Sunnysprite

Today, I was out with friends for breakfast, and on the way back home we saw a group of bikers (Bicycles) in the Ward parking lot and we stopped to chat. My two friends are not religious, so any time the opportunity comes to expose them to other Mormons, I'm up for it. Well we pulled in and ran into several people that I know, so we started to have a jolly good time chatting. I am not sure what happened but someone brought up one of the Presidential Candidates and one of my friends said that he was a liar. As soon as I could, I tried to put a stop to THAT conversation and confronted the brother that got it started. He is about a foot and a half taller than me, but I told him that he was talking to two potential Investigators, and asked him what he was doing? That didn't stop the conversation, but we finally left with out any blood shed. On the way home I realized that I'd been really disrespectful to a member of the priesthood. Gosh, I wish the Holy Spirit carried a gag.

It is not my intention to seem to try to out Christian you. I just think that we need to encourage each other because the world seeks to turn us away from Heavenly Father. I'm alone, with no one to guide me, so perhaps without the distractions of a Husband or children I am simply more conscious of his actions in my life, and well maybe he is giving me special attention. :) I am most conscious of Holy Spirit's actions in my life when I am perplexed by a situation that I can not solve. Very often a solution presents its self, sometimes with out even asking. I am thankful.

Right after 9/11 is when most of the increase in the use of Psych Drugs occurred. Generations were brought up feeling secure that we could not be attacked on our own soil, and suddenly it happened. I think that 2/3 of the use of those drugs is a simple adjustment disorder. I was one of those who began to take copious amounts of prescription medications. One day I realized that I just needed to act like an adult, so I stopped using them. It took almost a year to get off the drugs. I don't mean to sound harsh, but Americans have some serious business coming up and we need our wits about us. From personal observation, you do not make good decisions when you are over medicated.

I feel violated by my own government. The times after 9/11, I felt more menace from our own government than from the Terrorists. They took our freedom, violated sacred aspects of our constitution, and the American people bought it, yes they bought it. To Americans, watching another episode of Family Guy, and polishing that new car is more important than unlawful confinement. It will be happening to us one day, and who will we blame but ourselves. I think that one of the main reasons for depression is that people feel so uncertain about what once seemed to be a rosy future. We've sat back, fat, dumb and happy and allowed the very rich to run our lives. Come on Mormons, it is time to step up to the plate.

Glad you got a good bead on the problem there. I know two manic;/depressives in my ward. I wonder what they think about the causation of depression?

Bingo !

Most assuredly, we each have our own feelings about what constitutes the action of the Holy Spirit. Being not married, and not dating there are some very lonely times when I am not working. I need the companionship that Heavenly Father provides whether by the Holy Spirit or through other humans. Perhaps my feelings about the Holy Spirit are what some would call magical thinking, but I doubt it. At times I feel very strong guidance, and to ease thoughts about the possibility of my having schizophrenia, I am always told to do nice things. :)

Maybe people are inured to believe that being spoken to by the Holy Ghost is unusual. I think it is actually quite common, but sometimes we mis label it or misinterpret it.

I have to tell this story. LOL When I became Mormon several years ago, I did not actually believe that the church did not practice polygamy, but I did believe that Heavenly Father wanted me to be Mormon. I used to daydream about somehow fitting into farm culture with many other women, and wondered how that would work out. Well, neither the farm nor the multiple other wives ever happened. I do agree that adversity can be very instrumental toward bringing people closer to Heavenly Father.

I hope that I have realised that other than choosing to do the right thing, our life here is not very important in comparison with what Heavenly Father has for us after. It is hard to keep that mind set however.

I do not speak with the authority of a member of the priesthood, but as a sister. Here in America, we have enjoyed many years of being on top so to speak, and now I see a lot of that evaporating. I am certain that many of the oportunites open to me when I was younger are no longer present. And now, abominably, people now see a really bleak future, including myself at times. Oh, to be sure I have deep faith in my next existence and in the Atonement. It is just this life that is bothersome at times. It pains me to see the young working two or three jobs just to live. It is sad that college graduates often owe two hundred thousand dollars in college loans and often can not find jobs in their chosen area. I lay the responsiblity for much of this at the feet of the very rich who are hiding their riches away in foreign accounts, rather than paying it forward to the culture that made them rich. I agree with one of the posters that our environment is so polluted now that it must be affecting us. The Columbia river has astonishing amounts of radiation in it. Look at the air quality in the SLC valley. Years ago, the Deleware river was so polluted that it caught on fire. We have interfered with the environment so much that the Everglades are dying. We have huge oil spills in the Ocean, and the middle of the Pacific Ocean is full of plastic. As church members, the best we can do is to follow the guidance of Heavenly Father in all that we do.

