionary a few days ago and they asked me if I felt that I was using my talents to share the Gospel and to invite others to come unto Christ. I thought for a moment and then answered, 'no.' I haven't felt that the talents that I know God has blessed me with have been utilized to their full potential as I am serving a mission.
Missionaries and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the week before Easter, were asked to share posts on Facebook using #BecauseofHim.
I decided that I was going to use my talents and have fun with the things that I posted. So, a friend and I decided to sing a song and post it with the theme of #BecauseofHim. The first song that I posted is called "My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee." We had fun putting it together and recording it! It was simple, it was easy and it was a way to share our testimonies of Christ and His sacrifice for each of us.
Throughout the rest of the week I would find hymns and songs from the Children's Songbook and record them to post on Facebook, all the while using #BecauseofHim and writing a brief testimony of what the words of the song meant to me.
As I posted each song, I felt a greater desire to continue to share the Gospel using the talents the Lord has given me. Missionary work is as simple as that!
When we share the Gospel, God gives us a greater portion of His Spirit to be with us and our desire to invite others to come unto Christ is strengthened, we are personally uplifted and we can be sure that the hearts and lives of those around us will be touched.

"Thy sins are forgiven thee" #BecauseofHim

Every day we have the choice to look backward at the past or to look forward to the future. At times the past seems too dark for the future to ever become bright.
President Spencer W. Kimball said, "Sometimes...when a repentant one looks back and sees the ugliness, the loathsomeness of the transgression, he is almost overwhelmed and wonders, 'Can the Lord ever forgive me? Can I ever forgive myself?'"
I'm sure that there are many who have felt that it just isn't worth it to try to keep pushing forward.
President Kimball continues:
"...when one reaches the depths of despondency and feels the hopelessness of his position, and when he cries out to God for mercy in helplessness but in faith, there comes a still, small, but penetrating voice whispering to his soul, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee.'"

Because of Christ we can be forgiven of those sins that weigh us down and that try and test our ability to endure.
Because of Christ we can know of a surety that God's love for us is unconditional, that His Son's Atoning sacrifice is for everyone, and that we can change.
What change will you make today because of Him?

#BecauseofHim

This morning, in the middle of something important, I suddenly had a flashback to a youth conference that I went to a number of years ago at Martin's Cove in Wyoming. There were a couple hundred people at the conference and we were all gathered in a big circle, watching the competitions and games that were happening.
One of the games that they played was tug of war. They played multiple times, each time with a different group of teenagers and leaders. Finally, they said that the final round of tug of war would be my father against anyone else.
My dad went up to the rope, picked it up, wrapped it around himself to give him better leverage, and waited for people to pick up the other end of the rope. There was much laughter as a couple of young men tried their hardest to pull my dad off of his feet with no luck. In fact, my dad simply yanked on the rope and pulled the young men across the mid-line. A couple more people joined the first two with no success.
The leaders called up a few more teenagers in addition to the ones already there. Even with the added strength, my dad just dug in his heels and held on, pulling the group across the line and to their knees.

Finally they called in the troops!

A number of teenagers volunteered to put their strength and their heart into pulling my father across the little line scratched into the dry ground. A leader came up to me and said, "Go help them!" I felt rather awkward in light of the fact that I was inwardly cheering for my dad! Reluctantly I took the gloves handed to me and walked to the back of the rope. Grabbing ahold of the rope, this now much larger group of teenagers pulled and tugged and finally succeeded in pulling my father to the ground and across the line.
Thinking about that experience this morning made me smile and then laugh. We had to try so hard to pull one man across a thin line in the desert ground!

Then I pondered on some of the things I am asked to do as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:
How can I put the kind of passion into talking to everyone that my friends were putting into pulling my father across a line?
How can I, as a representative of Jesus Christ, serve Him with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength?
I then pondered on Christ's sacrifice for each and every one of us and all that we can do and become because of that selfless act. I know that as we work to come unto Christ and to invite others to come unto Christ, we will succeed to overcoming our challenges and trials. Even though our trials may seem insurmountable, and even when we may try again and again with little to no obvious success, eventually, "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." (Preach My Gospel) Through Him, we can overcome all things. #BecauseofHim

Little Lights, Important Warnings

We were on the way to a baptism that was 30 minutes away. We jumped into the car and the moment that the car turned on, a little light began flashing on the dashboard.
"Oh, no..."
"What?"
"I think we have a flat tire."
We reluctantly got back out of the car into the pouring rain. Looking at the tire there was no doubt in our minds that the tire needed to be changed before we could safely go anywhere. My companion looked at the job at hand and said, "Ok. Do you have a jack?"
The woman we were with looked at her. "What? Do you know how to change a tire?"
I answered for my companion: "She's done it many times. No worries."
 My companion proceeded to find all of the equipment that was in the recesses of the trunk and take off and replace the tire. Meanwhile, it began raining even harder than before.
Finally the tire was replaced and we were on our way, slowly, to the baptism. The next day, the car was taken to the shop and the tire fully replaced. All was well.

There have been times in my life when a little light has gone off. That little flashing light, be it a sore throat, guilt for something said, or tears, are warnings that something isn't right. President Boyd K. Packer said, "All of us sometime, and some of us much of the time, suffer remorse of conscience from things we did wrong or things left undone. That feeling of guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the physical body.

But guilt can be harder to bear than physical pain. Physical pain is nature’s warning system that signals something needs to be changed or cleansed or treated, perhaps even removed by surgery. Guilt, the pain of our conscience, cannot be healed the same way." (The Touch of the Master's Hand, April 2001)

God has given us "flashing lights" so that we can turn to Him to be healed, both physically and spiritually. If we follow the instructions implicitly given with the warning - to turn to Someone who can help us - then we can begin the process of fixing the problem immediately. However, if we do not take the time to fix the problem and to seek help from those who can help us, then we will run into trouble further down the line.

