Alma Chapter 47

We had the missionaries over last night for dinner nad they shared a really good lesson with us about "Strategy"!

C is a big history/war buff so naturally the war chapters in the Book of Mormon appeal more to him.
This particular story was about Amalakiah (I know I spelt that wrong) and his progression to be the Lamanite King. It starts here... at Mount Antipas...

Amalakiah had been sent by the King to kill Lehonti. Lehonti was just a Lamanite with an army doing his thing. He wasn't an overly bad person, but he knew why Amalakiah had been sent, his reputation of being unscrupulous had preceeded him.
Looking at this though, strategically Lehonti is in the best position. He has a full view of everything around him and if a battle is to ensue, Amalakiah's men would be wearied from the tougher struggle up the hill. Amalakiah knew this and he sent a messenger up 3 times to Lehonti asking him to come down and talk with him. Lehonti refused each time. On the fourth time Amalakiah himself went ot the gate of Lehonti's Army and asked to talk with him again, and even said he could bring his men. Lehonti obliged this time.

Amalakiah told Lehonti of his plan. He told Lehonti that he would spare his life if Lehonti would come down in the night, surround Amalakiah's men, take them over nad then appoint Amalakiah as 2nd in Command. To Lehonti, this sounded like a pretty sweet deal. Keep his life, gain a bigger army and everyone is happy. So he agreed and everything went to plan. Except after a time Lehonti started to get quite ill and he died. WHat had happened was that Amalakiah ha done of his men slowly poison Lehonti to death. It was custom for the 2nd in command to take over the army when the leader died. Hence, Amalakiah gained control of both his army nad of Lehonti's. The story then goes on with Amalakiah killing the Lamanite King and devastaing the Nephites.

The moral of the story was that it is easier to stay on the high ground, keep control and your standards than it is to fall and try to climb back up. In Lehonti's case, if he had not gone down to the gate and met Amalakiah, he would not have heard teh plan and Amalakiah would have had to find another way to become King. Just like if we do not give Satan that little bit of lieniency in our lives, he will have to find someone else to bother.
Just as Lehonti went down the mountain, he opened the door to his death. If we open the door to Satan, we are letting him lead us to a Spiritual death. Unlike Lehonti though, we have repentance and the Atonement that can let us be forgiven and start the climb back up the hill for our strategic advantage.

I found the lesson quite good and fun. I'm glad they shared it with us and I hope you learnt something too :)

I Had "Mum" Moment

Yep... The childless one had a "mum" moment with her Husband...
You may have read my previous post about the new Missioanries in our ward, well, I told my Husband weeks ago how I felt about it, and how I wanted people to be more open to these new Missionaries. I vioced my opinion and I felt like he didn't listen to what I was saying, and I didn't want to overstep the mark so I left it alone.

So today when we were talking about things he mentioned that he had offered a Family Home Evening with the Missionaries and another couple we know. The reaction form the other couple was "I'll be sick that day". My amazing Husband's reaction to that was "We gotta give 'em a chance."

TA DA! My "Mum" Moment was, even though you think they aren't listening, and the don't care... They do. They listen and they care and they will respond to reason. I am so incredibly happy that he agrees with me. We had teh Missionaries over last night and they gave a great lesson to us and used a BOM War Story to do it... Alma Chapter 47. I'll blog about it a little bit later today... Just so happy right now I had to tell you!

Words Can Be Violent

I am a bit of a Pinterest fan and I have seen this picture on there a few times now...

I find it quite powerful and very poignant too. Sadly, recently I have felt the effects words in my life in a very negative way.

I guess today I am wanting to talk about how gossip and complaining can be harmful to people aswell as yourself.

There is a sad reality that if people complain to you about things they will most likey complain about you too. Some people feel the need to complain about everything and if there is nothing to complain about they will look for something. I have encountered this over the past month. I am being blamed for a circumstance that someone does not understand and I have been treated as if I "planned it all along". I've been diliberately left out and excluded and openly rejected in a public environment. I have been talked about maliciously behind my back or right in front of behind closed doors, even inf ront of me with open doors. All of this is happening to me because one person is unhappy and I ahve become the scapegoat for it. I can not control thier actions, and while it hurts and it is unfair and annoying, I can't let the situation control me. I am trying to make sure this other person does not see me upset or hurt by thier actions. I am trying to let it be like water off a ducks back. It is hard, especially when it is so blatant and they are spreading thier dislike of me to other people. But ultimately they are only hurting themselves.
I may be hurt now, but I will get over nad I will move on. It will make me a stronger and hopefully more understadning person, but for the other party in this... They have revealed thier true colours. How can other people trust them if they behave this way? How can they be asked for help if they treat people so harshly? It causes one to wonder why they are this way - Toxic. Over time they will drive people away from them and be left alone with no oe to turn too as all thier "friends" have been hurt or betrayed by them. I really hope it does not get to that stage for this eprson but I can already see it happening. I hope she realizes before it's too late what she is doing.

Another way words have turned my world on it's head recently is when things were said about me to my family that were not completely true. Some were twisted variations, some were completely wrong, some were misinterpreted nad some were never said. The worst thing about this situation is that who I used to be, my previous actions, spoke louder than the things I was trying to say, what really happened. It's a big lesson to me that actiosn do speak louder than words but also that if you decide to change you can. Which is something I decided about a year ago that I was really going to change who I was and who I was going to be. So I have been striving for that an dmaking changes in my life and it hurt initially that all that was not seen or taken into consideration but then I am grateful because I now feel I am closer to someone involved than I have been in a long time. Kind of a blessing wrapped in adversity.
This situation has also taught me that I need to be more clear in what I am saying and how I am saying things and also who I am talking too. It is a shame and a reality that people will always let you down, it is enevitable that you will let people down too, it's all part of learning whilst we are here on Earth. But I have made a concious decision to let go of people who are causing drama and confrontation in my life. It doesn't mean that I hate them or that I will never speak to them again, it just means that I am choosing to surround myself with people who help me feel happy, content and uplifted. People who are supportive and trusting. Untill I have a thicker skin and more strength to let the hurtful things slide I need some space. I need to re-coop my energy and my focus.

I want to be a good person, I want to be a faithful person and someone who is a good example of this church, so I pray that I can find this strength and this understanding soon.

Sassy Sunday

Good afternoon everyone!
Here is today's Sassy Sunday with a couple of tid bits on knowledge. Today's class was a revision class to test thier knowledge and what they ahve learnt so far. I was amazed at how much they actually took in! The were pulling names from thin air that we had talked about, they knew stories and feelings. They even remembered words we had explained like what "dumb" meant when Alma the younger was struck dumb. I was so impressed!

p.s. I dyed the jacket nad alter a pair of pants into that skirt :) I'm a little bit proud of it.

Sassy Sunday - Individual Worth

Sorry it's late...

Sassy Sunday - The Spirit of God

This would have to be my most favourite hymn in the history of ever!
I remember when I was a little tacker in primary it was the first hymn we started to learn - naturally someone as vocal as myslef was picked to be the words "we'll shout!" because i got to SHOUT them, :)

Obviously I have a more emotional connection with this hymn now - I have connected with it's power, with the message of hope nad the strength this hymn can instill in me. Today I needed that strength.