Getting out of Bondage

I have learned a lot about the flaxen chord that Satan ties around people's necks until they have no way to get out. It has been a hard thing for me to allow people that I love and care about immensely to go through their own learning process and realize that there is a way out. It sometimes seems that we are so far in that, that giving up is the only option, and generally that results in even more displeasure, pain and addiction.

I have been reading my scriptures and have found there is a key to getting out of bondage.  The key is Christ. He is the answer and has always been the answer. And when we just don't know how to get to Him, if we open our hearts and our scriptures, He spells it out for us quite plainly.

In Mosiah 7 the people are in bondage; literal bondage to other people and they're asking,vs 23 "And is not this, our affliction great?"  vs 24 "Great are the reasons which we have to mourn..."
I know I've asked myself a time or two, "How do I get out of this bondage that is making life unbearable?" 

There are always two answers.  The thing is, that life is all about choices and just like the Lord is good at doing, He tells us, "Here's option number 1 and 2.  You get to choose.  Remember how life is about making good choices and then reaping the rewards (good or bad) of those choices?"

vs 29-32 talk about the destruction that will come because of bad choices.

"29 For behold, the Lord hath said: I will not ^asuccor my people in the day of their transgression; but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not; and their doings shall be as a ^bstumbling block before them.

30 And again, he saith: If my people shall sow ^afilthiness they shall ^breap the ^cchaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison.

31 And again he saith: If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the ^aeast wind, which bringeth immediate destruction.

32 And now, behold, the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, and ye are smitten and afflicted."

And then like the perfect being that He is, He also reminds us of the other positive outcome choice!  He says, "But don't forget there's another happy option!  There always is!"  And so the other option is presented.  This option is usually harder, and takes more effort on our part, but in turn makes us happier in the long and tells us of our worth.  It reminds us of who we are (literal sons and daughters of perfect parent) and says, "I promise there's options.  Good ones that lead to happiness...here they are."

"33 But if ye will ^aturn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all ^bdiligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

So simply put
1. Turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart
2. Put your trust in Him
3. Serve him with all diligence of mind

and tada....in His own time, according to His own will and pleasure (usually on the fourth watch, just when you think you can't take it any longer, or you've learned what you're supposed to) He WILL deliver you!  I know He will. He does it all the time.

On my mission, there were so many times, when I was just done. I couldn't do take it anymore.  Whatever it was, a hard companion, no success, physical pain (one time I had blisters under layers of skin on my feet...it hurt so bad I couldn't even walk!!!  Another time the bones in the top of my feet would cramp up so badly that I could hardly walk...what is a missionary without walking feet in Uruguay???)  and just when we were going up the hill, like the storm was ready to come, just when it was so hot and everyone would say, "If it would just rain, all this humidity would go away"  and I was like, "If I could just get a break, it would all be okay.  If so and so would just accept baptism etc...well, in those moments when it was literally the fourth watch, when life was so hard and unbearable and I had no where else to turn, I would pour out my soul to the Lord and of course, according to His own will and pleasure, the storm broke, the pain went away and He took my pain.  He took it from me and put it somewhere.  I know not where, but He took it and held it.  It was a miracle and every time ever since, it has been a miracle.  Just when I think I'm trapped and in bondage for forever, I realize that the storm is going to break soon.  I just need to have the faith.

I was reading today in Mosiah 11 and there they were expounding on their bondage and how awful it was,  God was saying, "They have done a lot of wicked things and they need to know that "except they repent and turn to me"   I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, they will be brought into BONDAGE, they will be afflicted...in other words, "Things aren't going to look very good, because I am a jealous God, and I will visit the inquities of my people." vs 21-22

But He always gives us a way out and says, "23 And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall ^adeliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God."

I thought of the verse in chapter 7:33 and thought..."It's just that simple.  Go to Him.  Turn to Him and will care for us.  But no one can deliver us from the BONDAGE we are in, whether it be mental, physical, emotional etc... we have to give our will to Him and do our part. I love the quote by Elder Maxwell that says,

"As you submit your will to God, you are giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give. Don't wait too long to find the altar or to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it! No need to wait for a receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging." --Neal A. Maxwell, "Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been", Ensign, May 2004, pg 46

Elder Spencer W. Kimball said:

Sometimes . . . when a repentant one looks back and sees the ugliness, the loathsomeness of the transgression, he is almost overwhelmed and wonders, "Can the Lord ever forgive me? Can I ever forgive myself?" But when one reaches the depths of despondency and feels the hopelessness of his position, and when he cries out to God for mercy in helplessness but in faith, there comes a still, small, but penetrating voice whispering to his soul, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." [The Miracle of Forgiveness, 1969, p. 344]

So I guess essentially, to get out of whatever bondage we may be in, physical, mental, addicted to something (pornography, alcohol, cigarettes etc) we are able to be released from that by going to Christ and giving our will to Him.  It's just that simple, yet so hard that we don't do it as much as we should.  I think we are in a battle to fight for what we truly want and when we do that, we show the Lord that we want His way more than any way, and when we do that we are freed from our BONDAGE.