Fight or Flee

All Quotes are from Elder Ellis October 2017 General Conference: Read His Talk Here

Elder Ellis asks the question, "Do I fight or do I flee?" My first response was possibly like most people, "I fight for truth and righteousness." But then he gave some examples of people fleeing, Like the pioneers. I believe that because they were 'fighting for Christ,' they knew they had to flee. They had to live and survive to help Him grow His church. And living in insane conditions, wouldn't grow healthy hearts or minds.                   

Elder Ellis finished by saying it is in what spirit we flee or fight, that matters. We cannot flee or fight in a spirit of fear. The pioneers where not fleeing in a spirit of fear. They were done!!! Done being persecuted, done loosing lives and homes and all that was dear to them.

He said that discouragement and fear are tools of the adversary.  I am feeling discouraged by how hard a 12 week, presenting coarse is. I loved his encouragement to build a strong mind by sticking with it. 

(Later . . . Actually Elder Ellis didn't say "to build a strong mind, or to stick with it. He did say ". . . go forward in faith."He quoted a scripture in part, found in 2 Timothy 1:7. " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear" The rest of that scripture does say, "but of power, and of love, and of a SOUND MIND." I was being witnessed to by the power of the Holy Ghost.) 

When we have a hard time one of our first responses are to quit. We can think we are having a stupor of thought. And that is often not true. When things get hard we give in to fear. When our brains feel fear it's response is automatic. It say's do I fight, Flee, or freeze? And unless we are thinking with our "Thinking Brain" (the pre-frontal Cortex) we forget what it was that was so important to us to have started it in the first place. Fighting to achieve it, or overcome it doesn't seem so important anymore.

I was sitting in Sacrament meeting yesterday listening to testimonies. One lady in our ward was talking about a trial she is going through and knew, that she either had to "Feed her faith, or Feed her Fear." That is the bottom line, the descision we have to make. What do we feed when life gets hard?

This is a good talk for that, listen to it in the spirit! What do you hear and feel?

• "Do we trust His commandments to be for our good? 
• His leaders, though imperfect, to lead us well? 
• His promises to be sure? 
• Do we trust that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do know us and want to help us? 
• Even in the midst of trials, challenges, and hard times, do we still trust Him?"

"It seems clear that hard is good!"

"President Thomas S. Monson has pleaded, “May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”2 With regard to our temples, he stated that “no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive [temple] blessings.”3

In the world of nature, hard is part of the circle of life. It is hard for a baby chick to hatch out of that tough eggshell. But when someone tries to make it easier, the chick does not develop the strength necessary to live. In a similar way, the struggle of a butterfly to escape the cocoon strengthens it for the life it will live."

Struggle is a part of life. It is when we accept the struggle, lean into it, and accept what is going on, do we turn weak things into our strengths.

"Through these examples, we see that hard is the constant! We all have challenges. The variable is our reaction to the hard."

When our family lost our dream job in Nevada of living on a farm and doing home school we were devastated, sad and very disappointed. There was a lot of emotion going on. We had a 2 1/2 year time of underemployment. But the lessons we learned were immeasurable. The strength we gain keeps giving and giving. 

"We each choose our reaction to hard."

Be Careful With Easy
Here Elder Ellis describes his work with multi millionaires. Noting that many of them had decided that they would make life easy for their children, so they wouldn't have to suffer as they had suffered. Of this he said:  "They did not want their children to suffer as they had. In other words, they would deprive their children of the very thing that had made them successful."


Declare how you want to get through the HARD
Did you know how powerful it is to make a declaration out of a scripture. In the end of his talk Elder Ellis tells of his desire to "stand with Mormon as a true disciple of Jesus Christ." I looked up the scripture he referenced there and decided if you stand with Mormon, why not declare it. It is in 3 Nephi 5:13. The beginning of that scripture is a declaration. 

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God."

Behold is saying, look at me. This is what I am. Not in a vain way, but by way of examination. I am an example of Jesus Christ, this is what a disciple looks like. And I declare it to myself and the world! What a better way to start a declaration. 

Morning declarations are firm positive thoughts that give us a firm foundation to stand on during the day. We can get ideas for them from the scriptures, from modern day apostles and prophets. Create them to help spiritually hold your mind in a place of love. Design them and use them for power of thought.

Joy in the Journal
We are going to go through hard things, doubts, sadness, and many other emotions will show up. Struggle is eminent.  What will we do with it, can we do the hard? Use these questions to dig deep during the hard. Write about your answers, use the answers to make a statement to yourself, about what you will do with that hard time, how you will fight.

• "The question “Do we trust Him?” may be better stated, “Do we have the faith to trust Him?”
• Do we have the faith to trust His promises regarding tithing that with 90 percent of our increase plus the Lord’s help, we are better off than with 100 percent on our own?
• Do we have sufficient faith to trust that He will visit us in our afflictions (see Mosiah 24:14), that He will contend with those that contend with us (see Isaiah 49:25; 2 Nephi 6:17), and that He will consecrate our afflictions for our gain? (see 2 Nephi 2:2).
• Will we exercise the faith necessary to keep His commandments so He can bless us both temporally and spiritually? 
• And will we continue faithful to the end so that He can receive us into His presence? (see Mosiah 2:41)."

