The Power of Pondering

A short thought I wrote down in my journal on Sunday:

"When we ponder, we look deep into ourselves, and search for connections --connections between our deepest emotions and thoughts and our topic of reflection. When we ponder scripture, we apply what is read and learned to our personal selves. When we ponder all that we learn, we ingrain that knowledge deep into our hearts, minds, and souls so that it becomes part of us. When we ponder in prayer, we allow the Lord to use the Holy Ghost to plant feelings and messages into our hearts that then become part of us. I think this is where much of our personal testimony comes from.
Testimony is a personal part of ourselves. When strong, they become part of our very being. When we ponder our testimonies, we are pondering ourselves. We learn a lot about who we are based on what we believe. When we have testimonies grounded in truth, we learn something invaluable aboout ourselves; we are children of a living God, divine, and loved by Him.
When we ponder, we strengthen that identity."

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I'm a Mormon

Share your faith.

I've added a "button" above as my subtitle that links you to the mormon.org I'm a Mormon website.

I encourage everyone who is able to to make their mormon.org profile! And if you're not a member of the LDS church, I enourage you to click the link above and get to know what we're all about!

On mormon.org you can:
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Satisfy your curiosity.

I'm a Mormon.

Support Systems

This isn't really a gospel topic, but it can be related to the gospel.
I've noticed throughout my life that I rely on different people for different things. I rely in my best friend differently than I rely on my parents. I turn to my siblings for different problems than I turn to my adult leaders for. I often wondered, when I was young, why there couldn't be one person I can rely on for absolutely everything. I used my journal as that one person for awhile, which was a good start.
Of course I now know that Heavenly Father is that person I can rely on for absolutely everything.
But of course my observations are still correct. Different problems in my life require different relationships to help solve them. If I don't know what to do about an issue with my friend, I'm not going to talk to that friend about what I should do obviously, so I'd talk to a parent, sibling, or another friend for advice.
Today I realized yet again another perfection in God's plan for us. We as human beings require a web of support systems from others because one person isn't strong enough to support us on our own. I imagined what it would be like to be the only person in the whole world someone could rely on, and I immediately felt exhausted by the idea. I don't think anyone is capable of doing that. This is why I beleive God made us so that we need a web of people who rely on and support each other. We're each part of this web, helping each other directly and indirectly to stay afloat. If one person falters, it effects the whole web.
Because Christ is perfect, He is someone we can always rely on, for anything. And although I'm not married, I can guess that a husband and wife support each other an awful lot. But even married couples have to rely on other people sometimes, and they always have to rely on the Lord.
This may not be a Spiritual boost or helpful discovery like my past posts have been for me, but I thought it was interesting, and it still strengthens my testimony that God's ways are perfect ways.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

On the Book of Mormon Musical

I will start off with a simple DISCLAIMER: "The Book of Mormon Musical" was not written or authorized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church) and therefore cannot be referenced as Church material.

"The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but The Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."

—Official Church Statement on the Book of Mormon Musical

I don't know what information presented in the "Book of Mormon Musical" was correct and what wasn't, because I have not seen the production myself and actually have no intention on seeing it, however I know that my testimony of the truth of the book itself remains the same. Many may wonder, was the musical accurate and truthful? My advice to you would be: read and find out.

Here's a helpful link that can answer some of your questions about the Book of Mormon:

http://mormon.org/book-of-mormon

You may have to copy and paste.

Inspired Questions- some Girl's Camp gems

So I wrote two posts ago about my experience at EFY related to asking inspired questions. Well now I want to write about answering them.
Asking questions is how we learn. By asking a question our minds automatically engage in the learning required to answer that question. The most effective way to true learning is through curiosity, and curiosity is manifested through asking questions.
However, to effectively retain that learning, we must use it. To deeply understand it, we must teach it. I was blessed with the opportunity to teach others what I have learned this past week. I went to a church Girl's Camp as a YCL, a Youth Camp Leader. I was over a group of girls 13 and 14 years old. As an activity we had the girls write down questions they had, about anything they wanted, and us YCLs would strive to answer them to the best of our ability. I was impressed by the number of sincere and deep questions these girls asked. They reflected the girl's high level of maturity. But the thing that impressed me the most, was how many of those questions were things I had wondered about myself in my life, in the past and actually a few of them more recently. By answering these questions my testimony grew even stronger in those areas we discussed, and there were even some questions I didn't know the answer to, and by studying and praying was able to gain a testimony of them myself, and then answer them.
My goal for girl's camp was to inspire at least one girl about one thing, and bring the Spirit strongly enough that at least one girl would have her heart open to it. The response I had from my girls was incredible. Knowing that I truly helped answer deep questions in their lives gave me a sense of joy like nothing else can. I know I did absolutely everything in my power to positively influence those girls for good.
My only hope and prayer at this point for my girls is that they continue to ask questions. I hope that I have been able to give them guidelines to finding answers to their questions on their own.
Once again it has been confirmed to me that when we ask, we truly receive.

