faith

hello all of you!

 

you know what's fun? General Conference weekend.

 

ohhhhh how I love it. it's my favorite part of the year, besides like the other time there's General Conference, and I also like my birthday...but that's besides the point because guess what!

 

this weekend we have the opportunity to experience modern revelation and hear the words of our Father in heaven through our churches living Prophet.

 

if you're not a member and your reading this page you're probably like "wait Prophet? what's that?"

(don't worry I had that same exact question a year ago)

good thing I have an answer! hooray!

 

Heavenly Father loves us SO MUCH. like so much. And because he loves us that much, of course he doesn't want us to go through this life without guidance. We don't know everything, we can't predict what's going to happen in our life and know every little detail. nope not possible. I don't even know what i'm having for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Heavenly Father wants to guide us, and to receive that guidance, he reveals his wisdom to His children on earth through His servants the prophets.

"Prophets speak not only to people of their time, but they also speak to people throughout all time. Their voices echo through the centuries as a testament of God's will to His children" -lds.org

 

if that's really complicated to understand, then i'll just let you know how I learned about the Prophet.

 

 basically, I watched General Conference a little bit like once when I wasn't a member. after research I basically came to the conclusion that God loves me, and he wants me to not be confused. A prophet is here to receive word from God that will help teach, inspire, refine, and warn His children and he will share those words with God's children through the Prophet of our church. Throughout time we have received instruction from God; in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. So at least to me, it makes sense that Heavenly Father would want to continue to teach us.

 

anyways...that's my thought on that:) 

 

i'm just excited because i'm grateful for the chance to hear what the Lord has to say, I invite everyone to listen to conference! honestly, when I first watched it when I wasn't a member, it was hard to follow, but don't focus so much on the names of the people and the fact that you don't know much about what is going on.

focus on the stories, examples, and the feelings you have. because even though everything was kind of overwhelming, I was curious about it! if Heavenly Father really did have something to say, what was it exactly that he was going to say. kind of interesting perspective!

 

oh, also I would like to share a fun experience with you I had this week!

 

I was talking to my friend the other day and he happens to be investigating the church.

 

and he was asking me a lot of really good questions that reminded me of my own investigation experience. but there were a handful of questions that were kind of hard and then I realized how the missionaries that taught me felt! man, my friend kept asking and asking and I kept thinking "wow...so this is what it feels like to be a missionary" and I apologized to the missionaries silently in my head haha (because I asked lots of questions during my investigation wow)

BUT

 I loved the questions, and I also know that I don't have the answer to everything (obviously), and neither do people who have been members for years and years. but I do know that I had a testimony of his questions because of my basic knowledge and also the experiences I've had. so I answered what I could and when I didn't know an answer i reassured him i would ask about it.
so I did ask, I prayed about it, and shared with my friend my new knowledge.

but i did realize that i relied a lot on the spirit when talking with my friend, and it was a little intimidating because i wanted to give him the best advice possible, but it was crazy because it was as if the words flowed perfectly out of my mouth, i knew exactly what to say and how to say it. i'm very grateful for the spirit in my life.

 

but I was reminded of a question I asked the missionaries a question once.

I asked "why can't we drink coffee?"
a really simple question but as a convert, I honestly didn't understand why it wasn't okay.

 

the missionaries response was simple but it still confused me, but now I think I truly understood what they meant.

(once again paraphrasing and going off of memory)

"i'm actually not quite sure why we specifically can't drink coffee, we have discussed the word of wisdom and how we should stay away from it because that is a commandment of our Heavenly Father, but I have a testimony of faith, and I have faith in God's word to us and his direction and I know that if I continue to live a good life and follow the commandments of the Lord then I will be blessed."

 

and okay so when I first heard that it was difficult for me to understand because i'm kind of impatient and I would like to know the reason why things are the way they are right away.

but letting the Lord into my life and accepting the gospel has taught me that I need to trust the Lord and that He works on His own time and that I have to be patient and in tune with the spirit if I would like to recognize Heavenly Father's answers. I have learned how to have faith in the Lord even if I don't know the answer to things.

 

another friend of mine and I were having a discussion and he said (and im paraphrasing here) "my friend has a ton of reasons of why this gospel isn't true.... and all my other friend can say is that you turn to God for answers and it makes me think...if my friend has found answers that make a lot of sense, then what is true? how do you know?"

 

I learned from experience that this church is built around one huge foundation and that is faith. When I was learning about the gospel I had no idea if some things were true, so I had to experience the blessing of prayer and to do that I had to have faith that Heavenly Father would answer my prayers when He was ready to and when He felt like I needed an answer. I also had to have faith that I was feeling the spirit, and most of all I had to have faith that I was receiving answers that confirmed that what I read and investigated about was true.

 

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Moroni 10:4

 

It all comes down to faith, sure someone can say they have the answers to this and that and who knows maybe they do have great valid answers! but remember that your opinion is your own. a lot of people told me that i was making the wrong decision to go forward with baptism because i didn't know enough, and how could I commit to something I didn't know a lot about?

I just had faith in my own decision.

Heavenly Father guides us to what is right for us personally, what is right for someone else may not be right for you.

 

I invite you to pray to Heavenly Father about decisions you have made, pray if they are the right decisions and if this is the direction He wants you to be going in.

 

sometimes, at least for me, it becomes very hard as a convert because you're brand new to the gospel! its hard to learn.

it's like a job. when I start a new job I don't feel too confident in myself because of all the new things I have to learn to do well with my job. BUT I applied for that job and I will dedicate a lot of time and effort to learn new skills and apply them to my job.

 

being a convert is the exact same way, you are baptized into this new church (the job), and you have to learn new skills (scripture study, prayer, attend church, etc.) to improve and learn more so you can apply them to yourself and your own life. and when it gets a little stressful and discouraging because so many people around you have been doing this job for a while, don't worry, have faith in yourself and the Lord to help guide you out of temporary darkness into a great happiness that will consume your life. and that is definitely is the greatest feeling.

 

it'll all be just fine, keep your head up:)
 

also have a killer conference weekend!!
10am and 2pm on Saturday and Sunday:)
visit LDS.org for a live feed or search on tv!
 

i'll be back next week with thoughts and favorite talks and all kinds of fun stuff!