Trials Are Good

There are times when I think I can't take life anymore. I want things to change, and to change now. Oh if life were that easy. But it always seems to be that just when you think you can't take one more thing going wrong, life gets a bit better for a moment to give you a chance to breath. It is always like this. I just have to remember to hang on a little longer it will get better. Then this morning when I'm reading step 3 I get this quote by Elder Richard G. Scott:

When you pass through trials for His purposes, as you trust Him, exercise faith in him, He will help you. That support will generally come step by step, a portion at a time. While you are passing through each phase, the pain and difficulty that comes from being enlarged will continue. If all matters were immediately resolved at your first petition, you could not grow. Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved  Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love. Talk

That is really comforting to me. It does amaze me as to how much we can endure though, we are amazing.
Thought questions for today:

• How can I come to trust that God's plan will bless me and those that I love?
• Why is it important to submit cheerfully?
• How can I learn to submit cheerfully
• How does keeping a gratitude journal help me to submit cheerfully to God's will?

I will say that not fighting my trials tooth and nail makes it much easier to bear them when "I let go and let God". 

Also when I try to look for my blessings for the day. It is really hard to be bitter when you are trying to be grateful. 

Love vs. Lust

I have to say I read todays Love Dare chapter and wished by husband would read it. Maybe one day he will. But I'm not going to hold my breath. Well here it is so you know what I am talking about.

Day 24: Love Vs. Lust

End it now. Identify every object of lust in your life and remove it. Single out every lie you've swallowed in pursuing forbidden pleasure and reject it. Lust cannot be allowed to live in a back bedroom. It must be killed and destroyed--today--and replaced with the sure promises of God and a heart filled with His perfect love.

 So I was thinking what do I lust for. Lust had bad connotations but if its just longing for then I do lust for things. I want my bathroom redone so I can use it. I want my kitchen redone, because I hate it. It isn't as usable as I want and everything is starting to break. So I need to go back to being grateful with what I have. I have other bathrooms to use. Not everything in my kitchen is broken. But I'm not sure this consumes me like pornography addiction consumes the addict that is in it. But does that make it okay for me no.

Today in our family scripture study we were talking about Matthew 5 and how Christ expects us to live a higher law than the world. For instance the world- no adultery. Christ --no looking with lust. The world embraces lust. Look at the advertising world, it throws it in your face. Lusting for things and people has become the norm instead of the exception. I have to say I would watch HGTV and lust after those beautiful kitchens. We recently got rid of cable and don't even have any TV channels right now. I don't miss it a bit. That really helps me. So again today I will focus on being grateful for what I have.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Some days are there to just teach us that we need to depend on God. To remind me I am nothing without him. Yesterday was such a day. I'm glad its over and I am ready for today.

Day 23: Love Always Protects

Remove anything that is hindering your relationship, any addiction or influence that's stealing your affections and turning your heart away from your spouse.

This got me thinking. When does my heart start to turn away from my spouse? It is when I start to focus on what he is lacking instead of his many good qualities. When I am in an "attitude of gratitude" frame of  mind, I have hope. This is what I need to start the healing process. It is so easy to slip in the quagmire of despair when I loose site of what blessings I have been given. The many tender mercies the Lord gives me to remind me he is there and cares about me. I think Satan loves it when I focus on the negative. Then I am more open to destroying the family unit. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of that. He has already had to much pleasure at our families expense.

I think gratitude is a vital ingredient in Step 2. Believing that God can restore us to complete spiritual and emotional health. When we are grateful we open ourselves up to what God has in store for us. When we are ungrateful we are shutting him out of our life. Yesterday, I slipped back into my old pattern of trying to control my husband. I didn't like myself. That isn't who I want to be. That isn't who I am going to be. I had to let go and let God. Then I started to feel hope and gratitude. But when I was in the funk I felt awful and dark. I love these steps. They help me to stay focused and get out of my funky mood more quickly.

So today I am going to be grateful for everything God has given me. There is a reason for it all.