Weaknesses and Strengths

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Either 12:27

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon.  So often I feel like I can't do all of the things my friends can and that I am not talented.  This scripture makes me feel so much better about myself. In my mission prep class, my teacher told us a story about weakness.  There was a man who had a giant rock in his yard.  He wanted to get rid of it, but it was too big for him to move.  He prayed to God for help and God told him that if he would work every day at moving the rock, he would be able to succeed.  Every morning the man would get up, push the rock all day long, and when evening came he would go to bed. This cycle lasted for months.  One day the man said to God "God, I've been pushing this rock all day every day and it hasn't moved at all.  Why do I have to keep pushing? It's clearly too heavy for me." With that, God pointed out to the man all the muscles he had formed from pushing the rock all day. While the trial was too great for him to accomplish, it had made him strong and he was now a better person because of what he went through.  I know that God gives us trials not because he wants to punish us, but because with trials he can shape us to become the people he wants us to be.

Prophetic Connections

This week in Book of Mormon we studied "The Book of Mormon," confusing I know. As we read chapters 1-6, Brother Griffin pointed out that they are a great example of how life is hard.  Mormon went through many trials in his life, and it was all so that he would be in the right time and place to prepare the plates.  In verse 2, it says "and about the time that Ammaron hid up the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age, and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people) and Ammaron said unto me; I perceive that thou art a sober child and art quick to observe.  Mormon was only ten years old when he was approached by the prophet.  We made ties to Mormon Jr. and Joseph Smith Jr.  They had very similar life experiences, something I had never previously noticed.  At a young age, they were both visited by a prophet and given the plates.  The similarities were so great, that they were both moved to different parts of the land.  Brother Griffin told us a great story about the family of Joseph Smith.   When Joseph was very young, his family lived in Virginia.  His parents owned a farm and over and over, they lost their crops and were unable to pay their bills. Eventually they had to move to New York and just so happened to live in Palmyra New York, right next to the hill where  the plates were buried.  God helps us in our lives, and sometimes when it feels like we are being punished, he is really just preparing us for something better in the future.

Names

This week in Book of Mormon, we talked about the importance of names.  I've never really thought much about how names are used in the Book of Mormon, but Brother Griffin pointed out some interesting facts.  We mostly focused in chapter 27 of 3rd Nephi.  Names are mentioned over and over in this section.  Brother Griffin started by pointing out that the husband first gives his name to his wife, then after as a father he gives his name to his children.  Similarly, the church is named after the father.  In verses 7-8 of chapter 27 he says "7. Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.  8. And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel."  I love these two verses.  Christ makes it so clear to the Nephites that they need to be taking upon his name and calling the church the Church of Christ.  (Take note that the name of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was given in D&C 115:4 as revelation to Joseph Smith).  I also love that he mentions that not only does it need to be called in his name but also that it must be built upon his gospel.  A church cannot just call themselves Christ's Church and be true, they need to be built upon his gospel. 

Protection from on High

This week in Book of Mormon, we were reading in 3rd Nephi about when Christ is visiting in the Americas.  In the chapters he taught about the scattering of Israel.  In chapter 21 when they talk about Israel being gathered back together and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Christ promises the Gentilies that they will be saved if they are willing to believe and obey the commandments.  He also talks about Joseph Smith in this chapter.  He says "But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them.  Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil."  Christ here shows us that he has ultimate power and that although people have the freedom to do what they want, he will protect us in the end and will not allow us to be destroyed.  Even though this was taught a long time ago, it still applies to us today.  Even when times are rough and we feel like we are alone and not protected from the evils of the world, Christ will always heal us and help us overcome our trials. 

