Day 33

I feel I should post something. What it turns into, God only knows.

There are so many paths that we can take, things that can get us offline, and more. We need to get ourselves back on the one path that is important. We are not here just to have fun, to sit and watch tv, to go on hikes, to do all the things of the world, although some things do have a small place in our lives to help us relax. We are here to learn and grow our faith, go through experiances/trials to grow our faith, and serve others as Christ would to grow our faith.

I know God has a plan for each of us. We are here to be tested, to see if we will follow Him.

Today is the time to turn to Him, not tonight, not tomorrow. If I am only somewhat turned to Him, I need to completely turn my whole self to Him. Remember He loves you.

Day 30

God is in the details. Today is the "last day" of the program. I say "last day" because I am going to try to do this the rest of my life. God sometimes uses coincidences to influence our lives. Today is 8-28.

Today was one of the best days I've had for a long time. Not that the other days were miserable, but rather I had so much fun just being with my family. I had so much fun walking around outside with my daughter and holding my son.

"And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgments of God sent upon them because of their wickedness and their abominations; therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty." - Alma 4:3

I think physically kneeling while praying shows that we are humble, ready to receive from God, the guidance He knows we need.

Day 30, 8-28

Day 29

Pray for those standing up for freedom. They need our prayers, but we all need to be standing for freedom.

I didn't read this morning, because I woke up late and put the dishes away for my wife instead. I figured God would be happier with me serving my wife than with me reading the scriptures in the morning. I read tonight though.

God is in the details. I will be finishing the program tomorrow. I read Prov. 29:11 today and it means to me think before you speak. I think it is appropriate.

I'm trying to let the Holy Ghost lead what to say in this post and in tomorrows post. It is hard.

There is a war going on right now. Although the battles are for men's souls, God WILL win. 'Who's on the Lord's side?' (LDS Hymn Book) These are the impressions I had as I read Alma 2.

Day 28

I'm almost done! However, I haven't done very well at waking up early. But you know what, I did better at waking up early these past 28 days then I would have if I didn't set the goal. So goals work, sometimes we don't accomplish our goals, but we do accomplish more with a goal than without a goal. I am grateful to God that I have so much.

Day 22

So everyone is okay, but there was a car accident in my family. I realize that life is really fragile, short, and you never know when you will go home to God. So take advantage of every day, every minute, and every second. Even when you wish your kids would go to bed, instead of screaming; when you wish they would stop throwing their food on the floor; or other things that you wish they wouldn't do. Being a parent isn't about controlling our kids, although some of that is necessary to keep them safe and to teach them, it's about the little moments. For me it's that they are mine, forever. God has blessed me so much. I have an amazing, kind wife and beautiful kids that love me too. What more could I ask for?

I think this has made me realize how close I need to be with God and also with my wife. I need to tell my children every chance I get that I love them. I need to hold my sweet wife's hand while we sit on the couch at night. Every minute is precious. A blessing and gift from God. Now what are we going to do with each one of those minutes?

Day 20

I think I've learned a lot about myself already, since trying to put God first. Notice I said trying.

One is I have a really hard time waking early.

Another is I look for things to share or things that are inspiring to me or really how God is helping me that day. The reason is because I'm thinking of this program, which really is helping me think more of God, and what I can share next on my blog. It's like when you get a fortune, that says your lucky number is 44 and then you start to notice that number every where. It's not that the number is magically every where all of a sudden. It was always there. You just weren't paying attention.

So think about/look for God more and you will notice that He is in your life and usually in the details.

Day 18

I didn't read early the last two days, I should have, but didn't.

Thank you EvansFam for the comment.

Spouses

I really want to have a relationship like the below scripture with my wife. It's really hard sometimes.

I keep thinking that our church leaders and prophet tell us to treat our wives like queens. I feel like I should treat her more like a princess, because in my mind I would be nicer and more loving to a princess, than a queen.

I just keep forgetting to try to do this. Any suggestions?

Day 15

Not much to say except children are so wonderful. They always make me smile.

Mosiah 18
 - If we do this in our marriages, then nothing will tear us apart.
"And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another." - verse 21

Day 13

I've been trying to figure out what I'm to do in this blog.

