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I pray serval times per week, mostly when I feel gratitude. I have a hard time asking for things because it has been really hit and miss in the past. During my divorce I prayed many times a day and still it happened(the divorce). Looking back maybe that was really the answer I needed. It seem to me prayers can’t make other people do things they would or would not do and God will do as he pleases. I pray for forgiveness and strength but I don’t pray for outcomes because they seldom happen as I would want them. Wayfarer, I have been visiting this site for months and have very recently started posting and I have come to looking forward to your thoughts. I feel very troubled with some of the things about church right now but I trying to work through it and I can honestly say your thoughts have helped me and always keeps me thinking. I kind of compare your ideas and thoughts to a unexpected home teaching visit, you know the good kind where they don’t bring a lesson per se but when they leave you know you have felt something good and you know that you matter to some one. Thanks for sharing. I can really appreciate the down times as well as the better times. You seem like one of the good guys and now days we need all we can get.
I have written my talk “Welcome to the greatest buffet in town” many times in my mind. Here are a few of the high lights: It’s my opinion that it is the greatest buffet in town but I realize it not the only buffet in town.
You don’t have to eat everything that is offered but that there is usually something for every taste.
The crab salad sign would have changed from “Best crab salad” to “best crab salad* see managements for details” to “imitation crab salad”**sorry about the confusion.
If meat and potatoes are your thing we have plenty and we are known for our secret family recipe. Again I would have to use an * making it public that we borrowed many ideas from other recipes and have tried to keep it secret. but still our product is very good.
We reserve the right to refuse service.
Not all ethic foods on on the buffet at this time but we hope to include more at a later date.
Management does change from time to time so not all menu items will always be the same.
The price to eat is high and the service can be bad at times.
All that said, I still thinks its the best buffet in town and I usually look forward to partaking almost every week.
Curt, I appreciated you taking the time to share your lessons with us. I have looked forward to reading them each week. The kids are lucky to have you. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into each lesson. I have found that now that my testimony is not the same it takes me so much longer to do my HC talks every month. I can spent up to 10 hours or more on a talk because I have to get the wording just right to fit the needs of the congregation and still be true to myself. My last talk was about the BOM and I had a great deal of compliments afterwards but I never said I knew it was true but did say how it did make a big difference in my life and it really has. I have never been one who quotes other people when giving talks and now that I don’t accept every thing to be as we read in the scriptures and history, it does make it much more challenging to share an assigned lesson or topic while still feeling good about what we say.
Thanks for your thoughts. I have been wondering the same thing. Going through this faith crisis now I feel so lost and I also feel like I’m getting obsessed with this whole issue. The church has defined me for so long and has beed a big part of my identity and now it’s not making sense. I wasn’t looking for this and I have known about most of the big issues for quite some time. Some days I feel peace but most of the time I’m almost in a panic about it. I grateful I have a safe place I can talk about these things and I appreciate the ideas that everyone shares but it doesn’t make the issues go away. I was just wondering what other people did when their shelf collapsed and how they managed to put some issues back on the shelf just so they can take a break for awhile. Any ideas? I know of many guys that didn’t go on missions because of this and members who beneath themselves up for the same reasons. My mission president told us in public to repent but in private he told us to not concentrate on that but work hard in the end never asked about it in interview and had no problem giving a TR to his missionaries going home that still had issues with only that. Maybe he was a man a head of his time. Welcome sister, I can really relate to your story. Time, work, and love can all work in your favor and I think is’t ok to be mad, sad, and lonely at short periods of time, but don’t let them win. Set boundaries for yourself, your kids, the church and just remember you are not alone. When I set boundaries with my kids I felt much better about our relationship and in the long run they did too. I also learn to not give up on them even when they were complete asses. I some times told them we both needed a break but I have always left the door opened but they had to approach that door with respect. I told them I was ok with no relationship over an unhealthy one and they seemed to get that. Good luck Thanks again for all your kind words and thoughts. I’m feeling pretty safe here. I thought I would share a few more ideas with you. Reading my 1st post and your responses I hope that I didn’t come across as a bitter, mad person because I am not(only every now and then). I know that I am a good person and that bad things happen to good people. I know that I am not the only one who has had this kind of stuff happen to them. In fact I truly feel lucky, blessed, what ever you want to call it because I realize compared to many I have things much easier. I try to keep in mind all the good things and know that at any time things can and will change. When I got back from Iraq I knew something inside of me was broken. I didn’t look that way and I had all my limbs. I had a hard time even thinkings some thing was wrong and I didn’t want others to see me as damaged goods. I felt guilty taken up a doctor’s time when other guys were “really” hurt. I think the first step in healing is when recognize we need help and when other people acknowledge that our issues are real, at least to us.
That is the thing that has impressed me with this site. After going through or better said while going through my faith crisis I don’t want to talk to my leaders too much because I don’t want them to think I am broken or damaged goods. I don’t want to be someone project. When I accepted my calling on the HC I did tell them I would not do things I was uncomfortable with and they were good with that. I didn’t tell them everything because I’m still trying to figure all that out. Reading all of your comments and feelings for the last several months I feel I have come to know many of you and you have created a place where I feel safe and accepted, even though you don’t really know me. Thanks again, I hope I can add something to this board that will lift others as well.
Thanks for all your thoughts. It does feel welcoming here. To answer Ray’s question “Would you want them to see and experience what you’ve seen and experienced?”
The answer would be maybe. Other guys saw the same things I did and it did not bother them much at all and some didn’t care as long it wasn’t them. Even though it was really bad for me, it helped shape who I am and I think it has made me look at the world in a different way. I really don’t regret having most of my life experiences, both good and bad. It has helped me grow and maybe I can love and care more than I could before. I don’t want to wish anyone pain but pain can make us grow. Maybe I want the guys at church to figure out that one can’t always answer some of life’s toughest questions with simple answers. We cheer Captain Moroni(if he’s real) and the title of liberty but the guys he kill were some mother’s son and they were fighting for some king because he forced them to fight. I don’t know the answers but now I at least think about the questions.
Anyway, thanks for the feed back. I very new at all this. This is really the first time I have ever posted anything, so I’m still learning.
