Lesson for November 1, 2015

Lesson for November 1, 2015 Today the lesson was given by one of the presidency, Lana Horrocks, about family history. Kristine Hansen said she took her own challenge to find the Spirit and not think uncharitable thoughts. She said she went visiting teaching to Lisa Anderson who said her friend thinks of a story to explain why people might act poorly. Kristine said she tried it this week and she didn’t feel the Holy Ghost leave all week, so she must have been successful. Lisa Merrill said she tried to be more fervent in her prayers. Sister Horrocks said she wants to give her lesson on the two talks one “Yielding our Hearts to God” and “What Lack I Yet.” She prayed to know what the sisters need. She said this lesson is good for a visiting teaching lesson. How do we make the Lord’s ways our ways? By learning of Him, praying for understanding, trusting in Him, seeking to do His will, and waiting for answers. If we really trust in God, we won’t have doubts about his teachings. The Holy Ghost can magnify the warmth in our hearts. Patience in waiting for answers demonstrates trust as does fasting for an answer. Sometimes, in our prayers, we need to be patient until we ask the right question, minutes, weeks, or even years. Three things to remember are faith in the plan of salvation, the resurrection, and eternal life. A meek heart accepts the trial and the waiting for that time of healing and wholeness to come. When we open our hearts to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel His will. The heart of the Sabbath is the sacrament. It is important to ask in those quiet times what else we need to do and pray for forgiveness of sins. It is instructive to ask if there is more. You can take notes on the impressions you receive, not necessarily the words of the speakers. Elder Bednar said we often don’t realize that the Atonement is for saints, too, so we can become better. The healing of our hearts comes when we submit to and worship God. Lana said the Lord told her that He would give her more revelation if she would read her scriptures more often. We need to approach the search for the Spirit with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. When we have a healthy longing to improve, balanced with the spiritual assurance that through Jesus Christ we will make it (Robert Millet).A spiritual exercise while saying your prayers is to ask “What is keeping me from progressing?” Lana asked us to write a list of promptings we’ve had in the past, then asked for people to share. One is that we should go to bed earlier so we can be less grumpy or lazy the next day, or to slow down in our lives. Vira Bahr said that charity is having patience with someone who has let us down and accepting them for who they are. The Spirit can show us our strengths as well as our weaknesses, so we can also ask what we are doing right. We can all learn from each other. The challenge is to pray to have the Spirit with us. Be persistent, but not discouraged.