Precious Grace

"Most of us spend many, many years trying to do things on our own. We believe in God, to be sure. We know of the availability of the precious grace and tender mercies of Jesus. And yet our hearts tend to cry out (even if we never utter the words), "I can handle it!" The fact is, I cannot handle it; neither can you. No one can "handle" life without help, particularly heavenly help. There comes that moment when it dawns upon us-and a singular moment it is-when we admit to the fact that our omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-loving God can do far more with our lives than we can. Humility ushers us into the realm of submission and surrender. And, ironically, submission and unconditional surrender to the true Captain of our souls lead eventually to victory."

From Men of Valor by Robert Millet

Scriptures of strength and solace...

A few years back during a time of spiritual need I collected a number of sciptures that gave me strength and hope. I have them printed on 4x5 cards and keep them in my scriptures to draw from as needed. I would like to share a few of them with you.

"Hast thou not known? Has thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall untterly fall; But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40: 28-31)

"...for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." (D&C 84:88)

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Psalms 27:14)

"My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning, therefore my hand shall be over thee." (Abraham 2:8)

"And it shall come to pass that power shall rest upon thee; thou shalt have great faith, and I will be with thee and go before thy face." (D&C 39:12)

There are many. These are just a few. If you have beloved scriptures or quotes of faith and strength please share!

Love and Pleasure... one of many Swedenborg tidbits.

I'm reading Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg. I find it interesting. Swedenborg was an 17th-18th century scientist, philosopher and theologian who began having visions at the age of 56. He wrote volumes on spiritual matters taught him by angels. I find his writings thought provoking and they make me want to serve God and do good towards my fellowman.
Here's a small segment on love and pleasure.

"All pleasures flow from love, because what we love we feel as pleasant. There is no other source of any pleasure. It follows, then that the quality of the love determines the quality of the pleasure. Pleasures of the body or of the flesh flow from love for ourselves and from love of the world, and these are also the source of our urges, and their gratifications. The pleasures of the soul or spirit, though, all flow from love for the Lord and love for our neighbor, which are also the source of affections for what is good and true and of our deeper bliss."

"Heaven's pleasures are both indescribable and innumerable; but no one can realize or believe anything about their multitude who is wholly wrapped up in the pleasures of the body or the flesh....For no one who is wholly involved in pleasures of the body or the flesh (or in love for oneself and the world, which is the same thing) feels any pleasure except in eminence or profit or in physical and sensory gratification. These stifle and smother deeper pleasures of heaven so completely that people do not even believe such pleasures exist. So they would be quite bewildered if they were so much as told that any pleasures remain once the pleasures of eminence and profit have been taken away; and they would be even more bewildered if they were told that the pleasures that take their place are countless and simply defy comparison with pleasures of the body and the flesh, especially pleasures of eminence and profit. We can see, then, why people do not know what heavenly joy is."

"We may gather the magnitude of heaven's pleasure simply from the fact that for everyone there, it is delightful to share their pleasure and bliss with someone else; and since everyone in the heavens is like this, we can see how immense heaven's pleasure is....This kind of sharing flows from the two loves of heaven, which as noted are love for the Lord and love for our neighbor. These loves by nature want to share their pleasures. The reason love for the Lord is like this is that because the Lord's love is a love of sharing everything it has with everyone, it intends the happiness of everyone."