"Go, and sin no more."

I was reading John 8 this last week, which has the story of the woman who was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus.  This is a story of Christ's mercy.  It has always been one of my favorite stories in the Bible because I can relate to it so well.

The story starts off with Jesus teaching in the temple during the feast of tabernacles, when the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery.  She was thrown at Christ's feet and the scribes told Christ that she had been caught in the very act of adultery, and asked whether thy should stone her, as the law of Moses says,  or not.  Jesus was very calm and composed as he says to them: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Everyone starts to quietly leave until Jesus and the woman are alone together.   Jesus lovingly asked her: "Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?"(vs. 10) she answers and says that no one is condemning her anymore.  Christ then responds with what I find to be the most important part of the story. He says: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (vs. 11)

This is such a powerful story of Christ's redemption and love for the people around him.  I can easily see myself in this story.  I have often felt caught in a sin, with people pointing fingers at me, saying that I have done something wrong.  This story reminds me of the power of the atonement in my life.  Especially the last thing the Savior says: "Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more."  Christ doesn't condemn me, even though he has every right to be upset with me for messing up. He has taken my sins upon himself and all he asks is that I forsake my sins.  When we are caught in a trap of sin, the atonement can claim us and make us clean again.  We need to "go, and sin no more."  I love this testimony of mercy and the atonement and love of Christ.  This is a bright ray of hope in my life.  I hope that these thoughts can help you see the love that the Savior and Redeemer has for you as well.  He will not condemn us, he will help us move forward and sin no more.

Will you be my neighbor?

So, last week I was reading in Luke 10 where a lawyer is trying to get Christ to mess up and say the wrong thing by asking Christ, "who is my neighbor?" It is at that point that Jesus tells the lawyer the parable of the good Samaritan.  In this story a man is walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell in with thieves and was stripped of his clothing and money and then beaten.  Three people walk past the man: a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.  The priest and the Levite should have been the ones to stop and help, but they walk past on the opposite side.  Only the Samaritan stops and helps the man. He binds up the man's wounds and puts clothes on him and takes him to an inn.  After telling this story, Jesus asked the lawyer who he thought was the man's neighbor.  He said that it was the one who had showed mercy.  This ties in very nicely with another scripture that you read in the New Testament. Matthew 14. This is where Jesus just found out that his cousin and friend, John the Baptist had been killed.  Christ wanted to be alone, but a multitude had followed Christ and were asking to be healed.  Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitude, even though Christ was in more pain.  He turned around and healed those whose needs were less than his own.  Christ gave the perfect example of how we need to be an example and have mercy and compassion on those around us.  Everyone is our neighbor, but we don't always treat them as such.  Reading and learning about these stories make me want to be a better person.  To serve those around me, even when I may be in more pain or tougher circumstances, I can help lift others.  It also reminds me of the hymn "Lord I would Follow Thee" where it says "In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye can't see."  Every single person is struggling with something.  If we would all follow the Savior's example and serve even when we are going through a rough time, we will be able to bless those around us, and be blessed in return.  That's the kind of society I want to live in.  Those are the kind of neighbors I want, ones who will selflessly serve and allow me to serve them in return.  Will you be my neighbor?

"Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole"

