Article of Faith #5

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

I think this one is very straightforward, but essential in what set my religion apart from other religions. The ordinances discussed in the last post including baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost are not valid unless they are given by somebody who has the authority to give it. The only way to have to authority is to be given the authority from God. I know that the priesthood holders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints have the authority.

Article of Faith #4

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

As a kid I liked memorizing this article of faith because I felt that I had taken these steps and really understood these first principles. Now as an adult I think about each of these principles and they each have so much meaning and such deep doctrine behind them. I also have a strong testimony of each of these principles separately and each I could probably discuss in more detail, but for now I'll just discuss a little on each.

First, Faith-in order to feel the desire to become a member of the church you must feel within your heart and have faith that this gospel and the doctrines taught at church are true. You must understand that Jesus Christ has provided a way for us to get back to live with Heavenly Father.

Second, Repentance-if you have gained faith, then you will want to change. You will have a desire to be more like Christ. I have often had these feelings of wanting in my heart to be better and improve. I have had things that I know I want to be better at and having that desire prepares me to make the necessary changes in my life.


Third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins-once you have made the changes in your life and attitude you need help becoming clean, which can only be done through Christ's help. Baptism is the ordinance required to be cleansed. Then every week when taking the sacrament, those covenants are renewed. It is wonderful to be able to take the sacrament weekly and renew those commitments and renew our faith and understanding of what Christ has done to bring us back to Heavenly Father.

Fourth, Laying on the Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost-As a new member of the Church we are given this gift and sometimes we forget that it is available to us. Even though I probably don't use it as I should, I know that I have used the Holy Ghost guide me in aspects of my life. Probably the most important thing that the Holy Ghost has helped me with is my decision on marriage. One day my dad gave me this lecture all about marriage being the most important decision of my life. It was so overwhelming to me. I panicked, because I knew that this decision needed to be made and I was only 19. I thought how do I, at 19, make a decision that will affect me at 40 and me at 65 and me at 80 and me through eternity with out having any idea what things will be important to me at those stages of life. Then I realized I have the gift of the Holy Ghost guide me and tell me what will be the right decision. It was such a comfort to me then, and still is now, that because of that gift, I could feel completely at ease that I was being directed by the Holy Ghost on the right person to be with forever. (By the way: I know I made the right decision!!)

Behold Your Little Ones

In 3 Nephi there is an account about children that I love.
12 So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him.
13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should akneel down upon the ground.

21 And when he had said these words, he awept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

Last night we had a stake adult session of conference and one of the things we talked about was how we can teach our children to have faith. I don't have children now, but I get to teach them each week in Primary. The speaker talked about teaching our children how to pray and read the scriptures for themselves. There was a time when I wondered if children of 8 were old enough to make the decision to be baptized, but after being in the primary I have seen how intelligent and spiritually smart these kids are. I know that they are able to understand and make these decisions.
I remember as a child being asked by my primary teacher if I had felt the spirit. I distinctly recall the first time I specifically felt the Holy Ghost speak to me through the still small voice. I was saying my own personal prayers and I felt the spirit witness to me that my Heavenly Father loved me. I don't know what I was praying about, but I recall feeling the warmth and reassurance that Heavenly Father heard me. I was only about 7 or 8 years old and I know if he would be there for me as a child he loves all his children just as much. I am grateful for that knowledge and I want the children I teach in primary and eventually my own children to know that. I want to teach them to learn how to pray and listen for the spirit, because I know if they do they will feel it.

Article of Faith #3

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

I feel this is an important principle that some may not completely understand or my misconstrue. When I googled information about my religion I found many blogs that liked to criticize my beliefs. One of the things they thought was wrong was our belief that some work on our part is required to be exhalted. I also know that many religions believe that all that is required is to say you believe in Christed and you are saved.

I believe that Christ has the power to save us, but He requires the we keep His commandments. I believe that our Heavenly Father wants us to live moral lives where we choose the right. I believe that keeping the commandments is an evidence or our commitment to the Lord. That along with the Atoning sacricfice of our elder brother, Jesus Christ, will allow us to have eterna life. For that I am truly grateful!

