Episode 86: Learning to Hear Him in the Chaos

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There is one phrase that President Nelson has been pounding into us and pleading with us to do. He continues to say, "hear Him." He wants us to hear the Savior and feel His guidance in our life. Here’s one of his quotes on that phrase.

“Our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, what will help us the very most is to hear His Son. Because when we seek to hear—truly hear—His Son, we will be guided to know what to do in any circumstance” 

What I hear President Nelson telling us in that quote is that there is going to be some uncertainty and fear coming ahead and we really need to learn to receive the revelation that the Savior can offer us. President Nelson also said,

“We are presently living in what surely is a most complicated time in the history of the world. The complexities and challenges leave many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted…I weep over your heartaches, disappointments, and worries… It seems that we are accosted daily by an onslaught of sobering news. You may have had days when you wished you could don your pajamas, curl up in a ball, and ask someone to awaken you when the turmoil is over."

That’s a lot of different types of chaos that the prophet is talking about us encountering in our world. What came to your mind when you heard him talk about those types of chaos in the world today? What images come to your mind in your life when you hear him talking about the complexities and challenges that overwhelm and exhaust us? What mental picture do you have of heartaches, disappointments and worries you are experiencing? What sobering news comes to your mind? What things make you want to curl up in a ball and awake when it’s over? What mental pictures or situations came to your mind specifically?

Those are the forms of chaos that rage around you in your life. Those are the things that he is telling you will undoubtedly cause chaos in your life and you will need the ability to Hear His Son to know what to do in those circumstances. The problem is, it’s hard to hear the still small voice of the Spirit converting these messages of the Savior when that chaos rages around us. Elder Renlund talked about this in conference

"The Spirit plays a pivotal role in communicating God’s love to us. Yet the influence of the Holy Ghost can be obscured “by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, … [or] fear, … like trying to savor the delicate flavor of a grape while eating a jalapeño pepper. …Similarly, our sense of God’s love may be blunted by challenging circumstances and physical or mental illness, among other things.”

The chaos in your life is obscuring the influence of the Holy Ghost and blocking your ability to "hear Him." When your ability to hear the Savior and receive His vital power is blocked or obscured you will see the effects of that in your life. Then the quality of your life will not be where you want it to be because one of the powers that the Savior can offer you when you can truly hear Him in the chaos is time beyond your own. Elder Meredith III talked about this in General Conference as well.

“Focusing on Christ can simplify our decisions and provide a guide for how we can best spend our time and resources.”

When you are not receiving access to time beyond your own you might be experiencing some of these effects in your life. How many of the following are you are experiencing currently in your life?

• I feel stressed that there isn’t enough time to do everything
•  I feel disorganized in my life and things feel scattered 
•  I feel unfocused and get distracted easily 
•  I feel like I am falling behind and never get caught up

Now let’s look at the effects that relate to not accessing help beyond your own from not being able to hear Him in the chaos. When you are not receiving help you beyond your own you might be experiencing these effects.

• I feel angry when the people I love aren’t doing what they should
• I worry that something might happen to the people I love
•  I feel guilt when I can’t provide what my loved ones need
• I feel helpless when I don't know how to provide relief for loved ones

Ok now let’s look at the effects that relate to not having access to energy beyond your own from not being able to hear him in the chaos. When you are not receiving energy beyond your own you might be experiencing these effects.

• I feel like I am failing when I make mistakes
• I feel inadequate when I can’t measure up to what others are doing
•  I feel exhausted from trying to keep up with everything
•  I feel overwhelmed with everything that is on my plate

Last but not least let's consider the effects that relate to not having access to peace beyond your own from the Savior. When you are not receiving peace beyond your own you might be experiencing these effects.

• I feel anxiety at night and can’t quiet my mind to sleep
• I feel confused about the decisions, direction or purpose of my life
• I feel disappointed with the things that aren’t getting done 
• I feel out of control like life I am not in charge of my life 

When you are feeling these effects, I bet it feels pretty chaotic in your life right? Then how well do you think you are able to hear that still small voice of the spirit conveying what the Savior wants you to hear? Probably not very well.

Also what happens when we start experiencing these effects is we begin acting and responding in certain ways as well. We start doing certain things based on how we feel from these symptoms. The problem is, sometimes these actions we start doing cause more of those symptoms to occur causing a vicious cycle of chaos to rage in our lives.

Now hopefully after that you are convinced that it is time to learn to hear the Savior in the midst of the chaos so you can reduce the effects that not hearing the Savior is having on your life. When you learn to hear "hear Him" in the chaos you will have access to a power beyond your own and will be able to...

Stop wasting time and getting distracted so you can accomplish more in less time.

Become a vessel for the Savior to know the exact way to help your loved ones.

Connect to your divine spiritual DNA to get more done than you can do on your own.

Feel peace in the unpeaceful so you can go to sleep when life is not how you want.

I would say it’s worth the investment of time to start learning to hear Him in the choas. This is why I am doing a FREE class on February 1 to teach you the 5 Steps to Hear Him in the Chaos. I hope you will join me and learn to quiet the chaos around you despite your situation so that you can, as President Nelson said, "be guided to know what to do in any circumstance."