Great Book of Hope

I read a good book this past weekend, that I highly recommend. "When Times Are Tough: Five Scriptures That Will  Help You Get Through Almost Anything" by John Bytheway.
It has five different topics each with five different scriptures. The five chapters I guess they were are:

1. Five Scriptures That Will Help Me Get Through Almost Anything.
2. Five Scriptures That Wills Strengthen My Marriage.
3. Five Scriptures That Will Improve My Family Relationships. 
4. Five Scriptures That Strengthen My Faith.
5. Five Scriptures To Motivate Me To Action.

I think anybody would benefit from this book, not just those who are struggling with something. I like how he uses the scriptures to relate to the topics in ways that I hadn't thought of before. I will quote some of the quotes I liked from the book.

"How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow,  not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art.' Then, let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!"  Elder Neal A. Maxwell Ensign May 1991

This next one is paraphrased by Elder Packer and I didn't write the reference down. I don't have the book so I can't look it up.

Compare the Plan of Salvation to a 3-act play. Act One, premortal existence. Act Two is this life and is characterized by tests, trials, temptations and tragedies. Nowhere does the phrase 'Happily Ever After' appear in Act Two. That is for Act Three.

When trouble comes, the parties to a contractual marriage seeks happiness by walking away. They marry to obtain benefits and will stay only as long as they're receiving what they bargained for. But when troubles come to a covenant marriage, the husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each other, to the community and to God. Contract companions each give 50%, covenant companions each give 100%.  Elder Bruce C. Hafen Ensign Nov. 1996

 By Bruce R. McConkie:

Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present, and the greater the measure of obedience to Gods laws the greater will be the endowment of faith.

 Elder Jeffery R. Holland

...I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when He finds that His people do not feel confident in His care or secure in His hands or trust in His commandments.

 

Robert Louis Stevenson

You cannot run away from weakness.You must sometime fight it out or perish, and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

I think I'm going to need to buy another copy. I great book to give hope and practical advice.

 

Step 4 Revisited

It has been a very tough past couple of weeks. The good thing though, is that it has really got me working again on Step 4. I'm going through that Al-Anon workbook I bought. It is really making me think about my life and stretching my brain so to speak. I finally called my Mom and told her about my husbands addiction and ask her questions about my childhood. It will be interesting to see how things play out at the family reunion this summer.

I am so grateful for the gospel and scriptures. I don't know how I would get through this life without them. I also went and got a blessing from my Bishop. So glad for a worthy Priesthood leader. Well the test continues.

Have a great day!

Off Track

Okay, the past couple of weeks have been crazy and I got off track with my schedule. I have found that without doing my necessities in the morning my ability to handle stressful situations has been sadly lacking. What are my necessities?

• Scripture Study/Pondering
• Meaningful Prayer
• 12 Step Work
• Reading Something uplifting. 

I have learned this past week, that life can really, really suck without doing that. I need God's word forefront in my mind to keep me sane and stop my mouth from saying things I would later regret. It is also easier for Satan to encourage my "stinkin thinkin" from consuming my brain. So today in my scripture study I came to this verse Alma 37:37, my new favorite scripture.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou  liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Life has a way of humbling you and the past 7 days has certainly reinforced in me, my need to "counsel with the Lord" in everything. With God I can handle life, without him I can't.

Blessings

I HATE Birthdays, any holiday really. Sad I know. Maybe one day I won't, but not today. So today I heard this song and it was what I needed. So enjoy.