I have been at loss for words for a long time. I miss writing, it helps me keep my sanity.
I have been getting mixed up with the voices I hear.
I literally would hear: "Do this" followed by "Don't do this." The issue, it wasn't obvious which was right. Either could be right. It wasn't a "Pray" vs. "Don't pray".
For a couple of weeks, I was confused and was beginning to panic. Was I being disobedient? Was I doing what I wanted, and not what the spirit was asking me to do? I began to feel hardened again God. It was His fault for not making this more clear!!!
To make this experience more clear, I kept feeling to fast, and then it was followed by "don't fast". Normally, I would just fast. But this was happening everyday. I would try, and give up. Then when I succeeded, I would make myself exhausted or sick. Last night I screamed at Heavenly Father. Today, I just began to cry. I couldn't do it! I would I beat myself up for "failing".
Now before I go on, if Heavenly Father wanted to fast 40 days and 40 nights, I could. He makes everything possible. The problem was, I wasn't being clearly directed by the spirit. I wasn't given the spiritual strength and motivation to fast.
Finally, I told Heavenly Father, I was willing to do 12 hours fasts everyday. That was the most I could do, unless He helped me. Then I heard, "I need your prayers." I realized I hadn't been talking to God enough to even know what I was hearing. The only thing I was asking was, "Wait, am I really supposed to fast?" I wasn't giving prayers of gratitude, I wasn't praying for others, I could only think of what a failure I was. Once I came to Him, and cried out a heartfelt, sincere prayer, I was filled with peace. Heavenly Father saw I had given my full attention. Not only have I received direction on how and when to fast, I have again received his direction in all things.
Moral of the story. Allow Heavenly Father to be involved of every aspect of your life! It is a lot harder to be confused by the voices you hear. The more you talk to Him, the more you learn how to hear Him.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
This is the first in a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring aspects of the mission of the Savior.
Jesus Christ “created the heavens and the earth” (3 Nephi 9:15). He did so through the power of the priesthood, under the direction of our Heavenly Father (see Moses 1:33).
“How grateful we should be that a wise Creator fashioned an earth and placed us here,” said President Thomas S. Monson,
“… that we might experience a time of testing, an opportunity to prove
ourselves in order to qualify for all that God has prepared for us to
receive.” When we use our agency to obey God’s commandments and repent, we become worthy to return to live with Him.
Of the Creation, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said:
“We are the reason He created the universe! …
“This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God.” Knowing that Jesus Christ created the earth for us because we mean
everything to Heavenly Father can help us increase our love for Them.
From the Scriptures
John 1:3; Hebrews 1:1–2; Mosiah 3:8; Moses 1:30–33, 35–39; Abraham 3:24–25
From Our History
We have been created in God’s image (see Moses 2:26–27), and we have divine potential. The Prophet Joseph Smith admonished the sisters in Relief Society to “live up to [their] privilege.”
With that encouragement as a foundation, sisters in The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints have been taught to live up to their divine
potential by fulfilling God’s purposes for them.
“As they come to
understand who they really are—God’s daughters, with an innate capacity
to love and nurture—they reach their potential as holy women.”
“You
are now placed in a situation where you can act according to those
sympathies which God has planted in your bosoms,” said the Prophet
Joseph Smith. “If you live up to these principles how great and
glorious!—if you live up to your privilege, the angels cannot be
restrained from being your associates.”
My thoughts: I know that I have wondered in the past, "Why would God place us in this awful world?" or "Why does God just want to test us???" These are questions have made me in the past question my faith. This talk perfectly explains these questions!!! “We are the reason He created the universe! …
He loves us like parents love their children! Children often don't understand why their parents do what they do, but that's okay. \ Our parents give us rules, because they know from experience! I believe that Heavenly Father was once like us, and he went through it. Heavenly Father has a perfect understanding that we need to be brave enough to accept and follow. He knows what are going through. I have put my trust in Him. At this point, the world can throw at me anti church material or speech, but the foundation of my faith is upon God himself, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
We must have faith, and we will grow towards His knowledge. God promises through the scriptures to reveal these things unto us. I love answers, even the ones the Lord postpones to tell me. Something I have learned through prayer: I cannot go on a mission, and expect that people will be converted by logic of the gospel alone. I can show them the connection between scripture, I can tell them why our church is the most correct. That alone is worth nothing. The only way we can truly convert is through the Holy Spirit. When men are ready to hear, the spirit will fill them. I must teach by, and only by the spirit if I want to share the message of Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.