Why Do I Not Get The Blessings That I Ask For

       Does God love them more than me? Does He bless others more than me because I'm not as good as them? Why do I not get the blessings that I ask for?

       So many of us ask ourselves these questions hoping that our Father in Heaven will  listen in and help us out more. When in reality He is there waiting for us to allow him to enter in.

       Just as a furnished house or temple has the electricity hooked up already to go, we too have the love of God  all hooked up and ready to be turned on. The light switch is like a dial where we can turn the brightness of the light up or dim it down according to our pleasure. We can make our temple within as bright as we want or as dark as we want.

      Christ is the light of the world. Light casts out darkness. His and His father's love for us is infinite. As we follow Their counsel we are turning up the light. As we do so the peace, joy, patience, and love that they have for us enters in, and casts out all the stress, fear, anger, and doubt that darkness fills us with.

       Does God love 'them' more than me?...Not a chance. Does He bless 'others' more than me because I'm not like 'them'?...Only if we let Him. Why do I not get the blessings that I ask for?... I don't know, why don't you?

       As a Child we say to our mother:
1. Teach me to walk in the light of his love;Teach me to pray to my Father above;


Teach me to know of the things that are right;Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.


    
    Our mother then says to us:


2. Come, little child, and together we’ll learn Of his commandments, that we may return


Home to his presence, to live in his sight—Always, always to walk in the light.




      Then as a family we say:


3. Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day For loving guidance to show us the way.


Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight! Gladly, gladly we’ll walk in the light. (Hymn no. 304 LDS Hymn Book)




     As a child there were many times that I know my mom had to exercise EXTREME patients 


with my brothers and my sister and I. I know that it is because of her and my father's  example 


of "walking in the light" that has lead me to where I am now.


   
  "There is no place like home" better yet... "There is no 


place like in my moms arms!"

I know that Christ Died for me, But what Exactly did he Suffer for Me

      Yes, Christ died for me but just what exactly did he suffer for ME? We have been told to "liken" the scriptures to ourselves, and this is why...

      In the Book of Mormon there is a man who talks about what Christ's Atonement is. Alma 7:11-13 says this:

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.

 13 Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

      Now we can change this a bit to make it personal to us.
11. And he shall go forth, suffering MY pains which are .... and MY afflictions which are... and My temptations which are...; and this that the word might be fulfulled which saith he will take upon him MY pains and MY sicknesses.

12. And he will take upon him death/fear, that he may loose the bands of death/ fear which hold me down; and he will take upon him my imperfections, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to how it is that I feel, that he may know by my way of thinking how to succor (bring) me unto him according to my imperfections.

13. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to exactly what I am going through. this, so that he will know how to take upon him my sins, that he might blot our my transgressins according to his deliverance. and now this is the testimony (the things I know to be true) which is in me.

      Go back through this and fill in the blanks with what we are going through. Then we will understand what it is that He exactly went through for each on of us.

Taking the Leap of Faith off our Balance Beam

       A balance beam is straight and narrow. To some it seams impossible to be able to walk or even jump on it without falling off. But it is those times that we do fall that helps us to get back on and become stronger because of it. Just how long does it take to get comfortable to walk on a balance beam...? It is up to us on how much time we put into it.
  
       For some, they can pick it up quickly. For others it takes a lot longer to learn how to trust our self and keep our eye single to our goal of getting to the end.

       For a lot of us its the leap at the end that gets us nervous. Nervous of falling, nervous of not making the perfect landing and the judges giving us a bad score. Once we have made it to the end, we have to take that leap, a leap of faith.

       Luckily for us we have a very loving judge, spotter, and coach. He is always there to catch us when we fall. To give us the encouragement if we feel that we cant make it to the end. He judges us by the time we put into learning and how much we get back up and on the beam. Not how well we do but how much we grow ourselves.

       Then He is at the end to help us make that leap. After all we have done to get to that point, He is waiting for us to jump and make that landing. To get that firm foundation underneath our feet. He can then show us even more only because we have taken that leap of faith and proven to ourselves that we can hold strong.

"Tell Jesus I said Hi...If you look, you can see Him"

       "This little boy saw his mother getting ready to go to the temple. He asked her to tell Jesus hi for him. His mother said 'I doubt I will see Him.' The little boy responded, 'If you look hard enough, you can.'"

        In Matthew 18:4 (in the Bible) and in Mosiah 3:19 (Book of Mormon) it speaks of becomming like little children. The purpose of this is for us to be willing to learn. Believing in everyone around us. Not knowing doubt, fear, bitterness, and so on.

       The little boy in the story knew that Jesus was at the temple. That is what he has been taught. He doesn't care about the things of the world. All he cares about is that his message to his Savior gets to Him.

       Now reread this story. Who is the one being taught? The little innocent boy, or the all wise parent?

       Look for Christ in all we do. Teach our children for they are the ones that will be teaching us someday. Set the example for them to fallow. For our Father and our Brother have done that for us already. But its up to us to be as a little child and look up to our great Father and loving Brother.

Breaking a Horse isn't Breaking at all, Its Building up

       When breaking a horse we don't correct him, when he does something wrong, to torture him. But rather we correct him to show him how to become better. Those who have ridden a well "broke" horse knows how calm and peacfull they are. We can trust them with our children or another inexperienced rider and not have to worry about them falling off and getting hurt.
  
       A wild horse, fresh to the ranch,  will not ever learn how to work or get along well with the other horses without getting correction, be it from the cowboy or the stud horse. It takes a a great horseman to tame a wild horse. But depending on the horse, if they are willing to learn, then even a young child could teach it a thing or two. It takes equall work on the horses' part and on the horseman's part to be able to give and recieve correction. Sometimes even the horseman messes up and has to take some breaking/correction from the horse. This is why they both need to be open-minded.

       If we put this into our own lives, whether it be us as the horseman or even the horse, we need to learn to take the correction that is given with an open heart. This way we can be that 'horse' that everyone can trust with those they love. For without that trust, we might just end up in the NFR Bronc Ridding events.

Be a Mentor, Not a Coach

       What is the difference in criticism and constructive coaching?
What is the difference in being a coach and a mentor?

A coach talks to us (criticizes us). They are there to teach us by telling us what we need to do. They may say things such as: "You need to work harder; If you were to change your attitude, you would be a much better person; You should do it this way, it is a lot better; When you understand what is really being said then you will really know how they feel."


       Anyone who tries to tell you how to do something is a coach. We can't choose our coaches. However, a mentor is one that is a leader. A person that others choose to fallow, respect, and trust. A mentor is not just something that anyone can be, rather it is someone that is looked up to by another person. They could be a parent, friend, sibling, companion, or another leader of some sort. A mentor is someone we go to for guidance. No one can be assigned to be a mentor. Instead it is a position earned and given by those around you.

        A mentor is one that shows by example rather than preaching with words. They may say things such as: "We can work harder; If we were to change our attitude, we would become a better person; If we do it like this... then it might turn out better; When we understand what is really being said, then we can know how we can help them;"

       The difference in the two is how they use the words "you" and "we/ us".  Reread the coach's part then reread the mentor's part. Notice the difference in how you feel. If we can relate a problem or situation, that someone else has, to ourselves, then we can better understand what we can do to give constructive coaching.
        When we try to help someone out, we must understand how they will take what we say by how we say it. Not everyone is like us, therefore we need to adjust our way of "coaching" to best fit their needs. By us doing this, we will be able to help those around us more than just preaching to them. "They don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care."