Patriarchal Blessings - Did You Know...?

   
                               

Today we were blessed with a lovely sacrament meeting program all about personal revelation - the Spirit surely was present. After church, my son Gabe received his patriarchal blessing! It was an incredible experience and so nice for his sister to be able to come and witness. 

Last night to prepare him for today, I found this video on YouTube. It's an interview with a Patriarch and he shared some wonderful insight about patriarchal blessings. Thought you all might enjoy it as well. ❤️

            

Insight from General Conference & A Message for Now!

Here it is! What a powerful and important message I have taken away not only from General Conference, but also from the top news stories of last week. It all fits together. Did you notice too? After 18 hours of filming, editing, and uploading, I'm happy to announce that my 10-day social media fast begins right now! See you all after the 22nd. :)

Choose You This Day - The "Last of the Last Days"

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" Who we serve right now, determines who we will become in these "last of the last days". Where your your heart lies will determine where and what your treasure is.

This week's video message is all about sacrifice, sanctification, and an update from last week's message on false traditions/false gods and idols - and as promised, shared notes from recent talks given by Sister Holland, Elder Nelson, and Sister Nelson at a stake conference.

Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy Women's Conference!

 

The Mysteries of the Kingdom

August was such a busy month for me. Sorry about being MIA. Do you ever feel like you you have so many things you need and want to get done but so little time in the day? This has been my obstacle all summer. Now that that kids are back in school I'm hoping to get a better handle on my list of things to do. This blog is definitely on that list.

Some AMAZING things have happened to me this summer. What's mentioned in the these scriptures below has happened to me!

Doctrine and Covenants 76:7 

And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:11

And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways.

I can't go in to detail today but as I continue posting, I'll share a little more each time. I will say that there is so much knowledge that we don't have but if we genuinely ask with righteous desires it will be given to us. I have had so much personal revelation about "mysteries of the kingdom" revealed to me that I became mentally and physically exhausted last month. It's so much to comprehend and once you have the knowledge you have on obligation to apply it and be held accountable for it.

I know that there is a time and place for everything. I was not ready for this knowledge until recently. I have shared it with others and have found that some were ready to hear it and have embraced it and sought out for more and others did not seem to understand or have any desire to hear more. They were not ready.

I was reminded about the scripture,

Mathew 7:6

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

and...

Doctrine and Covenants 41:6

For it is not meet that the things which belong to the children of the kingdom should be given to them that are not worthy, or to dogs, or the pearls to be cast before swine.

I truly believe that we are all at different levels of spiritual learning. Some of us are seekers of the truth and we receive revelation daily (knock and it shall be opened, ask and ye shall receive) and others don't yet have that desire to seek out further truth and knowledge...and that's okay.

But I testify from personal experience that when you are ready to hear truth it is delicious to the soul! It's a euphoric feeling and it burns inside of you. Just like Alma says below,

Alma 32:28

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Because of what I know and have been learning, my purpose and mission in this life has become more clear and more important. I am working and strengthening my gifts to better help do my part in building the Kingdom of God. Sentences in my patriarchal blessing are now clear to me and I am seeing wonderous miracles come to pass.

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. His power is real and His atonement it real. Our Father in Heaven's love for us is endless. Until we truly believe in His power and how it can bless our lives, our faith will not be enough to see those miracles happen in our lives. This is what Moroni spoke about when he said,

Moroni 7:37

Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

WE can have these amazing miracles happen in our lives on a DAILY basis, just like in the days of the ancient prophets if we start believing again. If we exercise our faith.

That is all I can say for now. I ask that you pray about this. Get yourself in a position to desire to increase your faith and to have a closer relationship with your Heavenly Father and the Savior. With what lies ahead in these last days, it will be our faith that sustains us. It's so important that we get ourselves prepared.

I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Have You Been Chosen?

I've been reading Sheri Dew's book No Doubt About It, and let me just say that Chapter Three has been ground shaking for me. Sheri talks about how our spirits long for us to remember who we have always been. If we understood this and remembered, it would change everything. It would change how see ourselves, our confidence and affect everything we do.

