No Coincidences

Tag: god

100th Post
100 posts! I thought it warranted a special post. You never know when you start something like a blog if you’ll actually stick to it. Here I am a year and a half and 100 posts later, with hundreds still to go.

I figured as part of my first 100 posts I could mention the top 5 most read:
It’s interesting what this list shows. Life and death.

It was scary starting a blog. It’s basically a public diary. I’m excited for Ivy to read it one day. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported. The primary motivation in writing and sharing these posts has always been to share my faith story and hopefully help others in some tiny way. If my story or my thoughts have helped one person think about life or come closer to Jesus Christ, then a million hours (close to how much time I’ve put into this) is worth it.

I re-read my first post to prepare for writing this. In reading that, I was kind of surprised by how open and vulnerable I made that. It inspired me to share another more personal post.

As I read that very first post I was reminded why I decided to write this. I had my own very unique journey back to God and I hoped it could help someone, whether that be back to God or to God for the first time. During those years where I removed God completely from my life, I feared every day I was away from Him that I’d never be able to return. I know there are so many people out there that feel the same way. There are also people that have never known God, prayer, repentance, all these things some of us take for granted. These are abstract concepts to many, I know.

I want to share that I believe God is for everyone. As the world screams at us, “You have your screens, your technology, your books, universities, learning, society with its conveyer belt of packaged food, water always, peace, prosperity. Watch Netflix! Relax! All is well (2 Nephi 28:21). Set aside thoughts of life, death, and purpose. You have your purpose, live and let live.” The world is telling us that despite the chaos around us, everything is fine, and we don’t need God. I testify that all is well IF we have God.

I want to tell everyone, there is more than what the world screams at us is important. There is much, much more. I want to tell everyone who will listen, God is for you. If you’ve ever known Him, if you’ve never known Him, if you consider Him a complete foreign concept, if you consider Him a myth, He is for you and He is there for you. You can come to Him, and when you do, your life changes.

That’s what sticks with me most when I think about those years away from God. I removed Him, but He was never gone. We can’t remove our Father. This makes us accountable; it can be a frightening concept if we fear Him. We don’t need to fear Him. He is only there out of love. He will never leave us.

I bear my testimony of the most important things: God is our Father, and He does love us. Jesus Christ did something unimaginable. Would you die for your child? Would you suffer the punishment for the sins of your child? Probably. Would you die for the person torturing you? Christ did. He suffered for all of us, really suffered and felt. I have been blessed to have the Holy Ghost be a part of my life when I’ve made good choices, since it was conferred upon me when I was 9 years old. Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He translated the Book of Mormon from ancient records. The temples that are now dotting the earth are God’s temples. The temples are clean and holy. I can be with my family forever because of what Christ did for me in Gethsemane and on the cross.

I know this to be true. This knowledge brings purpose and understanding to my life. It doesn’t make trials go away but it makes them understandable.

I wish everyone would consider the great plan of salvation, The Plan of Happiness. But we are distracted.

I have been so blessed by God and I ask Him constantly what I’ve done to be afforded so much. The least I can do is share it with others, and I am glad to do so.

I leave this testimony for my daughter, and my family, and all those I care about to read- forever. I leave it in the name of my Redeemer, my Savior, my King, Jesus Christ.

Amen.
October 21, 2021
The Power of Repetition

If you were born after the year ~1987 and I just write the words:

“We just got a letter.”

“We just got a letter.”

What happens in your mind?

How about:

“DARE to keep off drugs…”

You know that painful feeling of getting a song stuck in your head?

Ivy has started watching Blues Clues. Don’t know how I feel about Josh as he’s not Steve. The first thing I noticed with this new show was:

“We just got annnn email! We just got annnn email!” If you’ve heard it you understand the multiple n’s.

I was just at my desk staring out the window and I couldn’t get that doggon song out of my head. Then, I thought of better days and started singing in my mind, “We just got a letter…” and it came to me just like that. I could hear it; I could feel it.

It made me think about the power of repetition. Can you believe if I hear, “we just got a letter” 20 years later, I STILL sing that exact song? Why is that? Repetition. I must have heard it 100, 1000 times growing up, and I don’t even recall being a HUGE Blues Clues watcher. (I say that in the context of how Blues Clues took over the world in the 90s).

As I often do, I applied this to a gospel principle. Why is it SO important that we pray and study the scriptures daily? Repetition. I could read the Old Testament every day for the rest of my life and still learn from it. Nothing sticks with us humans unless we do it over…and over…and over… and over.

That is the way we learn and grow: repetition. Now if someone could work on a really catchy Book of Mormon jingle, I could get that book memorized.

October 14, 2021
You are Loved, You are Worthy

“When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.”

Think about that statement for a moment.

I heard this quote in a recent meditation I did. The meditation guided this visual exercise: Picture yourself as a child, truly picture it. Picture yourself as a baby. Picture yourself on someone’s lap. Picture yourself being held, comforted, and played with. Picture yourself laughing joyfully as someone makes a funny face at you. Picture yourself young and innocent.

You don’t have to earn worthiness; you don’t have to earn love. You are loved because you are.

The next time you don’t feel worthy, picture yourself as a child. You are worthy.

This exercise led me to an even more powerful thought. One that speaks not only to our worthiness here, but to our birthright and our eternal potential.

