Another book I'm going to need, and my birthday has passed...

Well I'm in a pickle of a jam of a mess now with the wife now, but that is what this new book is all about so we're OK. (she wants a piano and I'm ready to let her get one upon her coming up with a plan to budget it without missing a Tithing payment or starving)

oh book..... OK TEASER for "Digging Deeper" by Robert Eaton

Elder John Groberg has pointed out, “An experienced
sailor does not fear storms or heavy seas, for they contain the
lifeblood of sailing—wind. What experienced sailors fear is no wind,
or being becalmed!”1 Though the wind might create terrifyingly tall
waves, the lack of wind creates another truly mortifying danger: stagnancy.
Without wind, there would have been no progress toward
land, resulting eventually in a slow and painful death, stranded at sea.

Wind is not invariably the sailor’s friend. Without proper training,
skill, and equipment, the same winds that help some sail can sink
others. The Lord underscored this fact to the brother of Jared. He
explained the conditions he would encounter would be so challenging
that “ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the
waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the
floods which shall come” (Ether 2:25; emphasis added).
Similarly, affliction does not guarantee sanctification. As Anne
Morrow Lindbergh has observed, “If suffering alone taught, all the
world would be wise, since everyone suffers.”2 In fact, the same trials
and tribulations that draw some closer to the Lord can drive others
away from the Lord. In a poignant aside near the end of the Book of
Alma, Mormon notes one example of the double-edged sword
of adversity:
"But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war
between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened,
because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were
softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble
themselves before God, even in the depth of humility" (Alma 62:41;
emphasis added).
In other words, as Elder Dallin H. Oaks notes, the issue is not
whether we will have adversity in our lives but what role we will let
adversity play: “Adversity will be a constant or occasional companion
for each of us throughout our lives. We cannot avoid it. The only
question is how we will react to it. Will our adversities be stumbling
blocks or stepping-stones?”

Asking for help is What enables people to remain in positive territory
so that their afflictions will help them become better rather than
bitter toward God? Book of Mormon prophets give us several suggestions,
perhaps none more direct than Jacob’s: “Look unto God with
firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will
console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send
down justice upon those who seek your destruction” (Jacob 3:1).
Jacob’s message is consistent with the Lord’s object lesson centuries
earlier to the Jaredites: without God’s help, they could never hope to
cross the great deep (Ether 2:25). Similarly, without divine assistance,
we cannot withstand some of the mountain waves of affliction we will
encounter in this life. Seeking God’s aid in times of affliction is
certainly one key to enduring well.

Enlightened expectations. A second key to avoiding bitterness is
having realistic expectations about how the Lord is likely to help us.
The Lord promised Jacob that He would eventually bring down justice
upon his enemies. But the more immediate blessing was divine
comfort rather than elimination of opposition—which is, after all, necessary
in all things (see 2 Nephi 2:11). When we are drowning in a
sea of afflictions, God is more likely to throw us a rope than to drain
the sea. For example, when the people of Alma the Elder became subject
to the vengeful Amulon, the Lord “did strengthen them that they
could bear up their burdens with ease” (Mosiah 24:15). Eventually he
lifted their heavy loads, but initially he simply strengthened their
backs. Thus, the spiritually mature, like Alma, pray for strength to
endure their trials: “O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have
strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall
come upon me” (Alma 31:31). Those who expect more immediate
relief may find themselves frustrated with and, eventually, embittered
toward God.

...

In my own season of greatest trial and most effective prayer, I
remember praying to Heavenly Father for a particular blessing. Like
millions of people throughout the world, my mother was suffering the
tragic effects of a disease similar to Alzheimer’s, which robbed her
mind of its usual powers of clear thinking. Kneeling in prayer, I pled
with the Lord not to remove the illness but to alter and mitigate the
nature of the delusions from which she suffered. Almost immediately
the answer came that I was praying for the wrong thing. I was given
to know that the nature of her difficult delusions would not change
and that I needed to pray instead for strength for her and our family to
be able to cope with this particular trial.
...
After wondering what my mother was supposed to be getting
out of years of dying slowly and losing her mental faculties, it finally
occurred to me that she probably wasn’t being tested any longer. My
guess was that she’d already passed her test in life with flying colors.
But those of us who loved her and who needed to serve her in these
difficult circumstances were still being tested, and I, for one, wasn’t
doing too well on the test. When I stopped asking, “Why this disease?
Why my mother?” and started asking, “What wouldst thou have me
learn from this experience?” I began to feel refined rather than burned
by the trying situation.



Yeah that was it, pretty good. I'll need to read the rest of my teaser which Deseret Book sent me, and then find a way to go buy me a copy... or check it out from the library as my mom always tells me to do first. ... Thanks Mom perhaps I'll do that this time .. .. maybe ;P

PS to Julie (wife) that last part might be good for your family (slash brother)?