May 1, 2024 • 29 mins
In this podcast episode, Amber shares personal stories and insights to encourage listeners to redefine their perceptions of wealth and worth through a Christ-centered lens. She recounts childhood memories of living in unconventional homes with a back-to-nature lifestyle, highlighting the contrast between societal measures of wealth and the true value found in a life centered on Christ, family, and service. The discussion delves into the pitfalls of comparing oneself to others and listening to worldly voices over God's words, drawing from scripture and personal anecdotes to illustrate how understanding one's belovedness as a child of God is crucial to recognizing true worth.
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Song- Own Your Belovedness by Sarah Kroger
00:00 Welcome to Hope Smiling Brightly
00:13 Listener Love and Gratitude
01:15 Sponsor Shoutout: Thrive Life
01:58 Episode Introduction: Finding True Wealth and Worth
02:18 A Hippie Childhood: Embracing Simplicity
09:14 The True Meaning of Wealth and Worth
13:28 Overcoming Comparison and Embracing God's Love
16:57 The Power of Words and Believing in Our Worth
22:56 Owning Your Belovedness
27:43 Conclusion: Trusting in the Lord's View of Us
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amber (00:00):
Elder Richard G.
Scott said, Your trust in theLord must be more powerful and
enduring than your confidence inyour own personal feelings and
experience.
You are listening to HopeSmiling Brightly.
Thank you so much for joining inagain, and thank you so much for
all of your kind and generousreviews.
(00:21):
Over and over again, I am seeinga similar theme in the reviews
that you leave, and I couldn'tbe happier.
For example.
Thank you for sharing theseincredible stories and giving us
ideas and suggestions for comingunto Christ.
Another one, what a greatperspective on the nature of God
(00:41):
in our lives.
And one more, always pointing usback to Christ.
Thank you for answering the callto be a witness of Christ.
There is no greater complimentto me than You feeling closer to
Christ or feeling the desire tocome to know Christ better after
(01:02):
listening to my podcast.
Your positive ratings andreviews help my podcast reach
more people.
So I really appreciate the timeyou take to rate and review my
podcast.
I am so grateful to be able tohave the time and means to
produce this podcast, but itwouldn't be possible without
(01:24):
Thrive Life.
Thrive Life is the best freezedried food that you can possibly
find with a 25 year shelf life,high quality food, and a
delicious taste.
You cannot put a price tag onpeace of mind and preparedness.
So go to amber.
thrivelife.
(01:45):
com and set up a delivery to get15 percent off retail price and
free shipping on any orders overa hundred dollars.
Ready for another one?
Here we go.
You are listening to episodefour of the Hope Smiling
Brightly podcast, how to findtrue wealth and worth.
(02:09):
Just a side note to add morecontext to the things I'll share
in this podcast.
you may want to listen toepisode three, if you haven't
already.
My parents have always said youcan take the hippie out of the
commune, but you can't take thehippie out of the hippie.
And oh, wasn't that true.
(02:29):
After my parents left thecommune, our home still had all
the makings of a hippie life,With no plumbing and all natural
living.
Outside, you could findchickens, goats, pigs, an
organic garden.
Inside, you could find my mommaking homemade wheat bread in a
(02:50):
wood burning oven.
I really think my mom needs somesort of special award for that.
I'm lucky if I make it to thestore to buy bread these days.
Yeah, I was that kid at schoolthat had the crumbly homemade
wheat bread sandwich staring atthe other kids in envy as they
ate their white rainbow breadwith American cheese and Miracle
(03:14):
Whip.
and bologna.
One day I convinced one of myfriends to just let me try a
bite.
I had never tasted this foreignfood before.
Oh, was it music in my mouth.
When I took that first bite, Iwent home and asked my mom,
please, please, please, if wecould have these foods called
miracle whip and bologna andAmerican cheese and white bread.
(03:39):
My mother was aghast andexplained to me that none of
that was actually real food.
In fact, that cheese wasprobably plastic.
I gave up on my white breaddreams after that.
When I wasn't at school, homelife was always a fun adventure.
Instead of a neat playsetoutside, we had a broken down
(04:00):
station wagon that was the mostawesome Millennium Falcon.
My favorite play set was abroken down Volkswagen bug that
could take me places in myimagination that no running car
could ever go.
And who needs a dinky metalswing set When you had a dad
(04:21):
that was willing to fashiontogether three telephone poles
to make the most epic swing setever, that swing set could rival
some Disney rides.
We could get so high on thatswing set.
And I'm talking about the goodkind of high here.
But along with that hippielifestyle was family home
(04:44):
evening and scripture study andchurch every single Sunday.
