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Saturday, June 18, 2016

Grateful for Answered Prayers

So I had a long talk with Kris Thursday morning. Earlier that morning when Vic went out to get in his car, he found a small folded piece of burnt paper with a bent paperclip that had apparently fallen out of Kris's car. It had a slightly familiar smell, like cigarette smoke but different. I was pretty sure it was a roach - a small makeshift device for smoking marijuana. I mulled it over in my mind, how to talk to him about it without putting him in a position where he felt like he had to lie. Before he came out to leave for work, I'd been studying some on the talk that Vic and I have been assigned for his High Priest assignment on Sunday, Be Not Afraid, Only Believe, by President Uchtdorf. 
So when Kris came out of his room, all ready to leave, I said, "Um, Kris, I need to ask you a question: What is that?" pointing to the roach. He went over an picked it up, kind of "Um"-ing, and didn't' turn around. I said, "Kris?" and sort of tugged on his shirt. He finally turned around and kind of resignedly said, "It is what it is. It's resin." Meaning the leftovers from having smoked pot.
So we got talking, and he said how he was really glad to finally sort of be forced to come clean with us, but there hadn't been the right time before. He was honestly relieved. 
We talked for a long time about lifestyles, like what he wants vs what we'd like for him. He saw no conflict between having a testimony of the church, and leading the lifestyle he wants, which is drinking when he wants, smoking the occasional joint, etc. I said that if he really had a testimony (which he has actually borne in testimony a few years ago), there would be an emotional and/or spiritual connect with that and wanting to live the gospel and take on behaviors that would bring him closer to his Heavenly Father, etc. He said how he really doesn't want to give up that much control of his own life. (Boy, did I fight THAT battle for years!) I said yeah, that can be pretty scary, and we talked a little about that famous scene in the third Indiana Jones where Indi had to step out from that ledge, even though he could see nothing to step ONTO, and how faith is like that. 
Then the talk I'd been studying came to mind, and I said, "You don't have to do it all at once. Baby steps! All you have to have is a tiny desire to even have a tiny desire!" 
We'd by then pretty much exhausted what needed to be talked about, and he said he didn't know what do do now, (not life-wise so much as right there in the living room.) I said how before at times in his life, when he was at odds as to which direction to go, I'd challenged him to ask Heavenly Father where he could be the most useful with his amazing talents, and to read the Book of Mormon. I challenged him again to read the Book of Mormon 15 minutes a day, asking every page or two whether a man could have written it by himself. He said, "I can do that." So he accepted the challenge.
Now Kris sometimes says the nice thing that he's expected to say, with no real FEELING of the commitment of following through, but it's a start. He said he'd sign into LDS.org to find the Book of Mormon and read on his phone. Please remember his in your prayers and your fasts.
After he left, I was like, WOW, does Heavenly Father answer prayers! Studying THAT talk, right THEN, was so great!
Then, later that day, Matt called, and was finally signed into FamilySearch! Months and months I've been telling him and Lilian about how much great spirit it can bring into our homes and our lives, and the protections against the adversary, etc. So Matt's really into the histories that he can find. He read a lot about Hans Olaus Sorenson, and is eager to learn more about Grandpa Heber & Mabel...and I had almost nothing to tell him about them!  That's why I went on the famlet asking for stories & memories about them, but no one has responded.

1 comment:

  1. To my knowledge, Kris hasn't even picked up his scriptures, or downloaded them onto his phone, or made any effort to keep his commitment. "I can do that" is not the same as "I will do that." sigh.

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