Join The Glorious Symphony

It's easy to think that not everyone is needed and that you have nothing to offer other people, let alone the Church. Please remember that everyone has a purpose and as we seek Heavenly Father, He will always guide us to learn our talents. As we share those with others, the most incredible thing happens; a glorious symphony!

Always know you're needed and loved.

Forgiveness To Faith

I can't help but think about those times where forgiving another person can be hard and something that anger seems to "help us through". I had a similar situation where I found myself wishing another person who feel as sad and angry as I did because they had done something that bothered me and affected by entire family. 

I went up to my room fuming. I sat on my bed and immediately decided I didn't want to have those feelings. The spirit calmed me down and told me to pray and read my scriptures. I humbled myself while I told my Heavenly Father everything that bothered me and why I was hurting so badly. He quickly reassured me that I didn't know the whole story and that it didn't matter if I did. Regardless, I needed to forgive and have faith.

The chapter I read was Ether 12. How quickly the spirit bore witness of the need to have faith and that Heavenly Father knew the circumstances my family was struggling with and that He was the one who could fix it, if I had faith to. I also felt that I couldn't have faith if I was allowing myself to be consumed with anger. As I attempted to put myself in their shows, I realized it wasn't worth these negative emotions and immediately I had greater faith in the knowledge that He knows what's best and will be there to give support.

Before we reach to hold grudges and allow ourselves to be stuck in a state of anger, remember that forgiveness to faith is much more powerful!

Separating From The Act, Not Love

With the recent events bringing out so much hate and anger toward people in the world, I wanted to share a few thoughts regarding acceptance and love. I am very saddened to see so many negative comments and pure hate all over the internet regarding individuals in same-sex relationships/marriage. Some of these even come from members of the LDS church and it seems as though they aren't quite understanding the difference between separating from an act and separating from love.

Separating from the act means not being a direct or indirect part of the sin. I would not walk with a friend who is a gay/lesbian in the pride parade for example, but I will certainly go to lunch with them and keep up on their lives. I will rejoice in their accomplishments and happiness and cry with them when they ache. We have never been asked to not be a friend. Don't think you need to walk away from these family members and friends! Don't believe for one second that God is asking you to make a choice between He and them. Satan wants you to believe that is the only choice, but it most certainly is not! God wants you to serve and love Him first and be there for your brothers and sisters second. Just because I'm not supporting same-sex marriage doesn't mean I'm not loving the individuals. I believe in Eternal Families and in the gift of procreation. Both are divinely appointed by God and lead to Eternal progression. I desire that of all my brothers and sisters. When that's not the course they choose, I am indeed sad. It doesn't change my love for them, however.

When Alma was at the Waters of Mormon, these were the covenants he required them to take upon themselves in preparation for baptism:

8. And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you? 

In nowhere did Alma say we only needed to comfort, mourn with or bear the burden's of others so long as they are members for the LDS church and living perfect. He meant all people.  

I believe the most important part of The Gospel of Jesus Christ is to learn to love! First, to love Him, but second, to "Love thy neighbor as thyself". Again, it doesn't end with, "when thy neighbor makes the right choices" but simply ends after, "thyself".

Unless others' choices are harming you or your family directly, there is never a reason for doing anything other than loving and showing compassion. You can love and be there for any person regardless of their choices. You will never have to make the choice between loving someone and living God's laws. Love brings true joy!

Heeding Conference Messages

Listening is important when it comes to conference talks. Heeding the words however, is different in that it's listening to them and then acting upon those messages. I felt inspired a couple weeks ago to read the talk from Larry R. Lawrence's message, "What lack I yet?". I since have been doing a lot of praying and making changes in my life in order to stay closer to the spirit and be in tune to opportunities for service and missionary work.

For several days a person in my ward kept coming to my thoughts and finally the spirit said, "Get up and go to their home." Without hesitating, because the spirit doesn't allow for that, I got up and left my home. I didn't know what reason I needed to make the visit, but I knew I had to.

Months back, I was talking with a member of my ward and had given advice that I felt was good but maybe it didn't come out with love, like it should have. This advice hurt their feelings, even though it wasn't rude, simply not enough love was shown. They were struggling and often times didn't come to church because of different feelings. I noticed they continued not coming regularly, but didn't feel it was due to anything I did.

When I got to the door I had a prayer in my heart that I would know why I needed to be there. Immediately upon seeing them, I knew I needed to apologize for those words not coming out in a loving way. We then spent the next couple hours having a great conversation, sharing testimony and friendship.

I felt a great peace upon leaving that night that I didn't even know I needed. I am thankful for those times the Lord, through The Holy Ghost, directs us to attain those experiences. This loving member understood and immediately accepted my apology. I don't know if their lack of church attendance had anything to do with what I said, but I can be certain now that I can follow up with quick texts letting them know I missed them or that it was great seeing them at church!

We might never know what things we do and say to others that might hurt feelings. I am thankful that I followed Elder Lawrence' counsel and asked, "What lack I yet?"

