Be Brave Enough to Dance

Dear Soul,
today I want to talk about being brave enough to make changes in your life for good.   Whenever I feel down, sad, lonely, or in need of love, I dance.  I put on some salsa and get to moving!  It does not matter if it looks good or not, shoot, the important thing to me is to move, move that energy of being down and shake it into appreciation for the things that life blesses me with that no amount of money could ever pay for!
Look, I know you have heard about counting your blessings, but have you heard about dancing about the greatness of your blessing?  NOOO, nobody really does that, well most do not do that unless they are drunk or trying to impress someone else.  No, that will never do.  You must dance like King David danced before the Lord to show appreciation for what he felt.  I use to imagine being a wife of David's and how I would had been at his side, praising God right along with him.
Often, these days, I think about the Resurrection, when Christ comes back and bestows upon the Believers, all that His Father hath.   Is this not cause to rejoice and be glad in, to shake your tail feathers for!!!  Sometimes, hope in Christ does not need to be for the here and now, sometimes it needs to be focused on the Eternities.
So if you find yourself feeling down, go to Pandora and choose Gypsy  Music and it will bring up songs that mostly do not have words, just a good hearty salso- hip shaking beat, and get to steppin, and rock that bad mood into non-existence!
Happy dancing!
Always praying for you!
Linda

So Sorry for My Absence

Dear Soul,
I know I have been M-I-A, (missing in action) on this blog.
 I let someone tell me that it was not important to share my heart and experiences with others because it didn't matter and that it was too personal.
It has been more a year since my last posting, and I am so very sorry for that!  Often I have thought about you, but now I feel a burning in my heart to write to you that you may know which way to turn to find peace.
 No matter where you are in your timeline, I want you to know that you matter, that your value is beyond understanding and that God is aware of you and all of your struggles, no matter how far you feel from Him, He loves you and will help guide you as you seek to turn to Him.
 So often we think that we have to be perfect for Him to care about who we are.  In my church there is a set of scriptures called the Pearl of Great Price, and in them is found an account where God weeps for man-  for us- FOR ME AND FOR YOU.
 I believe this to be true.  Sometimes I have come to God in my weakest moments, begging for forgiveness, begging for strength to muster the faith to choose Him.  Strength to keep His commandments, especially the law of Chastity.  That one is very hard for all of us at this time because people say that when you love someone that you give them all of you.  And touch communicates love better than words for most people.  But that is not what God intended for us.  No, He wants us to love and choose Him above all and anyone else.  And in return, He will bless us, and protect us, and give us health and strength and make us to shine for His countenance will shine upon us.
 I want you to remember that sin always has consequences, it always has and always will.  And mercy cannot rob justice.  You cannot get away from them until you turn your whole heart to God and make Him your focus, and then even then it is a process.
  I want you to know that no matter how far you feel from choosing God, that He will help you in your weakest moments if you pray for Him to help you.  He has promised to make weak things strong.  Why would anyone think that excluded them?   No matter what you feel weak in, He will provide the way to make you strong.
  I want to invite you to my Facebook Group called Emotionally Safe Living where I post, mostly daily, scriptures and thoughts that I hope will help others on their daily walk with Christ.
Here is the link-  https://www.facebook.com/groups/519508371540747/ 
I want to help you feel your infinite worth.  It does not come from me, nor from anyone else, but from God alone, seeking and searching and listening to your heart as you try to live this life and make it count.
I will try to post weekly letters here so that you can know that I am praying for your good.  I want to be an instrument in our Heavenly Father's hands so that you can find your way through the darkness that surrounds us in these times.
Also, please, if you are a guy reading these posts, do not think for a minute that I am looking for you to be in my life.  These posts are full of Godly love, and nothing else.  God has the answers for your eternal happiness, not me, I only wish to share what I know about Him so that others know where to look to find the peace that passes all understanding.  He has your eternal companion in His hands, turn to Him with full purpose of heart and watch Him bring to pass every dream you never knew you always wanted.
Always praying for your good.-
Linda

He is listening

Dear Soul, I pray for you often and I feel you wonder how to pray. 

 It took me some time to really learn to pray after hating God for so long.  

People will tell you that you can say anything and in any way, and although that is right, God will still hear you, it won't feed your soul the same way as scared prayer does.

Scared prayer really isn't a thing, per say, it is just my words that best describe how I feel when I communicate with God.  

It is more than just talking, it is being aware of the feelings in my heart as I seek to find the words to express them and how I feel after I have prayed.

So the basics for prayer is to remember you are communicating with the God who created all of -  well everything!!!!  

How great that is and to be able to call him our Father.  

Because he is our real father, the father of our eternal spirits.

I share this with you because it really matters to me to know this, and I hope it matters to you too.

OK, so you begin your prayer with that thought in mind and feel honored to have him hear you, because he will.  

And after you thank him for anything and everything you are grateful for, 
then you ask him for what your really need, not for what you think you need.  

There is a scripture that says to be careful for what you pray for, that it will not lead you the wrong way, because with faith you can get what you ask for but will it be for the most benefit for you? 

 Remember we are here to make choices, ones that will show him that we want to return to him.  

Or maybe you haven't gotten that far yet, so praying to know his love for you is the place to start.  

Every prayer should be ended with 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.'

