Waiting on the Road to Damascus

He Said:

This coming Sunday I get the chance to teach President Uchtdorfs General Conference message, "Waiting on the Road to Damascus." The past few days I have been thinking about how I can teach this in Priesthood meeting. The main themes are, "Belief comes one step at a time, hearken the heed, serve, share and our road to Damascus."

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR THIS MAKE A COMMENT :)

Hearken the heed section

I am going use the story about Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

Once while President Monson was on assignment in Louisiana, a stake president asked him if he would have time to visit a 10-year-old girl named Christal, who was in the final stages of cancer. Christal’s family had been praying that President Monson would come. But their home was far away, and the schedule was so tight that there wasn’t time. So instead, President Monson asked that those who offered prayers during the stake conference include Christal in their prayers. Surely the Lord and the family would understand.

During the Saturday session of the conference, as President Monson stood to speak, the Spirit whispered, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”³

“His notes became a blur. He attempted to pursue the theme of the meeting as outlined, but the name and image of [the little girl] would not leave his mind.”⁴

He listened to the Spirit and rearranged his schedule. Early the next morning, President Monson left the ninety and nine and traveled many miles to be at the bedside of the one.

Once there, he “gazed down upon a child too ill to rise, too weak to speak. Her illness had now rendered her sightless. Deeply touched by the scene and the Spirit of the Lord … , Brother Monson … took the child’s frail hand in his own. ‘Christal,’ he whispered, ‘I am here.’

“With great effort she whispered back, ‘Brother Monson, I just knew you would come.’”⁵

My dear brothers and sisters, let us strive to be among those whom the Lord can rely on to hear His whisperings and respond, as Saul did on hisroad to Damascus, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

Serve

Another reason we sometimes do not recognize the voice of the Lord in our lives is because the revelations of the Spirit may not come directly to us as the answer to our prayers.

Our Father in Heaven expects us to study it out first and then pray for guidance as we seek answers to questions and concerns in our personal lives. We have our Heavenly Father’s assurance that He will hear and answer our prayers. The answer may come through the voice and wisdom of trusted friends and family, the scriptures, and the words of prophets.

It has been my experience that some of the most powerful promptings we receive are not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of others. If we are thinking only of ourselves, we may miss some of the most powerful spiritual experiences and profound revelations of our lives.

Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answer to our own.

Share

In this section I am going to challenge everyone to be missionary members.

Ways we can share our testimony is through: examples, facebook, mormon.org, co-workers and any opportunity that God places before us. We just need to be ready!

Our Road to Damascus

How many of us are waiting on the road to Damascus? Are we waiting for God to answer our prayers, or make life easy for us because we think we need something, pray for something and have faith in something? I personally need to be better about acting on what I pray for and put my faith and action towards the things which the Lord wants.

What is your road to Damascus?

Mosiah 5

He Said:

So this morning I read Mosiah 5. The header to this chapter is: "The saints become the sons and daughters of Christ through faith--They are then called by the name of Christ--King Benjamin exhorts them to be steadfast and immovable in good works."

Verse 7 of today's reading says that because of the covenant which they made, they shall be called the children of Christ.

I pondered this morning about what the covenants were that these people took upon their heads, and the first few verses of the chapter talked about how the words that King Benjamin spoke, brought a mighty change upon the people and they could feel that infinite goodness, as well as feel the manifestation of the spirit.

I tried to relate the things which the people heard into our day and age. Every 6 months we get the opportunity to hear our Prophet and Apostles speak to us in Conference. What a joyous time it is to receive council, comfort and that infinite goodness from God. The times have not changed that we can't be like the people of King Benjamin s day, and have that great manifestation come upon us.

How often do we have the spirit bear witness that what is being taught at conference is true and that we need to follow what is being taught, and then shortly afterwards not apply the things which we just covenanted in doing by saying AMEN? I know I am a huge hypocrite in that regard! I feel those promptings every time and learn what I need to and receive motivation to be more obedient, serve more faithfully, pray more often and do the little things more but as I let the natural man come in, those things slowly become a blur and those covenants I made are being broken.

