4 July 2019. Last night, I went to bed feeling a great deal of turmoil in my heart. I made the mistake of checking out the profile of a very articulate man that I stumbled across in a group post. This man writes well and on the surface he made well-worded points on a controversial point of church doctrine, however despite the strength of his words, I was turned off by his sharp, arrogant style of writing (not to mention that I fervently disagreed with him!) I went to study his profile because I was curious to understand this man a little better. I quickly got a better view of him a man who proclaims himself as mocking and cynical. He is indeed that. And his news feed of videos and articles about religion reflected his view of the world.
In reading the words of the sardonic man, I quickly discovered that there was nothing positive or uplifting in his words. He spread depressing news, and I soon felt awash in the grime of the world upon my usually bright and joyful spirit. Part of that has to do with some of what he shared hitting a little too close to home. In the process, my thoughts clung tearfully to the pain I feel for a friend who wades deeply into a sea sin. As I fell to sleep, I prayed for my friend, but I felt a sense of hopelessness collapse on me by the combination of that man's negative words on his Facebook posts and the grief over my friend.
You can't imagine how grateful I felt when in the middle of the night a short line of a song played into my sleeping thoughts: "Do not despair, your star is still there." (This is the song I heard, except I heard the part starting at 2 minutes and 07 seconds)
Hearing this song was another reminder to me that God is completely and acutely aware of our individual needs, and this night my need did not go unnoticed. When I went to bed the seas of sin seemed a little too deep for me to want to swim, and I surely struggled to believe that my friend and others like him can survive, but God wanted me to remember what I've known all along, and that is that Through Jesus Christ the is ALWAYS HOPE. He was, after all, the man who calmed the stormy sea and walked upon water. He turned water into wine. He healed the blindman and made the lame to walk. He cast devils out of men and women. Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised us this Miracle of forgiveness: "Come now, and let us areason together, saith the Lord: though your bsins be as scarlet, they shall be as cwhite as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).
I have seen the power of God in my life to help me repent of my sins and to turn over a new leaf and become a new woman. And I know the Lord can do the same for you-- IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH! It's going to take effort on your part and a promise to God that you are willing to pay the necessary cost. A cost for less than what the Savior paid for you and me in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the movie "The Other Side of Heaven 2: the Fire of Faith," (a true story) that my little boy and I went and saw last week. (Every day I did something fun with him because my husband went to scout camp all week with my 2nd oldest son, and my daughters went and had an amazing time in Yellowstone for a church Girl's Camp.) In the movie, we saw this good man struggle with the painful and terrifying challenges and uncertainties of life. He repeatedly looked death in the eye and he struggled to have hope when it seemed all was hopeless.
There was a scene in the movie where I had "an a-ha moment." Here I was watching about the life of John (Kolipoki) Groberg and I knew that things had worked out for him eventually. I knew that the hand of God would smile on him. I was struck with how in the moment of storm John doubted what he already knew-- and that is that God had made him some promises. Promise that through Jesus Christ all would be made right in the end. Promises that if he lived faithfully God would give John all he needed. But John struggled to believe that when faced with the physical, mental, and emotional battles of life.
As I sat staring up into this screen I remembered several promises God has made me and continues to make me. And yet, like John, I look at the despair of the present storm that threatens to drown me and I struggle to see the rainbow of promise on the horizon of hope in Christ's love. But just as I knew John's story would have a happy ending, so to do I know that a happy ending waits for me beyond the moaning squalls of life.
The only way I can describe what I felt was something akin to the words of a devotional that has stuck to my memory: for many years:
Read at: http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2007_10_02_Hammond.htm
Or Watch the video of his message at: https://video.byui.edu/media/Ronald+J.+Hammond+%22First-person+Faith+in+God%22/0_3s7ucr1c
Going back full circle to those words in the night: "Do not despair, your star is still there."
I KNOW that through Jesus Christ all despair is swallowed up in His HOPE.
I know that there is no trial, tragedy, sin, or setback that cannot be overcome with the Savior's help.
I know that when we reach out our hands and touch the hem of his garment that we too can be healed if we do it with faith on His name.
I know because I was that woman who a little more than seven years ago decided it was time to reach out for His help because no one and nothing in this world could heal me and bring my heart and mind comfort-- except the power of God.
Through Him I found healing of my life of clinical depression and healing of many other things. Through Him I started to discover what real love looks and acts like. Through Him my sorrow has been turned to joy. Oh, how I love the Lord. How grateful I am for His power to heal me.
Wherever You are today-- whatever your sin (and we all have them)-- be it a sharp and biting tongue, yelling at your kids, holding grudges, judging others, pride, pornography, adultery, gambling, drinking, drugs.... or any other wide range of sins-- I KNOW that IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO REPENT. You can REPENT, NO Matter what you've done or are doing. Through the power of Jesus Christ's atonement you can be forgiven and become clean and white and pure of heart and mind through his redeeming blood.
