Lessons Learned

While finishing up my religion class this year, I was able to read again one of my favorite scriptures. It's in Ether 12 verse 30. It says, "For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith". It isn't the biggest or the most creative scripture, but it speaks to me. Whenever I read it, I'm reminded of a conversion story told to me.

I knew a man named Nikki. His life wasn't going as well as he had planned and he knew it was time for a change. He was doing great financially, socially, and status wise but he craved for something more. Then he met my friend Kash. Kash was able to introduce him to the gospel and help Nikki fill the void in his life.

This process wasn't an easy one. Nikki soaked up the doctrine and the principles of the gospel, but he had a problem giving up certain things in order to be baptized. He tried and tried, but just couldn't kick these actions. He even thought he had successful repented multiple times and had been interviewed by the mission president four or five times and received permission to get baptized.

After one of these interviews (the second to last) Nikki got frustrated. He felt like quitting and that maybe this gospel wasn't for him. Then Kash shared Ether 12:30 with him on a whim. After Nikki read the verse, Kash said nothing. He just looked at Nikki. After a brief silence, Nikki asked Kash if he was testing his faith. To that Kash responded "Yes". That was all it took. Nikki had to realize that he did have the faith, he simply needed to act on it. Like the brother of Jared, he was able to tell his mountain to move and it moved.

You and mean have mountains in our own lives, and through the gospel and our faith, we can move them. Many will be hard, like in Nikki's case. But we can move them nonetheless. Let us put our faith in Christ and the God that made us and go about doing good. Our faith will shine and our trials will pass away as we do our Father's business.

Your Testimony

Testimony is something special. It's something for you and you only. You can share it with whomever, but it always returns to you. You need to nourish it and feed it, much like a baby, but it will grow and make you stronger as it does. While reading in Ether 5 I came across this verse, "And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record—and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day."
I know this means the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, but I'd like to think that I can be a witness too. That through my sincere testimony, others can feel God's love and power. All while doing this, my testimony is growing stronger and stronger. I know that this Church is true and as we learn to live the principles it teaches, the doctrines will strengthen us and we will find out that we do have a Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ lives.

I hope that this will help you have the courage to share your testimony so that others can feel God's love for them through your words as well.

A Father's Love

I was reading in 3 Nephi 21 when I came across verse 4. It reads, "For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel".

This reminded me of our total need of our Father in Heaven. His power is our all. We cannot be, live, or act without it. We are utterly dependent on this gift he willingly gives us daily. From this train of thought, I thought of John 15:10, which says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love". Isn't that what we all want? We want to be loved, to feel love, and to abide in the love of someone. Who else better than our Father's love?


We need this love to do anything. In a story recorded by Pauline Richardson, a young boy needs the help of his father to pass the sacrament. It goes as follows, 

"As the sacrament prayer ended, I raised my eyes and looked at the neat and reverent row of deacons receiving their sacrament trays to pass to the congregation. Moments later, my gaze fell on a young man who I knew was passing the sacrament for the first time. It was Andrew. He was dressed nicely in his pressed white shirt and tie. He stood tall with his shoulders pulled back and showed great care as he administered to his assigned rows along one side of the chapel. His father was standing right behind him and was still and reverent.

I watched Andrew carefully hand the tray down the row and then glance up at his father, who nodded with approval. After the tray was passed back to Andrew, a loving smile grew on his father’s face as they advanced down the aisle together with quiet respect, carefully balancing the tray as they slowly stepped forward.

As I watched this father-and-son team pass the sacrament, I remembered that Andrew had been recently diagnosed with a disease called Friedreich’s ataxia. It is a debilitating disease that seriously affects one’s balance, among other things. This diagnosis brings with it a very altered lifestyle. Many typical childhood activities would not be in this young man’s future.

I remembered the sadness I felt when Andrew’s mom, my good friend, found out about her son’s condition. I had prayed I could somehow help her. Ultimately there was little I could do, but I knew she and her husband would rely on Heavenly Father to help them in their time of need.

As I watched Andrew and his father attentively move along the rows, I became overwhelmed with a sweet feeling of peace. I saw this gentle father steady his son’s frail and wavering body against his arm and help him hold the tray. As they moved from row to row, the father continually gave silent nods of approval to reassure his son. Suddenly the imagery was too much for me and I broke into tears."

Imagine that you are the son (or daughter) that needs their father to stand. It would be hard on the father, but I imagine worth every second of seeing their child succeed. 

The Prophets

So this week I was reading in 3 Nephi and I came across the last verse in chapter eight. It reads, " And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible".

My mind raced around the question, "how am I accepting the prophets and repenting?". Do I apply everything that they ask of me? Do I repent daily and actively try to be better? What more can I do?

