Hey there, friends. Before we begin today's episode,
I feel compelled to pause for just a moment.
Yesterday, just a few short miles from our home
here in Orem, Utah, tragedy struck with the assassination
of Charlie Kirk. Our hearts and our prayers are
with his family and with all of those who were
there. Some of those who were there are close
to us personally, and we've seen the fear and
the sorrow. that this is stirred. In moments
like this, when the world feels so dark and uncertain,
we naturally wonder, as Deb's favorite hymn often
cries out to us, where can I turn for peace?
Where can peace be found? You know, last night
Deb and I gathered with hundreds of young people
at an institute devotional. We have both Utah
Valley University and BYU students in our institute,
so you can imagine the confusion that they were
carrying into that room, and yet they came. They
came searching for what we are all searching
for right now, direction, comfort, assurance,
peace, the knowledge that their path is acceptable
to God, and they came seeking answers. And the
answer is always the same. It's Jesus Christ.
Through him fear can be replaced with faith Through
him despair can be met with hope Through him
sorrow can be softened into peace the Comforter
the Holy Ghost applies his atonement Into our
lives in a very real and personal way because
Jesus Christ has redeemed us through his blood
not only for eternity, but for this very moment,
for tragedy, for grief, for questions that we
cannot answer. And so while our hearts are heavy,
we will not give in to fear. Our hope is steady.
Because of Him, light will rise again. Comfort
is real. Peace is possible. And it's in that
spirit of hope. And with our eyes fixed on Him,
that we begin today's episode. May God be with
us all is our prayer. Hey there, everybody. Welcome
out to another episode of Redeemed Through His
Blood. I'm Scott Durfee joined, as always, by
the beautiful Deborah Durfee. What's up, babe?
Hi. Hi, friends. How are you? You know what?
I'm good. I'm sitting in a really comfortable
chair looking at you. OK, yeah. So I'm actually
comfortable and good. Well, you're sweet. I'm
sitting in a chair looking at you and a brand
new painting that I have hanging above your head.
It's pretty beautiful. It's pretty spectacular.
I don't know how to describe it, but it's a picture
of Jesus carrying his cross and it has some beams
coming from behind it. And it shows the weight
of the struggle that he is by himself struggling
with carrying that cross. And it reminds me.
To keep in perspective the things that we talk
about here. Yeah, and everything else, right?
Yeah, so It's yeah in a very small small small
way. Yeah Small to us. I mean small compared
to him. Yeah, but for us sometimes they're not
small Sometimes they feel big and I think that
you know our our capacity obviously is not the
same as his and our Our royal birthright is even
a little bit different than his, right? We have
our own cross to bear, and we have our own Gethsemane.
We sing about it in primary. I know we love that
song. It's the kids favorite song. Yeah, primary
program coming up, right? Yes, we do. So many
people's favorite sacrament meeting. Mine for
sure, hands down. Totally not mine. Yeah, I love
it. I know you do. Because they sing and speak
doctrine and you don't get more raw and truth
than the primary program. And as soon as I say
that, now I sound like a big jerk, you know,
like what's wrong with the kids and stuff like
that. I mean, I love it, but it's just different
for me than I know that it is. Yeah, you like
that boring, doctrinal like stuff at Education
Week that you have to have seven degrees to understand
what they're even talking about because they
use words that I have to Google. Is that what
you're talking about? That's not even close to
what I'm talking about, Deb. None of the primary
kids. I think they speak my language. Well, that's
awesome. And they don't use words that I have
to Google. Yeah, well, we have Institute beginning
this week. Well, we're doing our kickoff this
week. Yeah, well, it'll be the beginning of Institute
with our kickoff this week. We're super excited
about that. We begin a new semester. Fall semester
is always my favorite. Because it's the biggest
one well and because we have new faces not that
we don't have new faces almost every semester,
but in the fall, traditionally, that's when people
go back to school and that's why we'll have tons
of freshmen and tons of transfers. And I am so
excited to to meet and get to get to know those
souls that will be coming with us. Some of my
greatest experiences in my life to date have
been because of our experiences at Institute.
And that's not I'm not saying that just to say
it. You know, I say that without fear. a successful
contradiction by anybody, because they just have
been some of my most sacred and holy experiences
have been the ones that I've had in institute.
Well, we get taught by the Spirit. We learn and
we grow and we study and then we testify and
then these kids teach us and testify to us. Where
one or more are gathered and there are a lot
gathered. Yeah There I am and I'm telling you
the spirit is incredibly strong and those young
adults Below my mind with their devotion. Yeah,
like they are Working in the temple. They are
coming to Institute and they don't have to be
there Like they take time in and even in summer
semester I was mind blown because I was like
if I could be outside I would Yeah, I would not
be finding myself in a church in a chair to listen
to some spiritual thing. That is a dirty truth
out of my mouth. But that is some spiritual thing.
