Let your soul delight in fatness...

I absolutely LOVE a local restaurant's delectable dessert called "The Magic Mountain."

And it is magical!

Home-made caramelly praline and gooey dark chocolate brownie topped with french vanilla ice cream and drizzled with more caramel, fudge, and whipped cream in a waffle cone.  Ahhhhh....

It. is. D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!!!

I'm salivating just thinking about all that rich, chewy, scrumptious goodness.

And, yet... I feel a bit of melancholy, knowing that if I choose to drive down to that restaurant, order that dessert, and savor every bite of that oh-so-yummy delight... I will be in pain a few hours later.  It might just be a little pain: a bit of bloating, a bit of fulness in my gut, a bit of cramping in my lower abdomen.  Enough to make me hurt but not enough to make me never think about ordering it again.

Or it could be severely painful: cramping so badly that I'm writhing around on the bed either curled up in the fetal position or laying prostrate trying to stretch out my torso area enough to accommodate what feels like a giant hot air balloon filling my abdomen.  So painful that I'm willing to give up some of my favorite foods... FOREVER... just so I don't have to experience that kind of hurting again.

I never know which it will be.  I've had intestinal problems for years.  I haven't been able to totally figure out the cause or the triggers because they seem to be so inconsistent.  And no amount of doctors and their tests or experiments of my own have been able to find a cure or a cause... so far.  Sometimes I'll go through long stretches of painful episodes that occur daily for weeks and I begin to wish I didn't have to eat at all... just so that I wouldn't hurt anymore.  I begin to worry about every little thing I eat, unsure what the consequences of eating that particular food might be, hoping to spend just one night without pain.

I guess that's why this scripture resonates so soundly with me:
"Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.  Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness."    ~ 2 Nephi 9:15

So many phrases in this passage are meaningful to me, but I want to focus on just those highlighted: "feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted."  Perhaps it's due to my chronic digestive irritability, but the thought conveyed by feasting upon something that would bring satisfaction, comfort and joy without ANY worry of it bringing future distress or upset is particularly appealing to me.

I can scarcely imagine what that would be like.

No worry.  No pain.  No suffering.  No regret.

I (we) can feast upon the gospel without ANY of those things.
We can feast as much as we like.
In fact, we are counseled to let our souls "delight in [the] fatness" of it.

Think of that.  Delighting in the fatness of it.  As women in today's society I think we have NEVER let ourselves delight in the fatness of anything!

And yet, I really like the sentiment the phrase "delight in fatness" conveys when applied to those things that ARE of worth and that CAN satisfy.  To me, the fatness is the richness, the fulness, the absolute soul-filling joy that only worthwhile pursuits and experiences can bring.

I try to remind myself of that phrase in those moments when I feel touched by the Spirit or feel my testimony growing or feel loved by my Heavenly Father or am enjoying a wonderful moment with my husband, children, siblings, or parents.  To drink in the fulness of those moments and to savor them, to delight in the fatness of them is indeed VERY satisfying to the soul!

No worry.
No regret.

Just delight.

Not My Will

"It seems no worthy accomplishment has ever come easily for me..." (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Inconvenient Messiah)


Have you ever had a prompting that called on you to do something hard for you?


I don't mean kind of hard for you.  I mean something that dissolves you into a puddle of tears when you think about it hard for you.  And what makes it harder is that it's not something that the Lord just hands to you.  Like when people are diagnosed out-of-the-blue with cancer or someone dies in an out-of-your-control event and you have to figure out how to get through it.  No, I'm talking about the Lord giving you the choice to follow what HE wants for your life instead of what you think you want.  Prompting you to do something that you don't want to do.  Asking for something that you really don't want to give....

....except that the Lord is the one doing the asking.  



A few months ago I received a very distinct prompting to do something that is very difficult for me to go through, to get pregnant. When I look back, I feel like I had been receiving the promptings for months, but my heart was too hard to hear it before then.  I wanted the Lord to change His mind and do things my way, even though I never would have admitted that even to myself.  And so I continued on my own path and wondered why I was struggling more and more with this question that seemed to have been decided, and why it kept coming to my mind over and over.  On the day that the can't-ignore-it-writing-in-the-sky prompting came, I received what I felt like were two pieces to the same prompting.  One was to get pregnant, and the other piece was a reassurance from the Lord that He would watch over me and protect me.  So I moved forward and found out two weeks later that I was indeed pregnant.  

I patted myself on the back for having listened and responded to the Lord's prompting. Go me.  Surely the Lord would ease my burden (my version of watching over and protecting) for doing what He asked instead of what I had planned. 

"If sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived." (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Inconvenient Messiah)
....And within days I was overwhelmed by the enormous task.  Pregnancy was everything that I had remembered and more.  I honestly felt abandoned by the Lord.  How could He promise that He would watch over and protect me if I did this, and then not do anything while I suffered?  And not just the suffering that I had gone through with my first two, but above and beyond that, and if that wasn't enough how about a few more potential problems/sufferings waiting in the wings perhaps ready to drop at any moment? (and I am readily admitting right now that my suffering is not what many women go through during pregnancy, but it is honestly one of the hardest things for me to do despite the fact that there are many others who have it worse).  

