Power of the Spirit!

Check out the talk! "Serve with the Spirit" 

I came across this talk because one of our Sunday classes, taught by Greg Orr.  In this talk, is found many ways  that we can come closer to the Spirit and be guided by it in our lives.  President Henry B. Eyring gives us some wonderful words of advice and support as a prophet, seer, and revalator of our Heavenly Father.

One thing spoken seeemed to press on my heart and I felt the Spirit testify to me that these things are true:
"Our humility and our faith that invite spiritual gifts are increased by our reading, studying, and pondering the scriptures...when we ponder, we invite revelation by the Spirit. Pondering, to me, is the thinking and the praying I do after reading and studying in the scriptures carefully."

What Do We Give To God?

Thursday we had a baptism! It was a great day, and a great time to feel of the spirit.  Baptism is an essential step that we all must take to return to the presence of God.  In the time leading up to the baptism, I have been thinking a lot about the changes that this young man has made to bring his life in line with the will of God.  I have thought about who he has become, and who he can eventually become.  I encourage you to think about who you want to become and what you should do to become the person the Lord would have you be. 

A Book of Mormon prophet, King Benjamin, taught, "For the natual man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth of the natrual man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord..." (Mosiah 3:19).  Another righteous group of people spoken of in the Book of Mormon, "did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. (Helaman 3:35).

Through Jesus Christ, we can change and become more like him.  We must put aside our own passions and appetites and be subject to the will of God.  We must choose to be humble and teachable.  It may be hard, but the Savior will help us.  If we are willing to obey, we will "become saints through the atonement of Christ."

"Come What May and Love It"

This month has been a month of trial, for me, for friends, and for those that are close to me.  I have found the words of an Apostle of the Lord, Joseph B. Wirthlin, bringing my soul comfort and peace. "Come What May, and Love It", was a beautiful talk given just a few years ago, and it brought my family through a difficult time.  I often return to this talk as a reminder that even though we may go through trials and struggles, we have a choice of how we react. 

Life will be what it is regardless of what we know or what we believe.  But I have found that the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me hope and helped me persevere through these hard times.  The gospel is here to help us have that vision, not to take away our struggles.  I am so grateful for the hope and peace that the Savior's sacrifice and the gospel's perspective has given my life.  May we all remember that in times of struggle that we have a responsibility to act, and not to merely be acted upon (2 Nephi 2:14).
Watch his video at: Mormon Message: Come What May, and Love It

Always Remember Him

I have been thinking back on my childhood life and all of the fun that it was.  I also reflected upon the times where there was mistakes and mishaps, particularly when I have walked away scarred from injury.  I have these little reminders, one on my forehead, one on my hand, and another on my foot.  All of these scars help me to explain a story.  As I look at them, I am reminded of how they came to be there.  My mind plays back the most vivid and remarkable scenes of just how these scars came about, they have become, so to speak, my little marks of remembrance. 

As a young boy, I seemed to love to flaunt these scars and tell everyone I knew how I got them.  It made my story better when I told them how bad it hurt, or how I didn't even cry when I got stitches.  They were to me and to everyone I told, evidence that these events had actually happened. 

Those events and that thought, pull me back to the Savior.  To those whom He appeared, the prints in His hands and feet bore witness that he truly is the Son of God.  D & C 6:36-37 tell us of a promise as we remember Him.  In remembering the pains that brought our scars, let us also remember Him, who willingly accepted these scars, that mark Him our Savior and Redeemer.  Let us remember to believe in Him and to follow Him.  To his scars, it is not just a story, but it is quite literally His life and glory.  I know that He lives and loves us and we are blessed as we believe in Him, John 20:26-29.

"We are the children of God"

Worth of a Soul

Someone close to me expressed something that she fears, as she is changing her life and trying to come closer to the Savior.  As my companion and I shared with her our desire for her to come to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ more fully, I found myself pondering upon my life and how change had brought up some of my worst fears.  As we listened closer, I have come to feel that this fear was more internal; the question of self worth. 

There is a worry that comes to us when we change our lives, when we come to wonder if we must truly move past the places where we once felt most comfortable.  Will we be good enough for the new group of people that we will associate with, or will these new set of values that we will live really make me free?  I have pondered about this for a few days and a certain hymn comes to mind, which touched my heart and awakened my spirit to a sense of healing that Christ offers to us all, as we change and become something new.

"Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish;
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.

Here bring your wounded hearts; here tell your anguish.
Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal."

"Come Ye Disconsolate"

There are fears, doubts and pains that trouble our souls, but as we go though these experiences a feeling of hope and joy may flood our souls as we read the words of prophets of old, Romans 8:16-17.  We are all God's children, and he loves each of us.  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, 13.  We are of worth to Him.