Article of Faith #2

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

I believe that this is an important doctrine, because it teaches us something about free agency. We come into this world pure and innocent as Adam. I truely believe that children are born clean and they do not bring the burden of Adams transgression into the world with them. It is not until we are old enough to understand agency that we are accountable for our sins. When we are old enough to understand right from wrong our Heavenly Father has given us the gift to decide for ourselves. We then are also eligible to suffer the consequences of our choices. But we are only punished by God for OUR sins and not for the ones that Adam commited.

Our Separation from Heavenly Father

As I mentioned before, I learn a lot from conference, so many of my next posts maybe about conference and things I learned. Elder Holland gave a beautiful talk on angels and how Heavenly Father can provide angels (living or not) that can help us in our times of need. He said the when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden they were separated from God. I was thinking about that and how hard it must have been for them to be separated from the Father that they had communed with so freely before. I am sure He observed their struggle and that is why he provided so many ways for them and us to feel close to Heavenly Father on earth. We were given prayer, so that we can tell Him what we need or how we feel and we can get promptings and revelations from him on what we should do or have feelings of comfort. We were also given messengers in the form of prophets, teachers, and leaders to help guide us. This is just another testament to me that He loves us.

Conference

Twice a year our church has a gathering that last for two days where we get to hear inspiring talks that are meant for the entire body of the church. Our prophet talks to the members and I know that what he is telling us is revelation from God to the people on the earth. I learned so much from this meeting. I love that I get to listen to these speakers twice a year because I always come away refreshed and ready to improve myself. I heard recurring themes of hope and reassurance that we will be blessed either now or in the future if we live the way our Heavenly Father wants us to.

Inspiring

I was going to start blogging about the articles of faith, but yesterday I had such a great spiritual day that I am going to postpone the 2nd article of faith. First, of all I went to the temple yesterday. As we walked in one of the sweet temple workers said, "it is a difficult world out there; thank you for living worthy to attend the temple." The Washington DC temple has a front entrance that has walking bridge over the the main part of the temple. As we were walking on that indoor walking bridge I was thinking about that statement and how I was crossing into a better place. Some may find it exclusive or unfair that only members of our church are allowed in our temples. As I was walking back to the main portion of the temple I thought about how wonderful it felt to be admitted into this sanctuary. Where a level of spiritual purity is required prior to entering. Everytime you walk into one of our temples you are asked for your temple recommend. In order to get the recommend you have to be interviewed and found worthy to enter. Essentially, everytime you hand them your recommend you are saying, "I am living in such a way that I am prue enough to enter." This is not to say that I don't have a LONG way to go and a lot to improve on, but I am at least to a level that I can leave the difficult world outside and come into this super spiritual zone.

During the session I was thinking about many different ways to improve myself. I had settled on a few and was ready to move forward. THEN, I went to the General Relief Society broadcast and they reaffirmed some of the things I had been comtemplating. If you want to hear an inspiring, spiritual giant of a woman listen to Julie Beck talk about what relief society is for.

The three main parts that she outlined (as I remember them) are:

1. Increase in Faith and personal righteousness-I think I have pretty well discussed this in previous posts on my desire to increase my faith. I really do want to know more about my Heavenly Father and increase my faith in him.

2. Strengthen home and family-I believe that families are one of the most important aspects of life on earth. Now that I have finished school, I know that my next step is to increase the size of my family. This actually is a very scary concept for me (but also very exciting depending on the day). I am working on coming around to it and understanding my role as a woman, hopefully, will include being a mother and bringing children into this world and teaching them about Heavenly Father and helping them live up to their potential.

3. Serve the Lord's Children-As I have stated in previous posts, I believe that God is a loving, caring God and he wants to take care of all of his children. I believe that when somebody says a prayer, they are heard and He wants to help them and answer them. I believe that we can be an instrument for God to help others if we look for ways to serve.

Article of Faith #1

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

I believe that My Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ are two distinct beings that are one in purpose. Everything that Heavenly Father would do Jesus would do and that is why so many times in the scriptures it talk about them as one. I don't know why this is such an important docterine, but I know that it is something that makes our religion unique. I know that it is true, because I know that when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus he saw them as two separate beings.

