Chocolate for the Soul

Sunday is the day I share a little of my soul...enjoy.


I visited a dear lady from our congregation in the hospital today who is fighting a new battle with cancer this week. Tomorrow she will have a procedure done...but this came at the end of a week full of my own  personal thoughts on the power of the mind and Inviting the Spirit.  

I was developing a new recipe this week for low fat honey whole wheat chocolate pancakes when I noticed the cocoa I was  using had this saying on the side of the can...

It got me thinking...as chocolate often does.  What is "chocolate for the soul"?   It's always a good indicator of where my head is if I don't want to think about my own answer and just EAT the chocolate instead of actually feeding my soul.  So...I had to step back and remember who I was, once again...and what my motivations ought to be when it comes to my gospel devotion. I think I'm not the only one who's human here, right?  I was starting to feel like I was going through the motions instead of going through devotions...and that's the beauty. God just reminded me quietly last night during my studies. "Stephanie...You are not forgotten or forsaken. You are loved, cherished, beautiful, needed, accepted. I love you not because of anything you do...but because of who you are.  I do however, expect you to serve me well."  Most of the time I find, that when I'm feeling far from my Savior, it's not because He's gone away, it's because I've stopped doing what I needed to feel close to Him.  I can usually trace it back to my thinking and my actions...as with anything in life.  Not that I'm saying I've committed any huge sins, though I know I'm a sinner. I will never claim perfection. I will always beg for his mercy and his powerful Grace.  However...this week has been an amazing reminder that no matter how much I do...If my Savior is not the one I'm serving... I will have been laboring for worldly chocolate...instead of chocolate for the soul.  So. I'm feeling like I'm back on track. My thoughts are again centered on the the right cocoa.

“Thoughts mold your features. Thoughts lift your soul heavenward or drag you toward hell. … As nothing reveals character like the company we like and keep, so nothing foretells futurity like the thoughts over which we brood. … To have the approval of your conscience when you are alone with your thoughts is like being in the company of true and loving friends. To merit your own self-respect gives strength to character. Conscience is the link that binds your soul to the spirit of God” (“Those Sculptors Called Thoughts and Ideals,” Improvement Era, July 1960, 495).


That is the Spirit that has the power to heal. That is the Spirit that has the power to reveal powerful truth. That is the Spirit that my dear friend in the hospital has the power to invite into her mind and body. I know miracles happen everyday.  I know for a fact that God is a very Positive Being. God is Love. God is Good. If we are trying to have our minds focused on these things, He will be there.
In all the physical and spiritual battles each of us will face, the greatest ones will be won and lost within the secret confines of the human mind.  Choose your chocolate well...make sure it's good quality and designed to save your soul. Better yet...stick with the Bread of Life instead. 


There it is.