Be Not Troubled

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take five minutes to read from start to finish. 

This post focuses on a October 2018 General Conference talk and it is called "Be Not Troubled" by Elder Ronald A. Rasband. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk. 

Elder Rasband has mentioned the following; 

"... Some years ago, one of our young married daughters and her husband asked Sister Rasband and me a very important, life-influencing question: “Is it still safe and wise to bring children into this seemingly wicked and frightening world we live in?”

Now, that was an important question for a mom and dad to consider with their dear married children. We could hear the fear in their voices and feel the fear in their hearts. Our answer to them was a firm “Yes, it’s more than OK,” as we shared fundamental gospel teachings and our own heartfelt impressions and life experiences.

Fear is not new. The disciples of Jesus Christ, out on the Sea of Galilee, feared the “wind, and the waves” in the dark of the night. As His disciples today, we too have fears. Our single adults fear making commitments such as getting married. Young marrieds, like our children, can fear bringing children into an increasingly wicked world.

Missionaries fear lots of things, especially approaching strangers. Widows fear going forward alone. ... We fear failure, rejection, disappointment, and the unknown. We fear hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires that ravage the land and our lives. We fear not being chosen, and on the flip side, we fear being chosen. 

We fear not being good enough; we fear that the Lord has no blessings for us. We fear change, and our fears can escalate to terror. Have I included just about everyone? ... The Lord is with us, mindful of us and blessing us in ways only He can do. 

Prayer can call down the strength and the revelation that we need to center our thoughts on Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. The Lord knew that at times we would feel fear. ... How is fear dispelled? ... Remember the words of Joseph Smith: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!” 

Jesus Christ lives. Our love for Him and His gospel dispels fear. Our desire to “always have his Spirit” with us will push fear aside for a more eternal view of our mortal lives. President Nelson has cautioned, “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

... And then this divine counsel: “Be not troubled, for, when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled.” Stand in holy places be not troubled and promises shall be fulfilled. Let’s look at each one of these in relation to our fears.

First, stand in holy places. When we stand in holy places our righteous homes, our dedicated chapels, the consecrated temples we feel the Spirit of the Lord with us. We find answers to questions that trouble us or the peace to simply set them aside. That is the Spirit in action. 

These sacred places in the kingdom of God on earth call for our reverence, our respect for others, our best selves in living the gospel, and our hopes to lay aside our fears and seek the healing power of Jesus Christ through His Atonement. There is no room for fear in these holy places of God or in the hearts of His children. Why? 

Because of love. God loves us always and we love Him. Our love of God counters all fears, and His love abounds in holy places. ... When we are tentative in our commitments to the Lord, when we stray from His path leading to life eternal, when we question or doubt our significance in His divine design, when we allow fear to open the door to all its companions discouragement, anger, frustration, disappointment the Spirit leaves us, and we are without the Lord. ...

The next promise is “Be not troubled.” No matter how much wickedness and chaos fill the earth, we are promised by our daily faithfulness in Jesus Christ the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” And when Christ comes in all power and glory, evil, rebellion, and injustice will end.

... Remember, “they that be with us” on both sides of the veil, those who love the Lord with all their heart, might, mind, and strength, “are more than they that be with them.” If we actively trust in the Lord and His ways, if we are engaged in His work, we will not fear the trends of the world or be troubled by them. 

I plead with you to set aside worldly influences and pressures and seek spirituality in your daily life. Love what the Lord loves which includes His commandments, His holy houses, our sacred covenants with Him, the sacrament each Sabbath day, our communication through prayer and you will not be troubled.

The last point: trust the Lord and His promises. I know that all His promises will be fulfilled. ... The Lord has revealed: “For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.”

This is why we should not be troubled by the turmoil of today, by those in the great and spacious building, by those who scoff at honest effort and dedicated service to the Lord Jesus Christ. Optimism, courage, even charity come from a heart not burdened by troubles or turmoil. ...

To receive personal revelation, we must place priority on living the gospel and encouraging faithfulness and spirituality in others as well as ourselves. ... Elder Kimball said: “I did a great deal of thinking and praying, and fasting and praying. 

There were conflicting thoughts that surged through my mind seeming voices saying: ‘You can’t do the work. You are not worthy. You have not the ability’ and always finally came the triumphant thought: ‘You must do the work assigned—you must make yourself able, worthy and qualified.’ And the battle raged on.”

