I'm sorry if you're sick of me talking about how much God loves us by this point, but the truth is He does, and that affects our knowledge of everything else.
Because God loves us, He's given us things here on the earth to help us. Throughout the Bible we see a pattern of prophets. Prophets are men who are called by God and given the priesthood - or God's power here on the earth - to help lead and direct His children. By revelation, they learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and teach it to us, and they testify of Christ.
The fact of the matter, however, is that you and I aren't perfect, and neither were these people in ancient times. After heeding the word of the prophet for a time, people eventually stopped listening. Perhaps they thought they knew more than the prophet, perhaps they didn't care if what the prophets were saying was true. For whatever reason, people would choose to disregard the warnings and teachings of the prophet, and with that, they distance themselves from God. Prophets are the connector to God, so to speak, and when we let go of that connection, it's a lot harder to stay close to Him, and this can lead to a state of spiritual darkness. When this happens, and there are no more people listening to the voice of the prophet, the people slip into a period called an "apostasy", or a time where God withdraws His priesthood authority from the earth.
Why would He do this? It may even sound inconsistent with the fact that God loves us. But just as a father wouldn't buy their son a car on his sixteenth birthday if He knew the son would never drive it, God isn't going to give us His power and authority on the earth if we won't use it.
In the Bible, we see this happening a lot. That pattern I talked about earlier? It's all over the pages of the Old Testament. We see it in stories such as Noah, Moses, and Abraham. As prophets, these men preach the gospel and testify of how we can gain happiness in this life, and while people may follow them for a time, we eventually see a falling away as their prophetic teachings are rejected. The beautiful, comforting part of this pattern, is that at the end of these periods of apostasy, God always reaches out in love again when the people are ready, and calls another prophet. Each of these prophets begins another period where God's priesthood authority is on the earth, or a dispensation. When a prophet begins a dispensation, God's authority is restored, and the prophet again teaches the people about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Example: Moses. He leads the people out of Egypt, right? Through these miraculous experiences, God's power is manifest, and they escape from the harsh rule of Pharaoh, complete with the famous parting of the red sea. After seeing incredible blessings from the God, they make camp while Moses treks up Mt. Sinai to communicate with God and receive further instruction from Him (like a prophet does). While Moses is gaining revelation from the Lord, he receives this instruction:
"Go, get thee down; for thy people, which though broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it" (Exodus 32:7-8)
Within a short time of seeing the hand of God very clearly in their lives and receiving commandments from Him by the voice of His prophet, the people of Israel fall into a period of apostasy. This is a small type of the greater apostasies I spoke of, where God's authority is taken from the earth. Again, the beautiful part of this story is that despite the disobedience of the children of Israel that had happened and would continue to happen, God forgave them again and again and eventually, when they were worthy and ready, lead them into the promise land.
God wants us to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives - I know He does. From the beginning of time, God has communicated to us through prophets, and they have taught us about the principles and ordinances of the gospel that will make us happy and give us the direction we need while here on earth. I have a testimony of that; I know it is true. I am grateful that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and I am grateful for His prophets. I am grateful that they testified the Messiah, and that the Messiah, even Jesus Christ, did come.
Scriptures:
Prophets
God reveals truth through prophets (Amos 3:7)
Prophets testify of Christ (Acts 10:34-43)
Prophets testify of Christ (Jacob 4:4, 6)
Dispensations
What is a "dispensation"? (Bible Dictionary, "Dispensations")
God works in dispensations (D&C 136:36-38)
God teaches Adam (Moses 5:4-12, 55-59)
God ordains Noah (Moses 8:19-30)
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
the gospel blesses families
In my last post, I talked about how much God loves us, and our relationship to Him as His children. Both of those points carry into the next principle I want to talk about - that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families.
When we understand that we are literal spirit children of our Father in Heaven, it becomes obvious that the family unit is not something that's been recently created. Rather, it is the social unit that has always existed throughout eternity. God didn't create this earth and then say, "I wonder how I should organize all these people on the earth. How should I send them down there?" He knew, from the beginning, that we would be organized into families.
