Mosiah 9-11

Quote "The enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity. I testify and witness that the enabling power of the Savior's Atonement is real."

~Elder David A. Bednar

Question "In what ways do we depend on our own strength? How can we more fully receive the strength of the Lord?"

It's funny, I was just thinking about this.....on days when I'm just in a rush to get the kids off to school, and have a million things to do, and don't take the time to pray, I just think to myself "I need to get this done, etc..." without ever stopping to think that I wouldn't be able to do anything if it weren't for the Lord giving me the ability to do it! I depend on my own strength a lot! I need to stop doing that, because it never really is my strength anyway.

I know that I can receive the strength of the Lord by acknowledging Him in prayer, and asking for His help. I also receive inner-strength when I read my scriptures. I have a better understanding of a humble attitude when I do these things. Especially when I think about Nephi....here's a guy that was exceptionally obedient, who built a ship, who slayed a man, and who did so much more, and yet, Nephi never, not once said, "ha! see what I just did" or "I'd watch it if I were you Laman, you know what I'm capable of." He never depended on his own strength or abilities, he was always submissive to the Lord, as we should all be, for no matter how much we do to obey Him, we will ALWAYS be endebted to Him.

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If you're up to date with your reading, take time to study: Mosiah 3-4

Question "Once we've felt the Lord's forgiveness, how do we retain the remission of our sins?"

Mosiah 5-8

Quote "No one can be born again without baptism, but the immersion of water and the laying on of hands to confer the Holy Ghost do not of themselves guarantee that a person has been or will be born again. The new birth takes place only for those who actually enjoy the Gift of companionship of the Holy Ghost, only for those who are fully converted, who have given themselves without restraint to the Lord."

~Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Question "How can you more fully give yourself to the Lord to experience the might change of heart?"

I think just like the quote says, being a "Christian" in name is not all that you need to do in life....you need to be humble, and submissive to the will of the Lord. In today's reading, King Limhi is explaining to Ammon that his people have fallen into transgression, and now they are slaves to the lamanites. Haven't we all been enslaved, or in bondage to something or someone in our lives because of foolish decisions (i.e. debt, addictions, etc...). We can all identify here. It doesn't mean that these are the worst people on the planet. I'm sure the majority of them are just normal, decent people, but have forgotten the importance of putting the Lord first. I've done this a million times in my life, and that is why the Book of Mormon is so great to read...because this is the theme of the whole book! And, it pertains to today just as much as back then.

So, I think that, as hard as it is some days, we need to be mindful of the Lord, and His commandments in order to have a desire to do better and experience a mighty change of heart. Sometime sin puts us in such dark places that we search for any glimpse of light that we can to get out of the darkness, and when you find the brightest light, you cling to it with everything you have......at least for a while. Then we get comfortable in the light, and forget how much we need it, and stray a little further, and further until the light gets dimmer and dimmer, until....BOOM! we are in the dark again...."how did this happen? the light was just there?"

When we really humble ourselves, and consider what our Savior has done for us, there is nothing that we would ever want to do to go against Him. The trick is, the more good you do, the more you want to do. The more knowledge you have, the more you realize you need to learn. Humility is being able to look at yourself and sincerely know that you can do better, and you desire to be better, and you try to do better.

I think the Lord works differently with all of His children. Some obtain a mighty change of heart after a painful experience, like Alma the younger. Some have a mighty change from their youth, and never lose it, like Nephi. I personally think that as soon as you have a "real" knowledge of your Father in Heaven, and his Son, Jesus Christ, that you desire that change of heart!

Mosiah 3-4

Quote "Work at keeping your thoughts clean by thinking of something good. The mind can think of only one thing at a time. Use that fact to crowd out ugly thoughts. Above all, don't feed thoughts by reading or watching things that are wrong. If you don't control your thoughts, Satan will keep tempting you until you eventually act them out."

~Elder Richard G. Scott

Question "What helps you most to control your thoughts?"

I truly believe that environment plays into the control of our thoughts. When I am listening to primary music, for example, I have a hard time thinking of bad things. I believe that every person on earth struggles with their thoughts in one way or another. I know that pornography is a huge problem today, and other addictions as well. I have a serious problem with scary movies and anxiety. I watched a lot of scary movies in my youth, and I still remember them. I am very sensitive to those things, and also to real life scary things....for example, when CSI came out, my husband wanted to watch it, and one of the first episodes had to do with a kidnapped child....I already have enough anxiety about those kinds of things, so if/when I watch those things, I think about them all the more, driving myself crazy. So for me, it is really dedicating myself to not watching anything or listening to anything that puts me in mind of negative things.

As far as today's reading assignment goes, King Benjamin focused a lot on giving of our substance. If we have food, clothing, money, etc...and don't help those in need, we are committing sin. I wonder if we really all focused our 100% attention on giving service every day that we would never have time to think about our own problems, or have time for the negative thoughts that Elder Scott was talking about.

Mosiah 1-2

Quote "Our focus should be on righteousness, not recognition; on service, not status. The faithful visiting teacher, who quietly goes about her work month after month, is just as important to the work of the Lord as those who occupy what some see as more prominent positions in the Church. Visibility does not equate to value...When we understand why we serve we will not worry about where we serve."

~President Howard W. Hunter

Question "How often do you serve?"

I love this question....in my opinion, if you are a mother.....24 hours a day. There are lots of ways to serve, and everyone has their own experiences with this, so I will not address how I serve, or people in the church serve.

I will, however, address the service of our government leaders. I am just sickened at the state of our Nation. I've always loved history, especially American history, and I know that the men that started this Nation would not want it to be this way today.