I like to categorize that. I just I just I I
always tell them, I said, I take my hat off to
you guys that you make the effort to go seek
and search for the spirit. Well, they understand
they understand this lady because, you know,
You said when two or more gathered in my name
there I am also or whatever Yes, the way that
he is there also is by way of his spirit And
we know, and we'll get into this more and more
as we go, especially when we start talking about
instruments of grace in the role of the Holy
Ghost and in our healing from the fall and from
sin and from everything else. But when we get
into that, we're going to learn or relearn, perhaps,
or have the reconfirmation or retestifier, if
you will, that it is the Holy Ghost. It's the
Holy Spirit that administers, even administrates,
administers and administrates the blessings of
Jesus Christ's atonement in our lives. Yep. That's
one thing I learned in the podcast and in Institute
and teaching. And when we fill the Spirit, then
we know that in all ways. the atonement of Jesus
Christ is at work in our life. He's healing us
from all things that are by way of the fall,
as long as we're aligning with that healing,
right? Which includes sin, which can include
depression and anxiety and fear and loss and
all those other things that we've talked about.
But those things are only really overcomeable
or we can really only have that experience through
the Spirit. as we start to move into faith. I
just had a thought. You did not. Don't act surprised.
So you know when you're younger and you're challenged
with something or you have a habit that you're
trying to quit. And when you talk to a leader
or something, they'll say, pray more fervently,
read the scriptures more fervently. You know
what? What they're what really they're saying
is seek the spirit. Yeah. Go do something that
will invite the spirit into your life. So when
you're in a rough place, I mean, I know it's
not the very first favorite place to go is to
seek the spirit. Yeah. But That's why they say
that. Yeah. That's why we hear that. Yeah. It's
like do something that will invite the spirit.
Well, and I know that I've been desperate enough
to make those appeals. I think you probably have
to, you know, to Heavenly Father in in lacking
faith. But, you know, maybe an analogy I can
give is and I think this will go right along
with what we want to talk about. When I was really
struggling, which let me rephrase that, throughout
my life as I have struggled, because we all struggle
for our life, right? And so throughout my life
as I have struggled, I have had a few people
who I have been dependent on for spiritual and
moral support or whatever, right? One of those
being my dad and another my mom. I've been able
to go to them a lot, you know, for various things
throughout my life, not just spiritual, but direction
and education, for example, and various things
like that. My grandpa, Durfee, I've shared on
the podcast in the past through some of my darkest,
deepest struggles and trials. I was able to go
if the light was on in his office, I was able
to go there and just knock on the window and
he'd come open the door for me. And sometimes
we'd sit there and talk to him. midnight, one
in the morning, sometimes later. That's so cool.
But you know why I could do that? I had a relationship
with him. Yeah. I knew him. And you trusted him.
And I knew he could be trusted because of the
time that I had spent in developing that relationship
with him. That's sweet and and there are a couple
of others, you know Those aren't the only ones
but you know for the sake of time and and they
were two three of the most important for sure
My mom and dad my grandpa Durfee. My grandma
Durfee was always there too, but she just wanted
to love me You know what? I mean, that's like
you My grandma Durfee's like you my grandpa Durfee
was full of wisdom and advice My grandma was
probably the wisest one because her wisdom and
advice came through hugs and kisses, you know
That's a good save. I'll be like your Grandma
Dorothy. I love her. People say that you are.
I'm still waiting for you to cook cookies like
her though. Well, as soon as every time I'll
cook. I'm just kidding. We had a really cool
experience this weekend. We got to have some
of our cousins over. It just reminded me talking
about Grandma and Grandpa, some of our Durfee
cousins over. That was kind of a special experience.
It was so awesome. You know, this gets back to,
and I can tie this right back to what we're talking
about here, the importance of... relationships.
And connections, yes, absolutely. And connection,
yeah, connection too. I mean, with no relationship,
no connection, but a relationship's not enough.
That relationship must contain connection in
order for us to achieve what it is here that
we're talking about, right? Yeah. But what a
great, it was so cool, you know? And not only
that, I'm going to go on a little bit. I'm going
to go on a little bit of a ramble. Ram. Yeah,
exactly. Ramble. Just a little bit. But some
of these contain some miracles. I'm going to
go back two weeks ago. When Brother Gurney stood
up and said the prayer on Sunday, his wife had
passed. In the sacrament. In sacrament meaning.
His wife had passed. Within the year, right,
babe? Oh, within the last month or two. Couple
months at the longest. Super, super. Such a sweet,
sweet, nice, great man. I've had opportunity
to serve with him in various capacities over
the years. Currently serve with him on activities
committee right now. And I love this man to death.
