sunday thoughts

 Hello! It's been a while since I've posted, hasn't it? I apologize for that- life happens sometimes, and then sometimes I get in my own way and keep my thoughts to myself. *Buddy the Elf voice* BUT I'M HERE NOW! And guess what? I love you. I love you. I LOOOOVE YOUUUUUU!!!

*ahem.* With that being said, I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you this Sunday. There will probably be a lot, so...I hope you enjoy.😅😁(I LEARNED HOW TO USE EMOJIS AREN'T YOU PROUD OF ME??? ok fine moving on)

Lessons from Fasting

I've been coming to learn that my overall state is determined by the balance of my mind, body, heart, and spirit. If I'm not doing the greatest physically, that usually affects my mood, which affects my thoughts, which push any encouragement from my spirit down out of my reach. It's a whole downward spiral that's pretty easy for me to fall into. Luckily, it's becoming just as easy to make the connection of what exactly throws me off-balance. For example, if I'm feeling just plain cranky- like, I hate everything, I'm crabby to everyone, and I'm just mad at/don't like myself- it's usually because I'm hungry and need to eat. (Yes, parents, I am now confirming that I get extremely cranky when I'm hangry...no shame here right...)

As such, I began to realize why fast Sundays are so...difficult...for me. If being hungry makes me cranky, you can see why fast Sundays are days when I'm usually crankier than usual. But I know for a fact that out of the four parts of my being, my spirit is the strongest. And I know that my spirit can and will overpower any feelings of hunger from the physical side of me, feelings of crankiness from the emotional side of me, and self-degrading thoughts from the mental side of me. In the words of a revelation I received while praying about this very subject, "my spirit cannot be deterred."

Okay, cool, what's that supposed to mean? To me, it means that fasting is an essential part of keeping myself in balance. Fasting is when I feel my spirit. And this makes sense, doesn't it? When I'm denying myself of what I THINK is essential for my survival, I'm letting the strongest part of me (my spirit) take over, and proving that I'm not subject to any physical discomfort, any mood swing, or any negative thought. As a spiritual being, I am built to conquer.

But a key thing to remember about the law of the fast is I'm not just denying myself of food or water (or anything else I could be fasting from). Fasting without prayer is just starving yourself. Read that again. Fasting is not meant to be a law we just abide by because we have to, and to do that we confine ourselves to an extremely hungry existence for two meals and then we just move on with our lives. No! Fasting is meant to be an experience where we really strengthen our faith with the Being who gives our spirits their incredible strength- our Heavenly Father! Think about this- if prayer can move mountains, and fasting is meant to be an experience where we devote ourselves to prayer and letting our spirits become stronger...can't you see why in the scriptures (and in life today!) fasting and prayer are so often paired together? We're stronger when we do both of them. It's a wonderful (and essential!) way to let God prevail.

Gathering Israel

With that last note on letting God prevail, I'd like to move to thoughts I've been having lately about the gathering of Israel. I'm studying the Doctrine & Covenants this year in my personal scripture study (and in seminary, and with my family- go Come, Follow Me!) and it blows me away on how often the gathering of Israel is mentioned. Missionary work, repentance, and growth as God's church and covenant people is a constant theme.

And it's been getting me really excited to think about how the Doctrine & Covenants were written almost 200 years ago. The gathering of Israel is not longer just some awesome thing that's being prophesied- it's happening right now! Jesus Christ is preparing the world for His second coming right now!

I don't know about you guys, but at first when I thought about this, I'd feel anxious and more than a little overwhelmed. "But, Jesus, I'm not ready for You to come yet! I have other plans! And I don't think I'm fully ready to gather Israel the way You want everyone else to! What should I do?"

Of course, by the last part, you can tell that I decided to take my questions to the Lord, since He's the source of all wisdom- surely He could help me out, right?

Guess what? He did. And now I'm more excited about the gathering of Israel than nervous- here's my reasons why.

First, none of us really have any idea how the future's gonna play out- but Jesus does. And He also knows us personally, better than we'll ever know ourselves. And for me, Jesus has never steered me wrong. So I feel comfortable saying that if I trust in Him, He will lead me to the right place. He knows my fears, and He knows what I care about- He hasn't taken me down a wrong path yet, and He never will.

With that in the back of my mind to comfort me, I can now comfortably do as God wants me to without needing to get caught up in the worries of the future. I can now help Him gather Israel. Awesome!...how do I do that?

I posted something on my Instagram recently that says that I believe that we are here to be happy, and our work is to help others feel the same way. Jesus is the source of all joy, so to accomplish both those things, running to Him is probably the best idea. And this is very true- the Prophet has actually counseled us to gather Israel in almost this exact way! President Nelson said, "Anytime you do anything that helps anyone- on either side of the veil- take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that!"

Okay, I don't know if your thoughts were like mine after thinking about this, but maybe you thought, "Umm, okay, well, I'm not really helping any of my friends get anywhere close to being baptized...and I'm not really finding family history names that need ordinances done...guess I'm not helping gather Israel..."

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't be like me and bring yourself down just because you can't see the bigger picture! The prophet isn't saying, "Okay, go and baptize a bunch of people and that's gathering Israel, and if you can't do that, you failed." Does that sound like something President Nelson (or even God) would say? No! What they're saying is that at least getting someone to feel God's love is enough. Baptism stems from a desire to be baptized, and that desire stems from having a deep faith in Jesus Christ, and having faith in Jesus Christ stems from just feeling His spirit in the first place! So gathering Israel really is simple- all you have to do it be YOU. Be yourself! Share your beliefs. Be kind to people. Strengthen your own faith. Keep the commandments. Develop your talents. Just be a good example. People will notice your actions, I promise they will. And that will set off a spark that will draw them into the fold- gather them into Israel.

Above all, don't be afraid to work. Mortal life is gonna be hard sometimes- sometimes it's hard A LOT of the time! But God's got a plan for us. Our spirits cannot and will not be deterred. God's work cannot be frustrated- only our own. (See D&C 3:3.) He will prevail and we. will. Rise!

thanks for bearing with me and my many many many thoughts...I suppose that's why I was prompted to get a blog, right? lololol

hope you all have a FANTASTIC Sunday!!! much love!

oxoxo,

blissfully yours,

Emma💛✨🍯