Words of Warning--Signs of Love

I love that when you experience troubling emotions you can turn to the Lord for help, and He will help you. I used to do a lot more wallowing when I experienced difficult emotions, or else I would try to use methods of coping with them that were not very effective. My emotions controlled me a lot more than I controlled them. It has been amazing to see the difference now that I have developed the habit of immediately turning to the Lord in prayer as soon as I recognize that I am experiencing emotions that I know do not come from the Spirit. The Lord is actually amazing at helping me see things in a different, more truthful light that changes the way I am feeling about any particular situation, and He is always prompt to do so when I ask.

My most recent experience with this was yesterday when I was studying my patriarchal blessing. This sounds like it would be an uplifting activity, but lately when I’ve studied it, it’s been a little difficult for me to feel the Lord’s love for me through it. The things that stand out to me are all the warnings and cautions, and they make me feel like the Lord sees me as weak, easily tempted and not to be trusted. That’s not how I usually feel about my relationship with the Lord right now in my life though. Lately in my life I’ve been feeling the Spirit guiding me a lot to do different things that bless my life and the lives of others, and I’ve really been feeling like more of a partner with the Savior in doing His work on the earth.

So, generally in my life I feel like the Lord loves me and is pleased with me, and it troubled me that when I read my patriarchal blessing that is not how I felt. I prayed and talked with the Lord about my feelings and asked for His help in being able to see and feel His love for me through my blessing, to know that I am loved and cherished by my Father in Heaven for the good I am trying to accomplish in my life and in the lives of others.

As I prayed and thought about my blessing, it was like the Lord flipped a switch in my brain, and I was suddenly able to see how the words of warning themselves were a sign of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. Heavenly Father wanted to clearly tell me that Satan would try to tempt me and the ways he would do so. He wanted to make sure that when Satan tries to lie to me, I will not be taken in by his lies but will see them for what they are and know that those thoughts and feelings do not come from my Heavenly Father and do not reflect eternal truths. Heavenly Father wants to make sure I understand clearly His expectations of me, the great blessings that will come to me as I keep His commandments, and the methods Satan will use to try to draw me away from Him.

My Heavenly Father knows what information and counsel I need in order to stay strong in the face of adversity and temptation, and He loves me enough to give it to me. Not because He fears I will fail, but because He knows that with an adequate amount of truth and information and an eternal perspective I will have the knowledge and power I need to succeed. The words of warning in my patriarchal blessing are tools given to me by a loving Heavenly Father to help me succeed in my battle against Satan and my own weaknesses. He gives them to me not because He fears I will fail, but because He knows that armed with them I can and will succeed.

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me so well and loves me enough to give me all the help and support I need to make good choices and make it back to Him. And I am so grateful for the increased light and truth that I can receive from the Lord when I ask that has the power to change my troubling emotions to feelings of peace, love, and hope from the Spirit.

*Note: If you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you are wondering what a “patriarchal blessing” is, here are a couple webpages that kind of explain what they are:

https://www.lds.org/topics/patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2004/03/about-patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng

The True Source of Joy and Peace

I recently read these verses in Helaman chapter 3 in the Book of Mormon, and something different stood out to me as I read them this time:

Helaman 3:33-35 (Book of Mormon)

33 And in the fifty and first year of the reign of the judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to enter into the church--not into the church of God, but into the hearts of the people who professed to belong to the church of God--

34 And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.

35 Nevertheless they 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.

What struck me as the most interesting in these verses is how "the more humble part of the people" who were being persecuted chose to respond in the face of this completely unjustified persecution from other members of Christ's Church. Those being persecuted were completely innocent victims of those persecuting them; the "great evil" done by their persecutors was causing the persecuted to suffer and "to wade through much affliction," all at the hands of those who should have been the most ready to love and support them as fellow disciples of Christ. But the persecutors had succumbed to the weakness of pride and completely lost their way, and the more humble part of the people was suffering for it. 

So what did they do? Did they leave the church of God where they were being treated so poorly by those who professed to follow Christ? Did they lash out at their persecutors? Surprisingly, they resorted to neither of these seemingly justified courses of action. Instead, the scripture says that they turned to the Lord in fasting and prayer in the face of these persecutions, waxing "stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ," which led "to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts" as they "yield[ed] their hearts unto God" and to "the filling [of] their souls with joy and consolation." 

There are a couple of things about these people's response to persecution and its results that I find amazing. The first thing is that when faced with the completely unjust and evil actions of others, the more humble part of the people did not spend their time pointing out the sins of their oppressors, but instead used these difficult circumstances as an opportunity to look inwards, to purify and sanctify their own hearts, to become more Christlike themselves as they suffered these persecutions and to allow the Lord to teach them through their trials. 

The second thing I find amazing is that by purifying and sanctifying their own hearts through fasting and prayer and by yielding their hearts unto God and remaining faithful in the face of bitter persecution, the more humble part of the people found that their faith in Christ grew and that their souls were filled with joy and consolation. NOTHING in their circumstances had changed, but in the midst of their afflictions, they felt joy and consolation. What an amazing gift from the Savior to His long-suffering, faithful followers. 

