Time Out for Women - Choose to Become [review part 8]

A recap of the messages I heard and felt.




...continued from review part 7

After all WE can do
Because we are reading this phrase differently now, after all we can do already has a different meaning for me.  Who is the ‘we’?  You know of the famous Footprints poem, portraying the Saviour walking besides us throughout our lives and then picking us up during our tough times.  Perhaps the Saviour has carried you through the whole journey.  Either way, it’s a ‘we’.

You know what I get from that?  Jesus Christ isn’t waiting for you to get your act together.  He’s right there already, either next to you or carrying you.  We should stop feeling inadequate and unworthy for such companionship.  We don’t need to be perfect to enter the temple, we don’t need to be perfect to have Christ carry us, and we certainly don’t need to be perfect to be given God’s grace.

So stop worrying about your faults and flaws.  Your offering may be somewhat important, but you as the offerer is way more important. 

Time Out for Women - Choose to Become [review part 7]

A recap of the messages I heard and felt.



...continued from review part 6

After all we CAN do
Be honest now – what can we do on our own?  Moses wasn’t far off when he exclaimed in Moses 1:10 “I know that man is nothing”.  Our dependence upon the Saviour becomes more apparent to me as time goes on.  I know that was what Moses learnt after God withdrew His presence following their friendly chat in Moses 1.  Keep in mind, ‘nothing’ here means ‘powerless’, not ‘worthless’.  You can still do “all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.

After all we can DO
I like doing things.  I like ticking things off a list as I do them.  Doings help us to become more like Him in heaven, and more like the kind of people who will want to stay in heaven.  The to-do list helps us – or is a means - to BE.  And really, isn’t the ‘doing’ here all about using the enabling power of grace that we have been given?

Did you know that our well-loved children’s song I Am A Child of God was originally written as “teach me all that I must know”?  I did.  I can’t remember where I picked that up, but it was at the request of President Spencer W. Kimball that the word ‘know’ was changed to ‘do’.  Knowledge is of better use to us when we act upon it. 

The miracle of the atonement is that we can be changed; and that we WANT to be changed.  And by changed, I don’t mean just cleansed, but transformed so that we want to be with Him.  Otherwise we might be begging to leave His presence.

What we should be doing is ensuring we get the best resurrected body, to be and feel comfortable in heaven. God requires faith and repentance to make us want to change.  Same with our higher standard of living.  Our covenants, paying tithing and for missions – all these things are required for our change.  That is the purpose of these things.  We are practicing for heaven.

... more to come ...   and thankyou for comments thus far!  It helps to know you are reading and thinking ...

Time Out for Women - Choose to Become [review part 6]

A recap of the messages I heard and felt.



...continued from review part 5

After ALL we can do
‘All’ is a lot.  It is a scary word in this context - especially for those like me who like to be the compulsive overachievers.  I start to think of the ten commandments, other commandments, visiting teaching commitments, family history, attending church and meetings, and callings, and faith repentance baptism holy ghost scripture study personal prayer family prayer help me please this list may not end.  The words “just do your best” may start to feel like a discouraging challenge.  Come on woman, you’ve been told what you need to be doing; you clearly must be able to find the time.  You can do better.  Your current all isn’t enough.

But Brad said something way better: Even if your offering is not acceptable (by our definition), God accepts it.  He accepts it because God is more concerned with the offerer than the offering.  He is more pleased with the efforts we do make, no matter how faltering.  He is more interested in me offering something, anything, than what I offer and how much I offer.  Remember the parable of the widow’s mite?  In Mark chapter 12, we read that two mites was more in value that the offerings of the Pharisees, simply because it was her all. “…this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury…[she] did cast in al that she had, even all her living.”  So you know what?  Your best IS your all.

Wilcox then spoke about mediocrity.  The word ‘mediocrity’ coming from a Latin word that literally means ‘halfway up the mountain’.  Satan would have you believe that your effort is incomplete, that you are failing and can’t give it your all.  But no – instead you are halfway up the mountain, you’re getting up there, and you sure ain’t refusing to try.  So as long as mediocrity isn’t our objective, then we can recognise that it is a stage we must go through on our way up.

From now on, I’m not going to try and impress God and Christ with my sacrifices, but rather allow their sacrifices be more deeply impressed in me.

...more to come

Time Out for Women - Choose to Become [review part 5]

A recap of the messages I heard and felt.



How do you study the scriptures?  Not read – study.  How do you break down meaning and gain inspiration and insight?  Have you ever taken a verse or two, and analysed the words every possible way?

The next speaker at Sydney’s Time Out for Women conference was Brad Wilcox.  Funny guy.  Young guy too, for all he has done.  His entire address was pulling one particular scripture apart to successfully draw out the most meaning and application to us.

Turn to 2 Nephi 25:23, and read it with me:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
According to Brad Wilcox, this may be the most quoted scripture in the Church and the most misunderstood.  He took us through the phrase ‘after all we can do’, looking at each word so that we may understand it more fully.  It was a good point – parts of the scriptures can sometimes be a source of discouragement if we do not understand them.  And so he took us through the phrase (above in bold), emphasising each word in turn:

AFTER all we can do
Most read the word ‘after’ to mean ‘afterward’ or ‘subsequently’ – meaning it is time related.  That is, once we ourselves have done all we can do to be saved, the Lord will step in and save us; the finishing touch to all we have accomplished.  We try our best to do everything we can, and then He will come to our rescue.  But does that sound right?  Doesn’t that imply that we and our efforts are alone until we absolutely need Him to make up the difference?  Wait a minute … neither Paul or Alma the Younger did much good to deserve their amazing turn-around experiences.  And yet they received obvious blessings.

Brad thinks the word ‘after’ means ‘regardless’, ‘in spite of’.  So the grace of God will save us in spite of what we try to do and cannot.  Maybe even regardless of all we can do.  Nephi was telling us more about the mission of the Messiah than anything, and that no matter how much we do, it simply wont be enough to guarantee our salvation without the intervention of Christ.

So, we are still saved by grace after all is said and done, but this grace is not something that suddenly switches on like an emergency generator after we have exhausted all of our efforts.  It is our constant energy source, not the last-mile booster.

Brad reminded me of this: in the sacrament prayer we hear every Sunday, we renew a promise to remember Him always.  How can we keep this promise when we try and do all that we can without Him, thinking He’ll make up the difference at the end?  The gift of the Saviour’s grace surely isn’t given to us at the end, but for and during the journey as we are trying.  Isn’t that more of a comfort?

The truth is, we probably need that grace, that extra boost and help, during our journey, not at the end.  And we need to realise that this gift is available to all as we learn, make mistakes, and try.  If perfection were the requirement, grace would be awarded to no one.

...more to come