Lifevision – All About Becoming

I AM

This is a great image I posted on facebook. I thought it ironic since I had just listened to TWO talks on this the night before. (Sometimes I think someone is trying to get a message to me.) ;o) Let me share these talks and what I learned from this and how powerful the words are that you are saying.

First, Dallin H. Oaks was speaking on what it means as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ to testify of His NAME. He talked about Moses at the burning bush. Moses asked the Lord, “who should I tell them sent me?” A Jewish Rabbi gave Elder Oaks some insight into this particular scripture (the Name of Christ – I AM.) He told Elder Oaks that anciently, the name of a person was the essence or nature of a person, not the “label” like it is today. Moses was saying, “what are you made up of?” What is your nature? It was simply “The nature of God” that he was trying to find out about. The word essence comes from the French (or Greek ?) derivative of “essen” which means essential. The Lord answered him by saying, “I AM.” This Rabbi explained that anciently when they changed their “essence,” they changed their name—Abram/Abraham, Sariah/Sarah, Jacob/Israel. If you are a witness of the name of Christ, in that sense, you are a witness of the NATURE of Christ. When you see me, you will know me because you will become like I am. His atonement sets us toward Him and exaltation.

I thought this interesting because I always thought Moses was wondering if it really was the Lord, but with this definition, I learned that is was quite more than that. I also learned that when one changes their nature or disposition (the essence of who they are), then their name was changed, too. Had me thinking about new names for those whose lives become more pure and why they changed them. Saul became Paul after a mighty change. Is that so good things would be associated with his new name? When a woman marries, she takes on her husband’s last name (at least in America) and that con-notates a change. Interesting to think about what you have done with your current name.

As I came home that night, my good husband said he had recorded a show on PBS for me. (Video below) It was Wayne Dyer. And at some point in the show, he started talking about Moses being at the burning bush and asking the Lord, “who shall I say sent me?” The Lord answered, “My name is I AM that I AM.”

“Now every single time that you use the words, ‘I AM,’ you are citing the name of God right from the holiest books. And every time you say the words, ‘I am weak. I am poor. I am unlucky. I am unhappy. I am sick. I am unable to attract into my life what you want; you are desecrating the name of God. God did not say, ‘I will be. My name is ‘I hope things will work out well.’ My name is ‘maybe things will show up as I wanted, but possibly not. ‘ He said, ‘I AM that I AM.’ You must be conscious of how you use these words, ‘I am.’ I am strong. I am well. I am content. Even if your senses tell you something different. I AM……You’ll see that putting the words ‘I Am’ in front of something into your mind and imagination is a very powerful way to attract into your life recognizing your own divinity. I am God is not blaspheme. It is your identity.”

This brought me to tears. Here I had first heard an Apostle of the Lord testifying of the name of Jesus Christ– The Great I AM. Then I heard this and understood for the first time, that my own thoughts and words of self-deprecation were not just tearing down me, but were tearing down My Lord, My Savior, My Brother that I love so dearly. How could I have done this? How could I continually tear myself down and Him, too? I was heart broken. I would not hurt My Lord, but I would hurt myself. I had never made the connection that if I was hurt, He was, too. I vowed to watch my thoughts and language from here on out. I found some renewed hope.

And then a bright light came into my mind. In my lifevision, I have a whole closing paragraph that is all “I am” statements. I began to rejoice that I had spent that time to write my lifevision and try to think of all the things I wanted to be or believed deep down that I was, by stating all kinds of “I am” phrases, such as: I am kind. I am tolerant. I am Christlike. I am a good mother. etc etc.

The next morning as I was running and listening to my lifevision, this particular paragraph (that I wrote as a closing) actually comes up as the first one I listen to. I set it to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus so it would be powerful. I was nearly in tears as I ran realizing that I was not only trying to become what I had written, but that I was glorifying God. I listened and ran with a renewed, light, uplifted heart. It had a whole new meaning.

I hope that after reading this, you will also think and ponder about what you say and THINK about yourself. What words do you hear in your head? “I am fat. I am ugly. I am not good enough.” Because you ARE and your are HIS, and He paid a dear dear price for you.

Here is the Wayne Dyer video in full. It is long, but OH SO GOOD!! Well worth the time!

Journals, goals, and Lifevisions

A year or so ago, I had a powerful aha about writing, journaling and goals. I was reading in the scriptures in Revelation 20:12 where it says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

I was struck by the phrase “judged out of those things which were written in the books.” I began wondering if my journaling and the things I am writing down are those things that I will truly be judged by. I thought, that if that was the case, I was going to write some GOOD STUFF!! Of course, the remainder of the sentence says that judgment will also come from our works. I believe that both of these are true.

