Serving Gods Servants

   My little girls are such good examples to me. They are truly amazing kids, both of them. I feel completely humble and very inadequate to be trusted with their upbringing. They teach me everyday! One of the lessons they have taught me this week was about service.  

My oldest daughter Alena is 10 years old. She has always been incredibly loving and spiritual. She is an example to me and occasionally chastises me when I am not paying enough attention in church or if I forget to read to them from the scriptures.

   This Sunday she had been asked to give a talk in primary. (The children's large group meeting) She decided to talk on serving others and on serving Gods anointed. 

I love this picture above. The girl washing the feet of Christ even looks a lot like my daughter. I have no doubt that she would do the same if she were to meet Jesus. 

  For her talk she Quoted from the book of Alma chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon. She told of the story of how Alma was serving a mission. He wasn't having much luck and he was about to leave and turn away from that city forever.  He was fasting and praying and he was inspired to go to the home of Amuleck. 

Provo City Center Temple

I went to the noon dedication session of the Provo City Center Temple. Elder Oaks talked about how the temple got a do-over. He talked about how we get to cleanse our lives and how God gives us do-overs.  I remember watching the news and seeing the tabernacle burning. 

I was so sad because I had spent a lot of time in that building as a child. My parents gave tours in that building when I was little, when they were so busy.... I got to give a few tours myself. 

Seeing it gutted, I thought for sure the building would be a total tear down. It was heartbreaking. I thought it was over. The same thing had happened in my marriage a year or so ago. We went through a really tough time. I was sure my marriage had burned to the ground. 

I couldn't find a way that it could possibly be saved.  But the Lord had a way. I was praying and asking God if my husband could be all I needed him to be. The impression I had in my head and in my heart that I felt was an answer from God was the feeling of "what you are asking of him, is nothing compared to what I want him to be."  I kept feeling like I needed to trust God and to give him a do-over. 

I saw my husband change his whole life. He changed his movies, music, church attitude and his heart. 

It's been a long and hard journey but our marriage is way better!  My husband is so much kinder, a better father, more supportive and loving. In a year he has already become so much more of what I needed him to be. He is more like the man I fell in love with, a man of honor and a man of conviction.  I can't wait to see what else God has in store for him and for us. 

Just like the temple, the very foundation of our relationship had to be reworked. After a year of hard work and a lot of repentance (from me as well) and we have something beautiful again. This time we are not striving for a tabernacle relationship, we are going to become better. We want a temple marriage, not just because long ago we married in a temple. We want to be pure and dedicated to the Lord. 

I am grateful we got this do-over and I am grateful for the symbolism of the holy temple getting one too. 

Love Lori 

Family Forever, really?

I had recently gone to the Provo temple open house with a good friend. She has not grown up in the LDS church. Watching the video talking about the purpose of the temples was an eye opener for her. She was shocked with just how much we talk about families. It was a new concept for her. 

  The way the church regards the purpose and responsibility of the family was all new to her. She had grown up in an unhappy and a broken home. She has two children of her own, but she has never married. She has lived a life so far from the Mormon ideal, was that kind of happiness and family life even possible? 

The part of the temple experience that stuck out to her was the video where Elder Holland talks about heaven. He talks about how it wouldn't be heaven without his wife and his children. She leaned over and whispered to me how she wants that. Heck, I want that myself! My husband and I are a 15 year marriage but we are a work in progress. I want to be a 50 year married and deeply in love couple like the Hollands. 

When we truly live as Christ wants us to live, we will have those lasting and meaningful relationships. God wants us to be happy. He doesn't want us to be miserable or to be stuck forever with miserable people. We have our agency but with his help and influence in our lives we can become the loving people he wants us to be. 

So don't get discouraged if right now life doesn't match the ideal that is talked about at church. We are so short sighted, God is patient. He is willing to work with us and on those we love long term. We need to make as much progress as possible in this life but we are eternal beings. When talking to my friend, I had asked her.... Which of your kids would you give up on? You wouldn't give up on any of them, even if you were mad once in a while. You would ALWAYS want your children. God is even a better parent and he is more loving and understanding than we are. He is perfect!  So when you struggle with your earthly father, turn to your Heavenly one! 

Lots of Love!

Lori 

  

When Christ gives up on us?

When is it enough? When does God or Jesus decide we are no longer worth saving? What happens if we make just one too many mistakes? Even if we repent, beg forgiveness and are sincere? Does he just get to the point when he would say, "I will atone for everyone else but you, you are not worth saving?"  

