Failing to Act

If you are like me, sometimes you will receive a spiritual prompting from the Lord on the changes that you need to make in your life. At least, I assume I'm not the only imperfect person out there that God is shaping and improving.

If you are also like me, sometimes the changes you need to make are something you have struggled with off and on for a while. Such as, daily scripture study and personal prayer. Nothing "huge" necessarily, but something important that sometimes is forgotten about for a day or two, and then it slips out of habit again and you forget about it entirely for a while.

Recently, I asked God how I could improve and what He needed me to do in my own life. Between Stake Conference and General Conference, I received my answer. I was given a longer list than I anticipated, but I knew that those were the changes that God needs me to make. I wrote them down and vowed to myself to follow through.

Nearly a month later, I haven't been doing quite as well as I should be. I still forget, I procrastinate, and I put other things first sometimes. God is very loving and patient with us, thank goodness, because I was reminded again today about the things I had committed to changing. However, the reminder came in a different form than the list I had received before: this was a chastisement on the lack of priority I gave to the changes I need to make.

This was the thought that came to me and that I wrote down this time:

"No matter what else my schedule demands of me, I need to prioritize acting on what God has asked me to do. In the eternities, it will be more important for me to have acted on what God asked me to do than getting any degree, taking any test, finishing any paper, or accomplishing any other temporal achievement.

God doesn't want me overburdening myself because He knows that if I do, I will have a hard time keeping the things that He wants me to do in my life. If I don't have time to still do the things God asked of me and add _______________ to my schedule, then I don't have enough time to add _________________ to my schedule. I need to reserve my time for God as I have already covenanted to do.

When God corrects me, I need to act on that correction as if my very soul depends on it, for as far as I know, it may."

Changing isn't always easy, and sometimes acting on the "small" changes God needs us to make gets put on the back burner while we focus on the "more important things". I testify that there is nothing more important than acting on the promptings that we receive from God. I know that this is true. May we all have the courage to "go and do" the things the Lord commands of us.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Reading The Book of Mormon

At the end of my last semester in school, I was struggling to focus and put my best effort into my papers and finals. I felt like I was in a fog and I couldn't get myself to concentrate. Finally, I asked my husband for a Priesthood Blessing.

However, instead of being given the blessing to focus and concentrate immediately from the blessing, I was chastised in that blessing. I was, essentially, scolded for not doing my personal scripture study. I was promised that I would be able to have the energy, focus, and drive for school that I needed on the condition that I did my personal scripture study first.

The next morning, I got up early, went to the couch, and read my scriptures until Andrew's alarm went off (the one that I used to be getting up to). For the first time in a couple of weeks, I was alert, energetic, and had the ability to concentrate and work on my paper. I knew then and I know now that that was a direct result of my obedience to the chastisement and council that I received in that blessing.

This is just one of the many examples that I have had in my life that confirms to me that not only is The Book of Mormon the word of God, but that God blesses us when we are in them daily and studying from them.

In 1st Nephi 1:8-15, Lehi has a vision where the heavens open and he sees God sitting on His throne, surrounded by angels. Then, One descends from heaven, followed by twelve others, and gives Lehi a book, and asks him to read. As he is reading, he is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and after he is done reading he exclaims praises unto the Lord, and his soul rejoices and his heart is filled because of the things he has seen.

Now, the important part that I want to get at is in verses 11-12. Lehi is given a book and bade to read. Likewise, we have received The Book of Mormon in our day, and God had communicated to us through His prophets that He wants us to study it. When we read The Book of Mormon, we too can be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. This is just one of the many blessings we have been promised if we study from The Book of Mormon.

President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life”, and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. These promises – increased love in the home, greater respect between parent and child, increased spirituality and righteousness – these are not idle promises, but exactly what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us draw nearer to God.”

I testify that these promises are real, and that God keeps His promises to His children. I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that Joseph Smith acted as an instrument in The Lord's hands in helping to bring The Book of Mormon forth to us in these latter-days through his translation of the records. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that President Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today. I urge you to read The Book of Mormon, and to receive for yourself the blessings promised to you by God if you will study with a sincere heart, with real intent, and with faith in Christ. I also urge you to take Moroni up on his promise found in Moroni 10:3-5, that after reading The Book of Mormon, that "if ye shall [pray] with a sincere heart, with real intent, and with faith in Christ, [God] will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. Amen.

What Do We Believe? The Thirteen Articles of Faith

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
   
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
   
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
   
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
   
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
   
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
   
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
   
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
   
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
   
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
    
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
    
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
    
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith

Special Witnesses of Christ

I know that my Redeemer lives, and I know that we live in a time of living prophets on this earth. In this last dispensation, we have the blessing of having the fullness of the gospel restored to this earth. I know that if we listen to their teachings, that the Lord will speak to us individually through them (D&C 1:37-38) and He will not allow them to lead us astray. I pray that as you watch this video the Spirit of their testifying witnesses will touch you.

I bear testimony of these things in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.

My Testimony

I would like to start this blog by sharing my own testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on this earth. I hope that as I continue working on this blog, it will be strengthened, grow, and that I will gain a testimony of areas of the gospel that I may not know of yet.

I bear witness that this church is true. I know this because I have felt my own personal witness of its truth. I am grateful that I live in a gospel where I can ask and find out for myself through the power of the Holy Ghost. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the true church to this earth at that time. I have been blessed with the opportunity to come into this world at a time where temples are abundant on the earth, the gospel is restored and going forth full force, and freedoms are available to me in this wonderful choice land.
I know that the Savior loves me and hears my prayers. I know that He answers our prayers, and that He will help you if you ask for it with a sincere heart, fully believing that He will help and guide you. I know that He lives and that He will come again. I know that the trials with which we are faced are blessings that help us to grow if we will let them, and that the Savior will never give us a burden too difficult for us to carry alone. Support, love, and help are available to us from both sides of the veil to help us get through anything that we may face.
I know that the Savior is our Redeemer. He atoned for us that we may return to our Father in Heaven, be resurrected, and have eternal families, something we could not have done on our own. He loves and knows us personally, and it is for us personally that He atoned for us. I know that families are forever, and that the sealing ordinances of the temple allow for us to be married forever so that we will not be separated at death. I have felt a witness of these things and bear testimony of them in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Introduction

“O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. But behold, I am a (wo)man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.” – (Alma 29:1-3)

“Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” – (3 Nephi 5:13)

Who am I?

I am a daughter of God, who loves me, and I love him. I am striving to be a witness of Him in all things, in all places, at all times. I have taken His name upon me through baptism, and because of this I am striving to become more like Him. Goodness knows I am far from perfect. I have a lot of spiritual growth to do, and a lot of areas of my life that I need to work on. However, a testimony grows through the sharing of it. So I have decided that I would share thoughts from my studies of the Gospel, in hopes that I can reach those that need to hear what I have learned.

I hope to touch a variety of topics, as well as address stories in the scriptures (inclusive of the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, as well as words from the living prophet) so that I may learn and grow and gain a greater understanding of not just doctrinal topics, but have a better knowledge of the stories contained within these pages.

I would like to extend the invitation to you to learn with me. I hope that I may address a topic of interest to you, that we may both be edified by it. I hope that my words may answer prayers, so that I can help lead others to Him. This is my prayer and purpose, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.