Study Recap: “Awake My Soul!”: Dealing Firmly with Depression by Steve Gilliland

Title: “Awake My Soul!”: Dealing Firmly with Depression
Author: Steve Gilliland
Source: August 1978 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1978/08/awake-my-soul-dealing-firmly-with-depression?lang=eng

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Points

• Feeling discouraged and inadequate happens to all of us, but when these feelings become a way of life, or even frequent visitors, they’re signs of trouble.
• As I remember my own experiences of being trapped in the web of discouragement, the worst part was the feeling that I was helpless to get free. Working on a “positive mental attitude” seemed like only kidding myself. 
• Fasting and prayer brought specific guidance, and over time my struggles produced what may perhaps be the long-term answer to my prayers—some concepts and skills that have helped me pull myself out of these depressions.
• It’s not the Holy Ghost’s problem but ours. Each of us has many voices within, criticizing and praising, encouraging and discouraging, desiring and warning, reasoning and disregarding. We’ve all wondered at some time which voices were from the Lord and which were from Satan, which came with us from premortal life and which we’ve acquired since birth. Fortunately, some good clues to discerning the source of these voices are given in Moro. 7:16: “Every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent … of Christ.”
• For years your personality may have been growing in one direction. Now you must help it grow in another direction. You cannot easily erase those destructive voices from the past, but you can recognize what they do to you and turn them off. You can rid yourself of these voices by replacing them with positive feedback and experiences that will build self-esteem. The Lord has promised that our weaknesses can become strengths and that “all things shall work together for [our] good” if we search and pray. (Ether 12:27, D&C 90:24.)
• Once we can turn off the negative voices, we can see their source. Discouragement is not the Lord’s method—it’s Satan’s. Satan emphasizes your weaknesses; the Lord, your ability to overcome. Satan urges immediate perfection to make you feel inadequate. The Lord leads you toward perfection. Once we recognize the source, we can cry with Nephi, “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.” (2 Ne. 4:28.)
• The Lord seeks to strengthen you, to give you the power to overcome problems. He wants you to recognize your weaknesses and then do something about them, Jesus didn’t condemn the adulteress. He said, “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:1–11.) Alma made it very clear to Corianton that he had committed a terrible sin in being unchaste, but he concluded with: “And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things [Corianton’s doubts about God’s justice] trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.” (Alma 42:29.)
• It’s one thing to face up to our weaknesses and work on them. It’s another thing to dwell on them. The gospel teaches us to take charge of our minds as well as our bodies. Suppose you’re thinking about a mistake you’ve made. Ask yourself: Is this helping me deal with the problems I’m now having or is it making me feel more inadequate? If it’s dragging you down, push it out of your mind or crowd something else in front of it.
• If I immediately start tormenting myself for my weakness when I find myself dwelling on an unworthy thought, I don’t have enough strength or determination to resist the next temptation. If, instead, I thank the Lord for showing me that the thought is unwholesome and helping shift my mind away, I leave the situation closer to the Lord, grateful for the strength I have, and praying for greater strength in the future.

Scripture Insight: D&C 43:34

34 Hearken ye to these words. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds.

Discussion
I love that part at the end there: "let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds." I picture in my mind this vast unknown universe out in space and the sheer magnitude of it (the background image for OS X Mountain Lion comes to mind). It all seems so vast and overwhelming in magnitude, but this provides a calming feeling because everything is in order.

Knowledge of the gospel can be the same way. The amount of knowledge and learning to be had is extensive and seems daunting. But with every little nugget of truth we learn, it brings with it a calming influence of support and reassurance. I just want to lay back and let it all wash over me.

