Saturday, March 30, 2013

My horrible learning experience:

So, I was doing some research on the computer today, and I accidentally typed ".com" instead of ".org" on the name I was looking up.  I was shocked and sickened by the images that popped up on my screen. I SCREAMED and tried to get out of that website.  It was awful.  My children were wondering what I was doing.  I just told them not to look.
It was so sad, and so sick and it hurt me so much.  It hurt me physically, it hurt me spiritually.  I went to clean the kitchen and I couldn't do it. I was just sad, and hurt.   I couldn't go back to the computer for about an hour.
I went into my room and I knelt down by my bed and I prayed to my Heavenly Father.  I prayed and asked Him to take the images out of my mind and to heal my soul.  I was crying, it wasn't just a tear or two, it was deep, heaving, deep down in my soul.  After a few minutes of being on my knees and pleading for help, I felt better.  I started to feel calm again, and my crying began to stop.
I am so grateful for the Savior.  I am grateful for the Atonement.  The things that happened in History, that we are celebrating this week, that made my repentance possible. That healed my soul. That healed my spirit.
I can now say that I know there are things on the internet that are harmful to us. I know why we are warned about them and I KNOW they do damage to us.  I have experienced it.
But the good news is, there is always hope! There is always a way to repent, and a way to return.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How it affects me:

There is so much talk about Marriage, and more particularly gay marriage.

I can only speak for myself, and the reason that I am against it.
In my church, in my religion, we go to the Temple. We believe that when we go to the Temple, we are married to our spouse for time (earth life) and all eternity (after we die) we believe that we can be together forever-even after death.
Do I believe this? YES with all my heart, might, mind and soul.  I have put everything I am and everything I do into this.
My husband and I have 9 children. We work hard EVERY single day towards this goal. 
We get up at 6:00 in the morning so that we can read scriptures and have song and prayer together as a family to to united towards this goal. 
We go to church every week.  We listen to our leaders and follow what they say.
We gather at night to have prayer together as a family.
We have Family Home Evenings on Monday nights together, we have lessons and talk about Christ.
We serve others.

We have a Prophet, just like there was a Prophet during Bible times. We follow our Prophet, we believe that he speaks with God.

I believe in God, I believe that He has spoken, and He has said that marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman. I believe that. I want to listen to Him and follow Him, even if it is not popular.

This isn't just about agency, I believe in that too. We have the 10 commandments:
Exodus 20:1-17 and also Mosiah 13:13-24.  We are to obey these commandments as well. We are not free to choose to commit adultery or murder.  We are able to choose how we respond to God's commandments.

This is the plan of the satan.  I don't see a big campaign for straight people to get married. The push for straight people is to live together, have babies out of wedlock. It is another way to go against what God has commanded. 

I am concerned that if we let gays get "married", the next attack will be towards my Temple.  The place that is sacred to me, that will be the next debate. The push will be to marry gay people together in my Temple. Will that ever happen--no, but the Government will try to make my Temple worship ILLEGAL because it discriminates against others. 

Do I know and understand all of God's plan? Of course not. Do I trust in His plan over my own. YES!

I am far from perfect, I have my own challenges and weaknesses.  I don't think anyone should be attacked or harmed because they are different, but this is much more of an issue than just being different and wanting to be equal.

I honestly wouldn't care if the gay community came up with their own ceremony...their own word for their union.  That way, my convictions and my beliefs wouldn't be threatened.

And that is how it affects me.