I am grateful for the Atonement, because if it wasn't for the Atonement the gates of Hell would have swallowed me alive a long time ago! I am so happy that I live in a day and age where technology is at my fingertips. I can only imagine what life would of been like if I couldn't get on the computer and log onto LDS.ORG, GMAIL, FACEBOOK and other sites that are here for our benefit. The gospel is so easy to access nowadays and I personally take it for granted. We can easily listen to a quick talk while driving to work because of iPods, smartphones and other devices. We can easily access and receive that manifestation of his spirit as states in verse 3.

I challenge myself, and anyone reading this blog post to let God into your daily lives. I know we can become so overwhelmed with work, school, family and children, church callings, sports and any other leisure activity that we might have, but let's make a constant effort to let the spirit manifest truth to us daily by walking on higher ground. I have committed myself to post on this blog daily, and this week am doing pretty darn good if I say so! I usually study the scriptures and ensign before I go to work, and record my thoughts on this blog before I go to bed. I have noticed a difference in my life. Let's try and make time for God each day, no matter how small it is. If we only have 5 minutes between classes, on the way to work, or a lunch break let's jump on the internet and listen to a conference talk, read an article on the church website, or read a passage of scripture.

I promise if we do this the adversaries control over us will weaken, and his power on earth won't be as strong! Let's do it!

Start Moving

She said:

Well, it's about time I start writing again. It's so easy to forget all about something when the rush of life hits you and your priorities become jumbled. I'm so grateful for my husband Garrett and his example. We had a great talk on Saturday night about our priorities and making sure we do regular scripture study and prayer and Garrett has been such a good example to me for the past few days about doing both of those things. :)

In my recent study I read an article from the Ensign titled, Start Moving, by Elder Von G. Keetch. I would like to summarize his words. He tells a story of smoke jumpers (men and women who fight forest fires by parachuting onto the ground above fire and fighting it from the top down while others fight from below). During one assignment an elite team was assembled for a briefing before jumping out of the airplane. The dispatcher told the jumpers that the fire was very volatile so he could not give them precise instructions, rather they should contact him by radio once they had parachuted onto the ridge. Once there he would give them instructions on how to fight the fire.

The team landed and followed instructions; they called the dispatcher but there was no signal, only static. Assuming the dispatcher was busy with other tasks they waited and tried again. Five minutes passed with nothing. The group conferred with each other. They could see multiple paths down the mountain that they could take, however they were concerned they didn't have direction from the dispatcher and were worried they would go down the wrong path. So, they decided to wait. Soon minutes turned into hours. They were frustrated. Why wasn't the dispatcher paying attention to them? During their wait time they consistently tried to contact the dispatcher, but there was no answer. If he would just tell them the path to take they would happily go. He said he would give them instructions.

Finally, after the group had eaten lunch and rested on their packs for 7 hours, they made contact with someone. It was a crew chief from the group fighting the fire below. He was shocked that the group was just sitting there and that they hadn't been helping. The lead smoke jumper explained that they were waiting on instructions from the dispatcher, but that they hadn't been able to reach him. They had been vigilant in trying to contact him, but they only got static. The crew chief took the radio from the jumpers and walked 50 yards down one of the paths and called the dispatcher. The dispatchers voice came in loud and clear. He then walked back to the ridge and down another path and called the dispatcher. Again the voice came back loud and clear. The crew chief hiked back to the smoke jumpers and said, "You are in a dead spot. All you had to do was start moving down one of the trails and the dispatcher could have given you course corrections and brought you to the the right spot where we needed you".

Elder Keetch goes on to relate this story to times when we are in spiritual dead spots. We sometimes acts as the smoke jumpers did. When we are in unfamiliar territory and have several paths to choose from we wait for our spiritual dispatcher, Heavenly Father, to tell us what path to choose. President Packer teaches that, "We are expected to use the light and knowledge we already possess to work out our lives. We should not need a revelation to instruct us to be up and about our duty for we have been told to do that already in the scriptures; nor should we expect revelation to replace the spiritual or temporal intelligence which we have already received. We must go about our life in an ordinary, workaday way, following the routines and rules and regulations that govern life".

