Week 2… I’ve been doing this kind of differently. I’ve been taking a few more notes and the like and storing them so I can carry them on my palm pilot tomorrow. It was killing me not having access to my journal last time for my thoughts on the first week. *SIGH* So I decided I would do things differently this time around and see how that worked out. I’ll probably get a good system down lo about the end of the book. HEHE Any recommendations from those who have read this book would be welcomed. 🙂

Week 2 is set aside for Purpose #1… You were planned for God’s Pleasure and it quotes Isiah 61:3 which says:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified

Day 8
Planned for God’s Pleasure
This really made me think of the scripture:

For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
Moses 1:39

That’s what Heavenly Father wants for all of us… he wants to give us that. *SIGH*

The thing that I enjoyed most about this chapter was the talk on Worship. There’s so many ways to worship the Lord. I like to look at everything beautiful and think of his pride and joy in creating that. I also find ways to find His message in everything I watch/listen to on the radio or tv. I know, it is weird. But hidden in a lot of stuff there’s a message. You just have to listen for it.

Day 9
What Makes God Smile

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
Psalms 119:135

Please Lord, shine your Light upon me, teach me Your ways. That’s what this verse says most to me. To learn the ways of the Lord, to walk in them, and to find joy in them. And by doing so, bring joy to the Lord.

This day, we read about Noah. What he did to please the Lord. The world was wicked, scary thing was… was it more wicked than today? EEEK.. the world can be a pretty bad place out there. But then? It was so bad that the Lord found nothing worth saving. Till He looked upon Noah. There was Noah, working so hard at doing what the Lord wanted. So the Lord decides to scrap it all and start over… almost. He decided to have Noah start things over. The rest is history. That makes you think. Given the world we live in, if the Lord was going to start over with just one family, would it be ours? How can I make my family be the type of family He would choose? I know I’m sorely lacking. I think we definately need to talk about him more. I guess I forget that we do need to TALK with each other and help each other grow. I just sit around going “Well I’m here and I believe, what more do you need?” But we do need to share our testimony. Our love. Especially with the kids. *Note to self… start doing more scripture study with kids as well as family home evening!!*

God wants us to trust him. Trusting the Lord has been something that He seems to be slamming into me all the time. Or is it just patience? I don’t know. But like now… it is so easy to get discouraged because not a soul is looking at my house. One showing… in three weeks. Depressing! But I feel strongly that the Lord wants us in DC. If so, why are we not selling our house? It all comes down to timing and so I’m holding onto the hop and trust that the Lord will get us there. Someone will buy our house, they just haven’t seen it yet. I keep reminding myself… every time I get discouraged. The Lord will provide. He has in my life before. Besides, if a guy like Noah, or Nephi even… they could live totally landlocked and then they could make big huge boats without ever having done this before and moreover… sail the doggone things… well heck… if that doesn’t teach you the Lord will provide just trust in Him, I don’t know what will! Not only that, but to do it while people basically taunt you? “Oh Noah… I think I felt a splatter of rain and your boat is only half done… oooooh watch out! BWAHAHAHAHHAHA” I mean please… we’d do it today. Heck we have done it today. “Oh Joseph Smith… so God talks to you eh?” “Oh Joan of Arc, you are schizo!” “Oooh Nostradamus has great conspiracy theories” Even “George W Bush, just where are those WOMD?” People make claims we think just possibly can’t be and what do we do? We rag them. So maybe there are no WOMD, maybe Nostradamus had an overactive imagination, maybe Joan of Arc was hearing voices in her head due to a mental illness, and maybe Joseph Smith was a misguided troubled teen. Who knows? We just slap labels on people. “Liar.” “Fruitcake.” “Mentally Ill.” Yet we don’t want people to judge us in believing there is a greater being out there floating around doing higher being stuff. Doesn’t that make us just as “fruity”

So anyway… once we have seen our trust paid off, we should give thanks. I know I for one plan to give major thanks when my house sells. Between the actual prayer, the yips for joy, and the big huge hug my hubby gets when we arrive in VA to stay… it will all be done to show thanks. But it will come in the Lord’s time, not mine.

I’m hoping the Lord’s time is just trying to work to make the transition easiest… which means following the school year… would make perfect sense. 🙂 I want to move… but I’d like to keep the kids in school till the end of the year which means we don’t need a buyer for a few more weeks. But boy, it would ease my mind to get some viewers! HEHE But I figure if we get a contract and it takes the standard to months to go to closing… and school ends the 9th of June.. that puts me into wanting a contract around the 9th of April. And that’s a month away.