We truly loved our lives.
But there was one small problem.
The area we lived in wasbecoming increasingly popular,
and actually a little hoitytoity.
And that just wasn't for myparents.
(05:05):
They cared more about being outin nature, and the beauty of
open space, than a nice home.
So they started asking aroundand some hippie friends that had
moved out into the mountainstold them about some land and a
small home that had just come upfor sale right near them.
(05:27):
It was a 1000 square foot houseon 26 acres of beautiful
forested land.
And well, it came at a greatdeal because the former owner
was a drug dealer and had beensadly murdered in a drug deal
gone wrong.
(05:48):
But that didn't stop my parentsfrom turning this place into
their home..
They wanted their children tolive an adventure, and oh, was
it ever.
Eight miles of dirt road, andthe final mile before you got to
our house.
I don't even know if it wouldqualify for a road.
(06:09):
It was just two ruts, and ofcourse, us kids who never were
in seatbelts, loved seeing howhigh we could bounce around in
the back of the car as we drovedown that road.
The home had a well and anoutdoor spigot.
But once again, no plumbing andno electricity.
(06:31):
We couldn't even get electricityif we wanted to.
There were no electrical lines.
None of the homes in that valleyhad any electricity.
The home was a simple rectanglewith a loft.
There was a greenhouse where theformer owner used to grow his
weed, but we ripped that out,and over time, the house morphed
(06:55):
into whatever our needs were,adding a room here, a room
there, a room in the back, aroom above.
It definitely was a piecemealhouse, but it fit our needs.
By this time, there were six ofus.
Much of our time was spenthiking, playing made up games,
(07:18):
riding a bike when there was onethat didn't have a flat tire,
building forts, and, myfavorite, hunting Rattlesnake.
And yes, we had to eat whateverwe hunted.
If anyone has told you thatRattlesnake tastes like chicken,
they're lying.
(07:39):
It tastes more like rubber.
For heating, there was a woodburning stove.
We had a gas refrigerator sothat we could keep our food
cold.
For cooling, well, just open awindow or go outside.
For light, we had these tall,skinny propane tanks that a gas
(08:01):
lantern would sit on top of,that we would turn on at night.
And if we were lucky, every nowand then, the flashlights had
batteries that weren't dead.
For clean clothes, we would goto the laundromat once a week,
but save a few quarters bybringing the wet clothes home
and hanging them on the line todry.
(08:21):
In the summers, I loved workingwith my mom in our outdoor
kitchen.
We would cook many of our mealsover a fire pit, then we'd heat
up water to wash the dishes.
We were basically camping.
And as kids, we loved it.
For bathing, we'd also heat upthat water and sponge bath, or
(08:46):
at one point, my dad got thegenius idea to get a horse
trough and fill it up withwater, build a fire underneath
it, and we would all take turnsbathing.
I didn't love that because I wasone of the youngest which meant
I got one of the last baths.
But the real treat about once aweek, we would all load up in
(09:06):
the car and drive into town andshower at the local KOA.
I loved that.
I know that the life my parentschose is not the life that most
people would choose.
In fact, it was probably prettyodd to most people.
But for them, their life wasreal wealth.
(09:31):
Their life was real worth,because they knew Christ,
because they had family andfriends that they loved and
served.
So I'm going to ask you, what doyou use to gauge wealth and
worth?
We all do this, whether werealize it Or not.
(09:54):
You're going to laugh at what Ithought was wealth and worth as
a little girl.
For me, in our wealthy life, myfavorite part was getting to be
outdoors in nature so much.
My least favorite part washaving to go to the bathroom in
(10:15):
said outdoors.
I.
hated not having a toilet.
I loathed going to the bathroomin an outhouse, even though my
dad was nice enough to paint itfluorescent green so that we
could see it in the middle ofthe night.
I disliked it so much that whenI realized most of my friends
(10:38):
had toilets in their houses, Iwas so jealous, but really, I
thought, wow, you have to bepretty special if you have a
toilet in your house.
And I knew they had to be veryrich.
(10:59):
In reality, we lived in a veryhumble area.
Most people lived in mobilehomes.
But from my perspective, atoilet was wealth.
A toilet was worth.
I remember hearing about a girlwhose family recently got a
double wide mobile home andrumor had it, not only did she
(11:23):
have a toilet in the house, Butshe had a toilet right in her
bedroom.
I wasn't sure if I believed thatwas quite true.
So I'm here to tell you, righthere and right now, if you have
a toilet in your house, I thinkyou are pretty darn amazing.
