Jane_Doe

One of my past jobs was helping people with their public speaking skills. I've seen a LOT of strange ticks out there, way stranger than what you describe. They're all just facial/sound habits picked up from somewhere and don't really mean anything.

You're not there to be an expert. You're not there to lecture. You're there to encourage discussion as everyone brings the shards of what they know together. Those are the best teachers.

Ok, my encouragement is below. Warning: my encouragement isn't to pretend that life is only rainbows. Thunderstorms happens before the rainbow, and the below does indeed talk about the storm too. This also was something I have been meaning to write for a while. “You promised you’d keep me safe!” my daughter cried, laying on the pavement in tears, her bike tangled in between her 5-year-old legs. I had spent the last 4 months encouraging her riding her “big kid” training-wheels bike -- much to her terror. We had spent many nights with me literally holding her up, and her screaming in fear. After many many encouraging talks, she was finally ok with me letting go and walking beside her. And then she fell down. In the middle of a flat drive way. At a speed of 30 ft a minute. She didn’t even have a scraped knee. But none of that mattered to her as she sobbed “Mommy, you promised you’d keep me safe!” As I helped her up and gave her big calming hugs… amongst all of the “it’s ok” mommy-pats on the back, I was admittedly was a little…well of course she was ok. She was always safe. Yes, the fall was scary, and it stung, but she was ok and safe. I was always right here. And we were going to figure this big kid bike out, and I know that she’ll love it. This was just a little bump in the much bigger picture I could see. My mind then flash back to my last big scare—so keenly feeling the anniversary of my last miscarriage. I had miscarried before, but this was worse, as things went very badly. I remember the ambulance lights, EMTs rushing, the look of fear on their faces as I won’t stop bleeding. The near-death experience was a nightmare came true, and… it terrified me, haunting terrors, and may deep deep scars. I had cried “You promised you’d keep me safe!” many times the months afterwards, writhing in pain and loss. Cried it to my Parents in Heaven. And I had needed many many hugs, from the divine and people on earth. I was still SO scared. Scared what would happen is I wasn’t physically here for my family, including the 5 year old I was currently trying to comfort. Was I safe? Could I keep her safe? And then, from Heaven, came the giant pat on the back for me. Yes, I was safe. Even when things sting horribly, terrify me, and worse thing I can imagine happen. These was all bumps in the much bigger picture He could see. I was safe. She was safe. I am safe. Nellyleyva92, I can't know all the details about the storms you've been through. I can't remotely pretend to know the big picture God sees for you. But I can say that God too, keeps you safe.

Quick thought here; you don't need to go to the same ward as the man that abused you. Please don't-- that is a COMPLETELY valid reason to switch wards. Also: have you considered counseling to help deal with trauma? I know for me it was a huge game changer. Encouragement part coming here in a minute.

Hi Jonah/Rachel! Welcome to the forum. I'm going to touch on a couple of points in a disorganized fashion here-- Jesus Christ alone is the Only Begotten and the Firstborn. Those are both titles, and existed before His mortal birth to Mary. While we all are children of Heavenly Parents, Christ alone has been the Son of God. He always perfectly in the Father's ways, and is His heir. Rest of us are not remotely so-- we're nothing by ourselves. Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother are married and sealed. Another point: LDS Christians believe that Christ has always existed in some form. We don't know the physics behind how a pre-begotton intelligence is different than a begotten spirit. But then again, we also don't know how a physical body comes back to life and how a glorified resurrected body is, and we humans have been studying physical human biology for thousands of years.

(putting a whole bunch of the Word of God aside for this hypothetical) (also putting aside of generic Christian and Jewish tradition on the subject) Honestly, this boils down to a couple of options: 1) They didn't have children because they couldn't. 2) They could have children but choose not to (either deliberately or through procrastination) and disobeyed God's command. I don't find that likely, as such disoriented would re-write a lot of history. 3) They could have children and tried, but were unable to conceive. Which actually comes back to inability. Good doesn't exist without evil. There must always be a choice, less everything and everyone are mindless robots.

Good question. It sure has become a catch phrase though. I do like it though.

This is an apples and oranges question. Adam and Eve's birthing of children was the creation of physical bodies. The process involving everything we're familiar with physical birthing. The Heavenly Father and Mother's was a spiritual creation. We don't know what's all involved here, but it obviously didn't involve the physical things we mortals associate with physical births.

1 Nephi 14:10 isn't referring to the literal pew/church a person sits in. Rather it is a symbolism for those that choose to follow Christ or the Devil-- a man can only serve one master.

Actually, that's YOUR job. You are married and a father. Yes, that means from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to sleep, you are "on the clock". No punting your duties.

We don't know. In fact there's much about the Spirit World we don't know at all. For references, I would cite Pres Oaks talk just this last General conference where he discusses this at length: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/17oaks?lang=eng Edit: I see that I should have read the comments before replying to the OP! Oh well, chorus of witnesses it is

Have you looked at the cost of divorce? Cause that isn't cheap either. Junior, you and your wife need a LOT of work on how to be better spouses. Get counseling.

@Junior, get marriage counseling.

A day for what matters most: the Lord and family. So, we go to church, have a at-home-date night, play games, cook something yummy, that type of thing. And maybe also take a nap and get some physical rest in.

That's interesting! I missed an interesting talk while tending to sick kid