I have experienced in my own life the joy and peace that comes from yielding my heart unto God. I have seen personally how purifying and sanctifying my own heart through fervent prayer and reliance on the Savior and His Spirit and Atonement can turn my sorrow and suffering into joy and peace, even when nothing in my circumstances has changed. I know the Lord can replace feelings of hurt and suffering with feelings of joy and peace and forgiveness when we turn to Him and seek to find and do His will. I can bear witness of the truth of Christ's words to His disciples in John 14:27:

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When we choose to follow Christ and take His yoke upon us, we will find indeed that "[His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light" (Matthew 11:30) and that our hearts need never be troubled or afraid. I bear my personal witness of these things and that Christ is the true source of the joy and peace we seek here and hereafter and that no other creature or circumstance can separate us from Him and the joy and peace He offers all those who faithfully follow Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

As I Have Loved You

I've been trying to figure out what it means to love someone as Christ loves them. Through all my learning over the past couple years, I've realized that my definition of love has some major flaws, and I've been trying to replace it with a more truthful definition and understanding of what it means to love someone in a Christlike way. I read John 15:9-12 the other day, and it added some illumination to the topic for me, or at least some food for thought:

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

So, Christ has loved us the way the Father has loved Christ. I tried to think about how Heavenly Father showed His love for Christ. He basically sent Him to earth and asked Him to do some really hard things. He taught and strengthened and supported Him as He completed His earthly mission, but when Christ asked, when faced with His ultimate challenge of the atonement, of taking on Him the sins and suffering of all of God's children, that if possible that bitter cup be removed from Him, Heavenly Father did not show His love by removing the burden Christ had to bear. Rather, He sent an angel to strengthen Christ that He might bear it, and asked Him to go forward and complete His earthly mission, despite the extreme personal suffering it caused Him. Heavenly Father knew that Christ had the strength and ability to do what needed to be done, and that all of God's children, including Christ, would be blessed by His willingness to make this sacrifice on their behalf. After Christ's earthly mission was complete, Heavenly Father exalted Christ and gave Him all He had.

It is when we obey God's commandments like Christ did, even when obedience to those commandments requires great personal sacrifice for us, that we will "abide in His love." Christ explains this connection between God's love and how we can access His love through obedience to His commandments "that [Christ's] joy might remain in [us], and that [our] joy might be full." Christ Himself experienced God's love for Him and obtained a fullness of joy as He sacrificed throughout His life to serve God and to accomplish what God sent Him to earth to accomplish. We, likewise, can feel God's love for us and find a fullness of joy in our lives as we sacrifice to serve God and His children and keep His commandments. 

This scripture gives Christ's commandment to love one another as He has loved us, and as Heavenly Father has loved Him, a new meaning for me. We are to love and support and strengthen one other through the trials of this life and help bear one another's burdens, as Heavenly Father helped Christ bear His burdens and how Christ helps us bear ours. If we are to help people fully feel God's love and find a fullness of joy though, we must also help them turn to Christ, teach them of God's commandments, and encourage them to keep them, even if they must sacrifice to do so. That is the path Christ has shown us that will allow us to abide in God's love and receive a fullness of joy. It is the way Heavenly Father showed His love for Christ, the way Christ shows His love for us, and the way we must show love for one another: by teaching God's children His commandments, which He gave us because of His great love for us and His desire to help us reach our full, divine potential, and then supporting and strengthening God's children as they strive to turn to God and follow His commandments, forgiving them freely when they fall short, as Christ forgives us freely, and encouraging them in their continued efforts to carry out God's plan and mission for them in this life and become who He knows they can become, that He might be able to exalt them and give them all He has, and that their joy might be full. So interesting.

Christ's Church

As I mentioned before in this blog, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the big differences between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian churches is that we believe that in 1820 Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to a 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith and prepared him over several years to become a prophet of God with the task to restore Christ's Church on the earth in its original form after it had been lost following the death of Christ's apostles that were called during His earthly ministry and the general apostasy of His church that took place afterwards.

Since Christ’s Church was restored in 1830 under Christ’s direction through His prophet Joseph Smith using the power and authority of the priesthood of God given to Joseph Smith by John the Baptist and by Christ’s original apostles Peter, James and John, who received it from Christ Himself during His earthly ministry, there has been an unbroken line of prophets and apostles called by God to lead His church on the earth continuing up until the present day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is currently led by the prophet and president of the church, Thomas S. Monson, his two counsellors, and twelve apostles, all chosen and directed by God through divine revelation to lead His church and prepare the world for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

For this reason, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not make changes to its policies or doctrine based on the opinions of the world, or even by the opinions of its members; it is Christ’s Church, and revelation on the doctrine and organization of His church comes from Him alone to the people He has called as prophets and apostles to lead His church. 

In order to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you need to have a personal testimony of several things. First, you need to know for yourself that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real, that they live, and that they have a plan for you and for all of Heavenly Father’s children and that through the atonement of Christ you can repent and be washed clean of your sins, overcome your weaknesses, and return to live with God after this life. Second, you need to know for yourself that Joseph Smith was really a prophet called by God to restore Christ’s Church on the earth and that he received priesthood authority from God to perform ordinances such as baptism and marriage that are binding not only on earth, but also in heaven, and that this priesthood authority has been passed down to other worthy members of the church since that time so that all priesthood ordinances performed by worthy priesthood holders in the church are recognized as valid and binding by God. You must also have a personal testimony that the current prophet and apostles who lead the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were also called of God and are being directed by Him in all that they do. 