Study Recap: Improving Your Personal Prayers By Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy

Title:Improving Your Personal Prayers
Author: Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy
Source: June 2013 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/improving-your-personal-prayers?lang=eng
Summary: What would listening to your personal prayers reveal about you and your relationship with Heavenly Father?
Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Points

• I am convinced that personal prayer is one of the most significant challenges facing members of the Church, particularly youth and young adults. And because they struggle with prayer, they struggle spiritually.
• Our personal prayers are a barometer of our spiritual strength and an indicator of our spiritual well-being. I have learned as a father, priesthood leader, and mission president that listening carefully to another’s prayers can reveal much about his or her relationship with God.
• What would listening to your personal prayers reveal about you and your relationship with Heavenly Father?
• To pray is to speak with God, the Eternal Father of our spirits—not at Him but with Him.
• He loves each of us perfectly and is full of mercy and understanding. He knows everything about us. He knows what we need, even when we can see only what we want. He has infinite power and capacity to sustain and guide us. He is always willing to forgive us and to help us in all things.
• Personal prayers should be solemn, sacred expressions of praise and gratitude; heartfelt petitions for specific needs and desires; humble, contrite confessions and requests for cleansing forgiveness.
• Prayer is an essential and enabling spiritual link between God and man. Without prayer, there is no possible return to the Father. Without prayer, sufficient faith to understand and keep the commandments is impossible. Without prayer, the necessary spiritual power to avoid temptation and overcome trials and adversity would be unavailable. Without prayer, repentance, forgiveness and the cleansing power of the Atonement are unattainable. With the power of personal prayer, all things are possible.
• Prayer is spiritual work preceded by mental and spiritual preparation. If we don’t take the time to humble ourselves and carefully consider that we are about to call upon God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ, we will miss the very essence of the divine pattern established to bless us.
• Remember, however, Satan will be the only one who tells you that you cannot or should not pray. The Holy Ghost always encourages us to pray, even if we are struggling with obedience and personal worthiness.
• Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart” (Bible Dictionary, “Prayer”). Prayers that follow this pattern represent vain hope, not faith.
• Prayer is not a negotiation process. It is an alignment process. We don’t move God to our point of view. Prayer is less about changing our circumstances and more about changing us.  

#MissionaryStoryMonday: Doorstep battle with JW's

In my third area we were teaching this one sister and things were going pretty well...until we found out she was meeting with missionaries from the Jehovah Witnesses too. We found this out because one day when we showed up for our scheduled appointment with her, the JW's arrived 2 seconds after us for an unscheduled appointment with her. Talk about awkward.

The lady answered the door but didn't let us in. She didn't let them in either so it was all good. My companion at the time liked to bible bash (moron) so he started getting into with the JW's. I had a moment of weakness though and responded to one of their "attacks." They had said that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were all one person. They were very snarky and condescending about it and I couldn't help myself.

I got very smart with them and did not use my nice missionary voice. I read the account of Jesus's baptism from the New Testament and pointed out that we had: 1. Jesus in the water, 2. the voice of God coming from heaven, and 3. the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove. I held a finger with each person as they were mentioned and then looked at my hand in "shock" afterwards ("Oh my, would you look at that, three separate beings!"). I then also counted each of my fingers for them in a very...well, what's a good term for I treated them like they were a bunch of naive little children.

Looking back on that day I'm not super proud of my actions and know that is not how the Savior would have acted. The lady we were teaching did let us in that day and not the Jehovah Witnesses so that's one thing, but she didn't end up getting baptized at that time either. I hope my actions did not impede someone from being able to take advantage of the rich blessings of the gospel.

Moral of the story for current or future missionaries: the Lord wants us to speak boldly of his gospel and preach repentance with love, not bible bash and cause contention with bad attitudes.

#HastenTheWork: Best of #LDSBroadcast

#MissionaryStoryMonday: Judging and Horchata

My first area on the mission was in this small little village in the middle of the desert. There was nothing going on there and the largest body of water was the baptismal font. It was also a very poor part of the country and most of the people lived in mud brick houses.

I still remember my first Sunday in the field as my companion and I were out visiting some of our investigators. We went to visit this one older lady and her children and their home was more humble than most. She offered us some horchata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horchata) which in that part of Mexico was a warm mix of rice, milk, and cinnamon. Its is extremely tasty.

