This video for the Come, Follow Christ study, from over a week ago, highlighting 2 Nephi 1-2 of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has so many gold nuggets of truth! It features Dr. Lili de Hoyos Anderson, a mom of 8, PhD, and family therapist. Watch below. I include some bullet points of what I learned and love. She uses a metaphor of alchemy that is so beautiful!
-she calls men to repentance, telling them, like Lehi told his sons, Laman and Lemuel, to “Man up and be men!” By this she means to awake and arise to follow God and follow the male roles in the Proclamation on the Family. (That’s at the 38:15 mark.)
-someone asked her what she would say to a woman who has been so hurt by men (father, husband) that she has a hard time praying to a male God. Dr. Anderson’s reply is right after the 44:15 mark, including her testimony of the Savior.)
-what people studying elephants learned about the importance of fathers in teaching young males healthy masculinity, and how this protects young men from toxic masculinity. (54:55)
-as family members, we can get help in fulfilling our roles by simply asking our children and/or spouse how we can improve (59:16) I love the example Hank uses with substituting the word/idea for “wife” for Nephi as he reads through 2 Nephi 1:24 “Rebel no more against your brother(wife) whose views have been glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us forth into the land of promise; for were it not for him (her), we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness; nevertheless, ye sought to take away his(her) life; yea, and he (she) hath suffered much sorrow because of you.”
Ok here are some beautiful and tender things from Part 2, shown above.
-Lehi teaches that the Fall of Adam was fortunate for mankind. See 7 seconds into it. I am so grateful for Lehi’s teaching about this, which can’t be found in any other book of scriptures.
-she quotes Jordan Peterson about life, how it’s best for us to yield to Life/Universe/God and not be bitter (2:47)
-she shares some heavy personal challenges she’s had in the past year: flooding of home, death of her husband, and hacking of her bank account. Wow! This woman is a female modern day Job! I am so in awe that she has not let these things turn her bitter. This woman knows who her Savior is and trusts him completely. (hear it right after she quotes Jordan Peterson)
-God is the ultimate alchemist. He takes the heavy, leaden things in our life and turns them to gold, if we let them. (18:59) I love this! We each have sorrowful things in our life as heavy as lead. If we bring these things to the Lord Jesus Christ, He truly can turn them for our good, even more valuable than gold.
There’s so much more gold in this podcast/video/interview to be mined! For example, at some point in either part, I’m not finding where it is exactly, she says that her time being a stay-at-home mom of 8, being in the trenches every day of diapers and dishes, was harder than getting her PhD. She is grateful for that time at home. She is so grateful for her husband supporting her during that time when she could be home.
Want more of Dr. Anderson?
She has a website full of articles. These are soooo good! Go here.
She has a book. It looks so good! Truly, as she says in of the videos above, we each get to choose our glory.
She has a podcast! I’m going to start listening to it! It’s over here!
She has thoughts about being a non-victim Christian. See below. What a treasure she is, greater than gold!
Tree of Life Mothering 