Some miracles are grand, and have transcended time in their telling. I have been blessed with some extraordinary experiences that are sacred to me. But for the most part, my faith is built brick by brick. The sum of knowledge, wisdom, time, enlightment, and experience with and of my Savior have built a sure foundation of which I am able to stand on.
I know because of these simple things that God lives and that what I have learned and been taught are truths. I am happy, hopeful, and more generous with everyone when I am doing the simple things. Opening the scriptures, whether it be the Bible, The New Testament, The Book of Mormon, or The Doctrine and Covenants, brings instant peace. When I ponder the words and seek to apply them, that peace turns to joy.
Kneeling in prayer is a privilege that I too easily overlook sometimes. I feel a difference when I have ignored the quiet promptings to do so. My confidence slackens, my mind is not as easily enlightened, and my patience is weak. When I do kneel in prayer, it is a sweet communion. I feel a greater purpose, I feel more capable to serve, and I feel more in tune with the needs of my family.
I choose to be a Mormon because of all the sweet and simple things that testify to me that it's the truth. When I do as I know I should, my experience is full.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Suffering
Why do I need religion at all? Is it for the weak who cannot think for themselves, or for those who cannot stand the finality of death? You ask my husband if I am weak minded or not an intellectual. I like things to make sense, to find the why behind everything.
One of the hardest things to understand is why a loving God would allow so much suffering. It's a hard question and one that has lead to very serious pondering and research on my part.
There is no feeling more terrible than watching your own child go through pain that you cannot cure or take away. This reason alone is one of the greatest factors for why I love God whom I call my Heavenly Father. When my son lay on a hospital bed, pale as a ghost from pain, it was almost more than I could handle.
My Heavenly Father watched His only begotten son, Jesus Christ be born into an unhealthy circumstance (in a manger) and suffer like no other human being ever has, no-one even coming within light years of his pain. So why did he allow his perfect son to suffer so herendously? It doesn't make sense, He's God, He had power to help and save His Son.
He sees the bigger picture. If God had interveened, our lives would be for naught. I'll be the first to admit that pain and suffering stinks, it's hard to go through and even harder to understand that somehow it will end up strengthening us or becoming a catalyst for the better, especially when you're in the middle of it.
In the depths of my pain is when I have known Him the best, when I have needed Him the most, and when I have been the most grateful. Suffering makes us change, it makes us look at our lives and our actions more closely, we start to cut out the fat, let the fringe fall away and are reminded of what is most important.
We love more deeply, spend more time with our family and friends; appreciating them more because we are reminded how fragile life is.
There are horrible, terrible things that happen to people and I have shed many tears over the suffering of the innocent, especially children. It breaks my heart, and makes me ill. But in my prayers for them, I have had comfort, and Heavenly Father has reminded me that they are His children and He loves them more than I am capable of. My trust in Him, and my faith that His ways are higher than my ways is based on my personal experiences of becoming stronger, and those around me who have experienced the same.
One of the hardest things to understand is why a loving God would allow so much suffering. It's a hard question and one that has lead to very serious pondering and research on my part.
There is no feeling more terrible than watching your own child go through pain that you cannot cure or take away. This reason alone is one of the greatest factors for why I love God whom I call my Heavenly Father. When my son lay on a hospital bed, pale as a ghost from pain, it was almost more than I could handle.
My Heavenly Father watched His only begotten son, Jesus Christ be born into an unhealthy circumstance (in a manger) and suffer like no other human being ever has, no-one even coming within light years of his pain. So why did he allow his perfect son to suffer so herendously? It doesn't make sense, He's God, He had power to help and save His Son.
He sees the bigger picture. If God had interveened, our lives would be for naught. I'll be the first to admit that pain and suffering stinks, it's hard to go through and even harder to understand that somehow it will end up strengthening us or becoming a catalyst for the better, especially when you're in the middle of it.
In the depths of my pain is when I have known Him the best, when I have needed Him the most, and when I have been the most grateful. Suffering makes us change, it makes us look at our lives and our actions more closely, we start to cut out the fat, let the fringe fall away and are reminded of what is most important.
We love more deeply, spend more time with our family and friends; appreciating them more because we are reminded how fragile life is.