Answer these questions on your own, then use these scriptures to find a deeper answer. Moses 1:39, D&C 112:10, D&C 1:38, Alma 37:16, Isaiah 55:8–9.

***All blog posts in this section are from LDS Conference Talks. All Quotes are from one individual talk with references to whom the speaker was also quoting. This is how I started recording my thoughts while reading Conference talks. Now I want to share them with you.***

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/do-we-trust-him-hard-is-good?lang=eng

Yielding to Spiritual Gifts

Quotes by Elder John C. Pingree jr.:Read the Talk Here

Why "yield ourselves to God?" I Have spent the last 3 1/2 years learning how to gain and develope self mastery. I have noticed along the path the strong pull of resistance. It is strong and sometimes very hard to want to get uncomfortable enough to finish a goal, to over come an unwanted behavior and become that person I dream to be. So I have read and Learned about why we are "Resistant" to change. 

I want to change, I want to yield and I have learned some amazing tools of how changing what you think, is the yielding part. It is the beginning of "Change." The opposite of "Resistance."

Photo by SwapnIl Dwivedi 

"To Moses, God declared, “I have a work for thee” (Moses 1:6). 

• Have you ever wondered if Heavenly Father has a work for you? 
• Are there important things He has prepared you—and specifically you—to accomplish?

I testify the answer is yes!"

President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “Before we came [to earth, we] were given certain assignments. … While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to.”2

What did we once agree to do? Have we found the answer to that amazing question? When I think of it, this causes me to think deeply. I have pondered it many times. I have prayed to know.

Once while I was in my garden, I heard the words in my mind, "This is your passion." I had been studying about passion projects and what they do to keep our minds in a healthy place. And I wanted to figure out what I was passionate about. And then I heard those words. 

I also love people and want to help them learn what can they can do to increase and progress in this life time. So am studying all I can to improve my teaching skills.

These two things bring me a lot of joy. When I was raising my family that was my passion and my joy. Now I enjoy these two things and find ways to serve doing both of them.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his ^aworkmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good ^bworks, which God hath before ordained that we should ^cwalk in them.

When we find something that we can help our Father with, it gives our life meaning and purpose. We rise up to new levels. I never use to think that I, as an ordinary person, could do great things. But the truth is . . . just serving in a calling, helping a neighbor out and taking care of a family of 6 children is "doing great things." 

I am one ordinary person. And now I know because of the things I did, I can do more.

1 Corinthians 1:27 But God hath chosen the ^afoolish things of the world to ^bconfound the wise; and God hath chosen the ^cweak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

President Russell M. Nelson explained:

“The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself! You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place. …

“The Lord needs you to change the world. As you accept and follow His will for you, you will find yourself accomplishing the impossible!”4

Four Principals to find your purpose

Desire to help others:

D&C 11:8 If you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.

The other day I was in a waiting room and I picked up a magazine called "The Magnolia Journal." (fall 2017 issue) This magazine was a shared message of what a couple did for a living and was sharing their gifts with others. Inside the magazine they encouraged others to find their passion and with beautiful illustrations, encouraged others to start doing something.

Each item was something someone could get education about, gain the talent in and then bless other lives with it.

"The primary purpose of divine assignments is to bless others and to do “much good.”

A friend/mentor of mine has dedicated her life to serve others who suffer because a loved one is addicted to porn. She spends 2+ hours every week mentoring and blessing their lives at no cost to them. She recognizes a strong need in these women and seeks to bless them. These groups of women number 25 or more each session.

Discover and Develop Your Spiritual Gifts

What is a spiritual gift?
Do I have a spiritual gift?
How do I find my spiritual gifts?
There are many many spiritual gifts here are some. And Elder Pingree states:
" . . .but there are many others.6 Some might include having compassion, expressing hope, relating well with people, organizing effectively, speaking or writing persuasively, teaching clearly, and working hard."

The friend I talked about up above Finds her gift and her determination to help moms who suffer because of others choices.

Make Use of Adversity

When we go through a trial we learn and we grow. The lessons learned can be your greatest ways to start to discover a new gift and serve other people.  Elder Pingree says that the Lord teaches us what we can do to bless others because of the "specialized empathy, developed through adversity."

Rely on God

"When we ask Him in faith with real intent, He will reveal our divine assignments to us.9 Once we discover them, He will help us fulfill those assignments."

 By way of warning lets be prepared for the thing that would keep us from this divine assignment:

" At the same time God helps us fulfill divine assignments, the adversary works to distract and dissuade us from a life of meaning."

Sin is perhaps our greatest stumbling block, dulling our sensitivity to the Holy Ghost and restricting our access to spiritual power.

 Are we living in such a way that God can work through us?

Satan also seeks to distract us with less important matters.  Are we so preoccupied with worldly things that we are diverted from our divine assignments?"   

I loved this quote from this talk and have used it for a reminder of who I am as a servant in our Heavenly Fathers work. And who better to get if from than Mother Teresa: “It’s [God’s] work. I am like a … pencil in his hand. … He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used.”10  

My hope is that God can use me because I made myself available to him!

Joy In The Journal 
Things to consider and journal about after reading this message.
1. Am I living in such a way that God can work through me? 
2. What are my spiritual gifts? Have I discovered them? What will I do to discovered them?