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Choose Decide What to Do with the Time You're Given — Agency and Adversity · ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine that you are carrying something you never asked to carry.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't volunteer for the burden.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't choose the circumstances.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't ask for the responsibility.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, somehow it landed in your hands.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: You look around and wonder why your life has become so difficult.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: You wonder why God would allow you to face something you don't feel prepared to handle.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is Todd Talk, Spirit by Design, where I help you design your spiritual life in order to help prepare you for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about those opening lines.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: But first I wanted to talk a little bit, real quick, about this amazing event I was at this weekend.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: We were spiritually fed, we were financially fed, mastermind.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was amazing.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Expansion.com.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot recommend highly enough.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's becoming Divine Tree, like Divine Tree without the E.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it is an amazing coaching group that I'm a part of.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: That it helps me to see and believe in abundance of faith, family, fitness, and finances, and it's just amazing.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So on that note, getting back to difficulties, right?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, you look around and wonder why your life has become so difficult.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Why would God allow you to face things that you don't think you can handle?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: In the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo reaches a point where he wishes the circumstances of his life were different.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I wish the letter happened.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So do all who live to see such time, but that is not for them to decide.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: There are other forces at work in this world, besides the lead evil.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: That is more than a movie line.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: When Gandalf says, so do all who live to see such times.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But that is not for them to decide.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it raises a question every disciple eventually has to answer.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do when the life you have is not the life you would have chosen?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So stop wishing for a different battlefield.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first idea.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Frodo didn't choose the ring.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't choose the responsibility of carrying it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: But once the responsibility came, he had a decision to make.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: We cannot control the decisions other people make, the trials that enter our lives, the difficulties that come with mortality, the timing of God's answers, or every circumstance surrounding our responsibilities.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: But we can control how we respond.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, earlier I did an episode of DNC 122, Joseph Smith's Suffering in Liberty Jail, and the Lord's instruction that adversity can provide us experience.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's DNC 122, 7 through 9.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: In 2 Nephi 2, verse 26 and 27, we learn that we are free to act and not merely to be acted upon.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And in Joshua 24, 15, we read that choose you this day whom ye will serve.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we spend so much time arguing with the circumstances of our lives or what's going on that we never get around to actually fulfilling our responsibilities.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: We sit in the cockpit complaining about the weather instead of flying the airplane.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when I was in the desert.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: In Iraq.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: If we sat and complained about the heat, we'd never get off the ground because it was 180 degrees recorded on the flight deck for an hour before, or two or three before we would get off the ground, before our air conditioners would work.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And if all we did was complain about the heat, we'd die of heat stroke.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: As pilots, we know that we cannot control the weather.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: We can, however, control our decisions, our preparation, our aircraft, and our response to changing conditions.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: The same principle principle applies spiritually.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Another idea is that the burden that you carry may be preparing you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now I've had this thought for the last while.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Quite a while.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Frodo's burden was not evidence that he had been abandoned.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: It became the setting in which his character, courage, and commitment were tested.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: For me, I thought about this a lot because for the last, well, seven years ago, I was in constant back pain and it lasted for five and a half years.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Constant back pain.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: It would range from a two to a seven on the pain scale out of ten, but it was constant.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I questioned why me?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the thoughts came to me of why not me?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because who was I becoming because of the burden I had to carry?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can tell you one thing, it made me turn to the Lord a whole lot more.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: In prayer, in being able to receive revelation because I had to depend on him.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord doesn't immediately remove us from our circumstances, he teaches us about eternal perspective.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: In DNC 122.7, we read, All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that I enjoyed the five and a half years of straight pain.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I can honestly say that it has been for my good.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: That is not to say, though, that suffering is inherently good or that every painful experience is easy to understand.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying is that God can use even our most difficult experiences to develop something eternal within us.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: So the lesson here is don't confuse a difficult assignment with the absence of divine purpose.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Part three.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: You are not expected to carry the burden alone.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Frodo needed Gandalf, he needed Aragorn, he needed Sam, he needed the fellowship in order to carry his burden.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, he even asked, I will carry the ring to Mordor to throw it into Mount Doom.