Howdy! So as most of you know I’m Teasha, and I want to warn you, the past few weeks have been life changing so if this talk is all over the place, I am sorry. I also apologize for how personal this may become.
In this past conference Elder Quintin L. Cook gave a talk entitled : Shipshape and Bristol Fashion: Be Temple Worthy—in Good Times and Bad Times
He says: The adversary has been successful in planting a great myth in the minds of many people. He and his emissaries declare that the real choice we have is between happiness and pleasure now in this life and happiness in a life to come (which the adversary asserts may not exist). This myth is a false choice, but it is very seductive.
Because of this we must always be striving to live in such away that if you were to go to the temple at this moment we would be worthy of it.
Later in his talk Elder Cook states: the storms and temptations of this life are often unpredictable. But this we know: they will come! In order to overcome the challenges and temptations that each of us inevitably faces, it will require righteous preparation and the use of divinely provided protections. We must determine to be temple worthy regardless of what befalls us. If we are prepared, we shall not fear.
Now for the person part…
Some of you may or may not know this but I have not always been active in this Gospel.
When I first moved to Texas from Arizona, I had no obligation to go to church. I had not friends here that would encourage me to go, and none if my family cared since none of them are Mormon, so it was easy to simply not go.
I would go when I could fit it into my schedule or when I thought it was convenient for me. The best way I can describe this is that I was living in such away that I was making my life choices based on personal gain rather than basing those choices on values and what Heavenly Father was asking of me.
So about 4 years ago we got a new bishop, which meant that I could really step back form the church, because the “new” guy wouldn't know who I was and therefore wouldn’t know I was missing… Or so I thought.
About a month after the change I got a call from the Elders that were serving in the ward at the time, they told me that bishop had asked them to reach out to me and to have a lesson with me, and all I could think was “shucks! my plan has been foiled.” So I reluctantly said I would meet with them and little did I know that was the best choice I could have made for myself.
It wasn’t an immediate change for me, I did’t suddenly become active…I was still not following what I knew was right.
So after meeting with the missionaries for quite a few months and still having yet to really go to church, they where becoming frustrated as you can expect. So… they had decided to bring on of best friends to the lesson to see if he would be able to “soften my heart” as to make this a little shorter I’ll just say that lesson did not go very well and i kicked all three of them, the 2 elders and my best friend out of my house and asked them not to come back.
Well, they didn't listen to me, surprise surprise. But I was to stubborn to accept their apologies, so it took another 2 months for them to meet with me again.
This time we met at the institute, with a random person from the ward. AS we were talking the elders where trying to get me to see the truth, that this Gospel is the only true one on earth and that the only way to be blessed by it is to live it. I told them I was done, I told them I didn't want to live it, I would rather spend my time doing other more important things such as school, work internships and student government. They knew I was about to take a trip back home and made me promise that while i was there, I would try to remember why I became a member in the first place, since I am a convert. I once again reluctantly agree, and that one choice, has made all the difference in my life.
When back home, I saw the Mesa Arizona temple daily, my sister lives across the street from it so there was no avoiding it, so one day my pride had decided to lighten up and I walked over to the temple. While walking the grounds I had this sudden sense of peace surround me, and the thought, “i need to keep doing this until it feels wrong” that was almost 4 years ago now, and i am obviously very active.
So why would I tell you, people I barely know something so personal about myself… Because you can learn from my mistakes.
I am going to be honest, I never said the church wasn't true during that time, I questioned it, but never felt that it wasn’t. looking back now, i can tell you that it was because I was living by pride instead of integrity that made me push the church away.
There are two definitions of what integrity is, the first being: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Which I think We all have a pretty firm grasp of, but the second one, I like just a little bit more, and it is the state of being whole and undivided.
Isn’t that cool? I like to think of it this way, we are all striving to be perfect. right? The only way to be perfect, is to live with integrity which means to be whole and undivided, and as I recently learned, the greek word for perfection is teleios. Now teleios has a completely different connotation, one that makes much more sense for us than what we would normally think perfection is. Various dictionaries and scholars have defined this word to mean the following: Complete in all its parts; full grown; of full age; maturity; reaching the end (aim); developing into a consummating completion.
To me, this means integrity and perfection are almost one in the same. Now I am not saying that you have to be perfect ever second of everyday, what I am saying, is to strive to do what you know is right and true and will lead you to the temple, and you will be happy.
This however doesn't mean that the storms of life won’t come like Elder Cook said, they will. ONe of my favorite quotes is “Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it.” Heavily Father loves us, and would never put us in a situation where He thought we would get smothered by the fire, we may get a few burns here and there but in the end, we will over come the fire.
I want to bare you my testimony that Heavenly Father does love us, all of us, and he wants us to return to live with him. It doesn’t matter how far from him we think we are, it is not possible for us to sink lower than the infinite depth that Christ’s love can go. further than Christ’s love can reach.
If you are having a hard time with the Gospel find someone to talk to, if you want you can come talk to me. I know how hard it can be to pull your self out of a place of despair, I have spent my fair share of time in the place where souls get lost and lines get crossed and the pain wont go away. And the only way I was able to get out of the pit was to hit my knees, pray and rely on those who where still active in the gospel, and to accept the help offered to me… and yes… I was not always happy about it… only then was i able to stand and get out. I can promise you there is no greater joy in this life, than living the gospel
There is a poem I love that explains trials much better than I can, and I hope it helps you.
My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.
Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned
If you ever doubt his love for you pray, he is there, He is our Father, treat him as such go to him for help,you may not understand why he does what he does, but he is familiar to us and if we pray, we can more fully see the pattern he has weaved.
Ezra Taft Benson said this about Heavenly Father “Nothing will surprise us more than when we get to heaven and see the Father and realize how well we know Him and how familiar His face is to us.”
Once again, I know he loves us and wants us to find true joy, and the only way to find it is by living the gospel and doing what we know is right, in spite of our own self gain.
I say these things in the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Remember that when life gets hard, keep moving forward and...
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