The Miracle of Music and Healing

It has been many months since I have posted here and in those months, I have learned more about my Heavenly Father and my Savior than I knew in all the years previous. It is incredible to me the knowledge that comes when we tune our heart and mind to the beautiful music of the gospel. This statement is not just figurative, it is literal. 

The Power of Music

I have learned that music is not only soothing, it is healing and when we make it a habit to listen to those beautiful songs that are praising God, we are literally tuning our hearts to the music of heaven.  We are removing the darkness from within ourselves and becoming more fully, a child of light. 

Music speaks to the heart of all of God’s children. It is literally written in our DNA. Studies have proven that every cell in our body moves at a certain frequency. This movement echoes back those sounds that are heard and will either be for our good or our devastation. When good music is played, it resonates with the movement that is within us.  When a negative beat is played, it creates dissonance and causes a conflict from within where anger, hate and sadness become a direct result. In essence, music is a direct portal to living a life of peace and happiness or one of sadness and anger.

If we choose to listen to music that is soothing to the soul, we are not only filling our soul with light, but we are literally healing our body, mind and spirit. Music can remove anger, hate, depression and sadness and replace it with joy, love, peace and gladness. It will lift our bodies to a higher state of being. This is also true of words and the tone in which we say them.

The Power of Words

When words are directed to us with a negative tone, our body’s natural response is fight or flight. But if the tone is softer and more encouraging, and the words are more kind and loving, love becomes the natural result. It is truly amazing to think about. It has been said that kind words are sweet tones of the heart, and they truly are. Words are healing, music is healing, and when the two are combined, we are given the power to truly heal not only our own soul, but the soul of everyone around us. 

I encourage you to begin listening to those songs that speak peace to your soul, for those are the melodies your body longs to hear for its own natural healing. You will discover that your body, mind and spirit will be lighter, happier and brighter until you are enveloped in the arms of God’s love and glorious light.  

Here is a beautiful song that I want to leave you with in the hopes that you will feel the power of its music and words, and choose to increase the music in your own life.

God is a God of Miracles!!

My Dear Friends,

You have come to this blog because you felt something, some kind of connection or spark that brought you to this very place to read the words of my heart. Thank-you for acting on the feelings of your own heart. There are no coincidences in this world. You are here for a reason, to learn, to grow, and to understand things that your Heavenly Father needs you to know. There are things you need to understand and feel, truth that only comes when your heart is touched by God’s Spirit. Things that will help you understand God’s love for you. Those things that I am about to share are real, I know it, and if you pray and ask God yourself, you will know it too. I plead with you that you will ask God, your eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the things I am about to share are true and I promise you, through the Spirit, He will manifest to you the truth of ALL things.

I try to be very careful about what I share with others, especially when it comes to spiritual experiences. God has so many gifts that he has given His children. Some have the gift of healing, others have the gift of prophecy. I have been given the gift of dreams. I dream dreams that have specific messages in them that come directly from my Heavenly Father. They are dreams that I have used to direct my life and the lives of my family. I have kept all of my dreams mostly to myself because I hold them very close to my heart. However, because my Heavenly Father has asked me to, I know that this is the time to share those things that are most precious to me. I understand that there are those whose hearts are not ready to receive these things and they will mock them. But I also know that many are fearful and unable to find peace right now, and many are worried about the things to come, and they are searching for a place where they can find safety and peace. I know that there can be great peace in the days ahead, regardless of what happens. I know this, because in every dream I’ve had, that is the message.

GOD LOVES YOU

It is my hope that you will read these dreams and understand them in the Spirit they are given. I am not trying to predict or prophesy. These are my personal dreams, given especially for me, but I have been directed by the Spirit to share them now with you, because God loves you and He wants you to know these things for yourself that you may take the necessary steps and be protected, Please pray to know what God wants you to do with them through His Spirit. I received a priesthood blessing from my husband last Sunday that told me that I needed to teach others that they do not need to fear, that God loves them and is with them. So because of that, and other experiences, I have been directed by the Spirit that now is the time to share some of the things that Heavenly Father has given me, because I am certain there are people who need to hear them. I want to share three dreams I’ve had about the days of tribulation, just prior to Christ’s coming. The first one came nearly four years ago. The other two are more recent, within the past two months. I’ll share them in order.