But when he prayed, he said the opening prayer
on Sunday. Yes, he did. And he would be very
embarrassed if he were to hear me share this.
And I don't think he listens to the podcast,
but he would be very embarrassed because I told
him this later. that day and it embarrassed him
actually wasn't later that day was a couple days
later and it embarrassed him and he's just like
oh I don't want any praise from man I don't want
any praise from man but Deb when he spoke when
he prayed when he prayed on Sunday that day so
two Sundays ago I felt like he was in heaven
talking to Heavenly Father face to face in front
of me yeah that was a sweet heartfelt prayer
yeah Yeah, he petitioned the spirit to be with
us He prayed for those that weren't He prayed
for those that weren't feeling comfortable with
us and so so much more But every bit of that
Deb was straight from his spiritual heart and
I was out on my motorcycle shouldn't have been
but I was out on my motorcycle a couple of days
after that and I saw him out and I just pulled
over and I told him, Bruce, you got to know how
much I love you and what an impact you not only
had on me, but I know you impacted the entire
ward. So that set that Sunday, right? That was
a miracle. We had a miracle on Saturday. a bit
of a prodigal experience, and I'm not going to
get into a ton of detail around it. I'm just
going to say, parents, don't stop praying for
your kids. Parents, don't stop going to the temple
and listening to the covenant promises that are
made available to us as we worship in the temple
in behalf of our posterity. Because we got to
have a bit of a prodigal son experience last
Saturday, and what a beautiful... not everything's
complete, not everything will be for... a little
bit of time, but you know what, Deb, the door
opened. Yeah, and it had been closed for a couple
years. Been closed for almost three. Yeah. Yeah,
and what a beautiful reunion and experience that
was. So we had that. Well, I just have to say
this. Yeah. When President Nelson, and I'm not
kidding you when I say this, when President Nelson
said, seek and expect miracles. Yeah, you took
him in his word, huh? I took that serious. I
really did. I was like, OK, God, the prophet
said this and I am going to expect, seek and
expect miracles. And that's why I knew that day
would come. I just didn't know when. Unfortunately,
I must admit my faith hasn't been as strong,
but I'm thankful for the miracle. Maybe even
more. It was pretty tender. I don't know. But
President Nelson said what? Seek and expect miracles.
That was in one of his conference addresses.
I have listened to so many conference talks,
I could probably give you one from the last 10
years. I wake up every morning, our bathroom
door in our bedrooms open, and Deb turns on a
conference talk every morning. I love it. And
sometimes I'll go sit out in the hot tub and
try to listen to part of it, and sometimes I'll
just bail. But that's awesome. So seek and expect
miracles. And, you know, I think that we've been
seeing quite a few of those over the last couple
of weeks, just in our family. Super tender. Yeah,
just in our own family and even more. There may
be a little too sacred to get into and discuss
deeply, but just just the fact to know. And this
is what it is to me. Just the fact to know that
Heavenly Father's aware of me, just to know.
The Heavenly Father loves His children enough
to share His power with them, the priesthood,
and the power of the Holy Ghost and the power
of Christ's Atonement, but specifically in this
case, the priesthood, He loves us enough to share
His power with us so that we can bless each other
through Him. I definitely know that He knows
our name. I definitely, I... testify. I know
He knows our name. I know He knows our struggles.
I know He knows what we're going through. And
I know sometimes we don't think that we are worthy
of Him or His love because I have felt that too.
But because of some of the experiences that I
have lived, I today know without a doubt. that
he knows my name and he knows all of his children's
name and he loves and cherishes every one of
them. And I try to look at people and think God
loves you and he cherishes you. That sweet experience
that I had with Jessica when she was three years
old with out of veil and her telling me about
Heavenly Father was sad when I left. I guarantee
he was sad when every single one of us left.
I know He was. Because we are all His. We are
divinely His. And I know He was sad when we left
His presence. I know that. I don't believe it.
I know that. Don't know why I know well grateful
and if that's the case he wants us back and if
that's the case He's provided a way for that
to happen. But in the meantime, we got it. We
got a struggle We have a we have a struggle.
I don't mean we got a struggle Well in the next
little but we have a struggle ahead of us Right
and the next little piece of that was the next
sentence that came out of that little angels
mouth Straight from heaven when she said I said
what else did Heavenly Father tell you? when
she said remember my son right what a simple
what a simple sentence it sounds so simple but
do we remember him yeah and and I not only that
but what does it even mean to remember him yeah
I mean I always at Institute I always talk about
when we leave the presence we are dismembered
we are a part of him and when we come here we
are dismembered from him so when we remember
we are reconnecting making that relationship
just like we said with family connection relationship
we are remembering that relationship into that
wholeness and completion which perfection equals
wholeness right so or completion or completion
right well I'm just grateful, grateful for the
priesthood, the power of the priesthood, grateful
for a blessing that I was able to receive last
night that has been able to relieve a lot of
discomfort that I've been dealing with because
of some shoulder problems that I've got to get
fixed next week and all of that. But just to
know the Heavenly Father's aware of me, and I
love that you just said that a few minutes ago,
that how important that is and why that's so
important to you is that He knows you, right?
