July 3 - July 25, 2016

On Jul 3, 2016, at 6:31 AM, Patty Brinkman <patty@brinkmanhome.net> wrote:
I think I will focus on trying to pick a scripture out of the SS lesson for the week, so that maybe I will be motivated to read the assignment.  Our ward is on lesson 24, I believe yours is on 25.  Anyway, from that this morning I picked from Alma 13.  It looks like copying and pasting off the digital scripture is going to run the words together, I wonder why that is happening.
So basically this scripture tells us that our husbands and young men have access to the holy calling of the priesthood if they will but not harden their hearts against it.  And the priesthood calling itself was prepared from the foundation of the world.  So as I ponderize - what does that mean?  Since there is no beginning and no end, then when was the foundation of the world?  I guess for our purposes it is stated for how our minds process a beginning.  It also says that the priesthood was in and through the atonement.  I wonder how that works since the priesthood was on the earth before the atonement.
I love the part that says as they fulfill their calling they will enter into his rest.  That image to me means perfect peace and reminds me of the “rest" of the temple.  As we go in we are supposed to leave all our time schedules, troubles, and earthly stuff behind and try to focus on being in God’s house, or his rest.  It is such a hard thing to do, and I have a long way to get to that “rest”  I would also like to focus more on feeling that “rest” in my own home, since our homes are supposed to be nearest to the temple.
So let me know if this is how this works and if you have any suggestions to improve the way we do this.  I’m looking forward to 4th of July guests (Dane’s cousin). Hope they are active.
TTFN,
Patty

4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling onaccount of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts andblindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for thisthey might have had as great privilege as their brethren.

 5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the samestanding with their brethren; thus this holy calling beingprepared from the foundation of the world for such aswould not harden their hearts, being in and through theatonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—

 6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordainedunto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teachhis commandments unto the children of men, that theyalso might enter into his rest—

On Jul 3, 2016, at 5:19 PM, Wendolyn Davis <healthnut1226@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for sharing your scripture and thoughts.  Now read your scripture daily and see if it makes a difference in your week.  I love the promises that Elder Durrant gives us in his talk if we do this.  Here is one of them: “I promise you will not regret writing a verse of scripture on your mind and heart each week. You will experience a feeling of perpetual spiritual purpose, protection, and power.”  For the last few weeks I did D&C 68:6, “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.”  I have a hard time memorizing scriptures much less remembering the basic idea so I really focused on this one and found that it rhymed so I can remember it better!  I can now tell myself quite often, be of good cheer and do not fear for the Lord is with me!   I love this scripture and can feel of its power as I apply it to my own life.  

A scripture that stood out to me in my recent reading was D&C 78: 17-19

17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

I am going to work on being more grateful this week and I’m going to see what else I can learn from reading these verses over and over.   

Happy 4th of July.  Have fun.  I’ll be driving to Utah.  Not so fun :(  I showed your mom our pictures.  I must go pack again.  Later.  Wendolyn 

On Jul 4, 2016, at 10:28 AM, Wendolyn Davis <healthnut1226@gmail.com> wrote:

What a great scripture. I might do that one next time!  Have fun cooking and all that stuff and I'll try and have fun driving and sitting in the van for 12 hours. 😉 I loved what you said about patience and love and long suffering!  Happy 4th. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 4, 2016, at 5:17 AM, Patty Brinkman <patty@brinkmanhome.net> wrote:

I think I’ll try memorization and see how it goes.  So I just picked one, a little further down the page.  

28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord,and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually,that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear,and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble,meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

Have a safe trip.  You can think of me cleaning shopping and cooking all day in order to have Dane’s cousins over tonight for a BBQ.  During this time I will be patient and full of love and long-suffering. LOL Then we will go to the amphitheater for music and fireworks.  Happy 4th to you all!

On Jul 10, 2016, at 4:22 PM, Patty Brinkman <patty@brinkmanhome.net> wrote:

Lately I’ve heard at least two talks with “faith and fear cannot exist at the same time.”  Since I’ve been feeling a lot of fear lately I’ve decided I must need to try and remember “faith” much more.  so for this week I have picked the highlighted portion of the scripture to focus on so I can remember to try to be as faithful as Ammon.  

How did your week go with your scripture?  Have you been able to be of good cheer? I didn’t read mine daily, but I got close.  I need to find a better way to display it I think.  Maybe print it out or something.

10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.

On Jul 10, 2016, at 10:04 PM, Wendolyn Davis <healthnut1226@gmail.com> wrote:

I love hearing from you and hearing your thoughts. I am in Utah so life is a little crazy. I read my scripture everyday just haven't pondered it as much.  For this week I will pick D & C 88:63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  

I thought this scripture would be good to have in my thoughts as a reminder how important it is to draw near unto Christ. I am going to the temple Tuesday by myself so I will ponder this more. I will put your name on prayer roll. Have a good week. 

 Look at hymn 128 when faith endures. I memorized that when philip Danielson told me about it when he was on his mission. The words are great! Love you Wendolyn. 

