A Gift Beyond Compare

A Gift Beyond Compare

Recovery

With today being Pioneer Day, a day we celebrate the long, cross-country journey of the early Saints, I started thinking about how difficult that would have been. Here they are, setting off into an unsettled wilderness, not really knowing where they were going to end...
A Gift Beyond Compare

Abstinence: It Takes Time

abstinence

We think that the mighty change of heart is going to mean an immediate mighty change of habit. The truth is that there is a distance to go between the heart, which is the seat of our desires and willingness, and the brain, which is the seat of our habits.  We often...
A Gift Beyond Compare

Sincerely

Change of Heart, Recovery

“And you are sincere—heartbreakingly sincere. But repeat them you do. And you do. And you do.” (Karlene B, He Did Deliver Me from Bondage, p. iii) The word that really stands out to me in this quote is “sincere.” I can’t tell you how sincerely I want to behave...
A Gift Beyond Compare

God Changes Us From the Inside-Out

abstinence, Change of Heart, Recovery

The inclinations of my heart are changing—from the inside out. Leaving behind my addiction is not an exercise of willpower or even a deliberate choice. It’s deeper than that. It’s simply a feeling of not being interested or inclined to do the thing that for years and...
A Gift Beyond Compare

God’s Love Changes the Prodigal

Perfectionism

I have always thought of myself as a “good son”—well, daughter, actually, but you know what I mean. I went to church every Sunday, attended the temple, paid my tithing, fulfilled my callings.  I’ve done a lifetime of good works, of “good son” activities. But none of...