If you do not know these things for yourself, then there is no reason to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over other churches, or even to join it at all. If Joseph Smith was a fraud and the current leaders of the church have no claim to any special authority or revelation from God, then you’re wasting your time listening to what they have to say. How can you know for yourself if the teachings of this church are true and that the leaders of the church were and are called by God? That’s where the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, comes in. It is his job to teach and testify of truth. These are some of the things Christ told His apostles about the Holy Ghost in the New Testament:

John 14:16-17

"16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

17 Even the Spirit of truth..."

John 14:26

"26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

John 15:26

"26 But when the Comforter is come...even the Spirit of truth, which procedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me"

John 16:13

"13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth"

The prophet Moroni also spoke of the mission of the Holy Ghost at the end of the Book of Mormon:

Moroni 10:4-5

"4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Through sincere study and prayer, the Holy Ghost can give you your own personal witness that God is there, that the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain His words, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s Church restored to the earth again and led by Christ Himself through the servants He has chosen to lead it.

I know for myself, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do live, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s Church, and that the current prophet and apostles who lead the Church were chosen by God and receive revelation from Him to guide His Church on the earth today. I know that they are humble, righteous men who sincerely seek to know God’s will in all things and direct His Church according to His will. I know that they are concerned for the salvation of all of God’s children and feel the weight of their great responsibility to teach and testify of Christ and His gospel and the path that will lead us all back to our Father in Heaven. 

There are some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who question the leadership of the Church and the choices they make, such as only allowing men to hold offices in the priesthood or opposing same-sex marriage. Whenever I read their complaints and critiques, I think of the leaders of the Church, and I immediately feel peace, knowing that the decisions that they make are made “in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity” (D&C 107:30). 

What I find much more interesting than questioning if the leaders of the Church are really carrying out God’s will or not, since I have a personal testimony that they are, is wondering why it is important to God’s plan that only men hold offices in the priesthood right now or that marriage only be between a man and a woman. Why did God set things up that way? Why are these things important to Him? So often we tend to make something an issue between us and other mortals, when the real person who made the decision and could answer our questions is God Himself. 

One thing I really like about the book Spiritual Lightening by M. Catherine Thomas that I have been reading, is that these are the kinds of questions she ponders and addresses: why might God have set things up this way? I’m not saying that her conclusions are doctrine, but I like the questions she is asking and the thoughts she shares on some of the topics that a lot of people struggle to understand, particularly on the issue of the relationship between men and women and the difference in their responsibilities.

In discussing the story of Adam and Eve, Thomas says, 

“Eve’s being placed in a counseling role to her husband, far from being a punishment, was a sacred tutorial designed to sanctify both of them. 

How could a counseling position be a sanctifying position? The very fact that the Lord put Eve in a counseling role with Adam acknowledges eternal woman’s great ability to do what needs doing. But her divine, developmental need is to act within a relationship, taking into account Adam’s need to be part of that relationship. Each had need of the relationship—it was not good for the man [or the woman] to be alone—he needed her and she needed him. The man and the woman had become like God, and now, even though they rejoiced in the opening of their eyes and their prospects of joy (see Moses 5:10–11), they had need not to compete for ascendancy but to console each other in their mutual loss of paradise and their mutual quest to attain exaltation. 

The issue here is not who is more capable, men or women, but who will do the work God has appointed. If the presiding role of priesthood is withheld from women, it is not because they could not do the work of priesthood—that they are not spiritual enough, not intelligent enough, or not rational enough—but rather to foster the conditions in which the man and the woman may achieve interdependence. 

What makes all of this so hard in practice? It may seem unfair that the man is subject to a perfect head (the Lord Jesus Christ), and the woman is presided over by an imperfect head (her husband). But how much humility the man must cultivate to hear the Lord’s voice! And how much humility the woman must exercise to encourage and rely on her imperfect husband to make that connection! The man’s presidency over the woman is designed to be as much a tutorial for him as it is for the woman as she submits to his presidency. A very fine tuning is required of each."

She goes on later to discuss further the idea of the relationships in our lives being there to perfect and sanctify us:

"We see that the Lord has given us the challenge of not only perfecting ourselves individually but also perfecting ourselves in relationships. Perfecting oneself in a relationship cannot be separated from personal perfecting. 

As to perfecting ourselves in a relationship, it is easy for us to live for a good many years on the assumption that we have a right to be satisfied by life events and by the people in our lives. This is a precept of man. If we continue all the way through this life with that assumption, we will have failed to learn what we came here to learn and will have failed to develop some personal essentials. We will never obtain the essential divine nature and can never be exalted until we know and practice the truth. One important truth is that our husbands, our wives, and our children were not given to us to satisfy us, and nor were many of the most important events of our lives. To the world, love is a relationship in which the parties involved satisfy each other enough that they can call that relationship “love.” But this is not love at all—it is just self-serving. 

We can tell that our love is often based on the degree to which another person satisfies us: If they don’t satisfy us, we criticize them. It seems to me that most criticism is saying, “In these ways, this person does not satisfy my expectations as to what he should be.” But our expectations are a function of the finite mind, the telestial and selfish mind, not the mind of God....

 We stand in a sacred relationship to the people in our lives, especially family, because they are not there by chance. The people in our lives were placed there not only for us to enjoy but also to cross us and to dissatisfy us from time to time so that we can learn that love is not a matter of personal satisfaction but a going out of our hearts to empathize with, to understand, and to try to bless the other, giving up the demand of the natural man for satisfaction—to love the other, to forgive the other, to cease to demand that the other satisfy us, and to seek to be able to bless that person. Relationships were given to us to develop us in love."

