Episode 72

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Published on:

21st Jul 2025

WEIGHT OR WINGS?

What is weighing heavy on your mind today? Somedays can feel like you are carrying the weight of the world. What if that weight could become wings? I'm going to ask for your grace while listening to this- I'm venturing into unknown territory. I invite you to walk with me and just listen.

Transcript
Speaker:

Sonny Bonani, my friends.

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Welcome to the Creative Spiritual Journey

podcast, where GUI and I walk with you

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for just a moment and share the joys and

wonders that we are discovering along

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this marvelous journey we called life.

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I am Judy Cooley, also known as Sister

Cooley, serving with my husband here in

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the South Africa Durban Mission for the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter D Saints.

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Today is 567.

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I've been numbering the days

nd,:

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so I have a question for you.

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What is weighing on your mind?

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One of the first things I noticed.

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When we arrived here in South Africa,

that was so different from back at home

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was how people carried heavy loads on

their head, balanced without hands.

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So their hands were free to hold the

hand of a child to carry more bags.

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most of 'em have a baby on their

back, but I just have been in

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awe at the loads that I've seen.

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I've seen.

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Bundles of wood balanced on

their heads, big pots of food.

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I've seen the trash sorters

carrying heavy loads of recycling.

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And I have looked up at how far.

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These men carry this load, and

it's anywhere from 10 to 15 miles.

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I've seen brooms.

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I have seen laundry,

uh, bundles of things.

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I have no idea what they are,

but they look big and heavy.

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There's ladies who sell

cooked corn on the cob.

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And they carry those on their heads.

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There's even an African quote that

says To walk with a burden balanced on

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your head is to carry more than weight.

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It is to carry memory,

tradition, and quiet strength.

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Most times you see women walking long

distance together with their heads

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crowned with bundles it's just how it is.

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this is something that has been for as

long as time has existed here in South

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Africa, and not only just in Africa, I

think all around the world in countries

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where transportation's a little harder

and they have to get things from place

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to place and they don't have a truck.

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And they need to carry the water

from the water source to the house.

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This talent of carrying heavy

loads on your head have been

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taught by their mothers, and

they of course have practiced it.

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They have started with little

things and have grown up.

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I, I would think you'd have strong

neck muscles and back muscles

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and just pure grit to be able

to carry those loads for so far.

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So the question, what is

weighing on your mind?

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The weight is something that feels so

heavy and burdensome that you're carrying

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on your mind, in your thoughts, your

worries, your fears, your concerns.

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Now, I've wanted to do this episode for a

long time because the image of the women.

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Carrying loads on their heads is

just, uh, so, so South African and

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this episode's been weighing on my

mind, not just because creating any

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episode is tricky in finding the time.

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But also trying to find something

that's worth your time to listen to.

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But this morning, this episode, this

topic of weight or wings became a

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little heavier with the news of one of

our young women's attempt of suicide.

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This topic weighs heavy on many of our

minds, and I hope to bring it to light out

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of the darkness, the stigma of carrying

weight, the weight of depression, anxiety,

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and many other mental health issues.

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First off my disclaimer, I

am just a senior missionary

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sister Cooley, a disciple of

Jesus Christ, a wife, a mother.

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A go-go, A yoga instructor,

a meditation coach.

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And that is where my qualifications

end with giving advice or prescribing

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what to do about any of this.

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But I can be a voice of one crying out

in the wilderness to my fellow travelers.

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that you're not alone.

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Hold on.

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There's someone who cares with

permission from my sweet daughter.

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I am gonna share with you a

story of the load that her and

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her husband have been carrying.

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So This is from my daughter's,

Facebook post she posted on July 11th.

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that I am gonna read

from to tell her story.

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July 11th, A day we'll always

celebrate in this family a day that

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represents hope, second chances,

grace, and healing a day that reminds

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me to love hard laughed often, and

forgive easily a day that reminds

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us that tomorrow is never guarantee.

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July 11th is a hard but special day.

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Uh, it is the day Nate chose to

stay the day we rallied as a family.

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The day that changed us forever,

the day we chose to put in the work.

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And raised from the ashes.

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Nate calls it his birthday

the day he decided to live.

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So celebrate him with us today.

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I love you forever, Nate.

