Post # 41 – Spiritual Muscles

Dear Family and Friends

During my recovery from my total knee replacement surgeries I have learned some things about myself that I want to share with you. After the first surgery I found when I was able to do my physical therapy each day as I was supposed to do then my leg felt better and was not as stiff, but when I was not able to go ride the bike or do the exercises that I was supposed to be doing – my leg hurt more and was very stiff. My leg – just as with studying music or piano, or sports – you need to practice every day as you are supposed to if you really want to get any better. Remember that old adage -Practice makes perfect!?

I found life lessons -- that if you forget or are unable to practice you do not play as well – or in my case – I felt stiff and hurt more. I found out that the more I practiced my exercises and movements the less my knee hurt when I moved it and walked on it. You need to have discipline when you are trying to learn a new skill, you need to be diligent and give the time necessary to practice every day for the right number of minutes – or for me – the number of repetitions in order for you to be better and do better with that particular skill – for me it was being able to use my leg without too much pain being involved.

I discovered that being physically strong or good at something takes discipline and diligence and being consistent practice and trust in the Lord.  I rely a lot on Priesthood blessings which are blessings from someone who holds the Priesthood and is an authorized representative of the Lord. When they lay their hands upon my head to give me a blessing it is just as if the Lord Himself were placing His hands upon my head as well. It is always an amazing experience; the Spirit is so strong.

I also discovered spiritual gems --- that this discovery also works in another area of our lives: to be spiritually strong also takes discipline and diligence consistent practice and trust in the Lord to make your weaknesses into strengths as you do your very best to do what is necessary to build your spiritual muscles.  Yes, that is right, we do have spiritual muscles! Just as we have all those other muscles in our body that we must work them in order to keep them strong and healthy. We also need to continually be working to keep our spiritual muscles strong and healthy.

What does that scripture say: we must trust the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding and He will direct thy ways. So, this means that we should not trust our own wisdom because after all we are only human but trusting in the Lord and His wisdom is the best thing that we can do. And He knows us so well and loves each of us so  much that He would never lead us astray. We need to keep our focus on our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ to keep our foundation safe and secure.

 In my studying I have notice that President Monson has often quoted this very scripture from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. So, this is exceptionally good advice I am giving you right? I have always loved President Monson, even before I knew who he was, I loved to listen to his talks. Before I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I listened to his talks of kbyu when we lived in Utah.

Some of the things that we can do to keep our focus and stay centered on our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We can begin this by praying, studying our scriptures and learning all we can about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We need to build our own testimony, we can only rely on that of others for a short period of time then we must develop our own testimony of our Savior and our Heavenly Father. 

Once we have our own testimony it is entirely up to us to nurture and strengthen our testimonies each day through our prayer, scripture study, listening to general conference, keeping the commandments, following the counsel of our prophets and our local leaders, going to church each week and participating in our classes, serving others and keeping our focus on the Lord.

President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) taught that we can lean on the testimony of others for only so long. He said, “Eventually we must have our own strong and deeply placed foundation, or we will be unable to withstand the storms of life, which will come” (“How Firm a Foundation,” Oct. 2006 general conference).

Satan is always lurking in the offing, waiting to find our weakest places, to find a way into our thoughts and into our lives to make us be as miserable as he is. Just as we have our physical muscles to keep us physically fit, we also have our spiritual muscles to help us stay spiritually fit. We must keep our spiritual muscles strong trough prayer, scripture study and service to others, and remembering Jesus Christ always. When our spiritual foundation is strong and securely on our Savior, Satan will be unable to gain a foot hold through our weaknesses.

Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, explains that “when we physically lean toward one side or another, we move off center, we are out of balance, and we tip. When we spiritually lean to our own understanding, we lean away from our Savior.” (“Trust in the Lord and Lean Not” Apr. 2017 general conference).

You know we live in a world that constantly and consistently tries to throw us off balance, just as Satan wants to do – he wants to keep us off balance, confused, and uncertain, but by staying focused and keeping the commandments, reading and studying our scriptures, and praying we keep ourselves centered in Christ, we can put our trust the Lord and rely on Him to direct our path. Spiritual balance is needed in this world that is constantly and consistently trying to throw us off our center, to confuse us or shake our foundation. There is another scripture that says we should not lean unto our own devices, we need to trust in our Heavenly Father, as He knows what is ahead for each of us.

With my second surgery and recovery I really struggled. My leg didn’t seem to be getting better as fast as the first one. The physical therapist told me that I should not compare the legs because each one is different. I just could not understand why this second leg was not improving like it should. Then the realization came to me that when I had the first surgery done it had not been very long after that leg began to go down hill, but with the first leg it was way different.

As hard as I tried I could not get my leg to move past the hurt. My brain was telling my leg to move, but my leg didn’t seem to be listening. Every time my leg reached the part in the bend where the pain began it would stop moving. I know it sounds weird and maybe it is, but it is true. I was praying one night before therapy the next day to know what I was doing wrong or what I needed to do to get better results during my therapy session. As I was sleeping the thought came to me that my leg had been injured eight years ago. So, for the past eight years whenever my leg would begin to feel pain it would send a message to my brain and my brain would send a message back saying: “STOP!” crazy right?

Well, I asked my therapist if it was possible that my brain would be telling my leg to stop moving every time it reached the pain threshold. During our therapy that day I noticed that my leg would only move until the pain began, then I could not get it to go any more. I was praying to know what I could do to help my leg improve. A thought came to my mine to see if I would move my body to my leg to get the bend deeper. So, my therapist held my leg and I was able to scooch my bum towards my leg to get a better measure on my bend.

