Eternal Purpose
Sunday we gave our 'Welcome to the Ward' sermons in our ward...I say sermons because thats what wording the bishop used. It was super funny. We were up late the night before because we had another long momentum day with Ben and Mikayli on Saturday and then had some receptions to go to. So we finished everything around midnight haha.
It was really interesting preparing talks with Jack. We have such different styles of writing. He liked to physically write things down and I enjoy more typing things out and practicing out loud.
Our families came to support us and it was a fun experience. We got called to be Ward Missionaries. We are excited.
I spoke on Eternal Purpose, something that I have had on my mind for a while. Just how life events can make us feel differently about the future.
Here are the notes I used....
It was really interesting preparing talks with Jack. We have such different styles of writing. He liked to physically write things down and I enjoy more typing things out and practicing out loud.
Our families came to support us and it was a fun experience. We got called to be Ward Missionaries. We are excited.
I spoke on Eternal Purpose, something that I have had on my mind for a while. Just how life events can make us feel differently about the future.
Here are the notes I used....
(I used this when introducing Jack and I) Jack’s a smart guy and the thing I thought was pretty funny
about him when I met him was all his knowledge of random facts, he is just a
bundle of random information. From movie quotes, sports stats, types of cars,
celebrities, world events, etc. So I knew I wanted to marry him because I knew
that if we were ever going to be on a game show (How to be a Millionaire, Jeopardy,
The Jimmy Fallon show) I know we would win, so that was a big green light for
me.
Eternal Purpose
-Today I would like to talk about a concept
that his been on my mind for the past year or so
-When big life events happen like….…when a
baby is born, someone we know gets sick, a friend gets married, a family is
sealed, a loved one passes, a dear friend falls away from the church, careers
taking a turn, disappointments with school, kids growing up or even the regular
lows and highs of life…
-I think in situations
like these wake us up from our spiritual slumber and makes us ask our selves
some big questions or cause personal contemplation…I know I always ask myself
what is the purpose? and I take a step back to look at life in an eternal way.
-how come looking at
our life from an eternal perspective changes how we think? It helps us to make changes big or small to become closer to
God’s plan…maybe become a little more forgiving with ourselves, look at our
spouse more lovingly, maybe not place too much happiness on temporary things,
spend more time doing things with the people we love and being more God fearing…I
think we do these things because life events reminds us what our purpose in
life is.
-my goal today is to
hopefully help you grasp onto that perspective and to go home with a little bit
more faith and hope about the happy and hard times ahead, with some extra help
to refocus your eternal purpose.
-I think being members of the church we all of
a beautiful understanding of where we are from, why we are here and where we
are going…but I think sometimes, its not that we lose track but there are distractions/voices,
whether our own or the world’s, in our way like in Lehi’s dream of the Iron Rod
that try to drive us away from fruit.
-In 1 Nephi 8:24-25 it says….
24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and
they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of
darkness, aclinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and
partake of the bfruit of the tree.
25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did
cast their eyes about as if they were aashamed.
26 And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the aother side of the river of water, a great and bspacious building; and it stood as it were in the cair, high above the earth.
27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and
female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in
the aattitude of bmocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at
and were partaking of the fruit.
28 And after they had atasted of the fruit they were bashamed, because of those that were cscoffing at them; and they dfell away into forbidden paths and were lost.
-I think sometimes this situation happens more
often then we would hope…maybe not as drastic as the situation in Lehi’s dream
but I think we often have these super amazing spiritual experiences that we
will never forget and then because of where we place our priorities and time,
we sometimes wander off from the Iron Rod even though we KNOW its the right
thing to do.
-I have a 3 points/phrases that I would like
to make that have helped me find purpose and perspective in life and overcome
falling away…
1-believe in Good things to come
2-be content with whats God given to you
3-The simple answers are always right
1-BELIEVE IN GOOD THINGS TO COME
-There is a talk by Elder Holland talking
about the journey of him and his family across the United States when he
experienced some hardship…and he delivered this message of “Good Things to
Come”
-He says, “Every one of us has times when we
need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon
as “hope for a better world.”2 For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs
to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing
and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance
ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far
away, there is the promise of “good things to come.
Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until
heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in
the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”
-say whatever you feel…
2-BE CONTENT WITH WHAT IS GOD GIVEN TO YOU
-I have found that with the world now, I find
myself in comparison mode all the time…with social media I feel like it is
really easy to fall into this.
-But in Come Follow Me last week me and my
husband we were studying Matthew 25 that reads the parable of talents…the Lord
gives 5, 2, and 1 talents to 3 different servants. The servants with 5 and 2 go
and double their talents and the Lord gives them a similar response saying…
-His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and
faithful aservant: thou hast been bfaithful over a few things, I will make thee cruler over many things: enter thou into the djoy of thy lord.
-On the other hand the servant who only had
one talent hid his talent because he was afraid…the Lord punishes him.
-what we discussed was that it doesn’t matter
how many actual talents we are blessed with in this life. Sometimes it feels
like some people have way more than we do…but to the Lord its all the same. We
just need work with what is God given to us and he will give us more.
3-THE SIMPLE ANSWERS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT
6 Now ye may suppose that this is afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and
small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
7 And the Lord God doth work by ameans to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by
very bsmall means the Lord doth cconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.
-I know that often times we think that
praying, reading our scriptures, going to the temple, reading our patriarchal
blessing are answers that seem too simple to help us…but those are the things
that make a true difference.
Jack spoke on Forgiveness and Repentance. He used the story of Alma the Younger.
From Will's Graduation this week
we ate at Cheesecake Factory and were up at the U for the ceremony
After church on Sunday :)
Comments
Post a Comment