Divorce

Divorce is really hard for couples to go through but it's so much harder for the children of the family. Just like Elder Oaks (2007) had said in his talk, divorce is a very selfish concept. Granted that there are very legitimate reasons for divorce, mainly the various forms of abuse. However, that is the extent of what makes divorce ok. Other than that, the parents are mainly thinking about themselves and how they benefit from it and don't even ask the kids how they feel about it or think about how the kids are blaming themselves. 

There is a lot of eternal conflict that children go through when their parents get divorced. This was also greatly discussed in the Divorce School For Kids by ABC video. Children feel torn as they don't want to favor a parent, yet parents use their kids against each other. Some children are so hurt by the divorce that they don't want any half-siblings because they are afraid of being replaced. The fact that parents think that they are benefiting their children by divorcing are only fooling themselves. They are hurting, and in some sense of the word, destroying their kids. Children want their parents to stay together and in Elder Oaks (2007) words, "they should be best friends, kind and considerate, sensitive to each other’s needs, always seeking to make each other happy. They should be partners in family finances, working together to regulate their desires for temporal things." (para 20) 

I had two aunts go through divorce. One went through divorce about five times. Her daughter refuses to marry now because of the example that she has seen from her mom. She actually had a very difficult childhood growing up as she didn't get along with any of her step-dad's and they belittled her. My cousin had to turn to my grandparents and they became the parents that she needed because her mom put her relationships before my cousin and wasn't there for her at all. My other aunt has only divorced once, and that is because her ex-husband asked her for one because he was having an affair and wanted to be with the other woman. My cousins didn't blame themselves, but it still tore them apart to see their parents divorcing. It was really hard for them to no longer have both parents with each other and to not have their dad come home. Parents need to do their best to make things work, figure things out, so that their children don't get hurt.

Be Thou Humble

Something new that I learned was in 1 Corinthians 1:27. The scripture says “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”. Here I learned that we must be meek and humble if we want to be enlightened rather than confounded. As long as we think that we have everything figured out and that we don't need God's help, He'll always find a way to help remind us that we do need him and to stop being so full of it. We also must rely on Him in order to receive revelation and take advantage of the Atonement. And we can only do those things by being meek and humble. The Atonement is the greatest gift. It's what Christ and God sacrificed for the most for us. So we wouldn't we use it? I don’t remember where I heard this from or who said it but it says, “God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.” He cannot teach those who are prideful so He helps us to be humble. 

Continually Repent

Something that I learned in Acts that I thought was the most interesting and impactful for me this week was the fact that we absolutely must be continually repentant in order to receive continue to receive power and help from the Holy Ghost. We must be continually repentant by constantly repenting of the things that we have done. When I served my mission in Texas, my mission president had talked about how we need to repent as son as we realize that we have sinned. By continually being repentant, we can stay clean and have the help and power of God in abundance. Christ has always taught that we must not wait for the day of His coming to repent. We must do so and prepare now. For if we wait, it will be too late. And we need all of the help that we can get from Him now. So I encourage everyone to continually repent, even daily, so that you can be in tune with the Spirit. 

The Judas Within Ourselves

I learned and interesting concept this week in Matthew 26:14-16, 24. I had put myself into the story, replacing myself with some of the people. Here I still can't fully understand what Judas was feeling when he betrayed Christ. But when Christ said that it would have been better if he had not been born, I felt anger and sadness. Then it brings about the fact of how often we betray Christ. Christ has done so much for us, yet there are times that even we betray Him. Whether it’s something we did or said or lack thereof. For not standing up for our beliefs and Christ because we’re afraid of getting rejected. There are times when we are more focused on trying to “fit in” and appease to the sights of the world, that we betray Christ in order to do so. Are we more focused on the “coins” that the world has to offer, or are we going to continue to remain with Christ at the Passover and continue to remain by His side no matter what? And in the end, would’ve it been better if we hadn’t been born to be able to betray Him?

Be Rid Of Hypocrisy!

In Matthew 23:4-5, 13-29 Christ gives a very long list of how the scribes and Pharisees are such big hypocrites. Such as giving big burdens and them doing nothing, swearing by only the things that are brought into the temple but not the temple itself, take advantage of the poor, put people down for the small sins that they make even though they are making the greatest sins. These are just some of the examples of what Christ has given us. Yet it’s amazing the lesson that we can learn from even just these. That lesson is that it’s SO easy to be hypocrites! I honestly believe that everyone is a hypocrite in some way. Whether big or small. I know that I have even done this even though I hate it so much. I usually never really do it intentionally and don’t think about the fact that I did til after that fact, but I’m still no exception. I believe that here, Christ is reminding and telling us that we need to work on not being hypocrites, otherwise we receive the greater damnation as He puts it.

He Loves Us!!!

I loved what I learned in Matthew 19:13-14!! It really struck a chord with me on just how much Christ loves each and every one of us. Verse 14 But Jesus said, Suffer [your name], and forbid him/her not to come unto me,: for such is the kingdom of heaven. This is amazing because it is another way of Christ showing just how much He loves us. The Lord never tells us that we can’t come unto and partake in the blessings that he has for us. So why forbid ourselves? We should we hold back from Him and ourselves if He never does? The Lord is far more than willing to show His love to us. His hand is and always will be stretched out to us. We just need to learn to reach out and grab it. With the full faith and trust that He will never let us go. So if He won't ever let us go, then we should never let Him go.

We Need To Remove The Negative/Bad Things From Our Lives

So this week I was reading in Matthew 18 and I came across verses 8-9. I thought that these verses were very interesting considering what it seem that Christ is telling us to do here. He mentions that we need to cut off our hands and feet that offend us and that it's better for us to go in heaven without them than to go to hell with them. Now I’m sure that Christ didn’t mean for us to actually cut our hands and feet off. But I believe that He meant it symbolically. For the symbolism of the feet, I feel like He meant that we need to cut those things out of our lives that we shouldn’t be going to. Such as a party where we know that there’ll be a lot of negative influences. Or places that we don't want to go or shouldn't go but we go because we want to look or seem "cool".  But to avoid going to any of those places that we know that we need to avoid. Same idea with the hand, to avoid doing things that betrays who we are such as masturbation or anything else that would take us from the Savior and pushes Him from our lives. For our eyes, to stop looking at or watching things that we shouldn’t be such as inappropriate shows or anything else that pushes the Spirit away. Like porn or anything else that encourages evil thoughts. As we cut these types of things out of our lives, we’ll be able to return to live with Christ and our Father again.