Ever find yourself running on empty, struggling to honor your body's needs? I share my personal journey of reframing my understanding of rest , and the ultimate revelation of the sacredness of our bodies from God's perspective. We'll explore practical ways of teaching our youth to appreciate their bodies and speak about themselves with love. We'll also dive into the complex arena of sexual feelings, discussing its importance within the context of God's plan and His law of chastity.
Have you ever wondered about the profound wisdom embedded in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet? We will highlight the significance of showing respect to our bodies through our behavior, appearance, and dress. Witness the power and blessings that come from living the law of chastity, and come to understand how this can pave the way for greater trust, love, and unity in marriage.
We'll also underscore the importance of caring for our mental and emotional health and the necessity of seeking professional help when feeling overwhelmed. Join us on this journey of understanding the purpose of our bodies and the sacred laws that guide us.
Ever find yourself running on empty, struggling to honor your body's needs? I share my personal journey of reframing my understanding of rest , and the ultimate revelation of the sacredness of our bodies from God's perspective. We'll explore practical ways of teaching our youth to appreciate their bodies and speak about themselves with love. We'll also dive into the complex arena of sexual feelings, discussing its importance within the context of God's plan and His law of chastity.
Have you ever wondered about the profound wisdom embedded in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet? We will highlight the significance of showing respect to our bodies through our behavior, appearance, and dress. Witness the power and blessings that come from living the law of chastity, and come to understand how this can pave the way for greater trust, love, and unity in marriage.
We'll also underscore the importance of caring for our mental and emotional health and the necessity of seeking professional help when feeling overwhelmed. Join us on this journey of understanding the purpose of our bodies and the sacred laws that guide us.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to the Latter-day Ladies podcast. I'm your host and your friend, jenny Moss, and today, on our next installment of the FSY series, we are talking about how your body is sacred. It's funny to me how these sections have lined up with my own personal life, because in the last week I've had some really frustrating things that have happened with my body and I've been studying and writing about how my body is sacred and it's given me all of these incredible gifts and powers and blessings, and it's given me the opportunity to challenge this idea of being frustrated with a immediate need that I wanted filled and instead looking at things with more of an eternal perspective. So thank you, heavenly Father, for helping me see past my day-to-day challenges right now and be able to pull back and understand things on a more eternal level. At the beginning of the section your body is sacred, it says this quote having a body gives you increased power to exercise your freedom to choose. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ can help you see your body from God's perspective and that makes a big difference in your choices about what to do with your body and how to care for it. End quote. I think that is an incredibly powerful statement to start this whole thing off, that our bodies give us the power to utilize our agency. We know that we stopped the pace of progression in our pre-existence life and we needed a body to continue to become like our God, and so I find it very interesting that it says it will make a difference in our choices about what we do with our body and how we care for it if we understand our body from God's perspective.
Speaker 1:
So I was trying to think about, just in this last week, the ways that I was looking at my body and the way that God would probably want me to adjust that thinking. So I was frustrated because I was feeling sick and not able to perform tasks in the way and in the speed I wanted to do them. I was getting impatient. This may shock you. I was being impatient and, um, I asked the Lord okay, now how would you have me look at this situation? And he was able to give me some counsel on how he would have shifted my perspective to see things a little bit more clearly, the way that he sees them, instead of impatiently waiting for my body to get better. He wanted me to shift my perspective on rest, on the importance of giving my body time to recover from sickness. It was a powerful lesson for me to learn. Especially, I feel like it's a lesson that I'm continually learning to honor the sacredness of my body and not just give it unreasonable expectations. When we understand that the purpose of our body is to help us become like God, we're able to align our decisions in a more complete way, not only the things that we choose to do with our body, but the way that we speak about our body. President Nelson said it like this quote a firm understanding of body and spirit will shape our thoughts and deeds for the good End. Quote when we teach our youth and reinforce this understanding for ourselves, it will lend to helping us understand how we should be talking about our bodies.
