A Better Place to Run

Life’s wilderness moments test our strength and self-reliance, but they’re also where we learn to lean on Christ. In this episode, Cydni and Sher share stories of manna, miracles, and modern plagues—with a reminder that no matter how independent we become, we’ll always find peace when we run to the Savior. This episode is "A Better Place to Run" and we are so glad you're here!

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Show Notes

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Transcript

Episode 134 - A Better Place to Run

Cydni: [00:00:00] Today's message begins with this truth. What you focus on will show up in your life. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is we have been focusing on manna appearing, which some say is like a bread. And recently our neighbor and listener. Thank you Anna. She has provided in our own personal wilderness. Manna. It's true. She brought the manna from heaven. She really did. This lovely neighbor, woman, blessed saint. 

Sher: don't go too far. Okay. I mean, I love her now, but Blessed Saint. Come on now. 

Cydni: That's not too far. If someone brings you fresh, homemade sourdough, it is not enough. Actually, she's now referred to as St. Anna among all generations. We just wanted to say a thank you to Anna because Sher was sick and I just dunno how to bake.

Sher: I was feeling like dumpster trash 

Cydni: and I was exhausted after a long day with children and sports. And she [00:01:00] said if you walk over, which is. I'll admit three houses away. You could have some. And I was like, I can't. I've already put on pajamas, I've taken off the bra and I, I just can't do it. And that lady showed up at our house. So thank you, Anna, for bringing forth miracles to your neighbors. We love you Love you. Anna. Anna, Ana. Correction. She is known among all generations as Saint Anna Manna. Welcome to the Cydni and Sher Podcast. 

Sher: Last week, Cydni, we discussed how beautiful the earth is, even in the wilderness, and we also talked about how God will guide us and he will never leave us. However, sometimes when things are going really well, we might forget how much we need God and we become a bit too self-reliant.

So today what we're gonna talk about is self-reliance is good, and God wants us to be independent and make our own choices, he [00:02:00] wants us to work hard and know how to do things, but at the same time, he wants us to bring him along on our journey and turn to him to help make those decisions in our life.

Cydni: So yes, self-reliance is a fantastic thing and everything, but we don't want Anna to stop bringing us spread. We just wanted to make sure that was Clear as possible. 

Sher: We need Anna to be self-reliant. Right. And bring us bread. 

Cydni: Our listeners should be self-reliant. Correct. because the next day I tried to make my daughter pancakes and I forgot that I was cooking them. And everyone asked what the smell was and then they asked what that noise was. 'cause I set off the fire alarm. And then the next words out of IANA's mouth were. I wish Anna would bring us some more bread. That is a true story. That's hilarious.

. Poor, broken hearted girl. But I'm going to take a few steps back because something to go with what we've studied, which is the children of Israel, is that God first taught [00:03:00] them. They can rely on him and absolutely had miracles. And I went through and found all of the miracles that they saw and I understand they're the children of Israel, but also. I think we could just call them the Children of Miracles.

There are miracles after miracles from the start of the story from Moses surviving what he survived to then grow up where he did to the very end to. So I actually wrote all of them down and so these are truly the children of miracles it started with Moses and it the burning bush, the staff turning to a snake, the 10 plagues. And I was thinking once upon a time, you and I talked about what the 10 modern plagues would be, wasn't it like ozempic not working, losing your Stanley Cup?

Because if you lose your cup, you can never drink water again. Right? It's 

Sher: over. 

Cydni: That's equivalent to the rock having water in it. It's the modern day. Hydro Flask has water in it. It's from God. And if you don't have it. You die. And then I was thinking [00:04:00] also probably if your hair color won't cover your grays anymore, caffeine shortage, social media, outage, hangnails.

Those are the ones I was thinking that would be like, okay, God, I'll turn to you. We don't need the frogs and stuff. Right. 'cause we have pest control, but if my grays don't get covered. It'll get me on my knees real fast. I'd be like, God, I'm sorry. 

Sher: Right. no, I have gray hair, 

Cydni: Well, what's yours then? This is our question of the week. Okay. What is the one plague that immediately will get you to repent and change your wicked ways 

Sher: running outta Diet Coke? 