Wow! This was really crazy! I talked with my therapist about it again and he told me that it was entirely possible that my brain was protecting my leg as it had been for the past eight years. For all these years every time my leg had pain my brain told my leg to stop moving so it would not be in so much pain. So, I now needed to retrain my brain to stretch just a little bit past the pain each time so that I would be able to get my leg to heal and be better able to move.

 It truly has and is a continual struggle for me to get my leg to move and bend into the pain rather than stopping when the pain begins. Its kind of like when we come to an unknown or unfamiliar place in our lives. We have to trust the Lord to direct us, so we have to take a few steps into the darkness trusting Him every step of the way, for the strength we need until we are able to make it on our own strength. He will help us to develop our spiritual muscles just as He helps to develop our physical muscles – if we will ask Him and let Him.

Sometimes through our days we may notice – what we might call coincidences that happen to help us do what we needed to get done that day. When we get to thinking about it we remember that it was something that we had prayed about, so in truth it was an answer to a prayer. When we begin our day with prayerful planning it will help all things work together for our best good. I know this is how it works for me when I begin my day in this way. I have noticed that I have more patience when patience is needed. I am filled with new ideas at a moment’s notice when that is what I need, and so much more. i do have ti work on this continually though because I do get off track so easily it seems.

I believe that the Lord sends us the inspiration that we need right when we need it. We only need to be able to receive it, we need to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost every day. I often feel that I am lacking, but I keep trying every day to continue to develop my spiritual muscles. I do this through meaningful prayers, scripture study , each day. Through attending church every week and general conference twice a year, through fasting and prayer, attending the temple as often as I can get away from work to do so.

You know I will admit that sometimes I get busy and I find occasionally that I forget a prayer at bedtime or a morning prayer now and again, prayer before a meal, or scripture study off and on. It is easy to get caught up in our lives and become forgetful – it happens. What is important is what we do when it happens. Do we think to ourselves oh its ok, Heavenly Father will understand, and I am sure that He does – time and time again. Do we begin again and work on those activities that will build our spiritual muscles, or do we let the world have their way with us?

Well I am here to say a very loud yes, to beginning again, and again, and again, if that is what it takes. We need never give upon ourselves, right? I always believe that when things are bad for you then go serve someone else, service always puts my trials into better perspective. And helps me refocus on the things that are important in my life. Even though I may be in a tough situation, I never have to look very far to find someone who is in an even tougher one than mine.

Another thing that helps me not only with my physical muscles, but with my spiritual muscles as well is found in Doctrine and Covenants 88:124

“Cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” 

Something else that is so helpful is prayer, especially a prayer of gratitude. We need to be grateful for all the many blessings that come into our lives. This is helpful too, with all of our muscles. Prayer is a very powerful tool that we should be using every day – all day long😊 I don’t believe that there is any of us that doesn’t need it – every single day! I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but keeping a prayer journal may also be a helpful tool to use. If you write down your impressions as they come to you. 

You know those times when all those ideas come at you all at once? Write them down! I have tried this – not very successfully, but I keep at it and it is helpful because you can always go back and reread those thoughts and then things come to me while I am sleeping. Though I have to admit these days I do struggle so to sleep – it is just another side effect of the cancer, the chemo, you know and age😊

Well, here wear again at the end of this post. I hope you all are ready to get to work on your spiritual muscles and work continually and consistently so that you can keep those muscles strong and healthy. Gee, and if you have any more ideas that have worked for you, please feel free to send them my way😊 we are each responsiblefor our own gospel leaning and our spiritual growth, we need to do as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 88:118: :Seek learning, even by study and also by faith."

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles promised: “When we want [God] to speak to us, we search the scriptures; for His words are spoken through His prophets. He will then teach us as we listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit” (“Holy Scriptures: The Power of God unto Our Salvation,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2006, 26–27).

Remember that our spiritual muscles need to be exercised just as our physical muscles need to be exercised every day to keep them both healthy and strong. Just as no one can exercise our physical muscles for us, no one can exercise our spiritual muscles for us either. it is up to each of us individually to learn the gospel and strengthen our spiritual muscles. Remember we do this through prayer, scripture study, studying the words of our living prophets, service to others, loving one another, attending our church meetings, just to mention a few.

Just as I had to start off slowly with my knee after my second surgery I had to start off slowly to build up my muscles I had to push past the pain a little bit each time until I could do the exercises without any pain at all. I had to begin again and start off slowly and keep working at my prayers and scripture study and other things so that I could build up my spiritual muscles as well. just as I had to be consistent with the physical exercise of my knee I must be consistent and diligent with exercising my spiritual muscles too! it is better to workout for 20 minutes than not at all!

You knw that goes for your physical muscles as well as your spiritual muscles. Remember that you need ALL of your muscles -- so, let's work together and get them back in good shape! Be consistent, be diligent, practice, practice, practice!  If you miss a day or two, -- or even a week or three, don't give up, get back on track --  just take baby steps, put one foot in front of the other, and if you have to  retrain your brain -- remember I am living proof that it can be done! If I can do it, you can do it!!


So my challenge to you for this week is to get to work building ALL of your muscles -- both physical and spiritual, as they both will work together for your best good. So make a plan and begin with small steps, set short-term goals, set long-term goals, draw pictures for yourself -- whatever gets you going! As always, my Family and Friends, I hope that what I have shared with you all today has been helpful in some small way. So, until my next post. Have a spectacular week!!