Elder Keech teaches that as we press forward along the path we have chosen, we are in a better position to receive course corrections the Lord may have for us. But, if we just plop down on the ridge we may find ourselves in a spiritual dead spot. He testifies that the best and clearest direction comes now when we are just waiting for Heavenly Father to send us help and guidance, but when we are anxiously engaged. His challenge is this: Prayerfully and carefully use your own intelligence and your own resources to choose a path that seems right to you. Then become anxiously engaged in walking that path. When the time for course correction comes, He will be there to help you and to guide you.

I was really grateful for this article! I know that I needed it. Since moving back from Hawaii and starting a new chapter of our lives in Utah Garrett and I have so many paths to choose from. From apartments to jobs to cars and so forth. We are basically changing everything about our lives and it has been so difficult for me to make choices about what to do. I find myself looking on ksl or craigslist everyday for apartments and cars only to end the day with no results. I keep waiting to get an answer about what we should do. Where we should move, how many cars we should have, what loans we should take out for school, and so many other things.

I am grateful for this article because it reminded me that God loves me, but wants me to take charge of my life and actively make my own choices. While he does listen to my repeated prayers, he first expects me to use my intelligence and make the best choice I can. If I do head down the wrong path He will correct me and help me see which path I should be on.

My faith is strengthened and I have a new hope for the future. While I am still unsure about all the choices I have to make in the near future, I know that I need to take action and I will be guided as a do so.

T-I-M-E Spells Love

He Said:

This morning I read a really good article about spending time with children. It was in the July Ensign, on page 13. It made me think about the time I spent with my parents individually.

Ever since I was little I remember being outdoors with my dad. I had so much fun camping with him and my older brother Mike every summer. We would usually go fishing, rifle shooting and hiking. I really enjoyed bonding with my dad and brother up in the mountains. I agree with what President Uchtdorf says, "In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time." I think about the time that I have wasted that I can't get back and wish I could have a mulligan and start all over, but when I have children of my own I want to spend as much T-I-M-E with them as possible. I know I say that now and it will probably change later, but I think there are core times in children lives that are very important.

I know I wish my mom and dad were there more than they were at times, or if they were there to be more involved with personal things. Don't get me wrong I have great parents and they raised me well (If you ask them they probably think they failed because how rotten I was, but that is a whole different story)! They loved me so much and supported me in SPORTS all the time, but I wish sometimes we could of just talked more. I always got the lecture about sports and how I could of done better, especially from my dad (which I wish I would have listened then about). I think I was always so busy with sports growing up that even if my parents wanted to talk with me they couldn't. If I could go back I wish we would have cut back with the sports and hung out more as a family. I think it would have been fun to pick up a talent such as guitar, piano or country dancing. That way we had something we did together without a lot of competition and stress.

I think I am the way I am because of the time I spent with my parents, but I wish I had more one-on-one time with both my mom and dad to just sit and talk. I really liked in the article the experience about the dates the two parents would do with their kids. I want to try and apply this with my kids so that they can feel that love from Courtney and I, as well as be open about problems they are going through.

I am grateful for my parents and for the way they brought me up! I have grown so much from their examples and experiences. I hope that this little post doesn't sound mean at all, but just a journal of some feelings that came out while reading this wonderful article. I hope I can apply these principles someday, when we are blessed with kids.

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!

Remember - Mosiah 4

He Said:

So it is bedtime now and in order to stick with my goal I needed to record my mornings personal study. In verse 11 of Mosiah 4, there is a key sentence that I was reminded at work. It states: "I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God."

Today at work I was thinking a lot about The Holy Ghost and how he can bring to our minds a remembrance of all things. The reason I started thinking about this was because my boss Dave has the greatest memory of all time. I will go into his office and ask him about a project a company did for us a while back, and he can spout of the names of the people he worked with, and who to get in contact with, etc... He mentioned that the best way to win friends is by first learning their names and remembering who they are (Dale Carnegie).