Speaker 1:
I have recently had a come to Jesus moment when preparing for this podcast. Thinking about comments that I have made when referring to my own body, and although I've made significant shifts and changes since I was a teenager in the way that I talk about myself, I felt a direct call from the Lord to be more precise and rooted in truth when I talk about my body and not just reducing my worth of a soul to just certain physical attributes. That would be a very reductive way of looking at the power that I have within my own body. It would hurt my heart to hear my little Meredith say some of the things that I have said in frustration about my own body, and I realized it probably makes Heavenly Father feel sad. When I say these things about myself, it's like something that Bernay Brown said long ago. She said talk about yourself the way you talk about someone you love. I really like that. It gave me a lot of pause to think.
Speaker 1:
The FSY pamphlet continues, quote your body is in the image of God, the most glorious, majestic being in the universe. The scriptures compare our bodies to a holy temple, a place where the spirit can dwell. Of course, your body is not perfect now, but the experiences you've had with your body can help you prepare to receive one day a perfect, resurrected, glorified body. Your soul is made up of your body and your spirit. For this reason, physical health and spiritual health are closely connected. I love the connection that our bodies now are not perfect but that these experiences that we're having on earth with a mortal body are qualifying us to receive one day a resurrected, perfect, glorified body. Our wise Father in Heaven understood that we would need to practice how we treat our bodies with respect and the reverence that they deserve. It gives me some hope when I see these same tactics be employed with my own children. We have been trying to teach them about how to understand what their bodies need in regards to food. We've been trying to teach them how to be sensitive to the way that their body is communicating with them. I love that connection that's made in the First Strength of Youth pamphlet that whatever we consume, whatever we are putting into our body or around our bodies, is going to have a connection with our spiritual and emotional health.
Speaker 1:
The next section goes into understanding the importance and the reason for having sexual feelings, and it says this quote sexual feelings are an important part of God's plan to create happy marriages and eternal families. These feelings are not sinful, they are sacred. Because sexual feelings are so sacred and powerful, god has given you His law of chastity to prepare you to use these feelings as he intends. The law of chastity states that God approves of sexual activity only between a man and a woman who are married. Many in the world ignore or even mock God's law, but the Lord invites us to be His disciples and live a standard higher than the world. I love that clearly it is outlined that sexual feelings are an important part of the Lord's plan. I still have little kids and the conversations probably look a little bit different when we're talking about sexual things, but it's been very powerful to implement one thing that I was advised to do, and that is making the conversation of respecting our bodies and sex and the law of chastity and the word of wisdom, making them something that is easy to talk about, something that happens consistently. It's not just one conversation, but instead it's multiple conversations over time, and I will often bring things up when we're on a one-on-one situation. So we've talked as a group, but we also talk individually so that the kids can ask questions and we can get into greater understanding and detail. I really like that.
Speaker 1:
The focus of the For Strength of Youth pamphlet is all about understanding the purpose of bodies, understanding the purpose of sexual feelings and the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. They're not to constrain us into this small little box, but instead to allow us to have the freedom to become like a divine being, and that happens through making sure that things are done in the right way at the right time. I love this next section. It says, quote do things that will strengthen your body, nothing that will hurt or damage it. Enjoy with gratitude the many good things that the Lord has provided. Remember alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea and other harmful drugs and substances are not good for your body or your spirit. Even helpful substances like prescription drugs can be destructive if not used correctly. End quote. I was grateful that that last section was added on because it helps us understand that not everything is gonna be outlined by the Lord for us to know what things are safe and what things aren't safe. I love that this pamphlet gives all of us the opportunity to know more of the reason why why we need to have respect for our bodies, that our bodies are indeed sacred. They're a vessel for us and a vehicle to become like God and understanding a higher and holier way of implementing the word of wisdom. It's powerful to also teach the kids the principles and help them discover ways that they can more fully live the law of chassis and the word of wisdom within their own life. They may have things that they'll do in addition to the things that have been outlined, maybe things that are pointed out to them by the Lord to help them have a safe passage through their teenage years.
