It’s Been Awhile and a New Blog

It has been a very long time since I’ve posted in this blog! Looking back through posts, I’ve realized this has been a blog mainly for publishing my different assignments for school, and in some ways has been a journal for some of my intellectual and spiritual musings. So, while this blog will continue to serve that purpose, I’d also like to use this as a blog to post about my picture and video projects. When I will ever have time to do that I don’t know, but I’ll have more motivation now that I’ve written it down right? Right... Plus I’ve started a blog for my story writing! So this will probably take priority over anything I do on here now. I’m excited about it! Check it out at www.makingtheirstoriesknown.blogspot.com
Well, that’s all for now folks! Until next time!

Come Lord Jesus

Two verses that I have always really loved are Revelation 22: 17 & 20.
17 And the Spriti and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely..
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

One of  the reasons that I love these verses because I think they give the best summary of the bible, and so it is fitting that they are at the end. It is about coming to Jesus, and then preparing for Jesus to come, to return to the earth again. I have met people who say something to the effect of, "I'm not in any hurry for Jesus to come back, I 'm not ready." While I can't say that I am as righteous as I would like to be before he comes, I can't wait for him to come back! And that is the attitude that I think he wants us to have. That is something that stood out to me from President Nelson's conference talk as well. The Savior's return is a wonderful and exciting thing. Something that we need to prepare for, yes, but something we need not fear. I gives me motivation to do a little better, to stand a little taller and to commune with Heaven a little more. Like John I want to say "Come quickly... Come Lord Jesus!"

Revelation

This past conference was truly amazing! It was the motivation I needed to recommit to Heavenly Father. While I loved so many of the talks, my favorite one was definitely President Nelson's talk, "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives." While I loved the whole talk, these two specific quotes stood out to me:

"One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children...

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that 'if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal'... Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know."

These both mean so much to me, especially since I am graduating in a few weeks and trying to figure out what to do with my life. It is comforting that a prophet of God has told us that no matter what we may be going through in our lives, whether it is graduation, getting married, starting a new job, having a baby, family problems, or anything else life may bring, Heavenly Father will help and guide us. Sometimes I think because we know Heavenly Father wants us to learn that we don't rely on him enough. This was confirmed to me when President Nelson said "...there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know." I know that he does, and that I can work more to me open and receptive to what he wants me to know.

To Know Him

Today was a wonderful day of General Conference! It is one of my favorite times of the year. I always learn so much and today was no different. While I felt that following the Prophet was one of the main themes of the talks given in the sessions today, there was also another theme that stood out to me. This may have been because we talked a lot about it in class this week as well, but I think that it is a very important thing to remember. Something that has really stood out to me was how important it is to truly know our Heavenly Father. In conference there were several talks that touched on the point of if you want to know you're identity and worth, come to know Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. Often the follow up phrase in the talks was that to know you must study his words and then act on them. This was reiterated in a verse I came across in my scripture study this week. It is 1 John 2:3 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."
It is said so simply, yet it is so profound. How many of us, if we truly took the time to study who Heavenly Father is, and what that means for us, would have a different outlook on life, and about ourselves. I think I would think differently. I love our Savior and I am so grateful for what he did and continuously does for each of us. But as we discussed in class, the Savior's main goal is to point us to the Father, and after conference today, I think that is something I personally should work on. The scriptures and General Conference have such a great way of teaching you things meant just for you!

Afflictions of the Gospel

In my reading this week this verse stuck out to me:

2 Timothy 1:8
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."

What stuck out to me most was the line "but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." We all at some point or another have"afflictions" in our lives. That is just a part of life. This is something that has been on my mind the past little while, having experienced some afflictions of my own. It can be very overwhelming and discouraging. It can almost seem like life will constantly have sadness and disappointments. This verse shows me that though life does bring afflictions, according to the power of God, we can make it through them, and that even with all the affliction life brings, when you turn to the Lord, you can find the silver lining even in the hard times. Paul's life is prime proof that having the gospel in your life does not make life perfectly easy and always joyful. Through all he went through however, he always rejoiced in the gospel and trusted that in the end, God would make things right. And he will, and if we live the gospel, we can allow God's help to more fully take a justifying and sanctifying role in our lives. Through the grace of Christ, we can rely on his strength at any an all times.

The Vocation to Which You've Been Called

This week in my scripture study, a particular verse really stood out to me.
Ephesians 4:1 "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocatioin wherewith ye are called." What stood out most to me was the word "vocation." This word has always caught my attention because it is in my patriarchal blessing, and I have spent many times researching what it means and trying to understand what it means for me in the context of my patriarchal blessing. The footnote in this scripture, signifies that vocation in this verse can mean calling. This was significant to me because I feel that besides the jobs, church callings and assignments that we have in life, we have callings and missions that we accepted from Heavenly Father before we came to this life. They can be many different things and happen during the duration of our whole life. Fulfilling them requires being close to the spirit and being obedient to the promptions we receive. Becoming good at this is a process that we have to work at our whole lives. Reading this verse also shows me that Heavenly Father is always willing to teach us more about our personal lives through the scriptures if we allow him too. He teaches us individuallly and specifically!