Becoming: more EFY gems

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Articles of Faith 1:13

We believe in BEING

The 13th article of faith is different from the other 12 because it states that we believing in BEING. The others show what we have faith in, and the things that we believe to be true. But the 13th describes what we believe in being, and what we must seek.

There are specific steps in learning how to become. Thanks to my EFY session director Brother McDonald, I have learned of a clear way to visualize how to become. It's called the becoming pyramid:

Become

Apply/Do

Believe

Gain Knowledge/Understanding

Desire

Becoming something starts with the sincere desire to become. We learn in the scriptures that the Lord with judge us "according to the desires of our hearts" (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9). What we desire shows who we truly are, and who we sincerely want to become. Therefore, desiring is the first step to becoming.

Next we must gain knowledge and understanding. My post from last week about "Ask and ye shall receive" describes in full this process, and how it has personally effected me. We cannot become something we do not truly understand.

Next is belief. Belief, faith, and hope in what you desire, in the Lord, and in yourself. You must believe that what you want to become will benefit you and raise you higher if you can truly become it. Too often we fool ourselves into believing that our unrighteous desires will make us happy, and that is when we can become something that really doesn't benefit us. We must also believe that the Lord will help us become. And finally we must believe that we can become.

Next we must apply and do. Before we can truly become a new person, we have to change our behavior to align itself with that person we want to become. We must test it out, and create a habit. As soon as its a habit, it must become second nature. When it is second nature, it becomes first nature --and we have become.

I have a testimony of these steps to becoming. I have consciously and subconsciously used them in my life to help shape the person I am today. We have all used this steps in our life. Our goal is to become. To become everything the 13th article of faith says we believe in being. And to become someone who always desires righteousness, because when we desire righteousness, that is who we will become. Ultimately we desire to become like our Savior, so we must do what we can in this life to learn of and understand him, to believe in Him, and to follow in His ways. This is our life purpose. This is the essence of the gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive: What I learned at EFY

For those who read my previous post titled, "EFY, Youth Conference, Sunday Schoool, and Christ's atonement" know that I went to EFY this past week. Of course the week was a most beautiful experience. I wrote a total of 33 pages back to back of notes from personal scripture study and classes, so obviously I can't describe everything I learned. And what I do share I'll split up into a few different posts because all the information can be rather overwhelming all at once. So perhaps I'll blog on a weekday this week instead of just Sunday. :)
Probably the area where my testimony grew the most this week was in the power of prayer, and personal revelation we gain from our prayers and feeling the Spirit. Throughout the week I asked myself and my Lord inspired questions about my purpose in life. Although at the time that I prayed about them, I did not yet know those answers would lead to the revelation of what my life purposes truly is. In the end though, everything connected, as everything in the gospel always does.
The first question I asked came to me while I was reading 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. 2 Nephi 5:23 says that Nephi and the righteous members of his family "lived after the manner of happiness". The question I had was how do I live after the manner of happiness? I searched through the scriptures listed under "Happiness" in the topical guide and found scripture after scripture that said "Happy is he that..." and "He who does ______, happy is he" etc. I listed some out and wrote the attribute that the scripture described. I soon found a list of Christlike attributes before me. This is when I realized, that true happiness is found through striving to follow Christ. This is something we've always been taught, but I found a strong testimony in discovering this truth myself.
My next question was about me serving others. I wondered if I could be the kind of person who helps others the way people have helped me in my life. I also wondered how I could identify the needs of others so that I could help them. By turning to a random scripture I found Romans 12:1-2 in the Bible. The jist of it is that our bodies are a living sacrafice to serve our fellow men and our God, and that we must not be of the world, we must renew our minds, and "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Through this scripture I discovered that if my will is aligned with God's will, the Spirit will tell me what the needs of those around me are, so that I may help them, and through this power I can be there for other people as they were there for me. I also discovered that if I "have not faith, hope, and charity, [I] can do nothing." (Doctrine and Covenants 18:19). This told me that to achieve absolutely anything, we don't just need faith and hope, but also charity.
My next question was to wonder what the Lord's will was for me. So I studied that out. I found in Proverbs 12:15 that "he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise". The Spirit testified to me that I should listen carefully to the speakers that particular day at EFY. I also found that "without counsel purposes are disappointed" (Proverbs 15:22). This confirmed to me that in order to get the answer I needed, I must listen to the speakers that day. I then stumbled upon the familiar words found in Matthew 7:7 and 3 Nephi 14:7 that reads "Ask and ye shall recieve, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be given you." I realized this is a covenant. If we ask, seek, and knock, the Lord will deliver because he has promised he will. So I knew I needed to ask seek and knock. I had already done the asking, which is faith and prayer. I was in the middle of seeking which is meditation, obejectives or goals, and studying. But what did it mean to knock? I looked in the footnote and found that knock meant learning. This is when this scripture connected to the ones I read in Proverbs. Knocking was to hearken unto the counsel of my leaders. To knock was to allow the revelation to come. To invite it in my learning, understanding, and applying. I knew that if I followed those steps to revelation, I would recieve my answer about the Lord's will.
And I did. During a leader's devotional he told a story, and from that story inspiration was triggered, I hearkened to the counsel, and I discovered God's will for me.
I realized that all three questions that I asked last week built up to the revelation of what my purpose is in life now, which is the Lord's will for me. It has to do both with living after the manner of happiness and serving my fellow-men. I knew that this purpose I discovered was God's will for me right now. I probably felt the Spirit stronger at that moment of realization than at most other times in my life, and the Spirit testified to me that when I ask, I truly shall recieve.
I testify that these things are true, in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

