We meet next on January 6th. We will be reading 2 Nephi 6&7. Have a wonderful Christmas! Be safe and happy!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Choose Joy
This is Amy and I hope that you don't think I am taking over the blog. I am excited to put my thoughts down on "paper" per se. I have been thinking about the things I learned from last week and this week and want to solidify them. Plus I have quite a few things that I quoted during our meeting today.
Last week we ended with the question - How do we find JOY in our life? I mentioned that Esther's middle name is Joy and that it is because I was told in numerous blessings before she was born that she would bring JOY to people around her (and people on the other side would rejoice - that's joy too.) I share that because when you see her she tries to engage you and get you to smile at her. That is pure Joy. But as we discussed - we don't feel it enough. I find that it is lacking in the mundane life of a mother. So I made it my mission this week to find an answer to how to do it. Included here will be a couple references to scriptures, talks and other references that I hope you will read.
We talked about today that sometimes we get caught up in the real aspects of life and some of the "necessary" things of life and don't feel the spirit like we should. I felt a really strong amount of the spirit this week because I was focusing on finding how to have joy in my life.
In my personal reading I am in 1 Nephi chapter 17. As I read this section we find Nephi's family reaching the sea before the come to the Americas. When they approached the sea they rejoiced, even though they had "suffered many afflictions and much difficulty". The Lord had been with them and "all things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish." As I read this I thought, "The Lord knows me intimately and believes in me." He wants us to succeed. If we follow him our life will be blessed and we may overcome "those chains that bind us down."
The other thing I mentioned today was from the Daughters in my Kingdom book. We have talked about the retrenchment before and my sister had mentioned it a couple of days ago in a letter to our family and so I thought. I better read this. That part is amazing and helped me to realize that I need to improve. But as I read I was drawn to the next section and it was on personal revelation. In it Sister Eliza Snow said, "that the Holy Ghost “satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum. When I am filled with that Spirit,” she continued, “my soul is satisfied, and I can say in good earnest, that the trifling things of the day do not seem to stand in my way at all. " This section stopped me. I was astounded at what I just read. Did you see that "EVERY LONGING" part? It struck me that those inadequate feelings I have and those times I just don't think I am good enough can be overcome with the spirit. I thought about how my week had been and realized that even though my life had not changed, my attitude had and I was being strengthened as I had been working on having the spirit more fully in my life. I was feeling pure JOY. Even if for just a moment I knew I was loved by someone above.
Lastly sacrament meeting was amazing. The talks focused on the talk "The Atonement covers all pain" from the April General conference address by Kent R. Richards. The speakers spoke to my heart. They helped me to realize that I can be healed from the feelings of inadequacy and despair that I have been feeling. That they are also covered under the atonement. He (Christ) is able to heal ALL of our pain. I could feel the spirit speaking to my soul. And as I read the 4th chapter of 2 Nephi for our class I could see Nephi's pain and anguish of soul and hear him tell us "AWAKE" again. It is a plea from Nephi to break ourselves from the things that bind us down. That is some of what I got from my study of these wonderful reference.
Today we spoke about how Nephi felt this same inadequacy and other feelings and he WAS A PROPHET. We talked about how sometimes we don't see prophets as people who would have inadequate feelings or feel like we do. They are prophets after all. Aren't they perfect??? (Said with sarcasm.) It is nice to see they are human too.
Rachel mentioned that these verses were what brought about a hymn that I can't remember. Maybe she can tell us again in the comments.
We also talked a little bit about keeping Christ in Christmas and how hard that can be. I mentioned a pin that I had found that was a wonderful FHE for helping the kids see that Christ is the real reason for Christmas. It has you tell the kids about a wonderful guest that we are having visiting our home. It describes what the kids think is Santa but it is really Christ. Here is the link. ( I also mentioned a book called "I Believe in Santa" that says and does much the same thing.We talked about a FHE lesson on the symbols of Christmas and here is a link to the poem. I have also uploaded some of the research I did for this FHE. It is located at the link here you are welcome to download what you want.
I guess I better go, this post got really long and I am sure I missed a ton. But I hope that I have given all of you a little bit of Joy. Remember that GOD LOVES YOU. He sent his Son so that we can live again with him. And because of HIM we can CHOOSE JOY!!!
Love ya,
Amy
Last week we ended with the question - How do we find JOY in our life? I mentioned that Esther's middle name is Joy and that it is because I was told in numerous blessings before she was born that she would bring JOY to people around her (and people on the other side would rejoice - that's joy too.) I share that because when you see her she tries to engage you and get you to smile at her. That is pure Joy. But as we discussed - we don't feel it enough. I find that it is lacking in the mundane life of a mother. So I made it my mission this week to find an answer to how to do it. Included here will be a couple references to scriptures, talks and other references that I hope you will read.
We talked about today that sometimes we get caught up in the real aspects of life and some of the "necessary" things of life and don't feel the spirit like we should. I felt a really strong amount of the spirit this week because I was focusing on finding how to have joy in my life.
In my personal reading I am in 1 Nephi chapter 17. As I read this section we find Nephi's family reaching the sea before the come to the Americas. When they approached the sea they rejoiced, even though they had "suffered many afflictions and much difficulty". The Lord had been with them and "all things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish." As I read this I thought, "The Lord knows me intimately and believes in me." He wants us to succeed. If we follow him our life will be blessed and we may overcome "those chains that bind us down."
