More Than a Mighty Change of Hair...Part Two!!!

I felt like this little truck! Crushed!

Day two, three, four, five etc. were so lame for me after that incredible experience that fateful November 14. What in the world could happen you might ask? The anguish and pain I described in that last post was spiritual. Then I got hit with something I didn't really expect. I honestly thought that all of my problems would be over from the "you'll be OK" feeling I got after I had prayed. But pow!!! God saw to it that I would be humbled even more. Physically, I was crushed! I got sicker than I have ever been in my life. I started to experience physical pain that nearly destroyed me. I had experienced my spiritual rock bottom, but then I was blessed (yes, it was a blessing) with the opportunity to hit a physical rock bottom as well.

To summarize how I felt at this point in my journey, let's go to the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. In  the opening chapter, Moses describes exactly how I felt in verses 9-10.

"... and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing..."

I felt that I had been left to myself spiritually through my bad choices, but that I now needed to be left to myself as much as I could take. I was left unto myself, and all my physical strength left me. I felt near to death, and it scared me. I continued to pray with greater fervor than ever before. I would spend hours on end praying and pleading in my heart. It was so difficult to get through, but eventually I started to feel better.

Not an actual pic of me...but you get it!

This event humbled me so much, that I was becoming increasingly aware of the Spirit of God wanting to communicate with me. I found in those humble days that I was completely incapable of saving myself. This led to one of the most incredible experiences of my life; a night when I was literally surrounded by angels.

Tune in soon to read the end of this series. I promise, it's good. In the meantime, what blessings do we receive from humility?

Sooner or Later, God'll Cut You Down!

"You can run on for a long time, run on for a long time, run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down"~ Johnny Cash

It's a lesson that we all need to learn. Hopefully you can learn this one by watching others. But for me, the Lord has repeatedly retaught me this throughout my life (I hope it sinks in this time!). But what is the lesson?

Running on for a long time? Well, to me it means trying to go about life and do things my way, instead of the Lords way. How easy it is to be prideful and attempt to follow ones own path without yielding to the promptings of God. I look back on my life however, and see that the Lord will let me go off on whatever I want to, because He respects my agency. After a time (sooner or later) He cuts me down, or I go through a very humbling experience or trial. The beauty of it is that after the dust begins to settle, I come to see that God's cutting me down has allowed me to see things as they really are (to a point), which allows me to learn and grow. His cutting me down is in reality Him helping me come to a point of humility where I have the choice to let go of pride. If I do let go, then great blessings begin to flow into my life.


It may be difficult in the humbling situation because of the uncertainty of the future. But God has a pretty good track record as far as I'm concerned. A few examples? I have a big one for you! I ran on for a really long time, ten years in fact. Then, God cut me down (my poor choices are what lead to it, but God nudged enough to awake my soul) and I was as low as low can get. As a result, I came back to church and every aspect of my life has improved for the better. It was really difficult and it took quite a bit of time to get back on the right path. The blessings didn't come to me alone though. I was able to help my sister and parents back to activity as well. Then, I was able to help a friend of mine back to the church, and now he's on a mission sharing the good news as well! My life will forever be changed for the better because God loved me enough to cut me down.

The better way to go however, is to find humility before humility finds us. The Book of Mormon teaches this very plainly in Alma 32:16 "...blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God...without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know..." We can humble ourselves, and in turn save ourselves from the pain that can come from compelled humility.

Thank you kindly, Mr. Cash, for reminding me of the blessings that can flow from God cutting us down. I am trying to be a little more humble each day by looking to the example of our Savior.