Well, I’m up 🙂
Instead of 5:30, I set my alarm for 5:40 and when it went off, I hit snooze and then said a prayer in bed.
I then got up, got dressed, and now it’s 5:55. I’m tired but feel good about making the effort.
I started my study today by looking at the references in the article I’d read yesterday titled “Healing Hidden Wounds“. An article titled “The Shield of Faith” by Presindent Boyd K Packer is one I found in the references. This is one of the quotes that stuck out to me:
As it has been since the beginning, the adversary would divide us, break us up, and if he can, destroy us. But the Lord said, “Lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, … taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (D&C 27:15, 17; emphasis added).
I like the phrase about “quenching all the fiery darts of the wicked”. That is what I’m trying to do today as I submit my will to God and try to “take upon me the whole armor of God, that I may be able to withstand the evil day…”
Another quote that really sticks out:
The ultimate purpose of all we teach is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly Father.
I want to have a happy home.
I want Caleb to be happy.
I want Madi and Chloe to be happy.
I want little J and his little brother to be happy.
And I especially want Beck to be happy.
My role in that happiness is dependent on my faithfulness; it’s dependent on my keeping of the commandments.
Yesterday I was wondering how many times it mentions the phrase “If you keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land; but if you don’t keep my commandments, you shall be cut off from my presence…” in the Book of Mormon.
Thanks to Google, I found at least a couple answers:
One of the overarching themes in the Book of Mormon is captured in this remarkable promise the Lord made to Lehi and to all who come to the land of promise:
Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.1
In this verse the Lord teaches us that the opposite of prospering is to be cut off from His presence and, thus, from all of the blessings that flow from Him. To prosper in the land is to receive all the blessings that God has prepared for us.
Obedience connects us to the Savior and opens channels for His love and power to flow into us, much like life-giving nutrients flow from the trunk of a tree into its branches.
The other reference that came up was from LDS.org that said there were about 14 references, although I think there are more.
I think the real answer is 54 as shown here:
Either way, I’m grateful for this promise. I’m grateful that the way is so clear on how I and my family can prosper in this life and in eternity. I’m grateful that there is an answer on how we can be the most happy in this life.
When I was fully engaged in my addiction, especially this last time, I was never truly happy. I was always angry, frustrated, short-tempered, or just flat out irritable. I yelled a lot and lost my temper.
I don’t want that to happen anymore. I don’t want to scream at the kids for stupid little things. I want to be more patient and loving.
President Packer goes on to say:
Lest parents and children be “tossed to and fro,” and misled by “cunning craftiness” of men who “lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14), our Father’s plan requires that, like the generation of life itself, the shield of faith is to be made and fitted in the family.
The plan designed by the Father contemplates that man and woman, husband and wife, working together, fit each child individually with a shield of faith made to buckle on so firmly that it can neither be pulled off nor penetrated by those fiery darts.
It takes the steady strength of a father to hammer out the metal of it and the tender hands of a mother to polish and fit it on…
In the Church we can teach about the materials from which a shield of faith is made: reverence, courage, chastity, repentance, forgiveness, compassion. In church we can learn how to assemble and fit them together. But the actual making of and fitting on of the shield of faith belongs in the family circle. Otherwise it may loosen and come off in a crisis…
And finally:
The great plan of happiness (see Alma 42:8, 16) revealed to prophets is the plan for a happy family. It is the love story between husband and wife, parents and children, that renews itself through the ages.
This is what life is all about: the happiness of the family unit. It is a love story between husband and wife, parents and children.
I feel good about getting up this morning to make time to study and pray so that I will have on the “full armor of God” that will help me fight off the fiery darts of the adversary.
I will continue to work the steps of my plan to have a “perfect day”.
Hasta luego!
Nate
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