Madriglace

Have you had a Priesthood blessing? Along with serious prayer this is a place to start. If your health won't allow you to fill the calling then asking to be released is the better part of valor. But also remember ... the Lord magnifies those who magnify their callings ... sometimes we need to do all we can and then leave the rest to the Lord trusting He knows best what we need. Good Luck.

They're just dropping by to see how well we are doing with the help they have given us ....don't believe me? Take a look at the ruins in Peru ... I'm a believer!

I guess my point would be don't sweat the small stuff ... and when you look at it as compared to say ... the atonement ... well it is pretty much all small stuff. Save your energy for the hard stuff. We have to learn to bend to the will of the Father ... if that means doing as your leaders ask then who are we to quibble? Especially after the price that was paid for us. But if it really is such a problem ... talk to the bishop ... not the rest of the ward. If we follow our leaders be it wrong or right we will be blessed and the problem becomes theirs not ours for murmuring. JMHO

Or you could look at this a totally different way ... not just how uncomfortable it makes one. We have all as members of teh church at one time or another raised our hand and sustained our leaders. In doing so we are basically agreeing that these men are called of God. Maybe ... just maybe ... there is someone in the congregation who needs to hear what you have to say no matter how off the cuff ... and the Lord has passed this message on to your Bishop ... go with the flow ... just remember the blessings that come from obedienance. In the whole scheme of things whats as a few uncomfortable moments when compared to the help it might be. I adore my bishop and SP and they both have a habit of doing things like this ... no big deal.

I can honestly say I don't hate anyone ... hate is such a waste of time and energy. There are people I don't like and some that really tick me off but I don't hate them. People that have done really horrible things to me have been forgiven and discontinued ... I have no time or place in my life for these people. I feel lke I have way more to do that I can handle some times let alone trying to remember who i hate and why, I need to work on me. My mother always says consider the source and ignore it ... words I try to live by. Hate hurts the person doing it worse than it does the person it is aimed at.

I have been where you are and I wasted 20 years of my life before I figured out that what I was doing wasn't making me happy. I read a scripture that scared the heck out of me ... did I want to be on the outside looking in forever? Thankfully I had enough intestinal fortitude (guts) to say no and did something about it. Helaman 13:38 But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head. Dear sister .. please don't let 20 years get away from you ... such a waste.

This probably won't be a popular answer to your question but it is a solution. The church is perfect ... the people are not ... not even our leaders. This kind of thing happens alot ... whether or not it should doesn't change the fact that it does. I know of people in my ward that folks think are just the neatest thing since sliced bread, holding leadership callings etc ... who I know for fact are rotten. So my question to you is ... how is this affecting you and your testimony? That is the real problem here. If this person who has wronged you even knows it is a problem, it doesn't seem that he much cares but it is still affecting you because of the hard feelings you are harboring. The others who have posted are right when they say that this is a matter of forgiveness. Short experience of mine ... I was having a problem with someone and I did considerable praying ... it really was wearing on me. One day in RS as I sat praying about the situation I heard very clearly "Let it go". At that point I realized I was not hurting any one but myself. Forget this guy ... the jerk ... and look to the hard feelings that are dragging you down and making the devil jump for joy. Better yet .. here is where you will really not like this ... go to this person and say "Brother So and So, when I was having a problem I was told that you passed on information about me that should have remained private, and I belived what I was told ... I have had some seriously hard feelings about you and I want to ask your forgiveness for these feeling so that I can move on in my life." From this point on ... if you truly mean it the problem is no longer yours ... the burden is lifted and you can move on ... it is on his shoulders and whether it gets handled on earth or not, it will be taken care of. Simple solution ... not easy but simple. Don't let anyone stand between you and your exhaultation ... especially not yourself. Good luck!

When I moved into my current ward I told the Bishop straight up I don't do Primary and I don't do nursery, so don't ask. I am 57 and single ... never been married or had kids. Little kids scare the heck out of me. I do however LOVE the teenagers ... most people would cut off an arm not to have to work with the teens. My Bishop laughed and told me no problem ... I have been teaching the 14-15 yr olds for 4 years and love it. Pray and see what the Lord has to say then go for it. I have to admit as much as I love those kids I really enjoy a Sunday in GD class once in awhile.