... He recognized he had to put behind him his fears to “do the work assigned” and that he had to rely on the Lord for the strength to make himself “able, worthy and qualified.” We can too. The battles will rage on, but we will face them with the Spirit of the Lord. 

We will “be not troubled” because when we stand with the Lord and stand for His principles and His eternal plan, we are standing on holy ground. Now, what about that daughter and son-in-law who asked the very heartfelt and probing, fear-based question years ago? 

They seriously considered our conversation that night; they prayed and fasted and came to their own conclusions. Happily and joyfully for them and for us, the grandparents, they have now been blessed with seven beautiful children as they go forward in faith and love. ..." 

If you would like to read the whole talk either now or in your own time, here is the link below.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/be-not-troubled

For Times of Trouble ~ Part Two

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take four minutes to seven minutes to read from start to finish. 

This post focuses on Brigham Young University {BYU} Devotional, and it is called "For Times of Trouble" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. This post is part two, and I would like to share with you some highlights that I have liked about from the Devotional.

Elder Holland has mentioned the following; 

"Here your most crucial challenge, once you have recognized the seriousness of your mistakes, will be to believe that you can change, that there can be a different you. To disbelieve that is clearly a satanic device designed to discourage and defeat you. 

When you get home tonight, you fall on your knees and thank your Father in Heaven that you belong to a Church and have grasped a gospel that promises repentance to those who will pay the price. ... Repentance is simply the scriptural invitation for growth and improvement and progress and renewal. You can change! You can be anything you want to be in righteousness.

... You can change anything you want to change, and you can do it very fast. ... It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes you to say, “I’ll change” and mean it. Of course there will be problems to work out and restitutions to make. 

You may well spend indeed you had better spend the rest of your life proving your repentance by its permanence. But change, growth, renewal, and repentance can come for you as instantaneously as for Alma and the sons of Mosiah. ... Do not misunderstand. Repentance is not easy or painless or convenient. 

... But only Satan, who dwells there, would have you think that a necessary and required acknowledgment is more distasteful than permanent residence. Only he would say, “You can’t change. You won’t change. It’s too long and too hard to change. Give up. Give in. Don’t repent. You are just the way you are.” 

That, my friends, is a lie born of desperation. Don’t fall for it. ... Immerse yourself in the scriptures. You will find your own experiences described there. You will find spirit and strength there. You will find solutions and counsel. Nephi says, “The words of Christ will tell you all things . . . ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).

Pray earnestly and fast with purpose and devotion. Some difficulties, like devils, come not out “but by prayer and fasting.” Serve others. The heavenly paradox is that only in so doing can you save yourself. Be patient. As Robert Frost said, with many things the only way out is through. Keep moving. Keep trying. Have faith.

"Worry doesn't help tomorrow's troubles but it does
ruin today's happiness." 

... Several decades ago an acquaintance of mine left a small southern Utah town to travel to the East. He had never traveled much beyond his little hometown and certainly had never ridden a train. 

But his older sister and brother-in-law needed him under some special circumstances, and his parents agreed to free him from the farm work in order to go. 

They drove him to Salt Lake City and put him onto the train—new Levi’s, not so new boots, very frightened, and eighteen years old. There was one major problem, and it terrified him. 

He had to change trains in Chicago. Furthermore, it involved a one-night layover, and that was a fate worse than death. His sister had written, carefully outlining when the incoming train would arrive and how and where and when he was to catch the outgoing line, but he was terrified. And then his humble, plain, sun-scarred father did something no one in this room should ever forget. 

He said, “Son, wherever you go in this Church there will always be somebody to stand by you. That’s part of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint.” And then he stuffed into the pocket of his calico shirt the name of a bishop he had taken the time to identify from sources at Church headquarters. 

If the boy had troubles, or became discouraged and afraid, he was to call the bishop and ask for help. Well, the train ride progressed rather uneventfully until the train pulled into Chicago. And even then the young man did pretty well at collecting his luggage and making it to the nearby hotel room that had been prearranged by his brother-in-law. 

But then the clock began to tick and night began to fall and faith began to fail. Could he find his way back to the station? Could he find the right track and train? What if it was late? What if he was late? What if he lost his ticket? What if his sister had made a mistake and he ended up in New York? What if? What if? What if?

