Holiness
It's Holy Week! And every cell in my body says it's spring, but here in South Africa the leaves are changing color and fall is in the air. And I have a question for you that can change your day, and hopefully your week and how you celebrate Easter, and more importantly your heart. What is the question? Come join me on the trail and we can talk about it
Transcript
Sonny Bonani, my friends from the
mission field of South Africa.
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:It's here that my husband
and I are serving as senior
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:missionaries for the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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:My name is Judy Cooley, along
with my sister-in-law, GIA.
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:We are your host for the Creative
Spiritual Journey podcast, but I'd
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:rather you think of us as your hiking
buddies because there's nothing I'd
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:love more than to be with you right now.
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:Walking and talking together on a
mountain trail, sharing what's in
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:my heart, my love for the savior
and his beautiful creations.
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:Ah, as well as the joys and lessons
I'm discovering along the way.
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:So will you rise up, shake the dust off
your packs and join me on the trail.
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:Today is day 468.
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:Yay.
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:Ain't that great.
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:I've been numbering the day
nd,:
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:If you follow me on Instagram or
Facebook, I have made a daily post since
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:the first day of our mission recording
our experiences and things of my heart.
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:Maybe you've noticed that I start
each post with the word today.
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:That's because.
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:I have to make the choice each
day to be a disciple of Christ
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:in the beginning of our mission.
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:Oh, I was so homesick and the thought
of 700 days was too overwhelming for me.
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:I was having meltdowns and Eric
would mop me off the floor and one
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:morning he held me in his arms and
he just asked me, can you do today?
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:Just take it one day at a time.
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:And so I did.
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:I would rise up in the morning and
choose today to offer my whole heart and
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:my soul to the Lord in Psalms 1 18 24.
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:It reads, this is the day
which the Lord hath made.
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:We will rejoice and be glad in it.
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:That was my goal each day, to
find the beautiful, the things
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:to rejoice, the lessons that I'm
learning, to find the hand of God.
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:So today is also the Monday of Holy Week.
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:Yay.
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:I love Easter.
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:I love everything about Easter.
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:As a little girl, I would love the
egg hunts and the Easter dress my mom
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:would buy me and the Easter baskets
and the cavanaugh Mindy mint eggs.
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:Oh, I hope you know
what I'm talking about.
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:And I loved going to church.
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:That was one of the days that
my family would go to church.
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:And so Easter for me has always been
one of my favorite holidays, and Easter
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:in South Africa is much like Christmas.
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:It's so different because.
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:Back home.
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:Right now, you're experiencing the
tulips and the daffodils and the
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:sweet little buds coming on the
trees, and pretty soon the blossoms.
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:And I love how spring just emerges,
just slowly, just see life return.
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:And that's so symbolic of Easter here
in South Africa, all of a sudden you're
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:noticing the leaves are changing colors
and the days are becoming cooler and
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:the grass is turning brown because it's
autumn here, and everything in my soul
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:is so confused Easter and it's autumn.
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:So in the grocery store, there's
no plastic eggs, really no
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:decoration, and there's absolutely
no kavanaugh's mindy mint eggs.
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:So the analogy of spring and the
resurrection, eh, kind of gets lost here.
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:But regardless of what hemisphere you're
living in right now, I recommend that you
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:go to the church's website and check out.
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:A holy week, they have daily
devotionals and what we can learn
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:from the Saviors last week of his life
and how we can make this week holy.
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:In fact, I love what it is titled.
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:You'll find it under the tab.
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:Experience Jesus Christ.
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:Great love for you experience.
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:Holy week.
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:Holy week.
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:The last week of the Savior's life From
Palm Sunday to his marvelous resurrection.
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:So this word, holy.
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:The holy definition is to be
consecrated to God in Hebrew.
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:Definition is to be set
apart from the ordinary.
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:I like that one because that is
what, as missionaries, we are
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:set apart from the ordinary.
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:It is to be sacred.
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:The Greek definition is
dedicated to God to be believers.
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:So this word, holy.
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:We have the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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:The scriptures is full of His Holy Spirit.
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:We read from the Holy Bible and
we are to call upon his holy name.
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:I love the song More Holiness.
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:Give Me, oh Holy Night.
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:The plan of holiness and above our
temple doors, holiness to the Lord.
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:on the Monday of Holy Week, it's
interesting that we have holiness
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:to the Lord above the temple.
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:This was the day of Holy Week where the
savior cleansed the temple of the money
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:changers, restoring its sacred nature
to be a house of prayer, A sacred space.
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:A holy space, and it was there
that Christ healed the people.
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:'cause the blind in the lame came to
him in the temple and he healed them.
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:We learn two important
lessons from this event.
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:First, we show God our love
by honoring sacred spaces.
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:This would include our hearts and
our minds and our homes and our
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:relationships, striving to keep
them clean from sin and corruption.
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:Second, it teaches us that God wants
to heal us and help us become like the
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:Savior, to become like him, especially
when we feel weighed down with.