In everything I could research, I couldn't find that line when God gives up. I couldn't find that place where we are never wanted back. I didn't find a spot in the atonement where it says, "I died for everyone, but not for you." 

I found lots about confessing and forsaking. I found lots about loving one another and being forgiving ourselves. 

I found tons of information about trusting God and not withholding our love and support from our fellow men. I never saw a place where they said to exclude a person who wants to repent.  Always God draws a line about not accepting sin, but absolutely no evidence that he rejected the person.  He wants us to leave our sin behind and follow him. 

I had a friend recently tell me that they feel like God wouldn't want them back because they had slipped back into transgression.  We are both parents of two kids each so I asked, "which child would you want to give up, if they made a mistake?" 

It's not God who tells us that we are unworthy, or that we have gone too far to come back. He is a wise and loving parent.  Even if we have never had the loving protection of our earthly parents, he is still there. He knew we would stumble and fall. He knew we would make mistakes and that we would need the atonement. Christ suffered every loss, sin, discouragement, pain, addiction, crime and heartache. He did this so he could help us through it. He knew our choices would bring us physical and spiritual pain. He willingly climbed into that dark pit of despair to help us climb out. That climb requires effort on our part but he knows the way and he won't leave us alone. 

So to my friend who thinks that God won't want them anymore. Of course he does! We may be rejected by our fellow men, but men and women don't see the full picture and they make mistakes. Our worth is infinite and eternal. That means he ALWAYS wants us and we are always of value.  No matter what!

So don't give up! You are loved and wanted. Run to him! Trust in him! Ask him in prayer. You and I are both sinners and we are both worth saving. 

Love, Lori

 

Listening to God

In class we have been reading Helaman 10-16 this week and it has brought up a lot of sadness and compassion for me. 

  

The sadness I feel is over the prophet of those days in the Book of Mormon pleading with the people to be good, but  his prayers fell on deaf ears.  Then he pleads with God to spare them. Then when he sees the sword about to fall on his people, he asks God to send a famine and just to humble them, to save them from being killed. Chapter 11 God sends the famine, they repent and that helps for a time. Over and over again, the people return to their sins. 

It seems like a never ending cycle. The part that made me incredibly sad is that I see that pattern happening in the world today.

The people are trusting in money, their own strength, pride, coveting and fewer people are turning to God. I am really worried that the direction the world is going in. Are the prophets right now begging God not to let our enemies wipe us out? Maybe our leaders are praying for a famine or a plague instead? 

I see love and compassion failing and greed growing. I see people not helping each other because it doesn't line their own pockets. So many choose money as their idol. I see people coveting tv stars wealth, bodies or fame. Not being thankful for what you have leaves you empty. Not saying thank you to God makes you not appreciate where your blessings come from. 

The devil won't support us. He won't protect us or defend us. He is a coward. He wants us to be miserable like he is. He teaches us to be jealous of others. He teaches us to hate our bodies. If you notice the trends in fashion, one year big bums are popular. In a few years, it will be big boobs. After that, the trends will change and it will be anorexia in style. It's ever changing to get us to be unhappy and to waste our money to never be satisfied. 

We really should be working harder to forget ourselves. It's not all about us. It's about loving God and loving our neighbors.  True disciples of Christ will only take the basic care of their temporal needs. We have to be good stewards of our homes and bodies but they don't go to excess for the praise of man. 

The opinion of God should matter so much more than the opinions of friends, family or strangers. We should be working on impressing Him. 

We all want to be liked and to get along with others. We don't want to be hated or to get negative attention. It seems like the divide is getting wider, where there won't be a way to avoid having to prove whom we will follow. We have to choose where we stand. 

I hope to always be on the right side of God. I will always be kind to my fellow men, but I will stand up for what is right no matter what the consequences. I am not blindly following my church, I am not blindly following anyone. I am growing and learning to trust God. My life has been so much better since I decided to seek after him. I never want to go back! He is making more of my life than I ever dreamed I could. 

It's a gradual change but it is an important one. I'm so much more comfortable in my own skin, then I was before I started choosing to follow God. His peace is worth any opposition I can face in my life. 

Love, Lori

My personal pride cycle

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the "Nephite Pride Cycle" and how it applies to my life.  Here is the pride cycle I am talking about.  