He knows all of us. I can't just call it mine.
When my friends laid their hands on my head last
night, Jake said to me in the blessing, words
to this effect, your Heavenly Father wants you
to know that He's aware of you. that he loves
you, and he went on a little bit more. And when
he said that, I've heard, and I've had this experience
before too, and I've heard it from others, but
it happened to me again last night. I received
a witness that that's true. He does know me,
and he is aware of me. And you know, how often
do we tell this to kids in institute, to our
students in institute, and our family, and people
in gospel doctrine, and people in primary, and
all the other places that we have an opportunity
to serve. How many times do we tell them, he's
just not... frustrated with us. He's not wringing
his hands because of me. He knows me. He knows
me better, obviously, than I do. He knows the
beginning from the end for me. And it's through
my faith in him and faith in his son and faith
in all that was done through his son and faith
in all that's made available because of his son,
including covenant relationship, which we'll
get into at a later date. But because of all
of those things, Sweetheart. The trials, the
tribulations, sounds so trite when you put them
that way, trials and tribulations. But all the
difficult, dark, ugly, yucky stuff that we deal
with in life, there's opportunity for healing
in that. Only through our faith in Jesus Christ.
Yeah. Well, and where God is all -knowing, He
knows the end. I mean, I think that's the important
part to hold onto is we're not there. We're here
in this trial state of learning and being changed
and allowing our hearts to be broken and open
so God can change us and not just change us,
but maybe give us a new heart. And we've heard
that numerous times. Right? Received His image
in your countenance. Yeah. You know, we change.
We literally change. Oh, yeah. When we take upon
us the name of Christ through His atonement and
all that. You know, sometimes people talk about
past lives and different things like that. And
I think in my life, I mean, in my almost 60 years
of living, I feel like some of my... previous
years, our past lives. I really do. I'm not that
I'm not that person. I know. And I tolerated
and I accepted and I chose so many different
things than I ever would today. And I'm grateful
today. I'm not saying I've arrived. Believe me,
I am not saying that. You're pretty close. But
you say you're pretty close. And that's good
enough for me. How's that? That is not true.
Delete that. Hey, last week we talked about faith,
like we're talking about tonight. We talked about
one of my favorite scriptures, I think yours
too, we talk about a lot when we teach this topic
in Institute especially, but it was in Alma 32,
right? We already broke it down where we talked
about the seed and the swelling of the seed and
then the enlarging and the enlightening and if
it's delicious to our taste and we would know.
But we wanted to follow up with, because we invited
our listeners last week, two weeks ago when we
recorded, we invited our listeners to come up
with some practical examples of how those show
up in real life. In other words, how do they
show up? Do they show up like courage in a tough
conversation? Does it show up like peace in grief?
Does it show up like strength in recovery? Does
it show up like hope in discouragement? You know,
I think it's important for us to just kind of
recall what we went through on that because I
think that really helps us understand, babe,
why faith is so important. It's really easy for
us, I think, to get caught up in the mundane
things or maybe not mundane even, but the crazy
things of life and just be going along and not
give a second thought to faith and just be reacting
and acting like we are just reacting to the situations
in our life. You know, in the Doctrine and Covenants
a couple weeks ago, in gospel doctrine, we talked
about being acted or acting upon. You know, and
I think it's when we have faith that's when we
are able to take action rather than be acted
upon. And obviously, so many reasons why that
would be important for us. And again, we just
invite you, our listeners, to go back through
that. If you haven't done that exercise, please
do it. And if you did it and feel like maybe
you could do it again with some benefit, please
do it again. We're just here to, you know, be
with you as we all grow together. So just kind
of... I need to do that again, too. Yeah? Yeah,
just... You know take some personal inventory
and where can I you know? Improve what if we
went a little deeper this week and instead of
just talking about that We talked about what
is our faith in? What are we really planting
our faith in? What or who I I was how I was having
a conversation with my son today and He was telling
me about some of the challenges that he's you
know facing and I and he said but Let go and
let God right and I said, you know, buddy, you
got to remember that God is way bigger than any
of your problems and I think if we I Couldn't
continue to remember that that when I have challenges
coming at me that I do have a God that is bigger
than my challenges. I have a God that is bigger
than my pain. I have a God that is bigger than
my, my infirmities and my, my challenges, my
frustrations. Um, we're getting ready for a big
event at work and I, there's a lot of tension
in my workplace and I get triggered easy, especially
by people that do dumb things. That's my judgment.