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:Burdens and noise and distractions from
the world So I invite you to try an
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:experiment this week for Holy Week.
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:There is one question, this question.
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:Was given to, the young adults by the
prophet and his wife, Wendy, I believe
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:it was in 2020, and she says, this
one question can change your life.
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:This is the experiment I.
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:This one question can increase
your confidence, decrease
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:your anxiety, motivate you.
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:Lift your mood and your sights.
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:Increase your productivity.
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:Increase your focus and clarity
of thinking, help you resist
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:temptation, help you detect deception.
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:Increase your gratitude.
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:Ooh, we all need that one.
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:Decrease the stress in your life.
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:Increase your capacity to love.
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:Wow.
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:That's the one I want and help
you to make better decisions.
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:This one question can bring you
joy, comfort, love, and peace.
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:Would you like to know the question?
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:Great.
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:A little background first.
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:Jesus Christ, our savior, our redeemer,
and the head of this, his church, has
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:made it very clear that he wants you.
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:And me to become increasingly holy.
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:He even commands us to do so by saying,
ye must practice holiness before me.
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:And he doesn't just leave it at that.
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:He adds the word continually.
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:We must practice holiness
before the Lord continually.
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:That would be today, every day.
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:So this week, the experiment I
want you to try is to ask yourself,
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:what would a holy woman do?
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:Choose to be holy and practice.
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:Practice it while you drive.
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:How would a holy woman drive?
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:How would a holy woman
spend her free time?
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:How would a holy woman use her cell phone?
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:How would the condition of her
home be and her sacred spaces?
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:How would she treat her body?
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:What would she eat?
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:What would she drink?
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:Gia would say a holy
woman would drink water.
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:What time would a holy woman go to bed?
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:How would a holy woman pray and meditate?
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:How would she seek Jesus?
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:Would it change how you
study the scriptures parent?
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:Your little ones, your
teenage ones, your adult ones.
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:How would a holy woman minister to
a neighbor magnify her callings?
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:If a holy woman is married,
how would she communicate with
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:her spouse, if not married?
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:How would she be preparing for
celestial marriage instead of
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:just waiting, how would a holy
person multiply their talents?
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:How would she dress?
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:How would she talk?
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:What would she sacrifice to
spend more time in the temple?
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:So I've been trying this
experiment for the past few days.
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:And I'll tell you where I notice it
the most is in my response to people,
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:especially to my husband and my prayers,
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:as well as my study time.
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:I now leave the phone plugged
in, charging, and I read from
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:my hard copies, my scriptures.
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:I preach my gospel and come follow me.
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:So try this for Holy Week.
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:Make this week holy and
just daily make that choice.
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:Today I choose to be holy.
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:I'm gonna seek the greater love
of Jesus Christ and find him.
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:I'm gonna seek Jesus and journal the small
changes that you notice, and much like the
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:leafs here changing oh so slowly colors
or the leafs where you are just emerging,
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:the little buds and the blossoms.
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:These changes are small and simple.
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:Make holy choices.
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:Make it a holy day and then a holy
week and it will become a holy life.
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:Take time to be holy.
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:Speak off with the Lord.
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:Abide in him always and feed on his word.
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:Make friends of God's children help those
who are weak, forgetting in nothing.
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:His blessings.
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:We seek.
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:Take time to be holy.
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:The world rushes on.
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:Spend much time in secret with Jesus
alone by looking to Jesus like him.
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:Thou shall be thy friends and thy
conduct his likeness shall see.
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:Take time to be holy.
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:Let him be your guide
and run not before him.
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:Whatever.
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:Be tied, enjoy, or in sorrow,
still follow the Lord and looking
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:to Jesus still trust in his word.
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:Take time to be holy.
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:Be calm in thy soul.
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:Each thought and each
motive beneath his control.
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:Thus led by his spirit
to fountains of love.
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:Thou soon shall be
fitted for service above.
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:That hymn was introduced to me by
Bill and Norma Aspen, my dear friends
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:back at home, and I sang it many
times with the Orchard Grove Choir.
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:It's a great reminder that change
like the seasons is slow, but Sure.
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:I promise if you take time.
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:To be holy.
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:Cleanse your inner temple of the noise
and the distractions of the world.
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:Make it sacred space in your
heart and mind for holiness.
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:You'll see the blossoms emerge
and your joy will be greater.
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:Your capacity to love will increase.
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:Make this Easter season a holy week.
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:Take time to feel the great love.
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:Of Jesus Christ for you personally
because it's of his love for his father,
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:but also his love for you and me.
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:That he was able to carry out the
will of his father and in a great
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:plan of holiness, holiness to be
consecrated, sacred, set apart from
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:the ordinary, our holy redeemer.
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:And Savior Jesus Christ.
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:He lives he has risen.
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:Happy Easter, my friends.
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:Happy Holy Week.
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:Find His Holiness in you.
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:I know what's there, and I
will see you on the trail.