Consider Adam for a moment, the first man. When he came to this earth, we are told he was as a child. Adam came to earth meek and humble, a child-like individual. He had forgotten who he was. Who he was in reality was Michael the archangel, the chief angel. Adam was Michael, the angel second in authority. His authority was only exceeded by Jesus Christ Himself (and God, of course). In Hebrew the name Michael means “Who is like God.” This Michael came to earth with his mind wiped clean, with no recollection of his prior authority, no memory of his prior self.

What about us? What don’t we remember about ourselves?

The next time you are insecure, unsure, or afraid, remember that you are a child of divine inheritance. You are a prince or princess of the most High God. Consider that for a moment.

Not only are you loved and worthy of love, you are loved by the God of the universe. You are in line to inherit all He has to offer (D&C 84:38). Remember that, and don’t forget it. Hold to it.

We are as children here. We don’t remember our past. For all we know, we were spiritual giants. We are spiritual giants. We can be spiritual giants. Embrace that identity. Remember who you might be. Remember who it is you have been tutored by. The God of Heaven and Earth. When we embrace this way of thinking and embrace this possibility, the difficult things of this earth become so inconsequential. Our true potential is greatness. May we never forget it.

October 7, 2021
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

We’ve been having a difficult time with Ivy’s sleeping the last couple weeks. This morning I woke up and Beth was awake. I asked if Ivy got up during the night.

Beth laughed.

Not a good sign.

Beth said yes Ivy did get up during the night. She said she was rocking Ivy and could tell that Ivy was not going to go back to sleep. So she did something drastic.

Warning: this strategy is not recommended, and we know full and well this is NOT a good idea.

Beth said she GOT IN IVY’S CRIB WITH HER. My first thoughts, it didn’t break?

I looked at Beth and said instead, “…is that ok?”

Beth responded that of course no, it’s not ideal. It’s not safe and the crib could have broken. All bad things. Like the title of the post says, Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures.

Beth continued to tell me that after a while she got out of the crib and successfully returned to our bedroom. A hero had slain the dragon. A cute little booty-up-in-the-air-dragon, but a dragon nonetheless.

She said she got into bed and Ivy started to stir and cry. Beth asked me if I remembered in the middle of the night her saying, “oh no.” Beth told me I then started patting her on her back. I vaguely remember this.

But then a miracle happened! Ivy went back to sleep. Hallelujah.

After hearing Beth’s tale, I started to meditate to prepare for the day. My mind drifted to this story as the mind is wont to do during meditation. I thought about that moment when Ivy cried and very well should have continued screaming until one of us came to get her.

A past successful night of sleep resistance. The smug face of a champion saying, “I’m the boss here,” cross-legged and all.

The coolest visual came to me as I was meditating. You see, that night was the first time in months that I slept a night without getting out of bed. MONTHS.

This is the visual that came to me. Ivy started to cry, and God said, “someone do something!” And a legion, thousands of angels came pouring out of heaven to comfort and console Ivy back to sleep. Heavenly Father was like, “give that man one full night in his bed.”

It was a true miracle and that’s the only possible explanation.

So I say, thank you Heavenly Father, I sure needed that.

After a good night’s sleep

Sleep training here we come.

September 16, 2021
The Shack

The Shack was a New York Times best seller and eventually became a motion picture. I watched the movie before reading the book. I liked the movie a lot so was looking forward to reading the book.

The Shack is a story about a man who has to come face to face with his faith and what he believes about God. It’s written claiming to be the true experience of one man, written by his friend.

The book is great. It is a religious themed book with an engaging story that anyone could enjoy. The story is one anyone can get behind. We have all felt pain and the circumstances of the main character’s journey are easy to attach oneself to.

I marked and highlighted throughout the book. It’s a book with countless lines that make you stop and think. It’s an intellectual and spiritual journey.

I had the unique experience of watching the movie 2 or 3 years before reading the book. I loved the movie. The movie really made me think and expanded my view on pain, justice, mercy, and how God fits into that equation. Surprisingly, I think the book touched on that in a different way. That theme was there, but I remember it being more palpable in the movie experience.

The big question I’d like to address – did this really happen? Some of what I know to be true doctrinally was misrepresented in this story, but I still can’t say for certain that this was a story of fiction. The world is a mysterious place and I don’t want to get into a situation where I limit what God is capable of. If He presented Himself to this man in this unique way… maybe. Maybe it happened. Maybe countless things happened.

What I will say is this: whether it happened or it didn’t happen, even if it’s a completely fictional tale, I learned something. It expanded my mind, made me think, and I believe it even strengthened my testimony of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. For that reason, I can say I don’t care whether the main character truly had this experience. Even if he was just impacted by whatever experience he had in a way that led him to portray such a unique and beautiful story, that’s good enough for me.

There is something unique at the end of the book. The very last page has “The Missy Project.” It states that the book became #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List on a $200 budget because of passionate readers. It says: “if you were as taken with the message of this book as we are, you may already have some unique ideas as to how you can best let others know about it…. If you have a Web site or blog, consider sharing a bit about the book and how it touched your life. Don’t give away the plot, but recommend that they read it as well and link to http://www.theshackbook.com.

I checked, the website still exists these 13 years after publication. In fact, it’s a beautiful website promoting both the movie and the book.

This book did touch me. It expanded my thinking. I loved it. I loved the movie as well.

A lot of the books I read few will ever read simply because people aren’t interested in the subject matters that interest me. This book should not be avoided. Anyone can learn and grow from this book, it’s a page turner with an engaging plot and wonderful story. Please read it.

If you’ve already read The Shack tell me what you thought of it.

September 2, 2021