Good Example of Knowledge

Last week I had the chance to get to talk to and get to know a guy in my business class, Ken, (he knows about my blog and this post so all is good ;), a little better and can I tell you something? He is pretty amazing. Not in the sense that I know that much about him or that many details about how he has become who he is. Confused? Let me esplain. I should define why I think he is amazing huh? I say he is amazing because he has a desire to seek for truth and has been able to find some of it on his own. He is actively searching for knowledge which always impresses me. Still confused? Read on, hopefully it will clear itself up *grin*

I'll first have to tell ya more about me before I tell you more about him.

I have been actively living the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for almost 9 years or so. Again, I grew up in the church, but in my youth being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was more a habit than testimony. Going to church because it was expected, not because I wanted to. As a child I loved going to church though and I don't discredit my lack of pursuing truth and knowledge then, I was a kid and didn't know how. However, I feel after my baptism, where I had made covenants with God, I was old enough to know how to seek out what I wanted and the Gospel sadly wasn't always in my view. I don't count it as an active time of living the Gospel. Active to me includes pursuing truth and knowledge and I wasn't doing that until my early 20's.

Since then however I feel differently about myself. I know I am doing better, hence my previous knowledge post about recognizing I need to study and search The Book of Mormon to increase my knowledge and understanding of God more. I have seen my progression over the last 8 years as moving upward not just standing still. I realized from the previous post that even though I know I need to increase my study of the BOM to gain further knowledge, I have been really blessed to have more resources than most people to gain knowledge about God and Eternal perspective.

I not only have The Holy Bible (If you would like a free copy of the KJV, click here) to learn about Christ and the Plan of Salvation, but I have many many other sources to glean that knowledge from. I have The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ (If you would like a copy of the BoM, click here), I have modern scripture through the current and past Prophets of this dispensation (aka General Conference twice a year). I have the written revelations of Joseph Smith in The Doctrine and Covenants, along with the revelation and translation of the words of Moses, Abraham, and Matthew in The Pearl of Great Price. I even have the footnotes in my scriptures that connect different passages that are related. I have the Bible Dictionary that defines historical things and even beautifully and simply defines such things as charity; the pure love of Christ. I have had Institute classes and the manuals created for them: Old and New Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, Eternal Marriage, etc.

I have church manuals that are put out for my learning during Sunday School and Relief Society classes. I have teachers’ manuals that have lessons which have been designed especially for little children to understand the doctrine of Christ which means that I have had the chance to learn how to be a teacher of His doctrine. We have The Family: A Proclamation to the World and many other resources to help us gain deeper understanding and knowledge of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I have my own Patriarchal Blessing that is revelation given to me about my own life, about where I came from, what I can accomplish in this life through faithfulness. It also tells me how to prepare for this journey through mortality. Most importantly I have had the Temple, The House of God to learn in for almost 5 years now, a place where uninterrupted learning from on high can take place.

We truly do have UNLIMITED resources to the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we choose to use them!(Which I have even more humbly realized are at our fingertips as I've linked all of these resources to this post)

Here is the tie in with Ken.

He has had only The Bible to study (don’t worry, I've tried to remedy that ;) That man however, knows so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but in our conversations he knew things that I had been studying for years through all of the above mentioned sources. He only has had the Bible! How sweet it is to know that those who seek knowledge truly do find it and that Christ will give us the light we need, His light as we search diligently to find the answers we have searched for. He is an amazing example of 'the believer".

I know I wouldn’t have as much knowledge (which I humbly realize isn't that much) without having read and studied The Book of Mormon and other resources over and over and again, I know I need to study harder to learn more. I am thankful however for all of the resources we have to learn more of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the Holy Bible and that the truth contained in it can be felt by everyone if they but diligently seek. I truly wonder if I would even know a part of what I know now if I only had The Bible though? I am thankful the Lord knows each of us and what we need to know and how we are able to learn it.

I just realized that even though life can sometimes seem harder because we choose to follow Jesus Christ, because of the great responsibility placed on us and all of the opposition that comes from Satan. I am so thankful for that responsibility because it means I am CHOOSING to be chosen. Heavenly Father hasn't asked us to do any of this alone though. He hasn't asked us to face mortality without His guidance and instruction being available to us. How sweet it is to know that no matter where I am, I have the resources around me I need to be the best me. I hope that by being the best me I can help to better this world by testifying and by being a representative and a disciple of Jesus Christ.

How truly thankful I am for good people and good examples in my life. Thank you Ken for the amazing insight and amazing conversations!

Knowledge is Power!

