We Have Control!

How many times do we all look at our lives and feel helpless.  There is so much that affects the way we view our successes and failures, our triumphs and loses.  If all of you are like me, we blame a lot of our problems and attitudes on other people and situations.  This is actually quite common.  In my psychology class we learned about self-presentation and the self-serving bias.  With positive things we attribute to our personality and own merits, but when something bad happens we attribute it to the hard situation and the other people.  This is common, but we shouldn't fall into this trap.  In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 it gives a list of things.   "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;"

I love this list! It gives us such a clear guideline on how we can be going through crazy hard things, but that there is always still hope and that we have control over some of it.  The first one is "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed" We all have troubles.  I know some of mine are family problems and having time for all of my school work.  Even though these things are troubling, I don't have to be distressed.  The second one is "perplexed, but not in despair." I can relate so well to this one.  I am perplexed at why my relationships don't work out or why I didn't get a job I want, but I don't despair.

This is how our peace can feel!

Now, I could go on through the rest of the list, but I'm going to stop there.  You could say "oh Annie, that's great and all, but I can't do that.  It's too hard for me."  You would be right. Alone, being troubled and not distressed is too hard.  It is only through Christ that this is possible.  He makes it so that we can be in hard times but not despairing.  He will keep us calm though the storm is raging around us.  Through Christ, we have control.

Charity = Christ's Love

So many times I have heard that charity is the pure love of Christ that it has become second nature to equate charity with the Love of Christ.  I love the idea of charity as the pure love of Christ, but it feels too abstract and unreachable.  In my new testament class we have this taught to us in a different way.  My teacher told us that true charity has only been seen once on this earth, and that was when Christ was here.  We read in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 where it says:

 "4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;"

My teacher told us to replace "charity" with "Christ".  A little show of this would be "Christ suffereth long, and is kind...."   This is SO applicable.  We are striving to become more like Christ and if we act in the way that he does, we will be cultivating charity.  Also, since only Christ has shown true charity, my teacher described it in this way: we are not giving charity, we are reflecting the charity that Christ has given to us. We all should try to reflect a little more of the love that Christ has given to us by being long suffering and kind.  I hope that through my actions, I can share Christ's love with everyone around me.  We all can be a little more loving and kind.  Lets let our actions do that, but also remember that as my teacher put it, "charity isn't what we do, it's who we are."

Falling Asleep..... ZZzzZZzz

I love sleeping!  It is one of my favorite activities.  I don't sleep enough and that is a problem for me physically, mentally, and emotionally.  The sleep that I want to talk about today though, is not the closing your eyes and go to bed kind of sleep.  It is a kind of falling asleep with our habits and the church.  In my new testament class this last week we read Acts 20.  In this chapter we read about a man named Eutychus who was sitting in a window and fell into a deep sleep and fell down from the loft where he was sitting and died. 

My teacher gave us a way to interpret this story.  One is with the lens of the plan of salvation.  He talked about how Eutychus could stand for Adam and falling down from the window would be the fall.  His death would be like the spiritual death that we are all prone to, and Paul raising him is a symbol of the Savior.  This is great and all, but we also need to apply it to ourselves.  We are like Eutychus.  We sometimes fall asleep to the things of the gospel. 

This begs us all to ask the question, what things have I fallen asleep to?  Are there certain things that we each don't really pay attention to?  Are some things just habits that we don't really need to pay attention to?  I know there are certain things in my life that are that way.  One thing that was brought up in my reading for the research paper for my new testament class was faith and works.  In some respects we all fall asleep to the fact that we have faith.  We say "yeah, I believe in Christ and his teachings." But we forget that faith is not passive.  Faith begets action.  We need to wake up to the gospel again.  Let our faith guide our actions so that we can come closer to the Savior and not be asleep to the things that we are doing in our lives.

Let the Lord take the Reigns.

