You are like sunshine upon the beach Warming all faces and hearts that you reach Your smile is so bright from the good things you say As you spread your sweet love in an unselfish way
As surely as night follows day When we're disobedient we will lose our way Thus, regardless of others we'll not change our course As for moral standards, God is our source
Central to His plan and His love for us Is that He wants us to feel joy, faith, hope, and trust He wants us to love in fullness, committedly, as man and wife To then bond together in creating from the fountains of life
But Satan would that we immorally relate And find sin something to embrace or tolerate He would some suppose that some are preset to another way But we have the gospel, the priesthood, and we can pray
With each temptation there is a way to flee and escape A way to repent, be clean, forgive, and erase The plagues of today can become spiritually fatal Thus we must be alert and awake to this long battle
We must protect the family as something sweet to cherish For without it civilization and our liberties must needs also perish The Lord is bound when we do as He says, and life is bright with purpose But, as sure as darkness exists if we in this sin we will see no promise
This is a message of hope and light And of power to change one's life The key to repentance is to not look back But forward to Christ for the strength we lack
How kind and merciful is our God To have given us the safety and security of laws How supreme and eternal is His plan That we can repent and feel safe within His hands
Boyd K. Packer Cleansing the Inner Vessel Ensign, November 2010,
The counterfeit fisherman Uses artificial lures Craftily to hook each man To what spiritually injures
To seal us his, he lies in wait Knowing exactly where we're weak Then creating the perfect bait That blinds us to think it's what we seek
Feeling pleasure instead of pain The addiction starts As he takes hold of the brain And hardens up our hearts
He'll not tire, nor let go But cleverly attack For as resistance starts to show He entices to call us back
Yet there is hope, there is a way To get the hook removed If we seek in faith to pray There's a narrow pass to move
Fervent prayer is the key To finding peace to overcome As from pride one does plea The fight of addiction can be won
Humbly search on your knees And surrender to Jesus Christ This fisherman knows all your needs And has paid salvation's price
click on above title to go directly to read or watch this conference address http://new.lds.org/general-conference/sessions?lang=eng&bcpid=610705729001&bctid=624251294001
quote from Elder Ballard's talk: O That Cunning Plan of the Evil One... 'I add my voice today to the voices of my Brethren that Lucifer is a clever and cunning intelligence. One of the main methods he uses against us is his ability to lie and deceive to convince us that evil is good and good is evil. Right from the very beginning in the great Council in Heaven, Satan “sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him. … “And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will” (Moses 4:3–4).
'To those who are dealing with an addiction personally or within your family, I repeat, fervent prayer is key to gaining the spiritual strength to find peace and overcome an addictive craving. Heavenly Father loves all of His children, so thank Him and express sincere faith in Him. Ask Him for the strength to overcome the addiction you are experiencing. Set aside all pride and turn your life and your heart to Him. Ask to be filled with the power of Christ’s pure love. You may have to do this many times, but I testify to you that your body, mind, and spirit can be transformed, cleansed, and made whole, and you will be freed. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).'
He's Been There Before by Elder Troy Whittle The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise? It seems like just a second ago I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much "We have a super day planned," My comp. says with a grin I lowly utter a faithless breath, "Yeah, if anyone lets us in."
With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to Face another day of humidity and heat It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do
We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air Box" We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet
It's past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep, Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray I need to talk to father, but I'm not sure what to say
"Oh, Father" I begin, "What happened to us today? I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat; If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street"
"Why on missions are the days so much alike? The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see"
"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough? People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"
"And what about my family: They don't have much to say I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time? Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind"
"My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me? "The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"
My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead Sleep start to overtake me, I seem to drift away Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day
I'm standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice A man walks to wards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ" Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet "Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"
My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"
"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"
"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great! I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else- I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"
"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"
"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
"We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me" He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above
I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!" I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!"
No matter what we go through, when we feel we can't take more Just stop and think about Jesus Christ, He's been there before By Elder Troy Whittle Texas Houston listen to this as a song Mission https://ldspoetrybykellymiller.blogspot.com/2008/06/hes-been-there-before.html
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
These poems are my own thoughts and impressions as I study the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints
I encourage you to read from the Book of Mormon and the standard works, and listen to modern day prophets, also, that your mind and heart might be touched.
