False Expectations Appearing Real---FEAR

This morning when I was about to leave for the Brigham City temple dedication service that was broadcast to all the meetinghouses in Utah, I decided to grab a book to read during the half hour before it started. I couldn’t decide which book to take and changed my minds a few times before grabbing one—Awake, Arise, and Come Unto Christ: Talks from the 2008 BYU Women’s Conference. I was able to attend the conference that year and loved it and then received the book as a gift.

When I opened the book while sitting at church, waiting in silence with everyone else, I found a sheet of paper. It turned out to be the notes I took from the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication in 2009. I guess this is my dedication book now.

I was surprised to see that the talk the papers were on was one that I loved, but haven’t re-read for quite some time. And this is perfect timing to read it again. It is a talk by John Bytheway called Lose the Fear; Keep the Faith. (Remember my second to the last post??) It has several of my favorite quotes in it from general authorities and prophets. I looked, but couldn’t find a transcript online anywhere.

At the beginning of the talk, he says that FEAR can mean “False Expectations Appearing Real”. Have you ever been very afraid of something and later thought how silly that fear was because it couldn’t have happened or wasn’t very likely? But at the time, that fear gives you emotions and even physical responses just as if it was real. We have been told not to take counsel from our fears.

“Sometimes, if you feel weak, remember you are not alone. You’re bound to Him by a covenant every Sunday. If you feel you can’t overcome a temptation, He can. He is right next to you because you are bound to Him by a covenant. If you rely on that, and remember that, and about that when despair and discouragement come, that’s power.”

John Bytheway included one of my favorite quotes, which I quoted back in 2008 in this past post.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

“I submit to you that may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent: As concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, nevertheless I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help, or should feel his or her interest were unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “‘Come unto Me’,” Ensign, Apr 1998, 16

John Bytheway relates a personal story where it seemed impossible for him to do what the Lord commanded him to do (I won’t tell you what so you can read it), but in the end, the Lord’s timing made it possible. He then read a scripture which really struck me today and has now become one of my favorites.

"Therefore, be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin; and I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them." Doctrine & Covenants 111:11

(I love how easy those numbers are to remember.)

 

"We don't have to fear, we can ask the Lord to take our fears from us. When they come, we can evict them and say, ‘Heavenly Father, I can't do this. You take them; I'll do what I can do. You take my doubts and fears and help me with them, because I've just got stuff to do.’ We can give that to Him and get back to work. Is it easier said than done? Yes. But we can do it... ‘They that be with us are more than they that be with them’ (2 Kings 6:16)"

That last scripture has been my favorite scripture for many years now. I’m grateful to have read this again today. Words that I always, always seem to need. An eternal perspective and faith in Jesus Christ, and His timing, "not willing my own desires into existence", will help me feel peace and patience through these hard times now and anything that will come in the future.