Without those well-worn boots ever hitting the floor, that big, raw-boned boy flew across the room, nearly pulled the telephone out of the wall, and, fighting back tears and troubles, called the bishop. Alas, the bishop was not home, but the bishop’s wife was. 

She spoke long enough to reassure him that absolutely nothing could go wrong that night. He was, after all, safe in the room, and what he needed more than anything else was a night’s rest. Then she said, “If tomorrow morning you are still concerned, follow these directions and you can be with our family and other ward members until train time. We will make sure you get safely on your way.” 

She then carefully spelled out the directions, had him repeat them back, and suggested a time for him to come. With slightly more peace in his heart, he knelt by his bed in prayer (as he had every night of his eighteen years) and then waited for morning to come. Somewhere in the night the hustle and bustle of Chicago in the 1930s subsided into peaceful sleep.

At the appointed hour the next morning he set out. A long walk, then catch a bus. Then transfer to another. Watch for the stop. Walk a block, change sides of the street, and then one last bus. Count the streets carefully. Two more to go. One more to go. I’m here. Let me out of this bus. It worked, just like she said.

Then his world crumbled, crumbled before his very eyes. He stepped out of the bus onto the longest stretch of shrubbery and grass he had ever seen in his life. She had said something about a park, but he thought a park was a dusty acre in southern Utah with a netless tennis court in one corner. Here he stood looking in vain at the vast expanse of Lincoln Park with not a single friendly face in sight.

There was no sign of a bishop or a ward or a meetinghouse. And the bus was gone. It struck him that he had no idea where he was or what combination of connections with who knows what number of buses would be necessary to get him back to the station. Suddenly he felt more alone and overwhelmed than he had at any moment in his life. 

As the tears welled up in his eyes, he despised himself for feeling so afraid but he was, and the tears would not stop. He stepped off the sidewalk away from the bus stop into the edge of the park. He needed some privacy for his tears, as only an eighteen-year-old from Southern Utah could fully appreciate. But as he stepped away from the noise, fighting to control his emotions, he thought he heard something hauntingly familiar in the distance. 

He moved cautiously in the direction of the sound. First he walked, and then he walked quickly. The sound was stronger and firmer and certainly it was familiar. Then he started to smile, a smile that erupted into an audible laugh, and then he started to run. He wasn’t sure that was the most dignified thing for a newcomer to Chicago to do, but this was no time for discretion. 

He ran, and he ran fast. He ran as fast as those cowboy boots would carry him—over shrubs, through trees, around the edge of a pool. Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day.

The sounds were crystal clear, and he was weeping newer, different tears. For there over a little rise huddled around a few picnic tables and bundles of food were the bishop and his wife and their children and most of the families of that little ward. The date: July 24, 1934. 

The sound: a slightly off-key a cappella rendition of lines that even a boy from Southern Utah could recognize.

Gird up your loins; fresh courage take;

Our God will never us forsake;

And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—

All is well! All is well!

[“Come, Come, Ye Saints, Hymns, 1985, no. 30]

It was Pioneer Day. The gathering to which he had been invited was a Twenty-Fourth of July celebration. Knowing that it was about time for the boy to arrive, the ward had thought it a simple matter to sing a verse or two of “Come, Come, Ye Saints” to let him know their location.

Elisha, with a power known only to the prophets, had counseled the king of Israel on how and where and when to defend against the warring Syrians. The king of Syria, of course, wished to rid his armies of this prophetic problem. So and I quote:

Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.. . . an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. [2 Kings 6:14–15]

If Elisha is looking for a good time to be depressed, this is it. His only ally is the president of the local teachers quorum. It is one prophet and one lad against the world. And the boy is petrified. He sees the enemy everywhere—difficulty and despair and problems and burdens everywhere. 

The bus is gone and all he can see is Chicago. With faltering faith the boy cries, “Alas, my master! How shall we do?” And Elisha’s reply? “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:15–16).

“They that be with us?” Now just an Israelite minute here. Faith is fine and courage is wonderful, but this is ridiculous, the boy thinks. There are no others with them. He can recognize a Syrian army when he sees one, and he knows that one child and an old man are not strong odds against it. But then comes Elisha’s promise:

Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. [2 Kings 6:16–17]

In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike—and they will—you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed.

I close with this promise from heaven.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. [D&C 78:17–18]

... The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. [D&C 78:18] Oh yes, “We’ll find the place which God for us prepared.” And on the way “We’ll make the air with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King; Above the rest these words we’ll tell—All is well! All is well!” (“Come, Come, Ye Saints,” Hymns, 1985, no. 30)."