Thomas ends this chapter on "Women, Priesthood, and the At-One-Ment" with the following:

"The point of putting the woman in a counseling role to the man is that as both of them strive for something higher than themselves, their relationship will not founder in a power struggle but will flower in mutual support and in spiritual growth for each. The point of giving priesthood authority to only one of two imperfect people is to create interdependence and at-one-ment between them. The point of the Adam and Eve relationship is to return the man and the woman to at-one-ment before the Lord. Thus we can foil the powers that seek to tear the man and woman asunder."

Whether or not you agree with all of Thomas's conclusions, I really like her insights as she ponders the reasons God gave men and women different roles and responsibilities. I have thought before of the importance of there being some things only women can do (e.g. give birth to children) and some things only men can do (e.g. administer priesthood ordinances) in order to create a sense of interdependence in the relationship that helps draw a couple together as they rely on each other in their mutual quest for exaltation. 

We need each other, and we have a lot of learning and serving to do, and Christ set up families and His Church in such a way to help us do just that: to learn and serve and become like God as we each fulfill the unique roles and responsibilities required of us by God. He counsels and directs us in all wisdom and love, and I am grateful that He knows what I need to be perfected and sanctified that I might return to Him one day and receive a fulness of joy. I know I have a long way to go, but I also know that He is committed to getting me there and that He will give me all the tools and experiences I need to achieve exaltation if I choose it. I also know that the same is true for each of God's children, and I am so grateful for that truth.

Truth Is Independent of Feelings

Truth is independent of feelings.

This has been a hard-won truth for me. For the last year or so, I have been battling a lot of feelings and emotions that have clouded my vision and kept me from seeing my life and relationships clearly and truthfully. There were times that I felt very loved in certain relationships and times when I felt very unloved. The truth that people loved me remained constant, but sometimes I could feel that love and sometimes I couldn't, but whether I could feel it or not did not change the truth that they loved me, just my ability to perceive it. I had a lot of false beliefs and unrealistic expectations of how someone who loved me would think or feel or speak or act that were causing a disconnect for me between the truth of other people's love for me and my ability to feel that love. Once I worked through a lot of those false ideas, it became so much easier for me to see and feel the truth of other people's love for me. 

This experience has taught me that there is often a disconnect between truth and our feelings, that truth is independent of how we might feel at any given moment. Feelings are real, but they are very often not a reflection of truth. For example, sometimes we might feel that we are of great worth, while at other times we might feel completely worthless. It is not the truth of our innate worth as a person or as a child of God that is flip-flopping from one minute to the next; it is only our ability to feel that we are of worth that is changing. It is the same when we have times when we feel that our life is hopeless; that is a real feeling, but it does not reflect truth. When we push through the hard feelings, we will discover the truth that there is still a lot of hope and joy in our future, especially as we draw on the healing and strength that is available to us through Christ's atonement.

We can explain things in our heads in all sorts of different ways that capture varying amounts of the truth and make us feel all sorts of different ways. It really is a gift from God and an amazing ability God has to see things "as they really are" in an eternal perspective rather than through the variety of lenses we use to see and interpret the world around us here on earth. How we explain things to ourselves is so important because it influences how we feel and how we act. Satan loves for us to believe explanations of the world or of others that lead us to make choices that are destructive to ourselves and/or to others.

Our underlying beliefs and thought patterns cannot change truth, but they can have a huge effect on how we feel. I think a lot of God's counsel and teachings are to help us see our life, circumstances and relationships in a more eternal, truthful way. For example, when someone does or says something that hurts us, we can choose to dwell on that temporary hurt and see and treat that person as that one action (a very incomplete and untruthful image of anyone) and ourselves as a victim of that action, or we can choose to follow God's commandment and forgive that person and let go of the hurt and focus instead on the eternal truth that Christ paid for both their unChristlike action and the pain we experienced because of it and because of that that person can learn and change and be forgiven and we can be healed of the hurt their imperfections caused us. 

I feel like in today’s world, we tend to put a lot of emphasis on people's feelings determining who they are or what truth is, and I think this is a very dangerous trend that is drawing people further and further away from eternal truths. Society seems to be subscribing more and more to the philosophy, “if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it. If it feels good, do it.” If you aren’t feeling fulfilled in your marriage, then get out. If you love someone and want to have sex with them, then do it. If trying to keep God’s commandments is hard and makes you feel bad or guilty sometimes, then stop trying. God loves you and wants you to feel happy all the time, so if trying to keep His commandments doesn’t make you feel happy, then you don’t need to worry about them; they obviously don’t apply to you. God will love you no matter what you do. Do what feels good to you and makes you happy.

Satan is so good at twisting truth. Of course God wants you to be happy. Of course God will love you no matter what you do. But there is more to it than that. God’s goal is not for you just to be happy in the moment: God’s goal is for you to have the maximum amount of joy possible for eternity. God will love you no matter what you do, but He also knows that some actions you choose will lead you to the eternal joy He wants for you and some actions you choose will not. His love for you and His desire for your eternal happiness is what leads Him to give His children commandments, to tell them the truth about what choices they need to make to achieve their divine potential, become like Him and enjoy the joy and peace He enjoys. The truth is that some things that will bring us eternal joy can also be very, very difficult and cause us a lot of heartache, discomfort and suffering in the moment. That’s where faith comes in.

God’s knowledge of eternal truths is much, much greater than ours. We are blinded in many ways by the fallen world we live in and the feelings and temptations that come with imperfect, mortal bodies. Many of our natural inclinations and feelings do not align with eternal truths. Our job here on earth is to learn to master our bodies and the thoughts and emotions that come with them, not just let them sweep us along here or there. We have the power to determine our destiny, what we do and who we become, and God teaches us how to use that power wisely. 

