Wednesday, April 8, 2015

The Enabling Power of His Grace

Back in January I wrote about 
my struggle with my perfectionist side.
I have been thinking a lot about it the 
last couple of weeks,
especially as I get ready to 
add another hat to my stack 
with a baby on the way.
There are so many who are struggle with this.
We set impossible standards for ourselves,
and when we don't measure up to them
we feel we are less than.

This week I would like to share
THE most important thing 
I have learned in my struggles in my journey.
The one thing that helped me change my 
perspective of my life and myself.

GRACE.

Grace is an often misunderstood 
word out in the world.
I didn't truly comprehend
its part in my life until I learned more about it.

What is grace?

Grace is the help or strength 
given through the Atonement
of Jesus Christ (lds.org).

It is what allows all of 
us to be resurrected.
It is enables us to repent
 and to be forgiven.

For all of us, 
it also is the power by which
we are strengthened in our weakness.
In Ether 12:27 it says,
"And if men come unto me I
will show unto them their weakness.
I give unto men weakness that they may
be humble; and my grace is sufficient
for all men that humble themselves
before me; for if they humble themselves
before me, and have faith in me, then
will I make weak things become
strong unto them."
He gave us our weakness to humble us.
I love the word humility!
It is packed full of an amazing lesson.

In his book "Aspire", Kevin Hall
talks about how the word humility
comes from "the Latin word 'humus'
meaning soil, specifically rich, dark,
organic soil.
When a seed is planted in fertile soil,
it transforms into something far greater.
The acorn becomes the oak tree.
The smallest of seeds carefully planted
in the spring becomes the
bounteous harvest in the fall.
It all starts with the nurturing
quality of the soil---humus"
(Hall, Kevin. Aspire, pgs. 111-112).

Our weakness breaks us down
until we like the humus
are broken down to
rich, dark, organic soil.
Then we are humble and
our Heavenly Father can
bless us with His grace and
plant a small seed in our hearts
and help us nourish it so
we can become the great
people He created us to be.
So we can live in our
SOULFUL BRILLIANCE.

Throughout my life
the thing I have struggled
with the most was wanting to
be perfect in everything.
Many times I would spend my days
trying in my own ways to do things in my life.
I ended up mostly
wallowing in my despair
until I finally was humbled
and would plead with
Heavenly Father to help me.
Without fail I would be blessed
and learn and grow from my experiences
(even if it took a lot of time).
This was His grace
enabling me to do things
I could not do on my own.
He reached down and strengthened me
when I wasn't strong enough to do it myself.

Each time, my faith in Him
and my knowledge of His love for me
would grow.
That is the enabling power
of His Atonement.
His Grace.

Sometimes going through the
hard times and living with our weakness
can be the hardest thing we've ever done,
but it all has a purpose.
For without our weakness,
we may not see the grace of
our Heavenly Father in our lives.
The prophet Jacob in the Book of Mormon
talks about how we can gain
faith that becomes unshaken.
It's so unshaken that we can command
the trees, mountains and waves of the sea
in the name of Jesus Christ.
He said,
"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth
us our weakness that we may know
that it is by his grace,
and his great condescensions
unto the children of men,
that we have power to do these things"
(Jacob 4:7).

I know that Jesus Christ lives!
I know that through His grace
we can do amazing things
that we never could have done alone.
We have weaknesses so that we
can learn and grow into
the beings we were created to be.
Pray for His comfort and help
and you will see miracles!

We have had some fabulous challenges
already the last few weeks from
Nancy and Kenzy.
This week I challenge you to
ask Heavenly Father
to help you with something
that has seemed impossible.
I know you will see miracles!
Share any miracles or discoveries
on Facebook or Instagram.
Use the hashtags
#lovelight
#lightofgrace
#nourishyourlight
#soulfulbsisterhood.

As always we love you!
Luvz,
Meg:0)

Friday, April 3, 2015

Grace Transforms Us




This is a topic that has peaked my interest as of late. When I knew the topic was Grace, I wanted to look up the definition on the word. There were definitions I was familiar with but one stood out to me.


Grace: do honor or credit to (someone or something) by one's presence.

I have always had a sense of the word grace being that of Christ making up the difference when we cannot do it all but never to honor or give credit. I then began to look up talks on grace and found this analogy that really brought a new perspective to the word grace.

"Grace Transforms Us”


“Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.
If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with Mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.
In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19); “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see His requirements as being way too much to ask, maybe it is because we do not yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us."”
 Quote from:
His Grace Is Sufficient By Brad Wilcox
 at Brigham Young University on July 12, 2011. For the full address, visit speeches.byu.edu.


We are given a great opportunity to be on this earth and to live each day so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.  Christ paid our debt in full and in return He asks us to, simply, “Follow Me”. Does He want us to pay the debt of sin back?  No.  Does how we live our lives repay the debt He made?  No.  Living our lives by keeping the commandments, reading our scriptures, saying prayers, helping those around us and doing anything we can to feel the spirit in our lives is just the start of showing Christ and our Heavenly Father our appreciation.  Even though we may not understand along the way, these things are to help us be better and live on a higher plane.

My challenge to you is to find some part of your life that you can give more in showing your appreciation, or giving grace to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for the debt that has been paid.  The simplest first prayer to your Heavenly Father… keeping the commandments… reading the scriptures and finding ways to show our appreciation…

I’m going to be reading about Christ’s life this month and I will report it on the next blog.  Hope to hear from you guys on what you did.  If you don’t want to respond on the post please please please don’t go through an awesome experience without recording it in your journal.