Breather 2 - Fear

Breather 2

  I did not plan to post another “breather” so soon, well.... I guess that works as I said before the breathers aren't planned posts anyways.

  I gave my talk today and enjoyed doing so. I was told my message was clear and understandable. I am grateful for that.

  

  I have had the words of one of our beloved Prophets of this dispensation, Gordon B. Hinckley, stuck in my head. “I challenge every one of you who can hear me to rise to the divinity within you. Do we really realize what it means to be a child of God, to have within us something of the divine nature?” (Oct 2002)

  I've been playing this over and over in my head. Especially his question, do I comprehend what it means to be a child of God? Do I comprehend I do have within me something of His divine nature?

  This brings to my mind another question: what am I allowing in my life to hold that nature back.

  I am only twenty-six, and less than a month away from my twenty-seventh birthday. Yet in my relatively short life-span I have learned a great and important truth. That age means little to those who learn to seek council from the Father using the means He has established. And so, while my years are few, I am comfortable in knowing I am learning to feel the spirit of God, and learn from it the will of my Father. I am comfortable knowing that I am learning how to be led by that Spirit, in my accepting the council it gives me so that I may live a happy life.

  My life is a happy one. I cannot deny that. Yet it is not free of stress and worry, nor is it free of doubts a fears. These things, while contrary to the nature of happiness, enable us to be educated in our lives by allowing us to know the things we dislike in our lives, so that we can know happiness and joy when they are placed before us. I go to bed at night thankful for the blessings of the day, knowing even if I do not recognize them that they have been given. I arise each morning knowing that it's going to be a happy day entirely because I live, and I have my Father's spirit with me. Let what worries and doubts, fears and frustrations come that will, I will endure them as I must and give thanks to my Father for the lessons learned through them, and by them.

  I keep thinking about the words I've heard, but I don't remember who spoke them: “Don't take council from your fears.” Such a simple yet profound little statement. The Lord did not send us here to give into our fears and reason away the opportunities He would place before us. Yet we do this so naturally without realizing that we are. I know I've done far too much of this myself. Yet we were made to be creatures that learn so that we could learn to take advantage of the opportunities God would place into our lives. I'm still not really sure how well I am able to do this yet I know I am trying.

  Elder M. Russel Ballard taught, “Faith is one of the greatest powers that you and I have in this sojourn of mortality. Fear is one of those principles that the devil uses. He likes to seed in your minds and in mine doubt and questions. He’s the father of all lies; he lies to us, and he can confuse us if we allow ourselves to be caught up in fear. So replace any fear or apprehension you have now with faith—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in your fathers and your mothers. Stay close to them.”(Sept 2011)

  If I knowing that fear is a tool of the devil and I make use of it in my life, then what does that tell the Lord of my faith? What does it tell myself of my faith? President Hinckley taught, “We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness(disobedience).” (Oct 2005)

  That line, “We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments.” Do we get it? Any reason that keeps us from following the councils of God, any of these reasons we choose to entertain, deny us the blessings of the Father He himself intended for us to receive. Many of these blessings are granted later as we learn to obey, but how much happier would we be if we had pushed away our fears and doubts and had learned to listen to the Lord the first time He intended to give us certain blessings.

  Let us not be afraid to do good, let us not be afraid to seek happiness and be aware of the blessings of the Lord. And let us not be afraid to choose to follow the councils of the Father to us so that we do not deny ourselves the blessings He seeks to give us.