So why was it so important that we be placed in families here on earth? A family is the best place for us to learn and grow. We've already seen how understanding the role of an earthly father teaches us more about our Heavenly Father, and we know that through our experiences with our family here on earth, we can obtain the greatest amount of joy to be found in this life.
Now, I know that families aren't always perfect. In fact, they never are - but maybe that's the point. I don't learn how to ride a bike by keeping the training wheels on, and I don't learn patience or kindness by being put in a situation where that patience or kindness is never tried. Families come in all different shapes and sizes, full of a variety of personalities and circumstances. Throughout it all, we have opportunities to gain the attributes we're all seeking for in this life.Within the first few years of life, we learn about sharing and patience through our experiences with siblings. We have an abiding trust in our parents, especially when we are young, that teaches us more about love than anything else ever could. We're pretty much stuck with these people whether we like it or not, so we learn about peacemaking, patience, and compromise as we solve problems together.
So how do we find happiness while we're in these family's God's put us in? He obviously has a purpose for doing so, but what is the key to making this situation work?
The bottom line, no matter our family situation, is that "happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" (The Family: A Proclamation to the World). Jesus Christ was sent here to earth by God to do a variety of things, one of which was to set an example and teach us how to be happy. His teachings, better than anything else, will show us how to deal kindly with one another, how to be nonjudgmental, how to serve our family members.
I'm not claiming to have a perfect family by any means, but I've seen how the gospel has blessed us. The happiness and direction it has brought into our lives has made all the difference. I'd be willing to bet pretty much anything that my family life would carry a lot more discord if not for our foundation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a personal example, my youngest sister has Down Syndrome. I can remember well the day she was born (the day we discovered the disability, having no warning beforehand), when my dad told us she would be different. Being a mere seven years old, I didn't quite understand the implications of what he meant when he said she was "special", but I distinctly remember the warmth and peace that abounded in that conversation and hospital room later that day. We knew we had received a special spirit into our family, and we gave her the middle name of "Joy" to represent all the happiness she was bringing into our lives.
In the years that followed, we confronted a lot of challenges that required an extra amount of stalwart faith and other Christlike attributes. We knew we couldn't do it alone, but the knowledge of the plan God has for us and the teachings of His son, Jesus Christ, helped us.
I messaged my parents to ask them to share their feelings on how the gospel helped them through the experience of raising Cami:
Life is a roller coaster, and I'm so grateful I'm riding that roller coaster in a 7-seater that contains my wonderful family (we'll keep building on as the kids get married). It makes the ride more enjoyable. I know that our families here on earth are ordained of God and that our families can be eternal. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses our family, no matter what circumstance we're in.
Articles on the family:
The Family: A Proclamation to the World
The Importance of the Family
Strengthen Home and Family
The Eternal Family
When we understand that we are literal spirit children of our Father in Heaven, it becomes obvious that the family unit is not something that's been recently created. Rather, it is the social unit that has always existed throughout eternity. God didn't create this earth and then say, "I wonder how I should organize all these people on the earth. How should I send them down there?" He knew, from the beginning, that we would be organized into families.
So why was it so important that we be placed in families here on earth? A family is the best place for us to learn and grow. We've already seen how understanding the role of an earthly father teaches us more about our Heavenly Father, and we know that through our experiences with our family here on earth, we can obtain the greatest amount of joy to be found in this life.
Now, I know that families aren't always perfect. In fact, they never are - but maybe that's the point. I don't learn how to ride a bike by keeping the training wheels on, and I don't learn patience or kindness by being put in a situation where that patience or kindness is never tried. Families come in all different shapes and sizes, full of a variety of personalities and circumstances. Throughout it all, we have opportunities to gain the attributes we're all seeking for in this life.Within the first few years of life, we learn about sharing and patience through our experiences with siblings. We have an abiding trust in our parents, especially when we are young, that teaches us more about love than anything else ever could. We're pretty much stuck with these people whether we like it or not, so we learn about peacemaking, patience, and compromise as we solve problems together.
