Episode 47

full
Published on:

20th Jan 2025

Continual Light Prt. 2- Night Light

When our children were little they needed- a night light, I think most children do because of the fear of the dark. I get it- especially if you have an active imagination, who knows what’s lurking in the dark :) but I’m not talking about that kind of night light- I want to talk about the stars in the night sky and haw we can find our way in the dark, and hold on until the morning dawns.

Have you ever felt the challenges, stress and demands too much and your faith starts weavering- the lights seem to go out and there you are in a spiritual darkness. That’s where I want us to journey today- asking the soul searching questions: Does God know me and care about me? How can I feel His love and draw closer to Him? Especially when I find myself here in the dark. 

Transcript
Yeti X:

Welcome friends to season two.

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This year, we're going on a journey,

the creative, spiritual journey.

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Thank you for choosing to join us.

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My name is Judy Cooley, along

with my sister-in-law Ghia Cooley.

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We are your host, but we'd rather you

consider us more like your hiking buddies.

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Together.

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We'll traverse.

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A path through the wilderness.

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I share the joys.

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We discover along the way and

celebrate the small steps.

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We're taking each day towards

the top of the mountains.

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So will you shake the dust

off those hiking boots?

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Pick up your packs.

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Join us on the trail.

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It's going to be an incredible journey.

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Let's go.

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Sonny Bonanni Today is day 385.

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I've been numbering the day

nd,:

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When we were called.

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On a mission and set apart.

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From our world and life in Utah and

traveled to KwaZulu natal in South Africa.

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My husband and I were called to

the Durban South Africa mission

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for the church of Jesus Christ.

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Of latter day saints.

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And plopped here in this corner

of the vineyard and told to go

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to work and find his lost sheep.

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So here we are.

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Friend.

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Where are you working

today in his kingdom?

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It doesn't have to be on

the other side of the world.

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There's so much just outside your door.

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Just ask who the Lord needs you to go.

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And Lyft and serve today.

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Maybe you wonder.

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As I do some days, how do we do that?

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Or how can we be a good cheer when we

find our hearts and smiles upside down?

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And our feet hurt and our legs are weary.

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Or is it just me?

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Don't fear.

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The savior has promised to

walk and work beside us.

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Hopefully today I can share what

I've discovered along the way that

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will help you on your journey.

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I left you in season one,

right before Christmas with an

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episode titled continual light.

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I shared with you, how Christmas was

going here in new castle, South Africa.

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And a light the world project and

how I have found light in my vessel.

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If you haven't heard that

episode, you can always backtrack.

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To our season one.

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Anyway, I ended up promising

I'd pick up with this new year.

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With continual, like part two.

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And explore the topic of.

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Nightlight.

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When our children were little,

they needed a nightlight.

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I think because of the fear of the dark.

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I get it.

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Especially, if you have an

active imagination who knows

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what's lurking in the dark.

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But I'm not talking about

that kind of nightlight.

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I want to talk about the

stars in the night sky.

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And how we can find our way in the dark.

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And hold on until the

morning Dawn appears.

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Have you ever found

yourself lost in the dark?

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I've hiked off a mountain in

the dark, out of the wilderness

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in a moonless cloudy night.

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Ah, Talk about imagination of

what was lurking in the bushes.

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But what about a spiritual night?

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Have you ever felt the challenges

and stress and demands too much?

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And your faith starts wavering.

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And the light seemed to

go out and there you are.

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In a spiritual darkness.

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I think we've all been there as well.

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it's part of this.

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Mortal journey.

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And that's where I want us to journey

today asking the soul searching question.

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Does God know me and care about me?

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Especially when I find myself.

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In the night.

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In the dark.

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As a young girl, I loved field trips

to what was called the handsome

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planetarium in salt lake city.

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It was gorgeous They had a star

show where you'd lay back and

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gaze up at this dome ceiling.

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And it was a screen.

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Where they would project.

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The stars.

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The universe, the galaxies.