Speaker 1:
The next section is promised blessings. It says this quote your respect for yourself and others will increase as you honor your body through your behavior, appearance and dress. End quote. I love that promise blessing. I feel like we would all be very, very blessed to have more respect for each other and for ourselves by simply honoring our body through the ways that we treat it. The next promise blessing says this quote the Lord has promised great treasures of knowledge to those who keep the word of wisdom. A healthy body, free from addiction, also increases your ability to receive personal revelation. Think clearly and serve the Lord End quote. I can 100% attest to this. I feel like, as I have gotten more precise in the way that I feed my body and the way I treat my body, my mind really has gotten more clear and I know that the Lord may give you, or give your teenager, small tweaks and changes to be able to have that added measure of treasures of knowledge or revelation or ability to think clearly. I recently received some inspiration on something that I needed to shift and change and I am just praying for the strength to do that, because sometimes change is hard, but with God we can do everything right.
Speaker 1:
The next part, or the next promise blessing, is so good. It says this quote living the law of chastity brings God's approval and personal spiritual power. When you're married, this law will bring greater trust, love and unity to your marriage. I love this. And the last line says this your confidence will grow as you live as a disciple of Christ. I think this is such a powerful promise blessing, that we will receive spiritual power predicated upon living the law of chastity.
Speaker 1:
One thing that I was teaching about the law of chastity, like two summers ago, to my young women, and one thing I felt very impressed to say to them, was that the law of chastity is something that we continually work at. It's not something that we're going to be perfect in at all times. It is something that we work at, it is something we practice, it is something that we become. I don't know any person who just is perfectly able to live all the commandments of God, and although we revere and love our bodies, there will be times where we use them in an inappropriate way, whether we're consuming far too much sugar or whatever it may be. There will be times where people will make decisions that may not be in line with exactly what the Lord wants us to be doing, but in those times we learn and understand that repentance is real and we practice in becoming true to the covenants that we have made. The end has a lot of questions and answers on standard of grooming, tattoos, piercing and overcoming temptations and bad habits. It is powerful, the responses that are in there, and I highly recommend reading through this with your teenager and asking them their insights and thoughts about it.
Speaker 1:
At the very end, I think it's important to note that it talks about caring for your body includes caring for your mental and emotional health, and then it says this quote it's normal to feel sad or anxious from time to time when you are unable to cope with those feelings and recover from them. That may be a sign of mental or emotional challenges that require help from a parent, leader, doctor or professional counselor. Such help can be a blessing from your father in heaven. I loved this section so much because I think many people have this misunderstanding that if they just are righteous enough, that those mental or emotional struggles will just fade away. But we know from the many conference talks that have been given and we know from understanding that we have a fallen mortal body at this time, something that is teaching us how to have, one day, our perfect, resurrected body that there will be times that our body will need help Emotionally, mentally, physically and we need to go to the professionals who are able to give us the service that we need. I have talked about this so many times, but I have received help from doctors, from counselors. I am currently in therapy and it has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Speaker 1:
I truly feel like my testimony has grown and my understanding of Jesus Christ has just exploded, as I have come to understand how to truly heal from the trauma and experiences that I have had in my past. So when you are talking to your pre-teens or teens, pay attention to the patterns that you see. They may not recognize in themselves if they are feeling depressed or anxious, but you can be a barometer to be able to identify patterns of behavior. I have just loved studying about the power and sacredness of our body and, although it often brings us a lot of opposition and we can see the frustrations that we have with the shortcomings of our body, it is truly a gift from the Lord. This is something that we all have to practice, and so reminding our teenagers that practicing taking care of our body is the way that we come to understand how to do that every single day, consistently. I know that the Lord has blessed us with this powerful tool of having a body, and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has let us have this opportunity to become like Him. What a powerful and important thing.
Speaker 1:
I wanted to end with a quote from President Nelson. He says this your spirit acquired your body and became a living soul to experience mortality and the associated trials and testing. Part of that testing is to determine if the appetites of your body can become mastered by the spirit that dwells within it. I know that through Jesus Christ, we have the power to truly bridle those appetites and passions and become the master of our body. You and I were created in the image of God, and that is a powerful thing to return back to. I hope the spirit prompted you in some way of how you can honor your body and appreciate the sacredness of this gift in your own life. I love you and I hope you have an amazing week. Bye.