So how do we find happiness while we're in these family's God's put us in? He obviously has a purpose for doing so, but what is the key to making this situation work?
The bottom line, no matter our family situation, is that "happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" (The Family: A Proclamation to the World). Jesus Christ was sent here to earth by God to do a variety of things, one of which was to set an example and teach us how to be happy. His teachings, better than anything else, will show us how to deal kindly with one another, how to be nonjudgmental, how to serve our family members.
As a personal example, my youngest sister has Down Syndrome. I can remember well the day she was born (the day we discovered the disability, having no warning beforehand), when my dad told us she would be different. Being a mere seven years old, I didn't quite understand the implications of what he meant when he said she was "special", but I distinctly remember the warmth and peace that abounded in that conversation and hospital room later that day. We knew we had received a special spirit into our family, and we gave her the middle name of "Joy" to represent all the happiness she was bringing into our lives.
In the years that followed, we confronted a lot of challenges that required an extra amount of stalwart faith and other Christlike attributes. We knew we couldn't do it alone, but the knowledge of the plan God has for us and the teachings of His son, Jesus Christ, helped us.
I messaged my parents to ask them to share their feelings on how the gospel helped them through the experience of raising Cami:
A knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has helped us with raising a child with a disability because we have a testimony that families are eternal. This earth life is only one very short part of The Plan of Salvation...Cami's limitations are temporary, and this knowledge lets us know that we are privileged to be her short-term guardians on this earth---with death not the point of separation but a chapter to a new beginning. Every day we spend with her is a glimpse into the eternal nature of families.
Make no mistake--raising Cami, or any child with a disability, is not always a walk in the park. She requires more care, monitoring, and guidance than any of our other kids. But because we know she and we once lived together as spiritual children of our Heavenly Father, and chose to come to this earth to receive a body and be tried to prove ourselves worthy to return to our Heavenly Father's presence, that knowledge is a huge source of strength to us. We know Cami has already passed her test simply by being born into her earthly body, and that it is up to the rest of our family to prove we belong with her in our Heavenly Father's presence. Physically, mentally and emotionally, Cami may lag behind us, but spiritually she is a celebrity who we all aspire to become like. Our entire family loves her, and the constant reminder she gives us of the eternal nature of families.
Life is a roller coaster, and I'm so grateful I'm riding that roller coaster in a 7-seater that contains my wonderful family (we'll keep building on as the kids get married). It makes the ride more enjoyable. I know that our families here on earth are ordained of God and that our families can be eternal. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses our family, no matter what circumstance we're in.
Articles on the family:
The Family: A Proclamation to the World
The Importance of the Family
Strengthen Home and Family
The Eternal Family
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
god is our loving heavenly father
The root of all of my beliefs, of religion in general, is that a superior being exists. Now, quite honestly, I know I can't tackle the argument of every atheistic view out there (go read CS Lewis or something). I've heard it recently argued that it's all a matter of faith - you can't prove if God's there, you can't prove if He's not. And God himself? Well, my belief is that religion and God is all a spiritual matter, so you're not going to find the answers through anything other than spiritual means.
My belief is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. To me, the two most important parts of that statement are 1) that He loves us, and 2) that He is our father.
First of all, we're loved. The most powerful being in the universe, the one that truly has all power, knows all things, and can sometimes seem like some big, intimidating pile of intelligence - He loves you. He cares about you. He weeps when you find sadness and rejoices when you find joy. And I'm not talking about "love" in the way we seem to throw it around these days - one day confessing our love for someone and the very next changing our minds. Not in the "Wow, I really love pizza" meaning of the word. I mean the perfect, undefiled mean of love. His love - God's love - is pure and true and constant. It will never fade or diminish, and it's not dependent on what we do - it is simply there.