If you would like to read the whole Devotional either now or in your own time, here is the link below.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/times-trouble

Stay Tuned until next time.

For Times of Trouble ~ Part One

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take four minutes to six minutes to read from start to finish. 

This post focuses on Brigham Young University {BYU} Devotional, and it is called "For Times of Trouble" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. This post is part one, and I would like to share with you some highlights that I have liked about from the Devotional.

Elder Holland has mentioned the following; 

"... I know of nothing Satan uses quite so cunningly or cleverly in his work on a young man or woman in your present circumstances. I speak of doubt especially self-doubt of discouragement, and of despair. In doing so I don’t wish to suggest that there aren’t plenty of things in the world to be troubled by. 

In our lives, individually and collectively, there surely are serious threats to our happiness. ... With all of this waiting for us we are tempted, as W. C. Fields once said, to “smile first thing in the morning and get it over with.” 

... I’m anxious this morning about your problems with school and love and finances and the future, about your troubles concerning a place in life and the value of your contribution, about your private fears regarding where you are going and whether you think you will ever get there. 

... This morning I want to attack double-digit depression. In doing so, however, I wish at the outset to make a distinction F. Scott Fitzgerald once made, that “trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement - discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint” (The Crack-Up, 1945). 

Troubles we all have, but the “germ” of discouragement, to use Fitzgerald’s word, is not in the trouble, it is in us. Or to be more precise, I believe it is in Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Father of Lies. And he would have it be in us. 

It’s frequently a small germ, hardly worth going to the Health Center for, but it will work and it will grow and it will spread. In fact it can become almost a habit, a way of living and thinking, and there the greatest damage is done.

Then it takes an increasingly severe toll on our spirit, for it erodes the deepest religious commitments we can make - those of faith, and hope, and charity. We turn inward and look downward, and these greatest of Christlike virtues are damaged or at very least impaired. We become unhappy and soon make others unhappy, and before long Lucifer laughs. 

... You can consider it part of a very valuable education to labor over it in your own life. Plan. Prepare. Budget. Work. Save. Sacrifice. Spend cheerfully on things that matter. Smile at an old pair of shoes. Pay your tithing. Cherish a used book. 

Though some of you may be living in almost desperate financial straits, I promise you there is a way. Such times may be burdensome. Such sacrifice may be hard. But it does not have to lead - for you it must not lead - to despair and destruction and defeat. 

In the words of Henry David Thoreau: Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only dispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. [Walden (1854), 1, “Economy”]

"Happiness comes when we stop complaining about
the troubles we have and offer thanks for all the
troubles we don't have." 

Love your life, poor as it is. . . . The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode. [Walden (1854), 18, “Conclusion”] 

... Quite apart from the financial challenge, schoolwork itself can be quite a drag. ... Perhaps that discouraged me more than anything. You see, I discouraged me. I discouraged myself. 

... And that’s the worst kind of despair, the kind of self-despising that eats at our image and crushes our hopes. ... The point is the same with school as with money or marriage or profession or any hope and dream. 

Prepare. Plan. Work. Sacrifice. Rework. Spend cheerfully on matters of worth. Carry the calm, and wear the assurance of having done the best you could with what you had. 

If you work hard and prepare earnestly, it will be very difficult for you to give in or give up or wear down. If you labor with faith in God and in yourself and in your future, you will have built upon a rock. Then, when the winds blow and the rains come as surely they will you shall not fall. 

Of course, some things are not under your control. Some disappointments come regardless of your effort and preparation, for God wishes us to be strong as well as good. ... Drive even these experiences into the corner, painful though they may be, and learn from them. In this, too, you have friends through the ages in whom you can take comfort and with whom you can form timeless bonds. 

... Remember, “Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement - discouragement has a germ of its own.” If you are trying hard and living right and things still seem burdensome and difficult, take heart. Others have walked that way before you. Do you feel unpopular and different, or outside the inside of things? 

... Are you afraid people don’t like you? ...Do you ever feel untalented or incapable or inferior? ... There is, of course, one source of despair more serious than all the rest. It is linked with poor preparation of a far more serious order. 

It is the opposite of sanctification. It is the most destructive discouragement in time or eternity. It is transgression against God. It is depression embedded in sin." 

Stay Tuned until next time.