(11:44):
And man, if my husband only knewwhen he was trying to convince
me to marry him, that all he hadto say is, Hey, if you marry me,
I promise you a toilet insideright next to the bedroom.
That's all it would have taken.
But isn't it interesting how ourperspectives form how we
(12:10):
determine worth and wealth?
Really, we all have our silly if thens.
If we would take the time to sitdown and analyze,"What am I
determining worth by and wealthby?" We'd actually kind of laugh
(12:31):
at ourselves.
If I have so many kids, if Ihave a particular calling, if
I've been invited to somethingspecial, if I have so many likes
on Facebook, All these ifs thatwe think then determine the
(12:54):
wealth and worth of our life.
And really, they're as silly asme thinking that a toilet made
somebody worthy.
In reality, there is only one ifthen that is true and matters.
If you are a child of God, thenyou are of infinite worth.
(13:21):
So how do we get the source ofwealth and worth so mixed up?
I believe there are two mainreasons, and I want to talk a
little bit about them with youtoday.
The first one is we like tocompare.
The second We tend to listen towords of the world more than we
(13:48):
listen to the words of God.
Let's talk a little bit aboutcomparison.
What have we decided that wehave to have in our lives to
have joy?
Elder Uctdorf said God is fullyaware that you and I are not
(14:10):
perfect.
Let me add.
God is also fully aware that thepeople you think are perfect.
are not.
And yet we spend so much timeand energy comparing ourselves
to others, usually comparing ourweaknesses to their strengths.
(14:30):
This drives us to createexpectations for ourselves that
are impossible to meet as aresult, we never celebrate our
good efforts because they seemto be less than what someone
else does.
Close quote, you know, the samecomparison is the thief of joy.
(14:53):
It's also the thief of realwealth, the thief of real worth
I want you to hear, God speakingto you in this verse, I'm going
to share in D&C 67, verse oneand two, behold, and hearken my
child, whose prayers I haveheard whose hearts I know, and
(15:19):
whose desires have come upbefore me.
Behold and lo, my eyes are uponyou, and the heavens and the
earth are in mine hands, and theriches of eternity are mine to
give.
Man, it is wealth to know andbelieve those words.
(15:47):
If our only comparison was howmuch God loved one child to the
next, there would be absolutelynothing to compare.
His love is the same.
And if his love is the same, ourworth is the same, and what we
inherit from him is the same.
(16:08):
In Isaiah 46:16, it says,Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands.
Thy walls are continually beforeme.
Now when he says thy walls, Iwant you to envision the walls
of your home.
That's what he's saying, thatyour circumstances, what is all
(16:33):
around you.
is continually before him.
He is aware of it.
And those words are for everychild of God in any
circumstance.
There is no reason to compare.
To the second point that gets usmixed up about wealth and worth,
(16:57):
hearing and believing the wordsof others more than the words of
God.
Because we lived out in themiddle of nowhere and we did go
to public school, our bus rideswere really long and we were in
assigned seats.
Unfortunately, my spot was nextto one of the meanest kids on
(17:20):
the bus.
He never called me by my name.
Sometimes he would call me brat,annoying, stuck up, always he
would call me dumbo.
I heard these words everymorning and every afternoon for
a year, and they stuck with me.
(17:42):
They stuck with me to the pointthat I wouldn't wear my hair
back in a ponytail until I waswell into my 20s because I
believed what a person said overwhat I saw in the mirror.
Words are powerful.
I believed those words that Iwas annoying.
(18:05):
A brat stuck up so much to thepoint that when I made a friend
who really liked me, I wasalways shocked.
So how do we get rid of thoselies and replace it with truth?
I love the example of Mary, themother of Jesus, when she was
(18:30):
told who she truly was And givenone of the most overwhelming and
beautiful responsibilities ahuman could receive.
She responded, Behold, thehandmaid of the Lord, be it unto
(18:51):
me according to thy word.
Can you hear those words alittle differently?
Breaking that down a little bit.
First, she acknowledged that shewas willing to serve the Lord.
And second, she acknowledgedthat whatever the Lord told her
(19:14):
about who she was, she wouldbelieve, be it unto me according
to thy word, not unto theworld's word, unto the
stranger's word, the neighbor'sword, the family member's word,
unto God's word.
(19:38):
It's helpful to ask ourselves.
Whose word are we believing andliving up to?
Oh, do we ever live in a worldof lies trying to destroy our
identity right now?
President Spencer W.
Kimball said, Seek opportunitiesfor service.
(19:59):
Don't be overly concerned withstatus.
Do you recall the counsel of ourSavior regarding those who seek
the chief seats and theuppermost rooms?
He that is greatest among youshall be your servant.