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: But could someone show me the way?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where it is.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is an important gospel principle.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have personal responsibility, but we are not expected to accomplish everything through our own strength.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Consider these scriptures.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Matthew 11, 28 through 30, where Christ invites the weary to come unto him.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Mosiah 24, 14 and 15.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord strengthens his people while they are under burdens, so that their burdens became light.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't take away their burdens, he made them stronger.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Alma 7, 11 through 13.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Christ takes upon himself our pains, afflictions, and infirmities, so that he knows how to comfort us.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: The Savior doesn't always remove the mountain.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he strengthens our legs to climb it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Part 4.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: The enemy wants you to surrender before the battle is over.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: In the Lord of the Rings, the ring represents a temptation that becomes increasingly powerful the longer it is carried.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Temptation for power for control.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's a spiritual parallel here.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Satan doesn't always need to destroy your faith in one dramatic moment.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he just needs to convince you that the battle isn't worth fighting.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: He tells you that your prayers don't matter, that your sacrifices don't matter, that your efforts aren't making a difference.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: He tells you that you are too tired to keep going.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: But consider the Savior's example in Gethsemane.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: He prayed to have the cup taken from him, but then he added in Matthew 26, 39, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ demonstrates the ultimate expression of faithfulness, surrendering his will to the will of the Father, even when the assignment is unimaginably imaginably difficult.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: So there's an aviation principle here, and I know I like it when I share aviation principles.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you like it, but maybe if you're still listening, it's because you do like the airplane stuff.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: There are moments in aviation when the weather changes, an engine fails, or situation develops where there's a problem.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: We call those emergencies.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Things that you didn't anticipate.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: The very first thing we learn in pilot training is maintain aircraft control.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Analyze the situation, take the proper action.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing that we learn.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maintain aircraft control.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Even before we let students step into the airplane, we teach them that that's their first responsibility.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: If the pilot returns to these fundamentals and maintains discipline, more than likely he's going to bring the plane safely to the ground.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritually, that means pray even when you don't feel like praying.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably when you need to pray the most.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Study your scriptures even when answers aren't immediately apparent.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Keep your covenants when circumstances become difficult.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Maintain your moral standards when the world tells you to compromise.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Moral standards are more and more important these days.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Keep moving toward Christ when the path is unclear.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So here's a question, here's a challenge for you.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: What if the difficulty you're currently trying to escape is the very place where God is trying to develop the person you need to become?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: You may not have chosen the battlefield.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: You may not have chosen the burden.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: You may not have chosen the circumstances, but you can choose what you do with the time God has given you.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And think about this.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of that, at the end of Gandalf's quote, he says, For there are other powers at play in the world than just evil.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, God has much more power than evil.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: So don't surrender your agency to the to your adversity.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Don't let your circumstances determine your character.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget who is walking beside you.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's your challenge.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: What if the difficulty you're currently trying to escape is the very place where God is trying to develop the person you need to become.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about that this week.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: As you're going through trials, as you're going through challenges, think about that question.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe spend a few minutes journaling about it.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've found I've answered a lot of my deepest questions when I write them down and then free-flow my thoughts in the journal about it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it often, I'll admit that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I should be much better at keeping in journal.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: But when I do have a deep question and I write it out, that's when some i Sometimes I get my most powerful answers.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is Todd Talks, Spirit by Design, and I hope that you have learned something.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Share this with a friend.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Leave a five-star review, support the show.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: That way it helps me to continue making these episodes twice a week.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't bought my book, if you haven't thought about it, go to my author page.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's in the show notes.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Check out my books.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've got about five books not published yet, but in the process of being in various stages of completion.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they all teach a moral.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: They all teach a gospel principle through fun.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: And a good fantasy story, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that being said, I will end this as I always do, because you are my friends, and I appreciate you.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love you.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Have a blessed day.