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And they would just

magically appear above.

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They would show the constellations

and how space was in this continual

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rotation of the planets and the stars.

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I remember being in awe.

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And feeling the spirit and

not even knowing what it was.

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But something that day

stirred inside my soul.

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I felt so small.

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Yet.

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There was something.

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What was that?

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It was the love of God viewing

this reenacted universe.

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I felt for the first time.

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God knows me.

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And this idea of being an endless.

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As much as a nine or eight year

old mind could comprehend this

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concept of infinite and eternal.

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Even though I didn't recognize

it as the holy spirit.

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When I was that little girl,

I found myself crying because

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I felt God's love for me.

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I remember many nights since then.

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Of looking up.

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Into the night sky.

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Searching for the big

dipper and the north star.

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And here in South Africa.

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Looking for the Southern cross.

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And just wondering about my

place in all this big world.

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And receiving that witness again.

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I still, I feel that love.

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That profound, deep love.

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When I look up at the night sky.

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What if you Ask your heavenly father

to have the holy ghost call to your

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memory when you were a little child,

when you were wide-eyed and the

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light of Christ burned bright in you.

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To be able to remember.

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And think back to your earliest

stirrings in your heart.

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That God loved you.

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And maybe you didn't recognize it at

the time as the spirit whispering.

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You are.

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In my patriarchal blessing.

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I am blessed with a gift to overcome

darkness and sadness and to be a

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source of light, to inspire and uplift.

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What if you were to ask heavenly father.

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That question.

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What are your gifts?

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What is this true identity that

was woven within you in the womb?

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Who were you created to become.

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I believe I've been called

to be a light bearer.

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To those in darkness.

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What about you?

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Okay.

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In the book of Mormon.

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It tells us how the neophyte spent.

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Three days in the most profound darkness,

following the Savior's crucifixion.

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Yeah.

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I'm going to pause there for a moment.

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Have you ever.

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Been inside of a very dark, deep cave.

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And they turn off the lights.

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They ask you to hold your hand

out in front of your face.

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And you don't see a thing.

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The darkness is so thick.

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Pat is the kind of darkness

that the neophytes experienced

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here in the book of Mormon.

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The physical darkness around him

symbolized the spiritual darkness

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we experienced because of sin.

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Then they heard the voice of

Christ inviting them out of

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the darkness, into his light.

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Will you not return into

me and repent of your sins?

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And be converted that I may heal you.

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The savior extends those sane

invitations to you and I, when we.

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We find ourselves lost in darkness.

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Just as the sun rise.

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The beautiful Dawn marks

the beginning of a new day.

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Each time we repent.

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We receive a fresh start.

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I knew.

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Beginning.

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You probably already know this.

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But it blew my mind.

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When I realized.

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That when you step outside

on a bright sunshiny day.

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Those stars.

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Those constellations.

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Are still up in the heavens.

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You can't see them because

of the brightness of the sun.

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Yeah, I know.

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I told you, I'm not telling you anything.

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You didn't already know.

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But to emphasize this nightlight concept.

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I want you to understand that

we can't see the stars and less,

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there is a darkness of the night.

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It's the same with, as if

I were to walk outside.

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Shining a brilliant flashlight.

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All around.

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I happened to Google.

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What is the brightest flashlight?

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And it shines at a jaw

dropping 100,000 lumens.

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Okay, lumens.

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Are the light output measurement.

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Think about this.

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Flashlights when I was a

little kid, we're about.

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A hundred lumens, but a hundred thousand

lumens or a hundred lumens either way.

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If I step out with my flashlight

and shine it around in the fullness

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of the bright sunshiny day.

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That light is going to be lost.

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The point I'm getting at is this.

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While I lived in Utah.

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The heart center of the church of

Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

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And I was fully

participating in the gospel.

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It was as if I lived in a fullness.

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Uh, brightness of the sun.

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I had every resource for the gospel at my

fingertips profits of parcels, temples.

