My name is Nora. My husband and I live in Arizona and we are both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly shortened to Mormons. For more information about our beliefs, please click on either or both of the links below.

• Mormon.org  <-----here you can even live chat with one of our members/missionaries and ask questions. 
• LDS.org

I first created Lift Where You Stand as an assignment for a religion class I was taking back in 2013 on the New Testament. Every week I would write a short post about a scripture or topic we discussed in the class. You can find these posts under "Topics." 

Recently, I decided to utilize this blog for other thoughts and feelings I have while I try to more fully understand and live my religion. It is a place where I also gather my favorite quotes and uplifting music in the hopes that they can help uplift someone else. 

NAME ORIGIN:

The name of my blog is taken from a talk by one of our church leaders, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, given in 2008. In the talk, President Uchtdorf gave a story of several men trying to move a grand piano. Because of the great weight and size of the piano, they were unable to do so no matter how they arranged themselves. This was the case until someone told the men to stay together and Lift Where You Stand, and in doing so, they were able to be successful in moving the piano.

I like this concept. I think it can mean different things for different people, but for me it means that I should try to find happiness whatever my circumstance, to look for service all around me, and to remember that if I am grounded in the testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ, then I will have Power to overcome the obstacles of life. 

"God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Today was my last class of New Testament with Brother Griffin. Although it is relieving to finish the semester, I can't help but feel a little sad that this class is over. I was very touched by the principles found in the New Testament, and I am grateful I can continue to read and learn about it as I go throughout my life. As a final post, I felt that the following verses were appropriate:

"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4)

The time spoken of above has not yet occurred. None of us need reminding that we live in a world full of sorrow and pain. All of us have experienced it to one extent or another, and all of us will have future heartache and sadness. However, we all need to face or look in the direction we want to go. If we are constantly looking down at our past frustrations, disappointments, and mistakes our spirits start to lower, and our faith and hope decrease. This is what Satan is pushing us towards. He does not want us to forget our frailties. He wants us to wallow in our regret and pain until it consumes us. The Savior, on the other hand, pushes us towards our future. He wants us to look upward towards a future of peace, eternal love, and ultimate joy. It is through Christ that we can let go of our painful past, and move forward to a brighter future. If we face Christ we can look forward to a day where there will be no death, sorrow, crying, or pain. No matter how big or how painful a past may be, there is hope. Christ can lift us up, and make us more than we can be alone.

Battles vs. Wars

As we began studying the book of Revelations, my professor pointed out a theme present in this book. This theme is that Satan is always the one who brings the war. However, Satan may win a few battles, but God wins ALL wars. This is not only a message of peace, but also of empowerment. We get to choose who's side of the war we are on, but luckily this is made easier because we already know the outcome. Elder Holland said:

“The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!” 

Understanding that every battle is not won, allows us to be encouraged to stay close to God. We do not have to win every battle, we just have to win the war. Recently, a person I barely knew, was quite rude to me. Without being courteous enough talk to me face to face, she posted a very inconsiderate and harsh message on the door of my office. I had hardly spoken a word to her, however she treated me as ignorant, selfish, and incompetent.  I was completely astonished. My first reaction was to write an angry email, or knock on her door and give her a piece of my mind (I know this does not seem like me, but I can be quite feisty in my mind ;)). As I ran through scenarios in my mind of what I would say and how she would realize how immature and selfish SHE was being, I realized I did not want to bring on a war. Sure, I could reason that she had started it. But I knew that I had control over how much contention I was going to allow this little subject to bring. Once I realized the control I had over the situation, I surprisingly felt like I had won a battle. I don't think it was necessarily the battle against this person (she probably was unaware of how hurtful her blunt message was), but I believe it was against my own pride and the temptation to retaliate. I had overcome the urge to stir up contention, and I finally felt at peace about the entire situation.

From this experience I was reminded of 3 Nephi 11:29:  "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." Sometimes winning our own battles, comes from ignoring the temptation to fight.

Love One Another!