It is important to beappreciated, but our focus
should be on righteousness, notrecognition, on service, not
(20:23):
status.
No greater recognition can cometo you in this world than to be
known as a woman, and I'll addman, of God, close quote.
To know and believe those wordsfor yourself, that you are a man
or a woman of God, is morepowerful than we realize.
(20:46):
How does it happen?
How do we let God's word changeus?
Jacob 4:9 says, For behold, bythe power of his word, man came
upon the face of the earth,which earth was created by the
power of his word.
Wherefore, if God, being able tospeak, and the world was, and to
(21:07):
speak, and man was created, Othen, why not able to command
the earth or the workmanship ofhis hands upon the face of it,
according to his will andpleasure.
We are the workmanship of hishands.
When we use our agency to accepthis words, that is when change
(21:33):
comes into our lives in Mosiah27:25, it says, and the Lord
said unto me, marvel not thatall mankind, yea, men and women,
all nations, kindreds, tongues,and people must be born again,
yea, born of God, changed fromtheir carnal and fallen state to
(21:56):
a state of righteousness, beingredeemed of God.
becoming his sons and daughters.
In our carnal and fallen state,we are more likely to believe
the lies that the world, theadversary, our own thoughts tell
(22:18):
us, but part of the process ofbeing redeemed of God is
shedding all of those falselabels.
Truly think about what it is tobe his son or daughter.
How did Heavenly Father alwaysrefer to his son?
(22:40):
How did he describe him?
My beloved son.
Here's a mindset that cancompletely change how you see
yourself and thus, how you showup in each day.
It all surrounds owning up.
To own up is to confess, takefull admission, acknowledge,
(23:05):
take responsibility andaccountability for.
Often when we think of owningup, we might think of something
negative we'd rather not admitto, but isn't it interesting
that here's something beautifulthat most people are afraid to
own up to.
Own up to your belovedness.
(23:29):
Why would we rather not admit tosomething as empowering as our
belovedness?
What would happen if we tookfull responsibility for it?
How would each day be different?
How would we show up, use ourtime, react, if we 100 percent
(23:51):
owned up?
To the fact that we are dearlyloved.
Instead, we find it easier toown feelings of not measuring up
or never being enough.
How do we live and act whenthose are the kinds of things we
own up to?
Synonymous with the phrase ownup is the phrase take upon to
(24:16):
take upon is to take theresponsibility for except as a
charge.
Where have we heard this phrase?
We have covenanted to take uponus the name of his son.
To take upon the name of Christis to take upon his
(24:37):
characteristics, including howloved he is.
What if we took ownership of thename of his son, his Beloved
Son?, taking upon us the name ofthe Savior is to take upon us
own up to the reality that weare beloved just like him to
(25:04):
always remember him is to alwaysremember our belovedness.
This is one way to keep one ofthe greatest commandments to
love our neighbor as ourselves,that we may always have his
spirit to be with us.
I can't think of anything moredevoid of the Spirit than when
(25:28):
we own berating thoughts.
On the other hand, nothing ismore peaceful and empowering
than believing in how beloved weare.
As the Father hath loved me, sohave I loved you.
Continue ye in my love.
John 15:9.
(25:50):
There is a beautiful song calledOwn Your Belovedness by Sarah
Kroger, and I'll leave a linkfor it in the show notes.
The message she shares is sopowerful, I want to share a bit
of it here.
She helps us realize how good weare at owning our fear, our self
loathing, the voices in ourhead, our shame, the reproach of
(26:13):
our failure.
We're so good at owning our pastand how it's defined us, owning
everything that everybody elsesays.
We own the mess we see in themirror that isn't even reality.
We own the lies that we aren'tenough.
We blind ourselves by comparing.
(26:36):
It is finally time to hear whatthe Father has spoken.
To own your belovedness.
He says, you're mine.
I smiled when I made you.
I find you beautiful in everyway.
My love for you is fierce andunending.
I'll come to find you, whateverit takes.
(27:01):
Please let beautiful words likethese sink into your soul,
overcome the lies that others,that the adversary, that the
world has told you.
The question I'd like to offeryou this week is to turn to God
and ask him, what do you loveabout me?
(27:25):
Why is it so important for us toknow the answer to that
question?
Because when we don't know ourworth, we seek to fill that void
with the wrong things.
I'll be addressing this topicmore in future episodes.
Let's go back to that quote Igave at the very beginning of
(27:47):
this podcast.
In the context of what we'vejust talked about, your trust in
the Lord must be more powerfuland enduring than your
confidence in your own personalfeelings and experience.