And I literally need to remember that these are
God's children. These are, I need to have more
charity. I have really been praying for this
lately. I even say it when I go up four or six
flights of stairs when I go to work from the
parking garage up to the floor. And I literally
say this when I'm stepping on those stairs, charity.
Virtue charity virtue charity virtue because
I really want it instilled in me It's not working
perfectly, but I'm still trying to instill charity
and virtue In my at work. I mean, I think that's
one of my I mean I can definitely do it in primary
I can do it in you know, mostly in my home, but
I get out in that world. It's hard It's hard
to have but have you seen a difference? Yeah
I actually have, yeah, because I don't let things
affect me as much as they used to because I've
been pleading for that. I've been really asking
Heavenly Father for help because it kind of consumes
me sometimes. Well, you're doing pretty remarkably
with it. I was just wondering if you had any.
Yeah, so that's pretty great. I need faith because
faith and fear cannot exist in the same person
at the same time. And I am so fear -based and
shame -driven that without faith, fear would
literally run my life. I really believe that
to a large degree, you know. I mean, I don't
want to sound like myself. I'm putting myself
down to the nth degree. I just know that some
of the character defects I have in my life, that
that's kind of how it would be because if I didn't
have a relationship with Heavenly Father and
His Son and the Holy Ghost and with somebody
to have faith in, then of course I'd be filled
with fear. That's what ran my life prior to becoming
sober on October 26, 1998. And it took me some
time after that to really begin to develop this
walk with faith. And I'm still developing this
walk with faith, right? I know that, you know,
one of our, I just know that there are so many
different levels. of faith. We talk about that.
We have in the past. We're going to talk about
more of those. Next week we'll really get into
some of the power of faith type of experiences.
But, you know, Deb, you asked me why do I need
faith? The real reason is because faith and fear
can't reside in the same person. Fear is not
of Heavenly Father. Fear has nothing to do with
the Spirit. Fear has nothing to do with Jesus'
influence in my life. Fear has only to do with
the accuser. Maybe we could just real quick turn
there too. Let's go to, I'm going to turn to
it and I'll read it, but in Revelations chapter
12, this is why I need faith. And I think in
large part, it might be a kind of an answer to
why all of the human race, all of Heavenly Father's
children, need, perhaps need faith at some. level.
So in Revelations chapter 12, I'm going to go
to verse, let's just start in verse 9, of course
we're talking about the great dragon who is the
devil, was cast out, that old serpent called
the devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole
world. He was cast out unto the earth and his
angels were cast out with him. Okay, stop. He
deceiveth the whole world. So if faith is something
that Heavenly Father wants us to have, He wants
to deceive us, replace that with potentially
fear, right? So deceive us the whole world. That's
not the point though. And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, now has come salvation and
the strength of the kingdom of our God and the
power of His Christ. I love that title of Jesus,
the power of His Christ. I love that name. One
of my favorite names of Jesus the power of his
Christ and The power of his Christ for the accuser
of our brother and is cast down which accused
them before God day and night Okay, so what does
he accuse us of? You should be afraid You should
be worried. You should have anxiety. You should
compare yourself to others and through that feel
different or inferior. You should look at your
children and see how they're not living the gospel
compared to other people's children in your family,
in your neighborhood, in your ward, in your circle
of life, and see yourself as a failure because
you couldn't get them to get right. Be resentful.
Have judgment. Yeah. All of that. So many things.
And we all have opportunity to partake in the
accusations of the accuser. Well, it's live and
healthy. For sure. At least on a daily basis.
And I know that I have an opportunity to partake
in that multiple times a day. But not good enough.
Should I choose? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not good enough.
How can I ever quit this addiction? I have tried
so many times. How could I ever overcome this?
Why even try? Why even try? It's too hard. You
know? Yeah. Why get out of bed? I'm too depressed.
Right. Yeah. Why go out in public when I feel
like I'm being judged and ridiculed because of
who I am and what I am? Why would I go to sacrament
meeting when I'm smoking still? Why would I go
to sacrament meeting when I'm still drinking?
And these are questions I could have asked myself
back then. And it keeps a lot of us away for
fear. You know what that reminds me of is every
time an angel appears, the first thing they always
say is, fear not. Every time they appear. That
is the first... Is that true? Every time? Well,
I... Seems like it, right? I don't know. You
could prove me wrong. No, I'm not trying to.
I just hadn't thought of that before. But I remember,
I mean, numerous times. I mean, when the angels...