Dream #1:

I was in the community where I live right now, but it did not look like it does currently. There was obvious devastation and we had rebuilt the city into smaller homes made of wood, kind of like cabins. There was one larger cabin that was like a town hall where we met for church and other gatherings. I was outside gathering things when I thought one of the buildings was on fire but there were no flames. There was a billowing, thick black smoke pouring from the roof of the building. The mist of darkness took the form of a winged bird flying through the air and began swooping down, catching up people in the city. I was watching from a place where I was hidden, but those who were in full view of the darkness, and paid attention to it, were paralyzed by fear and could not move from their place. They were trapped. Although fear gripped my heart because I knew it was Satan, and he had come to try to bring darkness into our city, I was not paralyzed like the others. I ran into the meetinghouse where my husband and children were and told him that Satan was here to take people. We huddled over our children (who were very close to the same age they are now) and told them not to look, that if they did not give in to the temptation to look, Satan could not harm them. The meetinghouse door opened and the angel of death, who was an old woman dressed in white, was standing there sweeping the steps. She looked at us and smiled and my husband and I were the only ones who saw her even though the room was filled with members of my neighborhood. There was peace in her smile and it brought peace to my heart. We knew she was not there for us, but she was there for the wicked, those being taken by Satan. The doors then shut and the mist of darkness came into the room through the fireplace and took the form of a man. It was Satan and behind him were his legions. They were everyday people, teenagers dressed immodestly, men in business suits, women lavishly dressed, and all from all walks of life. All of them feared Satan yet looked to Him for direction. Satan’s presence evoked fear that I had never felt before. He spoke in a loud voice and said, "You have seen my power and my destruction. Bow to the earth and worship me." My husband stood and I stood beside him with our children behind us. My husband stood firm and said, "We will not bow to you, we know who we follow." Again, Satan said, "I am all powerful and I can destroy you. Bow down and worship me." Again my husband said, "No! We will not bow to you. We know in who we trust. We know our Master." A third time Satan said, "Bow down and worship me or I will destroy you." By this time, I was so afraid that I was ready to turn to my husband and tell him to do what he said but just as I was about to give in, the angel of the Lord appeared (he was an older man with graying hair and wore a white suit) and said, "Fear not, for as long as I am with you, he cannot harm you. God has sent me to protect you." He cast Satan out and Satan and his minions left and we stood there together with the angel of the Lord. And then I woke up.

Dream #2:

I was in a building with many other people. All of the sudden, people started screaming and crying, “It’s here! It’s really here!” I ran outside to see what they were talking about. Inside, I felt excitement and I thought to myself, “Could they be talking about the second coming?” As I walked outside, I saw meteors falling from the sky coming at great speed destroying the Earth. The meteors were flaming orange and red and very vibrant. People were running and screaming everywhere I looked, but instead of being afraid, I was excited. I thought to myself, “It is finally happening, the scriptures are being fulfilled, the Earth is being cleansed for the coming of our Savior.” I knew that life was going to be different, and that there would be many trials before Christ came, but I embraced it and I was excited to prove to Heavenly Father that I could take the challenges and grow with them. I walked through the destruction with confidence and with peace. A very large meteor came right at me. It came so close that I could see the pot marks in the rock and the fire flaming from it. It stopped just before it hit me and changed direction, as if it hit an invisible shield. I knew I was protected and I was at peace in the midst of the chaos as I walked through unaffected by it. Then I woke up.

Dream #3:

I was hovering in the sky, well above the Earth and a Heavenly Being was standing at my left, although I did not see who it was. As we looked down on the Earth, I saw devastation, chaos and destruction. My heart felt heavy and I cried out, “But Father, what about the children?” God’s voice spoke and He said, “Fear not, for I will care for my children.” Then each child had two to three angels around them who were carrying them and lifting them from the destruction. They were pulling them out of cars and out from under crumbled buildings. I had the impression that when the cleansing of the Earth comes, there will be many children whose parents will die in the chaos that will need to be taken care of. I also had the impression that I would be asked to take care of some of the orphaned children. Then I woke up.

I need to be clear that I do not believe that the end of the world is coming, but I do believe things are going to change. Life is going to be different than we now know it. My religion teaches that the world will never end, but that there will be tribulation and cleansing before Christ returns. The things that have been prophesied since the beginning of time are going to start happening and we need to be ready. I do not know these things of myself, nor have I learned them from others, but I have been dreaming of them for nearly four years now. I am not an alarmist, nor do I want to frighten you. As a matter of fact, it is my hope that I do just the opposite and help you feel a Spirit of love and peace as we face the days ahead. Every dream I have had has radiated peace and love even in the midst of chaos.