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Next door, so to speak.

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I had a big budget for events, programs,

activities, so they could be in full vivid

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color girls camps, youth conferences,

timeout for women education week

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women's week, whatever that was called.

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Oh, I could step into a desert bookstore.

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And in almost in every city

to find a Bruh of Christ art.

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To hang on our wall.

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Church books, real paper books to read.

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I belong to a full functioning ward.

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And a steak surrounded by thousands.

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Of other full-functioning

wards and stakes.

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With so many priesthood holders.

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That Coleen's had to be invented

to give everyone an assignment.

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Some were even given the

calling of ward librarian.

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Yes.

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We had a library packed full

of resources for Sunday.

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And a big beautiful building

with several bathrooms.

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I was basking in a brightness.

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Uh, the fullness of light.

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And I didn't even realize it.

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And there I was standing

with my 100 lumen light.

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Hardly making any difference.

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And then we were called

to serve in South Africa.

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The light shining here from the

church is more like the nightlights.

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There is none of those things,

those resources that I just

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listed at our fingertips.

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Larger buildings, full

functioning wards and stakes.

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Yeti X-1: How the members here.

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Would love.

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To have.

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All that I took for granted.

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In that full, bright, light back at home.

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Just a small.

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Portion of it.

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Would be fabulous.

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Yeti X: No seriously,

the church is beautiful.

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Here.

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It is just.

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Young.

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And growing.

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It's in its beginning stage.

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So.

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Do you know what it's like?

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To be standing around a huge campfire.

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And then to walk away from

it, out into the dark forest.

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With only your 100 lumens flashlight.

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That is what I felt like.

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I suddenly felt lost in the darkness.

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And looking around, I wondered.

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Where are you?

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The God I know from looking up in the

sky, with your brilliant, bright light.

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We've all experienced what it's

like to walk outside into the

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brilliant light of the sun.

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To turn back around and

go into a dark room.

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You guys have to adjust.

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Soon, you can see.

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Just fine.

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But our eyes had to learn to adjust.

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Yeti X-2: the, , for the strength

of youth, September,:

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there is an article by elder.

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Dieter F Dorf called walk

in the Savior's light.

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He tells about an experience of

flying from Germany to California.

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And chasing the sun.

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So he was in continual light.

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And then the opposite

of flying from Germany.

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Back to California.

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And they flew in continual night.

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And I love what he said about this quote.

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Even while flying at night

in complete darkness.

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I knew a certainty that the sun remained

constant, steadfast and reliable.

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I knew that eventually the sun would

rise and the bright light would

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return to bring warmth and life to

a new day before the journey sand.

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Sometimes things around us can seem

unstable, unpredictable and dark.

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How grateful I am for Jesus Christ.

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He is the light and the life of the world.

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Because of him, we have

hope for the future.

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Access to his divine light.

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And the promise of ultimate victory.

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Over sin.

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And death.

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Yeti X: Satan, my friend.

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He wants us to believe that

the darkness will never end.

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And that we are hopelessly

lost in the dark.

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This is a great lie.

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When the truth is that

because of God's grace.

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The grace that is the

enabling and redeeming power.

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The atonement of Jesus Christ.

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His light is always there.

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Like the stars, reflecting the sun.

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He knows how to help us go through any.

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And all of the challenges.

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And the darknesses that we face.

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My patriarchal blessing to

overcome sadness and darkness.

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Isn't just mine.

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It's true for all of us.

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Isn't that joyful.

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sunshine.

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It is always there.

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It never waivers.

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Following the savior.

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Is like walking.

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From the shadows.

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That dark room.

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Into the sunlight where you can

receive the blessings of God's light.

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Warmth.

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And love.

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Okay.

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But what about those are fellow

travelers who were lost in the darkness?

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We read in doctrine and covenants 1 23.

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For there are many yet on the earth who

are blinded by this subtle craftiness.

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I've man.

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Whereby they lie in, wait to deceive.