Day 10
The Heart of Worship

We start off this day with talking about surrendering to God. Turning over our lives to Him. I know when Caramon got sick, I turned over my entire trust and worries and everything to the Lord. I had to… I needed to be there for Caramon and show him that everything could be OK. Sure I was scared of losing my little boy, but I didn’t want him to know that. So I decided to trust the Lord. It was hard… but I did. And I have been blessed with my sweet Caramon the big school man with no front teeth. 🙂 People thought I was nuts. That I wasn’t taking the situation seriously. But I decided to trust in God. I would turn to him and ask him to take my worry from me. And to let me be exactly what Caramon needed me to be. And to help me also be what Joram needed. I think it was because I did this that things were so much easier during that time. I mean sure… stress and tiredness and all… but I felt so inadequate to do all the things necessary of me yet I was able to. I know there were times I was so tired that the Lord made my body do the things it needed to help Caramon’s body. There were several nights, more than I could count, where I needed to give Caramon his medication and I have no clue how I did it I was so tired… And I would pray that I did it right… I feel as though there were times where I was so tired and I swear it was almost like the Lord pulled the puppet strings to get me from a to b and to do c… His hands guiding mine. But overall the feeling I have of that time was one that says “This was not that bad. We made it through and all is well.” There is no way that happened because of man. That happened because of God. And because I chose to lean and be carried.

The end question says: What area in my life am I holding back from God? I’m really not sure. If anyone sees my fallacy please…let me know so I can rectify it. Maybe it is my lonliness here. I’m too busy trying to squash it down so I don’t feel it… perhaps I should ask the Lord to take that away and trust in Him. Perhaps it is with my children? though every time I kiss them, I thank God for them… am I listening to what he says to do for them? I think so.. but what if I’m not?

Day 11
Becoming Best Friends With God

This chapter title alone excites me. Oft times when I start to pray at night… I lose my well thought out plans for what to say. I know I should pray for Jane and Bob and Brenda and…. but the next thing I know I’m pouring my heart out and rambling about this or that in my day. Sometimes I feel like “Am I too familiar with God? Shouldn’t I keep it more formal?” But then I think “Well maybe this is the way it is meant to be. We should have respect but maybe he wants us to feel like we can bare it all to him. I mean he does know everything about us…”

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 15:15

Christ called his disciples friend. I hope one day I may be called friend also. I definately need to work in this area because it is only sometimes that I seem to loose that inhibition. I think of Heavenly Father and Jesus as these beings above and out of reach that I must be formal with. But I need to let them be my father and brother. My friend. I think this is because I’ve been findng it hard to set aside an actual devotional time. Which I think is my fault for thinking I need to do x y and z. But that’s why I wanted to do this book… to start training myself back into those habits. Before I had kids I didn’t have any problems, but try as I might it seems near about impossible for me to do this now.. what happened to those habits? I’ll do good for a while but then… it flitters out. A week here a month there…

This does talk about praying without ceasing. I try to do this. Ever mindful of the Lord. I don’t know that I’m perfect at it or anything like that… but I do try to do that. Just exclaiming “Oh! God!” in whatever I need just as I would when my husband or kids or mom or dad bless me in some way! “Oh! God! Thank you!” Or the way you do when you cry for help to those you love. “Oh! God! Help me!” I must look like a kook at times just looking up and smiling. Or longingly. Looking up, hoping that there’s an answer just around the corner and knowing that even if there isn’t… I was heard.

This chapter really strikes home, because it seems everything I think is mentioned. The author all but jumps out of the pages, smacks me, and says KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID… Good ol’ KISS. Don’t worry about formal time… take it whenever it comes and try to do everything mindful of the Lord. The author even says to stick post its everywhere. Well not NOW since my house is all empty, but before… I had my little reminders up. The YW theme on the fridge… “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love him…” The picture of the Temple in my living room… Pictures of Christ… my view out my back windows to the creek and the trees that oftem makes me think of the Sacred Grove… a place so peaceful that God walks there… and I can just picture him walking down the path. How I miss my pictures… my little signs of God’s love. I cannot wait to move to put them back up.

Day 12
Developing Your Friendship With God

First thing talked about is obedience. I often hear people say “I can’t believe you live by such strict rules”. I dont’ think they are strict, binding, or entrapping. I believe it simplifies my life and allows me more joy! I mean besides… all the commandments ever given by the lord… the whole bible itself can be summed up in three basic rules if you ask me. 1. Love God 2. Love Your Neighbour 3. Love Yourself. Well if I’m doing those three things I’m not going to be out drinking myself drunker than a skunk or stealing or lying. I’m going to naturally be living the laws the Lord has laid out. I try hard to be obedient but as we all know, that’s not easy.

The rest is stuff that I think stems from obedience… wanting what God wants and all that…

Now I did not like the ending of this chapter. It made me feel like this guy was saying that we are given pain because we are sorely lacking and the Lord wants us to come back to him. Maybe this was misread on my part but I swear that’s what it said to me. I strongly strongly disagree. We are given pain to learn and grow… yes… but not necessarily because we have chosen to stray. Sometimes we have chosen to stray and that brings pain.. but not always! And I must say that we need the pain. Don’t go out looking for pain or cut yourself or anything… but we need the pain. The pain is what helps us know just how good it is to feel the GOOD. You cannot see how dark black is without seeing how light white is…and vice versa. If we lived in a world without pain, we would not feel the good. And sometimes… we need the pain in order to do the Lord’s will concerning someone ELSE. Sometimes we are given trials, not for ourselves but for others. Please Lord, I’ve had enough trials… but if he gives me another one then I’m going to take it as a learning experience and hopefully find the good in it. I’m not going to think I must have made him mad at me or some such. Which the author does say, it isn’t punishment but a wakeup call. Well I don’t know, I still got the feeling it was very much the “cup half full” side of “punishment”.

