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.