Sheri goes on to talk about how we qualified by spiritual valor to be born into the House of Israel. She says, "...which lineage President Harold B. Lee called the 'most illustrious lineage' of all who would come to earth. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote that 'The whole House of Israel, known and segregated out from their fellows, was inclined toward spiritual things'. He also noted that the foreordination to come to the earth as a member of the House of Israel was 'an election...for those so chosen, selected, or elected become, in this life, the favored people [in that] though all mankind may be saved by obedience, some find it easier to believe and obey than others'".

The kind of lives we lived in our premortal life determined what we could receive in this life.After all we did have agency and we exercised it all the time. It makes sense as we are taught that the kind of lives we live here on this earth will determine where we spend eternity. I truly believe that we were taught and schooled in our premortal life all about what mortal life would be like. We were told that our choices in our premortal life would determine further blessings in our mortal life. We did all we could to prepare. My own patriarchal blessing speaks about things I did in my premortal life that were pleasing to the Father and what those choices earned me in this life.

To take it a step further, look at where you were born, the freedoms you have and the blessings of the gospel in your life. You clearly were an incredible spirit engaging in important and pleasing work and therefore you were elected to your place in this world. You were elected because everyone believed in you and knew that you would be the best person to accomplish your specific mission. That alone should increase your confidence about who you really are and what you are capable of.

Being born into the House of Israel also tells you that you are "inclined toward spiritual things" meaning that you recognize eternal truths very easily. You recognize when the Spirit speaks to you and you act. You understand and recognize personal revelation and you seek it. These are the characteristics of the spirits who were chosen to be born into the House of Israel. A chosen people.

Sheri says that George Q. Cannon repeatedly taught that God reserved his noblest spirits to come forth in this last dispensation. Yes my friends, we were the strongest. Now, when I think of nobility I think of the greatest leaders, prophets  apostles and righteous kings. If we were all the noblest spirits then are were we not of that same group? Given different assignments and positions but nonetheless of the same nobility. Incredible! You are more than capable and qualified for the work you have been called to do. You even believed so yourself before you passed through the veil and your memory was gone. If you can truly beleive that again, imagine what you could accomplish!

As parents, we were chosen to rear up this last generation prior to Christ's return. We were the strongest and most qualified out of all the spirits in heaven to teach the last wave of missionaries that would take the gospel to all the earth.  It was us. We were elected.

Satan also knows who we are and what we were chosen to do. It angers and terrifies him. When you feel those thoughts of doubt and negativity that you aren't good enough or why bother with anything you know that is Satan trying to keep you far from remembering who you once were and who you still are. When you have those thoughts get on your knees and ask for help to remove them. If you can push aside his lies and tactics you will discover incredible truths about yourself.

Lastly, Sheri says that we will never be at peace until we fully understand who we are, who we have always been and who we may become. She suggests that we go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to talk to us through the Spirit about us. Begin by reading D&C 138 and Abraham 3, continue in prayer and the Lord will speak to you about you.

Well, I don't know about you but I can't wait to give this a go. As you can tell from my previous posts this has been a strong topic on my mind lately and it's amazing how the Lord is leading me to all of these great books, scriptures, talks and people who are building upon this knowledge for me. Like I said before, these books just fell into my lap at the library. I wasn't looking for them or any specific book, they just somehow stood out and I grabbed them off the shelf in a hurry without reading the backs. They all align with each other.

In fact, today a returned missionary spoke in our sacrament meeting and his entire talk was about "many are called, but few are chosen". I have been discussing that scripture all week and it's meaning. We have all been called (elected) to our missions and positions in this life but only the few who magnify their callings and strive to build up the kingdom will be chosen. Yes, there are many who forgot they were called and they have strayed from being chosen. They do not say, "Lord, here I am. Please use me. I will serve thee." The Lord chooses who he can use and rely on to do his great work.

I testify to you, that we are not here on this earth to waste time, be idle and just entertain our own pleasures. We are here on a mission to do a work. We have been called and we need to roll up our sleeves and get busy. Life will not be as fulfilling and satisfying until we do. When our spirits rejoice at our remembering the promises we made and as we get involved in the work, we will find great happiness and enjoyment in this life for we will be chosen. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.