Alright.  How many of us struggle with wanting to control everything in our lives?  I know I do.  I like to think that I know what is best and what I should be doing.  It is hard for me to recognize that I need to let the Lord guide my path.  Luckily, I'm no alone. The apostle Paul had good desires and wanted to go teach the people of Asia of the gospel, but the Holy Ghost forbade him.  After that, Paul and his companions were going to go to Bithynia, but "the Spirit suffered them not." (Acts 16:7)  Paul had good intentions and he thought that he knew where he should go.


One thing I really like about this story is that Paul didn't just give up when the Lord kept stopping
him in his tracks, he continued to move forward with faith.  I need to do that in my life.  I need to keep pushing on and trusting the Lord even when what I think would be good for my life doesn't pan out.  Finally in Acts 16:9 the Lord shows Paul a vision which instructs him to go to Macedonia.

Me, looking forward to a bright future!

Would Paul have gotten the instruction to go to Macedonia if he had stopped acting?  No!  God likes answering prayers for people who are acting.  When we act, it allows God to guide us. This is something that the Lord is trying to teach me especially in my life right now.  I have made many different plans for my life.  I'm going to finish college in three years, now I'm going to go on a mission.  I guess I'm not going to go on a mission, I'm going to keep going to school and be the relief society president.  Now I'm going to date this guy and possibly marry him.  Oops!  Looks like he is not right for me.  Guess I'll go back to square one and focus on school. Right as soon as I thought I had an idea of where I should be going in my life, God would say "I don't think that's what you need to be working on right now..."  The nice thing, is that even though I keep being stopped in a lot of the things I've been doing, I know that God is leading me.  He has a plan for my life and as long as I keep acting and following Him, I will get where I need to be.  I know that I'm becoming who God wants me to be and that I'm learning to have joy in the process.

What has been cleansed...

Acts 11 teaches a powerful lesson.  This week when I was reading this chapter it brought a lot of
things to my mind.  In this chapter Peter is recounting a vision he had.  In the vision Peter sees a vessel or a sheet coming down from heaven.  When the sheet opens, fourfooted animals came out of it.  God then commanded Peter to eat the animals.  Peter refuses saying "Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth." (Acts 11:8)

Now, for just a minute I want to talk about Peter's response.  He was being a good Jew.  He had always followed the law and these animals had been deemed unclean by the laws of the Jews. To eat them would go against his beliefs.  Back to the story now. The Lord responds to Peter saying: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 11:9)  Just like that the Lord lets Peter know that He is in control of the church.  We need to follow him and trust what he says.  If he commands us to eat something, we should do it.

That's all good and everything, but I didn't really get it the first time I read this.  It seemed like a "duh" moment.  Of course if God deems something clean, we will also see it as clean and not call it unclean.  "Oh wait." I thought, "I do that at times."  What I mean by this is, I believe in the atonement.  I have seen it work wonders in my life, but how many times have I looked at someone who has sinned, or even said to myself and think, "you are not clean.  Look at all of the bad things you have done."  I think this even after I have repented at times.  That is a tragedy!  "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."(Acts 11:9)  I have truly repented.  There is no need for me to cling onto my sins and call myself unclean because through Christ I am made clean again.  This is also very pertinent to others.  I have a lot of friends who feel constantly judged by others for things that they have done in the past and repented for.  People are always reminding them of how they are "unclean" even though my friends have truly repented sins that sin.  This is where this passage of scriptures applies.  If we truly believe in the atonement and it's power to heal, clean, and remove sins, we will not call what God has cleansed, common.

"Why marvel ye at this?"

Hello again!  I'm back writing about my new testament adventures and other fun things!  This semester I am studying the second half of the New testament which starts off in acts.  This last week we read the first six chapters in Acts.  The part that stood out to me was chapter 3.  In this chapter Peter and John heal a man that had been lame from birth.  It is a beautiful miracle.  One of the things I liked about it, was the faith the lame man had to have, but also the support that Peter gave to him.  Peter told the lame man to rise up and walk, but he didn't expect him to do it on his own.  Peter stretched out his hand and helped the man to rise and while he did that the man received strength in his ankles and feet bones.  It was through the action of standing that the man was healed!  This reminded me of how often I sit and pray for healing or guidance or anything, without thinking of or doing anything other than asking.  There is so much more to be done.  To get the promised blessing and to be healed and receive what I am asking for, I need to step forward in faith.  I need to act.  It reminds me of the scripture in James 2 where it says "faith without works is dead."  I cannot expect things to come to me, just because I asked for them.  I need to show Heavenly Father that I truly will obey his will and do the things he asks of me.

