Upward Thought

On more than one occasion, the Lord has showed me examples of blessings he has prepared specifically for me whose preparations occupied a long time span, beginning far before I even thought to seek for them. He truly knows all things past, present, and future, and has and will do everything necessary to honor all his promises, even when that takes actions that span much more than the limited time span of our lives. In more than one case, the blessings were prepared from before my birth. I marveled that God would do anything like that for me, and then I marveled again at my lack of faith in assuming that his goodness toward me was limited in any way by my inadequacy.[1] What the Lord has to give us will always exceed what we have to give him, and the way we obtain the former is to give the latter. In three such visions, in different ways, I was shown elaborate places that were mine, even though I did not remember ever being there before. Each place exceeded the value of the places I had

When finishing drywall, the task at hand is to affix paper to each joint and adhere joint compound in such a way to make the raised edges of the paper invisible. This is done by creating a smooth, tapered transition. When preaching the gospel, the typical approach is blunt, consisting of one or only a few interactions. Like capturing the area under a curve with only one polygon, the coverage of such an approach will be limited. Many opportunities where the gospel would have been accepted with more and smaller interactions will be missed. To more accurately capture the area under a curve, more and thinner polygons must be used. To more expansively capture the set of people willing to accept the gospel, the way must be prepared through similar smoothing: more steps of smaller size. Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. (Alma 3

Look no further than this grandma, who is bravely stating what she has learned in life. Look at the hateful comments, especially on Twitter! https://twitter.com/godlywomanhood https://www.youtube.com/@LoriAlexander1980/videos Look at how much attempted shame, blame shifting, and otherwise sidestepping of her arguments, all in the name of feigned empathy. These attackers pretend to be motivated by a desire to help others when they are actually just sacrificing the lives of those who have not yet made their mistake for the momentary alleviation of their own guilt. Without lying women and cowardly men, more than 99% of all problems in this world would probably go away. Why don't older women tell younger women the truth? Because women who feel guilty for having chosen something else will tear them apart. Kudos to the courageous. Lonely are the brave.

Question: I worry that my drive to do good is more for the people I serve than the God I serve. At the moment, I derive most of my joy and encouragement from serving those in my life. Making their life more fulfilling and more full of joy. I understand that this light and this joy comes from God alone. However, as much as I love God conceptually, my love in him is based on faith. It does not feel as full as it could and should be. Having a relationship with God as one person can have with another feels so necessary to my heart. However, I have not met my Lord. Is there any other way to build that personal relationship with the Lord than by meeting him? Short Answer: You don't develop a personal relationship with the Lord by meeting him, but by serving him. Through loving others as God would in your place, you come to better understand the value of the love he has already shown you, and you also come to see more of his love. To love another is to suffer for their benefit, which in i

A friend of mine lives next door to a professional dog sledder. When my friend goes on vacation, she milks his cow, and when she goes on vacation, his family has to exercise her dogs. I was asking him all about it, and one of the interesting things he told me was the most important rule of being on a dog sled: no matter what, don't let go. The dogs will not stop running until they are exhausted. The sled has a brake designed to make it very hard to continue to pull. If they are on a tear, even if the sled tips, if you let go, the lightness of the unencumbered sled means that when they finally stop, you'll never be able to catch up on foot. The Lord made clear that when we sign up on his team, we must be all in.[1] There is no stopping.[2] It's onward from one new height to the next.  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62) As I have walked through a nonstop stream of overwhelming experi

What is the significance of the Lord’s resurrection? A principle component is the evidence it provides that he exists and the certification it provides of what the scriptures record about him. His resurrection proved that his claims of knowing the way to life were true, and that those who live what he taught will receive the same. While these statements are hopefully unsurprising and uncontroversial with professed Christians, they are an example of an all-too-common problem with modern Christianity: the tendency to hold beliefs that contradict each other without seeming to notice or care. I’ll explain what I mean in this case. The common definition of faith is something like “when you believe without evidence.” If evidence is not necessary, why would Christ go through all the trouble he did to die and rise again? Yes, there were other things he came to do. But why didn’t you take issue with my claim that a principle component of the resurrection was the evidence for the gospel he preac

Lately, I've been dabbling on Twitter/x (@upward_thought), searching for those searching for greater light and truth. It's been a while since I've had overtly religious conversations with people outside of the LDS sphere. Boy, am I disappointed. I'd say that more than 75% of people claiming to be Christian know and care less about how Jesus actually is than your average atheist. Instead, they are like pull-string talking dolls with the same 3-4 brainless slogans, depending on their sect. These are not sincere people; these are not people who think and feel according to the light they have. Meanwhile, it's not hard to find someone who, in spite of claiming that they don't believe in God or aren't sure if he exists, actually live life at least quasi-intentionally. The way must be cleared, and it will be, as greater challenges are continuously poured out to reveal the limits of what people mistake for sufficient foundations. Lord, may the dead branches be remov

I found this parable to have great worth to me.

