Thursday, January 8, 2009

He Lifts Us Up!


Funny, how we falter at the smallest things...Thank goodness for repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
As I have written before, I am also a NASCAR writer. I found that one of my biggest faults is putting more time into NASCAR than I do The Gospel. I think more about NASCAR than I do Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, at times. The main purpose of starting this blog, was to commit to Heavenly Father to always put Him first in my life. No excuses. Once again...I have not kept that promise, as shown by the lack of posting here.

We are all counselled to pray, read our scriptures daily and put the Lord first. How many times have I heard, and found true in my own life, that when I read my scriptures every day, my day runs smooth and I feel and see the Lord working in my life. When I don't drop to my knees the first thing every day...well, you know what happens. I am frazzled, overwhelmed and cannot focus. I run around trying to accomplish things, all the while accomplishing nothing...except my NASCAR writing. I certainly find time for that now don't I? 

It's not like I am not praying on those days, and I know He hears and listens to me. It's the action of kneeling and focusing completely on Him that makes the difference. I will think, as I am rushing to get things done, "Oh! I forgot to kneel!" and then I will tell Heavenly Father I am sorry and think in my head immediately after, I will do that in a minute. By that time I am rushing around, probably running late for something, or late on a deadline. So the Lord gets procrastinated. My special time with Him gets procrastinated. Who loses out there? I do. He does. He wants to spend time with me. He loves me. Am I reciprocating that love back? Do I treat Heavenly Father like a neglected child at times? Yes... I do.

Same goes with scripture time. When I don't read my scriptures, again...the day does not go as smoothly. Do you know how much reading I have to do to keep up with my NASCAR and Racing World? A lot. Hours are spent on the Internet, reading, noting, Twitting...I receive hundreds of emails a day that I have to sort through. Can I not put at least a chapter or two of the Scriptures in there first? Yes, I can. Do I? Not always.

I have had a lot of changes in my life the past 6 months. I used to have a set and solid routine of prayer and scripture time every morning...first thing. My life was blessed for that. I felt it. I lived it. With changes have came changes in my routine. I am recommitting to Heavenly Father, that I will pray first, read my scriptures first and write here first...before NASCAR. I may have to get up a little earlier to do it, but He is certainly worth it. 
I sent out emails to some of my ward members about this blog. Explained to my Home Teacher's my reasoning and commitment, so that I also have others to hold me accountable and give me a nudge when I need it. 

I have received an incredible job offer, in the NASCAR world, which involves touring, radio, TV and and raising funds for the second part of the job, a Non-Profit  which will help support the old drivers from the 40" 50's 60's and 70's who are now getting up there in age. They had no 401k's. The didn't make huge amounts of money like the driver's of today do. They might have won $5000.00 in a race, but it cost them fifteen thousand to get to the race with a running car. They didn't have the safety features we have now. There were a lot more deaths' and serious injuries. These men and their families are now well up in age. Many do not even have much of a Social Security pension, as it didn't exist then, or they were not required to pay into it as we are now. They, being up in age need help, and part of this job will be raising money for those Legend's of NASCAR. I need a clear head, heart and mind to make this decision as to whether I take it or not. It would require me being across the country. I did not seek this job out. It was an out of the blue offer. It is a huge decision and I want to be sure I am making the correct one as I sort this out. Right now, my mind goes from being clear and at total peace about it, to befuddled.

I ran across this, in an email this morning:

"I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair…He set my feet on solid ground…He has given me a new song to sing…" (Psalm 40:1-3, NLT).

That scripture is what the Lord has done in my life the past year and continues to do every day. I just need to remember... He lifted me and gave me a new song. I am so grateful. I need to show my gratitude in a deeper way to Him. He took me out of a pit that felt like a pit of Hell. 

It was a pit of Hell. He delivered me from an abusive relationship that was not going to
change.
He knew it.

Did you ever wonder why The Book of Mormon has the word "Remember" in it so many times?


I just need to remember...to remember!
Why do we forget so easily?

I want you all to know that I have a Testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that He loves us beyond comprehension. I know He inspires our leaders with incredible precision at times. He inspires each of us. My prayer for all of us is that we hear and act on that inspiration and nudge from The Comforter. May we truly have an understanding of The Atonement of Jesus Christ. 
I say and ask this in the name of Jesus Christ...Amen

Have you ever felt like you were in a pit of despair? Just like Heavenly Father lifted David out, He is going to lift you out. Where you are right now is not where you’re going to stay. There are brighter days up ahead for you filled with favor, promotion, and increase. As you walk uprightly before Him, no good thing will He withhold from you. 

Notice that He gives us a new song. We have to do our part to sing that song. That means you don’t go around talking about your problems, how bad things are, or how you’re never going to make it. No, you have a song of victory! If somebody asks you how you’re doing, your attitude should be, "I’m too blessed to be stressed! I’m moving forward in strength and power." Remember, praise precedes the victory, and the scriptures tells us that God is enthroned on our praises. As you magnify and lift Him up, He will lift you up out of your despair. He’ll set your feet on solid ground, and you’ll move forward in joy and victory in every area of your life. 

I am so grateful for His love and that he has lifted me up in victory. Paul compared living The Gospel to a race...to press forward. Our LDS pioneers who went through so much for The Lord, to live the Gospel of Jesus Chris. Pressed on...Pressed on....

Let's all press on today.

May you all so Blessed Be...








3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sue,
Just wanted to thank you for sending this to me. I don't usually spend too much time on email, but I am glad you have shared your thoughts and feelings. It has inspired me to do better at things I sometimes neglect. Every day is a new day.
Thanks!!
LOVE,
Amy

susanne pappan said...

Everyday is a new day. Thank you for reading my blog Amy...It will keep me on my toes too!

Anonymous said...

this is weird, I wanted to leave an answer to this post but it seems that there was like an uploading error.
Anyway I was saying that I really love this post.
I love "a new song to sing" and "too blessed to be stressed". This echoes in me really deep and I think I am going to have the last one on my wall above my desk.