As a teacher and life coach, I understand on a huge level the subconscious mind and how it works. I also remember when I started Leslie Householder’s Family Time and Money Freedom home study course. The first thing we were told was that we were to keep a journal and that there were rules to this journal. The rules were that we had to keep things as positive as possible. If we were having a struggle that we were documenting, then we had to make sure that at the end, we showed the upside or resolution to our problem. The reason for this is really in the basic law of attraction—you get what you think about and ask for and when you put something on paper, it commits you on a deeper level to “getting what you want.” This is why the guru’s out there always tell you that you HAVE to WRITE your goals down. What you write down, comes to pass.

So if you are journaling and writing the “book of your life,” wouldn’t you want it to be a GOOD, uplifting book? And if you know that what you write down leads to actions or “works,” then you really should be writing good things down and taking a positive spin.

If you’ve written it down, and your works follow suit, then your judgment will be a sweet occasion. I liked that. I thought, “Man, I’m gonna write some GOOD THINGS down! I’m going to have a great life to be judged by!” And the truth is that most of us journal what has already happened—we are writing down what “works” we have already done. So document all the good stuff you ARE doing and the good stuff you WANT to do. I think it will have some great eternal consequences, based on this scripture.

When I learned about Lifevision, I realized how much more powerful this scripture is. We truly can create the life we vision—the life we dream about! For more info on Lifevision, you can click HERE.

I did come across some other scriptures that back this one up. They are found in the LDS Scriptures of the Book of Mormon and also in the Doctrine and Covenants. For those interested in more validation, they are listed below:

2 Nephi 29:11

For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

· 3 Nephi 27:25

For behold, out of the books which have been written, and which shall be written, shall this people be judged, for by them shall their works be known unto men.

· Doctrine and Covenants 128:6

And further, I want you to remember that John the Revelator was contemplating this very subject in relation to the dead, when he declared, as you will find recorded in Revelation 20:12—And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

· Doctrine and Covenants 128:7

You will discover in this quotation that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; but the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on the earth. And the book which was the book of life is the record which is kept in heaven; the principle agreeing precisely with the doctrine which is commanded you in the revelation contained in the letter which I wrote to you previous to my leaving my place—that in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven.

Interesting here that Joseph Smith is actually quoting the scripture from the Book of Revelation as he explains this.

Got Vision?

I have been thinking about having vision (or a dream or a goal) again. I wrote recently about bucket lists and the gal who said that she didn’t dream of “bucket lists” because they had to no money, so there was no reason to think about it. I woke up this morning and had this thought pop into my head, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Prov 29:18

Isn’t that interesting to think about. When we have no vision or goal, we perish. It’s true and part of what I was trying to describe in the “bucket list” post. Without a goal or direction, we lose hope and become depressed. We don’t look forward. We go through motions, but for what? We must have something to keep us moving forward. If we didn’t want to reach the peak and see the vistas and majesty of beauty, we would never climb the mountain. And climbing the mountain isn’t easy, but getting to the top and reaching the goal is indescribable. If we set our goals low and decide that we can’t go to the top of the mountain, but only part way up, we will never feel the “high” of accomplishment and we will never know the grandeur of the view from the top. How many people do you know that have no vision or dream or goal? Are they perishing? Are they going through the motions? Do they feel hopeless and in despair?

An interesting side note to this that popped into my mind along with the scripture is this: The prophets were considered “visionaries” as well. They would receive visions of what their people should do and also of things to come. When the prophets were rejected and considered “crazy,” the people would not listen and obey and then they would perish. How many times did the children of Israel become captive and taken away or put into bondage? This usually came about because they quit listening to the prophet. They took their sites off Christ.

Did you catch that? They took their sites off Christ. They weren’t looking to Him anymore. They weren’t living the commandments. Their goals and focus were on idols and money and power. They didn’t listen to the prophets. (Listening to the prophet is looking to Christ because they are His mouthpiece.) I have pondered this in my own life. When I just go about wanting “things” but have not set my sites on the Savior and following Him, my life really lacks vision. It becomes greedy and selfish. But when I focus on Christ and how He lived and how I can follow His example, then things seem to change for me. For example, I love to travel because I love to meet people from all over the world. I love learning about new cultures and lives. And what I love most is to see how, no matter where I go in the world, there are really good people who are basically trying to live good lives and love their families. When I want to travel for myself, I don’t get as much out of my trips. So one thing I try to do when I travel is see if there is any good I can do when I go. I always try to find a church to attend if I am traveling on Sunday. Then I try to contact someone in that church and see if there is anything we can do for them when we come. We have been able to bring clothing, scriptures, and do humanitarian projects on some of our trips because of that. It’s a very simple thing, but it brings so much joy AND it helps me to meet the people and get to know them. I have developed some great friendships with many of these people.

So have a vision. Have a dream. Have a goal. But keep Christ as your main goal and focus, then all the others will fall into place. One way to keep Christ in focus is that we live the commandments and laws. When we do this, we can reach our goals, but do it correctly. The last line in Proverbs 29:18 says, “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” When we have a vision and we live the commandments, we will truly be happy.

Got vision? You bet!

1/14/12