EFY, Youth Conference, Sunday School and Christ's Atonement

This next week I'll be at a church youth camp called Especially for Youth (EFY). It's a hugely spiritually uplifting experience, so I know I'll come back with lots to write about, but I also wanted to write about something before hand to get myself in the right mood for sharing my testimony this coming week. This is a combination of things I learned at this past Youth Conference, EFY two years ago, and as well as some things we talked about in Sunday School today. My main topic is Christ's Atonement.

This is a song from the 2009 EFY called Not the Only One by Cherie Call

There's a man who is trembling at the edge of the sea
With thousands of people leaning on him
And the enemy's gaining, there's no place to hide
So he raises his staff and he runs
Into the mists of the water that followed the will of the Lord
Into the Place where you're living on faith that's
Stronger than fear, stronger than swords

I am not the only one who has ever been cornered
When suddenly God splits the sea
I am not the only one who has needed a Savior
And prayed for the One who could save me
I'm not the only one

I have never had water from the center of a stone
I have never tamed lions or lived in a whale
And the fiery furnace surrounding me now
Is only my doubts and my fears

But deep in a heart that is hurting, I still have to trust
in the Lord
But the words of the ancients tell of a God who is
Stronger than kings, stronger than swords

I am not the only one who has ever been friendless
Or lost in a wilderness place
I am not the only one who's been rescued by mercy
In exchange for my slivers of perfect faith
I'm not the only one

So many people changed by the truth through the ages
of time
So many miracles amazing and new when I hear them
for the thousandth time

I am not the only one who will worship my Maker
On the day that I fall at His feet
I am not the only one who will cherish the heroes
Who lived all these stories that saved me
I'm not the only one
I am not the only one
I am not the only one who has needed a Savior
And prayed for the One who could save me
I'm not the only one
I'm not the only one

At Youth Conference I listened to many of the youth's testimonies, and I found that so many of them had felt things very similar to what I have felt. Many of them have gone or are going through things that I have gone through. Although our experiences are not exactly the same, I realize that I'm never the only one feeling what I'm feeling. And even if I were to be the only one in the world to truly understand a trial I had, the Savior would still know what I'm going through. The Savior always knows. Knowing I'm not the only one who struggles through this life helps me to feel less alone. Ultimately, the Savior is the one who can understand us even better than we do ourselves, and because of this we are never ever truly alone. We also can always have the Holy Ghost with us, if we are righteous enough to keep its presence. In this sense, whether or not we are alone is up to us and our agency. When the Savior suffered in Gethsemene there was a time when the Spirit had to withdraw, because He had to know what it felt like not to have the Spirit with Him, otherwise the atonement could not have been completed. The Savior, more deserving than anyone to have the Spirit with Him always, had to go through infinite agony and pain without the comfort of the Holy Ghost. There's no possible way to repay Christ for what He did, but I know that the Lord rejoices in His children when they are righteous. The least we can do is always strive to be worthy to have the Spirit with us, and remain in Holy places that are inviting of the Spirit, and to use the atonement --accepting the glorious gift Christ has given us.
I know that Christ suffered for every person. I know that he suffered for me. He knows my every need, want, desire, hardship, emotion, pain, and sin. Because of this, someday I will go home.
I testify that these things are true, in Christ's Blessed name, amen.