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "It is not easy to go without—without physical gratifications, or spiritual assurances, or material possessions—but sometimes we must...We must work hard and do right, and sometime our chance will come." (The Inconvenient Messiah)

During this time, I was reminded of the story in Mosiah 24 of Alma and his people who are found by King Noah's priest whose name is Amulon.  Amulon and his people enslave Alma and his people.  Alma and his people cry to the Lord and Amulon puts guards over them to kill them if they pray, so they pray in their hearts.  And the Lord says to them "Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me...and I will also ease (not take away, at least not yet) the burdens...that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." 

 It goes on to say that the Lord eases their burden in two ways, one by easing the actual burden so that it is lighter.  And the second is that He strengthens Alma and his people "...that they could bear up their burdens with ease..." And despite the fact that the Lord did not take the burdens away, or even promise at that point to do so, and despite the fact that he didn't just ease the burden, but rather he strengthened them (which required something of them because how do we gain strength? by exercising the muscle!) but because the Lord had done that for them, "...they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." 

And there I was called to repentance (I seem to have that happen A LOT).  I had submitted to the Lord's will, at least the initial requirement of it, but I had not submitted to ALL the will of the Lord, and definitely not cheerfully or with patience.

And as always, I came right back to this simple truth that I have to learn and re-learn.  Life won't always be easy.  In fact it may end up being downright hard, but in the end, I always want to have said,
"Not my will, but thine, be done."

Joseph Smith, a Master of Simplicity

Today's post is short (compared to my usual ones) in honor of the idea that just a few short words can contain a thought so profound that you can spend years pondering its meaning.

I am always amazed by the ability Joseph Smith had to sum up deep doctrine and revolutionary concepts in a very few words.  I think things were just so clear and simple to him that he could put it in terms even a child could understand.  His succinct sermons have the ability to make you ponder deeply and continuously if you let your mind turn them over.

These brief statements are mind-bending and soul-changing when you consider their full meaning and ramifications.  All are attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves."

"Search your hearts, and see if you are like God.  I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins."

"It is the privilege of the children of God to come to God and get revelation."

"We don't ask any people to throw away any good they have got; we only ask them to come and get more."

"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."

"It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it."

"Wise men ought to have understanding enough to conquer men with kindness."

"It is not wisdom that we should have all knowledge at once presented before us; but that we should have a little at a time; then we can comprehend it."

"Mercy should go hand in hand with reproof."

"A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together."

"I have no enmity against any man. I love you all; but I hate some of your deeds."

"In knowledge there is power.  God has more power than all other beings, because he has greater knowledge."

"God judges men according to the use they make of the light which he gives them."

"We need the temples more than anything else."

"Love is one of the chief characteristics of Diety, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God."

"God dwells in eternity and does not view things as we do."

"I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught."

"Unity is power."

I hope you enjoy these thoughts as much as I have.  They have given me something to think about for a long time, and I expect to continue to learn from them for a long while yet.

Where Are the Angels?

My 15-year-old son, Kade, wrote my post for me today:

Few things quite compare to the powerful spiritual experience that came from the pioneer trek that I recently went on. Nothing teaches you about the testimony of the pioneers as being in their shoes, walking for miles on end with only a few rests. I learned something that I had already heard before, but didn't quite understand until the trek: these pioneers would not have traveled like that, for days and months on end, if they did not know that the church was true. The trek also taught me many other things that I don't think I can ever forget.

One of the hardest parts of the trek for me had nothing to do with pushing the cart. In fact, it was because I wasn't pushing the cart. You see, at one point along the trail, the men and boys were taken from their carts to be in the Mormon Battalion. Actually, we went on ahead and waited for our families to come past, when we would rejoin them to walk with them. This was called the "women's pull" and it was difficult to see the girls working hard to pull the heavy handcart over the rocky path. The cart bounced and rocked back and forth, making the girls' job even harder.

I had heard a rumor at some point before the trek that towards the end of the womens' pull, people dressed as angels would come and join the girls to help them finish the pull. That rumor was terribly false. As the pull went on, a feeling of desperation grasped me. My mind formed the thought, "Where are the angels?" That's when I saw them.

The girls who had already gotten to the end of the pull were running back to help the other carts make it to the end. Their faces were as red as tomatoes, their breathing like a steam engine, but their smiles shone like the sun. They didn't seem to have been thinking about themselves in any sense as they sprinted back to help their sisters. As they fell into step alongside my family, I realized I had found the angels.

Often, we expect, and sometimes ask for, great miracles. However, we rarely get these great miracles. We get small ones. I expected angels to come to the rescue of the girls, and I got the angels. They didn't appear in the form I had expected, but they came. They came exactly how they needed to. Most of the time, the Lord will send people to be the help we ask for, just as the other girls were the angels that I was looking for. When we ask the Lord for help, we shouldn't try to dictate how He should do it. He will send help how and when we need it, and we only have to trust that He will help us. He always will.

Written by Kade Flake