Weakness ---> Ether 12:27

I think it would be cool to share things we've learned in scripture study so I'm going to start with something that I learned a few Sundays ago.  I was trying to memorize a scripture mastery and all of these thoughts started coming to mind so I wrote them down and started expanding off of them.


"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Do not become disheartened when you make efforts to follow Christ and you become more aware of your weakness. He is simply helping you create a healthy to-do list. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness." He has told us that as we come closer to Him that He will help us to know ourselves better and show us where we need to improve. Be encouraged by this because it means you are on the right track.

Do not become embarrassed or frustrated by your weakness. Use it as a reminder to be humble for that is it's purpose. "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble . . ." If our goal is to come closer to Christ, then we should actually be grateful for our weakness. Can you imagine how hard it would be to learn how to follow Christ if we weren't humble? Wouldn't it be difficult to learn how to trust in the Savior and His Atonement if everything came easily to you?  If you think trying to follow Christ whilst full of weakness is difficult, try doing it being prideful! It may be counter-intuitive, but it seems that while we often think our weakness makes us feel further away from God, the purpose of weakness is to bring us closer to Him. We just need to realize that purpose, and also that if we are dealing with our weakness appropriately, it should lead us to rely on and strive to be closer to the Savior.


Do not become prideful in the areas in which you excel. Use your strengths as a reminder of how far you have progressed and by whose power you have been blessed with such growth. Be forever grateful for the areas in which the enabling power of the Atonement has changed your very nature and made you a better person. Because of Christ and your choice to follow Him, you are on your way to becoming strong. You are on your way to becoming powerful. You are on your way to becoming holy. If you have tendencies or weaknesses that you feel are part of who you are, know that anything can be changed through the enabling power of the Atonement.  It may take time, but if you desire such a change you can take it to Heavenly Father every day and ask for the enabling power of the Atonement to help you to change. And according to His will and timing, the change will come.  If not in the timing you hope for, you will at the very least receive strength to bear the burden.

Do not be discouraged by your weakness. Use those areas in life that you struggle in as a reminder that you must be bound to Heavenly Father in order to accomplish what needs to be done and to reach your potential. It is very easy to lose hope that we will ever overcome our weaknesses. This is purely (and sometimes not as obvious as it should be) an attack from Satan. Whereas Christ shows us our weakness to help us recognize our need for His help, Satan would use that same gift of recognition to make us feel hopeless about our chances of overcoming our mistakes, bad habits, and general weakness. This is where Satan breaks many of us down and gets us to give up and stop trying, but the outcome is completely up to us. We get discouraged because we keep messing up and we think we should give up but this is because we do not understand grace. "...and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me." Christ says it right there. If we are humble, His grace is sufficient. That means that the ONLY thing we need to do is to not ever give up. Brad Wilcox gave an amazing speech about grace that explains this concept extremely well.  Forget about all the times you've messed up again after thinking you had dominated that particular weakness and left it behind. Forget all the times that you keep continually making mistakes and will in the future. They actually don't matter if you struggled and strived and never gave up the fight. And the best part is that if you keep trying you will eventually get it. You'll overcome. You'll grow your relationship with Christ and He will help you become a better person. It comes down to trust. 

Learn to trust your Savior with your life. Strive every day to do what you think He'd want you to do and watch how He transforms you into someone who is loved, admired, respected, emulated, and honored. Then pass that honor back to Him as you have seen many great individuals who have spent their lives following Him do. If you continue to give Him your life more and more fully, it seems only natural that you will also become someone who is sometimes ignored, hated, rejected, and you will offend some people. Christ certainly ruffled some feathers but always according to the will of His Father.  Life eternal is that we might know God, and Jesus Christ whom God sent. What better way to get to know someone than to walk a while in Their shoes? 

ON Money and possessions

http://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/seek-first-the-kingdom-of-god?lang=eng

I loved this video.  I have been thinking about all the guns I have been selling lately and how possibly in a way they have become some God to me.  Hopefully they have become more of an investment or feeling of safety.  But they have become helpful to sell when we need a little extra cash.  I have had no problem departing with them but hopefully they haven't become part of my soul as anything shouldn't be except.

