Have I told you I love the scriptures? I get so excited when I read about a principle in the word of God and then hear or see the same principle somewhere in my everyday life. I’m equally trilled when I experience something that feels so right, so true, so of God in daily life and then discover the same principle in the scriptures, expressed in Lord’s words.
During the sharing portion of a recovery meeting we are encouraged to share our “experience, strength, and hope.” I have heard this phrase hundreds of times now. One day as I was studying the scriptures I came across the following verse:
“And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;” (D & C 93:24).
This is the perfect description of what we share in meetings. We share “things as they were” or “our experience.” We share “things as they are” today or “our strength”- the strength we have received to make personal changes as a result of the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Finally we share things “as they are to come” or “our hope”, the things we are working on and our hope for the future based on the miracles in our present life. The Lord defines “things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” as the “truth.”
One of the hallmarks of addictive behavior is difficulty in knowing and telling the truth. As we share our experience strength and hope with each other we are developing the capacity to know the truth, to tell the truth, and to live the truth. The result is the fulfillment of the Lord’s great promise, “and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
By Nannette W.
Posted Friday, October 24, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved.
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