Things I know for sure...

I am truly grateful for the knowledge and peace that comes into my life by being a member of the church. I know that Heavenly Father is a loving God that cares for all of his children and loves them individually. I know that because He loves us He sent his son to suffer and die for our sins. He did this so that we could be clean and resurrected and live with our Heavenly Father again. I know that one of the blessings of attending the temple is to come closer to our Heavenly Father and feel the spirit there. I also know that because of the blessings of the temple we can live as families forever. I know that Heavenly Father wants us to try to be better people every day. We are supposed to look for ways to improve and live a more Christlike life and when we make mistakes or fall short He is there to make up the difference. I know that when we pray He hears and answers them. I know that sometimes we have to endure trials and hardships, because sometimes that is God's will. I know that Heavenly Father has the power to perform miracles. I know that he still speaks to His children on earth today. He does this through modern prophets. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet. I know that we were given the Book of Mormon to be a second testimony of Jesus Christ.

There are many things I don't know and many that I am coming to know and understand, but I am thankful to know about these things.

Miracles

In primary this month we have been talking about how Jesus Christ performed miracles. When I think of the miracles performed by Christ I automaticallly think of the raising of the dead, making the blind see, feeding the 5000, calming the storms and helping the lame to walk. Today I realized his greatest miracle of all when I was reading in Luke 5.

18 ¶ And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was ^ataken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are ^aforgiven thee.

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh ^ablasphemies? Who can ^bforgive sins, but God alone?

22 But when Jesus ^aperceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

23 ^aWhether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to ^aforgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, ^aglorifying God.

After thinking about that story I realized what an incredible miracle forgiveness of sins is. It is more difficult to comprehend or measure than some of these other tangible miracles, but it is the greatest of all his miracles. We are made whole and our sins our washed away. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, the Savior has atoned for your sins. Nobody is beyond help. We can ask him for this atonement in our lives constantly. It is never ending. That IS a miracle!!

I am back!

Every week I have thought about something I wanted to post, but then I don't get around to it.

It has been over a month since I last posted, but for some reason I am feeling like August should be a good time to restart on a regular basis.

This week at work I had an experience that was unusual for me. Often times when I meet people coming into the office they are not in their best state. They are sick or not feeling well. This week I met a woman who was suffering with some stress and sadness in her life. She asked where I was from and when I told her I was from Utah, she got excited and asked if I was mormon. I told her I was and she said, "oh good, I know some of what you believe and I know that you have faith." She told me about some sweet revelation she gathered from reading the bible about Job. She then asked if I would pray with her. This is not conventional, but I believe that prayer can be important in the healing process. She said the prayer and I will say that I could feel the Spirit in the room and I could feel how much love Heavenly Father had for her and me. In her prayer she humbly proclaimed, "I love you Jesus and I know that you will not give me something that I can't handle." I was so touched by this statement. It is wonderful to know this simple truth. He will not give us something we can't handle. He gives us trials and we are promised that they will be for our good. Often it is impossible to understand how something can be for your good when it is so difficult and long lasting. It seems counterintuitive that our Heavenly Father who love us would put us in painful circumstances. Whether they be emotional, financial, health related or relationship problems this is what our Father wants us to experience. There are lessons to be learned from trials. These lessons can range from learning to have compassion or finding an unknown personal resolve or simply coming unto Christ.

Individual Worth

I have always loved Doctrine and Covenants 18:10. Remember the ^aworth of ^bsouls is great in the sight of God. I find it very comforting that Heavenly Father cares about us as individuals. Then if that wasn't enough it goes on to say:

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one ^asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the ^akingdom of my Father, how great will be your ^bjoy if you should bring many ^csoulsunto me!

I can picture a loving father who is so excited when his child does something good and I know that is how He feels about us. He will always be excited and feel joy when somebody (whether it be us or another person) makes a change for the best. It makes me want to add to the joy and share the gospel with others and do my best to make good choices everyday.

In conference this year Elder Uchdorf said, "One woman who had been through years of trial and sorrow said through her tears, 'I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But I am still a 20-dollar bill. I am worth something. Even though I may not look like much and even though I have been battered and used, I am still worth the full 20 dollars.' "

the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”⁴ We cannot gauge the worth of another soul any more than we can measure the span of the universe. Every person we meet is a VIP to our Heavenly Father. Once we understand that, we can begin to understand how we should treat our fellowmen.

I love this talk and I have thought about it often. Sometimes at work I will meet somebody who has a big personality conflict with me. I tend to get frustrated and judgmental, but it is interesting how much my perspective changes when I try to remind myself how much Heavenly Father loves each of his children. Even if this person is making poor life decisions or is hurtful to others our Heavenly Father still see their worth and only feels sadness about the choices they make. He loves them and truly understands their value. I want to see others in the world in the same way Heavenly Father does.

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.