I mean, even when Christ was born and the angels
came to the shepherds and said their first thing
was, fear not. Yeah. When an angel... Yes, every
time I remember... I'm sure you're right. Hearing
about an angel coming Through the veil to us
the words are fear not know they aren't hey you
better hide. He knows what you've been doing
exactly Their fear not it's like get rid of the
accuser belief system, and let's go back into
faith So how do we overcome the accuser? This
is the point right and this is where? By faith
should and needs to be placed is in this process
to help us overcome the accuser the accusations
that I'm not enough the accusations that I've
gone too far and all of those other things so
this is in verse 11 and they meaning we because
this was the pre -existence and they overcame
him by the blood of the lamb I find it interesting
that even the atonement covered us there in the
pre -existence sure did yeah Well, we hear about
when we read about scriptures, they were they
were hoping that the Savior would come and the
atonement. I mean, think about in Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. Yeah. I mean, they were they were
praying for a savior. They were all waiting.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they were we're we're going
to the past where they were going to the future.
Yeah. Yeah. So and I'll read that again. They
overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the
word of their testimony. And they loved not their
lives unto the death. So they were willing to
go to the wall for him. They were just willing
to go all the way for him. They loved his life
more than their own. And the way that we do that,
Dub, is that we see that it was through his blood,
through his blood that we overcame the accuser
there. It's through his blood that we overcome
the accuser here and remember him in all of his
various forms Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, he purchased
us with his blood. Yeah Literally purchased us.
We are his You know one of the things that I've
learned additionally and in the rooms of recovery
One was what I just said is that fair and faith
can't exist in the same person at the same time
That's important for me to always remember that
I shared a story I'm not going to get into it
here, but I showed a story a couple of seasons
ago about my sponsor And how I was going through
this inventory on anger with him and after we
got through with it He told me so Scott you're
not angry. You're fearful And because fear was
really dominating my whole life. And so, you
know, maybe I say that by way of invitation to
those of us who feel like we are dealing with
some other emotion, anger, rage, whatever. Maybe
take a look at it from a vantage point of fear
through the lens of fear. Because if we are really
seeing our life through the lens of fear, it's
going to feel like those other things. And if
we really are feeling fear, we know how to overcome
fear through the blood of the lamb. And that's
the answer to our problems, right? I can think
of so many, so many times when in Alcoholics
Anonymous, and you know, and I definitely was
part of this, and I know you've had this experience
with others that you've seen and worked with
yourself, Deb, but so often, you know, we come
in and so often, you know, we're, you know, pull
ourselves up by the bootstraps sort of people,
and we're gonna conquer this problem, we're gonna
take it on, you know, we'll be okay, we're gonna
get positive attitude going. You know and all
of that and and then we just realized that Without
faith fear and self -reliance just kind of dominate
us and Fear and self -reliance learning to just
I think that there's an important part of self
-reliance I think there's there kid that we need
to learn to take care of ourselves place for
sure It's it's important for sure but not when
it comes to this stuff our reliance reliance
when it comes to faith needs to be on him 100
% holy And isn't that an interesting balancing
act because there are things that we can control
and things that we're in control of. Ish. Yeah.
The illusion of control. Like putting food in
your mouth every day, like going to the gym every
day, like getting up and going to work or getting
out of bed every day. That's that's self -reliant
is what you're talking about. But. Yeah, but
when we but when we carry self -reliance to the
point where if it is to be it's up to me that
kind of thing Right, you know where it's just
up to me to fix me Right, and that's where that's
where we get tripped up because we're carnal
and devilish. We are here to fall down We are
here to be broken. We are here to need not want
need a Savior. Yeah We are nothing without him.
Wayne Dyer, I used to listen to him years ago
and he said, you know, when we are born, we are
literally born naked and vulnerable with no thing,
nothing. We come here on this planet and we learn
things and we collect things. But when we exit
this planet, we take no thing with us, nothing.
So all these treasures that we feel like we are
accumulating, don't you think there is a lot
we can learn about the middle, like where we
are now, about nothing, no thing, that dependency.
Because if you can possess it, you can lose it.
It's not ours anyways. Even my wedding ring right
here is not really even mine. It stays on this
planet. I mean literally, my breath is his. And
I remember when I process that in my brain thinking,
wow, am I attached to things? Do I need to detach
from the things that, because I can't take anything
with me. No money, no antiques, no treasures,
no special jewelry from great aunt, uncle, grandma,
whatever. I mean, there has been a lot of times
I have had to take like a really hard look at
the attachment I have to things and learn a lot
about my literally my nothingness and my pure
dependency on Him. Your dependency on Him. You're
talking about a relationship. Yeah, you're talking
about your when you say dependency on him your
you mean Because and through your because of
and through your relationship with him You have
trust that you can depend on him that he will
make the wrongs right in your life Yeah, you
know and I he has yeah, I'm not really good at
always giving him that You know turning my will
in my life over sure, but You know, I put I put
it to a little bit of a test. Yeah. You know,
I have had experiences in my life where I have
had to and I've shared it numerous times when
I was 17 years old and had to make a really big
decision. Right. That was a life that I had to
depend. I learned my dependency, that I was absolutely
no thing, nothing without him. I'm going to read
you a quote. Tell me what you think of this.
