First Sunday Lessons

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Shelley 1^st Ward,

      Our local leaders are truly concerned about us and things that are happening in our lives. They are worried about the spiritually destructive behaviors that are plaguing the members of our Ward and Stake. In response to these concerns they have developed lessons for the first Sunday of each month for the rest of the year based on the steps in the addiction recovery program. While you are not in your quorum meetings or Relief Society meetings we feel that this message needs to be shared with everyone. So the following is a summary of the lesson for this month. There will be challenges issued for each week to help us work towards overcoming our destructive habits and put into use the step discussed that month. We all have destructive habits we need to overcome, be they big or small.

          An important part of the changing process is to write your thoughts, feelings, triumphs and discouragements down. While not easy it is a powerful tool to help us overcome challenges. Scripture study and studying the words of the prophets and apostles is also an essential part of overcoming destructive habits. Please join with us as we fight Satan’s destructive influences in our lives and turn to the Savior to allow Him to help us overcome and heal.

          A wonderful resource about addictions is the church’s website www.addictionrecovery.lds.org. It has things for those struggling with addictions as well as things for spouses and families. You can also find the information for these lessons at www.bitly.com/ShelleyHabits2016.

 

Lesson 1- Imperfections impede your progress

 We all have addictions which are destructive habits. Some we may have include food, books, video games, social media, drugs, caffeine, or pornography.

  “Many of us began our addictions out of curiosity. Some of us became involved because of a justifiable need for a prescription drug or as an act of deliberate rebellion. Many began this path when barely older than children. Whatever our motive for starting and our circumstances, we soon discovered that the addiction relieved more than just physical pain. It provided stimulation or numbed painful feelings or moods. It helped us avoid the problems we faced—or so we thought. For a while, we felt free of fear, worry, loneliness, discouragement, regret, or boredom. But because life is full of the conditions that prompt these kinds of feelings, we resorted to our addictions more and more often. Still, most of us failed to recognize or admit that we had lost the ability to resist and abstain on our own. As Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve observed: Addiction surrenders later freedom to choose.” –Addiction Recovery Manual

The first step to overcoming any addictions is being honest with ourselves and admitting that you of yourself are powerless to overcome your addiction and that your life has become unmanageable.

 “Even though people’s addictions are different, some truths, like this one, never vary—nothing begins without an individual’s will to make it begin. Freedom from addiction and uncleanliness begin with a tiny flicker of will.” –Addiction Recovery Manual

 In order for us to get this desire to change we have to let go of pride only the can we be honest with ourselves and be humble enough to desire and begin doing whatever is necessary to make the change.

 “Pride and honesty cannot coexist. Pride is an illusion and is an essential element of all addiction. Pride distorts the truth about things as they are, as they have been, and as they will be. It is a major obstacle to your recovery.” – Addiction Recovery Manual

 Your challenge this week is to make a list of behaviors you would like to change.  Choose one of these behaviors/habits to work on during the rest of the year. If you would like to use the attached questions and scriptures this month as you honestly identify a destructive habit and desire to change please use it.

 This is a hard thing and it requires work and we may already be discouraged or feel shame for letting our guard down and allowing undesirable behavior to infiltrate our lives.  I would like to close this with quote from Elder Allen D. Haynie.

 “Although avoidance of sin is the preferred pattern in life, as far as the efficacy of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is concerned, it matters not what sins we have committed or how deep we have sunk into that proverbial pit. It matters not that we are ashamed or embarrassed because of the sins that, as the prophet Nephi said, “so easily beset” us. It matters not that once upon a time we traded our birthright for a mess of pottage.

 

What does matter is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” so “that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people. What does matter is that He was willing to condescend, to come to this earth and descend “below all things” and suffer “more powerful contradictions than any man” ever could. What does matter is that Christ is pleading our case before the Father, “saying:  Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; . . . wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believed on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.” That is what really matters and what should give all of us renewed hope and a determination to try one more time, because He has not forgotten us.”