Su'a - Overcoming Spiritual Slumps

For Christmas, I get a subscription to Deseret Book Bookshelf Plus.  I have spent the past months listening to fireside talks.  I thought it would be great to take notes and share some of the things that I have learned through my blog.

Brother Justin Su’a talks about overcoming spiritual slumps in your life.  He begins by asking the audience to consider how they would each describe the prophet Nephi from the Book of Mormon.  He considers multiple descriptions but then turns to the scriptures where Nephi calls himself a "retched man."

He speaks about Nephi using this spiritual slump that he was in to teach us how we are to handle those moments in our lives where we believe we have no self-worth.  He uses the verses from Nephi to talk about how we can overcome our own negative views of ourselves.
 
Brother Su’a says there are two things we must do to get out of our spiritual slumps.  He says that if you are in a spiritual slump, the first thing you need to do is recognize it.  The second thing you need to do is to do something about it.
 
He then gives us four things that we can do to get out of a spiritual slump.

• Count your many blessings.
  • He talks about a young girl who’s attitude changed when she started to keep a gratitude journal.  He quotes President Faust saying: a grateful heart is the beginning of greatness.
• Ask yourself some self-examining question.
  • He says it is in asking questions that we find answers to how to improve our lives.  He speaks about Joseph Smith asking a simple question that resulted in the first vision.  He says that when we ask questions, answers come through revelation.
    
• Make a decision to no longer give into the temptations that cause you to be in the slump.
  • You are a decision away from receiving so many blessings.  You just need to decide to take that first step.  Are there relationships that are causing you to be less of the person you want to be?  The first step is coming unto Christ for us to make changes in our lives.
    
  • Brother Su’a tells us that the Savior needs to be the focus of our lives.  He says that miracles will happen in our lives, if we are walking towards the Savior.  The Savior should be the center of our lives.  He uses a funny phrase to make this point.  He says, “The main thing is the keep the main thing, the main thing.”  The main thing is to keep the focus on the Savior.
    
• Pray and ask Heavenly Father to change you.
  • If you don’t like church, or serving, or attending your activities, God will help change your desire.  Some people have issues with prayer but he shares that most of the problems we have with prayer is that we forget the relationship we each have with our Heavenly Father.

Brother Su'a has a positive attitude that he shares with the youth of the church.  We all have moments where we encounter spiritual slumps in your lives.  How we deal with these moments will allow us to become better people and better disciples of Christ.  The suggestions from the story of Nephi teach us that we don't have to have these negative images of ourselves stay around for very long.  We can overcome the negative ideas and overcome the sins that cause us to feel worthless and unworthy.

WHAT IS BOOKSHELF PLUS?
Bookshelf Plus is a new service offered by Deseret Book.  It allows you to have access to the entire audio library audio books and fireside talks and over 1,500 ebooks available in the Bookshelf app for a low monthly subscription.  Now you can have thousands of audio books in your phone to listen to at your convenience.  I have added audio from the app to my weekly study and will be sharing some things each Monday about what I have been listening to.  If you would like to sign-up for a free 30 day trial of Bookshelf Plus, click the banner ad on the sidebar or click here.  I encourage you to study along with me and listen to the entire talk by Brother Justin Su'a.