He Will Teach You

One of the people we have been teaching is such a great example to me of how Heavenly Father really does teach and prepare us to understand and receive the knowledge He wants us to have. She has been slowly increasing in her faith over the past few years as she has experienced the loss of her mother and trials of health. Though she grew up not really being very religious, she has learned to turn to God through prayer and has such immense trust that He will take care of her. She has been feeling the Spirit tell her that she needs to learn about the gospel and be a part of it. Yesterday, we taught her about the Word of Wisdom. This commandment was revealed to us through another prophet, Joseph Smith, and it details how God wants us to take care of our bodies and our spirits (See http://www.mormon.org/faq/word-of-wisdom). This commandment teaches us to abstain from alcohol, coffee, tobacco, tea, and illegal drugs in order to protect ourselves spiritually and physically and have the most happiness. We knew that she struggles with some of these substances, especially smoking, and so we invited her to pray about this commandment and ask God herself if it is something that she should do. To our surprise, she told us, "You won't believe this, but I already have been praying about this! For the past 2 weeks, I have been asking God to help me quit smoking. And I didn't even know it was a commandment!" This is such a testament to me that God is in control and that He is preparing and guiding all of us to learn what He needs us to. He was already teaching this woman how to better care for her body and spirit before we even talked to her about it. I know that there are forces at work in our lives preparing us for the future. Every experience and trial we have can be an opportunity to grow if we will take advantage of it.

Patterns of Light

This past weekend at church, we had a lesson about how to receive answers, guidance and direction from God. In other words, how to recognize and interpret revelation for ourselves. We talked about how the Lord has given us the opportunity to feel His Spirit from day to day and act on those feelings. We watched these 3 videos, which explain more about the Spirit of God and how to find answers:

1: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-010-patterns-of-light-the-light-of-christ?lang=eng
2: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-011-patterns-of-light-discerning-light?lang=eng
3: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng

I especially realized how much God really is in our lives and that He is always there to guide us. But, He is not forceful and He trusts us to act and to make decisions for ourselves. Sometimes we receive "yes", "no", or "not yet" answers to our prayers. Other times, it may feel as though Heavenly Father is being silent. We don't seem to receive any sort of direction or specific instruction. It is in these times that we know that He is trusting us to act and to move forward. He will not let us go too far in the wrong direction without guiding us to what we need to do. More often than not, God allows us to make our own decisions and then come to Him for confirmation of the choice we have made. He has sent us here to learn, grow, and make decisions. He wants to help us, and we can receive that help as we have a real desire and determination to act. I loved how Elder Bednar described in these videos the three different patterns of light that personal revelation often resemble. As he described, I often feel like mine is more the "foggy day effect". There is just enough light out that you can see your next few steps, but it is clouded enough that you aren't quite sure where you are headed. This is where trust and faith come in. I know that as we focus more on being grateful for the few "steps" that God has shown us, instead of wishing and waiting for Him to give us the whole picture all at once, we will be more satisfied and hopeful about life.

Follow the Spirit

One of the people we are teaching shows to me such a great example of following the direction that she receives from God. She has been feeling God working on her heart for the past year or so, ever since her mother passed away. She knows that He wants her to come closer to Him and develop stronger faith. After attending the Gladys Knight fireside and feeling the Spirit present there, she decided that she needed to look into the church more for herself. Ever since we have started teaching her, she has told us how she feels so much happier. She was in a deep depression before with the loss of her mother, and has felt that dark cloud dissipating as she learns more about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She just had hip surgery and has to take a lot of pain medication which makes it hard for her to retain anything that she reads or learns right now. Though this has been frustrating to her, she still recognizes the good feelings that she has and knows that that is enough right now until she can further comprehend. When we met with her the other day, she told us of the frustration she had been experiencing with herself and how was going to cancel our appointment that day, with the medication making her so foggy. But, she went on to say that she had a feeling and a voice tell her, "No, don't do that. You let them come over and see what they have to say. Just let them come over." She decided to heed that message and discovered that as she met with us, her spirits were lifted. She recognized why God had wanted her to meet with us that day, and was grateful for His direction. I am so grateful to know that as we listen to the Spirit, it will guide us to do what is right.

"Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." (2 Nephi 32:4-5).

Believing is Seeing

One of the most fundamental principles that Jesus Christ taught while on the earth is faith. It is the power behind everything that we do. Everyone, whether they realize it or not, has some level of faith in something. Even waking up and getting dressed in the morning is an exercise of faith that your day will actually be worth waking up for. But, faith in Jesus Christ is more than a simple belief in something to come. It involves trust, reliance, and hope in the knowledge that because of Him, you can change, you can learn, and your prayers will be answered. We have been talking with a man recently who has a strong belief in God and in Jesus Christ. He is very educated in theology, and is interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. We explained to him that he didn't need to take our word for it, but that he could read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and ask God for answers (see Moroni 10:4-5 on page 529). We told him how it is an act of faith to pray and ask God for guidance. He responded that he believes in God, but that he bases his faith on historical evidence, proof, and information and "doesn't need God to give him answers." I know that this is not true, and that Heavenly Father is open and ready to give us answers to our questions as we are willing to ask in faith. Just like the story of the apostle Thomas in the Bible, it is better to believe and act on our belief than just to go by sight: "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." More often than not, we have to take a few steps into the dark to get to the light at the end of the tunnel.