Enduring in Christ

What motivates humans to change?
Where do they get the power to change?

Some motivational speakers say that you, yourself, have the power within you, and that is all you need to believe in, focus on and repeat to yourself. And that seems to work for some people.

Then there are other people who can’t seem to make that belief work for them, no matter how hard they try. These people are totally dependent on being empowered and very literally rescued, not just psyched up or motivated.

While the first group of people insist on finding the self-knowledge that will make them self-sufficient and are thrilled with the latest self-improvement speaker or book, the second group of people have come to the end of them selves and know that without God they are “toast.”

I’m one of those people.

Step 1/Day 3 — 2 Nephi 31:19, p. 13 in He Did Deliver Me from Bondage.

This 3rd exercise reminds me of the difference between own wavering self-esteem when compared to Christ’s witness of my worth to Him. I find myself invited once again to remember that I have not come thus far save it were by the “words of Christ . . . relying wholly upon Him who is mighty to save.”

All those years leading up to the writing of He Did Deliver Me, all those crises and losses in the death of my oldest daughter and the finding out about my first husband’s incestuous sexual addiction and his subsequent imprisonment. And in all the years since then–nine as a single parent–and  most recently, living “after the manner of happiness” in my current marriage for the last  20 years.

And this is what the Lord has led me to review and reawaken to in today’s capturing:

What defines a mighty change, Colleen?

It is a change you can’t maintain on your own.

A mighty change is not just a change of mind, of thought, or even of behavior.

A mighty change is a change of belief, a change of heart (the core of us where our beliefs are held.)

You can and will face more than one mighty change in your life, as you continue on your journey of gaining greater wisdom and oneness with God.

When you’re ready for a mighty change, you must seek Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can administrator a Mighty Change.

I cannot believe how the one source of motivational, inspiring literature in the world that always recharges my hope and faith are the scriptures and especially the verses of the Book of Mormon that testify of Christ as a merciful, close and loving Savior.

Again I am endowed with the greatest form of sanity possible: I am reminded that the I can rely wholly upon the words and the merits of Christ, and in conscious contact with this Truth I am restored to the ability to endure with grace — not mine, but His grace. His ability to endure to the end.

Prayerful Thought: Father, I thank Thee for the promise of Thy Son, Jesus, to do for me what no human power can do–give me peace that passes understanding, peace that is found only in those books that testify of Him with the power and authority spoken only in His Name. I will return as often as needed to relying on Him to get me through these last years of my life.