Recently, I've thought a lot about what it means to love. Often love is taken to two extremes. Either love is portrayed as something so deep, that it is not achievable. On the other hand, the word love is sometimes thrown around without any real meaning attached to it. During my class, and through my own study of 1st John, I felt that I came to understand love a little better, and particularly, the love of my Savior.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitation [or Redeemer] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." (1st John 4:10-11)

God loves us, even when we are unlovable. His love is unconditional, and is so great that he sent His only begotten son to suffer for our sins. Isn't it amazing, how easily we find reason to not love each other? We make excuses that in comparison have no weight. We are completely unprofitable servants to God. There is no way we can ever repay the debt we owe to our Savior. And yet, our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ love us continually. The primary song "I'm trying to be like Jesus" echos our need to learn to love others as they love us.

“I’m trying to be like Jesus;
I’m following in his ways.
I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say. . . .

Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”

We are all loved, and we should all love each other, not with our words only. But with our actions. In a world of fear and anxiety, love is a cure-all. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." (1 John 4:18). We may not be able to have perfect love NOW, but Christ does. And when we open our hearts to that love, he can cast away our fear and our doubts. Because of his love, he opens the door for us to love Him and each other!

Cast not away your confidence!

We are living in a world that highlights immediate rewards, and instantaneous gratification. Everyone wants to receive the blessings without the work and wait that is often required for the things most precious. Sometimes the waiting causing me to feel frustrated, anxious, and even afraid. Why am I not receiving this blessing? What have I done that would cause such a delay? Maybe it's my fault, I'm not worthy to achieve this blessing. What if I never receive it? These thoughts are natural, but they are also destructive. In Hebrews 10:35-36 we are told to "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." God has promised us blessings if we keep the commandments, and follow His will. However, along the way we need to learn lessons. One of the biggest lessons to learn in this life, is the lesson of patience. The most beautiful of blessings do not come instantaneously. They come with time and work. Although the wait may seem long, the blessings are always worth it. Don't lose hope. Don't allow yourself to become discouraged. Do not forget the love God has for you. He wants to bless you. But like a Father, he has a desire for us to become better through our experiences. We all have need of patience. So "cast not away therefore your confidence," keep the faith, love God, and have hope!

In Paul's final epistle, Second Timothy, he writes the familiar and comforting words: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim 1:7). I find the context of this verse gives me greater appreciation for this simple truth. Paul was preparing himself for death. He knew that he did not have much time left before he would be killed. If anyone has a right to be frightened, I think Paul, knowing he was about to die, would have that right. I do not believe this verse means that he was not frightened at all, but he recognized the source of that fear, and was therefore able to rid himself of it. Similarly, I think of the comparatively minute things that cause fear and anxiety in my life. I get afraid of not getting my internship, or failing an exam. These fear-inducing items, are not life-shattering. My life will go on, whether my fears come to past or not. However, knowing that fear does not come from God, I can see how the FEAR is what could harm me. Fearing the future, is no way to live. God doesn't want us to live in fear. He wants us to  be happy. That doesn't mean there will not be sorrow, but it does mean that God can give us "power, . . . love, . . . and a sound mind," in order to assist us in our sorrow, and to pull us out of our fears.

The past several weeks, I have thought a lot about how our choices, and actions are tools helping us reach salvation. Throughout my life I have read and heard the doctrine "We are saved by grace after all we can do." I've thought about this battle between grace and works, and finally this week, I hit a breakthrough. To me, it did not make sense that we would be saved without being good people, without having righteous works. Our actions have consequences, otherwise why would we be here? On the other hand, how could we possibly earn our way into heaven. That didn't make sense to me either. We are nothing compared to God. How could we ever live lives that are good enough to earn salvation? The answer is, we cannot. So where is the balance between grace and works? Which saves us? The answer: Grace does. The Grace of our Savior. He is the only reason we can be saved. However, in order for Him to save us, we need to come unto him. We come unto him through faith-filled works. That is how His Grace and our works are connected. And THAT makes complete sense to me. Christ suffered for us, so that we could be redeemed from our sins. He did what no one else could. It is only through Christ that we can be made clean, and "no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of God." However, Christ cannot do it alone. We have to allow Him to wash away our sins.

D&C 19:16-17

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

 17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

To be made clean, we must repent from our sins so that we are made worthy to enter the kingdom of God. But we cannot do that alone. Only through Christ and His Grace, can we be made whole.