Eternal Marriage

"According to the law of the Lord, every marriage should endure forever. If all mankind would live in strict obedience to the gospel and in that love which is begotten by the spirit of the Lord, all marriages would be eternal."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that quote is from the manual, and is something that Joseph F. Smith said. Esther had it written up on the board during her lesson today and it really does sum things up well.

We talked a lot about how staying married is a choice that we each make with our spouses every day. The triangle below was referenced during the lesson, it illustrates how the husband and wife need to strengthen their relationship with God (individually and as a family), in order to draw closer to him and to each other, so they can better become one.

We have a fantastic bishop and his comment during the lesson really struck me. I am going to butcher this, but basically he said we should not let ourselves get wrapped up in our spouse's shortcomings, or things that may be wrong with our marriage. Instead we should always be working at strengthening our relationship with the Lord, and then husband and wife will naturally draw closer to each other. Healthy marriages don't just happen, they are carefully worked at by both the husband and the wife.

I am so grateful for my husband and the things he does for me. I have noticed that when we each draw closer to the Lord, we do naturally draw closer to each other. Maybe it is because we both have a heightened level of the spirit, which helps us better meet each other's needs.

Anyways, marriage is great - feel free to leave your comments below!

Modesty

I have seen a lot of blog posts, news articles, and YouTube videos about this topic lately. It is interesting to see people's varying view points on modesty. For me, seeing different people's varying opinions on modesty brings home the fact that dressing modestly is a choice that we each make individually. For many of us dressing modestly is a journey; one where we each learn by experience what brings the spirit in to our lives, and what doesn't.

Dressing modestly (or not so modestly) shouldn't be a result of peer pressure, it should be a choice that you deliberately make every day when you put clothes on. I like to dress modestly because it makes me feel comfortable. Dressing modestly allows me to feel peace and to not worry about covering certain body parts up when I move a certain way. I don't like to think too much about myself and dressing modestly allows me to stop thinking so much about how I look, and to think more about the needs of those around me.

We shouldn't judge others because they don't quite fit in with our standard of modesty. We are all walking our own path when it comes to following any commandment. Dressing modestly just happens to be a commandment that is easily seen by others when broken, and there are varying levels of following that commandment. I'm sure the Lord would rather have an immodest women coming to church to show her love for him, than not coming to church at all. We should all help each other feel welcome at church, no matter which commandments we may individually be struggling with.  :)

Anyways, that's my little spiel on modesty. I tried to cover what the Stake Relief Society Presidency covered in the lesson, but I'm sure I missed some things. Also I hope I didn't offend anyone... feel free to add your thoughts below!

Here is a video that kind of relates to the topic:

Love you girls!
-Lisa Stoddard

What Are You Thinking?

This week's Relief Society lesson was given by Shelly, and she did a fantastic job. It was based on the talk by Elder W. Craig Zwick called "What Are You Thinking?" 

We mostly focused on the scripture that Elder Zwick cited in his talk from Paul: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but [only] that which is good [and] edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).

I think most often corrupt communication comes out of our mouths around those who we love the most (our husbands, parents, siblings, children...), because they are around us most often and we aren't necessarily trying to make a good impression on them all the time. However our lives would be so much better, and our homes more peaceful if we tried to speak (especially to those we love the most) with integrity, empathy, and without being too quick to anger.

Shelly came up with an awesome list of 10 things to help us communicate better with each other:

1. Pray to have God's love
2. Learn to control your tongue
3. Reason together
4. Break the cycle (of arguing the same things over and over)
5. Speak softly and calmly
6. Develop compassion
7. Seek first to understand
8. Be kind over being right
9. Search for truth in other opinions
10. Breathe before speaking

I especially like number three because that is the main way my husband and I solve most of our problems. Neither of us ever really have much of a temper but we do occasionally get frustrated with each other. Rather than avoiding the problem, it helps us to come together and objectively talk about the situation until we figure out a solution that works for both of us. Open, honest communication is so important and it has really helped us to draw closer together as a couple.

Looking at the list again, all of those points are important in their own way. Which ones have you tried that have worked in your marriage or communication with others?

Ministering in Love

Last Sunday's Relief Society lesson was taught by Ashley Bell and she did a fantastic job. We discussed ways that we can serve others, and ways that we can nurture each other when we visit (like during visiting teaching).

It was a timely lesson because pretty much our whole ward is new and we talked about how the best way to make friends is by being a friend. It is easy to focus on ourselves and our own needs when we are feeling lonely or left out. One of the best ways to cure that lonely feeling is to just go sit by someone else who looks lonely and then you are both not lonely any more! Ta-daa!

One of the biggest things I got out of the lesson is that we are the answer to one another's prayers. I love this thought so much. There have been so many times when I have been feeling down and someone drops by my house with cookies, or when doing my visiting teaching seemed to lift my spirits just as much as it lifted the sister I was visiting. I am so grateful for the prayers of friends meant to benefit me, and it is amazing when I can see that the prayers I have offered on behalf of someone else are answered. I am grateful for this restored gospel and I love our savior Jesus Christ so much. Tiny miracles truly do happen every day.