So often the conclusions thatwe've drawn about ourselves from
(28:12):
negative experiences that wehave that are very real to us
are nothing but lies.
But God can replace those withtruth.
We have to extend that trust inhis word, his word about you,
(28:34):
his word for you.
In Mosiah 5:21, it says, I wouldthat ye should remember to
retain the name written alwaysin your hearts, that ye are not
found on the left hand of God,but that ye hear and know the
(28:55):
voice by which ye shall becalled, and also the name by
which he shall call you.
That name is Jesus Christ.
Christ is true wealth.
Christ is true worth.
(29:15):
Christ is hope, smilingbrightly.
Elder Richard G.
Scott said, Your trust in theLord must be more powerful and
enduring than your confidence inyour own personal feelings and
experience.
You are listening to HopeSmiling Brightly.
Thank you so much for joining inagain, and thank you so much for
all of your kind and generousreviews.
(00:21):
Over and over again, I am seeinga similar theme in the reviews
that you leave, and I couldn'tbe happier.
For example.
Thank you for sharing theseincredible stories and giving us
ideas and suggestions for comingunto Christ.
Another one, what a greatperspective on the nature of God
(00:41):
in our lives.
And one more, always pointing usback to Christ.
Thank you for answering the callto be a witness of Christ.
There is no greater complimentto me than You feeling closer to
Christ or feeling the desire tocome to know Christ better after
(01:02):
listening to my podcast.
Your positive ratings andreviews help my podcast reach
more people.
So I really appreciate the timeyou take to rate and review my
podcast.
I am so grateful to be able tohave the time and means to
produce this podcast, but itwouldn't be possible without
(01:24):
Thrive Life.
Thrive Life is the best freezedried food that you can possibly
find with a 25 year shelf life,high quality food, and a
delicious taste.
You cannot put a price tag onpeace of mind and preparedness.
So go to amber.
thrivelife.
(01:45):
com and set up a delivery to get15 percent off retail price and
free shipping on any orders overa hundred dollars.
Ready for another one?
Here we go.
You are listening to episodefour of the Hope Smiling
Brightly podcast, how to findtrue wealth and worth.
(02:09):
Just a side note to add morecontext to the things I'll share
in this podcast.
you may want to listen toepisode three, if you haven't
already.
My parents have always said youcan take the hippie out of the
commune, but you can't take thehippie out of the hippie.
And oh, wasn't that true.
(02:29):
After my parents left thecommune, our home still had all
the makings of a hippie life,With no plumbing and all natural
living.
Outside, you could findchickens, goats, pigs, an
organic garden.
Inside, you could find my mommaking homemade wheat bread in a
(02:50):
wood burning oven.
I really think my mom needs somesort of special award for that.
I'm lucky if I make it to thestore to buy bread these days.
Yeah, I was that kid at schoolthat had the crumbly homemade
wheat bread sandwich staring atthe other kids in envy as they
ate their white rainbow breadwith American cheese and Miracle
(03:14):
Whip.
and bologna.
One day I convinced one of myfriends to just let me try a
bite.
I had never tasted this foreignfood before.
Oh, was it music in my mouth.
When I took that first bite, Iwent home and asked my mom,
please, please, please, if wecould have these foods called
miracle whip and bologna andAmerican cheese and white bread.
(03:39):
My mother was aghast andexplained to me that none of
that was actually real food.
In fact, that cheese wasprobably plastic.
I gave up on my white breaddreams after that.
When I wasn't at school, homelife was always a fun adventure.
Instead of a neat playsetoutside, we had a broken down
(04:00):
station wagon that was the mostawesome Millennium Falcon.
My favorite play set was abroken down Volkswagen bug that
could take me places in myimagination that no running car
could ever go.
And who needs a dinky metalswing set When you had a dad
(04:21):
that was willing to fashiontogether three telephone poles
to make the most epic swing setever, that swing set could rival
some Disney rides.
We could get so high on thatswing set.
And I'm talking about the goodkind of high here.
But along with that hippielifestyle was family home
(04:44):
evening and scripture study andchurch every single Sunday.
We truly loved our lives.
But there was one small problem.
The area we lived in wasbecoming increasingly popular,
and actually a little hoitytoity.
And that just wasn't for myparents.
(05:05):
They cared more about being outin nature, and the beauty of
open space, than a nice home.
So they started asking aroundand some hippie friends that had
moved out into the mountainstold them about some land and a
small home that had just come upfor sale right near them.
(05:27):
It was a 1000 square foot houseon 26 acres of beautiful
forested land.
And well, it came at a greatdeal because the former owner
was a drug dealer and had beensadly murdered in a drug deal
gone wrong.