Cydni: Yep. That is most of Utah's, I think but then there's also, there's the Passover, the pillar of cloud and the fire. There's the crossing of the Red Sea there's the manna, the quells for meat. There's water from the rock. Like I said, there's victories over different groups of people. There's the 10 commandments. The list truly does go on. But my favorite is when the donkey speaks. And I know this is out of the [00:05:00] wilderness but it's still the children of Israel. When in numbers 22 it says. The ass saw the angel of the Lord. I love the story so deeply we should actually use this more. People should put this quote up in their kitchen, not live, laugh, love, they should put, and the ass saw the angel of the Lord. Because how hopeful is that? I know he is talking about a donkey, but there's some of us who also like maybe. Relate to the donkey, and if the ask could see the angel of the Lord, then maybe you can too.

Sher: That was very inspirational. 

Cydni: Thank you. I've found this to be inspirational my whole life because this poor donkey is getting kicked because it won't move, but it won't move because it sees an angel before him. And he is like, we gotta slow down because there's angels and they have a sword and he keeps getting kicked. And then the Lord who is merciful lets the donkey talk. It says, and the Lord opened the mouth of the of the ass. She said, what have I done under thee that thou has smit [00:06:00] in me three times?

And I love it because it's Baam. He talks back, he's not like, oh my gosh, you just talked. He's like, because you're mocking me. That's what it says. It's hysterical. Why is this in the Bible? It's so funny. Anyway, that's in there too.

The reason I wanna say all of these miracles is because the one we've talked about the most is the manna that God provided for 40 years in a miraculous way. But we have to talk about the fact that the manna stops.

There is a day they wake up and it is not there anymore. And the question is, why did it stop? Which is what we're talking about, which is self-reliance. And this is the thought that came to me because I was thinking, it stopped because God wants us to know we can rely on him, but also we have to learn how to do things on our own because we also are required to become like the Creator.

But I was having a difficult time going at at this angle, so I thought of this instead. So instead of why does God want us to rely on Him, I [00:07:00] thought, what does it benefit Satan to have us not rely on God? And that one was much easier for me to think about. And when I thought about why Satan wouldn't want us to rely on God, it's pretty obvious to me that Satan wants us to live in fear. He wants us to live in doubt. He wants us to not act, but he wants us to draw back. He wants us to be anxious and worried about things that we can't control, and he wants us to complain and wonder in the wilderness, but God wants us to see. The miracles. He wants us to know that we not only can rely on him, but that we could become like Him. And if we don't live in fear, but we live in faith, then what could God do with that if we're not afraid to act? that's where Moses' story comes in. Moses, the meek man, capable of great power, trusted God and relied on God and he worked with God.

And when we list the different miracles, they're endless. So what could he do? He could do things like he did with Moses who did not [00:08:00] live in fear, but partnership. We are capable of the same relationship with God. We're capable of the same type of faith and we're capable of becoming the children of miracles in our own personal lives that we see answers to prayers , that we have no other way to explain something other than it's a miracle. So the power for us is to know that God can provide whatever we need, but also as it says in doctrine, covenants 59. Behold it does not meet that I should command the in all things for he that is compelled in all things The same is slothful and not a wise servant. Wherefore he receive with no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged, in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will and to bring the past much righteousness for the power is in them. Wherein there are agents unto themself and in as much as men do good, they shall in no wise lose the reward but he, that doth not anything until he is commanded and [00:09:00] receive a commandment with a doubtful heart and keepeth it with lawfulness. The same is damned. Was that a positive note to leave on? 

Sher: Yeah. Glad you said that last part. 

Cydni: But don't worry and ask saw the angel of the Lord, so you can, you can too. 

Sher: As you were talking about self-reliance and also including God and all of those things, I just couldn't help but think about my parents. When I think about the word self-reliant, those are the two people I think of, between the two of them. They literally could do everything. If you were gonna be lost in the wilderness, you would want them there with you because they knew how to survive in all the rough elements, and they knew how to do so many things. but they also knew how to include God on the journey. And that's why to me, they are such good examples and that self-reliance, it brings confidence in your life. It brings resilience in your life and this is what God wants for you. But again, he also wants us to include Him. If we try to rely on ourselves completely, [00:10:00] this is when things get really dangerous and out of whack because it can lead to pride and to arrogance and this belief that we don't need God, that we really can do it on our own.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin said, arrogance doesn't acknowledge the source of. All blessings as coming from God, nor does it acknowledge the role other people play in our blessings. It is self-centered, foolish and reckless belief, so we wanna make sure that we recognize that. God is the source of all of our blessings, plus all the people in our lives that help us.