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So damn proud of you and the work

you have done these past two years.

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I'm your biggest fan and

loudest cheerleader always.

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And she is.

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She's a very amazing.

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Daughter, wife, mother.

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And I know also that she's

been carrying a load.

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A lot of the load that Nate

carried we were unaware of.

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And due to the stigma of,

mental health depression.

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Be the man.

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Right?

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I think that's a real problem and an

issue that we have here in South Africa

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in the Zulu culture is that it's weakness.

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mental health depression.

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It's a weakness and it's

a weakness that we hide.

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'cause it has a stigma with it.

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So.

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Let's bring it to light, shall

we, shall we talk about it?

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Because I believe every single one of us

are dealing with one thing or another.

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And if we're not, someone we love dearly

is a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend.

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And there's too many people that

feel they are alone in this.

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And they choose not to stay.

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How grateful I am that my

sweet son-in-law stayed.

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So with that in mind, I

told you this was heavy.

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What is weighing on your mind?

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In preparing for this episode, I came

across this beautiful quote by an

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American pastor, Harry Emerson fos.

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It reads, some Christians carry

the religion on their backs.

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It is a packet of beliefs with

practices which they must bear.

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At times.

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It grows heavy and they would

willingly lay it down, but that

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would mean a break with old

traditions, so they shoulder it again.

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But real Christians do

not carry their religion.

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Their religion carries them.

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It is not weight.

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It is wings.

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It lifts them up and sees

them over hard places.

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It makes the universe seem

friendly, life purposeful hope,

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real sacrifice, worthwhile.

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It sets them free from fear futility.

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Discouragement and sin the great

ens slavery of man's souls.

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You know, a real Christian, when

you see him by his buoyancy,

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don't you love that buoyancy?

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When I was talking to my daughter

once about the struggles and

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weight that her and her husband

were under, I shared with her.

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Something that I learned about

ships, talking about buoyancy,

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and it is called the primal line.

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Back in the 18 hundreds when, a oh

ships, sea bearing ships would take

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loads, a lot of them would end up sunk.

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a man named Primal discovered

the ships that, were overloaded.

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we're at risk of sinking And

so through, I don't know, some

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kind of mathematical equation.

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I don't know how he

discovered this, but he.

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Learned, to mark the ship.

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The primal line is actually tells

the sailors when enough is enough.

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So if the ship sits above

the line, it's safe to sail.

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If the ship after loading it sits below

the line, it is overloaded and at risk.

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And sometimes there's even multiple

marks on the primal line to account

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for different water types, whether

it's fresh water, salt, water, the

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seasons, cold water, or warm water.

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That makes a difference.

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So What if we had a primal line

that said, when we have reached

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our limit, how much emotionally or

spiritually or mentally we can carry?

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And if we ignored it.

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Then we're at risk of sinking

with stress and burnout and maybe

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even becoming spiritually numb.

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Or we can be wise captains we must know

our limits and unload where needed.

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So how do you unload through prayer rest?

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I know our prophet said rest can

be found in the temple for me.

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. Through connection.

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This for me is a great one.

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I love to connect with friends

and just talk things over.

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service is also a great,

, reliever of the stress.

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In fact, in the preach my gospel,

under, , the heading go about doing good.

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there is a quote from

President, Gordon b Hinkley.

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Do you wanna be happy?

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I'm gonna pause there and add my own

words do you wanna lighten your load?

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Do you wanna be happy?

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Forget yourself and get

lost in this great cause.

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Lend your efforts to helping people.

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stand higher to be able to lift

those with feeble knees, hold up

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the arms of those that hang down,

live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Isn't that wonderful?

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Live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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I have a dear friend here who

is an expert at carrying loads.

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one time we were walking in the

township where I meet with the

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Gogos and she was carrying on her

head this very large pot of pop.

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Pop is like a corn meal meal that's

like a porridge that they love here,

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but we're just talking as she's walking

and she's got other things in her hands

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and I have things in my hands and, and

I just started giggling because here she

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is walking with a heavy pot on her head,

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She had had years of experience.

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She told me once of a experience

where life felt like a heavy load.

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They had a lot of troubles

and five young children.

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Her oldest was at that age for seminary.