(05:48):
But that didn't stop my parentsfrom turning this place into
their home..
They wanted their children tolive an adventure, and oh, was
it ever.
Eight miles of dirt road, andthe final mile before you got to
our house.
I don't even know if it wouldqualify for a road.
(06:09):
It was just two ruts, and ofcourse, us kids who never were
in seatbelts, loved seeing howhigh we could bounce around in
the back of the car as we drovedown that road.
The home had a well and anoutdoor spigot.
But once again, no plumbing andno electricity.
(06:31):
We couldn't even get electricityif we wanted to.
There were no electrical lines.
None of the homes in that valleyhad any electricity.
The home was a simple rectanglewith a loft.
There was a greenhouse where theformer owner used to grow his
weed, but we ripped that out,and over time, the house morphed
(06:55):
into whatever our needs were,adding a room here, a room
there, a room in the back, aroom above.
It definitely was a piecemealhouse, but it fit our needs.
By this time, there were six ofus.
Much of our time was spenthiking, playing made up games,
(07:18):
riding a bike when there was onethat didn't have a flat tire,
building forts, and, myfavorite, hunting Rattlesnake.
And yes, we had to eat whateverwe hunted.
If anyone has told you thatRattlesnake tastes like chicken,
they're lying.
(07:39):
It tastes more like rubber.
For heating, there was a woodburning stove.
We had a gas refrigerator sothat we could keep our food
cold.
For cooling, well, just open awindow or go outside.
For light, we had these tall,skinny propane tanks that a gas
(08:01):
lantern would sit on top of,that we would turn on at night.
And if we were lucky, every nowand then, the flashlights had
batteries that weren't dead.
For clean clothes, we would goto the laundromat once a week,
but save a few quarters bybringing the wet clothes home
and hanging them on the line todry.
(08:21):
In the summers, I loved workingwith my mom in our outdoor
kitchen.
We would cook many of our mealsover a fire pit, then we'd heat
up water to wash the dishes.
We were basically camping.
And as kids, we loved it.
For bathing, we'd also heat upthat water and sponge bath, or
(08:46):
at one point, my dad got thegenius idea to get a horse
trough and fill it up withwater, build a fire underneath
it, and we would all take turnsbathing.
I didn't love that because I wasone of the youngest which meant
I got one of the last baths.
But the real treat about once aweek, we would all load up in
(09:06):
the car and drive into town andshower at the local KOA.
I loved that.
I know that the life my parentschose is not the life that most
people would choose.
In fact, it was probably prettyodd to most people.
But for them, their life wasreal wealth.
(09:31):
Their life was real worth,because they knew Christ,
because they had family andfriends that they loved and
served.
So I'm going to ask you, what doyou use to gauge wealth and
worth?
We all do this, whether werealize it Or not.
(09:54):
You're going to laugh at what Ithought was wealth and worth as
a little girl.
For me, in our wealthy life, myfavorite part was getting to be
outdoors in nature so much.
My least favorite part washaving to go to the bathroom in
(10:15):
said outdoors.
I.
hated not having a toilet.
I loathed going to the bathroomin an outhouse, even though my
dad was nice enough to paint itfluorescent green so that we
could see it in the middle ofthe night.
I disliked it so much that whenI realized most of my friends
(10:38):
had toilets in their houses, Iwas so jealous, but really, I
thought, wow, you have to bepretty special if you have a
toilet in your house.
And I knew they had to be veryrich.
(10:59):
In reality, we lived in a veryhumble area.
Most people lived in mobilehomes.
But from my perspective, atoilet was wealth.
A toilet was worth.
I remember hearing about a girlwhose family recently got a
double wide mobile home andrumor had it, not only did she
(11:23):
have a toilet in the house, Butshe had a toilet right in her
bedroom.
I wasn't sure if I believed thatwas quite true.
So I'm here to tell you, righthere and right now, if you have
a toilet in your house, I thinkyou are pretty darn amazing.
(11:44):
And man, if my husband only knewwhen he was trying to convince
me to marry him, that all he hadto say is, Hey, if you marry me,
I promise you a toilet insideright next to the bedroom.
That's all it would have taken.
But isn't it interesting how ourperspectives form how we
(12:10):
determine worth and wealth?
Really, we all have our silly if thens.
If we would take the time to sitdown and analyze,"What am I
determining worth by and wealthby?" We'd actually kind of laugh
(12:31):
at ourselves.
If I have so many kids, if Ihave a particular calling, if
I've been invited to somethingspecial, if I have so many likes
on Facebook, All these ifs thatwe think then determine the
(12:54):
wealth and worth of our life.