It takes a lot of faith and trust in God to follow His words when it goes against how we are feeling. When someone hurts us, turning the other cheek is not what we feel like doing. Neither is loving, blessing, doing good to, or praying for people who curse, hate, or persecute us. But God asks us to master our emotions and act in a Christlike manner towards all of His children, no matter how they choose to treat us at any given moment. He knows the eternal truth that each person is His child with the potential to become like Him, no matter how far they still have to go to get there. Through Christ’s atonement, all God’s children can repent and change, no matter how many mistakes they have made on their mortal journey or how many people they have hurt. The atonement paid for all that, and God asks us to treat all of His children with love and forgiveness as they grow and learn, one small step at a time, doing all sorts of wrongs in the meantime that they have no way of making right, but that Christ has chosen to take on Himself so that He can give forgiveness and relief from sins and their consequences to all who choose to follow Him and accept the gift of His atonement.

Our innate worth and divine potential as children of God is real and eternal, no matter how we feel about ourselves or how others may feel about us at any given moment. God has also revealed that “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” and that “the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the Word” https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng). Whatever our feelings may be, these are real and eternal truths that God has revealed to His prophets to help us clearly understand His plan for His children and what choices and actions will allow us to reach our divine potential and help others reach theirs. The blessings that come from keeping God's commandments are real and eternal, whether it feels difficult to keep them or not.

Only God is able to see all things as they truly were, are and will be, which is why He asks us to trust Him and submit to His will, even when our feelings make us want to make other choices. When we humble ourselves, trust God, and strive to align our will with His, praying to see things as He sees them, and committing to act according to our knowledge of the truths He has and will reveal to us personally or through His prophets, we will be able to see through the dark swirling mists of our unhelpful feelings to the light and truth He has to show us. And once we see things in the more truthful light of God's eternal perspective, then we will feel the feelings of peace, love and joy that come when we have the Holy Ghost with us.

I can testify from personal experience that your feelings and perspective change as you become converted unto the Lord and become one with Him. It can be a very slow, grueling process, with many setbacks and many false beliefs to discover and tackle one by one, each with tons of unhelpful, excruciating feelings attached that make it so hard to see and hold on to the truth. When you keep pressing on in your pursuit of truth and don't give up though, God will continue to teach you "line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," as you are prepared to receive it. 

I am so grateful for those who have been kind and patient and forgiving with me as I have gone through my learning processes, and I hope to be able to extend the same love, kindness, and compassion to others as they wrestle with their own painful emotions and false beliefs, seeking truth. I know God is there to help each of us on each step of our journey back to Him and that He will never give up on us, no matter how long it takes us to come to trust Him and make the tough sacrifices He asks us to make so that we can become like Him and receive the blessings He is eagerly waiting to shower upon us. The cool thing is, that the things we think we have to have to be happy that God is asking us to give up (these are different for each person) are actually not the key to our happiness at all. God knows the key, and when we trust Him enough to do what He asks even when it's hard, we will discover that He was right all along and that the sacrifices we make that we thought meant giving up happiness actually open the door to true, lasting happiness and peace. 

I am so grateful for a kind, wise Heavenly Father who is so patient with me as I make mistakes, learn, and slowly come to trust Him and for His willingness to help me replace my false beliefs and the painful emotions that come with them with truths that bring increased peace and joy into my life.

Easter Message: The Act and Purpose of Crying Repentance

I've been thinking about repentance, and more specifically about the act of calling people to repentance. Prophets do that a lot in the scriptures, as did Christ when He was on the earth, as did His apostles then, and as do His prophet and apostles on the earth today. All disciples of Christ, in fact, have a responsibility to teach and bear witness of Christ and of the truth of His gospel and to invite people to come unto Christ and repent.

Most of the time, we tend to focus on the wrong part of the process of calling people to repentance. We get all hung up on the fact that someone is telling us or others that they are doing something wrong. The only thing we see is that we are being judged and condemned.

The whole point of telling people they are doing something wrong is not to condemn them. The whole point in telling them is so they can change and start making choices that will bring them greater peace and happiness. If God's goal was to condemn us, He would just let us keep making bad choices and not bother telling us which choices would actually make us the most happy in the long-term. He wants us to be happy and achieve our greatest potential though. That's the whole reason He sends prophets and apostles to teach us and why He sent His Son to perform the atonement: so we can change. So we can repent and be forgiven and make the choices that will allow us to become like God and return to His presence and partake of the same eternal joy and increase that He enjoys.

There are so many good examples in the scriptures of God trying to teach people this concept. Take the story of Cain, for example. Cain and his brother Abel both offer God a sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice follows the laws of sacrifice that God taught to Adam and Eve and is accepted. Cain's sacrifice does not follow the laws of sacrifice laid down by the Lord and is rejected. Cain gets upset that his offering was not accepted. This is the Lord's response to Cain:

Genesis 4:6-7 (Bible, King James version)
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”

God explains to Cain that getting all upset about having his offering rejected is unnecessary and even counterproductive. All he needs to do is change and do well, follow the Lord’s instructions, and his offering will be accepted. God’s response to his imperfect offering is an opportunity to learn and change, not a punishment or evidence that God is playing favorites. God is teaching His son Cain about choices and consequences. Cain has control over what choices he makes, but he does not have control over the consequences of those choices. God wants to make sure Cain clearly understands the consequences that come with each choice, which choices have good consequences and which choices have bad consequences, so he can choose wisely. He also wants Cain to know that if he makes a wrong choice, all is not lost; all he needs to do is change and make a better choice the next time.

