Grounded and Secure with a Clear Vision

During my visit to California to see my Grandparents I had a flood of insights come to me during church. These insights have been lingering on my mind for the last few days and I felt a desire to share them.

As church members we have most likely heard the song "Anchor of my Soul" and have been taught the metaphor and relation between the anchor and Jesus Christ. The purpose of an anchor is to secure a ship from moving or drifting wherever it is ported no matter what kind of weather. This anchor will secure the ship against the heavy storms, crashing waves, and thrashing winds of the sea.

The Anchor is strong, reliable, and constant. The Anchor is always there to keep the ship from drifting out to a dangerous and threatening sea. The Anchor will always be there. But how secure are we to the Anchor? How strong are the links in the chain that connect the Anchor to the ship? The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Each link needs to be strong enough to weather the storms in order to stay secured to the Anchor or it will break and will drift away to sea.

What links are connecting me to the Savior, my Anchor? Which links are strong? Which links are weak? What do I need to do to stengthen each link so I can be assurred that I won't break and float away from the Anchor of my soul?

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is [to] the [anchor] of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must [secure your chain to]; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the [anchor which ye are secured to], which is a sure [anchor], a[n] [anchor] whereon if men [secure to] they cannot [drift]" (Helaman 5:12).

We are also taught that Christ is our only hope in this life. As I thought about this I questioned it, seeking to find if there was any other hope than Christ that we could rely upon. Is Christ our ONLY hope? It was quickly testified to me through the Spirit that our Savior and Redeemer is our only hope. It is in Him that we must rely upon for our salvation and exaltation. We only have One person to answer to at the end of each day and at the end of our mortal life. What comfort that brings because the One we must answer to is the One who has atoned for all; He knows us and He knows our hearts, which enables Him to judge righteously. It is not some strange, unknown Being who is mysterious and who doesn't know us; He is our Elder Brother. He knows us better than we know ourself. And each day we are given the blessing and opportunity to get to know Him better and come closer to being perfected in Him.

The Lord will compensate for our lack, for what we can't do ourselves because He will never give us anything that we cannot handle. When we aren't strong enough (which we never are because He sustains us in every moment) He is strong enough and will build us up. Everytime we feel weak, everytime when we want to give up or give in all we have to do is turn to Him for strength because He is the source of all our strength and can give or make up for what we are lacking. This is comforting because I often feel I am too weak or that I can't do it or I just want to give up, but when I allow myself to believe that I can't do it I have become faithless and am mocking the strength and atonement of Jesus Christ that He constantly offers me if I will but ask and apply to my life. By giving up I am saying that He couldn't give me the strength or in other words, He failed me. But in reality it is I who has failed Him.

"And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah 3:17).

Have you ever been walking down the street on a hot summer day or driving down the freeway and off in the far distance you can see what looks like a little pool of water? But what you are seeing is in fact just a mirage; something that appears to be there when in actuality it isn't. Satan uses this tool in our lives all the times. He put mirages or illusions in our vision in order to deceive us or skew our sight in an attempt to get us to sin. Some of these illusions may include: pride, secret combinations, justification, jealousy/covetedness, judgements, etc. The illusion that I think is most prominent is 'wickedness is happiness'. That is a very skewed line of thinking, but is very often fallen into by good, righteous people. But this line of thinking brings only selfish instant gratification that can result in spiritual death and darkness. It doesn't bring happiness at all!

Satan is very talented with his flaxen cord; slowly and gradually wrapping it around and around and around until it's wrapped so many times it's impossible to break through by ourself. When we reach that point it is then we know that we must seek other's help to break free from the bounds of Satan's grasp. One hopes they will never reach that point, but one must also never underestimate the power of Satan. One must never underestimate the saving and protecting power of Christ either. Satan starts with a small illusion far off in the distance and when we're not paying that much attention you may just find yourself right in the middle of that illusion.

And we often, if not careful, tend to accept something just a tad shade more wrong than what we are already accepting in our lives through the illusions of pride, justification, rationalization, etc., which all root from Satan himself. He is vicious in the most appealing ways and he's good at it!

So, how do we keep from finding ourself stepping into or in the middle of an illusion? There are several answers, but one that has been tried, tested, and taught to me by my best friend was that of memorizing scriptures. This keeps your mind occupied in lull moments as well as thwarting any kind of illusion, temptation, or evil thing that may creep into your mind.

"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven" (D&C 121:45).

I guess my overall central message is that whether we have weak or strong links in our chain or whether we are in the middle of one of Satan's illusions or not, we must fully rely upon our only hope, Jesus Christ - the Redeemer and Savior of our souls. It is only through Him that we can stay grounded and secure with a clear vision of the path that leads us back into His loving arms.