Are your batteries in backwards ???

         
I was having a conversation about my life with my sister in law. I told her that If I get to heaven and St Peter reveals at the gate that I have been punked and this life was all a joke, I will not be too happy! All this crap for nothing but a laugh...ha! (And yes, I know, my crap is mild considering so no e-mails from the peanut gallery ...LOL) A couple of days later I was cleaning trash out of my car and found my poor dead digital camera. It was quite expensive and never mind that I had hardly used it ... I spilled something on it and killed it dead. I sat there, contemplating on if I was ready to throw it out and realized that there was a picture card in there (what are those do hickies called?) So, I decided to run over to Walmart and see if the pictures were any good or if I had ruined that too...
I stood there getting help from the clerk. She took the camera and and pulled the card do hickie out and made another observation... "What did you say happened to the phone?" She asked ... "Diet Coke spilled on it... I tried new batteries but when that didn't work I decided that funeral plans were in order..." I laughed.
"Well," she began " I don't see any damage caused by moisture, so your camera case must have absorbed it." then she turned the camera around, opened up the battery compartment and removed and then replaced the batteries. "Your batteries were in backwards." She stated ... she then turned on my camera and took a couple of pictures of the fine retail establishment. "See, good as new!"
Well, I'll be hog tied! Batteries in backwards, who knew? I got to thinking about the heaven conversation with my sister in law and was suddenly overcome with the possibility that maybe my life is not working well because my batteries are in backwards ... what if I get to heaven and St Peter says..." Your batteries were in backwards, sweetie ... too bad you didn't realize it, things may have been different."
So, How do you check your life batteries? I would imagine scripture study and prayer will help. Totally surrendering to the will of our Heavenly Father as well has complete trust and faith, those concepts are huge. I think about my own personality and realize that losing the occasional bad attitude might help ...LOL! Total submission to our Father's will is easier said than done... I want to submit ... but that requires trust and faith...that is where I am challenged ... I try.  Some days are better than others. I have a deep, fervent desire to be obedient. I also want my mission here in life to be fulfilled, unfortunately, I have no idea what that mission is. I know what I wanted it to be, but that's not what it turned out to be and I have spent way to much time pining and whining about what never was. Now I stand here at a crossroads not knowing quite how to handle my challenges, my growing need for welfare, for being surrounded by the reality that I am just not enough ... I am not young enough, cute enough, thin enough. How do you shift your way of thinking? apparently my batteries have been in backwards for some time and I have not been successful in fixing them ... maybe my life has never worked properly because of backward batteries (hmmm). Total submission to our Father requires a great deal of personal strength. To actually give Him your concerns and burdens and allow Him to work things out in His time. I am the bratty child that stands at his feet whining, "your not going fast enough! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!"
When you give something away, it is no longer yours. If you give your life to the Lord, He’ll give it right back to you with so much more added to it. So why are we so afraid to give it up? Is it my narcisistic desire to be in complete control? John 10:10 says, “… I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”    I want a more abundant life! Who doesn't? So what is my problem?

Additionally  Mosiah 24:14 says, “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.”
So, the truth is, my Father wants me to have an abundant life, He has not left me alone in my trials and he will take my burdens and carry them ... it seems like a  no brainer to me, yet I still struggle ... go figure.
I know that my Father In Heaven can do so much more with my life than I can. My job at this moment is to pray each day to be open to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I must submit to His will, I must trust Him, because I know His plan for me is unfailing.