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.
1 comment:
Loved it!!! Thanks for sharing!! ❤️❤️
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