Monday, May 30, 2016

If I Listen With My Heart!


This week has been way HARD but so MIRACULOUS!
We had 7 investigators at sacrament meeting yesterday and we will be inviting 3 of them to be baptized this week! We worked so hard to find and contact all of them and it was so worth it to see them come to church and enjoy it! Honestly more miracles happened than I could list so I'll share a funny story and then some spiritual thoughts this week!



Funny story: So we're sitting in Kensington Ward preparing to give a 5th Sunday missionary work presentation and the power goes out all of the sudden. The whole Ward is sitting in a pitch black chapel... Just chilling out and acting completely normal! Finally we discovered that The power wasn't going to come back on any time soon so they canceled church and we all went home early! Ha ha ha!



ANALOGY: The Refiner's Fire * The Fuller's Soap
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Take a little look at these GEM'S:
- 3 Nephi 22: 4, 7, 8, 10, 11-15, 16-17
- 3 Nephi 24:2-3

*Most of us know about and can understand the analogy of "the refiner's fire" but what is the deal with "the fuller's soap"... Let's find out!

Full (verb)
- to beat the purpose of cleaning or thickening
- to increase in phase

Fuller (noun)
- A workman who cleans freshly woven cloth for a living
- Their work was to cleanse garments and whiten them. The soap they employed consisted of salts mixed with oil and was of two kinds, made with carbonate of soda or with borax
- After the fuller's soap is used it cannot be whitened any more

* Sometimes we're in the refiner's Fire and it's hot and long and we can't see a way out but we know that in order for us to be refined properly the refiner has to watch us constantly. So God is always with us, and is especially close when we are struggling.

* And sometimes our trials are different and we are being "fulled" by the fuller who takes a course soap and scrubs away our stains. It is uncomfortable and often painful, and a long process but once we are "fulled" we cannot become any more pure. We are purely white and cleansed to the fullest degree!

Hopefully that offers some additional light if you hadn't already studied that!
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{ Becoming as a child } - some children's hymns and though I felt inspired to share

"I KNOW THAT MY SAVIOR LOVES ME"
Now I am here in a beautiful place, Learning the teachings of Jesus.
Parents and teachers have helped guide the way, Lighting my path ev’ry day.
Wrapped in the arms of my Savior’s love, I feel His gentle touch.
Living each day, I will follow His way, Home to my Father above.

I know He lives! I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him. I know that my Savior loves me.
* This is my favorite children's song! I love the first verse but thought the 2nd verse was more applicable to our lives right now. This is my motto! I know He lives! I will live each day so that I can come home to my Heavenly family and live with them forever. Do you know that the Savior lives and loves you?



"IF I LISTEN WITH MY HEART"
If I had been a little child when Jesus lived on earth,
I would have liked to walk with Him and listen to His words,
But as I search the scriptures I can hear His words of peace,
And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior’s voice.

I feel the Holy Spirit as He teaches truth and right.
He comforts me in times of need; He testifies of Christ.
He speaks to me in quiet ways that fill my soul with peace,
And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior’s voice.
This Sunday I walked past the primary room and the door was open just long enough for me to hear the children sing "and if I listen with my heart" ...and then the door closed. I wondered what my Heavenly Father had wanted me to hear with my heart that day. After that I tried to listen to the spirit and tune into His voice more than before. And so I would like to ask you some similar questions: What do you hear with your heart? What is the Savior's voice telling you today?


"DID JESUS REALLY LIVE AGAIN?"
Did Jesus really live again?

Yes, people touched his feet
And there were nail-prints in his hands
And a spear wound in his side.

Did Jesus really live again, after he had died? 

Oh yes! And so shall I!
* we may ask ourselves at some point "did Jesus really live again?" I love this humble question. When we feel Gods love in our life we realize that indeed we must know that Jesus lives. I feel God's love as I read the Book of Mormon which is evidence that Jesus lives and loves all of His people. So the next time you wonder "did Jesus really live again?" ...read the Book of Mormon and you will find that you've known all along that He lives and loves you individually!


"I'LL WALK WITH YOU"
If you don’t walk as most people do,
Some people walk away from you,
But I won’t! I won’t!
If you don’t talk as most people do,
Some people talk and laugh at you,
But I won’t! I won’t!
I’ll walk with you. I’ll talk with you.
That’s how I’ll show my love for you.
* What a tender song about loving all of God's children. I remember hearing this one at a primary program in my first area. As the children sang I cried and remembered how sad it is to see people mock and judge those who may look, talk, or act different than most. But my heart was filled with gladness as I remembered that I can choose to be different and to love and care for those who feel left out. I can choose not to care about what others think of me and to love all of God's children equally. We can all choose to have charity for others.


"CAN A LITTLE CHILD LIKE ME?"
Can a little child like me
Thank the Father fittingly?
Yes, oh yes! Be good and true, patient, kind in all you do!
Love the Lord and do your part;
Learn to say with all your heart: Father, we thank thee!
* When I read these words I thought of how sometimes I wonder if I can do what Heavenly Father has called me to do. Life can be so overwhelming for all of us and we wonder if we can accomplish all we are called to do. Can little children like you and me do all that God calls me to do? The answer is YES, OH YES!


Quotes from PKJ (president Kirk Jenkins)

The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day" (Brigham Young).

CITAS-SUD: James E. Faust



"For many, living a Christ-like life every day may be more difficult than laying down one's life" (James E. Faust).







President Ezra Taft Benson

"Some of the greatest battles we will face will be fought within the silent chambers of our own souls. Daily, constantly, we choose by our desires, our thoughts, and our actions whether we want to be blessed or cursed, happy or miserable. This is our day to show what we can do---what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly bring to God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the Greatest of all" 
(Ezra Taft Benson).




A portrait of President Boyd K. Packer, who is wearing a black suit and a maroon tie, in front of a gray background.





"Overcoming moral temptation is a very private battle, an internal battle...Others can lend moral support but this is an individual battle. Bad thoughts often have to be evicted a hundred times, or a thousand. But if they have to be evicted ten thousand times, never surrender to them. You are in charge of you" (Boyd K. Packer).





Neal A Maxwell Quotes Quoting neal maxwell as he





"Let us, notwithstanding our weaknesses, be reassured that the everyday keeping of the commandments and the doing of our duties is what it is all about" 
(Neal A. Maxwell). 






HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEK!
Sister Zimmerman

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