40 Day Walk with Christ - Day 10, 11, 12

Ok so I failed my weekend test miserably.  Thursday was Randy's birthday so I asked my parents to babysit Friday night so I could take him to Harry Potter 7, part 1, which came out on Friday.  I get up at 4:30 am and our movie was out 10:20 pm since Randy doesn't get home from work until after 9pm and we wanted enough time to get there early so we wouldn't have to sit on the front row.  So obviously I knew I would need a nap.  Usually I put the boys down for their nap, read my scriptures in peace and then join them for a shorter nap on my end.  But since I knew I need a nice long nap and that I'd be taking the kids to my parents and would have time to read in peace in the evening, I laid down when they did.  We got up, ate some food and went to Mapleton.  On my home I stopped at a boutique in PG and shopped in peace (which I never get to do) for some girly hair stuff since I'm cutting it all of tomorrow (since it's falling out in even greater abundance then when I first posted about it).  Then when I got home I was so excited I didn't have the boys and get some scrapbooking that I did that until Randy got home and totally forgot about reading my scriptures.  Harry Potter was fantastic by the way.  I very very rarely say that about movies made from books I loved but this.  Usually I hate them but they did a great job on this one.  Anyway, I got up Saturday morning and went right back to scrapbooking until Randy got up, really enjoying my time with kids.  Then we picked up the kids, ran some errands, did some grocery shopping, got all the Christmas stuff out to find the outside lights (I know it's before Thanksgiving but it's supposed to be snowing all week and we didn't turn them on), put up the Christmas lights outside, had some dinner, hung out as a family and went to bed.  Totally spaced the reading.  So today I had to read three days worth which wasn't as pleasant as I would like my scripture reading to be.  So that's why you'll see Day 10, 11, and 12 all in today's post.  And my thoughts probably won't be so fabulous (and quite short) because it was just so long and I was so tired and missing my nap time with the rest of the fam.  But that's what I get.

Read Alma 1-5
Mark & Ponder Mosiah 4:30
Scripture of the day: "I am the way the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 13:6)
Thought for the day: "If we desire to learn the ideal life to lead among our fellow men, we can find a perfect example in the life of Jesus. Whatsoever our noble desire, our lofty aspirations, our ideals in any phase of life, we can look to Christ and find perfection. So, in seeking a standard for moral manhood, we need only to go to the Man of Nazareth and in Him find embodied all virtues that go to make the perfect man." (Pres David O. Mckay)

 There were a few things that stuck out in today's reading but I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words on a few of them so I'm going to stick with just one.  In Alma 5:28 it says "Are you stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meed God."  Obviously I would like to be prepared to meet God at any time because I could go at any time.  You never expect to die in a car accident but it could happen every single time you get in a car.  I'm really trying to obey the commandments and do what the Lord as asked me to do and I'm trying to become a better person each day but am I stripped of pride?  Heck no.  I got in an argument with Randy earlier today that needn't have been an argument at all of I was actually stripped of pride.  Do I walk around thinking I'm better than everyone?  No.  But I certainly have a lot of pride which is evident when I have a hard time humbling myself and saying sorry when I still think I'm right.  So apparently, I'm not prepared to meet God.  I hope I have enough time on earth to correct that before it's my time to meet God.

Read Alma 6-10
Mark & Ponder Alma 4:10
Scripture of the day: "...I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D & C 38:27)
Thought for the day: "Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin and to take them by the hand, and watch over them tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind." (Prophet Joseph Smith)

Alma 7: 11-12 "And He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith He will take upon Him the pains and the sicknesses of His people. And He will take upon Him death, that He may loose the bands of death which bind His people; and He will take upon Him their infirmities, that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that He may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities."

I am so thankful that my Savior Jesus Christ suffered for my sins because I commit a lot of them and life would be so hopeless without the Atonement.  But I'm also so thankful for all the other parts of the Atonement: he suffered my temptations, my sicknesses, my hunger, my thirst, my fatigue, my sorrow, my heartache, every pain and every affliction I will ever experience.  He did this so He will have perfect compassion and know exactly how to help me through it.  What an amazing gift.  There is always someone who knows EXACTLY how I feel because He felt it.  He knows how it feels to be tempted with my exact temptation because he felt it.  Therefore He knows how to help me say no and follow His path.  There really aren't words for how magnificent the Atonement is or for how incredibly grateful I am for it.

Read Alma 11-14
Mark & Ponder Alma 5:14
Scripture of the day: "...that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof int he day of judgment. For by the words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)
Thought for the day: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Alma 13:28-29
"Watch and pray continually that...

1. ye may not be temped above that which ye can bear
2. and thus be led by the Holy Spirit,
3. becoming humble
4. meek
5. submissive
6. patient
7. full of love
8. and all long-suffering
9. having faith on the Lord
10. having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life
11. having the Love of God always in your hearts
12. that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into His rest"

If all I have to do is watch and pray continually and those 12 things will follow accordingly, I'd say that's a good thing to make sure I'm doing. (This is obviously the end of my marathon of reading and my brain had pretty much turned off by now so sorry, that's all I've got for ya)