After all, concerning the fall, Eve says:

Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
Moses 5:11

This references out to:

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
2 Nephi 2: 22-25

I kow these are concerning the whole Eden thing… but it just strikes me “having no joy, for they knew no misery” and then “Men are, that they might have joy”…

Day 13
Worship that Pleases God

First thing I read that brought something to my mind was: “Today many equate being emotionally moved by music as being moved by the Spirit, but these are not the same.” I find that when I’m moved by something there’s always a reason for it. And that reason turns right back around every single time to God. So perhaps this is true and false. It is the Spirit, but unless we understand WHY we are moved we aren’t really understanding so the Spirit is not really talking to us. Almost like perhaps the Spirit is talking greek to us and we don’t know greek. So we just feel happy or sad or something but it means nothing more. But when we pull out our Greek-English (or whatever) dictionary we go “Oh that means this…” For instance, I would hear that song “Everything I do, I do it for you” and it always made me feel happy but annoyed at the crappy movie it was in. But I always felt like smiling. It wasn’t until several years later that I listened to it and realized… “Oh My Gosh!” The reason it made me happy was because it made me think of Jesus. The lyrics to that song 99.9% talk about Jesus’s love for us. He’d do anything even die for us. Hello! No wonder I always wanted to smile and felt a glimmer of happiness. It was Christ going “Here I am and I love you and YOU ROCK!” He was jumping up and down and waving his arms like a first grader and I was totally clueless because I had not pulled out my translation dictionary. So I think that it is the Spirit talking to us… we just don’t always know how to translate the feelings into the real message.

Next we talk about nine ways to draw near to God:
Naturalists
Sensates
Traditionalists
Ascetics
Activists
Caregivers
Enthusiasts
Contemplatives
Intellectuals

I’m not sure which I am. I do know that I feel God in nature just looking out my back window. But I love the feeling I have when I am serving him by serving others. I’m definately a traditionalist because I love the rituals… sacrament, baptism, etc. I probably fit into a bunch more of these…

Now the next paragraph had me in tears… from laughter. It actually says “”God is not plased with thoughtless singing of hymns…” and that was it… the rest of the paragraph meant nothing to me because I was just remembering this baptist church i went to as a kid and this play with “Psalty” the singing hymnbook who came to teach kids that no matter how bad we sing we need to belt it out and praise God because that makes him happier than us sitting in the back mouthing the words and being half hearted…

Now I loved this sentance.. “We sing, “Onward Christian Soldiers” on Sunday, then go AWOL on Monday”. How often does this happen? Sooo often. And then it leads to “I only need to go for Christmas and Easter. But also we see people pick and choose commandments.

Day 14
When God Seems Distant

And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isaiah 8:17

Which leads to:

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
Deut 32:30

And also:

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Isaiah 54:8

I once heard a story about a former prophet, Ezra Taft Bensen. I’m not saying the story is true… but listen to the message… Ezra Taft Bensen had been ill for some time and was no longer able to attend even General Conferance, let alone speak to the saints. One day, a young man was in the Salt Lake Temple and was in the hallway when who did he see walking down the hall but Ezra Taft Bensen himself! The young man walked up to Ezra Taft Bensen and said “Sir, I thought you were too ill to speak to us. But here you are and you look well enough! Have you recovered?” President Bensen looked at the young man and smiled and said sadly “It’s not that I’ve been to ill to attend, but that my mouth has been closed by the Lord because the Saints would not listen.” As I said, not saying I believe it to be true or not… but it does make us wonder. Do we sometimes feel the Lord has withdrawn himself from the world? Could it be OUR fault? We have been inattentive to his teachings and his warnings?

But we see a general lack of attentiveness. How many people say the Pope is just some old fart in Rome and out of touch with the real world? Is he not a man of God? Should he not get the respect the station as leader of a major world religion should get him. I’d like to see people who say such things lead a church the size of the Catholic one! But perhaps that’s why people feel as though there is a lack of God’s presence. They 1. are not really looking at the world around them and 2. perhaps the Lord has “closed the mouths” from time to time. I do think people seem to think that they need a lightening bolt, a burning bush, or Tom Brokaw on the evening news saying “This just in, God has come forth and said…” That’s not going to happen. Not to everyone!

The chapter ends with reminding us to remember what God has done for us. For me. Well he’s given me a loving husband, two wonderful kids, a wonderful home, the Gospel, and about a thousand other things. But he also gave his son to take on my sins and pains and suffering who then died for me.

When I feel that He has left…I remember..

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life
John 3:16

I then try to remember what THAT means.

This is VERY long and detailed. Hence the cuts for each day. We meet tomorrow!
I’m thinking this may not have been the best way to go about this week… but it worked… hopefully I will come up with a better plan for next time! 🙂