And really, they're as silly asme thinking that a toilet made
somebody worthy.
In reality, there is only one ifthen that is true and matters.
If you are a child of God, thenyou are of infinite worth.
(13:21):
So how do we get the source ofwealth and worth so mixed up?
I believe there are two mainreasons, and I want to talk a
little bit about them with youtoday.
The first one is we like tocompare.
The second We tend to listen towords of the world more than we
(13:48):
listen to the words of God.
Let's talk a little bit aboutcomparison.
What have we decided that wehave to have in our lives to
have joy?
Elder Uctdorf said God is fullyaware that you and I are not
(14:10):
perfect.
Let me add.
God is also fully aware that thepeople you think are perfect.
are not.
And yet we spend so much timeand energy comparing ourselves
to others, usually comparing ourweaknesses to their strengths.
(14:30):
This drives us to createexpectations for ourselves that
are impossible to meet as aresult, we never celebrate our
good efforts because they seemto be less than what someone
else does.
Close quote, you know, the samecomparison is the thief of joy.
(14:53):
It's also the thief of realwealth, the thief of real worth
I want you to hear, God speakingto you in this verse, I'm going
to share in D&C 67, verse oneand two, behold, and hearken my
child, whose prayers I haveheard whose hearts I know, and
(15:19):
whose desires have come upbefore me.
Behold and lo, my eyes are uponyou, and the heavens and the
earth are in mine hands, and theriches of eternity are mine to
give.
Man, it is wealth to know andbelieve those words.
(15:47):
If our only comparison was howmuch God loved one child to the
next, there would be absolutelynothing to compare.
His love is the same.
And if his love is the same, ourworth is the same, and what we
inherit from him is the same.
(16:08):
In Isaiah 46:16, it says,Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands.
Thy walls are continually beforeme.
Now when he says thy walls, Iwant you to envision the walls
of your home.
That's what he's saying, thatyour circumstances, what is all
(16:33):
around you.
is continually before him.
He is aware of it.
And those words are for everychild of God in any
circumstance.
There is no reason to compare.
To the second point that gets usmixed up about wealth and worth,
(16:57):
hearing and believing the wordsof others more than the words of
God.
Because we lived out in themiddle of nowhere and we did go
to public school, our bus rideswere really long and we were in
assigned seats.
Unfortunately, my spot was nextto one of the meanest kids on
(17:20):
the bus.
He never called me by my name.
Sometimes he would call me brat,annoying, stuck up, always he
would call me dumbo.
I heard these words everymorning and every afternoon for
a year, and they stuck with me.
(17:42):
They stuck with me to the pointthat I wouldn't wear my hair
back in a ponytail until I waswell into my 20s because I
believed what a person said overwhat I saw in the mirror.
Words are powerful.
I believed those words that Iwas annoying.
(18:05):
A brat stuck up so much to thepoint that when I made a friend
who really liked me, I wasalways shocked.
So how do we get rid of thoselies and replace it with truth?
I love the example of Mary, themother of Jesus, when she was
(18:30):
told who she truly was And givenone of the most overwhelming and
beautiful responsibilities ahuman could receive.
She responded, Behold, thehandmaid of the Lord, be it unto
(18:51):
me according to thy word.
Can you hear those words alittle differently?
Breaking that down a little bit.
First, she acknowledged that shewas willing to serve the Lord.
And second, she acknowledgedthat whatever the Lord told her
(19:14):
about who she was, she wouldbelieve, be it unto me according
to thy word, not unto theworld's word, unto the
stranger's word, the neighbor'sword, the family member's word,
unto God's word.
(19:38):
It's helpful to ask ourselves.
Whose word are we believing andliving up to?
Oh, do we ever live in a worldof lies trying to destroy our
identity right now?
President Spencer W.
Kimball said, Seek opportunitiesfor service.
(19:59):
Don't be overly concerned withstatus.
Do you recall the counsel of ourSavior regarding those who seek
the chief seats and theuppermost rooms?
He that is greatest among youshall be your servant.
It is important to beappreciated, but our focus
should be on righteousness, notrecognition, on service, not
(20:23):
status.
No greater recognition can cometo you in this world than to be
known as a woman, and I'll addman, of God, close quote.
To know and believe those wordsfor yourself, that you are a man
or a woman of God, is morepowerful than we realize.
(20:46):
How does it happen?
How do we let God's word changeus?
Jacob 4:9 says, For behold, bythe power of his word, man came
upon the face of the earth,which earth was created by the
power of his word.