It is by knowing the character, perfections,
and attributes of God that men are enabled to
exercise faith in Him unto life and salvation.
I'll read it again. It is by knowing the character,
perfections, and attributes of God that men are
enabled to exercise faith in Him unto life and
unto salvation. What does that mean? Well, I
go back to that relationship that you had with
your grandpa. Yeah, you knew him This is life
eternal right that they might know thee the only
true God in Jesus Christ whom thou has sent right
you spent time with him You learned he learned
more about him. Okay, and you trusted him, but
in order to know him I had to you just said it
spend time with him In order to know Him, I had
to have experiences with Him wherein I was able
to open up and feel like I was getting a positive
experience. Does that make sense? Did I say that
weird or what? But that I was getting a positive
experience or getting redirected in a way that
was loving, kind, and sometimes a little bit
stern. But it was nonetheless all part of Heavenly
Father's plan for me. Does that make sense? Absolutely.
And you know what? I think that's what again
a conference talk that I recently listened to
about make an appointment with the Lord live
to it like make sure that you show up make sure
that you're there because he's always there for
me I'm the one that ditch out so do I make an
appointment do I make time for him every single
day to commune with him to connect with him to
remember him Those those are those sacred moments
that I get to learn to trust that I get to learn
to and the on the quote by knowing the character
Perfections and attributes of God. Yeah Knowing
you can't know them without like you said being
with him spending time with him Yeah, having
a desire to be more like him and in today's world.
It is hard really hard to be still Because we
have so much coming at us in this electronic
world. It's crazy. I get up at five in the morning
to be still, and it's still a challenge for me.
Like, not everything's still at five a .m., just
so you all know. Good to know. I think I'll keep
sleeping then. Yep, just being still. Knowing
who he is, who he really is. helps us trust who
we are. And so when I say I am a child of God
and He has sent me here, all of that, when I
say that and I know Him, I can trust that what
I'm saying is true. And if I can trust what I'm
saying is true in that case, then I can trust
that my life will heal from whatever imperfections
come its way. Yeah. Do we trust holy? Yeah. Literally
holy in Him. I mean, I do to a certain degree,
but I don't into a lot of degrees. So yeah, for
sure. It's a challenge. So and then and then
here's another saying that I think is important.
Faith is not just in things getting better. You
know, it's not that we just have faith that things
are going to get better. What it is, it really
is that we have faith in Jesus Christ himself,
his love, his power, his willingness to act in
our lives, whatever that may look like for our
own good. And, you know. And I know because we've
both had experiences that weren't super comfortable
that By looking back at them with an eye of faith
have been for our growth and good. Yeah, right
I think of you know when we talk about relationship
And I and I maybe we can just kind of end on
this story unless you have something else to
add when I'm done Deb But you know in if we'll
remember the children of Israel you know, when
Moses was leading the children of Israel out
of captivity, and after the golden calf experience
and the Ten Commandments experience, whatever,
and then they had to live on manna, right? And
then, you know, we know the faith that it required,
they had to have faith that they could only pick
up manna when it was, they couldn't store it
except on the Sabbath, you know, and various
things like that. But another thing that happened
while they were there is there were flying serpents.
And these flying serpents, if they would bite,
it would be deadly. And many of the children
of Israel, we read about this recanted also in
the Book of Mormon, or recounted rather in the
Book of Mormon as well, as they're telling the
story there as well. But the Lord told Moses,
create a brazen serpent and put it on a staff.