We need to acknowledge that and be grateful for it. As I thought about this self-centered and foolish, reckless belief, I thought about the Tower of Babel. Elder d Todd Christofferson said The antagonist of Zion is Babylon. The city of Babylon was originally Babel of Tower of Babel fame, and later became the capital of the [00:11:00] Babylonian empire.

Its worldliness, its worship of evil, all combined to make Babylon the symbol of decadent societies and spiritual bondage. So when you take God out, that's what you're left with. As I was reading more about the Tower of Babel I found in the church magazine in the year 2018, there was an article that said, what can this ancient construction project teach us today?

And I thought it was pretty interesting. The first thing it said is that the Tower of Babel was. Innovative. It was unique. It used the latest technology that was at their fingertips to help build this. The second thing is that it was completely manmade. It left God out 100%. This was all a manmade structure.

The third thing, Was that it was undertaken without authority from God. I wanted to read what it said about that, just to give a little bit of background of what they meant by that. It said, it seems that the people of Babel were attempting to build a [00:12:00] counterfeit temple to reach unto heaven, bind or seal the people together somehow, so they would not be scattered. Make them a name rather than take the Lord's name upon them. And all this, without authority from God and without regard to his commandments, no project of our own devising will bring us ultimate happiness. Only God's plan, including temple covenants, can do that. So that's what they were trying to do, basically, which makes it really creepy and blasphemous, they're trying to leave God out and build their own name and their own temple as a way to reach heaven. The last thing it said is that ultimately the Tower of Babel failed. And what it said about that is a world that rejects God and with pride and arrogance, tries to obtain happiness while disregarding him, and his righteousness will always fail in its quest.

 Now let's go back to this Zion idea. Because Elder Christofferson said that. The antagonist of [00:13:00] Zion is Babylon. So I wanna go back to Zion. Elder Christofferson further said about Zion, we will become of one heart and one mind as we individually place the Savior at the center of our lives and follow those he has commissioned to lead us.

So the key to get away from Babylon and to not build your own Tower of Babel is. To put Christ in the center of our life. Let me go back to my parents. My parents were very self-reliant. They were very independent and they had the confidence of two people that had years of experience of being able to build and create and survive with very little money and a lot of ingenuity, but what they were most self-reliant on. Was our Savior. They always kept our Savior first. I don't remember going anywhere with them, ever without saying several prayers along the way. They always wanted to have Christ in the middle of that. And as we drove, they [00:14:00] talked about God and the beautiful Earth, and they talked about.

Historical things and tied into where we were and how God was in the mix. And his hand was in all of these historical events they taught lessons that they had learned as a child and tied it into God. And my mom always found a way to include scriptures my dad was always the muscle and told us to be quiet and listen to our mother.

The point is that it's important for us to be self-reliant, to be independent, but to always keep the focus. To build our own personal Zion in our heart and in our homes. It is critical to keep Christ at the center of that. One of my favorite scriptures that. Sums up how I feel about this is in Proverbs chapter three. It says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. This scripture to me just sums up everything the Lord wants for us.

Cydni: But let's [00:15:00] just acknowledge how often we hear trust in the Lord and include him in everything. Also, be an agent unto yourself and pray over the crops, but also make your own decisions. Include me in everything. Figure it out. Sometimes to me, I feel a little in the middle of. What the heck am I supposed to do? 

Sher: Do you feel that way with this? I do, but you know what, my mom gave me some really good advice and I'm gonna share it with you. I'm happy. Well, maybe she would say. Pray. Pray all the time, include God in everything. But God also gave you a brain and he expects you to use it. If you know what to do, then do it. 

Cydni: As long as he's aware of the type of brain that I have been gifted, that's fine. 

Sher: I just thought it was really good advice, like if you know what you need to do, then do it. That's what he wants.

Cydni: All right. I'm just pondering on this because something that's been on my mind is how we love agency so much, but also want an angel to show up and tell us exactly what direction to go. So it can I [00:16:00] would like that. Me too. So sometimes. Okay, great. Thank you for the brain. Very grateful, but also tell me what to do in my brain and in my heart and direct me so I don't make the wrong decision. Correct. 

Sher: Yeah, I know it is. It's very tricky, but I try to remember that because my mom said it a little less nice. She was just like, God is very busy. He doesn't need your stupid problems when they're stupid. 

Cydni: Isn't there, quote, that's like, you're too pretty for this. Find a solution. That was for you. That was for all of us. 

Sher: Alright, back to that scripture. The Lord does want us to learn how to trust him. He wants us to lean on him and he promises that if we do that, he will direct us.