Second, God is our father. That's a pretty simple statement that carries a pretty complex meaning. Through it, we learn a lot about the nature of God, and a lot about our nature as His children.
Though I'm not yet a parent, I know the love for a child is immense, and I know that any good parent wants the best for their child. That means that when a toddler tries to stick their hand on top of a burning stove, the parent stops them. More often than not, the child is upset because all they know is that the person they love so much just stopped them from touching the beautiful glowing orange thing. The child might be wondering if their mom or dad does, in fact, love them. On the other hand, the other extreme doesn't automatically make the best kind of parent. If a mother never let her children step outside of the house (even if for safety reasons), the mother isn't really doing what's best for the child. Being trapped and over-protected prohibits necessary growth.
I think most of us would agree that being a good parent doesn't mean you let your child experiment on everything and figure it out for themselves, and it also doesn't mean you set absurd rules that prevent the child from ever learning. Rather, it's a balance of the two. We know that God is the perfect parent, which means He has rules but He also let's us learn, and the underlying factor for everything is that He wants us to be happy.
Growing up, I remember going to my parents for advice or permission on a lot of things. At times, they would tell me "No". "No, you can't go to that party. No, you can't skip school tomorrow. No, you can't drive the car at the age of 14." Other times, the answer was more along the lines of, "You know enough to make that decision for yourself." To be honest, there were moments when I found both infuriating. When the answer was a straight "no", I was angry they hadn't let me choose for myself. When the answer was to choose for myself, I was angry they hadn't given me a straight answer to make the decision easier. At the root of all my feelings, however, I knew that they loved me, and that everything they told me or directed me to do stemmed from their love for me. I was growing up, and I was learning, and they helped me to do that.
After a time, as I knew enough of the principles behind each rule my parents had established in our house, I was able to make correct decisions based on those very principles. I realized that all along, every bit of guidance my parents had offered me had been to make me happy. Especially as I left home and went to college, I always felt comfortable calling my parents up on the phone and being honest. Sometimes that meant crying together, and sometimes that meant laughing together. Getting a 98% on that Human Development test I was really nervous for meant that as soon as I left the testing center, I was dialing my mom to tell her how happy I was. She was right there on the other line to let me know how happy she was as well - she was proud of me. When I faced discouragement, I could call my dad and he would listen and sympathize. He was sad because I was sad.
No matter what I did, they loved me, and that love was based alone on the fact that I was their daughter. I could have disregarded everything they had taught me, denied they were my flesh and blood, and turned from their protective care, and they still would have loved me.
I testify that God is the same way. I know that He cares about us. I know that He loves you simply because you are you - you are His child, and that carries a great deal of importance. He wants you to be happy and to make good decisions, and He's always there on the end of the other line to pick up that phone and talk when you're ready to talk. I hope we are aware of how much He wants to listen to our struggles and our hopes and our dreams and our fears, and how willing He is to provide for us the help we need here on earth. As our parent, He has more knowledge than we do. He can tell when we're about to touch that burning hot stove and give us guidance. It is through obedience to Him that we will find true and lasting happiness.
God has given us a Savior, Jesus Christ, as a sign of His love. He knows were not perfect and He knows we're a little bit stubborn, but the fact of the matter is that He loves us and Christ's atonement can still apply to us. He asks that we have faith, repent, and turn to him through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost in order to be clean to return to His presence. I know that if we follow Christ, and trust our Heavenly Father, we will one day receive the greatest "welcome home" we can ever imagine. I know that as we better understand our God who dwells in the heavens, we can better understand things here on earth. He is the root of everything, and He is where it all begins.
Scriptures:
Believe in God (Mosiah 4:9)
God is perfect (Matthew 5:48) (see also 3 Nephi 12:48)
A comparison with our earthly father (3 Nephi 14:9-11)
God has a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22)
God's purpose (Moses 1:39)
God's love (John 3:16-17)
We are the offspring of God (Acts 17:27-29)
Children of God (Romans 8:16)
The father of our spirits (Hebrews 12:9)
God's love (1 John 4:7-9)
My belief is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. To me, the two most important parts of that statement are 1) that He loves us, and 2) that He is our father.
