Sinking In His Grace

David Crowder Band. How He Loves Us. 

Just wanted to remind everyone how much God loves you. No matter what you are going through, no matter what you have done, He loves you. He made you. You are His. I love this song. Thankful for this reminder today. 

“If His grace is in ocean we’re all sinking in it… I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about the way… He loves us”

Much Love, 

Rachel 

Not Abandoned

On Saturday my husband had the day off, which NEVER happens. I was so thankful. We had a fun day planned. But first we had to take my car to get an oil change. blah!

As we sat down in the waiting room I realized I had not put on my ring that day. A horrible feeling, but I knew right where it was. We got home and I eagerly went into my bedroom to my night stand to put it on. I couldn’t find it. I then began to look around the night stand…thinking it may have fallen.

Then I went into the bathroom thinking, maybe I took it off to wash my hands in the morning. Nope not there. As I searched the kitchen and it was not there my anxiety grew stronger. I told my husband I couldn't find it and he started helping me search for it. 

And let me tell you it was quite the search. I had done laundry that morning, so we dumped out every laundry basket and searched every cranny of the laundry room. I had taken recycling out. So yes, my lovely husband emptied thee entire garbage bin and literally crawled inside to double check the bottom to make sure it wasn’t there. 

Our house was literally torn apart. We thought it might have fallen in the couch, so we cut the fabric lining underneath the couch only to find a marble and some fake money (which was not so funny at the time). 

By this point I was sobbing. We said another pray together. I remember telling God that I was angry because the reason my ring fall off is because it is to big. The reason it is to big is because I have been sick. And being sick is unfair. My heart was broken. 

I begged Him to fill me with faith. As I continued searching a thought came to me “God cares about what you care about”. The whole 2 hours I searched I held on strong to that. 

I began calling every place I had been starting with Jiffy Lube all the way to yesterday at Savers.  No place had they seen it. I had a feeling that we needed to go to Jiffy Lube ourselves and look for my ring. 

As we arrived at Jiffy Lube I was trying to remember which parking spot I had parked in. We began walking from spot to spot…all of the sudden there it was. Yes! In the parking lot, on the ground, sparkling in the sun. 

The odds of finding such a tiny thing were definitely not in my favor. I have never been so grateful! Not just because of the actual cost/value of the ring, but that the Lord did not give up on me. He guided me, He helped me every step of the way. He cares about what I cared about. He knew how important my ring was to me. And He knows what is important to you, no matter how big or how small. I know it!!!

“I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal.” -Elder Holland Oct. 2008 Conference. “Ministry of Angels”

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Much Love,

Rachel 

Pride: Misunderstood Sin

I work at a doctor’s office. Every now and again we get some patients that we consider will not follow the physician advice. They will recommended a “plan of treatment”. Sometimes it may include a medication of some sort. When I call the patient to notify them of their abnormal blood work (or lab of some sort) they decline the “plan of treatment”. They state that they heard that the medication doesn’t work, or that someone that had that placed got worse, or someone that took that medication got fat, or they read on a website X,Y,Z etc. etc. etc. 

The physician has worked their life researching and studying this. He or she (usually) has your best interest. But many patients come in requesting something that we know will not help them. They are not interested in medical advice at all. They know what they want and they are get what THEY want. 

I know I am guilty of this with the Lord. He tells me to do _____ and I tell him that the “side effects” I will have will be to bad. Or the “surgery” won’t work well enough, OR, OR, OR.

I know that the great physician KNOWS all our needs. He KNOWS exactly the treatment we need. (I know that comparing Him to an earthly physician is not reasonable, for he is perfect)Yet, how we treat Him or react to His counsel is very prideful. 

“Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride-it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we understand how God uses the tern so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby. 

Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, are still missing. 

The central feature of pride is enmity- enmity toward God and enmity toward fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to region over us. 

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done” “- Ezra Taft Benson Conference April 1989.

In October 2010 conference Elder Utchdorf stated,”Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In face, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride.”

Let us all be more full of humility. We can choose humility by receive counsel from the Lord, forgiving others, and putting Him first in our lives. 

I am trying this week particularly this week to put the Lord first to do His will. He loves me and will not lead me astray. He is the perfection physician. 

“Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.” (Alma 32:16.)