The cycle is one from the people of the past but it's included in the scriptures as a warning to us today.  Here is the simplified version. I am posting both because the scriptures are a good reference, but I like the simple drawing because it spells it out for me in an easy way. 

This applies to us as a nation, as the world and to us personally.  Where are we on this cycle? Where am I? Many times in my life I have been humbled by my own bad choices and the consequences that came because of them.  For me, pride and destruction always comes because of my selfishness. I am too afraid to ask for help, or I am too proud to admit my mistake.  I put the I in pride!

I put my wants above the pain I may cause others, or the pain I may cause myself later. It's usually a case of "I want it now!" 

    I am struggling with this today.

  There are several types of pride or selfishness. It's not always pride because you think you are better, or more special than others. Sometimes pride is thinking you are not good enough.  Sometimes pride tells you that your not worthy. We get unbalanced when we overthink about ourselves in a positive or a negative way.

The best tools of the Devil are either thinking more of yourself or less of yourself. The best answer is: spend less time thinking of yourself! 

We need to be humble and to listen to the Lord.  We need to see what we can do to help others. We need to step out of our worries and stress and get out of our own heads. 

    So much anguish, depression and sorrow is in coveting what others have. It causes us to be dissatisfied with what gifts, bodies, and blessings we do have. It causes us to be ungrateful. 

  There is also the pride of thinking we are right, or smarter and that causes so much contention. We spend time having unnecessary arguments with people we don't know or, we don't try to understand where they are coming from.  

Does that build or take away from the spirit? I am guilty of this myself. When we have fights online it doesn't show the love we would show them in person, or if they were our family.  

    Aren't we all brothers and sisters? Would we act that way if they were in front of us and not over a keyboard? We don't know their life or their experiences. 

When considering the right thing to do, I have found that it's always best to lead with love. Imagine being in their shoes, imagine how bad their feet hurt. Imagine what they must have gone through, to feel the way they do. Their walk through life has been painful.  Their burdens have been heavy, their feet are so very sore.

   Maybe that's why Christ showed us his deep humility and example, by washing the feet of the apostles. He knew their walk was difficult, following Jesus Christ then, or now, is hard! 

I need to put my needs in proper order. There are things we HAVE to do to survive. We need to make sure we care for our bodies, our spirits, and our minds, before we can help others. 

    It's the analogy of the oxygen mask on an airplane. You have to meet your basic needs before you can serve others.

   So read your scriptures, eat a good breakfast, get dressed and then get to work! 

But don't do any of those necessary things to excess! If we spend too much time worrying about our needs we get out of balance. We may become sedentary, selfish and pleasure seeking.

   The opposite is also true. If we don't take care of ourselves enough, we can get sick, depressed, and we lose our capacity to serve. It's all about balance! 

    If we take care of ourselves and those around us in the right way then God blesses us with prosperity. Not always in material things, but prosperity of his spirit. 

We have to be so careful about equating financial prosperity with holiness. They are not the same. Sometimes the Lord will grant wealth, so that others can be blessed through us. Most of the time the blessings are in abundance of His spirit.

     That's why we are told to not judge the poor, they may be highly blessed of the Lord and we may be spiritually starving. 

  Those are my thoughts this week. I have a few things I need to adjust in my life to be better aligned with his will. Writing and researching this topic has given me good direction on my next steps to take. Be patient with my stumblings as well because my feet are sore from walking my hard path.

  Thanks for reading! 

Love, Lori 

Alma 30-35 my thoughts

   The first chapter in my reading starts off with the story of Korihor who is someone who is called an "anti-Christ" he is someone who is actively trying to convince people to turn away from their faith in Jesus.  This reading made me think a lot. Mentally I saw a lot of comparison between himself and Alma the younger who also went around trying to tear down the faith of others. 

   I also compared it to my life and my own experiences in coming to understand the gospel and to have my own conversion to Christ. 

Korihor and Alma the younger were both going against what they were taught so why is one a great Mormon hero and why is one an example of what not to do? The answer I think is: their hearts.  After having each a powerful spiritual experience telling them they were in the wrong, Alma the younger changed his ways. Alma the younger became a powerful missionary for good.  Korihor on the other hand, did not. He was rendered speechless because he would have gone back to trying to ruin the church if his ability to talk was restored. His heart was in a place to do Evil.  How does this relate to us in modern days? 

Are there people around us who are inside or outside of the church trying to tear down others beliefs? Absolutely! So how do we know, how do I know how to go? The answer is ask with sincere humility. 