Because it is through Jesus Christ, that our Heavenly Father has shown us how much he loves us because Jesus Christ has paid the price for things we have done wrong, that we could not help, as well as for when we have chosen to do wrong to hurt another person.

If you don't feel a connection to him, pray to understand his role in your personal life.

I promise you that life will take on a whole new meaning and light when you do this.

Then listen and oh, I forgot to say that if you can, bend your knees and kneel on the floor, because I believe there is something very energetic about that pose.  

I have yet to find out what it is, but I feel it when I have done it.  

When should you pray?  All day long.  

Let him be your best friend, it really isn't hard.

I don't always pray on my knees but about twice a day, but as I do the dishes I pray to thank him for what I am grateful for.  

I find I feel peace when I do that and it has become delicious to me.

Here's a video on prayer that I love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfUgVWnTA34

So, one day, when I had first begun to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I was hurt by my birth mother and I felt impressed to pray about it.
In my anger and not knowing who God is to me, I said to the impression in my mind, "Why should I pray to you, you killed your only begotten son, why should you even care about me?"
And the impression came back really clearly, I sacrificed my only begotten son because you are precious to me and if I hadn't done that I could never have you return to live with me again."

That really stopped my anger and opened up my eyes to the love he has for me and for you.  I know that if we were the only ones who needed Christ's atonement, that he would have done it just for us.

It brings to mind that scripture that says, "I will not forget you for I have engraven you upon the palms of my hands."

As I sit here and write this I can't help but cry, and thank God for loving me to make sense of all my sufferings.

I write 4 blogs total, but one of them is the letters I receive from my daughter who is on a mission in the Netherlands.

You can read her blog here:
www.lettersfromjen2015-16.blogspot.com

And my other blogs are found on my website here:
www.ruoiled.org/blogs.html

Praying for you always!
Linda

Found You

I felt impressed to write this blog on Monday.  Today is Wednesday, and it has taken me this long to understand what it is I want to share here on this blog.

In the introduction I said I had a hard life, but I don't think I gave you much of an understanding of it.  I am aware that there are others who have endured so much more than I have, but pain is pain, there is no belittling, really.  I believe we get to endure suffering so that we can understand the greatness of our need for God in our lives.

I was 19, had just ran away from an abusive relationship with 2 babies from different fathers.  I didn't plan it that way, but people say you will find people to pair up with who are like your parents and that was true for me.  I was staying with my foster parents when the sister missionaries began teaching me about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I had refused to hear anything about it for 3 years previous, but I couldn't help but want to know more when all I felt was love from my foster mother.  She had such a love for it and it was the only church that believed that families are forever and that we came from Heavenly Father as his own spirit children.  These thoughts really resonated in my heart when I heard them.

This one day when I had asked the sister missionary why she had come on her mission she told me this story.  
   I believe we all came from our Heavenly Father to this earth so that we could be tested and tried and come to rely upon our Savior Jesus Christ to help us make our weaknesses strong and then one day return home to our Heavenly Father to live with Him forever in happiness.  While on this earth some of us would be born to parents who had the Gospel and could be raised in a happy and loving home, but some of us would be born to parents who did not believe in the Gospel or even God and we would have really hard childhoods.
  I believe, she went on to say, that we promised each other that if one of us did not have the Gospel that we would seek to find each other and would make sure we shared it with each other, for it is something more precious than gold.

I felt this story was true in my heart and I feel it is true to this day.  I have felt all day that I have someone out there in the world that I promised I would share this precious Gospel with and since I am mostly at home raising my little ones, not a wanderer or a traveler as my older children are, I feel this is the way I can meet you and help ease your burdens with what I have learned about Heaven Father, Jesus Christ and this precious Gospel and help you feel less burdened.

There is a man that lived 600 years before Jesus Christ was born who I feel cried for me when he prayed to see my day.  These are the words that are written in the scared record, " For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry."  
I use to feel so alone that I would just cry and sink into depression.  I feel like some of you may know what this feels like.  
I can honestly say that like Nephi, I cry and pray for you and I know that our God will carry my words of comfort unto you.
Some people will try to say that God loves some of his children more than he loves others.  I believe that is not true.  Nephi also said that Jesus  Christ loveth the world.  I never really heard that before.  As proof of that love he says that he does nothing unless it is for the benefit of the world, even that he laid down his own life.  Nephi ends the chapter with saying these words that I just love, 
"he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; 
I have seen what that goodness looks like.  
I promise to share more with you later, because I must now go lay down little ones to sleep.
Sweet dreams!

foreword- Introduction to this blog

I have lived a hard life. 
 And I take full responsibility for it.

There was a time when I hated God, if there even was a God, then I felt like he hated me first.  

I feel I meet so many people who also feel this way and I cannot just stand by and let it happen because I have found out I am wrong.

Not the harsh- punishment, damnation way so many out there preach about- but in a kind, sweet, tender way.
And it happens to me on a daily basis.

I don't want anyone to feel preached to here.  I will only include spiritual verses as I feel they will resonate in the hearts of those who need the strength they provide, as a way to comfort them and not to wound anyone.  

I have endured spiritual abuse, especially as a child, and I know that this is wrong.  

The name of God and Jesus Christ have been used to harm since the world began.

Just think of how people around you use it today- to emphasise what they are saying, just like an exclamation point.

He has become so much more to me than an exclamation. 

I pray I can share His goodness in a way that will feel like a warm and gentle hug.