There are horrible, terrible things that happen to people and I have shed many tears over the suffering of the innocent, especially children. It breaks my heart, and makes me ill. But in my prayers for them, I have had comfort, and Heavenly Father has reminded me that they are His children and He loves them more than I am capable of. My trust in Him, and my faith that His ways are higher than my ways is based on my personal experiences of becoming stronger, and those around me who have experienced the same.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A New Creature
I've had a lot of discussions, read a lot of articles, studied church history, especially the more difficult parts. There are hard things like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and polygamy. These are a post unto themselves, but I want to say that I know of them, I've studied them. There are many things of Joseph Smith you take on faith, it is an incredible story, much like the incredible story of a virgin giving birth to the son of God.
I know that there were changes made to the Book of Mormon, and different accounts of the first vision. These again, have been studied and prayed about.
But in the world of my own life, the changes I have been through, the witnesses I have received, these things fail to sway me from the rock that I stand on.
I am a new creature, I die daily as Paul, and have had great need for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My witness is my life, who I used to be and the pain I used to carry has been washed away. I have lived the life of the prodigal son, and to smaller degrees still live it. But as the prodigal son, I have come home to my father and he has changed me.
This change does not come by friendly feelings of attending a church. My change has come through prayer and tears, sacrifice, and the mercy, grace, and merits of Jesus Christ. I testify by my life that I found myself a new creature through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are not perfect people, but that is why the Savior atoned for us all. The gospel is true, the principles are true, and my baptism worked and continues to work in my life.
I am a Mormon because I am a new creature.
I know that there were changes made to the Book of Mormon, and different accounts of the first vision. These again, have been studied and prayed about.
But in the world of my own life, the changes I have been through, the witnesses I have received, these things fail to sway me from the rock that I stand on.
I am a new creature, I die daily as Paul, and have had great need for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My witness is my life, who I used to be and the pain I used to carry has been washed away. I have lived the life of the prodigal son, and to smaller degrees still live it. But as the prodigal son, I have come home to my father and he has changed me.
This change does not come by friendly feelings of attending a church. My change has come through prayer and tears, sacrifice, and the mercy, grace, and merits of Jesus Christ. I testify by my life that I found myself a new creature through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are not perfect people, but that is why the Savior atoned for us all. The gospel is true, the principles are true, and my baptism worked and continues to work in my life.
I am a Mormon because I am a new creature.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
There is no gain
Joining yourself to any group automatically puts a label on you. And with a label comes opposition. There are people who will disagree with your group, not understand your group, and maybe openly fight against your group. Even something so small as a soccer team, some parents won't like the way it is run, executed, or disagree with the snacks somebody brought.
Choosing a side when it comes to theology elevates this opposition greatly. Do we really like opposition? Do we like that our Uncle Frank thinks religion is for the weak minded and Grandma Betty is taught every week in her church that ours is an abomination?
There is a great social sacrifice for just aligning yourself with theology.
Now what if you are completely devoted, you use your time, talents, and energy to serve in your church? Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is demanding. First, you give 10% of your income freely. Second, you have callings, or duties that can involve you dramatically, so does your spouse and your teenage children. Third, you have primary for young children, mutual for teenagers, you pick fruit at the orchard for the good of others, do humanitarian projects, blankets, diapers, pajamas, first aid kits, sanitary kits, you are supposed to magnify talents, be a public speaker, a teacher, etc. etc.. We try to set aside an evening for teaching our children about spiritual things, we attend the Temple to do service for those who have passed.
In general we try to do what is right, read scriptures, say our prayers, and edify ourselves with knowledge and good relationships.
This is an incomplete list, I don't know if I have the patience to write a complete one. But why do we do it?
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ. What else is there to gain? We try to follow his teachings, to love our neighbour, to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, we serve in the church to care for his flock, to care for our own little family flock, and we realize that our will is really the only thing we have to offer the Lord, everything else is just giving back.
This is not a list to demean grace and mercy, I can only make it by his grace, and with his mercy.
My testimony of "no gain" is that I believe in sacrifice, I believe that when we do with no thought for selfish desires, we are gaining the intangible. We are not paid in silver or gold or anything of earthly value.
This law of sacrifice is another reason why I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Choosing a side when it comes to theology elevates this opposition greatly. Do we really like opposition? Do we like that our Uncle Frank thinks religion is for the weak minded and Grandma Betty is taught every week in her church that ours is an abomination?
There is a great social sacrifice for just aligning yourself with theology.