Something that I have not seen in our church but have heard others from other churches complain about is that there seems to be a feeling that if life is going good for you, then you are right with God, but if you are experiencing hardship, then there is sin in your life.

I truthfully think that a lot of suffering comes just because. And most of us struggle against it, wanting to find the reason, wanting to say that Satan attacked us and so on. I once read the book of Job and marvelled at the suffering of the poor man. He had done nothing wrong at all. I remember one instance where I cried all day, cried all night and wakened crying and apologising to Heavenly Father for not being as good as Job. At the time, it felt like I was a complete failure, but in the coming months I began to realise that we are not our own and we are to serve and love Heavenly Father in good and bad. It was very tough and I would not want to experience it again.

I've had some really extreme experiences yet miraculously seem to have come out of them with a deeper sense of Heavenly Father's will. I'd just like to read others stories.

I agree. I wasn't doing really bad things. But I did get way into putting my fun ahead of Heavenly Father and lost everything. It is sad that too many young people attribute every part of their well being to whether God exists or not. If things are good, then God loves them and if they come upon hard times then either God does not love them or does not exist. I was in the wilderness last week and was listening to a rendition of "All is well" on a CD as I watched. The Lyrics are so stirring to me. It really touched my heart to realize that those who made the journey from Europe to America and then across the plains and mountains to SLC knew that some of them would not survive the trip. One place I passed through up around the Clarno country, on a plaque, I saw the story of a pioneer family; the husband gone to tend the herd; the wife and children swept away in a flood. The wife perished but the two children survived. In looking at the illustration it seemed clear to me that the woman was swept away because of her many skirts. It just made me feel real compassion for the suffering of that family.

Farmer: 'It was the system that failed us' - CNN.com In many religious circles in the world, our faith in Heavenly Father seems to be linked to how easy life is for us. What have been your experiences in dealing with adversity? Did it deepen your faith?

Just last week, had an incident where somehow chrome was partially uninstalled. So yeah, the forces of darkness are at work on the internet.

I may never have liked Handel but when I was much younger, I was asked to sing in a Christmas Choir and we sang The Messiah. I do not think my feet touched the ground for the entire time we practiced and then performed it! Jesus Christ thrilled me at the time, but it would be a long time before I felt I was anything but an admirer. It would take the Mormons to convince me there was more. Now, even though I know the text that says so, it is very difficult to think of Jesus Christ as my big brother.

If I have one Hot Button issue with Mormonisism, it is that one. I will never serve a mission, though for women, the dogma is not there. I've had to struggle with what felt like a sort of caste system in the church, but right now it's not bothering me. I'll never be one of the special ones, but I am good enough to pay my tithe.

I'm still having too much fun and able to keep my Quals up, so I'd need a man that can catch me on my bike, pin me on the mat, take the #10 out of a target, take a calf down faster than me, likes my cooking, knows where to keep the seat, will rub my back and knows the Bible better than me.

It indeed was at one time thought that I was having sex with every available male on the planet. LOL No one is that randy. The fact was that I far too timid.

Judgmentalism is the bane of my existence.

At one time, I was working with the Japanese here in America in one of their manufacturing plants doing some very technical research. It felt strange when the Japanese visited because these important men would bring their secretaries. There seemed to be a sort of uniform and they all seemed to conform to it without question. The women, all very slim, wore light blue skirt suits with hems that were above the knee quite a lot, and rather tight, with very fitted jackets and white blouses. They all wore rather high heels. It was disconcerting to see the women all bowing to the men and saying "Hi". It is a cultural custom that to Americans looks very strange. I tried to resist but found it difficult to escape the feeling that their relationship with their bosses ran much deeper than paper work. There was never any doubt in my mind that these women were anything but subservient to the men.

I understand. Well, I must say that to my knowledge, no one has ever used that term to describe me. On one level, at one time, I would have found that flattering. NOT ! Those who use those terms to describe others should perhaps look within.

It should be very apparent that even in the 21st century, women do not have equal rights, though we are constantly told we do. Such discrimination and illegal firings should be policed against, but usually are not. It is my hope that these women will find employment where their physical beauty is not the focus of their value. Some of us have never been considered pretty. Perhaps that is a blessing?