I've been trying to let God direct me. I hope to be appreciative of everything I have in life without it being taken away. Because most of the time we don't appreciate it until it's gone. We don't appreciate people until they are gone. I hope to love others more with out having to go through a big tragedy.

That is what I learned this morning. The little moments matter. Every second is a choice. It is harder sometimes than at other times.

I loved holding my little boy while he looked up at me. Touching my chin with his tiny fingers.

I loved playing with my little girl before going to work, instead of just leaving because I didn't have time. She is so wonderful. I hope that I can tell her that enough. It was fun stacking blocks and knocking them down, while my wife got a few more minutes of sleep.

I loved watching my wife wake up to see her little girl smiling with the biggest grin on her face, giggling.

Mosiah 16-17
 - The only path to God is the one that Christ made, which we can make it, but only with His help.
 - Stand up to evil men. Stand up for good men.

Inspirational Videos

I love these uplifting videos.

 - God has done so much for us. Christ did so much for us. We may never understand.

Tired

I've noticed that sometimes when trying to do a lot of spiritual things, I get spiritually burned out. Right now I'm just feeling burnt out, from lack of sleep.

As mentioned in the previous post, I am watching 24 with my wife. We stayed up late last night watching tv and then this morning my son woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm went off. My children are so wonderful, but it's a lot easier to be loving when you get more sleep.

One thing I have noticed is that as I read more in the scriptures and pray more, I feel promptings to be more patient and loving to my kids when I feel like I'm going to raise my voice a little bit.

God has blessed me so abundantly I feel like I can never repay Him, which is true, but I am amazed at all God has given me.

Day 5

Trying to catch up, so it may not make sense.

Matt. 3
 - The Kingdom of God is always close at hand, because I could go there right now if God wanted.
 - Why did Jesus, the Son of God, go to a man that to me is dressed in rags, that was over 50 miles away? Because John the Baptist had the authority.
 - Even leaders need to repent. I say this because my wife and I have been watching 24. (don't watch this show if your trying to do something like this to be productive)
 - We must bring good fruit - service, teach about God
 - God uses trials to separate the good from the bad, the righteous from the wicked.
 - I am so grateful that other people's worthiness/actions/decisions doesn't determine or affect my salvation. Even if I were put in prison for the rest of my life (for doing nothing wrong), I am the only one that can work out my own salvation. Christ was baptized in order to be perfect.
 - God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are all present when Christ was baptized. That's how crucial baptism is.

1 Nephi 1:3
 - I know The Book of Mormon is true. I feel closer to God as I read it, just like I do when I read the Bible.

Mosiah 11:1-18
 - Following one person can be very bad, unless that one person is God or Christ.
 - The king surrounded himself with bad people to make it seem okay. 'Everyone else does it.'
 - We labor to support the government. Is the government good? The foundation of the government is.
 - It's okay to have nice things and maybe even to have extravagant things, but not if that is where our heart is. Not if we raise ourselves above others. Not if we say look at me instead of God.
 - If we have money it's to help the poor. To help them help themselves.
 - We need to be ready for satan's little attacks too. The flocks that get scattered by the Lamanites are like our friends, family. God is trying to keep us together and satan is trying to scatter us like a wolf scatters sheep.
 - We should never say I did it, but praise God. Say God gave me the strength to do it.
 - We should delight in serving God and others.
 - There are 'guards' at our doors. Are they good or bad? The good guards keep us safe and warn us. The bad guards restrict us, until all we can do to get free is pray to God. The guards are our choices we make. When we make good choices, the Holy Spirit becomes a guard too.

2 Nephi 33:1-4
 - I feel exactly like this.

Day 4

I didn't do much today.

Day 3

I read Matt. 2 and had these questions, thoughts, inspirations:
 - Would I be willing to travel that far, as far as the wise men did, after seeing a star in the sky?
 - What about if I didn't see a sign?
 - The Jewish leaders knew The Christ was going to be born in Bethlehem, but still didn't think it was Jesus Christ that was The Christ.
 - It's sometimes interesting to see how prophecies come true, like Jesus being a Nazareth. It was prophesied that The Christ would be a Nazarean and Joseph, Jesus' father, took them to Nazareth because he was afraid of the king that took Herod's place.

I then read 1 Nephi 1:1
It talks about making a record in the language of his fathers. I felt like I'm trying to do that with this blog. I want to share the things I learn in the language of my fathers.