Acts 26:18 My own missionary

In Acts 26 Paul is speaking to King Agrippa about his miraculous visitation by the Savior on the road to Damascus. After Jesus asks Paul the soul harrowing question "Why persecutest thou me?" He later goes on to tell Paul that he is to go to the Gentiles and (in verse 18) "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." This is what missionaries are asked to do, to open their eyes and invite them to come unto Christ and his light. However, as I read this verse another thought came to me. Before Paul could do this for others he had to do this for himself, and it wasn't just a one time event. Conversion is a life long process of turning and returning your heart to the Savior. It is something that we have to choose to do on our own. In a sense this makes me feel like we are our own "missionaries." We have to choose and work to open our own eyes, to turn from darkness to light, turn away for the temptations and power of Satan and take active steps towards our Heavenly Father by living the kind of life he asks us to. This is something we do everyday as we pray and talk to our Heavenly Father and read our scriptures. It is something we must actively and consistently do. We won't do it perfectly, by it something we must be intentional about, just as Paul had to do throughout his own life.

Grace abounds

In class we've talked a lot about grace and the role it has in our lives. As I was reading the Book of Roman's this verse made an impression on me:
Romans 5:20 - Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
I think that this phrasing is beautiful, "grace did much more abound." I am someone who gets easily overwhelmed. With homework, two jobs, church responsibilities, family responsibilities and getting ready to graduate, how imperfect and inadequate I am makes me very very discouraged. So to remember that grace much more abounds in my life when I come to the Savior reminds me that I cannot ever make it on my own. I have to depend on the Savior who makes my steps wider, my best to be enough, and my scarlet sins to be as white as snow. It doesn't mean of course that I can do whatever I want and grace will take care of it all, heaven forbid, as Paul would say. But it does mean that my imperfect human self can someday become more like my Savior.

Run the Race

Studying for the paper we had to write this week was a great study experience! I chose to study 2 Timothy 4, spending a lot of time on verses 6 through 8. Using the website http://scriptures.byu.edu

A talk that came up for the verses was The Strength to Endure (2013) by Richard J. Maynes. Elder Maynes talks about spiritual strength and endurance, with the Lord’s help, continuing to “run the race.” He says:

“So whatever challenges you wake up to each morning, remember—with the spiritual strength you develop, coupled with the Lord’s help, at the end of the race you will be able to enjoy the confidence that the Apostle Paul expressed when he said: ‘For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.’ I bear you my testimony and my witness of the reality of a loving Heavenly Father and His great and eternal plan of happiness, which has brought us to this earth at this time.”

This talk, and especially this quote, reminded me again of how I felt when I read this chapter on my mission. My mission was hard, but I was able to complete it with the Lord’s help. And because of that I know that we can do anything with the Lord’s help.

I learned a lot of things from this chapter, such as following promptings of the spirit, being a missionary, and enduring to end, overall it was neat for me to be reminded of things I learned on my mission over three years ago. I find that often the spirit teaches best by helping your mind and your heart remember things it has already learned. That is why it is always worthwhile to re-study any scripture chapter multiple times.

Consistency

As I continue on with my SMART project I'm realizing that most of my posts for class will probably come from the book "Act in Doctrine" that I'm reading. There are so many drops wisdom. This week I read:

"As you and I become increasingly steadfast and immovable, we are less prone to zealous and exaggerated spurts of spirituality followed by extended periods of slackness. A spiritual "spurter" is one who is given to a short burst of spectacular effort followed by frequent and lengthy periods of rest." 

This was especially meaningful for me because I feel like my life is made of great spiritual spurts and lengthy periods of rest. The question is how to be consistent? I know I need to be consistent, but how? Elder Bednar goes on to share the scripture Alma 37:6... by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. In pondering on the how in relation to this scripture, I was reminded that consistency must become a habit that starts with small things. So, in learning to act, I can pick a one thing that may seem small, and work on being consistent on that. As we do that and continue to build on it, the big things that seem overwhelming, we can eventually become consistent in.

Doctrines, Principles and Applications

For my religion class this semester I decided for my hour a week project I wanted to read the book by Elder Bednar, "Act in Doctrine." I've been wanting to read it for awhile, but with everything on my plate it always got pushed to he back burner.
I haven't gotten very far, but already I am finding little treasures. In the preface this paragraph stood out to me:
"Our tendency as members of the Church is to focus on applications. But as we learn to ask ourselves, 'What doctrines and principles, if understood, would help with this challenge?' we come to realize that the answers always are in the doctrines and principles of the gospel."
This really stood out to me and as I've thought about it, I agree that what he says here is so true. As members of the church and as people, we tend to look at things with the perspective of "What do I have to do and what am I not supposed to do." We want to know how far we can go without "crossing the line." Probably because of the natural man in us. But how would we be different if instead of things about the things to do, we thought about why we are (or are not) supposed to do. How we what we think change? How would our desires be different?
I think changing my way of thinking would change a lot of what I do, and this is something I am going to consciously try to think more about it.

God's Timing

This last week, with the re-organization of the first presidency, I've been thinking a lot about how Heavenly Father has a plan for ALL things and how his timing is perfect. In thinking about it I decided to look up some scriptures about time. This was the one that stuck out to me the most.

D&C 88:42 And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons;

While I definitely miss President Monson, I also know (and feel strongly) that now is the time that President Nelson is meant to serve as the Lord's prophet. Since I've been born, there have been five different prophets, however, I only really remember the last three. I have seen how each of the three have been called for specific reasons. Many of them are frequently mentioned in the church. President Hinckley - Temples and more good attention in the media 

President Monson - Service and being "to the Rescue."

And now with President Nelson, his good relations with China, his attention on the youth and young adults of the church, and the focus on temple attendance, I can see how the Lord is hastening his work in his timing, and his timing is perfect.

This shows me that if the Lord does this in the affairs of his church, then he will surely do that in my own life. I have seen that already. There are times and seasons for things. Sometimes things go the way I hope they will, and sometimes things are hard and don't go any where near the way I expect, but all in all, I can see that things go the way they need to. God's times and seasons are always perfect!