Hopefully the last talk I have to give in a LOOOOOOONG time

I was asked to speak on yielding our hearts to God. 

I called my mom to ask what she thought yielding meant, she said well in Alabama it means hurry up before the light turns RED!

The good news is the talk asked me to use was from Sister Neill Marriot.  She spoke on Yielding our Hearts to God, in October 2015 general conference.  

“How do we, a modern, busy, competitive people, become yielded and still? How do we make the Lord’s ways our ways? I believe we begin by learning of Him and praying for understanding. As our trust in Him grows, we open our hearts, seek to do His will, and wait for answers that will help us understand”

I was super intimidated by this talk because yielding our hearts to God is essential to us staying on the Lord’s path.

but my favorite part of her talk she says.

“I have struggled to banish the mortal desire to have things my way, eventually realizing that my way is oh so lacking, limited, and inferior to the way of Jesus Christ. “His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.”8 Can we love Jesus Christ and His way more than we love ourselves and our own agenda?

Ahhh that is the question. 

Mosiah 3: 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

So what experiences have I had with yeilding?. Well here is what I have learned.

Not all yielding is created equal. In my life I have had lots of practice times so I could build my yielding muscles for when my heart really needed it.  But those practice times in the moment seemed HUGE.  Only looking back do they seem smaller and preparatory.

The ones Im sharing with you aren’t too personal to say in a microphone at church. 

1 – Moving to Los Angeles.  I am from Alabama, Jason is from Washington, we met at BYU. He was studying film, but as he was getting closer to graduation,  I did not want to move to LA. 

Both are families were discouraging it and I heard nothing good about it but Jason didn’t waiver. 

He finally said to me.

“I have prayed about it, You need to”

And I did.  And had a change of heart. 

2- I just talked about this in relief society but it effected me so must be said.  Rheumatoid arthritis.  I was not happy at 24 when I was diagnosed.  I resented it and just wanted it to go away forever.  I had many blessings and hope it would be removed. I hated shots.  But over the years my heart has been softened to it and I realize there are lots worse things to have and now it feels like my friend and companion in life.  Its so weird.  How can your disease feel like your buddy? But I seriously think of it like that now.

3 – Having my last baby.  I was not having an easy time with four kids but then felt like we should have one more.  But I fought those feelings because how could I handle another when I was barely surviving with 4? Took a real step of faith to yield my heart to God and I’m so glad I let go because that last child has been such a blessing to me and comfort.  None of us could imagine her not being in our family.

Other experiences I have had with yielding are…

Leaving my calling I loved in primary to serve in relief society.  Have learned to love relief society too.

Working on family history, something that used to terrify me. Like seriously cause me to panic and now is a sweet treasure.  I couldn’t even get on familysearch.org without wanting to cry but prayed a lot and got over it.  Took family names to the relief society temple trip on Friday and taking your own family names makes going to the temple so much more special. 

All of these things I’m so grateful that I finally yielded my heart to God.  It built my trust in God that He knows whats best for my life and also I think that it built HIS TRUST in me that I will do what HE asks of me.

Sister Marriot is a convert to the church in her twenties and after embracing the truths of the gospel, her husband and children chose the family motto “It will all work out ” 

“Yet how can we say those words to one another when deep toubles come and answers aren’t readily available?”

Sister Marriot tells of when her delightful 21 year old daughter named Georgia was hospitalized in critical condition after a bike accident.  She flew from her mission in Brazil to Indianapolis to be with her daugher, clinging to their family motto.  However, Georgia died a few hours before Sister Marriots plane landed. 

She says, “With grief and shock running through our family like a current, how could we look at one another and still say, “It will all work out”?

The Marriot familys feelings were raw and they struggled, but they knew that no one ever really dies. “Faith in our Redeemer and His Resurrection, faith in His priesthood power, and faith in eternal sealings let us state our motto with conviction.”

Their family motto didn’t say it will all work out NOW.  And that all things ARE good, but for the meek and faithful things—both positive and negative---work TOGETHER for good, and the timing is the Lords. 

Sister Marriot talks about during the sacrament she asks the question.., “Father, is there more?” When we are yielded and still, our minds can be directed to something more we may need to change—something that is limiting our capacity to receive spiritual guidance or even healing and help.

“For example, perhaps I have a carefully guarded resentment toward someone. When I ask if there is more to confess, that “secret” comes clearly to my memory. In essence, the Holy Ghost is whispering, “You honestly asked if there was more, and here it is. Your resentment diminishes your progress and damages your ability to have healthy relationships. You can let this go.”

Sister Marriot says..“Oh, it is hard work—we may feel quite justified in our animosity—but yielding to the Lord’s way is the only way to lasting happiness.

Yielding our hearts to God…to me is letting go of the death grip we have on our own feelings.  So many different feelings that could be.  YIELDING IS Whenever we let go of the hold on something that is BLOCKING our capacity to receive spiritual guiding or even healing and help.

Alma 34:38-29

 38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

Maybe yours is not a death grip but more like you are sticking fingers your ears?  Or maybe the spirit has been trying to speak to us and we are keeping our fingers in our ears because we don’t want to hear it!  But when we YIELD we can say, I’m ready to listen.

“We will find that our self-willed hearts  begin to crack and break in gratitude. Then we reach for Him, yearning to yoke ourselves to the Only Begotten Son of God. In our brokenhearted reaching and yoking, we receive new hope and fresh guidance through the Holy Ghost.

Sometimes it feels like my soul is really really hard. No way I can overcome that or get past THAT. 

But I yeild my heart to God…

BECAUSE I WANT BEAUTIFUL THINGS TO GROW

What is the benefit of yielding?  What do we get from it?

Alma 32: 42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

THAT IS OUR REWARD.  The most precious and sweet fruit of our lives and the gospel. We do not want to settle for anything less.

We may not be able to control other people but we are in charge of ourselves.

In my patriarchal blessing it says “There is no hardship you cannot overcome if you will listen to the Holy Ghost and abide by its promptings.”

Sometimes I haven’t liked the promptings I have gotten.  Sometimes it’s the one thing I don’t’ want to do.  But I have yeilded, and have the strongest testimony of the changes that the Lord can make to our hearts. 

I’m sure I still have more yielding in my future. 

What is the value of yeilding our hearts? 

What benefit do we receive? 

Surely it could be the difference of saving our marriage, or going on a mission

or saying on the path of Christ,

or to fulfilling our true purpose in this life

 having peace. 

Sister Marriot says….“When we offer our broken heart to Jesus Christ, He accepts our offering. He takes us back. No matter what losses, wounds, and rejection we have suffered, His grace and healing are mightier than all. Truly yoked to the Savior, we can say with confidence, “It will all work out.”

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.