The Sabbath Fast

For those who might be unfamiliar with the tradition of "Fast Sunday" in the LDS faith, here is a quick idea of what it is: The first Sunday of every month each congregation across the church, we all fast from food and drink for 2 meals (24 hours). During this time, we pray and ponder the needs we have as individuals, families, friends, ward members and any other person/need we might have. We offer our bodies as a sacrifice symbolically to our Heavenly Father and in turn we receive guidance and help for those things we have prayed and fasted for. Our Heavenly Father has everything, the only thing we can truly give Him is our will, our willingness to feel discomfort and offer up sacrifice to Him. People all over the world engage in different types of fasts, and in the LDS church, it need not only happen on a Fast Sunday, we are simply encouraged to. During the Sacrament Meeting where we partake of the Sacrament, Fast Sunday changes up the traditional meeting from having a few young people and adults give talks on specific topics, to whomever in the congregation, that may feel moved upon by the Holy Ghost, is able to go up to the pulpit and share their thoughts and words of faith regarding The Savior and other gospel principles.

In addition to fasting, we are asked to give a generous fast offering, of whatever we can afford financially, to a member our Bishopric and from there they prayerfully are able to give to members in the ward who might need financial help or food for their family. They ask to give at least the amount of money we saved by skipping those two meals, but also to be as generous as we can be. It's a great place to donate as we are guaranteed 100% of the money will go directly to someone in n
eed.

This Fast Sunday has been a great one for my family. We have several specifics needs, but also have fasted for those whom we Home and Visit Teach (another post for another day) or any other people in our neighborhood and ward we might be able to serve. I've found, yet again, when we want our prayers answered the quickest, all we need to do is think about other people and what their needs may be. The Lord is very quick to give that inspiration, which I felt I received today, and we then can give Him our will and choose to follow that guidance.

There's no doubt the Lord is willing to help us and that by observing The Law of the Fast, we can sacrifice that much more to show the Lord our willingness and desire for His blessings!

Doubt Not, But Be Believing

Receiving direction from the Holy Ghost sounds so simple. You pray, you get a thought/feeling and you move forward. While there are those times it is that simple and you never think twice whether or not you made the correct decision, there are other times that really test your faith.

You might have a powerful witness in one form or another of what your answer might be. You move forward with that in full faith, but then things might not come together as smoothly as you think they should for being the "right" answer. You feel you need to pray again in case the answer changed.


Those are the times when I'm referred to the scripture in D&C 6:22-23 which reads,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?"

Remember that when you have received an answer, go forward in faith! Don't let Satan create fear in your heart and make you doubt. Even if it feels everything is blowing up in your face, but you knew it was right when you prayed initially, move forward.

There is no doubt the Holy Ghost will guide us as we are worthy for it. At times, you might find the reason you were meant to go one direction was only for preparation and learning to ultimately take a different path. This doesn't mean our initial answer was wrong, it just means the Lord needed to teach you something first. The Lord never tells us to do something that is not for our best good. Have faith and keep worthy and "all things will work together for your good".

Finding Hope Again

I just finished the Book of Mormon and thus recently read Moroni 7. I've been thinking a lot about hope since then, and wondering its connection to faith. Moroni 7:40 says, "How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?"

Hope is a glimmer that leads us to do the necessary work to achieve faith. In other words, hope is motivation. Hope keeps pushing us when we've lost faith. Many of us have been to that dark place where you feel it's time to collapse on your bed and give up the fight.

This is a place I've been in and out of the past few years. I've had a struggle that seems to not quit and comes from every direction and is more confining with each blow. There are days my faith is so weak that I've truly believed I'm just meant for misery and struggle. Those are the days hope kicks in, pulls me to my knees in prayer and leads to faith which brings me back to my feet.

A favorite scripture that hit home to me on my mission, Alma 32:27, reads, "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."

Desire and hope are synonymous. The days you feel everything and everyone have given up on you and there's nothing left for you to do but give up well, let hope work in you! Let hope give you strength and ambition to work and soon it will be replaced with renewed faith. All you need is a particle of hope and you can do miracles! Pray for hope, and from there, continue to do all things, pray, read scriptures, pay tithes and offerings, be involve in church and temple worship, and always get lost in the service of others. That's when hope and faith become an unstoppable team!

This is always a favorite talk, but specifically this part and the video that correlates. Elder Holland can always say what we feel and have it sound perfect! Enjoy his testimony of Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon!

Follow The Prophet

There will always be arguments when it comes to religion, unfortunately. There are so many beliefs throughout the world. All religions have truth and most, those truly centered in Christ, can bring you closer to God. Many people are familiar with the early beliefs of the LDS church and have heard of and even read parts of The Book of Mormon. What's one main factor that sets the LDS Church apart from other Christian religions? Individual and collective modern-day revelation. Our Heavenly Father, God, knew this mortal life would be hard. He knew He couldn't walk the Earth with us and that Jesus Christ, His Son, could only do so for a short time. We are here to learn and grow and prove ourselves to Him that we will do everything we can to follow His commandments. This ensures we will live with Him forever as families. Just as parents have rules and obligations for respecting and living in their homes, our Heavenly Father has rules (commandments) we must follow to be worthy of His eternal home. Because we don't have Him here, He blessed us with prophets who converse with Him and who do walk the Earth. They speak to us regularly in General Conferences as well as on LDS.org, LDS Magazines and many other ways. These men are called of God and help us to know all things Heavenly Father wants us to know as a church. As we listen and obey their teachings, we develop a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father and will experience great blessings! As individuals, we can receive our own personal revelation. The Holy Ghost was sent after Christ was resurrected and left the Earth. Jesus tells His disciples they will not be left alone, that He will send a comforter to show all things and bring all things to [their] remembrance. This same Holy Ghost, comforter, will do the same for us today so we might know what God wants each of us to know. We can be assured Heavenly Father will reveal those things to us that are the most important for each of us!