We can ask in church to clarify questions we may have. We can ask about anything. Keep in mind you might get different answers, each person gives according to their experience and knowledge.  We can study the scriptures and read the words of the prophets and see where we can get further information. All of that is not enough though! We need to be humble and to ask the Lord. 

He created us and ultimately it is our responsibility to get to know God and what he wants us to do.  We are here and given personal agency and we will have to answer for ourselves.  If we get upset or offended because someone gave us bad advice and we lose our faith, that is up to us. We have to be humble enough not to be reactionary and paitent enough to get answers from the spirit.  There is a funny quote from Brigham Young: 

We live in a day and age where people get their feelings hurt and they get offended by everything, especially online. We don't hear enough people trying to see the other persons point of view, or being humble enough to ask questions. Then even fewer people these days turn to God and ask him for answers and guidance. 

    I can't change the world, I can only change myself. There was a time where I wasn't active in the church and I was very vocal about it. I did many things the prophets and apostles said not to do.  It took an "Alma the younger experience" to humble me.  I am glad I turned my heart over to God and I changed my life. I hope to never feel as empty and alone as I did before I came to know Christ. 

Above is the picture of Christ teaching in the temple. Those grown and wise men also had to be humble and teachable enough to listen. Sometimes lessons come is different shapes and sizes and we need to be able to recognize them when they come. 

Our relationship with God is the most important thing we can do in this life. We can't change others, we can't save anyone, but we can make sure we are teachable and humble enough to let the Lord in our life and to look to him for our salvation. 

This is my thoughts, feelings and impressions about Alma 30-35. I would love to hear yours.

Sincerely, Lori Hatfield 

The old ship Zion

Elder Ballard gave a great talk in General Conference about "staying on the old ship Zion." Sitting in sacrament meeting today I was thinking of that ship as I watched the young men bless and pass the sacrament. 

I watched as they wore their best white shirts and showed respect and reverence as they passed the bread and water to the congregation. I thought about how they looked like tiny waiters. I am not saying that with any disrespect. I have been on cruise ships before and watched as the young men would attend to the needs of the passengers. Those waiters would wear crisp white and attend to our every need. 

The young men who passed the sacrament, waited patiently as each member who desired partook of the sacred bread and water.  In coming to where we are to serve us, I was filled with gratitude. It reminds me of the love from the Savior, he comes to where we are. We take of the sacrament to remember his body and blood which was shed for us. 

I thought about other priesthood responsibilities, they are all acts of service. From blessing the sick to performing blessings and baptisms, no man blesses himself. Performing priesthood blessings and ordinances is always an outward act of service and love. 

The priesthood is an act never to be used to esteem one's self. It is not a selfish act. Every ward (congregation) in the church is ran by a Bishop or a Branch President. To me those men are like deck captains on the ship. They attend to our local needs or they send the stewards they direct over to bless our lives. They don't steer the ship, Christ does.  

Some people are offended that women are not called to be in the priesthood. I understand that they see things differently than I do about it. I served a mission but I was not given the authority to baptize or confirm anyone, I just taught. I don't see this as a bad thing. I enjoyed so much seeing the gospel change lives. I loved being a servant of Christ but I didn't feel the need to direct the boat. Changing lives matters most and not the titles given.  

I know that no one can take my place in the church or the family.

   The scripture says, "Neither the man without the woman or the woman without the man." I am proud of the work I do on the "Old ship Zion."  I serve, I teach, I minister to the poor and sick and needy as I enjoy the blessings of this cruise.  It would be foolish to jump off of a cruise ship because you weren't asked to be a waiter.  I am content in receiving every blessing and comfort the gospel brings to my life, I don't covet the roles of others.  I have (as a missionary and in Relief Society, over the last 20 years) sat in many ward councils as the Bishop and a select few discussed how to serve those in their charge. I have felt like my ideas and opinions were carefully listened to and often implemented. I have felt like a waiter on the ship.  My husband and I teach teens in our ward. We love them! That is the part of the ship our captain has asked us to teach. We teach from the scriptures and from church doctrine but we often share our opinions and experiences. We could easily teach the wrong things and lead our group astray. We pray and study and we follow the spirit to ask the Captain what his children need to know to withstand the storms. 

I take this calling seriously and we try to do our best to love and guide these fine young people.  We are their servants.  I would like to express my gratitude for a church who does not focus on selfishness but we focus on service to others.