MOTHERS HEARTS ARE FAILING?
Are you a mother losing faith? Are you beginning to lose hope in a dark crumbling world? We have been taught from prophets that a test is coming so great and sifting it will be.
“. . . I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to the extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a test, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?” “The emphasis with which those words were spoken I shall never forget.“ (reported by Edward Stevenson, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 456-57
In the Book of Mormon, I believe Moroni is teaching us what that TEST truly is when he says “If we do not have true charity we are nothing and it will not do us well if we do not possess it. “(Moroni 7:46-47)
What is charity? Why must we possess it? How do we teach our children the real definition when we ourselves do not possess it? In the early days of the church, the saints were taught what charity looked like in the temple when making a covenant. The Hebrew synonym of the covenant is HESED which means to “treat someone with loving-kindness or charity, to keep covenant with them.”
THE COVENANT WAS TAUGHT IN 5 POINTS
1) Never hesitate to go out of your way to be of assistance to a brother that needs your assistance. Not just tithing, but on foot.
2) Anytime you turn to the Deity in prayer you are to remember your brothers’ needs.
3) Whenever a brother informs you he is telling you something in confidence, you have an obligation to keep that confidence.
4) An admonition to assist brothers who are fallen, and who are in distress even through some failing of their own.
5) You are to whisper good counsel to help your brother reform and warn him of approaching danger
MOTHER’S HEARTS ARE FAILING
The one motive that drives the Lord to restore Israel and the one motive of his Servant, Joseph Smith to give his life even to the shedding of His own blood for Israel is “Love.” But this is not what is taught to us. The world teaches us it is okay to idol-worship our spouse, children, and others. We are taught that unconditional love is accepted. The world’s definition of love is selfish, encourages one to seek after one’s own “passions”, to act on “emotions”, and is lustful. The world teaches us to tolerate, and accept behaviors that are an abomination to God. This is not real love!
Real love is defined differently. Just as Christ loved us and submitted his will unto his Father as a fragrant offering and sacrifice, how do we apply that same submission in the family and the same sacrificial love? How do we turn our children to the Father and his ways to learn how to love one another?
If charity, is only given to us through the principle of work/sacrifice as a gift, how are we doing in obtaining it? Mothers, are we fulfilling this covenant to love as He loves? If not are you willing to transform the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) that begins with the cleansing and purifying experience of obtaining a remission of sins through faith to have it? Are we willing to go through a change of heart to have the gift of love to help a brother or your children? If we do not know it, our children will never know it, and only be taught what the world is offering.
I truly believe Moroni was correct when he speaks we are nothing without it, and that IT WILL BE OUR TEST. Mother’s hearts are failing everywhere. Look around. You can see it. Mine was. I was cold, my heart was shut down, I was broken from a past of abuse, and from it, I was robotic in my actions. I could not touch it without revolting. Anyone else? I knew nothing of love UNTIL I had a remission of sins as the scriptures teach us, and God changed my entire nature. He changed my nature to FEEL love, and what true charity is, coupled with correct affections from the heart.
Mothers, do you struggle too with love? Are you broken? Does charity seem too hard to achieve? Joseph Smith counseled the women “they must have it.” So how do we obtain it, to then help our children obtain it? I believe the answer is through repentance.
HAVING A REMISSION OF SINS
Open up Alma 36 and study it!! Add Enos too. What does a remission of sins look like, what is God asking you to do?
He is asking you to repent of everything you can think of! Cleanse your life of impurities from the movies you watched as a child, or allowed into your home, the music you have listened to that is not of God and his inspired prophets, foods you have eaten that you have been counseled not to, to the way you parent, educate, etc. Are you sloppy in dress or home management? How about allowing magic into the lives of your children? Ask God for forgiveness for not passing down the faith correctly to your posterity, for not teaching Joseph Smith’s teachings to your children, only man’s. For allowing impurities in your mind and heart with ungodly relationships, for pride, selfishness, and abusing the time he has given you to build up his kingdom, and so forth. Can you see how the fallen man really is an enemy of God? The list goes on and on.
Fast and pray until you can feel the Godly sorrow for each one!!
List it all out, and be willing to submit it all to Him in complete submission, promising to never touch those ways again!
Then in faith ask God to change your nature! Say the words Alma spoke. He will change you, I promise. It can happen overnight, or it can take months as you ask God to show you every area of sin in your life and you start purging it, as quickly as you can, confessing and making restitutions as you go.
From it, and the sacrifices you make He will make you a new person, and then oh the joy that comes with it is beautiful, and out of it comes CHARITY for others—as you now want to go help others—especially your children to find it. Don’t leave them behind. Scriptures teach that everyone is to have a remission of sins before baptism. Mothers teach this and help them through it so they can understand God’s love and how to help others BEFORE they make a covenant to do so.
Covenant #5: Bear others’ burdens, that they may be light; mourn with those that mourn; and comfort those in need of comfort.
The test is coming . . . mothers, do you have real charity and are you teaching your children how to have it through remission of sins and what it looks like as a covenant maker? Don’t let Satan teach them—you teach them from your own conversion.
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Julie
Julie Smith is the Education Director for the Joseph Smith Foundation. She is the former owner of the Glenn J. Kimber Academy in Lehi, Utah. Julie served as a regional trainer—establishing 18 schools in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. She is a certified teacher for The Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Restoration (TJC) and taught the Making of America seminars written by W. Cleon Skousen and Glenn J. Kimber. Some of her children also traveled across the nation, assisting in teaching during these seminars. Julie taught history and Book of Mormon classes for 10 years. Julie is the mother of 5 children and grandmother to 7. She homeschooled for over 27 years, working through family challenges including pornography addiction, testimony faith crises, and teenage rebellion. She writes and teaches on strengthening the family, working with troubled youth, practically applying the teachings of scripture and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and celebrating higher standards. In her spare time, Julie also enjoys gardening, managing her .5-acre homestead, and hosting Sunday dinners with her family! Her home is a revolving door of guests and friends as her family hosts cultural celebrations and teaching events.