Attitudes

This week in Book of Mormon, one of the things we talked a lot about was the Beattitudes.  I've read over these many times, but I usually don't think twice about them.  Brother Griffin showed us a new way to see them.  He pointed out that the Beattitudes are a representation of the repentance process.  Let me show you how it works.  Starting in 3 Nephi, chapter 12 verse 3 we find them.  The first is "Blessed are the poor in spirit" When we are pure in spirit, we recognize that we have made a mistake.  In verse 4 we see "blessed are they that mourn" mourning represents that we feel bad about what we did.  verse 5 says "blessed are the meek" when you are meek, you admit that what you did was wrong. verse 6 says "blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness" showing that they have the desire to do what is right. Verse 7 is about forgiving yourself when it says "blessed are the merciful." 8 and 9 kind of go together "blessed are all the pure in heart" and "Blessed are all the peacemakers" saying that you are becoming better and helping others as well.  I thought this was a super cool way of looking at these ideas that I haven't really thought much about before.  One of the best things about our church is that we believe that through Christs atonement, we are able to repent and be forgiven of our sins, but it is not just a confession and you're done, you have to put forth the effort and really feel sorry for what you have done.  Even if what you has done seems awful and you feel like you can never be forgiven, Christ is there for you and he will help you.

Samuel was a Prophet

This week we learned all about Samuel the Lamanite.  I've never payed too much attention to Samuel, I just saw him as another prophet the Lord sent to preach the gospel.  When I heard his name, my mind automatically pictured him standing on the wall with arrows all around unable to touch him.  Brother Griffin was able to open my eyes and help me see him in a whole new light.  He pointed out four different things about him that I hadn't noticed before.  Number one, Samuel is the only lamanite whose preachings were recorded in the Book of Mormon. Second, his prophesys were specific.  While many other prophets would tell of things to come, Samuel was able to give an exact number of days.  The third thing he pointed out was that Samuel was a nobody.  The only other nobody we see in the Book of Mormon was Abinidi.  Aside from the two of them, we always know their heritage and where they come from.  The final thing we noticed was the Samuel's doctrine was deep.  All of these things together helped establish a whole new view of Samuel for me.  He was an excellent prophet who worked hard to please the Lord.  If we can strive to follow the gospel in the same manner that Samuel did, we will be blessed in our lives.

The Dangers of Pride

Any of you who know much about the Book of Mormon, have heard about the pride cycle. For those who don't, I have included a picture and i'll briefly describe it.  The pride cycle is the pattern that the people in the Book of Mormon often follow.  They start out as a righteous people, and because they are righteous, they recieve blessings from God.  After revieving blessings, they think they are better than their bretheren and become prideful.  Because of the pride, they begin to be wicked and sin.  This sinning leads God to destroy what they have until they have again become humble and willing to listen to the word of God.  Then the cycle repeats itself.  In class, we went more in depth than I have before, and learned more about this cycle and the other cycles within it.  Our teacher referred to this main cycle as the Terrestrial cycle. It is the medium ground.  Eventually, the people go back to being good, but they don't stay their for long.  On the other hand, some people stay in the bad half of the cycle.  After their pride has led to wickedness and destruction, they are angry with God and go back to being prideful.  This is considered the Telestial cycle.  The cycle we want to be in is the Celestial cycle.  This means that after we are righteous and blessed, we go straight to being humble and trusting in the lord.  Seeing this drawn out was interesting.  It made me want to make sure I never reach the telestial part of the cycle.  Pride is difficult to avoid, but if we make sure to recognize that without God, we are nothing, we will be able to remain humble.

He Always has a Plan

This week in BOM was awesome.  We started reading in Helaman, chapters 1-4. Chapter one is about the three brothers, Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni.  Pahoran is appointed to the judgement seat, and while Pacumeni supports him, Paanchi gets jealous.  Paanchi tries to drag the people away from his brother and because of this, he is condemned to death.  When this happens, one of his followers, Kishkumen, murderes Pahoran.  Pacumeni is then appointed to the judgement seat.  We talked about  why Pahoran was killed while Pacumeni got to live and rule.  The teacher told us:

"No righteous man is ever taken before his time."

 I loved this quote.  I've seen quite a few wonderful people die, and I always feel like it wasn't their time yet.  Through reading stories like this, we can see that while Pahoran was a just man, and probably would have made a good ruler, he was needed in heaven.  Because of this, Kishkumen was allowed to kill him.  Thinking about it, Heavenly Father has the power to save any mans life.  If it is his desire, we can live forever.  We see that earlier in the Book of Mormon when we read about the sons of Mosiah.  Many times their lives were threatened, but the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would protect them so they were never killed.  The Lord is all powerful.  If we lose someone in our lives, it is because Heavenly Father was ready for them to return to heaven.  He loves us all and even if the loss is hard for others, he will always be there for us to help us and comfort us.