Wherefore, if God, being able tospeak, and the world was, and to
(21:07):
speak, and man was created, Othen, why not able to command
the earth or the workmanship ofhis hands upon the face of it,
according to his will andpleasure.
We are the workmanship of hishands.
When we use our agency to accepthis words, that is when change
(21:33):
comes into our lives in Mosiah27:25, it says, and the Lord
said unto me, marvel not thatall mankind, yea, men and women,
all nations, kindreds, tongues,and people must be born again,
yea, born of God, changed fromtheir carnal and fallen state to
(21:56):
a state of righteousness, beingredeemed of God.
becoming his sons and daughters.
In our carnal and fallen state,we are more likely to believe
the lies that the world, theadversary, our own thoughts tell
(22:18):
us, but part of the process ofbeing redeemed of God is
shedding all of those falselabels.
Truly think about what it is tobe his son or daughter.
How did Heavenly Father alwaysrefer to his son?
(22:40):
How did he describe him?
My beloved son.
Here's a mindset that cancompletely change how you see
yourself and thus, how you showup in each day.
It all surrounds owning up.
To own up is to confess, takefull admission, acknowledge,
(23:05):
take responsibility andaccountability for.
Often when we think of owningup, we might think of something
negative we'd rather not admitto, but isn't it interesting
that here's something beautifulthat most people are afraid to
own up to.
Own up to your belovedness.
(23:29):
Why would we rather not admit tosomething as empowering as our
belovedness?
What would happen if we tookfull responsibility for it?
How would each day be different?
How would we show up, use ourtime, react, if we 100 percent
(23:51):
owned up?
To the fact that we are dearlyloved.
Instead, we find it easier toown feelings of not measuring up
or never being enough.
How do we live and act whenthose are the kinds of things we
own up to?
Synonymous with the phrase ownup is the phrase take upon to
(24:16):
take upon is to take theresponsibility for except as a
charge.
Where have we heard this phrase?
We have covenanted to take uponus the name of his son.
To take upon the name of Christis to take upon his
(24:37):
characteristics, including howloved he is.
What if we took ownership of thename of his son, his Beloved
Son?, taking upon us the name ofthe Savior is to take upon us
own up to the reality that weare beloved just like him to
(25:04):
always remember him is to alwaysremember our belovedness.
This is one way to keep one ofthe greatest commandments to
love our neighbor as ourselves,that we may always have his
spirit to be with us.
I can't think of anything moredevoid of the Spirit than when
(25:28):
we own berating thoughts.
On the other hand, nothing ismore peaceful and empowering
than believing in how beloved weare.
As the Father hath loved me, sohave I loved you.
Continue ye in my love.
John 15:9.
(25:50):
There is a beautiful song calledOwn Your Belovedness by Sarah
Kroger, and I'll leave a linkfor it in the show notes.
The message she shares is sopowerful, I want to share a bit
of it here.
She helps us realize how good weare at owning our fear, our self
loathing, the voices in ourhead, our shame, the reproach of
(26:13):
our failure.
We're so good at owning our pastand how it's defined us, owning
everything that everybody elsesays.
We own the mess we see in themirror that isn't even reality.
We own the lies that we aren'tenough.
We blind ourselves by comparing.
(26:36):
It is finally time to hear whatthe Father has spoken.
To own your belovedness.
He says, you're mine.
I smiled when I made you.
I find you beautiful in everyway.
My love for you is fierce andunending.
I'll come to find you, whateverit takes.
(27:01):
Please let beautiful words likethese sink into your soul,
overcome the lies that others,that the adversary, that the
world has told you.
The question I'd like to offeryou this week is to turn to God
and ask him, what do you loveabout me?
(27:25):
Why is it so important for us toknow the answer to that
question?
Because when we don't know ourworth, we seek to fill that void
with the wrong things.
I'll be addressing this topicmore in future episodes.
Let's go back to that quote Igave at the very beginning of
(27:47):
this podcast.
In the context of what we'vejust talked about, your trust in
the Lord must be more powerfuland enduring than your
confidence in your own personalfeelings and experience.
So often the conclusions thatwe've drawn about ourselves from
(28:12):
negative experiences that wehave that are very real to us
are nothing but lies.
But God can replace those withtruth.
We have to extend that trust inhis word, his word about you,
(28:34):
his word for you.
In Mosiah 5:21, it says, I wouldthat ye should remember to
retain the name written alwaysin your hearts, that ye are not
found on the left hand of God,but that ye hear and know the
(28:55):
voice by which ye shall becalled, and also the name by
which he shall call you.
That name is Jesus Christ.
Christ is true wealth.
Christ is true worth.
(29:15):
Christ is hope, smilingbrightly.
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