The Creation

Under the direction of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ created the earth, as a place for us all the live and learn.

In order to become like God, we needed to obtain a body and be tested during our time on earth.  We're out of the presence of God and cannot remember our life before this earth; that we may learn to walk by faith instead of sight.

There is much evidence that points to a divine creator which disproves worldly theories such as evolution.  You can spend your entire life studying science and never really know for sure the truth, or you can simply pray to know.  Faith is stronger than sight, and the wisdom of man is foolishness to God.  The truth has been restored to prophets in our day.  Here are some of their words:

The Creation General Conference address by Russell M. Nelson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 2000.
The Origin of Man Address from the First Presidency of the Church, 1909.

And some marvelous scriptures:
2 Corinthians 5:6-7
JST, John 1:1-3
1 Nephi 17:36
Alma 30:44
D&C 88:41-47
Moses 2:1
Moses 6:63
Abraham 3:24-25

Feel free to comment and share.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the world we've been given!  Okay, so that might just mean enjoying the white world outside while you sip hot cocoa...inside :)

Choices

Why do we make wrong choices?  Over and over again I ask myself this after failing to live up to what I know I should be.  We all become stubborn, rebellious and rationalize at times.

True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives--that is, our time and choices--to God's purposes. 

-D. Todd Christofferson, "Reflections on a Consecrated Life" Oct. 2010 General Conference  

 To consecrate means to set apart as holy and sacred.  Our homes and lives need to be consecrated in order to have the Holy Ghost as our companion; so we can receive answers to our prayers and direction as to what God would have us do.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men...if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. -Joseph Smith, Articles of Faith 1:13

I want to make my first priority be to nourish my marriage, and second to ensure the physical and spiritual welfare of our children.  Everything else in life is just chaff.

But before anyone starts beating themselves up (like I sometimes do), remember that God is always there ready to forgive and welcome you back.  He loves us even when we are foolish and will forgive our sins as many times as we commit to be better and change.  However, if you really are trying, you should not go into sinning with the mentality that, "I will repent after I've had my fun."  God knows the intent of your heart.

Matthew 25:32 describes the final judgement with Christ gathering the nations of the earth and dividing us out just like a shepherd would divide the sheep from the goats.  The people on His right hand were like sheep and He welcomes into His kindgdom because of their good works.  But the people on His left hand were like goats and He casts them out of His presence because they did not do good works.

I was thinking about the nature of a goat and why Christ would use this comparison.  Goats: eat trash, like to butt their head together, make life more difficult for themselves by climbing to ridiculously dangerous mountain peaks and cliffs, do not follow a shepherd but go off in their own direction, stubborn and defensive.

Sheep, follow their master and know His voice, don't eat trash, they don't rebel when given orders, stick together, mild, kind, and loving.  This is the way to be!

And these are the sporadic ramblings of my mind today.  Have a great weekend!

Before I came to Earth...

Have you ever been to a viewing at a funeral and felt that your loved one was not there in that body any more?

Our bodies are vessels that house our spirit...our true self.  We were spirits before we came to earth and we lived with our Heavenly Father.  We were not quite like our Father yet, because He has a body.  This is why we came to earth, to receive a body and learn through our experiences to become like our Father.

God wants each of us to find peace in this life and return to Him and enjoy all the blessings He has to offer.  The way to return to him is through the plan He laid out for us.  Jesus Chris is central to the plan, and His Atonement makes it possible for each of us to enjoy immortality and eternal life.  Satan is against this plan.  God gave us agency, so that we could choose whether to follow Jesus Christ or Satan.

In the Pre-existence we all chose to follow Heavenly Father's plan and come to earth to be tested and tried, and have the agency to choose good or evil.  One third of the hosts of heaven chose to follow Satan's plan, to take away agency and force everyone to choose the right.  There was a war in Heaven and Satan and his followers were cast out.  They continue to fight to take away our agency here on earth by enticing us to sin.

The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it pours knowledge into our souls and shows things in their true light.  With that enhanced perspective, we can discern more clearly the choices before us and their consequences.  We can, therefore, make more intelligent use of our agency.  Many of God's children fall into unanticipated traps and unhappiness because they either lack or ignore gospel light.  They are unaware of their options or are confused about the outcomes of their choices.  Ignorance effectively limits their agency.
-Elder D. Todd Christofferson, June 2009 Ensign

Satan wants us to be selfish, hateful, unforgiving, addicted to harmful substances, fighting with each other, and full of sadness.  He wants us to be miserable...because he is.

I hope we can all choose to do things that uplift and nourish those around us and serve God and our fellow men.  Be kind to everyone, and forgive when we are wronged.  He wants us to be happy.  He wants to bless us!  

Recognizing Truth

The message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon, is either true or it is not.

So, how can you find out?

Moroni 10:3-5 states:

   "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder in your hearts.
   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. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Pray to Heavenly Father and express the feelings in your heart.  End in the name of Jesus Christ.

I'll admit I'm not a pro at this praying thing, but I am learning.  I like to take a minute after praying to see what thoughts come into my mind. These can be from God, even if it seems like just from ourselves.  These thoughts come throughout the day if I am keeping a "prayer in my heart."  Also reading the scriptures each day can help me feel the spirit and spur thoughts about what I should do if I'm seeking guidance.

Do you ever get an idea in your mind that will not go away?  Well, I believe (if it's an uplifting, unselfish thought that you feel good about) that it could also be a message from God about something you should do.  The trick is to do it, even if a part of you really doesn't like the idea.  God knows who He wants you to become; unfortunately, we often have our own agenda.  It's usually not until much later that we understand God's wisdom.

Love this:

Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer
by Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Across from me a woman sat sobbing. With tear-filled eyes, she told me, "I don't know what I believe anymore."  She spoke of having struggled and prayed many days to know how to make a vitally important decision in her life, without success.  She anguished, "I don't know what to do.  If you'll tell me what to do, I'll do it."  With her hand on the scriptures, she said, "God told us He would help us.  He answers everybody else's prayers.  Why won't He answer mine?"

Read more....

It is my wish that we can all come a step closer to recognizing the will of God in our lives.  I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can be released from the chains of sin and realize that God has been there all the time, encouraging us through all our struggles.

I know without a doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lords church today with all laws, ordinances and priesthood that originally existed when Christ first instituted it.  Yes, big news!  Being a member all my life, sometimes you don't feel the full meaning of it until you really look around at the world.  I see so much sadness and anger, and feel helpless.  But I know that the truth that I know can change the world.  It just needs to penetrate through the murky gloom.