That's the message of Easter. It is a joyful message that, thanks to Christ's atonement, all is not lost, no matter what we have done or how many poor choices we have made. God doesn't care how long it takes us to learn to choose well. All He cares about is that we start heading in the right direction now.

The Lord teaches this concept again in the Old Testament to the prophet Ezekial.

Ezekial 18:20-32 (Bible, King James version)
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

The Lord is again explaining the consequences of righteous choices versus wicked choices, between choices that will ultimately bring us eternal joy and choices that will ultimately bring us sorrow, regret and misery. The Lord emphasizes the point that He takes no pleasure in the death or separation from Him of His children who choose poorly. His greatest desire is for them to repent, change, and start making good choices so that they can live with Him again in eternal joy. He asks His children, why will ye die? Why do you insist on making choices that will not bring you happiness? I do not choose that for you. I have no desire for you to have negative consequences. That's why I send my prophets to teach you and my Son to atone for you. I want life and happiness for you. Please repent and choose well and come back to me. I leave you the choice, but I will do everything in my power to give you the opportunity to make the choice to do well and come home to me.

It is not God's desire to condemn His children that motivates Him to send prophets and missionaries to call people to repentance; it is His desire to extend mercy to His children that motivates Him. He wants all of His children to clearly understand the consequences of the choices they are making so that they have the power to choose wisely. He also wants them to know the joyful message that through the suffering and sacrifice of His perfect Son, they have the opportunity to be washed clean from past sins and mistakes and the power to change and become like God and partake of eternal joy with Him. That is the glorious message of Easter. Christ lives, and so can we. The choice is ours. May we listen to the voices of God's messengers and choose wisely. I leave you this Easter message in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

P.S. This year, Easter weekend is the same weekend as the semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when the current prophet and 12 apostles chosen by Jesus Christ to lead His church in our day will speak and give us counsel and direction they have received from the Lord through His Spirit. Stream it for free on lds.org on Saturday and Easter Sunday! There will be many great messages about the Savior and how we can apply His teachings in our lives! The meetings are at 10AM and 2PM MST both Saturday and Sunday. Recordings of the meetings will also be available afterwards if you don't catch them live. Happy Easter!

I'm not a crafty person

I've never been a crafty person, so I normally do not use my blog to show off crafty things I have done (mostly since I have not done any). However, at Christmas time I came up with an idea for a project that forced me to get out of my comfort zone and dabble a bit in the world of craftiness in order to complete it. Luckily, I have a great husband who is more crafty than I am and was able to help me out when things got too crafty for me to handle. I would tell him, this is what I want, and then he would make it happen in real life. Husbands are so great, especially mine :)

So, the inspiration for this project came because I really wanted to focus on Christ and the true meaning of Christmas during this last Christmas season. I feel like during December there are a lot of things that remind you of the story of the birth of the Savior (since that is what Christmas is a celebration of), but I wanted to focus more on Jesus Christ Himself, who He was, and how I could become more like Him. So I came up with an idea for an advent calendar that would focus not on the birth of the Savior, but on the attributes of the Savior. I came up with 25 different attributes of Jesus Christ, a symbol to represent each of them, and then designed ornaments to put on a magnetic Christmas tree. I also came up with scriptures to go with each attribute. Since coming up with just one scripture for each attribute would have been impossible (there are too many good ones), and since you don't want to just read the same thing every year, I actually came up with 10 years worth of scriptures for each attribute. So each year you read a different set of scriptures (I numbered the scriptures for each attribute from 1-10).

Anyway, so I've been working on this project since December, and I finally completed it, and I wanted to share my finished product with you. I hope that it helps my family focus on the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas each December. Now I can't wait for Christmas to come again so we can use it! :)

So, that's what it looks like. And then here's the list of attributes that are represented on the ornaments with the scriptures that go with them:

Advocate

1. D&C 29:5

2. Mosiah 15:7-9

3. Isaiah 53:12

4. 1 John 2:1-2; Moroni 7:28

5. D&C 45:3-5

6. D&C 62:1

7. D&C 110:1-5

8. 3 Nephi 17:13-17

9. 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 2 Nephi 2:9-10

10. Micah 7:9

Bread of Life

1. John 6:35

2. Alma 5:33-34

3. Deut 8:2-3

4. John 6:47-51

5. 2 Nephi 9:50-51

6. 3 Nephi 20:3-9

7. Isaiah 55:1-3

8. Revelation 7:13-17

9. John 4:7-14

10. Matthew 14:15-21

Charity

1. Matthew 5:43-48

2. Matthew 22:36-40

3. Luke 6:27-38

4. Luke 10:25-37

5. Moroni 7:45-48

6. 1 Cor 13

7. 1 Peter 4:8; D&C 88:125

8. Romans 8:35, 37-39

9. 1 John 4:7-21

10. 1 Nephi 11:14-23

Creator

1. D&C 93:8-10

2. Mosiah 3:8

3. D&C 38:1-3

4. D&C 76:22-24

5. Moses 1:31-33

6. 3 Nephi 9:15

7. 2 Nephi 2:14-16

8. D&C 88:41-47

9. Moses 2:26-27

10. Isaiah 45:11-12

Diligence

1. D&C 64:33-34; Mosiah 4:27

2. Helaman 10:4-5

3. D&C 6:20; D&C 90:24; D&C 88:63

4. Mosiah 7:33; D&C 104:78-80

5. Jacob 5:70-75

6. Alma 37:38-46

7. Luke 9:23-24; D&C 127:4

8.Moroni 9:3-6

9. D&C 107:99-100; D&C 58:26-28

10. D&C 75:2-5; D&C 123:12-17

Eternal Perspective

1. Matthew 6:19-21

2. Jacob 2:18-19

3. Mark 10:21

4. D&C 58:2-4; 2 Nephi 9:18

5. D&C 19:16-19

6. Alma 32:41-43

7. 1 Peter 1:3-9

8. Matthew 5:10-12; D&C 101:35-38

9. Luke 12:15-34

10. D&C 121:7-8

Exemplar

1. 2 Nephi 31:6-21

2. John 13:13-15

3. John 14:6

4. 1 Peter 2:21-23

5. John 10:27-28

6. 3 Nephi 12:48

7. 3 Nephi 18:5-7

8. 3 Nephi 18:16, 24-25

9. 3 Nephi 27:21-22

10. 3 Nephi 27:27

Faith

1. Alma 32:21-22, 26-30, 41-43

2. Mark 5:22-42

3. Matthew 14:25-32; Ephesians 6:13-16

4. Luke 17:5-10; Daniel 3:17-18

5. D&C 63:8-12; Ether 12:6-9

6. Alma 34:15-18; James 2:14-22, 26

7. Enos 1:4-18

8. 3 Nephi 19:16-36

9. Ether 3:4-20, Ether 4:7

10. 1 Nephi 17:49-51; Moroni 7:33; Philippians 4:13

Good Shepherd

1. Psalms 23

2. D&C 50:40-42, 44

3. Isaiah 40:11

4. Ezekial 34:1-16, 25-28

5. John 10:14-16

6. Hebrews 13:20-21

7. 1 Peter 5:1-4

8. 1 Nephi 22:25

9. Mosiah 26:20-21

10. Alma 5:37-41, 60

Healer

1. Alma 7:10-12

2. Alma 33:19-23

3. Matthew 8:14-17; Luke 13:10-13

4. Mark 5:25-34

5. James 5:13-16

6. Luke 6:17-19; 3 Nephi 17:5-9

7. Isaiah 53:3-5; 1 Peter 2:24

8. 1 Nephi 11:31

9. Mosiah 3:5-6; Matthew 4:23-24

10. Exodus 15:26; 2 Chronicles 7:14

Hope

1. Ether 12:4

2. 2 Nephi 31:20

3. Isaiah 1:18

4. Alma 22:16

5. Romans 5:3-5

6. Romans 8:24-25

7. Romans 15:4

8. Ether 12:32

9. Moroni 7:40-42

10. Romans 15:13

Humility

1. Matthew 18:2-4; Mosiah 3:19

2. Matthew 11:28-30; D&C 12:8; D&C 112:10

3. Alma 13:27-29; Moroni 8:26

4. Hebrews 12:5-11; Jacob 4:10

5. Ether 12:27; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

6. Luke 18:9-17; D&C 97:1-2

7. Philippians 2:3-11

8. D&C 136:31-33; Alma 32:12-16

9. Helaman 3:33-35; Colossians 3:12-15

10. Matthew 5:5; Isaiah 61:1

Knowledge

1. Isaiah 11:1-5

2. Mosiah 4:11-12; Alma 17:1-4; Alma 26:22

3. 2 Nephi 9:20; 2 Nephi 2:24; D&C 101:32-34

4. Ephesians 4:11-15; D&C 84:19-20; D&C 88:118

5. Moroni 10:4-5; James 1:5-6; D&C 9:7-8; D&C 42:61

6. D&C 93:19-20, 24-28, 36-37, 39-40; Moroni 7:15-19; John 17:3

7. Moses 5:4-12

8. 2 Chronicles 1:7-12; Proverbs 3:13-26; Proverbs 9:8-10

9. Isaiah 5:13; D&C 131:6; D&C 130:18-19

10. D&C 121:26-33; 2 Nephi 32:3-5; D&C 76:5-10

Lamb of God

1. Isaiah 53:7; Mosiah 15:6-8

2. Moses 5:4-7; Alma 34:10-15

3. 1 Nephi 10:7-10; John 1:29-37

4. 1 Peter 1:18-21

5. Revelation 5

6. Revelation 7:9-17

7. 1 Nephi 12:6-11

8. D&C 133:17-19; D&C 65

9. 1 Nephi 13:40; Alma 7:14

10. D&C 88:106-107

Light of the World

1. D&C 93:1-2, 6-9; D&C 84:45-47

2. Isaiah 60:19-20; Revelation 21:23-24

3. Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:12-17

4. Micah 7:7-9; Mosiah 16:9

5. Luke 2:25-33

6. John 1:1-9

7. John 8:12; John 12:35-36; 2 Nephi 10:13-14

8. 3 Nephi 11:10-11

9. 2 Samuel 22:29; Psalms 27:1; Isaiah 2:5

10. D&C 6:21; D&C 88:49-50, 67

Merciful