And I really do believe that means we'll just know. That we'll know what we need to do, that we can have that confidence in our heart. Now, I'm not there yet, but I do believe that it's possible. All right. To be self-reliant, to be independent and keep God at the center of our lives. I do believe that is possible. This will build [00:17:00] Zion in our own heart, in our home, and it won't be that fake fell tower of Babel. 

Cydni: And I have been thinking about this in a way that I can be too independent. I'm not self-reliant, but I am independent. And in a relationship it's very difficult to have any relationship when you're too independent. And it's interesting because most of my friends would rather chop their own arm off. Then ask for help I've thought through this episode with the idea first of how difficult it is for me to ask for help or share emotions outside of just like, maybe it's a little bit funny and that's it, but, how damaging that is in relationships, whether it.

My husband or with my children, if you're too overly independent, you're lacking partnership, you're lacking vulnerability, and those things are very damaging to a sincere relationship. So if we were to think of that with our partnership with God, then if we show that we need [00:18:00] him. It reminds me of that story of a boy trying to pick up a big boulder and he just keeps trying and trying and trying to pick it up.

And his father comes over and he says, why have you never asked me for help? I could help you. And together they moved it. We have to learn for a genuine relationship, a genuine partnership with God, how to let him help us because through him being in a partnership with us, we can accomplish so much more.

Sher: Right? and it wasn't, dad said, with moving the boulder, here, let me do it for you. He said, let me help you. And that's what God wants when life gets difficult. He's willing to yoke himself. To us, with us. He's willing to pull that heavy load with us. He wants us to put in effort as well, 

Cydni: which really answers the question of action, of wanting to be told what to do. Of course, we're gonna want God to just come in and move the boulder out of our life that is causing us a lot of pain. But in the wilderness of trying to [00:19:00] move the boulder, that is where you gain the strength. That's where you're proven. That is where you've gained that strength that you could get no other way.

Sher: This brings me to what one of the most profound pieces of the atonement Christ does have the power and the capability to remove. All of those boulders in our life, he could move everything. But he chose not to do that, and instead he chose to go through all of those hardships and trials with us.

That's how much he loves us. He wants us to learn and grow. so in order to do that. He agreed to go shoulder to shoulder with us and go through all of those hard times with us, but that means that we need to choose to allow him to do that. He's already done it. He wants us to include him now. 

Cydni: Gosh, I love the shoulder to shoulder Thought that for me sums it up so well because when you think about he's before you and behind you and beside you, it's like a gentle walk and it's beautiful. But if [00:20:00] you think about shoulder to shoulder, you're doing something.

I'm gonna stick with that and ask saw an angel. Those two things are my takeaway and we need more sourdough. If we had sourdough right now, we'd be more nourished and this would be a better podcast. So, sorry that Anna didn't come through yet. There's still time Saint Anna Ana. Oh geez. That's never gonna get old for you, is it? No, until I forget it, which will happen. 

Sher: You know, Cydni something I used to tell my students all the time, 'cause sometimes they'd get a little bit too, shall I say, uppity too pretty for this, right? And I would just say, look, you can either choose to be humble or you can choose to let the humble stick whack the arrogant out of you because it's gonna happen one way or the other. Life has a way of coming around so when you start feeling good and like, I don't need anyone, I can do this all by myself, that's when it's just like whack. And then you realize, oh wow, I'm not as cool as I thought I was. 

Cydni: We say the same thing to our children of, Hey, listen, I'm just the messenger. If you don't humble [00:21:00] yourself, God's gonna have a new message for you and it's gonna be hard to miss. Anyway, that's the path I also chose, so I'm assuming they will.

Sher: I think that's the path. We've all been there, right? We've all chosen that path and it hurts every time, but yet we continue to do it. I don't understand why bunch of asses. So I heard this song the other day, Cydni, and this name of the song is a bar named Jesus. 

Cydni: This is one of my top favorites. A bar named Jesus where the lights is. You do know it. Yeah, I heard it at your house the first time months ago. Oh, you did? Yes. I have it on repeat when I'm grumpy, I put this one on. My kids know it 

Sher: well. When I first heard it, I was like, this is a blasphamous song. I can't believe that they would do this. so, I was in the process of changing it and then I realized, wait, this is actually an uplifting song because it's about a guy who was an alcoholic, and he lost. Everything, being an alcoholic was his Tower of Babel. And he had nothing. And he changed his ways and he turned [00:22:00] to Jesus. And this is the line that I had never paid attention to. Maybe this is why you like the song because you actually paid attention to it, but this is the line and don't get me wrong, it ain't always easy and the hard days, they still come. Only difference is that when they do, now I got a better place to run. And I think that is exactly what we're talking about, being self-reliant and independent and working hard and gaining that confidence. Yes, God wants that for us, but at the same time, hard days are gonna come and there's gonna be trials in your life and it's going to get difficult.