This particular woman made the horchata and raw cinnamon sticks which she left in the drink itself. Being very naive and not recognizing it as such, I thought it was a twig from a tree that she had used to stir it since she didn't have a spoon. I dutifully drank my horchata and covertly threw the "twig" outside while no one was looking.

Some months later I was serving in another area, this time in the city and in a pretty well to-do part of the region. This guys weren't rich or anything, but they had cement homes and could easily support their families. So I was much surprised to find that one day one of the families served us horchata and there was the "twig" again! It couldn't be! This was a well-off family who didn't need twigs to stir.

I shared these observations with my companion after we left and boy did I feel embarrassed. He explained to me that this "twig" was actually a raw cinnamon stick that I didn't recognize, because truthfully, I had never seen one before. It taught me an invaluable lesson though about judging people unfairly and keeping an open mind because you don't necessarily know everything (only Heavenly Father does).

Mormon Channel Highlight: Effective Leadership

I want to start a new thing where I will occasionally share something from the Mormon Channel that I found very interesting, useful, or particular insightful.

The first comes from a series called Insights which sadly does not appear to be releasing any new episodes. Here is a description of the series:

Insights features professionals in many fields who share knowledge in their areas of expertise so that we may learn "of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass . . . that [we] may be prepared in all things." (See Doctrine and Covenants 88:79-80.)

One of the first ones I listened to in this series was about learning effective leadership with Kim B. Clark, President of BYU-Idaho. It is a very worthwhile material to check out. It can be found here:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/insights/29

Only 3 years old and my daughter is hitting on missionaries...not like you think though

So funny thing happened yesterday at church: my 3-year old daughter hit one of the missionaries in the junk. We were walking by in the hallway after church heading to the car. I was holding my son and my sweet daughter was walking slightly behind me with my wife. As I'm passing the Elder I hit him on his arm with the papers I have in my hand as a way of saying bye. We're cool like that.

Well, my daughter saw me hit the Elder so she wanted to do it too. She's a good deal smaller than me though since she's only 3 so she hit him the best she could at her level. Unfortunately for the missionary, she was right on level with his crotch. Silver lining is that is was just a tap and more awkward for the Elder rather than painful. He's good natured though and we all had a good laugh at it.

#MissionaryStoryMonday: Homeless Convert

There was this homeless guy who we helped get baptized and he faithfully attended church each week. This brother stayed in a small village approximately 10 miles outside the city and would scrap together enough money each week for the bus fare to attend church. The stake patriarch would then give him a ride home afterwards and some food to eat. I have always been impressed by his faith and dedication.

Shortly after returning home from my mission I went back to visit. I flew into Mexico City and stayed with a former companion. We were there for a few days and then rode a bus to our mission and specifically where we served together. This is the same area previously mentioned where I was there for 1 year (again, that is literal and no exaggeration).

Throughout the week that we were there we were visiting with some of the families from the ward and our converts, almost all of whom had stopped coming. Also unfortunate, since this wonderful homeless brother did not live in the city and I actually had no idea where he stayed, I wasn't able to meet up with him at that time. But on Sunday I saw him.

My former companion and I were late to sacrament meeting because we had stopped by and picked up some of our converts to bring them to church with us.* So they open the doors and we walk in. I see this amazing brother there with so much faith sitting on the back row. I sit down next to him and see his eyes light up when he sees me. He reaches over to gives me a big hug and the spirit can be felt. He then looks me right in the and says, "You're late."

*The full-time missionaries there at that time had zero investigators there that day and zero reactivations.On the other hand, my former companion and I brought back 4 people who hadn't been attending. Slackers!

I love that guy.

Quote from Lorenzo Snow

Of ourselves we can do nothing. As Jesus said: “Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” [John 5:19.] He came into this life to do the will of his Father, and not his own will. Our desire and determination should be the same. When things come up that require an exertion on our part, we should bring our wills into subjection to the will of the Father, and feel to say, what is the will of our Father, whom we are here in the world to serve? Then every act that we perform will be a success. We may not see its success today or tomorrow, nevertheless it will result in success.