Unashamed

One of my favorite scriptures of all time is from Romans 1:16. It reads:

  

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

I love that scripture. It was part of scripture mastery in seminary, and it has always stuck with me. I've loved it because I love missionary work and it's my goal to be a missionary one day. I think an important principle that can be drawn from that scripture is that we shouldn't be scared to share the gospel because it truly is our way back to our Heavenly Father, and our way to salvation. Why should we be scared to share something so important and vital to our eternities with our brothers and sisters? I think this is applicable because sometimes I feel that we can be scared to stand up and say, "I'm a Mormon" or be different due to our beliefs. Sometimes it's hard to be the only one with high moral standards or to be the person that stands apart from the crowd. What I gain from this scripture, however, and what you can gain too, is that no matter how hard it is to be different or how scary it is to announce ourselves as members of the church, we shouldn't be scared or ashamed to share with our fellow travelers on Earth the beauty and saving power that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Blessings

So, this week was a little rough for me. I was feeling pretty down, and one of my friends suggested that I get a blessing. So I did, and it was definitely the highlight of my week. I love that we have the ability and opportunity to get that extra help from heaven when we're sick, or when we're sad, or when we just feel like we need some help. I love that I'm at BYU where there are so many worthy priesthood holders that when I need a blessing from my Heavenly Father, I don't have to look very far to find someone who can give me that blessing. I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, and even though the whole verse doesn't apply to my situation, there is a phrase that did. It's the first part of 1 Nephi 17:2. It says, "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us". It's so true. The Lord has blessed me so much, and continues to bless me every day. Not just in the actual laying on of hands blessings, but in the tender mercies and in the wonderful life that I have to live. I'm so grateful for the blessings of the Lord, and for a loving Savior who sees me through everything.

I Stand All Amazed

This week I want to talk about the Atonement. I've gained a greater appreciation for the Saviors Atonement this week. In the Bible Dictionary, if we look up Atonement it says that, "All are covered unconditionally as pertaining to the fall of Adam. The atonement is conditional, however, so far as each person's individual sins are concerned, and touches every one to the degree that he has faith in Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and obeys the gospel." To me, that is so beautiful. I love the Atonement. I think that for most of my life I've taken it for granted. It was something that we learned about in Primary that was just a way for us to get back to Heavenly Father, it was something that Jesus Christ did for us so that we could repent. I don't think I came to appreciate it for how wonderful it was up until a couple months ago. It really is amazing. It comforts me, it gives me hope, it lets me feel better about the bad things I've done because I can repent and Christ can literally take all of the guilt and shame I feel and bring it upon himself. He already brought it upon himself, I just have to be willing to let him take it. He performed this miraculous Atonement for us, because He loves us. He loves us so much. I once heard that if I was to be the only person to every live on the face of this Earth, Christ would perform the Atonement just for me. He loves me so much, that he would suffer and bleed and die just so that I could return and live with our Heavenly Father again. Sometimes I think to myself, why would I not use His gift. His perfect, amazing gift. Why wouldn't I want to use His gift to feel better, to find comfort, to be forgiven. It's just so amazing to me. He already did everything for me, I just have to be willing to accept his gift and keep trying to be more like Him every day.


I love this painting of the Savior. It's the Savior extending his hand into the water, probably to help Peter while he was drowning. I like to think of it as Christ extending his hand into the water to save me from drowning in my sorrow and in my sin. Christ doesn't have his hand right above the water waiting for us to reach out and grab Him, He has His hand in the water, reaching for us. He understands where we've been, He knows exactly what it feels like to be drowning, and He has His hand outstretched, in the water where we only have to see Him there and take His hand.

Look and See

This weeks entry is inspired by something that I read while reading in the Book of Mormon. The reference is 1st Nephi Chapter 11. This passage is all about Nephi wanting to see the vision that his father Lehi had seen a couple chapters previous to this about the tree of life. The Spirit comes to Nephi as he is pondering on the things which his father had said about his vision, and the Spirit asks Nephi what it is that he desires. Nephi says that he desires to "behold the things which my father saw". And the Spirit says to him "Look!" The chapter goes on in this fashion with the Spirit showing unto Nephi all that his father had seen in his vision of the tree of life, and also Nephi was able to see the Savior and his life and ministry as well as that of the 12 apostles.

To me, this chapter is significant because every time that the Spirit wanted to show Nephi something, He said "Look!", and then Nephi would have to look. I thought that it was interesting because the Spirit could have just as easily put the vision right in front of Nephi's eyes and made him see it, but instead he chose to ask Nephi to look. Nephi had to make a conscious decision to look and behold what the Spirit wanted him to see, it would not be forced upon him. I think that's interesting because it show's to me that even though the Lord might have great things in store for us, or want to show to us something amazing, or bless us exceedingly, He will never take away our agency. Our agency to choose is one of the greatest gifts that has been given to us here on this Earth and our Heavenly Father will always respect our ability to choose. He will never force spiritual experiences upon us no matter how much He wants us to have them. We, like Nephi, have to make the decision to Look! This is so applicable to me because I want to always be on the look out for experiences or blessings that the Lord is trying to bless me with. He will never force them upon me, but I want to always be worthy and able to receive those blessings or those experiences. I always want to be worthy and able and Look!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

This week I finished all my papers to finally be able to submit my mission papers. I'm so excited! I spent a lot of time wondering if I should go or if I should stay. A scripture that really helped me was Doctrine and Covenants 4:3. It says:

 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.

I know I have a desire to serve my Heavenly Father, and I know that I have a desire to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone on Earth. I want everyone to understand how amazing our Savior is and how great He is, I want everyone to be able to feel the redeeming power of the Atonement and be able to use it in their life. I'm so grateful for my Savior who sacrificed Himself so that I could be made clean. I love my Father and His Son and I'm so excited to be one of their representatives to serve on Earth.

His Hands

Our ward does musical firesides, and this week I had the opportunity to perform the song "His Hands". As I was singing it, I really thought about what those words mean. Christ worked miracles with His hands, and we too can use our hands to work miracles. While preparing to sing this song and while thinking about Christ, I found this verse in the Bible. It's from Luke, and it reads:

40 ¶Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

I love this. As someone with arthritis, I love thinking about our Savior healing people from all manner of diseases. I love to imagine Him putting his hands on me, and healing me. I don't know if I'll ever have that opportunity, but I love our Savior and the power that He has. I know that He loves us all so much and that He wants to heal all of us, and even if it's not the time for us to be healed, He wants to help us in our afflictions and be there with us. Our Savior is powerful, and He loves us so much.

How to Pray

I've been reflecting a lot about my relationship with my Heavenly Father, and something struck me. I realized that a lot of the time when I pray, it's mostly one sided. I expect answers, but how I pray isn't very conducive to receiving answers. This was astonishing to me, because for a long time I had never really understood the scripture found in Matthew 21:22. It reads:

 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Now, this scripture is pretty straight forward. But what I didn't understand was how I could be praying for something, like an answer to a question, and not feel like I was receiving any inspiration. The scripture said ask and receive, but I didn't feel like I was getting anything. Well, I began to think about how I was asking and I realized that maybe I'm not asking for the right things. If my goal on this Earth is to align my will with my Heavenly Fathers, I should probably be asking for the things he wants me to ask for. I find that when I ask my Heavenly Father to lead my prayer, and when I ask for the things he would want me to ask for, I receive more answers. The things I want are secondary, I can still pray and tell Him about them, but that doesn't mean that I'll receive an automatic answer. Sometimes it takes some time, and I have to be okay with that. I have to trust that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that His timing is better than my own. He loves me, and I need to trust that He will do what is best for me.