On top of reading this book, I pondered on how to bring The Holy Ghost into my personal work setting, and how I can let him help make my absentminded thinking becoming a tool of remembrance. I first need to bring prayer into my life while I am at work. It gets hard at times to put up with rejection, but a silent prayer will help build me up.

I am excited to start using this gift from God to help me REMEMBER names, while winning friends.

Sorry that there is not a lot of scripture references, but I thought I would share a real life experience of what I read and pondered about throughout the day. :)

Becoming as a Child - Mosiah 3

He said: July 17th, 2011

This morning before church I read Mosiah 3. This chapter scratches the surface of Christs Atonement, becoming a Saint by putting off the natural man and becoming as a Child.

My focus today is how I can become more like a child by using the Atonement of Christ, while putting off the natural man.

When I refer to becoming like a child, I don't refer to doing childish things. If we ponder for a second what this simple word means (set aside the screaming, etc... that children do). Children are meek, teachable, obedient (for the most part :) ), humble and loving. Through study of the scriptures we see Christ use this phrase a lot in his teaching. Example: This is one of my favorite scriptures Matthew 18:1-4 - "At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them. And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

I personally want to enter into the kingdom of heaven! Christ has shown us the way we can return to him, but it is a lot harder than we think. We can't become as little children by ourselves. My wife and I constantly set goals and try and achieve them, but after a day or two we get burnt out and that goal slowly becomes history. This blog was started two weeks ago for the intent to record our daily studies....Well Two weeks later and very little study between our goal was not being worked on or achieved. But as you see today is my first post. I have re-dedicated myself and am recording my study.

You wonder why I brought that little tangent up. Well, all things are made possible through the Atonement of Christ. When we fail, fall, get hurt emotionally and physically, need help and/or just need a friend we can turn to Christ and his Atonement for help! He knows what we are going through, what we have gone through, and what we will go through so we only need to look to him for help. This is when becoming a child is so important, because we all have to much pride to seek help, but we need to be child like and learn from everyone.

Mosiah 3:9

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."

I know that Christ has suffered for me! I know that as I try and become as a true disciple of Jesus Christ, I will become as a little child, through the help of Jesus and his Atoning sacrifice. I pray that I can continue to stick to my goal of posting my thoughts and insights on this blog will not only help me become a better person, but will also bless someone somewhere! I love my Savior!

Gethsemane

She said:

Over the past couple days I have been reading from the King James version of the Bible in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I have been studying each prophets account of Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. The scripture verses include: Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46.

Each account encompasses most of the same information, however there are a few added differing details in each account. It was really nice to read each account to really get the full picture and experience of Gethsemane.

MATTHEW:

36¶Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called^aGethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and ^bpray yonder.

37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and^abegan to be sorrowful and very heavy.

38Then saith he unto them, My soul is ^aexceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and ^bwatch with me.

39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and ^aprayed, saying, O my ^bFather, if it be possible, let this ^ccup pass from me: nevertheless not as I ^dwill, but as ^ethou ^fwilt.

40And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them ^aasleep, and saith unto Peter, What, ^bcould ye not watch with me one hour?

41^aWatch and ^bpray, that ye enter not into ^ctemptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

42He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy ^awill be done.

43And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

44And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is ^abetrayed into the hands of sinners.

46Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

MARK:

32^aAnd they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

33And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be ^asore amazed, and to be ^bvery ^cheavy;

34And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.

35And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

36And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee;^atake away this ^bcup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

37And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one ^ahour?

38^aWatch ye and pray, lest ye enter into ^btemptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

39And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.

40And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.

41And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

LUKE:

39¶And he came out, and went, as he was ^awont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

40And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into ^atemptation.

41And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42Saying, Father, if thou be willing, ^aremove this cup from me: nevertheless not my ^bwill, but thine, be done.

43And there appeared an ^aangel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44And being in an ^aagony he prayed more earnestly: ^band his sweat was as it were great drops of ^cblood falling down to the ground.

45And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,

46And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.