My Spiritual Guardians

I don't know if or when anybody will read this, but if you are right now, I challenge you to read this through to the end, because it shares the events that have most recently helped to change my life.
I once heard that if we allow our lives and hearts to be changed by the good things we learn in our lives, then they will always be changing. It has been my goal for years now to be changeable, to allow those good things to help me grow into someone better on a daily basis, and to take advantage of every opportunity for my life to change.
I just came home from one of those life changing experiences. The LDS church has all sorts of programs and camps that help Spiritually uplift its members. The youth have an annual Youth Conference, a three day camp in June that teaches and uplifts the youth attending. I'd like to share how my life has been changed by this year's Youth Conference:
Everyday I look around me and see the tender mercies of the Lord. Manifestations that he is there, and he cares about his children. At Youth Conference I witnessed probably the most obvious of the tender mercies the Lord has given to me. Something more monumental than anything I've experienced before. When my brother left for college last year, I didn't know what I was going to do. I felt so lonely without him and scared of high school without him to turn too. He was my normalizer, the only one who always knew how to handle my emotional struggles. I soon found a new friend that was able to take his place as a sort of confidant and protector in my life. All the time I marvelled at how much alike he and my brother were, especially in how they helped me. This good friend of mine was a phenomonal listener and became one of my closest friends. But of course, this friend was also older than me and graduated this year. As the summer began I came to the horrible realization that although I had learned how to be my own normalizer, I did not think I could endure my last year of high school without that constant, strong, spiritual friend. But the Lord knows my needs, and knows what I can handle. He has had a plan for me from the very beginning, with all those wonderful guardian angels in my life all lined up and ready to go when I need them. So, of course, I have found next years guardian. At Youth Conference I developed a bond with my younger brother unlike any we had had before. This bond I know is what will allow him to take the place of my friend, and my brother before him, as the "Spiritual Man" in my life. This experience at Youth Conference I know was the transition from a strong reliance on my friend to one that is gathering momentum with my younger brother. Already I can feel our trust growing. What's more, is I have found that even while the Lord is blessing me with people to depend on, he is at the same time teaching me to be self-relient. With my older brother, I had him everywhere I went. School, home, church, and even social activities. Last year my friend was only ever at school and at social activities we did together, or just a phone call away, but at home I learned to become more independant. Now I will have my younger brother, who will always be at home, but not at school, and who is younger than me. The fact that he is younger is very interesting, and such a blessing. The best way to be sure you've learned something is to teach it. My brother has many of the same struggles that I have previously endured, and I know that even while he is there for me this next year, I must be equally, if not more so, there for him. And I see no better way of prepharing me for leaving home in a year than that.
Of course I learned so much more than this at Youth Conference, but this was my personal life changing experience. I saw many other lives change as well, and perhaps I will write about them in the future, but for now I think that they are not mine to tell really, although witnessing them has impacted my life more than they probably know.
I know that my Savior cares about me, so much that he was willing to suffer everything I have suffered so I can live with my Father again in exaltation. I know the Lord has a plan for me, and if weren't able to endure to the end, he wouldn't have given me the plan he did because he wants more than anything for me to return to him. This is why I can trust that my best will always be enough, and that gives me faith. Faith to believe. Faith to endure.

Another blog!

So this is my third blog. I know it's following up quite close behind my other new blog... buuuut I've wanted to get around to doing this for awhile. :)
So this blog is going to be about what I believe. I'll post once in awhile some good scriptures and "aha!" moments.

So, what I believe:
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Aka: Mormons. But we prefer LDS, please.
I believe Christ atoned for my sins, and for everyone's.
I belive in God.
I believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that Thomas S Monson is the Prophet today.
I believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I also believe the Bible to be the word of God.
I believe in much more also, but for now, I'll leave it at that :)