What I believe...

I meet a lot of people every day who belong to a lot of different religions. I wonder how many of them could state their core beliefs (what their church believes) in more distinctive terms than "whatever it says in the Bible."

I am grateful for the newspaper reporter Mr. John Wentworth who requested that Joseph Smith write a "sketch of the rise, progress, persecution, and faith of the Latter-day Saints" (Wentworth Letter, lds.org). Included in the Wentworth Letter are The Articles of Faith which are thirteen statements of our fundamental beliefs. 

The first Article of Faith is, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

I love this statement, it is pure and simple and profound. It is the core of our religion. Our faith in God as our father, Jesus Christ as our Savior, and the Holy Ghost as our guide and teacher is the foundation of everything else we believe. I know that I am a daughter of God and that He loves me, I know that He loves me (and all of His children) so much that He sent His Son to atone for my pains and my sufferings so that I can have the hope of living with God again someday. I know this because the Holy Ghost has testified of the truth of this to me in my mind and in my heart. 

Heavenly Father wants everyone to receive this knowledge for themselves, you can know that God is your Father by praying and asking Him. You can ask Him if He is really there and He will answer you. 

"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" -Luke 11:9-13

I know that as you act upon the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ you will be able to say for yourself that you "believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost," and when someone asks you what you believe, you will know what to say.

Hope

I know that He lives, and that He loves us. I know that He loves us so much that He doesn't want us to be burdened. I know that the only way for us to be freed from our burdens is to be "firmly attached to Him."

He said,

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."   -Matthew 11:28-30

I know that if we come unto Him, we will "find rest unto [our] souls."


Jesus Christ Suffered for Us

"Say the words..."

"But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." 2 Nephi 32:9

As a missionary, I pray a lot. I pray many times every day. I pray for my family. I pray for the people I meet. I pray for the safety of my companion and me, and for other missionaries. I pray for guidance and strength. I pray and express gratitude for everything I have been blessed with. I love to pray, and I know that my Heavenly Father loves to hear and answer my prayers. I know that because I feel His love and His support every time I pray. When I feel that, I feel like I can do anything He asks of me.

"...I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." -1 Nephi 3:7

There are some times when I don't want to pray. For whatever reason, I just don't want to. Sometimes I'm just tired, or I don't want to pray in a group because I'm shy, or I feel like Heavenly Father is disappointed in me and I don't want to "face" Him.

"And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray." 2 Nephi 32:8

But then I remember this verse and I realize that whenever I don't want to pray, for whatever reason, it is the devil trying to stop me from praying. He knows the power of prayer. He knows how important the bond between Heavenly Father and His children is. He will try to stop us from strengthening that relationship any way that he can. A phrase that I always repeat to myself is... "If you don't feel like praying, pray until you do." I don't just repeat this to myself, I practice it. I know that it works, and I know that if you try it you will be blessed with a closer relationship with your Father in Heaven which will ultimately give you more joy than you have ever experienced.


A prophet of God, Spencer W. Kimball said this about the blessings of prayer,

"After a lifetime of prayers, I know of the love and power and strength that comes from honest and heartfelt prayer. I know of the readiness of our Father to assist us in our mortal experience, to teach us, to lead us, to guide us. Thus, with great love, our Savior has said, “What I say unto one I say unto all; pray always.” (D&C 93:49.)

"Don't be a goat..."

I got some letters yesterday from some of the boys in my congregation back home. One of the boys told me that in their Sunday school class they talked about the parable of the sheep and the goats(Matthew 25:31-46). He said, "Don't be a goat because goats go to the devil, be a sheep so you can go to heaven." After I stopped chuckling at his blunt statement, I started thinking more about that parable. It starts out by talking about when the Savior will come again and all of the people of the world will stand before him.

"...and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats"(Matthew 25:32)

I don't understand much about shepherding but I was always sad that the goats represented the wicked. I love goats, if I ever live on a farm getting a goat will be my first order of business. I know that they eat everything and just cause a general mess, but don't most farm animals do that?

Even if I don't love the comparison of the goat, I know I shouldn't get hung up on that. The point of the parable is that Jesus expects us to be like the "sheep" if we want to enter into the kingdom of His father.