A Beautiful Future of HOPE and PROMISES of Joy can be yours if you are willing to sacrifice all you are to the cause of the Savior's perfect love. No matter how broken you may feel, only HE can make you whole.
Hold on to Hope.
Hold on to Promises.
Hold on to HIS Perfect LOVE.... and come HOME with His help.
Love, Christine
P.S. A few weeks ago my children and I painted an enormous mural for a stake youth camp for the kids to act out Book of Mormon skits (Photos throughout this post:). Here's the one my children and I painted to represent Alma 14 (you've got to imagine that the "city" spoken of is to the left of the park and fire pit which I illustrated!:))
In painting this 12x15 foot drop cloth, I incorporated the symbolism spoken of here in this post when I wrote: "see the rainbow of promise on the horizon of hope in Christ's love." So, the "sun" represents the "son" of God-- Jesus Christ and His bright and perfect love. The rainbow represents the promises of God that shine in our lives.
Even in the midst of heartache and suffering we can take comfort from Genesis 9:13,17: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth... And God said unto Noah, This is the a token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." As we keep our covenants with God, we will be eternally blessed! Don't you think it's time to look to the comfort, joy, and peace of the Lord, instead of be swallowed up in sin and heartache?
I'm holding onto hope for a beautiful future of promises! Christ=Love
#iAmBraveEnough4Love #AreYOU?!
In reading the words of the sardonic man, I quickly discovered that there was nothing positive or uplifting in his words. He spread depressing news, and I soon felt awash in the grime of the world upon my usually bright and joyful spirit. Part of that has to do with some of what he shared hitting a little too close to home. In the process, my thoughts clung tearfully to the pain I feel for a friend who wades deeply into a sea sin. As I fell to sleep, I prayed for my friend, but I felt a sense of hopelessness collapse on me by the combination of that man's negative words on his Facebook posts and the grief over my friend.
You can't imagine how grateful I felt when in the middle of the night a short line of a song played into my sleeping thoughts: "Do not despair, your star is still there." (This is the song I heard, except I heard the part starting at 2 minutes and 07 seconds)
Hearing this song was another reminder to me that God is completely and acutely aware of our individual needs, and this night my need did not go unnoticed. When I went to bed the seas of sin seemed a little too deep for me to want to swim, and I surely struggled to believe that my friend and others like him can survive, but God wanted me to remember what I've known all along, and that is that Through Jesus Christ the is ALWAYS HOPE. He was, after all, the man who calmed the stormy sea and walked upon water. He turned water into wine. He healed the blindman and made the lame to walk. He cast devils out of men and women. Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised us this Miracle of forgiveness: "Come now, and let us areason together, saith the Lord: though your bsins be as scarlet, they shall be as cwhite as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).
I have seen the power of God in my life to help me repent of my sins and to turn over a new leaf and become a new woman. And I know the Lord can do the same for you-- IF YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH! It's going to take effort on your part and a promise to God that you are willing to pay the necessary cost. A cost for less than what the Savior paid for you and me in the Garden of Gethsemane.
There was a scene in the movie where I had "an a-ha moment." Here I was watching about the life of John (Kolipoki) Groberg and I knew that things had worked out for him eventually. I knew that the hand of God would smile on him. I was struck with how in the moment of storm John doubted what he already knew-- and that is that God had made him some promises. Promise that through Jesus Christ all would be made right in the end. Promises that if he lived faithfully God would give John all he needed. But John struggled to believe that when faced with the physical, mental, and emotional battles of life.
As I sat staring up into this screen I remembered several promises God has made me and continues to make me. And yet, like John, I look at the despair of the present storm that threatens to drown me and I struggle to see the rainbow of promise on the horizon of hope in Christ's love. But just as I knew John's story would have a happy ending, so to do I know that a happy ending waits for me beyond the moaning squalls of life.
The only way I can describe what I felt was something akin to the words of a devotional that has stuck to my memory: for many years:
"When we look to God, we yield to Him everything – our fears, our doubts, and our own stern preferences, with the meek entreaty, “Thy will, not mine be done.”
"And brothers and sisters, it really should be a cheerful yielding of the heart. Our submission should not be a grumpy “giving up” to the universal superpower who is going to win the arm wrestle anyway. But rather a joyful yielding because we know that what God wants is truly the best thing that could ever happen to us. Therefore, when grappling with life’s heavy-weight trials, don’t yell “uncle!”— just pray, “Father!”
"This comes easily, even naturally, when the steps ahead are well lit and clearly marked. But, for faith to grow, some things must, for now, remain unseen. What then, do you do when the next step of the trial as well as the duration and outcome of the trial are hidden? You obey God, doubt not, fear not, only believe.
"The scriptures are filled with experiences wherein prophets and disciples struggled to develop first-person faith in God in the face of stifling unknowns. How much easier it would have been had they known, while in the furnace, how things would eventually turn out.