Then the weekend hit and I were able to watch general conference. I felt like my questions from this verse were answered by our wise leaders of the church. Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, "Far from being anxious to condemn, our Heavenly Father and our Savior seek our happiness and plead with us to repent, knowing full well that “wickedness never was [and never will be] happiness” [Alma 41:10]. So Ezekiel and every prophet before and since, speaking the word of God out of a full heart, have warned all who will to turn away from Satan, the enemy of their souls, and “choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men” [2 Nephi 2:27]". He was able to highlight for me why we need to repent actively throughout our lives, not just when we think we really need to.

Prophet Thomas S. Monson was also able to answer a question. I was wondering if I had been readily accepting the guidance of the prophets. He shared with us his testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that we should read the Book of Mormon daily. Through that, I was able to receive my answer that I had accepted at least some of what the prophets are telling us. This was only reinforced by Elder Rasband and others love and support of Prophet Monson.

Let's Talk about Forever

In the book of Helaman, we find one my personal favorite bits of gospel power, the opportunity to have an eternal marriage. It's your basic scripture mastery Helaman 10:7, "Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people." Now I know what you're thinking, "gee Cole that's real original there". But here's the thing. It's a great power and gift of God. But it has its conditions. 

We now know that the power to be sealed to your spouse and children for all time and eternity is conditional upon your worthiness. We know from latter-day revelation that you can only be sealed in a temple, and do that you have to be a worthy temple recommend holder. Helaman puts it like this, 

"And if the Lord shall say—Because of thine iniquities thou shalt be cut off from my presence—he will cause that it shall be so.And wo unto him to whom he shall say this, for it shall be unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved; therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath repentance been declared. Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved. And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works. And I would that all men might be saved. But we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord; Yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation." (Helaman 12:21-26). 

Basically, you have to follow the commandments and constantly be repenting if you want to be saved and live in the grace of God- with your family. If not, you're only fooling yourself and won't end up where you want to be.

Armor

So I love the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. I think that it's full of amazing insights and ideas for everyday use. I found a lot of different references in my reading this week about our different types of armor. Physical armor, location, and mind. 

Physical armor, let's start there. In Alma 43 it says that the Lamanites were "exceedingly afraid" of the Nephites because of their armor. All the stuff they decided to put on scared a bunch or guys that drank the blood of the animals they kill. We too have that in our lives. Think about it, what have we been given to shield us? We have the for strength of youth. Put on some modest clothes and let yourselves shine! You'll be able to scare off your personal Lamanites by the way you dress. And we always have are garments as well. But that comes along while you're ready for those covenants. 

Now for location. Go down to verse 32 in Alma 43 now. It says that "he concealed in the west valley, on the west of the river Sidon, and so down into the borders of the land Manti." He went away from the righteous when he sinned. Not only that, the sins were concealed. When we sin, we conceal our good side and show off our sins. We hid what God wants for us to show off that natural man. If we can not hide our sins, but go to the right authority, we can remove them.

And now for the mind. Go to Alma 47:18-19. This is one of my favorite ways to portray how Satan slowly dilutes your mind. Lehonti doesn't die right away, it's slowly, little by little. Satan isn't going to get you to do something that you are totally uncomfortable with right away, he'll build up to it. Like how you cook frogs, slowly but persistently.

Revelation

Can we talk about this really fast? Revelation is something that everybody needs, but everyone has different views on. I've heard, "the best way to talk to God is to read the scriptures", "listen to your heart", "you'll ask and then hear in your mind what to do" and so on. It's crazy how many different ways people can receive personal revelation. What I wanted to focus on today was the waiting game that we all play to receive this revelation.  

Elder Bednar gave a great talk about receiving personal revelation and gave three ways we receive revelation. One was instant, like turning on a light. The next was gradual like the sun rising, and the last was like a fog. You can see enough to move forward, but not enough to see the end of the path. All you can do is move forward and then more of the path is revealed. 

I think that this timing principle is highlighted in Alma in the teaching of King Lamoni and his father. They both were willing to learn and believe the words of Ammon/Aaron, but they had different learning periods. King Lamoni lay as if dead for about three days to receive his answer. In my head that is the equivalent of doing nothing but actively seeking your answer from God for three days. 72 hours of pure revelation seeking. Meanwhile, his father got his answer in the time it took his wife to get mad at Aaron. A little bit of a time difference. I'm not saying that the father of King Lamoni was any better or more righteous than Lamoni, he was just able to receive his answer in a quicker time. 

I think we all need to be patient with ourselves in receiving our answers from God. I have been asking God for confirmation on what I see as a very important decision for a few weeks now, and I haven't gotten a sure answer yet. I think that this answer will be coming to me more like the fog Elder Bednar described than the father of King Lamoni's time period. And I have to be okay with that. God works on his time table, not our and he will do everything he can to guide us to the best things in life.