DO NOT FEAR

The thing I love about these dreams is that in all of them, even though there was chaos, I was at complete peace. I was told “Fear not” two separate times in two separate dreams. There is no need for us to fear. As long as you are on the side of the Lord, He will protect you. He is powerful, good and full of love, and very merciful to those who serve and love Him. There is no need for anyone to fear or to worry about yourselves or anyone else because God loves you and your family members. Trust Him, trust in His plan, and trust in the process. God is over all, He writes the story, His arm is sufficient to carry all of us, and He will if we trust Him. We should be a joyous people because we know what we will meet on the other side of the tribulation. We don’t really know how long it will last or the exact time He will come, but we know that in the end, WE WILL EMBRACE OUR SAVIOR! It is joyful! This tribulation is only a small price to pay to get to live in the presence of our Savior and to be embraced by Him. FEAR NOT and know that GOD LOVES YOU!!

BE PREPARED

I know that if we are prepared, and if we trust in our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, we shall not fear! So I am asking you and pleading with you to get prepared. Do you know there are living prophets on the Earth today who have forseen this very time and have been warning God’s children for decades to get a year’s supply of food storage? God’s church is on the Earth today, and just like ancient times, they prophesy of things to come because they speak directly to God. I know if we follow their counsel, miracles will happen! I know miracles will happen when you ask God for help and make food storage a priority. We have never had food storage before, but when my dreams persisted, we prayed for God to help us and miracles happened! Money started showing up in the mail, in opportunities to earn overtime, in bonuses and in so many other ways. Within two months, we were able to achieve an entire years worth of food for a family of seven. That, my friends, is a miracle, especially since we have never been able to achieve it in the previous 15 years of marriage. God is a God of miracles and if you make it a priority, He will give you a miracle that will allow you to prepare and be ready.

HAVE FAITH

Please remember that in order for God to create miracles, He needs your faith. Faith must also be a very big part of your preparation. Faith is the antidote to fear and miracles and protection will come if only you believe.  Align yourself with God. Cheerfully do all things that lie within your power, and then stand still with the utmost assurance to see the salvation of God and for His arm to be revealed. If you don't know God, humbly seek and find Him. There are many good people who believe in God that are in many different religions and walks of life. I sincerely ask you to go to your Father in prayer and ask Him what He would have you do, and then act on those promptings, no matter how strange they may seem. If you are sincerely asking, you can know the answer is most assuredly from God.

ASK GOD

I am not asking you to believe me. I am asking you to go to God, who is the source of all truth and ask Him in humble prayer to give you the answers you seek and guide you to know how to act upon that knowledge. What greater witness will you have then God Himself. I love all of God’s children, which is why I share these things. If I could, I would invite you all into my home and do everything within my power to keep you safe. But I cannot, so I humbly ask you to do one simple thing today. Talk to God, ask the right questions, believe He will answer you, and I know, without a doubt, He will lead you along.

If you have read this far, then I would like to invite you to learn more about the modern day prophets by visiting lds.org or finding a Mormon place of worship near you.

If you don't have anything nice to say...... Stop Talking

Silly me....

I really don't know what I was thinking when a few days ago I chose to read the comments posted on one of my latest articles. To make things even worse, I decided to torture myself even more by finding my book on GoodReads and reading the latest reviews (something I haven't done in over a year).

To be fair, most of those comments are beautiful, uplifting comments that inspire me to continue writing and sharing those things that I hold most dear. I treasure those comments and I am grateful to those who take the time to share their goodness with me.

There are other comments, however, that are disrespectful, mean, and even hurtful. It is when I read those comments that I ask myself the question..,


"Why?" 


Why, in a world where there is already so much anger and ugliness would people want to add their own hate to it.


Why do I feel that I need to be validated by people I don't even know, or even people that I do know for that matter?


Why is it that even if there are 101 compliments, it is the negative comment that I remember and that will haunt me for days and weeks and months on end?

Why are we more inclined to share with the world what is bothering us rather than thanking others for the contribution they are making?

Why do we choose to be critical and see the bad first while completely overlooking the good, both in life and the people around us?


Social media and the internet have made it easy for us to throw ugliness and negativity at one another. Without face to face interaction, it is easy to sit in front of a computer and allow all our emotions and negative energy to flow through our fingers forming words that then find their way all over the big wide web. Without seeing facial expressions or having the social cues of a real human to stop us from saying anything hurtful, we instead have a computer that is all too happy to be a conduit for our negative emotion. It has to go somewhere, right? So rather than hurt the people we love, we hurt people we don't even know and tell ourselves we are doing a service for others in helping them know what they should and shouldn't do based on our experience.