"For example, look with me down the long corridor of time. We see Father Abraham21 preparing, as God had commanded, to sacrifice his only begotten son, Isaac – hot tears matching the heat of the fiery trial. Then, as he raises the sacrificial dagger, you and I call to him down through the millennia, “Abraham, O Abraham, don’t worry. It’s all going to be just fine! See, I have the book! I know how this story ends! Abraham, hang in there, don’t give up!” But Abraham, in the thick of developing first-person faith cannot, must not, hear us. It must be just Abraham and God. Then, after the fiery trial of his faith, the miracle occurs, we sigh with relief, and Abraham becomes not only the father of millions, but the father of the faithful as well.
"And what about those 2000 Lamanite youth under Helaman’s command –youth near the age of many of you? The most powerful army of the Lamanites pursues them for a couple of days then silence. And then the terrible questions must be answered, questions like: “Do we turn back to help Antipus? And, is it an ambush? And, could you show me again how to hold a cimeter?” Back they go, this little band that never before has fought an enemy. And we call down the corridor of time, “Hello! You are going to win and not one of you will be killed! Here, read Alma chapters 56 through 58. We love you! Thanks for your examples. Remember, your team wins!” But, again, they cannot, must not, hear us. It must be each youth and his God. Only after the trial of their first-person faith was it written, “And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe.” (See FREE online Book of Mormon to read those true stories of adventure: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/title-page?lang=eng )
"...And when life’s trials become particularly challenging, then listen. Can you hear you—talking to you? From a point years in the future, you call back down the corridor of time to you here in [name of the month and year you are reading this]. “Hey me, that’s right you. Pretty tough right now is it? O, don’t give up. Hang in there. Trust the Lord, get some sleep and wake up happy. It will all work out. See! I’ve got the book! I know what happens next. My past is still your future and I know everything will be just fine. Believe you…me!”
Words by Ronald J. Hammond (from Brigham Young University- Idaho devotional: "First-person Faith in God")
Read at: http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2007_10_02_Hammond.htm
Or Watch the video of his message at: https://video.byui.edu/media/Ronald+J.+Hammond+%22First-person+Faith+in+God%22/0_3s7ucr1c
Going back full circle to those words in the night: "Do not despair, your star is still there."
I KNOW that through Jesus Christ all despair is swallowed up in His HOPE.
I know that there is no trial, tragedy, sin, or setback that cannot be overcome with the Savior's help.
I know that when we reach out our hands and touch the hem of his garment that we too can be healed if we do it with faith on His name.
I know because I was that woman who a little more than seven years ago decided it was time to reach out for His help because no one and nothing in this world could heal me and bring my heart and mind comfort-- except the power of God.
Through Him I found healing of my life of clinical depression and healing of many other things. Through Him I started to discover what real love looks and acts like. Through Him my sorrow has been turned to joy. Oh, how I love the Lord. How grateful I am for His power to heal me.
This painting we did is so large that I was unable to
take a full photo of it, even on a 6 foot ladder.
|
 |
I feel so happy looking at this and in considering
the promises of God for my future! :)
|
Hold on to Hope.
Hold on to Promises.
 |
Here we are using cheap Walmart brooms
to apply tinted white primer. Not as easy as it looks.
Just this part took hours!
|
Love, Christine
P.S. A few weeks ago my children and I painted an enormous mural for a stake youth camp for the kids to act out Book of Mormon skits (Photos throughout this post:). Here's the one my children and I painted to represent Alma 14 (you've got to imagine that the "city" spoken of is to the left of the park and fire pit which I illustrated!:))
 |
Usually I rolled around painting on an old computer chair,
but here I sit on a detergent box.
|
In painting this 12x15 foot drop cloth, I incorporated the symbolism spoken of here in this post when I wrote: "see the rainbow of promise on the horizon of hope in Christ's love." So, the "sun" represents the "son" of God-- Jesus Christ and His bright and perfect love. The rainbow represents the promises of God that shine in our lives.
|
Usually I rolled around painting on an old computer chair,
but here I sit on a detergent box.
|
Even in the midst of heartache and suffering we can take comfort from Genesis 9:13,17: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth... And God said unto Noah, This is the a token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." As we keep our covenants with God, we will be eternally blessed! Don't you think it's time to look to the comfort, joy, and peace of the Lord, instead of be swallowed up in sin and heartache?
 |
Here I am red-faced with a flower my 12-year old boy slid behind my ear and insisted I wear it. So sweet of him!
I had to take occasional breaks because it was really hard work for me. This is me taking a break to start another talk from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to listen to as we work. I live in a lovely place, don't I?!
Here's a link to listen to amazing talks for our semi-annual General Conference: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/conferences?lang=eng I also really love the beauty of where I live! I always teach my children that the most glorious creation God ever made was us-- His children, but looking at the greenery and flowers around me, I pale in comparison! I'm thankful that beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I'm sure my children love me more than the trees and flowers! I'm thankful for that!  |
I'm holding onto hope for a beautiful future of promises! Christ=Love
#iAmBraveEnough4Love #AreYOU?!
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