I believe that the Holy Ghost is a special member of the Godhead that we are blessed to have with us after we are confirmed. I was thinking about this versus the light of Christ and what a blessing it is to have to Holy Ghost with us. When we are confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Meaning that he can be our companion and guide in life. What an amazing blessing, that I probably take for granted. I am so thankful to have that constant companion to help guide me to what is right.

Sharing with others

This week I was reading about choosing to "be good." Everyday we have a choice on this matter. We can either choose to be good or choose not to, this first step is an easy one for me. Obviously my answer is, I choose to be good. Now the hard part is what constitutes good. When are you "good." The truth is we need to be humble enough to realize that we can never be totally good. We have to constantly come to our Heavenly Father and be humble enough to say, I am still not there. I still need help. We must be meek (as the Savior said), so that we can have our eyes opened to what we could be and what we should aim for.

Coming Closer to Christ

I was reading this talk about coming closer to Christ and repentance. In the talk, by Henry B. Eyring, he discusses repentance and how it means making a change in life. While I was reading I was thinking about repentance and how I always feel like repentance is needed when you do something bad. I had never really thought of it before but, I realized that you also have to repent when you don’t do something good. This is a difficult concept for me. I am still trying to reconcile it in my head. How exactly do you repent for something that you aren’t doing and what happens when you keep forgetting to do the things you are supposed to? Like I said this is a work in progress for me, but that is the great thing about the gospel and our Heavenly Father’s plan. The point of it is to be a work in progress. We are constantly striving to be more like Christ and we are so blessed to have the atonement for the MANY times we don’t live up to His example. Not only did He give us the example of how we should be, but He provided a way for us to overcome our shortcomings and still live with our Heavenly Father again.

Simple Truths

Three events today happened that taught me some lessons this week.
1. Right now I am working on the primary program
2. I went to my Church website and found out that they have a new teaching manual for the nursery (children under 3)
3. Today I was in charge doing singing time in nursery where we sing song about Jesus.


What I learned from these things is that there are some simple and beautiful truths that I have been taught since I was a child that I feel have made me the person that I am. First and I think most important is that I am a Child of God. I have been singing that since I was a child and I sang it again today with the little ones at church. It just hit me, these sweet, innocent children are Heavenly Father's children and if they are, I am too. He loves us so much and wants us to be happy and to be the best we can. The other thing I learned is how important it is to understand this truth. I know that if I am thinking about my relationship with Heavenly Father, I will act the way I should. I know that it is important for these little children to be taught from the time they are young about their relationship with God. I am so glad that working in the primary has given me that opportunity.

Leaving a doughnut sitting on the desk

In church today the speaker read this story. It's really long so I am not going to copy and paste it, but it is a sort of parable about the atonement. It is such an important illustration that Christ died for us whether we accept it or not. It already happened and the blessings it opens to us are so lasting and beautiful. All we have to do is accept Christ and try to live me like him. Sometimes this is a difficult thing for me. I am impatient and judgemental and Christ is such a supreme example of what we should be. He is perfect and didn't have to suffer for his own sins, but loved us so much he was willing to suffer for our sins. I want to act in such a way that people around me know that I believe in Christ and try to be like him. If there have been times that you have seen me act in a way that doesn't align with what I say, I want to take this chance to apologize and to announce that I will try to improve.

Faith

When I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis I talked to my mom and she said you should get a blessing. Then I was talking to Rich's mom about it and she said you should get a blessing. These two things made me think a lot about faith. Is it because of a lack of faith that I don't want to ask for the arthritis to be gone? I have thought about it alot and this is what I know. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to be happy, but he also knows that sometimes you have to endure trials. I know that we can ask in faith that we will understand our Father's will for us. I know that when times get hard and I am really hurting I can ask for strength and comfort to endure it. This is very comforting to me. Also, it is so nice to have my husband give me a blessing and know that he is the mouthpiece for Heavenly Father. I know that the blessing he gives me is what my Heavenly Father wants me to understand.