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And who are only kept from the truth

because they know not where to find it.

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Therefore that we should waste and

wear out our lives in bringing to light

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all the hidden things of darkness,

Therefore dairy beloved brother.

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And.

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And sisters, let us cheerfully do

all things that lie in our power.

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That we may stand still with

the utmost assurance to see the

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salvation of God and for his arm.

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His light to be revealed.

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This is my favorite scripture.

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In fact, it hangs on my fridge to

remind me to do all that I can.

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Cheerfully.

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And then to step back.

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And let God take it from there.

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What's more astounding

about this scripture.

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Is it Joseph Smith received

it while a prisoner in jail.

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A very dark time for him.

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He too wondered and ask, where are you?

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God.

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And I love how Joseph

Smith's prayer was answered.

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found in section doctrine covenants 1 22.

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If there shall be cast into the pit.

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into the deep and the below

surges conspire against the.

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If fierce winds become the enemy.

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If heaven's gathering blackness and all

the elements combined a hedge up the way

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and above all, if the very jaws of hell

shall gape open the mouth wide after the.

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No though, my son, that all these

things shall give the experience

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and shall be for that good.

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The son of man.

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Has to send it below them all.

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Art thou greater than he.

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Behold.

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Hold on.

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Hold on.

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therefore fear, not what man can do.

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Fear not.

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The darkness.

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For God shall be with you forever.

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And ever.

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We are called to hold up

this light cheerfully.

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We are called to step away from the fire.

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And into the dark to

bring souls unto Christ.

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The profit Russell, M Nelson said.

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Quote.

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The spiritual darkness in the

world that makes the light of

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Jesus Christ needed more than ever.

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Every person deserves to know where

they can find the hope and peace

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that passes all understanding.

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Also.

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Rereading the scriptures, the

glory of God is intelligence.

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Or in other words, The light and

truth, such light and truth for

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sake and chase out the evil one.

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I love the idea of light chasing out.

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The darkness.

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Christ's also said that if our eyes

be single to the glory of God, our

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whole body shall be filled with

light and there shall be no darkness.

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CNS.

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For a body which is filled

with God's light will be able

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to comprehend all things.

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Now, can you imagine that's

more jaw dropping that a hundred

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thousand lumen flashlight to have

our whole body filled with light.

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I believe That is what it must

be like to become as Christ.

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Okay.

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I can't finish this episode.

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Without first defining a word.

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The word of the day is luminous.

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Luminous is defined as full of light.

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Bright.

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And shining expecially in the dark.

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Yeti X-6: There is a tender.

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Primary song that I just love that.

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I used to sing to our babies

that I'd like to share with you.

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I am.

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Like a star.

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Shiny.

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shiny.

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The whole.

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hi.

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I'd say.

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Happy.

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Things each day.

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Four.

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I know heavenly father.

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The MI.

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Ah,

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Yeti X-3: So we are called to be.

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Children of light a star.

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Shining brightly reflecting.

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The light of Christ.

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Out into the darkness.

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Yeti X: So my invitation to you,

my friends is if you feel lost

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in the dark right now, hold on.

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The light will come.

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Look up.

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Look up to the stars,

reflecting that light.

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The light of Christ is always there.

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Cry out to your savior.

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And his light will

chase away the darkness.

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The prophet has promised.

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In the times of darkness, actively

seeking Christ through prayer,

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scripture, study and template attendance.

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Can help individuals feel the light

of his presence more strongly.

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And if you, my friend are standing

there bathing in the fullness of light.

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I invite you to go and

find the lost sheep.

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That have stepped into the darkness.

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Step out there and find them.

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And when you get a chance.

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Go look up at the nightlights.

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The stars are shining brightly above you.

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Night and day.

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Always remember.

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The light of Jesus Christ Is eternal.

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And is always there for you.

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And will you please share this

podcast with a loved one, you

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know, who needs a nightlight?

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And I will see you on the trail.

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With our lights shining brightly.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

Join us!

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