Listen

I was given some of the best advice. Stop trying so hard to "connect" and just listen. It is in the listening to what is calling you that you find connection to heaven, to the divine. So that is what I have been doing. And it is amazing. I believe we often try to control our experiences. We try to shape and create what WE want. We are creators, but heaven cannot get through to is if we are in "control". We have to surrender, be present, listen to hear what is being offered to us. This has changed my life. When I take a few minutes to just listen, stilling the mind, and listening to that inner voice, not expecting a certain outcome, I have found that God can speak to me. 

And then I found this quote that describes what listening is. And I love it. 

"To listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really knowing what we will hear or what that will mean. In the practice of our days, to listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear."

Mark Nepo

Declaration of MY Independence

I am free to choose. 

I am free to choose love. 

I am free to choose to follow Christs voice, or any other voice. 

I am free to choose how I treat myself and others in every situation. 

I am free to choose to ascend the path of eternal progression, or fail in my purpose. 

I am free to choose true refuge in Christ, or false refuge in anything else. 

I am free to choose to yield my heart to God and be sanctified, or to close my heart and remain damned. 

I am free to choose the seemingly uncomfortable truth, or seemingly comfortable lies. 

I am free to choose to believe in and have faith in Christ, or to believ in and have faith in man. 

I am free to choose to seek Christ, or seek anything else. 

I am free to choose to attach myself unyieldingly to Christ, or to attach myself to anything else. 

I am free to choose love over all other competing ways of living, feeling, being, and thinking. 

I am free to choose to identify with my divine identity, or to identify with false identities. 

I am free to choose to remain in darkness, or to seek the light. 

I  free to choose liberty and eternal life, or captivity and death. 

I AM FREE TO CHOOSE REGARDLESS OF MY CIRCUMSTANCES. MY AGENCY IS GOD GIVEN AND CANNOT BE TAKEN BY MAN OR CIRCUMSTANCE. A  MAN OR WOMAN MAY BE IN CHAINS OUTWARDLY, BUT BE FREE AS A BIRD WITHIN. WHY? BECAUSE CHRIST PROVIDED US THE ABILITY, THE CAPACITY, THE OPTION TO CHOOSE. WITHOUT HIS PERFECT SACRIFICE WE COULD NOT CHOOSE LIFE. WE WOUKD NOT EVEN HAVE THE OPTION, BUT WOUKD BE DAMNED ETERNALLY. BECAUSE OF HIM, I AM FREE. FREE TO CHOOSE. FREE FROM THE EFFECTS OF SIN AND DARKNESS.

I CHOOSE TO BE INDEPENDENT OF ALL THAT IS NOT ALIGNED WITH CHRIST. I CHOOSE TO BE INDEPENDENT FROM ALL THAT IS NOT IN HARMONY WITH GODLINESS. 

Alma's Formula

Positive change in our lives only comes when we are humble, open, willing to receive and do what The Lord offers and asks us to do. If we are open, then his spirit can work in us, making us like HIM, humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love? And long suffering. We can't fake that. But we can gain that by humbling ourselves before The Lord. Alma gives the direct, and clear formula:

"But that ye would humble yourselves before The Lord , and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love, and all long suffering." Alma 13:28