"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34)

So, how can we become like sheep? The Savior makes it clear in the next few verses,

"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." (Matthew 25:35-36)

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40)

A prophet in The Book of Mormon spoke about the same subject, he said:

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17)

We must serve others who stand in need of help, when we do that we are serving Him and becoming His sheep and we will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

So I think I will take my friend's advice, even though I love goats, I love my Savior more, so I will be a sheep for Him.

A Place of Peace and Joy

 Left to right are Sarah(My Sister), Debbie(My Mom), Dave(My Dad), Brent(My Brother), and me. As you may be able to tell it was snowing when we took this picture and some snowflakes were melting on the lens.

This is my family Christmas 2010. I love my family. They mean the world to me and I would do anything for them. I love spending time with them. I especially love time spent together at home.


Modern prophets have declared that the family is ordained of God. The family was set up by Heavenly Father as a support system for His children to learn and grow together. The home can and should be a refuge from the world. Unfortunately, too few people have a home that they can go to that is a place of peace and refuge.


There are places where we can all gather as children of God whether with our families or as individuals. There are houses of the Lord where we can feel peace and joy. They are places of refuge from the world when no where else is. I go to a house of the Lord every Sunday and I experience that peace and joy spoken of. Jesus Christ established church as a place where we can go to feed our souls.

"And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end. 

 "And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith. 

 "And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. 

"And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus." Moroni 10:3-6 (italics added)

We are all seeking for greater peace and joy in our lives, and I know that you and your family will be blessed with a greater measure of both if you attend church in a house of the Lord.



Come to Church

"Where did I come from?"

 I Lived in Heaven by Janeen Jacobs Brady

(Click to Listen) 

I lived in heaven a long time ago, it is true;
Lived there and loved there with people I know. So did you.
Then Heav’nly Father presented a beautiful plan,
All about earth and eternal salvation for man.

Father said he needed someone who had enough love
To give his life so we all could return there above.
There was another who sought for the honor divine.
Jesus said, “Father, send me, and the glory be thine.”

Jesus was chosen, and as the Messiah he came,
Conquering evil and death through his glorious name,
Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be—
Home in that heaven where Father is waiting for me.

This is a song that I sang in Primary (Sunday school for children ages 3-11). I always loved singing it because of how it made me feel. I felt happy and I felt like Heavenly Father was giving me a big hug. I knew that those feelings I got meant that what I was singing was true. What I didn't really know was that those feelings I got were coming from the Holy Ghost. He was testifying to me that the words of that song are true, because that is His job,

"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."   Moroni 10:5

I know that I lived in Heaven with my Heavenly Father and with all of His other children. I know that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we all can have hope to return to live with our Father in Heaven someday.


Click  here to find out more about God's Plan for us.

Falling Down

Imagine, if you will, walking down a neighborhood street at dusk. You are enjoying the beautiful weather and the warm summer breeze. When, all of a sudden, SPLAT, you are flat on your face and you can feel the pavement digging into your knees. You dazedly wonder what caused you to trip, but mostly you are just embarrassed. Your friend asks you if you are okay and you respond, "My pride is hurt more than anything else."

That is what happened to me Wednesday night, and it really got me thinking about the pride cliche I used in the aftermath of my spill. Why do we use that phrase? More to the point, why do we use that phrase as a bad thing?

O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls!    Jacob 2:16

A prophet of God warned us that pride can destroy our souls! If you knew a monster was coming to your home to destroy the souls of your family, what would you do to stop it? If it were my family I would utilize every defense and weapon I could to stop it. I would take my family and get away as fast as I could. Essentially I would do everything in my power to escape the terrible fate that comes with the monster.

Pride really is that monster that is coming to destroy our souls if we let it. If we want our souls to be safe we need to set up defenses, and obtain weapons that we can fight it with. Because we are all human, we can never defeat pride alone. We need the help of our Savior Jesus Christ to help us in this battle. But as we draw nearer unto Him, we will be able to fight the monster of pride and be successful at keeping him at bay. A prophet of God discussed pride in an address given in 1989, read it to find out what defenses and weapons work best in this fight against pride. Beware of Pride by Ezra Taft Benson

So, the next time your pride gets hurt, celebrate, because you are winning the fight.