In my New Testament class last week, we learned more about some of the miracles that Christ performed during his ministry.  My favorite one that we discussed is found in the KJV Bible in Mark 5:24-34.  My favorite of these verses is 34 where Christ says "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."  I love that Christ calls the woman daughter.  It is very endearing.  The whole story is that Jesus was on his way to heal Jairus' daughter when Jesus walked through a throng of people and a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years had touched his garment, saying, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." (Mark 5:28).  Her faith was complete.  She didn't doubt, but believed that Christ had the power to make her whole.  It is inspiring to hear of this kind of faith.  Another cool thing was how our teacher explained this.  He said that the women had an "issue of blood", but we all have issues.  He explained that the woman had tried all sorts of ways to fix her issue, but the world's way never worked. As soon as she tried it the Lord's way, she was healed.  This is very true in my own life.  When I have issues come up in my own life, if I try to fix it the world's way, things tend to stay the same or get worse.  When I rely completely on the Lord, he never fails me.  The trick is having complete faith in the Savior to make us whole.  So often I find myself, knowing that the Lord or even just the patterns that he has set up can heal me, but I'm so stubborn that I try to do things my own way, but it never works out.  Jesus Christ is willing to save us, heal us, and make us whole, as long as we are willing to reach out to him and believe that he can.  He loves us and will not be upset when we ask for this help.  I like to imagine Christ responding to me in the same way that he did to this woman, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole."

Swept Off

Dating.  I have been thinking about this quite a bit.  Partly because I am taking a break from dating and partly because it's something that I think about a lot.  Haha!  I have come to the conclusion that dating is hard because there are lots of amazing guys out there, but not a ton of the them sweep you off your feet.

Let me explain.....  In fairy tales we always hear about how the princess or girl is doing something, when "prince charming" comes into the picture and they fall madly in love.  The key part is the they.  The feeling is mutual.  One person isn't madly in love while the other is only mildly interested.  On the other hand, we constantly have people telling us that the fairy tales are completely false and that dating is hard it takes a bunch of work and that nothing will happen unless you make it and allow it to happen.   I think both of these ideas are kind of faulty.  Falling in love requires that both parties are open to the possibilities, and ready to work to make the relationship happen.  Where I disagree with the second thought is it that you will never find someone who sweeps you off your feet.

Lets face it.  We have all been around people who we are completely attracted to.  They are cute, kind, driven, and have a light about them.  The problem is usually that they don't like us.  Then there are the people who you think are great, but for one reason or another you don't get twitter patted when you are around.  You enjoy their company and like spending time with them, but the complete attraction isn't there.  It is usually these people that end up really liking you.  Occasionally, the one that you are super attracted to, feels the same way about you.  In my opinion, this is the perfect and best way to start a relationship.  People have often told me that in waiting for this to happen before I start exclusively dating them, is ridiculous.  "It's like waiting for a fairy tale." they tell me.

Maybe it is a little idealistic to want this for a first real relationship, but if you don't get excited to get the persons text, there is no good reason for you to be dating that person.  If they can't make you smile, just by thinking about them, they aren't the one.  If that is crazy, I'm ok with being crazy because I don't want to give my heart away to someone when I'm not wanting to be around them constantly when they first start asking me out.  I want to be swept off my feet and I will wait and look for that.  It may take a while because all of the guys I like don't like me, but it will totally be worth the wait in the end.  At least that's my opinion.  we'll see how it works out for me.

General Conference Miracle

Me, my roommate, Joe, and Danny boy before General Conference.

General Conference was this weekend.  It was fantastic!  To be able to go home and be with family and hear what the Lord wants me to hear.  This was especially touching when during the Saturday afternoon session of conference, Elder Holland got up to speak and answered my prayers.  I had been praying about specific family members and friends who have mental illnesses and how I can help them, or for a talk that would bless their lives.  Elder Holland delivered.  What his talk meant for me, is that Christ's atonement truly is eternal in scope and breadth.  One day all of my loved ones who have struggled for so long will become whole through Christ's atonement.  This also reminded me of something that we had talked about in my New Testament class at BYU.  We were talking about the miracles that Christ performed during his ministry and how these miracles point to the atonement, which is the ultimate miracle.  We had talked about specific examples such as the leper who comes to Christ and says, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." (Matthew 8:1) We talked about how submissive this man was to say, "if though wilt".  He was willing to accept whatever the Lord told him.  He also showed great faith as he stated, "thou canst make me clean."  It wasn't a question.  He knew what the Savior could do.  Through Christ's atonement we are all made clean and whole.  This leper gives us a way to ask the Lord though.  We need to submit ourselves to the Lord's will.  We sometimes want immediate results, but that isn't always the way that things are supposed to happen. This is also shown in Elder Holland's talk, when he said that some of the mental illness that is on this earth will not be taken away until this life is over.  We may not feel like that is fair, but as long as we are willing to trust in the Lord's timing, we will be able to gain the strength we need through Christ's atonement to make it through each day.  We also need to have faith that the Lord can do what we are asking.  It is pointless to ask for something if you don't think there is a chance that you can receive it.  If we truly believe and ask God and do something about it, we have the opportunity for miracles to happen in our lives.  When we ask, it allows God to bless us.  Miracles are still happening.  I had one this weekend.  I hope that I can work each day to have more faith and to align my will closer to the Lord's.  I am so grateful for the prophets and apostles that we have today, who receive revelation and act upon promptings.  I can't wait to read Elder Holland's talk again so that I can apply even more of what he said.  What a wonderful weekend it was!