This may sound like I am making light of your situation but that couldn't be farther from the truth ... been there done that. When you said " Yet, I continue to fail at this one thing, and that tends to invoke my 'all or nothing' mentality. Once I fail I beat myself up over it and have trouble going back to it," the red flags fly. Realize who knows you as well as your Savior and what he will do to make you fall. The adversary knows us, he knows our weakness and knows just how to push our buttons and then when we do fall he makes us feel like the lowest forms of life that shouldn't be loved by anyone. And then he tells us we are so bad that it is no good to not go back or try to do better. The answer here is to work ... and I mean really work at bending yourself to the will of the Father. We are not expected to be perfect however we are expected to be trying and growing. Your Bishop was very wise to ask if you were better than you were six months ago. That's the clue line upon line, precept upon precept, one step at a time. If you slip, get up, dust yourself off and move forward. The more we work at this the easier it gets and the better we get. Helaman 3:35 really shows what we get for our work .... "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." You have been given wonderful ideas here to help you out ... just remember where your greatest help comes from. Good Luck. Work as if everything depended on you and pray as if everything dpends on the Lord ... what a fabulous partnership.

At least there are those in the church who do know where you are coming from ... I have been raising, training and handling show dogs for 35 years ...try fitting that into a church conversation ..."You show dogs ... isn't that cute." The main thing is to decide to willingly (key word here) bend your will to that of the Lord. We all need to look at our lives and decide if what we do and say and how we live is in line with the Savior ... if not why not and how do we fix it. The rest is just icing. If everyone were the same in church meetings how boring would that be???? When was the last time you got the giggles in sacrement meeting so bad you nearly choked? What was that statement that Robin Hood's side kick made in the movie when a little girl asked him if God painted him ... he said something like God loves his children in all their wondrous variety. If we do all we can the follow in the Masters footsteps ... he loves us as we are.

There are also Single Adult groups in the church ... around here we laughingly call them old single adults ... which includes me at 57. We have Home Evening every week in a members home or go to dinner or a museum or what ever. Fast Sunday we have a break the fast dinner after church and a speaker. If this sounds harsh I am sorry but ... you get out of the church what you put into it ... someone out there needs you ... hit the ground running! Good luck and ENJOY!!!!!

Line upon line, precept upon precept. The Lord gives His prophets instructions as the Church needs it. Most have come as a direct request concerning an existing or upcoming problem (Family Home Evening for example). I have always looked at the issue of the blacks not being able to hold the priesthood until the 1970's as similar to the Founding Fathers leaving slavery as a States Rights Issue. That Constitution had to be signed ... it was paving the way for the restoration of the gospel ... God had a hand in it ... if you don't think so read George Washington's journals. As has been stated before .... the state of the country has to be taken into consideration. The work had to roll forward and the Lord uses the existing conditions to get His work done. I wish I could remember where I read it but I recall a black brother saying that when the revelation came the blacks would be ready ... and look at the growth of the church in Africa. But really ... polygamy and blacks not holding the priesthood is a non-issue ... it's over and done. If this is a stumbling block for someone's progression ... it is just heart breaking. Brigham Young was who the Lord needed at that time to move the work along. Yes he was abbrasive and told it like it was, he had to be. Without a person of this kind the church would have been in a world of hurt after Joseph Smith was killed. Who else could have picked up the reins and move so many people across the country and built a new city and made it prosper? There is alot to be said for compassion but this situation called for a hard nosed leader .... if I had been there I probably would have sat down the first day out. Even if he was a prophet he still had his free agency to make his own choices ... he wasn't perfect ... but as a prophet speaking for the church it was what the Lord said or he wouldn't have been there.

To each his own . Physically a woman does way more toward bringing spirits into the world ... nothing simple about it. You have no idea what my view of fatherhood is ... I the best father's in the world and out of the world. Ghandi may have worked for mankind but did not have the authority to extend the blessings of the priesthood required to save mens souls.