If my companion and I had ignored that flashing light and had tried to drive to the baptism without checking and eventually changing the tire, we would not have made it very far. The same principle applies to sin and to the guilt that comes as we sin. If we ignore that guilt and do not seek to repent, change and return to God, that guilt will continue to grow until it is an undeniable weight. When we stop and check and change a tire before we get onto the highway, it takes time but it is a simple fix. When we wait until we are on the edge of a highway to change a tire, it becomes a little bit more difficult. When we hold onto sin it becomes harder, as time passes, to let it go. However, if we are willing to be humble and seek the Lord's help and the healing and cleansing power of Christ's Atoning sacrifice, the weight of sin and guilt can be lifted and we can receive the comfort and strength that we need and have our burdens removed from our hearts.

May we ever seek immediate repentance and cleansing through the Savior's sacrifice. If we turn to God in prayer and humble ourselves before Him, "...then is [Christ's] grace sufficient for [us]...and...then will [He] make weak things become strong." (Ether 12:27)

Physical Road Signs, Spiritual Blessings

Why do we have road signs?
They're just big, metal signs on poles.
Why do we have road signs? Especially in parking lots. I always thought they were pretty useless. Until my sister started driving.
She had mocked me plenty when I started driving so I decided to 'pay her back.' She was going to drive our 15-passenger van and so I hopped into the back with my homework, ready to have a grand time.
We got to a parking lot and my sister practiced driving and stopping and following the lane lines and the street signs. I thought I would have a lot of laughs. That, unfortunately, was not the case. In fact, I think I shrieked a couple of times.
The road signs were difficult for my sister to follow because she was trying to focus on so many things at once. She began to feel overwhelmed and didn't know which part of driving was most important for her to put more of her attention into. (I'm sure that my stifled screams didn't help the situation.)

I have noticed that when I have too many things on my plate, I tend to begin to feel overwhelmed and then I lose perception of which things are most important. Just like road signs that are tucked away on the side of the road,  I forget that the little things, like reading my scriptures and going to bed on time, are the most important things that I could be doing.
Yet those road signs keep us in the correct lanes, keep us going the correct direction, help to know which road leads where. Without these little signs, many of us would be very, very lost.
Likewise, the "little" commandments - scripture study, continual prayer, fasting, going to church, etc - can be overlooked. However, lots of trouble comes from overlooking these simple steps. It was difficult for my sister to focus on the road signs but when she finally did, driving came much more easily and was much more safe.
In Doctrine and Covenants 29:34, the Lord says, "...all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal..."
All things are for our spiritual, as well as temporal, well-being. The road signs of life are to bless us and bring us in closer harmony with God's will for us as His children. He will never give us a law that serves no purpose.
Let's follow the little road signs of life and God has promised that, "when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (Doctrine and Covenants 130:21)

Born to Win

It is possible that there will be times throughout our lives when we will feel inadequate, useless, unworthy, and/or like a failure. These thoughts are common. Yet they are not from God.
We are taught, "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." (Articles of Faith 1:13) In this case, "we THINK after these things."
God did not place us here on this earth to feel that we are inadequate, unworthy or unloved. His purpose in placing us here on the earth was to "prove [us] now herewith, to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us]." (Abraham 3:25) In fact, His work and His glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses1:39)
God wants us to succeed. He wants us to accomplish our purpose here, which is to prepare to meet God. (Alma 34:32)
God has promised that He would prepare a way for us to do all things that are required of us. He has also said that the way that we will be able to accomplish all these things is through the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (1 Nephi 3:7)
God has created us to do, to accomplish, to fight, to win. We are here on the earth for a purpose that is specific to each of us and God will help us to fulfill that purpose as we trust in Him.
In other words, we were born to win.

For 3 or for 48

For those of you not living in Northern Virginia right now, we got a whopping 48 hours worth of rain, snow, sleet, hail, and various other types of precipitation. It finally stopped and the sun came out! It has been glorious to be outside ever since the rain stopped. There's a light breeze, the sun is shining, there are no clouds to cover the bright blue sky.
When the rain started my companion and I commented, "We really hope this only lasts a little while....'cause...it needs to be warm."
We were helping someone move and as we were putting boxes and bags and furniture into their van the precipitation didn't calm down. It didn't leave. In fact, it started to rain even harder. Bah.
The next morning we woke up and it was STILL raining! Land sakes! I was starting to get a little irked. I just wanted spring to finally come and all we were getting was cold and rain and wind!
For the rest of the day we were rained on and then it turned to snowy-slush and then back to rain. I love rainy days. I think they're beautiful, but when there is no reprieve, I eventually begin to feel like I'm being drowned and I miss having color in the world.
When the rain finally let up my companion said, "You never know if it's going to rain for 3 hours or for 48!"

For most people that would seem like a normal comment about the weather. It really struck me, though.

Everyone goes through trials. Everyone has their share of hard times and struggles. Over the past little while there have been trials faced that made me ask, "How much longer is this going to last?" My companion gave me the answer: "You never know if it's going to rain for 3 hours or for 48."

I don't know how long my trials may last. In fact, I don't know what kinds of trials I will face throughout my life. I do know, however, that the Lord has promised blessings to those who keep going, who endure to the end. One of my favorite scriptures says, "My [child], peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high..." (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7,8)
May we ever remember the Lord's promise that "...all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good....hold on thy way...for God shall be with you forever and ever." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7,9)