Faith over Fear: "Cast Not Away Therefore, Your Confidence"

Tuesday was a crazy day!  I started my "Tune in to the Lord" October.  It started off great!  I made it the entire day without using Facebook, though I was sorely tempted, and listened to a talk by Elder Holland instead of music while I got ready.  The talk was one that he had given at a BYU devotional in 1999.  It is called "Cast Not Away Therefore, Your Confidence".  Elder Holland discusses how after we have spiritual experiences, Satan will come and try to shake our faith and our confidence in the experience.  He shared examples of Moses seeing God and a vision of the whole earth, right after that Satan came and tempted Moses to worship him instead.  So often we have revelation or spiritual feelings and then we have trials and temptations come right after.  As Elder Holland said, "Don't let your guard down".  We can't let this fallen world and what is going on here shake the faith that we have.  When we start to fear and tremble, faith leaves.

This principle was reiterated to me later on Tuesday evening.  My roommate has been struggling with things in her life.  She has bipolar and hasn't been able to keep a job that can actually pay her bills.  A couple months ago she finally got a full time job, where she would be able to start saving some of her earnings.  Yesterday, she put in her two weeks notice because ever since she got the job, she has been extremely stressed about how she will get to and from work.  While talking with her it was evident that she was afraid that she is a burden on everyone and that the only course of action was to quit. She also explained to me that she doesn't believe that God and Christ can take away the pain that she feels.  She isn't happy and nothing is going to change that, according to her.  She said that every time something good comes into her life, or a "blessing", right afterwards a trial comes or something overshadows the good thing.  Her explanation of this seemed to be exactly what Elder Holland had been talking about in his devotional.  I wanted to explain to her that she was probably head on about all of the problems that come up right after a blessing comes into her life.  We live in a fallen world.  We will have good things and bad things happen to us, what we need to decide is whether or not we will trust God or not.  One thing I know is that when I let my hard times get me down and don't trust God to help me through the rough patch, it lasts longer and is harder to get through.  Elder Holland hit it on the head.  We need to cling to our confidence in Christ and Heavenly Father.  When we have faith that Our father and brother are looking out for us and will help us get through this life, fear cannot be there.  Just like where there is light, darkness can't be.   Faith triumphs over fear.  We need to trust and not cast away our confidence in our maker and our Savior.  They are both here to help us and bless our lives.

My last thought on this is, even if the problem and struggle you are going through seems never ending, remember that Christ knows exactly how you feel!  He has been through everything that you are going through.  Also, when I am going through a tough time, I try to remember the scripture Doctrine and Covenants 122:7.  In this verse it says, "know thou, my son (or daughter), that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."  Trials strengthen us if we let them.  They allow us to learn to lean on our redeemer, Christ, even more. And to realize that we can't do anything without His help.

Oh, and here is the link for the talk that Elder Holland gave.  Cast Not Away Therefore, Your Confidence and here is a link to D&C 122:7