God & Family

Everything should be put in there proper place.  Since I love running and training my dogs, I find myself asking what is the correct amount of time?  How can I use them to bring joy to peoples lives and bring the gospel to people.

1.  I have helped many youth have an outdoor experience.  All animals are for the use of man if used properly.  In a way hunters and fisherman are held to a higher accountability because we do take a life, thus we should ingest that life within us to appreciate that life.  We can mount and display an animals essence to appreciate its beauty and the wonder of Gods creations.

2.  When going to dog trials, I want to act in accordance of the gospel to set an example.  I feel I fail in some respect but they know I don't run on Sundays.  Its because of this that some feel its unfair because I don't take my turn to judge or be an active part of the committee.

Its unfortunate that money becomes to important in our economic daily living.  I have often wondered if I could live in the United Order as my many of ancestors have.  I know I could.  Ang and I could give up everything right now and work to share everything.  Its easy to say huh!.  Actual reality would be harder.  But the great examples of those who have gone before can give us hope that it is possible.

Parenting Tips

I saw this through the boy scout blog and loved it.  7 tips for raising responsible kids


http://blog.utahscouts.org/for-parents/7-tips-for-raising-responsible-independent-kids/

Boy Singing

had an opportunity to sing for the Silver Beaver award with my boys the star spangled banner.  open link below.


http://blog.utahscouts.org/silver-beaver/heaton-family-sings-star-spangled-banner-at-silver-beaver-awards/

Joseph Smith: Critics

William McClellan was a apostate.  Once an apostle, he was one of the ruffians who had Heber C Kimball face down I believe to just prior to Liberty Jail (need to check this) and said something like "What do you think of your Mormon prophet now".  Heber C Kimball in essence bore his testimony of Joseph.  This link is an interesting read in that William McClellan  never could deny the validity of the book of mormon

https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=4922

This letter is also amazing from William Mclellan.  He had lost his testimony of Joseph but what he said about the truthfulness of the B of M and his testimony of it is amazing.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/PDFLibrary/10.4PorterWilliam-77e21e5d-bed8-4a40-b144-98dbe80d5524.pdf

WE find that many of the apostates, even after loosing their testimonies, never deny the truthfulness of the book of mormon and many end up coming back.  Here is a running list

1.  Orson Hyde:  Lost faith soon after arriving back from his mission in England.   One reason was that of the Danite organization.  He felt Joseph sanctioned to much of their activities.  That, and other reasons, he testified against Joseph at the Richmond pretrial (just prior to liberty jail).  It was just a short time later when Joseph finally made it Nauvoo that he asked for forgiveness which Joseph gave.

2.  W W Phelps.  AFter being such a rock in the gospel, he and and JOhn Whitmer speculated on land in Far West which upset Joseph.  This lead to his eventual dismissal from the church.  He also came back later during the Nauvoo period which Joseph readily gave him membership back into the church with approval from the members.

3.  William McClellan.  Apostatized but never came back

4.  Lyman Wight.  WAs a very strong leader of the church up through the missouri period and part of Nauvoo (perhaps all of it, I'll check).   Got caught up in the the succession controversy and claimed that Joseph told him to take the Saints to Texas for safety. (check on authenticity).  he took a few but eventually joined the RLDS.

5.  Olivery Cowdery.  Apostatized .  Much can be said about him but he came back. (more on this later)

6.  Martin Harris.  same as Oliver Cowdery.

7.   David Whitmer.  SAme as Oliver and Martin  (research this more)

8.  John Corrill.  Help the church through the missouri period but ended up testifying against Joseph in Richmond.  Started his own church.  he never came back.  felt the saints didn't deserve the treatment they did.

9.  John Whitmer.  Apostatized and eventually joined the RLDS church.  Never denied his testimony of the book of Mormon.

10.  Reed Peck.  EArly member.  Wrote a short history of the saints during the missouri period.  Testified against Joseph in Richmond in 1839.  He also felt the saints were treated unjustly though.

Tom

Tom - Air Force man now.  Working on getting his passing MCAT.

Andrew Jack Heaton

Andy is an awesome  young man who is almost finishing up at BYU getting his masters and bachelors at the same time.  (is this right?).  info