Hope and the Truth

We (both Sister Buchanan and I) have the experience in helping some of our people attend the LDS Addiction Recovery Program meetings. I attend most every Tuesday night with one person and Sister B with one or more people sometimes twice a week.

These meetings are some the most spiritual meetings I have ever attended in my church experience. There is so much there in testimony of the Atonement.

I keep a few notes on my thoughts as I attend these meetings. I decided I would post some of them here. These are thoughts from two of the last meetings I have attended.

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ARP meeting, step 2 - Hope

This is not a program of self-control - it is a process of accepting the Savior as our control - turning to Him what we cannot do for ourselves.

Thought: It is not enough to be at a status quo - "maintaining."
We can, for a time, maintain a steadiness on our own - but we are  then deceived - not accepting our true and real potential. We need to rely on the spirit to know what we need to do next. The talk by Elder Larry Lawrence shows us how we need to ask what we yet lack - what we should be doing. The Holy Ghost knows us individually and what we need. President Eyring said in his talk, that once we receive that direction, it is important that we DO it.

Through it all, it takes the power of God for us to do it.

We are in a fallen world. It was necessary for us to come into a fallen world, but still, I imagine that it broke our Heavenly Father's heart, knowing what it would really mean to go thorugha fallen world - he forbade them from doing it, but knew that it had to be done. Heavenly Father and Jesus saw the fall - they knew what it really meant, more than any body else. They also knew what it would take to bring us out of it and back to them. They did not turn their backs on us - just because we brought it upon our selves. They are pulling for us, reaching for us, yearning for us to to take full advantage of what they have given us to conquer our fallen state. Christ has the power to bring us up to a better world (Ether 12:4 and Hebrews 6:19).


Another thought on complacency (status quo) - We can find it easier to be complacent when we choose to ignore the truth of our situation - usually through rationalization. Step 4 of the ARP process - Truth and making a fearless personal moral inventory. It is also important to write and record our inventory, also keep a journal. That way it will not be as easy to rationalize and forget the truth about our weaknesses. Moroni also helps us understand the need to understand our weaknesses, not as permanent character flaws, but as means to an end - discovering through humility to trust in the Lord and be improved by Him in ways that are impossible for us alone. (Ether 12:27)