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Now, seminary Back at home, we would

just include it in our school schedule.

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And we'd walk across the street and

go to a seminary class about the Book

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of Mormon or the New Testament and a

Old Testament or doctrine covenants,

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and it was one of my favorite classes,

but they don't have that here.

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And so she was teaching

her son seminary and.

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She had these heavy burdens and

troubles that they were dealing with

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in their life she was concerned about.

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So she was praying to her heavenly

father to know what to do.

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she received an answer.

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The inspiration To be teaching the

youth of the area seminary now.

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So this wasn't an easy task to

not only get the youth there at

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her little home, but to teach.

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And she found that as she worked

and labored at making this happen,

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that those burdens were made light.

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And she says.

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Somehow they just all vanished away.

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And I realized it was because I

was doing the great work of the

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Lord and he took care of my load.

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I.

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I know.

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Our savior is very aware of the burdens

that we carry because we came to

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this mortal life and it's part of the

opposition, and we are to learn like

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those little girls that learned from their

mother how to carry and balance the load.

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We are to learn from these experiences.

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What is too much?

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How to balance what we do have stewardship

over 'cause there are always gonna be

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some loads on our mind in Matthew 1128.

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Come unto me, all you, that labor and

are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

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He's inviting us to unload our burdens.

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There's also in Psalms 55 22,

cast thy burdens upon the Lord.

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I envision our savior, waiting with open

arms, inviting us to, bring him our loads

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because his grace, his love, will help us

carry our burdens President Russell M.

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Nelson said that when we are tempus

tossed and torn by our cares, I

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plead with you to remember prayer.

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When you learn to hear the voice

of the Lord, you will feel peace.

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And rest.

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Only he can give.

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Isn't that beautiful?

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True rest.

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True unloading of our loads.

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Setting down our burden I love how in

the book of Mormon, the people of Alma,

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they are in bondage and the people

have heavy and hard tasks put on their

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back, And they pray to know what to do.

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And this is the promise from the Lord.

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And it came to pass.

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That the burdens, which were laid

upon Elman and his brethren were made

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light and the Lord did strengthen

them, and they did submit cheerfully

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and with patience sometimes.

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In fact, I'm gonna say most times

God does not necessarily take the

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burden, but he strengthens us so we

can, with his help carry the load.

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So I'm gonna end with the

question I began with.

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What is the burden you are carrying today?

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If it's true that real Christians

do not carry their religion,

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their religion carries them,

it is not weight, it is wings.

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My invitation is take what's weighing

on your mind to the Lord, and my promise

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The savior's willing to heal and unload

whatever we are willing to yield to him.

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I know that speaking of suicide and

depression and anxiety all the heavy

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loads that there are, I think heavens

more awareness going on nowadays.

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There are organizations called Stay.

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It's a stay campaign.

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There are even things

on the Gospel Library.

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App of life helps for suicide,

what to look for, how things for

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prevention and warning signs.

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So this is big and it's gonna take

all of us pulling together and helping

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each other stay, and including.

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Our savior and helping each other set

down our burdens and yield it to the Lord.

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So, do what you can do, what

you can find joy in the journey.

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And if you happen to know.

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Some fellow travelers that feel that the

weight is too much and that maybe they're

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drowning, reach out, please and help them.

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The best thing you can

do is listen and love.

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That's what our savior would ask you to

do, to lift up those hands, that hang

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down, and strengthen those feeble knees.

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Love greatly.

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And if you know someone that

could benefit from this podcast,

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I know it's just a simple podcast.

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Not much in the whole scheme of things,

but maybe it might help someone.

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I know my daughter, when she posted, had

so many people reach out, what do we do?

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So let's do this together.

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for me One of the best ways to

unload is meditative prayer,

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and so I will be including on

this podcast a meditation for.

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releasing the weight

and finding the wings.

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Gee.

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And I know that your time is precious,

and I thank you for being here.

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And let's bring this topic into the

light and Shine our testimonies,

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our love for the Savior, his light

into the lives of those around us.

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I'm gonna close with one more thought.

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This is found in Isaiah 40 31.

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They that weighed upon the Lord,

they that bring their burdens unto

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the Lord shall renew their strength.

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They shall mount up with wings as equals.

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And I will see you on the trail.

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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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