And when somebody gets bit, just tell them to
look at the staff. And if they look at the staff,
they will be healed. Well, obviously a little
too simple even for the children of Israel, you
know, I think we live in a troubled time You
know, that would definitely probably be the case
today as well But I think to myself if that was
if that if I was invited to do that and I was
in that situation Would I look at that staff
now? Obviously we know that that staff is a representation
of Jesus Christ on the cross and then it's through
him on the cross that we are all eventually healed
of all things eventually, so long as we put our
trust in Him. But I think of how easy it was
for them and how hard it was for them at the
same time. Just that one ask, just look unto
Me. You know, and we read it all the time in
Doctrine and Coven 6, just look unto Me in every
thought. Doubt not, fear not. Well, apparently
looking unto Him is the anecdote for doubt and
fear. But how easy is it to look unto Him? I
don't know. That's the children of Israel. You
know, maybe we sometimes struggle with those
same things. And so maybe as part of and, you
know, and I'm going to wrap my part of it here
and I'll let you say whatever you need or want
to say, Deb, when when I conclude here. But,
you know, maybe part of my invitation this week
to all of us would just be to take a look at
where maybe we are a little bit lacking. Where
could we with just a little tiny bit of effort
on our own part better align with his will for
us, better aligned for his graces and mercies,
better will be aligned so that we can feel the
power of His love at work in our lives all the
time. So, you know, next week we'll continue
more. We'll talk a lot more about faith. I think
we'll be talking about that for a few more weeks,
Dub. But this is so important because this is
really, and I said it last week, but this is
really, when we talk about faith, this is really
what creates the impetus behind our process and
our progress in putting on Christ's Atonement.
through it, healing from the things in our lives.
Yeah. And I think again, making an appointment,
you know, taking that sacred time for yourself
to commune. And even if it's partaking of the
sacrament on Sunday, it's it takes a practice
for me to to close my eyes and tune out to the
noise that I'm hearing in the chapel. Those precious
children that are not always reverent, but it's.
It's so critical for all of us to come unto Him
in literally every thought, doubt not fear not.
So when we have doubt, when we have fear, what's
the antidote? Come unto Him. And I, you know,
I say this to the mirror in front of my face,
because this is my message. And I hope that you
can get a message from this as well, because
it is so critical, yet so easy, yet so hard.
Just like the children of Israel, just like you
said. You know, just look at the serpent. Sometimes
the difficulty is in the simplicity. Amen. And
it's like, you know, that's how we exercise faith
is when we put forth that tiny little mustard
seed effort and then just say, OK, God, you got
this. But, you know, it's when we see. God's
handiwork and we see the miracles that he he
performs on a daily I have tried to make a conscious
effort when I drive I the east is on my left
hand side when I drive to work and the sun will
come up over those big huge mountains that I
live by and I keep thinking is today the day
you're coming can you just come from the east
can you just come with that sunshine and can
you just I love the mountains I love the mornings
I love but seeing that sunshine I every single
day okay maybe not every but Very very often.
I turn my head and look to the east and just
say thank you God for this beautiful world Can
you please send your son? But I am ready for
him to be here. I'm grateful to know that it
is by Coming unto coming to him in every thought
that is my antidote. Yeah And the world that
we live in there's plenty of the opportunity
for us to get distracted for us to get discouraged
for us to fill the Buffettings of the accuser
in our lives the enemy And all of that but with
a little bit of effort on our part with a little
bit of trust and hope on our part as we develop
a relationship with him and As we developed trust
in him Through developing the relationship with
him then we will be administered by his spirit
the blessings and the atonement blessings and
all of the wonderful things that come by way
of his atonement in our lives Yeah, I agree know
who we are and whose we are Okay, well sweetheart
as we close today I just want to remind everybody
that no matter where we are no matter how we're
feeling No matter what's going on in your life.
You're you're welcome here, and we honestly hope
you feel that way We know that sometimes it's
difficult to feel welcome where where we talk
about these types of things But we hope you feel
welcome here We hope you know that Jesus isn't
waiting for you to clean everything up before
you come to him He wants you now. He wants this
version of you. He wants you now Yeah, he meets
us in the middle of our mess. And I think when
he comes, he's going to go to the dirtiest, messiest
places. That's where his grace shines the brightest.
So come as you are, broken, messy, hopeful, questioning,
doubting, fearing. You're not alone. Yeah. We'd
love to stay connected with you as well if you
have thoughts or questions or if you have any
stories you'd like to share Or if you just like
to check in with us once in a while We have several
that are doing that we love your emails We love
to hear the encouraging stories if you do have
a question that you'd like us to pose on the
The podcast and it's in line with the stuff that
we're talking about here We're happy to do that
if it's outside of the scope of what we're talking
about here We're happy to give it a shot and
do it privately. So we'll send those back to
you but you can you can email us at he redeems
us he redeems us at gmail .com this episode touched
your heart we hope that you'll share it with
someone you love and care about a friend a family
member anyone who could use a little bit more
hope right now maybe some of the doubters maybe
some of those that are just really some of us
that are struggling that just needs to look unto
him Well next week we're gonna continue talking
about faith again as it is so important really
the catalyst behind making and having and seen
and Experiencing all of this work for us in our
lives And so remember that and remember there's
always hope through him because you have been
redeemed through his blood Thanks for being with
us and remember there is always hope through
him because you have been redeemed through his
blood Thanks for being with us everybody. We'll
see you next time. Love y 'all