I feel like I am climbing out of the hole I fell into. Our family has been on shaky ground for the last six months. I, personally, fell into a crevasse about a month or so ago. It felt like one of those "drop off the end of the earth" situations. I didn't know if I was going to get out or not.
I started seeing a counselor and was given some new "tools" that helped me sort and handle things better.
I have no embarrassment about going to a therapist. I take my car to be tuned and adjusted. I see a physician to address my body's areas of malfunction. I have gone to a massage therapist to work out knotted muscles...a chiropractor to adjust misalignment's...etc. Our mental and emotional health is just as important.
The guy I started seeing is amazing and always make me laugh. We were talking about all the issues that have come up in the last six months - which boggled even my mind. And he asked me what course of action was recommended in "the handbook." I was confused. I thought maybe he was talking about the Bible... And he explained.
"When each human being reaches the age of about 7 or eight, they are issued a hand book." I'm thinking...eight...baptism.....book of Mormon? He goes on. "it's about 1800 hundred pages of instructions regarding the issues we would encounter during our life. It's called the "How to be Human Instruction Manual! Did you loose your copy???"
He smilingly chided me about being so careless. HE still had his! We played around with that idea for quite a while and had a lot of laughs. He said that if I had KEPT mine, and read it, that it clearly states (on page 738) which types of people we should marry. That would have been so helpful the first time around..... Of course, there is NO instruction book.
But the books I thought of - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, all our scriptures are there for our guidance. A direct guideline. Why is it that I forget that so easily? And why is it that as soon as I turn to it again, I get immediate guidance, comfort and strength? Heavenly Father never once has withheld his support.
I have found that I treat myself worse than I would a stranger in a similar situation. We role-played some situations of how I would react if i saw a little girl stepping out into oncoming traffic as I was driving along. I would stop and try to get her out of the street. I would try to warn the cars and protect her. UNLESS that little girl was me. In that case I would yell at her for being in the street in the first place! I'd jerk her back on the curb. She SHOULD know better than to go into traffic.
But HOW could she know? She lost her copy of the "Instruction Manual"!! I could go on for hours about the damage the woulds, shoulds, coulds, oughts and musts can bring into our lives. And WE are the ones inflicting them - ON OUR SELVES!! People! Stop it!
If I were the one answering my plea for help in a time of emergency, my response might be something like this:
"OOOOOOHH! NOW you want an answer, huh??
What about all those little promptings I gave you? 'Hey - why not read a little before going to work?' 'You ought to take your scriptures with you...' 'What was that scripture in Alma?'
Did you pay attention to Me then??? No-o-o-o. Little miss "I'm-doing-fine-all-by-myself"!
You think I'm going to drop all the important details OF THE UNIVERSE I have to look after - just to help you - right now because you finally decided to come to Me ??
Luckily, I AM NOT on the receiving end of my prayers and pleas. My Heavenly Father is and His answer is ALWAYS:
"Yes, my beloved daughter, I WILL help. I love you more than you can ever imagine....."
I started seeing a counselor and was given some new "tools" that helped me sort and handle things better.
I have no embarrassment about going to a therapist. I take my car to be tuned and adjusted. I see a physician to address my body's areas of malfunction. I have gone to a massage therapist to work out knotted muscles...a chiropractor to adjust misalignment's...etc. Our mental and emotional health is just as important.
The guy I started seeing is amazing and always make me laugh. We were talking about all the issues that have come up in the last six months - which boggled even my mind. And he asked me what course of action was recommended in "the handbook." I was confused. I thought maybe he was talking about the Bible... And he explained.
"When each human being reaches the age of about 7 or eight, they are issued a hand book." I'm thinking...eight...baptism.....book of Mormon? He goes on. "it's about 1800 hundred pages of instructions regarding the issues we would encounter during our life. It's called the "How to be Human Instruction Manual! Did you loose your copy???"
He smilingly chided me about being so careless. HE still had his! We played around with that idea for quite a while and had a lot of laughs. He said that if I had KEPT mine, and read it, that it clearly states (on page 738) which types of people we should marry. That would have been so helpful the first time around..... Of course, there is NO instruction book.
But the books I thought of - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, all our scriptures are there for our guidance. A direct guideline. Why is it that I forget that so easily? And why is it that as soon as I turn to it again, I get immediate guidance, comfort and strength? Heavenly Father never once has withheld his support.
I have found that I treat myself worse than I would a stranger in a similar situation. We role-played some situations of how I would react if i saw a little girl stepping out into oncoming traffic as I was driving along. I would stop and try to get her out of the street. I would try to warn the cars and protect her. UNLESS that little girl was me. In that case I would yell at her for being in the street in the first place! I'd jerk her back on the curb. She SHOULD know better than to go into traffic.
But HOW could she know? She lost her copy of the "Instruction Manual"!! I could go on for hours about the damage the woulds, shoulds, coulds, oughts and musts can bring into our lives. And WE are the ones inflicting them - ON OUR SELVES!! People! Stop it!
If I were the one answering my plea for help in a time of emergency, my response might be something like this:
"OOOOOOHH! NOW you want an answer, huh??
What about all those little promptings I gave you? 'Hey - why not read a little before going to work?' 'You ought to take your scriptures with you...' 'What was that scripture in Alma?'
Did you pay attention to Me then??? No-o-o-o. Little miss "I'm-doing-fine-all-by-myself"!
You think I'm going to drop all the important details OF THE UNIVERSE I have to look after - just to help you - right now because you finally decided to come to Me ??
Luckily, I AM NOT on the receiving end of my prayers and pleas. My Heavenly Father is and His answer is ALWAYS:
"Yes, my beloved daughter, I WILL help. I love you more than you can ever imagine....."
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