In today's reading assignment, King Benjamin addresses his people before he dies. In the first part of his speech, he talks to them about his service as their King. He told them that he was called to be their king, and worked diligently at it every day, and that he labored with his own hands in service to his people, and that he did not burden his people with heavy taxes, so that he could just sit and live comfortably. He was righteous, and he led by example. He even goes on to humbly say that he wouldn't even bring it up (because he is not just boasting), but he tells them what kind of leadership they should look for in their land. Don't try to live off of someone else's living. Work hard every day, help others in need, live charitably, and don't try to just sit there while someone else is paying for everything you need (those that are able I'm talking about). I would love to have every politician read King Benjamin's address, and hope that if they did, it might shake them to their core for their greediness, and selfishness. The majority of people in "service" to our nation are looking out for themselves, and look at it as a job to make a living at, and not what can I do to help the people of this nation be better.

That is my peace for now.....I'm sure there will be much more to come on that subject!

Jarom - Words of Mormon

Quote "We have become a nation of pleasure seeking sabbath breakers...What fits the purpose of the Sabbath? Activities that contribute to greater spirituality...I don't believe that it is possible to keep our spirituality on a high plane by spending our Sabbaths on the beach, on the golf course...or in our own homes...looking at television."

~President Ezra Taft Benson

Question "How can you more fully keep the Sabbath day holy?"

Jeff and I were watching the Emma Smith story last Sunday, and when she was helping write the translations of the Book of Mormon, Jeff said to me "I wonder what was on the 144 lost pages." I never really pondered that before. In today's reading, in Omni, he speaks of other people leaving Jerusalem at the time that King Judah was taken away captive into Babylon, and settling Zarahemla. It also speaks of others crossing the seas to the promised land, and it made me wonder about their records. A few weeks ago, the question was something about keeping records, and it never ceases to amaze me that there are lots and lots of other records that we don't even have that testify even more of Christ.

One of the other things I loved about this reading assignment is the Words of Mormon in between the Books of Omni and Mosiah. I love how here's Nephi, passing down the plates to his brother Jacob, and he passes them on to his son and so forth, and all of them basically say that the words that Nephi and Jacob have said are as plain as can be, and there is nothing more they can add because they speak the truth. They all testify of the coming of Christ. They all testify of the wars between the Lamanites and the Nephites, and that when the Nephites are righteous they are helped and protected, and when they are not righteous they are overcome by the Lamanites. So, here are these guys all saying this, and then all of a sudden, a voice from hundreds of years later says, hey, I've been reading these records, and I've taken the most precious parts and abridged them. Oh, by the way, the testifying of Christ coming, yeah, that already happened, and there are other things that these prophets of old said would happen in my day that have already happened....and they also have testified of things in the future that haven't happened yet, but they will happen...and why doubt when they've been right so far!

I love Mormon putting in that little part, so that we can see that these are not just words and prophecies that don't apply to us, or that have nothing to do with us, or that we cannot relate to....quite the contrary! They left this record for us to read, and it speaks the truth which is eternal, and truth doesn't change, and it doesn't care what century it is in.....it is still the truth. Keep the commandments of God, there is safety and protection in that, and if you don't, your enemies will have power over you. Seems pretty simple, right?

Sorry that I didn't address today's question, I've gone on long enough, I'll tackle that one another day.

Jacob 6 - Enos

Quote "How many of you, with or without serious transgressions, have ever prayed all day and into the night? Have you ever wept and prayed for many hours? How many of you have prayed for five hours? for one? for thirty minutes? for ten?"

~President Spencer W. Kimball

Question "How often do you cry unto the Lord in mighty prayer? How can you make prayer more meaningful?"

I can't say that I have ever prayed the whole day and night, nor even many hours in a row. I have had experiences of what I consider to be mighty prayer. I don't know that I am capable of having "mighty prayer" every day. For me, the mighty prayers have been when I have faced something difficult, or have great concern for my children, or something more than just the usual day to day.
I feel that I have grown in prayer over the years, however, I still struggle with several things about prayer. I know that it is the devil that teacheth a man not to pray. I also believe that we should not counsel the Lord. I feel like we should pray for our brethren, but not like a laundry list of "bless him with this, and bless them with with this, and help her and help him, etc..."
For me personally, I think prayer is for man, not for God...it is our link to Him. And I feel prayer should be filled with mostly gratitude, and offering up the desires of our hearts, and that we should be praying for the will of the Father to be done.
I have known many people (including myself) that at some point in their lives have been like "I've been praying for this, and it's not happening, or the Lord isn't answering me in the way I want...". Along with praying, we need to remember to listen for the answers, and sometimes they don't come until years later. The Lord's timing is not our timing. He already knows our needs better than we do.
I don't like to say the same things in my prayers every time, yet, how can you not ever repeat things? So, for me it is a struggle to pray several times a day, when I haven't thought of anything new to pray about, and I do carry a prayer in my heart throughout many days. But I have had an experience in my life not too long ago (about 2 years or so) that I finally uttered the words "Thy will be done" in my prayer and meant it. It was VERY difficult for me to say those words because of the circumstances in which I was praying about. I really wanted what I wanted, and didn't want to really accept anything different. Since then, I have had peace and reassurance that it is better for the Lord's will to be done than ours, because He sees the big eternal picture, we just see our hardships on this earth. In any case, I still have much to learn about how to pray, and what to pray for, and how to listen to the answers to prayer. But, I am grateful for the power of prayer in my life, and that I can talk to my Father in Heaven, who I know loves me and knows me better than I know myself.