Spread the Word!`

As I was driving back from Draper today, I was listening to General Conference on the radio, As I was enjoying the talks, one of the speakers used one of my favorite scriptures in his talk. It brought back floods of memories from my mission, where I originally found this scripture. The scripture is found in 1 Peter 3:15. It says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."
This scripture makes me feel so determined and excited to be different from the world. We are different, and that is a very good thing. As we live the gospel daily, we shine a light that the world notices. I have had experiences in my life where people have come up to me and said something about a light either as a compliment or a question. This scripture gives us the direction that we need to be ready for when people do this to us. We need to be ready and have an answer for them!
Don't be afraid of questions, don't be afraid to be different.
This gospel is great.

My Favorite Scripture

This week, while I was doing my daily reading in the Book of Mormon, I stumbled on a scripture that just makes me smile every time I read it. It truly is my favorite scripture. It comes from Alma chapter 18 where Ammon is teaching King Lamoni about God, who He is and what He does. When explaining to King Lamoni, someone who has never heard of God, who He is, Ammon said,

"He looketh down upon all the children of men;

and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart;

for by his hand were they all created from the beginning."

Ugh, it's so beautiful. In one statement, Ammon teaches King Lamoni that someone knows and understands him perfectly, and not only that, He also created him. This scripture brought me so much comfort when I was in high school and I was struggling with finding my own identity. It gave me a feeling of divine worth and divine identity, and I imagine it did the same for King Lamoni. It can also do the same for you. 

When you are feeling low, or struggling because you don't feel good enough, remember this: HEAVENLY FATHER CREATED YOU AND HE KNOWS YOU!!! You are divine because you were created by the divine. You are worth more than you will ever know. 

Trust God, feel His love, and live a good life because life is good. 

Want to be on Jesus' side?

My religion professor pointed out something very interesting in class this week. We were talking about Mary and Martha and their famous story about when Jesus comes into Martha's home and is all over the place trying to serve while Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha, exasperated, asks Jesus to tell Mary to come help her and to stop being idle. Jesus says in response, "Mary hath chosen that good part." Or, in other words, sorry, Martha, but Mary is just fine where she is, she is doing a good thing.

I have always been bothered when people use this story to teach the importance of sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening (which I believe is a fantastic thing, and should not be diminished.) However, I have often been able to place myself in Martha's shoes. I serve. I take care of people. If Jesus were to come into my house, my first instinct (if I were in Martha's day) would have been to take care of him, get him something to drink or eat, etc. I have never seen that as a bad thing, and that is what bothered me. This story made that seem like a bad thing.

However, my professor changed all of that thinking. He pointed out that people have different personalities. In this case, Martha is a do-er, a go-getter, a server. Mary is a listener, calm, and quiet. They were both acting according to their personalities, and they were both doing good. The problem came when Martha asked Jesus to help her change Mary's personality. She wanted Mary to be more like her. As my professor pointed out, Jesus will never take the side of the person who is pointing the finger, but rather come between the pointer and the one being pointed at. So, by coming between them, he had to help Martha see that Mary was not in the wrong, but that she was different from her.

Who you are does not make you a bad person. Martha was not doing anything wrong. But we are in the wrong when we wish that someone were more like us. Being Christlike is accepting people for who they are, and not trying to change bits of their personality that would make them more like us.

So, how about we all agree to judge a little less, and accept a little more? I know this is something that I need to work on. No one is perfect, right?

May we all be a little more Christlike and loving towards those around us.

Our Part

One of my favorite scriptures in the whole Book of Mormon is Alma 7:24. In this chapter, Alma, the high priest, has left his judgement seat and is preaching to the people. Here, he is in the city of Gideon preaching to a righteous people. This whole chapter is beautiful because it was written for a group of people who were living how God wanted them to live, so they were blessed with a deeper understanding of gospel topics and not chastened by a call to repentance as is common in the Book of Mormon (and in our lives, today, honestly, Hey, no body is perfect.) Anyways, they get this beautiful chapter, and we get to study it today and get more out of it.

So, this verse says...

"And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity,

and then ye will always abound in good works."

This verse just makes me smile. I think we often think that we need to have faith, hope, charity, and do good works, and then we will be blessed--which can often be the case. But, I love how this verse argues that if you work towards having faith, hope, and charity, then the blessing is that you will do good works. It's all in that fabulous word, "THEN" followed by the use of the future tense. "Then" means that whatever follows after it is the result of what came before it. The future tense means that something is coming in the near or distant future. So, when we put all of these ideas together, we see that having good works is the blessed result of having faith, hope, and charity. Or in other words, when we are doing our best to live a Christ-like life, we are blessed with the ability to live a Christ-like life. It's, as the scriptures say, "one eternal round." I LOVE IT!

So, my friends, I want you to think about what this idea means to you. Are you being faithful, hopeful, and charitable? Because if you are, you are definitely on the path of discipleship, so keep going. Use this scripture as motivation to be better and more Christ-like, that's what I do. 

The Lord loves you and wants to bless you. 

Have fun doing good!

Trials

This week, I was reading in the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. In chapter 23, it talks about a righteous group of people. the people of Limhi. They were doing good things and living good lives, when Heavenly Father gave them a trial. And not just any trial, they were inundated by a huge trial--the Lamanites coming and taking their lands and persecuting (bullying) them. As a preface to the story of this trial, Mormon adds in these verses (verses 21-22)

"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people;

yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. 

Nevertheless--whosoever putteth his trust in him

the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus

it was with this people."

Sometime a trial comes when we are living correctly/doing our best. We may not understand why it comes, but if we do what this group of people did, we will come out conquerors like they did. When Alma, their leader, teaches them to remember the Lord, and trust him, "they hushed their fears" (verse 28). They prayed, they trusted, and they did not give up on the Lord. After the trial of their faith, the blessing came. In chapter 24, it talks about how the spirit of the Lord strengthened them and they were able to bear the burdens of the trial. It was not immediately taken away, but the load became bearable. Then, because their faith and their trust continued to grow, they were delivered from their trial completely by a miracle. 

I love this story! It has brought me so much comfort in my life. I know that when hard times come, if I do my best, have faith, keep moving forward with faith and hope, I know that I will make it though. The Lord is looking out for me. He loves me. And YOU. He loves you. You can make it through any trial, big or small, that you are facing right now if you move forward with faith, hope, and trust. Believe that the Lord will bless you. Remember that He loves you and that He has promised to deliver you from trials, like the people of Limhi, and you will be blessed like them. It may be that your fears melt away, you may be strengthened to bear the load, or the load may be taken from you. Whatever happens, happens according to the will of Lord. Trust Him and all will be well in the end.