1. Hebrews 4:14-16; Isaiah 55:6-9; Isaiah 1:18

2. Luke 6:35-38; Matthew 18:21-35

3. Alma 36:12-21; Proverbs 16:6-7

4. Matthew 5:7, 38-42; Alma 26:12-20, 35-37

5. Moroni 10:3; Nehemiah 9:13-20, 30-31; Hosea 14:4; Isaiah 54:7-8, 10

6. Deuteronomy 4:27-31; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Jeremiah 29:4-7, 10-14 (see footnote 11a)

7. D&C 101:1-9; Mosiah 29:18-20; Psalms 32:10

8. Matthew 9:11-13; John 8:3-11

9. Alma 42:14-31

10. Luke 15; D&C 18:10-13; D&C 128:19

Minister

1. Luke 10:25-37

2. John 13:3-17; Matthew 20:25-28

3. Matthew 25:31-40; Mosiah 2:17; John 21:14-17

4. Mosiah 18:8-10; Moroni 6:3-5; D&C 84:106; Isaiah 35:3

5. D&C 42:29-31, 34; Isaiah 58:6-11; Mosiah 4:21, 26

6. Matthew 4:23; Mark 1:38-42; Matthew 15:29-38

7. Luke 4:18-19; Matthew 11:2-5

8. Luke 4:31-44; Mark 2:1-17

9. Matthew 9:35-38; Matthew 10:1, 5-8; Luke 9:6

10. John 5:1-9; Luke 7:11-15

Obedience

1. John 14:15, 21, 23; John 15:10-11

2. D&C 19:24; Luke 22:41-44; Hebrews 5:8-9

3. D&C 56:2

4. 1 Nephi 3:7; 1 Nephi 17:1-3

5. James 1:22-25; Matthew 7:21-27

6. Alma 37:35; Luke 11:28

7. D&C 89:18-21

8. John 7:17

9. D&C 101:43-62

10. 3 Nephi 27:13; Mosiah 15:7

Patience

1. Hebrews 12:1-2; D&C 101:37-38

2. James 5:7-11; D&C 67:13

3. Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 10:35-36; D&C 98:1-3

4. Romans 5:3-4; James 1:2-4

5. Mosiah 23:21; Mosiah 24:8-16

6. D&C 24:8; D&C 54:10

7. Matthew 18:21-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:14

8. Alma 34:40-41; 1 Peter 2:19-23; Alma 38:3-5

9. Alma 17:11; Alma 26:26-31

10. D&C 98:23-32, 39-48

Prince of Peace

1. Isaiah 9:6

2. John 16:33

3. Matthew 11:28-30; John 14:18

4. Matthew 5:9, 21-24; James 1:19-20

5. Alma 38:8; Mosiah 4:1-3

6. John 14:27

7. Isaiah 54:10-13

8. D&C 19:23

9. Matthew 5:4; D&C 101:16; Isaiah 51:3, 11-12

10. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Rock

1. Helaman 5:12; D&C 50:44 

2. 2 Nephi 9:45

3. Acts 4:10-12

4. Jacob 4:15-16 

5. 1 Peter 2:6-8

6. Psalms 18:2 

7. Psalms 118:21-23; Matthew 21:33-44

8. Isaiah 8:13-15

9. Moses 7:53

10. Ephesians 2:19-21

Savior and Redeemer

1. 2 Nephi 2:6-9, 26-27; 2 Nephi 25:26

2. Isaiah 63:7-9

3. John 3:16-17; 1 John 4:9-10, 14

4. 2 Nephi 1:15

5. Alma 7:9-16

6. Ether 3:14

7. Helaman 5:9

8. Isaiah 53:4-11; Isaiah 25:8-9

9. 1 Nephi 10:4-6; 2 Nephi 9:21-23

10. Mosiah 3:1-13, 17, 20-21

Selfless

1. Mark 8:34-35; Luke 14:27-33

2. Luke 9:57-62; Matthew 19:29

3. Mosiah 3:5-10

4. John 10:15-18; D&C 98:13

5. Mark 6:27-56

6. Mosiah 15:1, 5-8

7. D&C 18:11-13; D&C 19:16-19

8. D&C 4:2-5

9. Matthew 19:16-22; Helaman 10:4-5

10. Hebrews 2:14-18

Teacher

1. Matthew 4:23; Mark 1:21-22

2. 3 Nephi 26:1-14

3. Luke 7:36-48

4. Luke 8:1, 4-15

5. Isaiah 28:9-10; John 14:26

6. Alma 37:32-34

7. Luke 2:42-47

8. D&C 88:77-81, 118-119

9. Romans 10:13-15; 2 Timothy 2:24-26

10. Luke 24:13-32

Virtue

1. 1 John 3:2-3; 1 Timothy 4:12

2. 1 Peter 1:15-19

3. Matthew 5:8; Psalms 24:3-5; D&C 97:15-16

4. Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

5. 1 Chronicles 28:9 

6. Proverbs 31:10-12 

7. Philippians 4:8-9; Article of Faith 13

8. D&C 133:4-6; D&C 38:24

9. D&C 88:67-68, 74-75; D&C 121:45-46

10. Mormon 9:28-29; D&C 59:9-12

And I'll just leave you with one last scripture that I read this week during my scripture study and really liked that seems to fit well with this theme of focusing on the Savior:

Omni 1:26 (Book of Mormon)
"And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved."

I know that Jesus Christ lives, and I am so grateful for the perfect man He is and His willingness to suffer and die for the sins of all God's children so that we can all have the opportunity to repent, learn, change, and become like our Father in Heaven and return to live with Him and with our families after this life. What a beautiful gift Christ has given us. I leave these thoughts with you in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.