Nothing Fancy

Today I taught primary and I read about this analogy and sort of adapted it to my own and I really liked it. So this is the story I told the children:

My husband's grandma was in town and she loves to go to antique shops. We went to a big antique shop and as we are walking though, I see this chair that is broken dusty. There are gouges in the wood. The seat is broken, stained and dirty. I looked at that chair and thought I could paint that with a bright color and put a new geometric pattern on the seat and maybe even do some vinyl lettering on it. I thought it would look really fancy like that. Then Richard's Grandma looked at the chair and she wanted to sand it and clean it and repair the seat, clean the fabric, stain the wood and RESTORE it to its initial condition.

This is what Joseph Smith did with the Church. He did not take what was existing on the earth and fancy it up, but rather he restored it. He restored it to what it was when Christ was on the earth. He brought back revelation through a mouthpiece of God such as a prophet or Christ. He restored the priesthood authority. He re instituted divinely inspired ordinances such as baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sacrament and temple ordinances. He made more scriptures and a new testament of Christ available to people for our edification. He restored the true gospel as it was when Christ was on the earth. I am so thankful for that knowledge.

Desire

Alma 32: 27 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.

Recently I was reading about faith and came across this excerpt from Alma 32 and it made me reflect on an experience in high school. I had been in seminary and had a goal for my scripture reading during the school year. I felt that I was making a lot of spiritual progress and I could feel a difference in my outlook on life. I knew that when the Spirit was with me I was happier. I felt my testimony growing each time I read my scriptures. Then school ended and I no longer had to get to bed early and I didn't have Seminary anymore. I was staying out late with friends every night and when I would finally come home I would fall asleep reading my scriptures. I felt a halt in my spiritual progression. It took me a while to realize it and a few weeks turned into a month and I knew that I wasn't in the same place I had been during the school year. When I tried to read the scriptures I found myself browsing through the highlights and reading the words, but there was no searching, pondering or enlightening happening. One night I was getting ready for bed and I realized how tired I was of reading the words in the scriptures just so I didn't feel bad that I hadn't done it. I decided that I had to change, but I didn't know what to do. I felt frustrated and felt like I needed to be in a class or have somebody ELSE help me to feel the Spirit again. I prayed that night that I would get that feeling back. I prayed that I would be able to feel the prompting of the Holy Ghost while I studied. I prayed that I would be able to focus not just on the words in these holy writings, but on the meaning and specifically on the meaning for me. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me continue to grow and strengthen my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That night I pulled my scriptures out and it was like a switch had gone off. I felt the Spirit flood into my soul and I felt my testimony stir back into a place where it could grow. I was amazed at how fast it happened. I realized that all I had to do was to have a desire and a faith that Heavenly Father would allow the Spirit to be with me and it was. I am so grateful for that experience and I am grateful for this passage in Alma 32 that reminded me of that time of growing in my life and reminded me that all I have to do is desire for faith and He will help me.