Obtaining Help from the Lord

My mother printed this talk out from me a little while ago and yes, it is from Elder Scott again. :) I guess he just has a lot to say on the subject of listening to the Lord in order to gain Joy.

"Help from the Lord generally comes in increments. He can immediately cure serious illnesses or disabilities or even allow the dead to be raised. But the general pattern is that improvement comes in sequential steps. That plan gives us an opportunity to discover what the Lord expects us to lean. It requires our patience to recognize His timetable. It provides growth from our efforts and trust in Him and the opportunity to express gratitude for the help given.

Often we have difficulty mastering lessons the Lord want us to learn when things are going too well in our lives. When there is suffering or pain, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. Some of them ought to be: What does the Lord want me to learn from this experience? What do I need to do? m What do I need to change? Whom do I need to serve? Or what characteristic must I improve? Pondering and prayer will help us understand what we are to lean from the challenges we are asked to overcome."

IT TAKES FAITH AND EFFORT

During my battle with depression I came to the conclusion that the only help I could get to truly overcome this was from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I started getting priesthood blessings from my husband very often and I wrote each blessing down after it was given. After the first blessing I thought my depression would end and I would somehow instantly be happy... not the case.

It took me a few more years to learn how to be happy again. I do believe that had I been better at applying the things I learned right off, that it would have been a quicker process. However, I can be very stubborn so it took me longer than needed. Once I figured out that I need to DO what I learned it has become a great blessing in my life because I now realize the importance of instant application of inspiration.

As I have re-read those blessings I can now see how things have fallen into place and the Lord kept his promises as I kept mine.

I have found so much peace, happiness and joy in hearing inspiration and obeying immediately. I am not always good at this but I am trying harder all of the time. Elder Faust said, "Lehi, teaching his son Jacob, declared: "Men are, that they might have joy..." To achieve this objective, we much "give ear to the living God..." I wish to testify as a living witness that joy does come through listening to the Spirit, for I have experienced it." (Faust, "Voice of the Spirit,"7)

I know that the Lord will help anyone who will come to him with a humble, sincere heart. I do know that we MUST act on what the Lord tells us to do. He won't just change us, we must do our part and then he CAN CHANGE us! This is such an amazing thing! So simple yet it takes a lot of effort.

Please feel free to leave comments. I would love to be there for anyone who needs help with this illness. Have faith in the Lord that he will guide you in the right direction and have faith in yourself that you can do what is needed to overcome depression and live a life full of joy. We are each capable of living the great "Plan of Happiness" but we must put forth the effort, faith, desire and diligence to do so.