What Makes it True

This last week I was reading the book of Mark. Christ is talking about how the Pharisees had the truth and they became too absorbed in being in the "true church" rather than focusing on the fact that it was the "true church." Which may not make sense the way I describe it, but basically they became too obsessed with the organization and the rules and lost the importance of the doctrine and love of Christ. I was thinking about this and I believe that I belong to the true church on earth right now. So what makes it true?? It isn't that they people are anymore good or perfect (their are a lot of good people in all churches and their are plenty of jerks that are in my religion) and it isn't the buildings (they are pretty plain actually). The thing that makes it true is the authority and the doctrines. Which are many and I don't have time to to discuss all of them (nor do I completely understand all of them.) However, one thing I was thinking about, in regards to authority, is the sealing power. I know that when I married Rich, we weren't just married for the time that we are on earth, but because we were married by someone with the proper authority from God we are sealed together and will be married even after we die. I feel so blessed to know that.

I'm Lost in a Maze

I spend two hours in Primary every Sunday listening to lessons that are prepared to teach children about the gospel. I am amazed at how simple and beautiful it really is. As the teacher presents lessons that teach these little kids in a way they will understand, I find myself learning a great amount. Today was one of those days. The teacher showed a picture of a simple maze and asked if anyone had ever been in a corn maze. I thought about the times I had wandered through a corn maze in Utah. I knew what the map said it looked like from above and it seemed pretty easy, yet I wound up taking wrong turns and running into dead ends. The teacher talked about how much easier it was to trace the maze on the map than being stuck in it. He said when he walked around a maze he wished he could climp up the stalks of corn and see where the wrong turns were and save himself time. Then he compared these corn mazes to life. It was such a perfect analogy. Often I find myself in the maze of life unsure of which turn to take and aware that picking the wrong path will lead me to areas that are deadends at which point I'll have to try to turn my life around and retrace my steps to get back on track. Without a view from above it is difficult to know which path is the right one and which is the wrong. That is the purpose of the Holy Ghost. He has the superior view and can guide us on which path we should take. All we have to do is ask and listen. The gift of the Holy Ghost is a priceless gift, for which I am very thankful.

Some Sacrifice Required

I have felt the need to improve the consistency of my scripture reading for some time now. Lately, it seems that every night as I crawl into bed I realize that I forgot to read my scriptures. I kneel down and ask for forgiveness and for the desire to do a better job tomorrow. I pull out my scriptures and read 2 or 3 verses as I fall asleep. That is not the place I want to be spiritually, but that is where I am. Today at church the speaker said, "it is a sacrifice to read your scriptures daily." I have been thinking a lot about that and realized that I can't do EVERYTHING every single day. Something has to give. I now understand that in order for me to read my scriptures daily I need to give up time on the internet, watching TV or reading other books. It isn't so much a matter of asking Heavenly Father for more desire to read, but it is going to require that I look at my day and figure out, WHEN is it going to happen. Then it needs to happen at that time. It needs to become more of a priority in my life. I can recall periods in my life when I made scripture reading a priority and I had the spirit with me more consistently and I really was happier too. Now that I have made it public, this is what I need to do.

Incredible Mormon Young Women

I am happy to start this blog today, because I was so moved by the Young Women in our ward. In Sacrament meeting, I heard a 16 year-old girl give one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard (and yes that includes General Conference). She talked about her own personal conversion and testimony. After that a friend of mine shared her experience at girls camp. She described the dynamic young women that she had a chance to camp with. She talked about their spiritual growth. I already had tears in my eyes when all of those beautiful young girls got up in front of the entire congregation and sang. I felt so strongly that these were amazing girls with incredible spiritual promise. The spirit was present and I could feel that they knew that they were a daughters of God and by seeing their strength it reminded me that I am also a daughter of God. What a blessing it is to know that our Heavenly Father loves each of us and sees our divine potential. In a world where young girls are often pushed to lives that are immoral and unhappy, I feel blessed to have been raised in the "mormon" church. It is such a gift to be raised in a church where every Sunday you stand with other girls that are the same age as you and proclaim:

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will 'stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places' as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works andIntegrity We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values,we will be prepared tostrengthen home and family,make and keep sacred covenants,receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."