I normally really don't like fasting; lats week was fast sunday and I chose not to fast because we were driving to WY that night. I felt bad about it all day. But yesterday i remembered that, so I decided to fast today (Sunday). I'm so glad I did. I felt the Spirit really easily and really strong. It was easy for me to love other people and want to show that love. It was easy for me to hear the Spirit. I learned a few things, more than normal. It was easy for me to look past things that normally annoy me...especially the way people talk and stuff like that...and just focus on their message. It was great. I fasted for knowledge on how to schedule our time when I get home, now that Joseph is starting school, and I want to have more structure for preschool, and just schedule in general. I think it's good for me and for the kids, and a good habit to get into before the dreaded winter sets in. So...I'll started writing about my ideas in a second. But here's what I learned/when I felt the Spirit today while fasting.
1. Mom shared about her trip with Jordan and Haylie and moving them to Boise. She said how she listened to the Spirit and went with them, even though she was exhausted and didn't want to. She ended up really helping them out each day; it would have been a lot more complicated without her...sick kids, no food or unpacked boxes, big decisions they needed to go to the temple for, etc. The sweetest part to me was the part of her experience where Jordan asked her why she did stuff for her parents. She said that it wasn't necessarily for them, but for Heavenly Father. She said that she need Jesus's grace for everything in her life, and this was one way she felt like she could really do something....it was like she had energy for that, for being nice to them, so she did it because she could and she knew it was what Heavenly Father wanted her to do. Another thing I appreciated about the whole thing is that she is still patient with Jordan and me and others who have a harder time with Grandma and Grandpa, and understanding why Luana and my mom help them. It was like Mom used Jesus's atonement not only to help her forgive and love them, and to have energy to help them, but ALSO in not holding it against us for not doing the same or feeling the same. I think that's really sweet of her, and a good example of really using Jesus.
2. I was reminded a few times today just how much we can use Jesus and His Atonement. How much He wants to help us and how much He can. I think I'm fearful that He won't or something...because people still have problems, or because I still have anxiety and I'm not always sure if it could have been taken away by Jesus, etc. But a lady talked about how Heavenly Father and Jesus helped her be patient as a mother, and be Christlike through a difficult situation with her four year old, even though he wouldn't go to bed, etc. She saw the blessing not as him stopping, but as her having patience and love for him. I was touched by her talk, and how she said she prayed when she was feeling angry and frustrated; and Heavenly Father answered. She imagined what Jesus would do if He were her children's parent and how He would act. I thought that was such a good thought that I haven't every thought of and want to.
3. Another way that Jesus can help me an dhow His Atonement can play a daily role in my life is that I can give people the benefit of the doubt, and assume they can change and will change, etc., through Jesus Christ. This can help me not hold grudges, or be kind to people even if they weren't kid to me or did something I don't like What if they have repented? I can just assume that Jesus and His Atonement is working through them, and He's the final judge anyway. so i can treat them the way I want them to be...like as though they have applied the Atonement in ways I can't see.
No comments:
Post a Comment