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!

All things from the Beginning

This last semester was probably one of the hardest semesters I've ever had. Between really hard classes, two jobs, being on a dance team and health struggles, I was really feeling like there was no way that this semester could ever turn out well. I tried to have faith, but inside I just felt like this was part of mortal life, sometimes things crash and I just had to accept it. While I still feel like sometimes things are hard and that's just life, now that I am at the end of the semester I recognize that Heavenly Father always has a plan for us. This sounds so basic, everyone should know this right? In my head I did know it, but now I really know it. Though maybe what happens in our lives wasn't what we originally wanted, in the end it is actually what is best. At the beginning of the semester He knew what was going to happen and he knew what my reactions and capabilities would be. In pondering all these thoughts, the following scripture came to mind:
1 Nephi 9: 6 But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.
This semester I have learned (and am still learning) that trusting in Heavenly Father means recognizing and REMEMBERING that Heavenly Father has all power and that if you try your best to follow him (and even sometimes when you have your moments of forgetting to trust him), things will work out the way Heavenly Father knows they need to, because he DOES know all things from the beginning. I realized today looking back at this semester that I have a lot of peace with how things are turning out. No I don't have perfect grades, I'm not perfectly healed from all my different health issues, and I didn't get all my hours in for work, but the most important things are working out. There are also things that have happened this semester that needed to happen that wouldn't have happened if everything had gone the way I had hoped and planned. So overall I guess I just hope my future self will remember to trust Heavenly Father more and remember that he really does prepare "a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men," and that "he hath all power."