Now what if you are completely devoted, you use your time, talents, and energy to serve in your church? Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is demanding. First, you give 10% of your income freely. Second, you have callings, or duties that can involve you dramatically, so does your spouse and your teenage children. Third, you have primary for young children, mutual for teenagers, you pick fruit at the orchard for the good of others, do humanitarian projects, blankets, diapers, pajamas, first aid kits, sanitary kits, you are supposed to magnify talents, be a public speaker, a teacher, etc. etc.. We try to set aside an evening for teaching our children about spiritual things, we attend the Temple to do service for those who have passed.
In general we try to do what is right, read scriptures, say our prayers, and edify ourselves with knowledge and good relationships.
This is an incomplete list, I don't know if I have the patience to write a complete one. But why do we do it?
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ. What else is there to gain? We try to follow his teachings, to love our neighbour, to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, we serve in the church to care for his flock, to care for our own little family flock, and we realize that our will is really the only thing we have to offer the Lord, everything else is just giving back.
This is not a list to demean grace and mercy, I can only make it by his grace, and with his mercy.
My testimony of "no gain" is that I believe in sacrifice, I believe that when we do with no thought for selfish desires, we are gaining the intangible. We are not paid in silver or gold or anything of earthly value.
This law of sacrifice is another reason why I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Because of Babies
There are many reasons I am faithful to the Church of Jesus Christ, one of them being that no other church has a better answer about the salvation of children.
If you have ever had the privilege to give birth to one of God's children you know the joy and the awe that accompanies the sweet innocent bundle. I cannot imagine a God who would send His own Son to suffer and die for our sins would condemn the innocent.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that the Atonement covers the original sin and that children are born innocent and they are incapable of sin. We even reach further and believe that we cannot be held accountable for that which we do not know. So all the billions of children and people who are born without a knowledge of Jesus Christ cannot be condemned for not accepting He of whom they do not know.
We believe all will have a chance to hear and understand the truth and the ability to choose for themselves to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, if not here in this life, in the next.
No other church has a better answer about the salvation of babies.
If you have ever had the privilege to give birth to one of God's children you know the joy and the awe that accompanies the sweet innocent bundle. I cannot imagine a God who would send His own Son to suffer and die for our sins would condemn the innocent.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that the Atonement covers the original sin and that children are born innocent and they are incapable of sin. We even reach further and believe that we cannot be held accountable for that which we do not know. So all the billions of children and people who are born without a knowledge of Jesus Christ cannot be condemned for not accepting He of whom they do not know.
We believe all will have a chance to hear and understand the truth and the ability to choose for themselves to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, if not here in this life, in the next.
No other church has a better answer about the salvation of babies.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Joseph Smith
I believe in Jesus Christ and in God the Eternal Father, and in the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ is whom I worship, whom I love, and whom I try to be like. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and I believe no man can enter Heaven by any other way than through the grace and merits of our Savior.
So what is the difference between me and my evangelical neighbor? Joseph Smith. Some have said they would attend our church if it weren't for the outrageous story of Joseph Smith. Yes, it is outrageous, but true.
I do not worship the man Joseph Smith, I revere his life, his calling as a prophet, and give thanks for all that he sacrificed and went through to restore the fullness of the Savior's teachings and authorities giving us prophets, apostles, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
All that I believe rests on the shoulders that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called and ordained by God to bring a restoration after many hundreds of years of darkness after Jesus and the Apostles were killed.
Without Joseph Smith, there is no Book of Mormon, there is no Prophet or Apostles, there is no Priesthood authority to baptize, heal, and comfort, there are no temples to bind our marriages and family relationships for eternity, and there is no redeeming of the dead which allows all born to this earth an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
So what is the difference between me and my evangelical neighbor? Joseph Smith. Some have said they would attend our church if it weren't for the outrageous story of Joseph Smith. Yes, it is outrageous, but true.
I do not worship the man Joseph Smith, I revere his life, his calling as a prophet, and give thanks for all that he sacrificed and went through to restore the fullness of the Savior's teachings and authorities giving us prophets, apostles, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
All that I believe rests on the shoulders that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called and ordained by God to bring a restoration after many hundreds of years of darkness after Jesus and the Apostles were killed.
Without Joseph Smith, there is no Book of Mormon, there is no Prophet or Apostles, there is no Priesthood authority to baptize, heal, and comfort, there are no temples to bind our marriages and family relationships for eternity, and there is no redeeming of the dead which allows all born to this earth an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
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