I know it´s been a week or two pero está bien no se preocupe. I´ve had a lot of interesting experiences the past two weeks and well, I´m pretty excited to keep going. I´ve gone through a lot of struggles recently with a number of different things. As most of you who know me well probably know, I´m a bit of a perfectionist. Sometimes I think I have a little OCD, so a lot of times I´ve ended up getting pretty discouraged at my weaknesses. As I´m sure everyone has. But it´s been something throughout my life that´s bothered me, I have such a strong desire to always be better that when I fail I just feel worse and worse. And each failure or mistake is added to a pile that just gets bigger and bigger and never gets smaller. So everytime I get discouraged it would be worse because it would be the latest failure or mistake added to the memory of a lot of unresolved previous mistakes or failures.
Now, to use the words of Elder Gary E. Stevenson in his talk titled "Your Four Minutes" (Go read it, it´s amazing)
If you have ever felt like that, stop thinking that, and never think it again.
What I have come to realize is that the Devil works a lot more subtly in our lives than we realize. As recently explained Elder Dale G Renlund:
"For those who believe in Jesus Christ, repent, are baptized, and endure to the end—a process that leads to reconciliation11—the Savior forgives, heals, and advocates. He is our helper, consoler, and intercessor—attesting to and vouching for our reconciliation with God.12
In stark contrast, Lucifer is an accuser or prosecutor. John the Revelator described Lucifer’s ultimate defeat: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.” Why? Because “the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
Lucifer is this accuser. He spoke against us in the premortal existence, and he continues to denounce us in this life. He seeks to drag us down. He wants us to experience endless woe. He is the one who tells us we are not adequate, the one who tells us we are not good enough, the one who tells us there is no recovery from a mistake. He is the ultimate bully, the one who kicks us when we are down.
If Lucifer were teaching a child to walk and the child stumbled, he would scream at the child, punish him, and tell him to quit trying. Lucifer’s ways bring discouragement and despair—eventually and always. This father of lies is the ultimate purveyor of falsehood and cunningly works to deceive and distract us, “for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”
If Christ were teaching a child to walk and the child stumbled, He would help the child get up and encourage the next steps. Christ is the helper and consoler. His ways bring joy and hope—eventually and always."
Basically, we´re not perfect. Metaphorically speaking we are currently learning to walk through life. At any point that this type of judgement/Accusation is made it is not Christ speaking. It is always the Devil, and unfortunately, usually disguised as our own thoughts, as often is with the Devil. "The art of persuasion is making others believe it was their idea."
We have this time to try. To fall over. And to get up and try again. Repentance is the process that lifts us up and moves us foward. So Repent.
Thanks for all your love and support, I´ll see you next week!
-Elder Blaylock
(CATS! BABY ONES! One of them is named batman)
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