Also, I'm excited to get to know everyone in the ward more! This is looking like it is going to be a fun year.

:)

-Lisa

Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease

Shelly taught this Sunday's lesson and it was based on the talk by David A. Bednar called "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease". Thanks for the lesson Shelly!

We talked about how spiritual loads can give you spiritual traction. A lot of the time, tasks that we need to do to help us be more sensitive to the spirit are hard to do and can feel like a load. My husband and I have actually been having a hard time going to the temple because we want to do endowments, but it takes so looong. We tell ourselves that we will go after work, then we get home and are tired, eat dinner and don't want to do anything else for the rest of the night. Then we tell ourselves that we are going to go on Saturday, but Saturday is the day that we run all the errands we didn't want to do during the week. We also save Saturdays for fun things that take a little longer that we don't have time to do after work.

Maybe this sounds familiar to some of you. Other spiritual burdens might be reading scriptures daily, saying our own personal prayers, visiting teaching, fasting, etc. I know that doing these things will help us to draw closer to Christ, and the time spent doing spiritual things is time well spent. We've just need to take the time to do them.

Anyways, feel free to comment below if you learned something special from the lesson! I know I'm going to try harder to get my husband and myself to the temple this month.

:)  Lisa

Listening to the Holy Ghost

Today's lesson was given by Esther, she did an awesome object lesson at the beginning relating a flashlight to the Holy Ghost. If you have a flashlight in your hand but don't take any kind of action, you are not going to get any light from it. The light only turns on when you push the button, and that doesn't happen unless you push the button yourself.

We discussed how it is easy to get comfortable with living our lives. We get used to having the Holy Ghost with us all the time and sometimes don't realize we have even been prompted to do something. We go from grace to grace in the gospel, sometimes it takes a little more work on our part (reading the scriptures longer, writing in journal more) to get to that next level, and only then do we noticeably recognize the Holy Ghost in our lives.

Preach my Gospel chapter 4 lists out a bunch of different ways that we can feel the spirit:

1. Spirit gives feelings of love, joy, peace, patience, meekness, gentleness, faith, and hope.
2. Gives ideas in the mind, feelings in the heart.
3. Occupies the mind and presses on the feelings.
4. Helps scriptures have strong effect.
5. Gives good feelings to teach if something is true.
6. Enlightens the mind.
7. Replaces darkness with light.
8. Strengthens the desire to avoid evil and obey the commandments.
9. Teaches truth and brings it to rememberance.
10. Gives feelings of peace and comfort.
11. guides to truth and shows things to come.
12. Reveals truth.
13. Guides and protects from deception.
14. Glorifies and bears record of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
15. Guides the words of humble teachers.
16. Recognizes and corrects sin.
17. Gives gifts of the Spirit.
18. Helps to perceive or discern the thoughts of others.
19. Tells what to pray for.
20. Tells what to do.
21. Helps the righteous speak with power and authority.
22. Testifies of the truth.
23. Sanctifies and brings remission of sins.
24. Carries truth to the heart of the listener.
25. Enhances skills and abilities.
26. Constrains (impels forward) or restrains (holds back).
27. Edifies both teacher and students.
28. Gives comfort.

I bet each of us have had some kind of spiritual experience in one of these ways. If you look in Preach my Gospel it lists out scriptures that you can look up, to see each of these in action.

I am glad the Holy Ghost is here to help us all out, I have definitely been filled with peace when I am worried and reassured when I am not sure which step in life to take next. 

Anyways, hope you all have a great Sunday!

-Lisa

The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship

Shelly gave the lesson again today and it was perfect as usual! It was on the talk by Elder Holland called The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship. I love Elder Holland's talks because he is bold and always says what needs to be said.

We talked about the story of the missionary who was spit on, had food thrown at her, and finally was hit in the back of the head with mashed potatoes as she was peacefully walking away. This is just one example of many, where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been persecuted for trying to talk about our cherished beliefs.

Sometimes it is best just to walk away when we realize that a certain person does not want to hear what we have to say. We bear Christ's burden by standing for truth and not bending when difficult things happen, such as criticism and lost friendships, although both are hard.

This is an awesome quote from the talk about how Christ was loving but firm:
"There is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it (which He never ever did even once)."

When we see people sinning, we should still show our love for them, but should not give the impression that we approve of what they are doing. This has always been a hard thing for me to do, because I feel like showing my support for someone is inseprably tied to showing my love for them. There were some great examples of people who have done this in their lives in Relief Society today though.

I am so grateful to be a part of this gospel, I know Jesus Christ loves every one of us and I am so grateful that he atoned for our sins. I have learned to trust in the Lord's timing, in every aspect of life. I know he wants us all to be happy and sometimes he knows what we want better than we do. I know he loves all of his children, especially those who are lost, and I hope we can all help by showing love to others and doing what he would want us to do.