To be honest, I find the whole review concept flawed. Each of us are unique individuals with individual likes and needs, yet we set ourselves up as experts and act as if our opinion is the only opinion that should matter. We pretend to know what others should do, buy, read, visit, eat, but forget that every experience is different because every individual is different. I find it interesting that we take advice and make our choices based on the opinions of people we don't even know rather than trusting in our own God-given ability to choose correctly for ourselves. We cringe when people judge us, yet we're asking them to judge everything else. Is it any wonder we continue to judge each other?

When I read the negative reviews on my book, I always wonder, if the person who wrote it knew that I was going to read it, would they write it differently. Would they try to be kinder, a little more loving, and a little less judgmental of me? One reviewer said I was ignorant and naive and that they threw my book in the trash without even finishing it. My question to the reviewer is why would you review a book you never even finished?

But then I think about how this applies to life. 

How many times do I judge people, circumstances, or events without having all the facts, without really knowing who and what they are? I do it all the time and I suspect the majority of us do.

There's a reason Christ told us not to judge. It's because we'll never have all the knowledge we need to judge fairly. We will always be blinded by our own circumstances and our own limited knowledge. The people who love my book love it because it speaks to them, they can connect with it because somewhere in their life, their heart was open to the messages the book has to offer. Those who have a negative reaction to the book may suffer from their own difficult past, from an inability to accept their own trials or have a bias when it comes to mental illness based on their own personal beliefs and life experiences.

So it is with everything we do in life. The people we meet and the circumstances we encounter will all have both positive and negative aspects to them. It is up to us to choose what we want to see, It's my hope that we can see the good and realize that the bad we see comes from our own inability to understand, our own lack of knowledge and our own weaknesses. The flaws we see in others stem from our own weaknesses, not the other way around.

When we let go of our anger, our hate and our negativity, and embrace the love of God, we can see all things from His perspective and learn to love as He loved and that includes loving ourselves. We will no longer need the validity of others because we will know the love of the only one who truly matters. And more importantly, the next time we leave a review, we will outline the good qualities rather than the bad.

What you choose to look for is what you are going to see. 

So this is my call to action....

Stop looking at life with a critical eye and choose to see the good, and when others like to bring out your weaknesses and flaunt them around on stage, learn to click delete.

From this experience, I have learned that life is too short to spend my precious time taking in the negativity of others, especially people I don't even know. It doesn't matter what someone in Kentucky thinks about me, what should matter most is what I think about myself. I am an amazing, precious, wonderful child of God. He has a plan for me, just like He has a plan for you. It is up to each of us to figure out what that plan is and live it to its fullest.

Share your Light...

Glimpse the Good... 

And for goodness sake...

If you don't have something nice to say... Stop Talking! 

What Life isn't....

Ever since I was young, I've loved watching movies. I loved the ability to slip into someone else's world and live life vicariously through them.

I Laughed...

I Cried...

I Gasped...

I Awed..

I Sighed....

At times I even Screamed.

I'm certain I experienced every emotion  possible through the television. As I watched, I imagined all the things I was going to do and be when I grew up. I had my life perfectly planned out. My plan was almost as perfect as the movies I watched, right down to the perfect script with a perfect ending, all neatly tied up in a bow and delivered flawlessly to anyone viewing my personal movie in real time.

Fast forward 20 years later....

A husband, five children, and one crazy life, a life nothing like that perfect movie I had pictured in my head as a child.

Life is messy. It is unscripted and uncut. There are no retakes and there is no stopping. It is real and raw and in your face tough sometimes. Everything I experience is heightened. The pain is fresher, the sorrow is deeper, the trials are harder, and the loss is sometimes unbearable. Sometimes I can't see the Happily Ever After and I fail to recognize the hero woven into the story line.

Life is nothing at all like the movies, where you go for 2 hours and come out happy, fulfilled and full of fresh one-line witticisms that you can use at your next social gathering. Life happens on the fly and you have to be ready for it. There is no guarantee when the end will come, or what genre you're about to experience, whether it's romance, comedy, adventure, drama, or horror. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep at night and other times, I laugh myself silly.

I Laugh...

I Cry...

I Gasp...

I Awe...

I Sigh...

At times I even Scream...

The beauty about it all is that because life is so different from the movies, every emotion is felt more deeply, more sincerely, more profoundly and more completely. Everything is real and fresh and raw and deep and full of vibrant color. It is nothing like the movies because it is so much better.

I may not have the perfectly scripted life, and I am still not certain of the perfectly orchestrated ending, but God is. All I have to do is embrace the beauty in the life God has given me and be grateful it is nothing like the movies.