First of all, we're loved. The most powerful being in the universe, the one that truly has all power, knows all things, and can sometimes seem like some big, intimidating pile of intelligence - He loves you. He cares about you. He weeps when you find sadness and rejoices when you find joy. And I'm not talking about "love" in the way we seem to throw it around these days - one day confessing our love for someone and the very next changing our minds. Not in the "Wow, I really love pizza" meaning of the word. I mean the perfect, undefiled mean of love. His love - God's love - is pure and true and constant. It will never fade or diminish, and it's not dependent on what we do - it is simply there.
Second, God is our father. That's a pretty simple statement that carries a pretty complex meaning. Through it, we learn a lot about the nature of God, and a lot about our nature as His children.
Though I'm not yet a parent, I know the love for a child is immense, and I know that any good parent wants the best for their child. That means that when a toddler tries to stick their hand on top of a burning stove, the parent stops them. More often than not, the child is upset because all they know is that the person they love so much just stopped them from touching the beautiful glowing orange thing. The child might be wondering if their mom or dad does, in fact, love them. On the other hand, the other extreme doesn't automatically make the best kind of parent. If a mother never let her children step outside of the house (even if for safety reasons), the mother isn't really doing what's best for the child. Being trapped and over-protected prohibits necessary growth.
I think most of us would agree that being a good parent doesn't mean you let your child experiment on everything and figure it out for themselves, and it also doesn't mean you set absurd rules that prevent the child from ever learning. Rather, it's a balance of the two. We know that God is the perfect parent, which means He has rules but He also let's us learn, and the underlying factor for everything is that He wants us to be happy.
Growing up, I remember going to my parents for advice or permission on a lot of things. At times, they would tell me "No". "No, you can't go to that party. No, you can't skip school tomorrow. No, you can't drive the car at the age of 14." Other times, the answer was more along the lines of, "You know enough to make that decision for yourself." To be honest, there were moments when I found both infuriating. When the answer was a straight "no", I was angry they hadn't let me choose for myself. When the answer was to choose for myself, I was angry they hadn't given me a straight answer to make the decision easier. At the root of all my feelings, however, I knew that they loved me, and that everything they told me or directed me to do stemmed from their love for me. I was growing up, and I was learning, and they helped me to do that.
After a time, as I knew enough of the principles behind each rule my parents had established in our house, I was able to make correct decisions based on those very principles. I realized that all along, every bit of guidance my parents had offered me had been to make me happy. Especially as I left home and went to college, I always felt comfortable calling my parents up on the phone and being honest. Sometimes that meant crying together, and sometimes that meant laughing together. Getting a 98% on that Human Development test I was really nervous for meant that as soon as I left the testing center, I was dialing my mom to tell her how happy I was. She was right there on the other line to let me know how happy she was as well - she was proud of me. When I faced discouragement, I could call my dad and he would listen and sympathize. He was sad because I was sad.
No matter what I did, they loved me, and that love was based alone on the fact that I was their daughter. I could have disregarded everything they had taught me, denied they were my flesh and blood, and turned from their protective care, and they still would have loved me.
I testify that God is the same way. I know that He cares about us. I know that He loves you simply because you are you - you are His child, and that carries a great deal of importance. He wants you to be happy and to make good decisions, and He's always there on the end of the other line to pick up that phone and talk when you're ready to talk. I hope we are aware of how much He wants to listen to our struggles and our hopes and our dreams and our fears, and how willing He is to provide for us the help we need here on earth. As our parent, He has more knowledge than we do. He can tell when we're about to touch that burning hot stove and give us guidance. It is through obedience to Him that we will find true and lasting happiness.
