The Rock and the Hard spot

I remember as a very young girl the guilt that went through my entire being because I had taken something that didn’t belong to me.  I didn’t know at the time why I had that feeling but I didn’t like it.  I had been taught the teachings of Jesus Christ, yet I blew it.  I hadn’t planned on taking something that didn’t belong to me: I just did.  And my pain was worse than when I was hit in the head with a rock a few months previous.

It wasn’t for several days that I decided to confessed.  It was so hard; I knew my parents would be so disappointed in me.  But I had to get rid of that pain that seemed to worsen hour by hour.  I really didn’t understand repentance at that young age, I just had hope that I could feel better again.  And I did. A feeling of peace covered my entire body.  It was a great lesson I learned.  My parents forgave me and the emotions I had stored up in those few days dissipated. 

Fast forward many years,  I still made mistakes but from that first experience I learned to recognize my dependence on the Holy Ghost and when the guilt begins, I need to repent immediately.  The longer I put it off the more miserable I am. 

As painful as that lesson was at that tender age I will always be grateful,  for I was rescued from a lifetime of feeling unworthy.  Repentance is powerful!  It works over and over again.

Cherrished Children

I have seven children and they have given me 26 grandchildren who I love very much.  Children can be challenging in this world of deteriorating values.  They were challenging for me years ago.   I felt so inadequate being in charge of all their needs, feeding them, housing them and clothing them.  I felt the urgency to help them develop character, unlease their spiritual potential and help them to become independent moral people that would fit in society.  One child was a big job but seven....what was I thinking.

So with that said, and knowing I am basically out of the kid business, (all of them are raising their own children)  I feel to tell the world (who ever will listen)  what I would do if I could do things all over again.  Where my priorities would be now, that I have a clear picture of the past.

Here is my "I WISH I HAD OF DONE LIST"

Lesson #1
I would have set up my home as a "Christ Centered Home" complete with everything I could think of that would invite the Savior to spend time with us, including pictures that depict the Savior throughout his life, everything entering would reflect what I believed in.  The TV would NOT be the center of my living room.  There is almost nothing on it that teaches what I would want taught to those I love the most.  The TV would be small and in a inconspicuous place unplugged only to be used on special occasions. 

Lesson # 2
Family Home Evening once a week!  No way....it would be everyday, every evening.  I would cease each moment to teach, edify and share my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ.  Teaching would be my focus especially the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ would be #1 focus. 

Lesson # 3
From the time each baby was born until they left home I would be looking for ways to teach my favorite subject, "How to recognize a prompting from the spirit, and to promptly follow that prompting.  When I saw the movie "Ephraim's Rescue"  I knew what made that young man special...He knew the voice of the Holy Ghost and he always acted upon it quickly.  A great article to read is in the June 2013 Ensign page 24, written by Jeniffer Jones...."Nine Principles for a successful family"  A family choose to take a Sabbatical for a entire year from activities such as dance, sports, anything that took them away from their family focus. They chose to focused on recognizing the spirit and understanding their responsibility in responding to those promptings.  They had great discussions around dinner every evening, took walks and focused on one thing only. Wow!  I can see the value of that is far higher than another year of tumbling or dance. 

Lesson  #4
I would try to instill in them how to recognize key words used by the adversary such as :  FEAR, ANGER, WORRY and HATE.  These are tactics created to keep us  away from trusting God.  Our world seems to love drama....and we don't want our children to go there.  They need to know that God knows them so well that He has their best interest in hia hands at all times.  We are here to be tested and yes, bad things do happen to good people.  We can  grow from our trials and our difficulties.

Lesson  #5  I would limit outside influences in my home.  Yes I mean friends, I would hope to have such a wonderful environment that they love being at home with their family   Siblings would be their best friends.  Our home would be a place of refuge from the world and always feel safe and loved.

Lesson  #6  Once a month FHE I would invite interesting people with marvelous testimonies into our home for dinner and a time for them to influence my children with their testimonies.  My children could also practice their manners and learn how to interact and ask good questions to the speakers.  I would also have the whole family look for a service project we could all participate in somewhere in the community (secretly if possible) at least once a month.  Service is huge and finding them  opportunities to give freely to others.

So for what its worth maybe these lessons can be of value to others, since I am thus un-employed I will blog them out into the world.

Hiking is one of my passions

Rebecca & Ann

I like to hike.  That's not really true; the truth is I love to hike.  Just last week I was able to go on 4 great hikes.  The hikes I take are up in the mountains going  to a destination or peak.  The hikes I went on last week ranged from 4 to 12 miles.  I have certain friends that I enjoy hiking with,  Jane, Ann and Pam .  We all come from different (walks of life) but have found joy in starting on a path and going to set destination.

Life is like a hike!  As we go through life no matter when we start, we are all looking for the perfect path to get us somewhere, somewhere that brings us happiness.   I have met people from all over the world, and discovered that very few have a real destination in mind.  Most people just meander, not knowing where they really want to go, and spend time on every path anyone beckons them to come on.  My destination in life is to return to my Heavenly Father.  I desire that with all my heart.  Most folks just wander from path to path looking for something better than where they are now, hoping to find a reason to be on the pathways in life.

On Saturday we were beginning to wonder if we would ever reach our destination which was “Green Ponds”.  It seemed to us that we should have arrived.  A few minutes later there was a path leading in a different direction, and we had to make a decision, which path would take us where we desired to go.  The one we were on appeared to be the best traveled.   Yet neither were marked to give direction.  After a few minutes Ann said,  lets  not  make a decision until we take the less traveled path up and around the bend until we can see more clearly, so we did and to our surprise we arrived at our ponds.

It’s too bad that there isn’t a road sign on every pathway in life like the following:  “Beware this path will lead you to destruction.” Or “ Danger, cliffs ahead ,this path you will bring you lots of pain and suffering".  Or “Stay on this straight and narrow path, don’t exit and you will find great joy and happiness”. 

I have two granddaughters serving missions in different parts of the world.  McKensey is in Honduras and McKaila  is serving in England.  Both of them are trying to teach people that there is a destination to life,  there is a clearly marked path that can bring them Joy and Happiness, even though there may be some obstacles in the way.  They are discovering that many people are searching for answers.  The answer to all of life's questions is "Jesus Christ".  He provides a path that will lead us directly to him if we will not wander. 

Hiking is great fun, unless you get lost.  Life is also great fun, until you get lost.  I am so glad that when I am feeling lost I can turn to my source ( Jesus Christ)and not depend on the wisdom of man to get me on the right path again.