Category Archives: Scripture Journal

PRIDE

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I’m not even going to begin to tell you that this scripture journal was my idea, because Shannon over at {The Red Headed Hostess} is responsible for my inspiration in creating my first scripture journal.  I don’t know if Shannon has any idea how many lives she probably impacts with her blog full of a wealth of information – but she definitely has impacted me in my life.  If you’ve been reading my blog long, then you’ll know that I’m a QUOTE junkie….she inspired me with being able to mix reading my scriptures, to recording my quotes, to speaking to my children about things I feel are important.

I don’t know if you’re a Christian, if you like to read things re scriptures, and if you’re not I don’t want you to read this and start high tailing it the other way, because when I speak about my scripture journal and share with you the insights I’ve had, a lot of the time they’ll be on topics that even the non-Christian can possibly take something from.

Through  my researching and studying I’ve found myself shockingly more inspired with things to write in my scripture journal than I expected myself to.  BUT I also know that blogging always helps tie things together for me, I thought maybe I’d share one of my favorite quotes that I found and share my insights on what it means to me, and what I hope my children will get from it as well.  My insights and thoughts are 110% for my children and their children, and their childrens’ children – I want my words and thoughts and insights and questions to trickle down and inspire them.

The scriptures testify that the proud are easily offended and hold grudges.  They withhold forgiveness to keep another in their debt and to justify their injured feelings.

My life is a perfect example of this.  I am the QUEEN of injured feelings.  I’m easily offended, which is something that I hope to be able to overcome.  I don’t think I’ve fully grasped yet exactly why being offended makes you a proud person {which gives me a great path to research on my pride journey} BUT I do know that holding grudges and trying to injure others with holding out on forgiving them does.

I started researching pride yesterday for my first scripture topic and I’ve given myself all of today to ponder this topic – yikes I’m definitely a prideful person, and thankfully I’m able to be more aware on this trait.  I thought about difficult people in our lives that make it very hard to give forgiveness, and people who continually hurt us in our lives.  What are we supposed to do then?  I guess the answer to this question is we have to forgive them in our hearts and then turn around and protect our hearts afterwards.  My dad is a perfect example of this: constantly in and out, acting like he cares, then proving that he doesn’t.  I have held a grudge in my heart and no matter how much I want to forgive him, he will continue to hurt me with every time I try to allow him back into my life.  In situations like this, I think the best thing to do is pray that they might someday realize how their actions and their prideful attitudes hurt people who matter.  I don’t think it’s our place to try to get them to see that they are hurting you – but it’s your place to not hold resentful and negative feelings towards them.  The negative feelings of holding things like this towards anybody in your heart brings such negativity to your life, that it’s not even worth it.  In the end, being a prideful person is only going to hurt YOU.

Continuing on with having things offend me, and people’s words hurt me – I tend to be offended, but I also try to realize that sometimes people say things out of ignorance and they usually have their own issues that they need to deal with.  Racist comments, which I’ve heard a lot of lately, highly offend me.  Instead of lashing out and holding a grudge and being angry and bitter inside, I find myself telling myself that unfortunately there are very close minded people who have their own prideful issues within them.  Having a mindset like that is what I’m grasping is the opposite of being a proud person. It is not our place to point that out or fix them – all we can honestly do is pray for them.  Heck, if I grasped hate in my heart towards every person who offends me then I really wouldn’t have much left in my life.  As for the people who hold hate in their heart towards me, that’s really none of my business right?  I have to realize that that’s their own issues that they have to work through.

I’m realizing that this topic of pride is HUGE.  There’s so many curves and roads I can travel on to press into this topic even further, which I just might do.

Faith ~ Scripture Journal

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Attn my dear blog readers.  I understand that my Faith is likely to be different than your’s and while I may make references to my faith at times I try to speak from my heart on a certain values or subjects.  So, while you might not believe in what I believe in, you might find a little nugget from my heart that might touch your’s.  And my brain is scattered and sometimes my blog posts might come off that way as well 
With that said….. 

Without faith we don’t have much.  I was born LDS, but was not necessarily raised LDS.  I don’t think I ever once had a sturdy go to church every Sunday structure in my life.  Honestly, I didn’t know much about the church, but there was a seed that was planted in my heart at a very young age, and that seed grew.  So while I never knew much about the church my heart belonged to, in my heart and with faith I knew this church was true.

I’ve been studying up on Faith, which is a very important value in all of our lives.  I think this scripture pretty much sums up Faith in the most amazing way {Alma 32:17-32}.  

Without faith, what dreams would we have.  I dream big and I dream with faith.  I have faith that my dreams will come true.  I live my life knowing with faith that my family will be a family for all eternity.  Do I have perfect knowledge of this?  No, but it definitely gives me something to be thankful for.  If I had perfect knowledge would I experience the lessons in life that I experience?  Probably not. If I had perfect knowledge would there be much room for forgiveness from Heavenly Father for my sins?  Probably not.  

President Spencer W. Kimball once wrote a book called {Faith Precedes the Miracle} which is definitely on my list of must reads.  In it he talks of how men reverses the process of Faith.  Using a seed for example we plant a seed with FAITH that a blossom will form.  We don’t expect to see a blossom without planting the seed, right?  We as human have reversed the process.  We expect results without exercising Faith.  I quote from President Kimball “We want to have health and strength without keeping the health laws.  We want to have prosperity without paying our tithes.  We want to be close to the Lord but don’t want to fast and pray.”

We have to have faith that there is a reason that God has set up our lives the way that they are set up.  We have to have faith that there is a purpose to every day.  We have to have a faith that we will be together with our families for all eternity, because could you fathom the contrary?  Faith gets us through each day, through our lives, but we have to remember that the miracle comes after Faith.  If you have a dream, you have to have faith in God that he will help you do everything possible to make that dream come true.

With parenting and marriage I think I have experienced far more faith than ever in my life.  Not only faith in God, but faith in myself, faith in my husband, faith in my children.  Parenting alone has so many trials and without faith I don’t know how I’d get through my day.  Even the little things, faith that bedtime will indeed come and I will have that peace I so desperately need, faith that the tantrum being thrown will pass.  Faith that the phases that they go through that make you want to literally pull every single hair out of your head is just indeed a phase.  Faith in yourself that you are what your children need.  

Marriage, I have to have faith that my marriage will succeed all trials that it faces.  I have to have faith that he loves only me, as he has to have faith that I only love him.  We do not have perfect knowledge of these things, which is why in marriage faith is one of the most important things there is.  Faith in our sacred relationship is what helps us get through the trials.  I have faith that every trial we face is dealt to us for a reason and that there is a lesson to be learned through it.  In my marriage we have faced some ROUGH, and I mean ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH trials.  I’ve said it before on my blog, things people throw the towel in over and call it quits, but FAITH kept us together.  Faith that we were bigger than the trials we went through, and Faith that God would help us to get to the point we needed to be at in order to continue on with our marriage ~ and love each other.

I close this post with a quote from {Alma 32:21} “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”
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