On Jul 17, 2016, at 11:41 PM, Wendolyn Davis <healthnut1226@gmail.com> wrote:

I felt that going to the temple really helped me draw near unto Christ.  In fact I was able to teach the lesson in RS today and it was on going to the temple and doing genealogy.  I found one of my favorite quotes about the temple form sister Holland.  It says, "“On those days when I feel off center, out of focus, or off balance, when I feel that I don’t have enough time, insight, or strength to solve my problems, I know that comfort is as close as the temple.  Before I go to the temple, I retreat to a private room in my home, one where, from frequent prayer, I feel I have come closet to my Father in Heaven.  There I kneel and express my deepest feelings of love and gratitude.  I also pour out my troubles to him one by one, laying every burden and placing every decision at the Lord’s feet.  Thus prepared, I then take myself out of this world of fashion, frenzy, and occasional phoniness and go to the House of the Lord.  There, dressed like my neighbor, and with no windows and no clocks to distract me, I am able to see this world objectively.  There I remember that the whole of this life is a journey of the spirit to a higher and holier sphere.  I remember that the success of my journey depends on my adherence to the sequential steps God has put on my individual road map.  While serving another sister in the temple, someone who didn’t have my privileges during her lifetime, I have time for solitude, private prayer, and meditation.  I have time to listen and to contemplate the steps I can take, those steps that are right for me.  The Lord often shows me how to effectively make choices between right and wrong- and between right and right.  He blesses me to see what is essential and what is secondary.  I feel comforted regarding my discouragements, and I am able to see those moments as merely messages guiding me back toward my own individual divine destiny.”  Also I listened on the way home to a really really good talk called “Strengthened by His Hand” by Brent L Top.  I highly recommend it.  And the new EFY music is so good.  I love a song called “Because He lives” and “What Matters Most.”  

For this week I picked D&C 93:1.  “Verily, thus saith the Lord:  It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;”  

I also listened to “Take Your Love to Your Family and your Frustrations to the Lord" by Dr. John L Lund.  You would like this one.  He’s one of my favorite speakers on relationships.  

Hope you had a good week.  Wendolyn

I’ve been listening the the music you gave me.  I like many of the songs, but some of them feel like the words don’t match the music.  Sounds like a modern song on the radio with sacred words - if that makes any sense.  I appreciate the CD’s though and like many of them.

I like your scripture and thanks for sharing about the temple. My week was crazy busy and I didn’t focus very well on even that scripture, so I will continue on with the same one this week.  Now that everyone’s birthday is done maybe it’ll be easier.  

I got released yesterday from Secretary and put in as 1st counselor.  Don’t know if this change will help or make things harder.  All I can do is continue to pray for guidance and strength. I have a strong testimony, but no desire to go to church each Sunday as it just feels so stressful. I’ve never had this battle before and Satan is working hard on me.  It helps me understand yet another reason why people don’t come to church and is good learning for me.

 I also had a good conversation with our 1st counselor - Darin Anderson.  He is about 8 years younger than us, but was in our stake in NM. Lived in Hobbs in his youth.  He knows Carrie Hardie Vallejo and was telling me that Noel has done really well and they have a huge home on the hill in Utah.  I was glad to hear, as I know she faced opposition marrying him from her family.  Oddly enough Tod was good friends with Noel and they were roomies.  Noel served us in provo canyon on one of our dates.  I remember the top hat and he was funny. Small world. Anyway, kind of bizarre to have that connection. We started talking about it caused he asked about you guys.  He saw you visiting and thought your family was mine.  Thought your son in law was my son.  LOL

For Dane’s birthday we went to Mikado Japanese steakhouse.  The food was sooo good.  Except the miso was too salty.  

Have a great week.

On Jul 24, 2016, at 8:39 PM, Patty Brinkman <patty@brinkmanhome.net> wrote:

I chose Ether 3:14 for this week.  Tell me again what is the way you shared scriptures before.  What was the app?  

14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

I dug in the garage and got out my mission pictures to scan in for my first companion, who is planning a mission reunion.  I found this one while I was looking through my mission pics - taken in front of the MTC.  :-)  You probably already have this one.  I was surprised to find I had no mission pictures scanned in.  I need to make that a future project.

On Jul 25, 2016, at 12:07 AM, Wendolyn Davis <healthnut1226@gmail.com> wrote:

I keep track of the scriptures I pick in an app called day one. I am going to copy and paste our emails and put them in my blog journal. 

I loved hearing about Darin Anderson. Carrie stopped at jaytons wedding reception in Provo when she saw the name wakefield reception on the sign so we got back in touch then. She sends announcements for her kids and sends Christmas cards. 

How's primary?  Same president?  

My scripture will be alma 37:36. Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

I need to turn to the Lord more and this scripture ran across my mind during the sacrament pondering time. I get confused about what to do with being a health coach and I just need to counsel more with the Lord and the Holy Ghost will direct me. 

I probably have the letters you sent me from your mission. You want them if I have them?
Sent from my iPad