Lesson for July 16, 2017

Today our lesson was given by Maggie Kopp about Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley chapter 13 on "Peace and Contentment through Temporal Self-Reliance." Maggie asked us to write on temporal self-reliance--free association--what do we think about it. We talked about the things we wrote down. She asked us to talk about emotional and spiritual self-reliance. Lots of things are thrown at us by life. Being able to handle stress is important Having a good self-image and having resources that can help us. Having a support group. Spiritual self-reliance is being able to pray and get inspiration for themselves is important. We have to walk that fine line between being self-reliant and being willing to accept help. If we have our own self-reliance, we can help others. Having a relationship with the Lord and understanding the language of the Holy Ghost is something to develop that can be a resource. We'll be better equipped to handle adversity and life in general. When we think of when we are trying to seek answers or get guidance, if we have an understanding of what our own goals and strengths are, we can handle our problems better. Things that may be viewed as negative about can be obstacles. Sometimes when we feel judgmental if we think others ought to be more self-reliant. Sometimes were afraid of being taken advantage of. It's a good thing to help others, so we feel reluctant. Work can be a blessing or a curse. The world teaches us self-reliance differently by saying we should be proud of what we can do ourselves. We know we can't do anything without Christ. We're so dependent on Him for everything. Planning ahead is a service to your family, especially with wills and property allocation and everything else. Having things planned also means that we can serve others. Getting and education and knowing how to work can help us weather storms. People taking care of other people is paramount. You can help people become self-sufficient through serving them and teaching them. Being able to manage our responsibilities is helpful to us as well. The church has a new web site on self-reliance that has aids to building your own business to learning certain skills at https://www.lds.org/topics/per-self-reliance/live. Having a testimony of the gospel and reading the scriptures can help with emotional and temporal self-reliance as well. Having peace in our lives is related to having good personal resources and that is related to our relationship with God. Our self-reliance is related to our choice to be self-reliant. Knowledge we can gain, talents we have, Church resources, family resources, are all important to face life's challenges and receive the answers we need.