God has given us a Savior, Jesus Christ, as a sign of His love. He knows were not perfect and He knows we're a little bit stubborn, but the fact of the matter is that He loves us and Christ's atonement can still apply to us. He asks that we have faith, repent, and turn to him through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost in order to be clean to return to His presence. I know that if we follow Christ, and trust our Heavenly Father, we will one day receive the greatest "welcome home" we can ever imagine. I know that as we better understand our God who dwells in the heavens, we can better understand things here on earth. He is the root of everything, and He is where it all begins.
Scriptures:
Believe in God (Mosiah 4:9)
God is perfect (Matthew 5:48) (see also 3 Nephi 12:48)
A comparison with our earthly father (3 Nephi 14:9-11)
God has a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22)
God's purpose (Moses 1:39)
God's love (John 3:16-17)
We are the offspring of God (Acts 17:27-29)
Children of God (Romans 8:16)
The father of our spirits (Hebrews 12:9)
God's love (1 John 4:7-9)
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
an introduction
I'm a mormon missionary, and yes, I'm online.
Things have changed in the world of missionary work over the past few years, and I'm now authorized to use approved social media sites as another way to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is new, and this is something that I've been both excited and fearful over. I've asked myself again and again what the best way to go about doing this is. From the very beginning, I've known I wanted to start a blog - it's something I love and something that can reach a lot of people.
To be perfectly honest, however, this is the second blog I've started as a missionary. The first has been woefully neglected during the month of December as a busy schedule set in for me, but as I've thought about my purpose as an online missionary, I've decided not to go back to it.
The fact of the matter is, though online missionary work is different and new and confusing, it's still just that - missionary work. My purpose is the same no matter how I go about doing it: To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The way I do that in my day to day life consists of teaching people about the gospel I'm so proud to be apart of, and that's what this blog is going to do as well.
I'm just a normal 20-year-old girl who faces a lot of challenges in life. I have a family, I've had multiple minimum-wage jobs, I've dated, I've not dated, I've done high school, and I've done college. I've made friends and I've lost friends, I've faced trials of my faith and questioned my worth and wondered if God is actually aware of me, as I've been told by so many others. I've cried to him in my darkest moments, asking, "Why did it have to be this? Couldn't it be another trial - any other trial? I can't do this."
Through it all, I've felt a peace and love and joy that comes from the gospel - from being a member of Christ's true church on the earth today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My purpose here on this blog is to share with you my knowledge and testimony that God lives and that He loves us, and that He speaks to us today, just as He did in days of old. My hope is that we can talk about this together, and that you and I will both feel closer to our Heavenly Father because of it.
Things have changed in the world of missionary work over the past few years, and I'm now authorized to use approved social media sites as another way to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is new, and this is something that I've been both excited and fearful over. I've asked myself again and again what the best way to go about doing this is. From the very beginning, I've known I wanted to start a blog - it's something I love and something that can reach a lot of people.
To be perfectly honest, however, this is the second blog I've started as a missionary. The first has been woefully neglected during the month of December as a busy schedule set in for me, but as I've thought about my purpose as an online missionary, I've decided not to go back to it.
The fact of the matter is, though online missionary work is different and new and confusing, it's still just that - missionary work. My purpose is the same no matter how I go about doing it: To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The way I do that in my day to day life consists of teaching people about the gospel I'm so proud to be apart of, and that's what this blog is going to do as well.
I'm just a normal 20-year-old girl who faces a lot of challenges in life. I have a family, I've had multiple minimum-wage jobs, I've dated, I've not dated, I've done high school, and I've done college. I've made friends and I've lost friends, I've faced trials of my faith and questioned my worth and wondered if God is actually aware of me, as I've been told by so many others. I've cried to him in my darkest moments, asking, "Why did it have to be this? Couldn't it be another trial - any other trial? I can't do this."
Through it all, I've felt a peace and love and joy that comes from the gospel - from being a member of Christ's true church on the earth today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My purpose here on this blog is to share with you my knowledge and testimony that God lives and that He loves us, and that He speaks to us today, just as He did in days of old. My hope is that we can talk about this together, and that you and I will both feel closer to our Heavenly Father because of it.
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