The other thing I mentioned today was from the Daughters in my Kingdom book. We have talked about the retrenchment before and my sister had mentioned it a couple of days ago in a letter to our family and so I thought. I better read this. That part is amazing and helped me to realize that I need to improve. But as I read I was drawn to the next section and it was on personal revelation. In it Sister Eliza Snow said, "that the Holy Ghost “satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum. When I am filled with that Spirit,” she continued, “my soul is satisfied, and I can say in good earnest, that the trifling things of the day do not seem to stand in my way at all. " This section stopped me. I was astounded at what I just read. Did you see that "EVERY LONGING" part? It struck me that those inadequate feelings I have and those times I just don't think I am good enough can be overcome with the spirit. I thought about how my week had been and realized that even though my life had not changed, my attitude had and I was being strengthened as I had been working on having the spirit more fully in my life. I was feeling pure JOY. Even if for just a moment I knew I was loved by someone above.
Lastly sacrament meeting was amazing. The talks focused on the talk "The Atonement covers all pain" from the April General conference address by Kent R. Richards. The speakers spoke to my heart. They helped me to realize that I can be healed from the feelings of inadequacy and despair that I have been feeling. That they are also covered under the atonement. He (Christ) is able to heal ALL of our pain. I could feel the spirit speaking to my soul. And as I read the 4th chapter of 2 Nephi for our class I could see Nephi's pain and anguish of soul and hear him tell us "AWAKE" again. It is a plea from Nephi to break ourselves from the things that bind us down. That is some of what I got from my study of these wonderful reference.
Today we spoke about how Nephi felt this same inadequacy and other feelings and he WAS A PROPHET. We talked about how sometimes we don't see prophets as people who would have inadequate feelings or feel like we do. They are prophets after all. Aren't they perfect??? (Said with sarcasm.) It is nice to see they are human too.
Rachel mentioned that these verses were what brought about a hymn that I can't remember. Maybe she can tell us again in the comments.
We also talked a little bit about keeping Christ in Christmas and how hard that can be. I mentioned a pin that I had found that was a wonderful FHE for helping the kids see that Christ is the real reason for Christmas. It has you tell the kids about a wonderful guest that we are having visiting our home. It describes what the kids think is Santa but it is really Christ. Here is the link. ( I also mentioned a book called "I Believe in Santa" that says and does much the same thing.We talked about a FHE lesson on the symbols of Christmas and here is a link to the poem. I have also uploaded some of the research I did for this FHE. It is located at the link here you are welcome to download what you want.
I guess I better go, this post got really long and I am sure I missed a ton. But I hope that I have given all of you a little bit of Joy. Remember that GOD LOVES YOU. He sent his Son so that we can live again with him. And because of HIM we can CHOOSE JOY!!!
Love ya,
Amy
Thursday, December 15, 2011
An Invitation...
Hey Ladies,
You may notice that I sent you an email inviting you to be an author of this blog. I thought it would be nice for you all to be able to contribute extra study materials or thoughts on the chapters we are reading whenever you feel like it. You do not have to accept, and if you do, there is no real obligation to post each week. This is just so you have the option to if you want it. Hope you are all having a fantastic day!
Naomi
You may notice that I sent you an email inviting you to be an author of this blog. I thought it would be nice for you all to be able to contribute extra study materials or thoughts on the chapters we are reading whenever you feel like it. You do not have to accept, and if you do, there is no real obligation to post each week. This is just so you have the option to if you want it. Hope you are all having a fantastic day!
Naomi
Notes from 2 Nephi 2-3
Once again, I simply ran out of time (with all the Christmas craziness I have going on) and forgot to post about last week. And I still don't really have time to review what we discussed but wanted to at least let you all know what's going on.
Tomorrow we will be discussing 2 Nephi 4-5. It will be the last time we will meet this month due to the holidays but we will reconvene on January 6th, 2012 as long as the world hasn't come to an end :) As for tomorrow, I can't remember if someone volunteered for food, so I thought I would just invite everyone to bring a Christmas snack (healthy or not) if they are feeling up to it. If not, I will make sure I bring something so our spirits and bellies can survive the spiritual feast. See you all tomorrow!
Naomi
Tomorrow we will be discussing 2 Nephi 4-5. It will be the last time we will meet this month due to the holidays but we will reconvene on January 6th, 2012 as long as the world hasn't come to an end :) As for tomorrow, I can't remember if someone volunteered for food, so I thought I would just invite everyone to bring a Christmas snack (healthy or not) if they are feeling up to it. If not, I will make sure I bring something so our spirits and bellies can survive the spiritual feast. See you all tomorrow!
Naomi
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Notes from 1 Nephi 22 and 2 Nephi 1
Hey ladies!
Sorry this is so late but I wanted to remind you all that we discussed 1 Nephi 22 and 2 Nephi 1 last week and we will be discussing 2 Nephi 2-3 today and Stephanie offered to bring a snack. Also, I just wanted to share the link about choosing joy that Amy shared with me. You can follow it from here: http://www.lilblueboo.com/
Naomi
Sorry this is so late but I wanted to remind you all that we discussed 1 Nephi 22 and 2 Nephi 1 last week and we will be discussing 2 Nephi 2-3 today and Stephanie offered to bring a snack. Also, I just wanted to share the link about choosing joy that Amy shared with me. You can follow it from here: http://www.lilblueboo.com/
Naomi
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