I have recently realized that I am on a knowledge KICK! I can't seem to get enough of it. I am reading, talking to people and trying to get as much info from them that I don't know about as I can to watching documentaries, etc. I am a sponge at the moment. It's kinda weird, but oh soooo cool! I have been doing these things as much as I can. For example, in my possession right now (besides my school books and thanks to the library) I have books on robots, calligraphy, and two fictions that have been awesome on perspective. I have a couple dvds on influential scientists, a documentary on becoming a member of one of the military's special forces units. I also have a Charles Dickens book that has been turned into a movie, Little Dorrit and the BBC car show Top Gear complete season 15.

This obsession might have to do with starting school and having the thought process of being a student? I don't know for sure, but seriously it's been like this rotating library and new information obsession for a couple months. I just hadn't realized it until the below thought process occurred.

Humbling moment time! A very humbling thought did cross my mind... The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

Than by ANY other book! or... person or... documentary...

The knowledge I have searching for, the knowledge I have been striving for has been "of the world" to a point. I don't think it is bad to seek that knowledge, but in my case, I was seeking more knowledge from the world than from God. The scale of where my knowledge is being gained has been off balance.

I know that if I put as much effort into searching knowledge out from The Book of Mormon and abiding by it, I would be nearer to God! He who KNOWS ALL!

Yeah, how amazing is it to know that we have a source, The Book of Mormon, to be nearer to God and His knowledge?

I've been slacking.
Initiating change is now commencing.
Delving, searching, praying about, and pondering The Book of Mormon, here I come!

If you want a Prophet of Gods testimony about The Book of Mormon, look here

Choosing to be Chosen!

WE CHOOSE TO BE CHOSEN! For this thought process credit can be attributed to the Holy Ghost AND my friend Megan and her sweet insight on a scripture in 1Nephi! (She commented on  this post a few months ago with that exact phrase give or take the capitalization and boldness. I also talk a little about it in this blog post) Even though I had read it when she wrote it, the realization of it has only recently hit me, and thankfully, it has hit me hard! The Holy Ghost has reaffirmed this truth to me over and over again these past few weeks.

I have had amazing conversations after amazing conversation about this subject with multiple people. I even brought it up in my Institute class the week before last when we were in the Book of Abraham where we were reading about fore-ordination. I feel this realization is one of those tender mercies the Lord is letting me continually see in my life. Maybe so my testimony of being chosen will be firm and on a solid foundation.

The knowledge of being chosen is truly powerful; it allows us to recognize or divine parentage and that there is a divine work for us to accomplish on earth. Our Father in Heaven is loving and still allows for us to choose though. He allows us our agency. We can choose what we do or what we don't do, but we cannot always choose the consequences of our actions.

Two weeks ago I was talking to someone I love very much that has chosen a different course in life than what I would hope for them. They have chosen to go their own way and I am finding it very hard to accept. I see them struggle in ways that are not necessary, but I cannot change their minds. They have their agency. I did however have a very sweet conversation with them that I hope affected them as much as it affected me. It went something like this (these may not be the exact words, but the main theme of the conversation will be recognized and hopefully the sweet spirit of it too)...

Me: "you know how you get mad at me because you say I hold you to a different standard than I do other people?'
Them: "yeah"
Me: "I figured out why."
Them: "why?"
Me: "because you are different! You are AMAZING! You are SPECIAL! You are a CHOICE SPIRIT of GOD! You are one of His CHOSEN! You were meant to be different!"
Them: "Why?! I don't want to be different! I want to be like other people."
Me: "WHY?!"
Them: "because it is easier."
Me: "I see the difference... You are chosen, but you are not choosing to be chosen. I want to throw it out there that life has a lot more meaning when you chose to be chosen. It makes decision making easier when you don't have rely on yourself, it makes everything have purpose. You recognize your worth in this world, you recognize your worth in the eternal perspective when you see that you are chosen. When you see that Heavenly Father trusts you with His children it should help to solidify the love He has for you. He wants to help us, but we have to recognize when the time comes to ask for help or in other words when we choose to be chosen."

I was in awe of the spirit that filled our conversation that day. I am in awe the Lord has seen fit to have me learn this specific lesson over and over the past few weeks. I was in my institute class last week and we were reading, Joseph Smith Matthew. The tie in with this lesson was that we talked about the word elect (v. 22).

We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, those of us who try each and every day to obey His commandments, listen to and heed His prophets, communicate with Him through prayer and scripture study are, His elect. To be His elect, we have to choose to be chosen. We have to live a life very different from the worlds standards. We have to live a life where Jesus Christ is the center of our universe. He should be at the center of every choice, every decision, every thought because we will be making them with Him in view.

I pray that I will always recognize my worth and choose to be chosen! I pray that you too may choose to be chosen. Be His Elect!

I. Love. The Gospel of Jesus Christ!