When you are a member of the church people know what you should be doing and tend to remind you or others. A friend came to spend the weekend and when we finally had all the dogs in bed we sat down for a talk and she asked if I had seen the Big Love episode. I told her no that it wasn't something that I cared to do. She said she had seen it and was so offended on behalf of members of the church and especially me that she wrote the producers a letter and told them that she wasn't a member but that she was offended that they would show something so sacred to the church. We have supporters even if they don't believe as we do and I think letters from non-members may carry more weight than ours would.

Priesthood may not be the right word when it pretains to women but this says it very clearly. President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that “God planted within women something divine.” That something is the gift and the gifts of motherhood. Elder Matthew Cowley taught that “men have to have something given to them [in mortality] to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. [They] are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be the saviors of human souls … and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children.” (from a talk by Sister Shari Dew)

Last year I had a parvo outbreak and used cans of the wipes that contain bleach. I bleached everything in site including me. The one dog lived in my bathroom for nearly 3 months and I had to wipe myself down before going around the other dogs. Bleach is a good thing. In a pich I would use it on a wound to keep it clean and keep contaminates out. BTW ... the Tamiflu that they are saying works on the swine flu saved my dogs life. Turned her from deaths door over night. Good stuff!

Although the scriptures posted reflect the attitudes of that day and the doctrine of that time ... we know that they are not the case from modern revelation. HF loves His daughters ... we were born with our priesthood (the ability to be mothers) and are intrusted with His most precious new spirits to raise and nurture and teach. Men must come to earth to be ordained with their priesthood and their authority in the home is only valid when it is in righteousness. Marrigae is a partnership not a dictatorship.

Maybe for the day that didn't go so well a change was needed ... instead of praying for the obvious sometimes if we pray for the not so obvious it works out better. Instead of a calm day, with no stress or hassle and no trouble maybe pray that you will be able to handle the stresses of the day in manner pleasing to Him. He doesn't hand things to us ... we have to work for it. Some days I say "Enough already I have as much character as I can handle". When we pray for things that will make us grow and be better as opposed to things that just make it easier for us we tend to reap even greater rewards. The Lord will never ever leave you ... when it seems like He is not there it is not Him who has drawn away but us. As for motivation I think it was Pres McKay (correct me if I am worng) who said "Do it." That's how to get motivated ... just do it and then the motivation comes. Just like when we exercise faith and then the spiritual experiences come. I am not just giving lip service here .... I have dealt with severe depression and this is the way to get moving ... put one foot in front of the other and do it. May the Lord bles you on you journey.

Women can be sealed to their deceased spouses ... however since we leave here with what we have learned and our attitudes intact it is just possible that even after seeing the otherside things still won't change. Single women will still have the choice on the other side to make the covenants that will get us where we want to be provided we live worthy.

I have lived many places in my life Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Montana, Idaho ... it comes with the territory of being a government brat. Now home is a large one bedroom apartment above the garage on my folks property ... both my building and theirs are log homes. I am care taker during their missions.You can't see our place from the road we are 1/4 back in the trees and at the end of the road. I can see Mt St Helens every morning when I wake up. As well as Mt Rainier and on a good day Mt Adams. Things are finally getting green here and starting to grow. We get alot of rain and we say that we don't tan ... we rush. I have my dog kennel down the back of the yard next to the garden that dad decided to finally put a fence around after the elk trashed it last summer. On any given day we have bunnies, elk, deer, possum, and racoon running through the place. The claim to fame for our town is that we have the biggest egg in the world. Our town is basically a wide spot in the road ... an old logging town like most in the area. We do not have lumber jacks we have loggers! I live outside Winlock, Washington which is almost dead center between Portland, Or and Seattle and about 2 hours from the beach.

Personally JMHO I think those WMD are still out there ... just because we didn't find them doesn't mean they aren't there. They haven't found Obama (oops! Fruedian slip! I mean Bin Ladden) yet either. One of these days there is going to be another attack and folks will be whining "Well why didn't they know so they could stop it?" ...

And then why would any one ever again step up and do the nasty dirty jobs that keep our respective countries safe if they can be prosecuted for it? Nope .... not me. Of course the Pres has to realize that it will be pay back time after his admin leaves office ... this won't go away anytimee soon. people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.