Wealth...a blessing or a trial? Alma Chapter 1

 29 And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceedingly ^arich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need—an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things, and abundance of ^bsilk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely ^ccloth.

 30 And thus, in their ^aprosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were ^bnaked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon ^criches; therefore they were ^dliberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no ^erespect to persons as to those who stood in need.

 

     There have been times in my life where I went through phases (my husband doesn't believe me when I call it a phase...he says it's more like a daily hobby)  of spending lots of money.  For example, when I was in High school, my parents taught me to get a job when I turned 16, but then after each paycheck I would go clothes shopping.  It was fun in the moment and I enjoyed having cute clothes for once in my life, but it never made me happy.  In fact there were many times after dropping a lot of money on myself that I actually felt robbed of happiness.

     I even remember feeling so depressed after buying a bunch of clothes that I turned around and returned the clothes.  I know the worker people were annoyed at me, but I felt so much better inside after doing that.

     Today while I was scrolling through my instagram feed, I read the quote posted by the LDSChurch "Unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives." 

     -Thomas S. Monson

 

     I wish I would have figured that out earlier.  I am just barely starting to realize how true that statement is.  On days that I think of myself I get depressed and I feel anxiety strangling my heart. I never realized that it was my lack of service causing that.  The past couple weeks I have been trying to pray and find ways to serve.  I have felt oodles (I never use that word, so weird that is the word I thought to use) of joy fill my soul. I have loved it so so so so so much.  Thank you Heavenly Father for being patient with me as I am learning obvious things.

 

Love,

    Becky joy