Time: The Value of a Moment

It has been nearly six months since I have written on this blog and a lot of it has to do with time. Because I have been working full-time outside of the home, I felt that my time was better spent with my family when it wasn't spent at work.


Our Allotment of Time


The funny thing about time is, it passes whether we want it to or not, but we always get to choose what we spend it on. We can choose to spend our allowance of time on things that we believe will bring us success and, as a result, we can gain all of the money and prestige that comes with the spending of time in that way. We can accumulate things like titles, possessions, power and favors and we can use our time to build up a kingdom of wealth and glory here on Earth. That's not always a bad thing, but sometimes it is, if we let the time we spend on those things take time from things that are of greater importance.

We can choose to spend our allowance of time in other areas, like serving those around us, loving when anger would be easier, giving of ourselves and growing into the mother or father our children would be proud of. We can spend our time on our church calling and our community, giving goodness and sharing our time and talents for the benefit of others.

In my job, I had a choice. The choice was a simple one, to dedicate myself to a growing company, giving more time than I bargained for in order to move ahead, or I could take a stand and defend my time with my family. Time is important to me, and the time that I value and treasure above all others is the time I have with my family.

Because of my stand, I was fired. I was told things weren't going to work out because the company was not my priority. And do you know what? They were right. The company was not my priority. First, foremost and always I am a mother and my priority is and always will be my family and the time I have to make a difference in their lives.


Satan's Attack on Our Time


I think that the family is under attack by the Adversary, not just in trying to break up the family, but in trying to keep us away from one another. If he can't break us up, then he does all he can to keep us apart because he knows that together, we are strong. He pulls us in so many directions, doing so many different things, keeping us apart so we can never stand together, Satan does this so he can attack us individually because he knows when we stand together, we are strong and he would never have a chance to defeat us. This is why daily family prayer, daily scripture study, and weekly Family Home Evening are so valuable and important. These are times that a family can take a stand against Satan and they can do it together.

In his attacks, Satan pulls parents out of the home and entices them to use their allotment of time to pursue job advancements and bonuses, overtime and pay increases. These types of achievements require more time away and a greater commitment to the company, and by default, there is less of a commitment to the family. He makes us believe that we never have enough, that these achievements are necessary so we can have the life we've always wanted, where we can give our children everything they've ever wanted. When in reality, if you were to ask our children, all they really want is our time.

Children are taken out of the home to attend school where most of their childhood time is spent in someone else's care. They are put into a building with hundreds of other children, who have also been taken from their homes. These young people are all trying to figure life out and are expected to do it on their own, among their peers while their parents wait for their return with little control over what their children see, hear, learn or experience. The Adversary creeps in and attacks them one by one through bullying, drugs, self-image, pornography, foul language, immorality, and many more frightening attacks our children face on a daily basis that they don't even tell us about and that we can't even imagine.

If that isn't enough, the Adversary makes us believe that extra-curricular activities are essential to a growing child, so we spend more of our valuable time in activities of every kind from dance to sports to musical talents, believing all the while that this is what is best for our children. By the time we have completed everything we have allotted for our time, there is little time left for the family.


Busier Than God Ever Intended


Don't get me wrong, a job is good, education is good, talents and hobbies are good, but if our lives are filled with so much of these things that there is not time to sit down at night and have a family dinner, if there is not time to read your scriptures and say your prayers as a family, then you are busier than your Heavenly Father ever intended you to be and you have fallen into the Adversary's trap of spending your time on things that don't really matter. After all is said and done, the only thing you can take with you from this life is your family. They should be your focus, they should be your goal and they should be your greatest achievement.


God's View of Time


To God, this life we are living is only but a moment to Him. His passing of time is much different than ours. If we knew that this life was just one small moment, if we knew it would be over in an instant, what would be most important? If you only had one moment to live, what would you spend your time one? In your final interview with Heavenly Father, He will not ask you what kind of job you had, what kind of grades you or your children received in school, how many family vacations you took, or how many extra-curricular activities you participated in. What He will ask you is what did you do with the time allotted and at the very top of that list, He will ask you what kind of Father or Mother you were. That is what He values most, and if the God of Heaven and Earth values His Fatherhood over all other names, shouldn't we value our parenthood and our children as much as He?

So, time will pass and we have no control over that, but we do have control over what we will do with it when it does. My hope is that, now and forever, we choose to spend our time on the things that matter most because in the end, that is what will bring us and our family the most lasting happiness.