But when we center our lives on Jesus Christ, we will always have a better place to run. And I think that is the difference that we know that we can always turn to our Savior Jesus Christ, and he will be there for us. If we build our life with our Savior, we will always have that.

I personally have learned that my life functions a lot better when I [00:23:00] choose to have that humility and that trust in God and Cydni. This made me think about something. I was thinking about my life overall, and I would say in general, I. Throughout my life, I would say, yeah, I feel like I've included God in my adventure here. But do I actively seek him every single day? That is when I was like, I don't know if I'm doing that and I want to change that in my life. I wanna make sure that I'm seeking God and including every day because I want to build Zion. I don't want to build. Tower of Babel crap, right? I want to have that peace in my heart. just one more thought here from Elder Ballard. He said, no matter how hard we work, no matter how much we obey, no matter how much good things we do in this life, it would not be enough for it, not for Jesus Christ and his loving grace.

This is why we need to include our Savior every single day. He is the reason we will make it over the finish [00:24:00] line. He's the reason. No matter how self-reliant you are, no matter how independent you are, He is the reason why we're gonna be able to actually finish the race.

Cydni: That reminds me of a scripture I just read today in Alma 26. It says, behold, who can glory too much in the Lord. Yay. Who can say too much of his great power? As we wrap up this whole wilderness wandering that we have talked about for the last few weeks, I feel especially grateful for studying this.

Unfortunately, I see myself far too much in the studying of the children of Israel, from their complaining to the very obvious miracles to the forgetting, and continuing to choose to wander and doubt and complain. Yeah, you also can see yourself, right? Absolutely. Because I was gonna tell you that you should see yourself in it if you didn't. So I'm happy and relieved to hear. I don't have to say that. Thanks. 

I've learned so much and I've seen [00:25:00] myself in this. And one of my great takeaways from learning about wandering in the wilderness is the quote from Paul Miller, who reminds us that God takes everyone he loves through a desert. It is his cure for our wandering hearts.

In the miracles that were provided, there was the parting of the Red Sea, and there was also the parting of the Jordan River. Two times these people were shown in a very miraculous way. That God's power is real and that they can rely on him and God is asking us to trust in him and have that faith. We know God can do all things. But if not, we choose to have our center be Christ. We hope as you've studied along with us, that you can look back on your life of the times that you've been in the desert and in the wilderness that have sealed your heart to God.

And our challenges, that if things are really good right now. To spend your time in gratitude, especially going into a new month of Thanksgiving, [00:26:00] that it is a great time to be grateful for the deserts in our life and the wilderness and the miracles and those few times where there's peace. just remember that even asses see Angels sometimes.

Sher: that was a really good inspiration there. Cydni. 

Cydni: Thanks. Sometimes I don't take my A DHD medicine. Most of the time. I don't actually.

Sher: None of us have noticed. This brings us to our final thoughts. Self-reliance is a wonderful strength. It builds confidence, skill, and resilience. When it stands alone, it becomes dangerous. Without God, self-reliance turns into pride, and pride builds towers that crumble the Savior, invites us to build something far better. Like my parents taught me. Work hard, pray often, and keep the Lord in every plan. When we include Him in our daily efforts, we'll find peace, purpose, and always have a better place to run. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Sher and [00:27:00] also St. Anna Manna. Amen. 

Sher: Oh, if Rudy's having a day. 

Cydni: I know Rudy, we, Rudy, we need you to be good. We're trying. Please be good. We're trying. We're doing our best. Go get your banana. Anna Banana Manna. Mm-hmm

Sher: this reminded me of the Tower of Babel. Is it Babel? Right? The tower babble. It's Babel or babble. I usually say Babel, but I feel like it's supposed to be babble. What do you say? 

Cydni: I say both of them at different times to get it. 50% correct. I'll say Babel today. 

Sher: Okay. Okay. This reminded me of the Tower of Babel, even though I say Babel. The city of Babylon was originally Babel of Tower of Babel, [00:28:00] of Tower of Babel fame, 

Cydni: pew, pew, pew. 

Sher: Have a good week. Bye.