You let offense keep you from your Father's House?

Here is a letter to all my friends who have opted out of our Father's house because they've been offended. I'm finding a lot of my friends lately have just stopped going to church because of how they feel they're being treated or something someone has said they didn't like. Let me preface by saying this: You can do what ever you want, because it's ultimately between you and the Lord, but don't stay away from HIM and his house because of them. If you want someone to sit next to you in church for moral support. CALL ME! I will Join you in your ward for support and reinforcement until you feel like you can handle it.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

You know, some times you have to MAKE yourself feel at home. it sucks, but that's life. We can't change other people. All we can do is change how we act and react to other people. It's tiresome. I'm sure the savior felt that way when he walked the earth and I'm sure Heavenly Father feels that way when we fall short.

I'll be dog on if I’m going to allow someone to make me feel out of place in my father's house and in his Gospel. I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE THERE. WE ALL DO! All we can do is the following:

1. Make sure we make others feel as if they belong. Our father’s house should be at least the one place on Earth that anyone walking the streets should be able to enter in and feel God's love for his children and their love for each other.

2. Make sure we are filling our lives with those things that will remind us and feed us that love. It's sad to say but, we CANNOT always depend on others to give us that reminder or to "refill" that void when we're missing it.

3. Heavenly Father will provide for us times and places to teach the ignorant. Pray for opportunities and they will come. Be in places where those opportunities will surface. If you don't attend your meetings, you are missing opportunities. If you're turning down opportunities to speak, pray, bare testimony, or teach, we are cheating ourselves for sharing some of these concerns we have and cheating the Lord of his teaching moments.

Its TOUGH being LDS, we are a peculiar people. And with the history of the Church and racial relations with Blacks and Native Americans and so on...some of those old TRADITIONS will continue to be taught unless we dispel them. We have to know the Gospel to teach the Gospel. We have to be in those places where we can gain knowledge of it and we have to take upon ourselves to read and study the scriptures and doctrines not just rely on a 3 hour block one day week on Sunday to teach us all we know.

We, the children of God we are meant to be in his house, learning his ways and learning to be the living example of his ways.

Let's not be bitter and begrudging and weak in our resolve to not give up. Find reasons to be in his house instead of reasons not to be in his house.

We have been thru oceans and chains and shackles. We've been thru the "massa's whippings and raping and have had our families sold off and lost, cheated, “beated”, massacres and so on. We have been chased out of towns and states and have walked snow covered, wet, dry, rocky and dusty trails. I just think as a people, Latter Day Saints as a whole, we've gone through way to much to give up offended at this point even if at the hand of our own brothers and sisters. Know what I mean?

The truth is everyone has something that makes them feel out of place.

But you know we also agreed to that refiner’s fire when we choose to come to this earth. Where would we be if Jesus Christ , or Joseph Smith had walked away offended?

Please reconsider returning to our Father’s house.