There are all sorts of self-imposed constraints on what each person is able to receive from heaven.[1] It is much easier to receive a gospel truth from another living person than from heaven directly (though, in all cases, it must still come through God's voice to you--your conscience--or you won't/shouldn't believe it).[2] A living person can act as a living seer stone [3] up to the degree to which they have the spirit of God and are free from constraints, but what you receive directly from heaven will be limited to your understanding, sacrifice, faith, trust in God, and so on.[4] If you find someone with greater understanding, sacrifice, faith, trust in God, and so on,[5] you have found a "window of heaven" larger than your own.[6] The spirit will not fight against you to force you to receive revelation beyond your worthiness, but another person can, up to the limits of their love for you.[7] [1] 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear the

This doctor is one of shockingly few who studies the brain effects of menopause. According to her, the female hormonal decline begins on average at age 39 and lasts about ten years before menopause completes. Symptoms include significant behavioral and cognitive changes. Here's the interview , bookmarked at where it gets interesting. As more men learn these things, there will be many more single women over 30 looking at a lifetime alone.

There are oh-so-many vital ideas that oh-so-many people do not get.

In general, I will say that the problem of grossly undervaluing the greatest of gifts is endemic among all people, and errors in appraisal of value (how much is possible and where it is found) may well be the single greatest obstacle to eternal life for those alive today, if not throughout all time. Specifically to this instance: 30 For behold, [angels] are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. 31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. 32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have

Today I learned: "SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors) are a common class of antidepressants used to treat depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. Popular SSRIs include Fluoxetine (Prozac), Escitalopram (Lexapro), and Sertraline (Zoloft). Something well established about these drugs is that they have sexual side-effects. In fact, between 40 and 65% of people who take an SSRI are thought to experience some form of sexual dysfunction. What few people know, though, is these side effects can persist even after coming off of the drugs—a condition called Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD). This is more than just low libido. It can be a total loss of libido, genital numbness, erectile dysfunction, an inability to orgasm and complete lack of sexual attraction. Emotional blunting is also common, with sufferers describing a numbing of positive emotions, no romantic feelings, and difficulty connecting with others. PSSD can occur immediately—after just a few pills—a

 @upward_thought

Over the years, I've seen multiple examples of a behavior that is highly detrimental to the one practicing it. Just recently, it's been used at least twice against me, and in hopes of helping bring into the light what these people obviously do not realize is really going on, and in hopes of preserving future friendships, I'm writing this post. The behavior is making a video where you are arguing against what someone teaches or does indirectly without having first had a conversation with them directly. Interestingly, it's always the case that when someone does this, they seem to be arguing that what the person said or did was wrong. What they are actually attempting to do is soothe the guilt they feel about who and how they themselves are as a result of what was taught or done by the other. The reaction is not about what it seems, and doesn't address the underlying problem. It's an attempt to make a symptom of the problem go away, but it doesn't address the d

I received this email: A quick question for you.  I believe you have said the Greek word for witness also means to bear testimony, to be a martyr, and to demonstrate.  I have been spending a bit of time looking through the Greek on Biblehub and it is clear that testimony and martyr derive from the same word.  However, I am not seeing any clear basis for your assertion that it also means to demonstrate.   One definition for the Greek word is to give evidence and you could presumably give evidence by way of demonstration.  However, this doesn't seem to necessarily follow from the idea of giving evidence.  I think the conventional interpretation would be that when you give evidence by witnessing of something, you give a report of (i.e., a testimony of) the thing as opposed to demonstrating the thing.   Granted, if you are testifying (or witnessing) to something about God, your testimony is going to be a lot more powerful if you actually live what you witness.  Building on this, you co

I recorded a video in response to a YouTube comment some time ago. It was queued up for release in about a month, but I figured I'd release it today instead to try to get the most recent round of comments on money out and done with, so we can all move on to more important things. I received an email today (Feb 28, 2024) from a friend who asked me what I thought about a post Denver Snuffer had written recently about ministers receiving donations. Since I don’t keep tabs on what Denver’s up to, I didn’t know about it, so I went to read it. The first post I read was dated February 25th, and I highly recommend everyone read it. He makes some wonderful points that are much needed. It is always best to first give offenders the opportunity to answer your criticisms. You never know if there is a simple misunderstanding, or whether there is an opportunity for you to learn something beyond what you know. That being said, I do have disagreements with Denver about what the Lord’s equality lo

This is an email exchange from "Weak Men Make Monstrous Women." The email Hey Rob, That's a great video.  Thanks for the very helpful info.  I will be sharing this with my sons, with my wife listening.  I can tell you spent a lot of time preparing your thoughts and the slides. Where do you get this information from?  Is it personal experience or revelation or both?  It's incredibly valuable. I can see things I will stop doing NOW.  I have vented to my wife for a long time about issues at work.  NO MORE!  I couldn't see the effects.  I'm just letting off steam, I'm not asking her to fix anything.  Now, I know It makes me look weak and gives her future ammo.  She is not my emotional strength, she is not my support, I am her rock, not the other way around.  She's not my best friend.  I'm her husband.  She's not my mommy.   [I had a conversation with her about expectations in our marriage.] She has already made some changes. [She continues to make

A while back, I was wondering what more I could do to help my kids develop into their potential as adults. I was looking for another way I could share with them more of what God has taught me about the gospel and the scriptures, and I thought a good way of doing that would be to show them how asking questions was the next layer on the foundation of scripture reading and familiarity. I thought about what extra skills could be learned through this, from research to note-taking to essay writing. I decided I would experiment with having them spend their Sunday mornings between daily chores and lunch finding the answer to a question they cared about, then writing up an essay explaining the question and answer as they would to a stranger. I figured that spending a few hours each week thinking and writing, let alone about the most important things, would yield immense dividends for their lives. The initial work for us as parents was not negligible. Their questions were awful, so I had to spen