The next part that stood out to me when doing this reading was the fact that Peter and John gave all of the credit back to Christ.  In verses 12-16 Peter asks the crowd why they marvel and then goes on to say that it wasn't by any power that John and him hold, but it was done through the name and faith on the name of Jesus Christ.  I love what this teaches me about the priesthood.  It teaches me that priesthood is the power to act in Jesus' name and that it works when people believe and have faith in Christ.  It doesn't come from any strength of mind or will power, it is trusting the Lord in everything and believing on him.  This part also shows how well Peter and John were following Christ's example. Christ never said "I am so wonderful!  Look at all of the great things which I have done!  everyone should follow me because I can raise the dead!" No.  Christ was humble and constantly pointing everyone to having faith and believing and following Heavenly Father.  Christ said let the glory be thine(God's).  Having Peter and John remind us that it wasn't through their own power that they healed the lame man, but through the name of Christ, they are pointing to God as well and asking people to follow Him.  This is beautiful and gives me a great example for my life.  Sometimes I want people to look at me and say "wow she is so beautiful.  Look at all of the talents she has!  She is an amazing relief society president.  She must be really spiritual."  Those would be great things to hear, but my goal should be to have my actions point to Christ.  What would be even better and more meaningful is if people could feel closer to Christ and Heavenly Father because of my actions.  That should be my goal, rather than praise for myself.

The last thing that I specifically liked about this chapter I learned about in class.  It is the fact that the man who was healed didn't just rise and walk with wobbling knees and legs.  He started to leap and run about!  He completely trusted in the Lord and he was healed quickly through a miracle.  This helps me to remember that Christ can do anything.  The miracles he performs are not done half way.  If I have the faith and it is God's will I can be completely healed.  Then, like the healed lame man, I will be leaping and running about for joy! I also love the idea of the lame man leaping around because it shows what happiness comes through exercising faith in Christ.  Whenever we give a little to Christ and Heavenly Father, such as having faith in them, we are given back so much more!  They are constantly blessing us.  It is a beautiful thing!

He Lives!!!

Christ lives!  It's a simple statement.  It's a fact.  It's my testimony.

Three days after Jesus Christ was crucified he was resurrected.  I love that Mary Magdalene was the first person to talk with Christ and see him after the resurrection.  Mary and the other women had gone to Jesus' tomb to finish taking care of his body.  When they got there, they found the tomb empty.  Angels were there and told the women that Christ was risen.  Mary sat weeping by the tomb.  She turned around and saw Jesus, but didn't recognize him.  "15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou has laid him, and I will take him away.  16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master."  (John 20:15-16)  This scripture speaks volumes to me.  First of all, women were not trusted in those days, but Jesus doesn't care what other people thinks, so he trusts Mary to be the first to see him.  The second thing I love about this scripture is the fact that Jesus is there comforting Mary, even though she doesn't realize it.  So often I find myself being upset and feeling like I'm all alone, but Christ is always there for me.  I just sometimes fail to recognize him.  Lastly, Christ called Mary by name.  This is another reminder to me that when I am going through a rough patch, that Christ will be there and call me by name and comfort me.

Christ is risen!  He lives!  He knows and loves each and every person on this earth, but more importantly(for me), he knows me.  He knows my struggles, my thoughts, and my feelings.  He loves me.  Though he died on the cross on Calvary, he was resurrected.  Just like Christ was resurrected, so can we be.  I know that my redeemer lives.  Don't just take my word for it, watch the Mormon Message "He Lives" and take the prophet's and apostles' testimonies.