Learning from Wars

This week in class, we focused on the war chapters of Alma.  (approximately chapters 40-63).  In the past, when I've read over these, I move as fast as possible and try not to worry too much about all the people dying.  This time however, Professor Griffin showed us a whole new way to look at it. Every trial we come upon in life is a war we need to fight.  In class, Professor Griffin pointed out that we don't go looking for war.  The advosary is the one seeking war, we just need to be prepared to fight when it approaches.  We are at war right now. We started this war in heaven.  Because Satan lost, he is constantly trying to drag us down.  What we always need to remember is Heavenly Father is ALWAYS one step ahead of Satan.  We just need to trust in him and have faith and he will lead us.  We saw an example of this when the Lamanites were fighting against the Nephites.  While the Lamanites had more men, the Nephites had armor to protect them.  When the Lamanites realized this, they got their own armor, but by then the Nephites had built fortresses.  No matter how hard Satan tries, he will always be one step behind.  I found this article, written by a non-lds man very interesting.  It went along with what I had to say in some ways and I hope you enjoy it as well.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52591
*Take note that it talks about our war in heaven still continuing today.

Blessings of the Atonement

Freeman Park - Idaho Falls, ID

This week in Book of Mormon, we focused a lot on Alma chapters 35 and 36.   When I read through these chapters on my own, nothing much stood out to me, but when reading through them as a class, Brother Griffin pointed out so many strong passages that taught about repentance and forgivness.  Because Alma had a first hand experience with a change of heart, he is an excellent person to learn from.  Alma spent his teen (or what we would assume to be teen) years as what we would call a trouble child.  He taught false doctrine and tried to lead others away from the gospel.  It wasn't until he was visited by an angel that he had a change of heart and corrected his mistakes in order to become a prophet.  Chapters 35 and 36 talk a lot about the differences between when he was on the path of distruction and when he was on the path of righteousness.  I wrote down five awesome quotes in my scriputures that I want to share. 

1. Misery likes company
2. You can't do wrong and feel right.
3. When Satan reminds you about your past, remind him about his future.
4. You can't come to Christ perfect.  Come to Christ as you are, and ask his help to be perfect.
5. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.

At the end of class we also watched this video.  I suggest it to anyone who is struggling to forget about things that have happened in the past.
 http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-messages-for-youth?v=1795507066001

BOM at BYU

For my Book of Mormon class at BYU, we are required to get our thoughts on the weekly readings out to the world. Because of this, I have created this blog, Life of a Mormon Girl. I hope you enjoy what I have to say!

Tuesday we started in on Alma 30-35. This is such a powerful section of scriptures that I've never paid much attention too before. Alma 30 starts out strong with the people loving the gospel and doing what they should. From what we know about the BOM when a section starts out this strong, we know it will be quick to turn around as the people lose faith. Seeing this happen, I often picture our world today. We have gained so much in the last hundred years that the pride of the world is ever expanding. It seems like it's only a matter of time before our people will need to be humbled. In this section of scriptures, the trouble comese with an anti-christ, Korihor. My book of mormon teacher refered to this section as the devils handbook. Korihor has no faith in Christ and he has no interest in learning more. After pulling many members away from the church, he is brought to Alma, who questions him and ultimatly curses him to be dumb (speech wise). We noted in class that although it is not mentioned in the book, he is also not able to hear as Alma proceeds to write to him about his curse. The chapter ends with a promise about the devil in Alma 30:60 "And thus we see the end of him who preverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedly drag them down to hell." I wrote in the margin of next to this scripture "BAM." It is powerful and strong, and helps us to know that the devil will always fight against us. So many friends and family members start to see the ways of the devil as fun and enjoyable. For a while, we see that they really are enjoying themselves, but when you run into the same people a few years down the road, either they have improved their lives and are back on the right track, or they are still making the same mistakes and suffering, no longer enjoying the things that once brought so much action and adventure. Alma desired to help those who have fallen away in chapter 31. My favorite verse of the whole section is seen here in Alma 31:5 "And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just--yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, of anything else, which had happened unto them therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God." I love this section and if you haven't taken the time to read it, I would highly suggest it.

**if you don't know anything about the Book of Mormon and are interested in learning more visit http://mormon.org/.