The Potential!

I want you to think of this question.  "How many times do we pass by someone, something, or ourselves because we don't see value in it?"

Look at this picture.  It is just 2 rolls of duct tape.  Now, most people would see those and not think that much more than tape.  But I see those and think, "There are so many possibilities!"

Now just with a simple roll of duct tape, I was able to increase it's potential.  I didn't look at the tape and see where it was, I looked at it and saw where it could go!  To take it from being a normal piece of tape and used it to create something more, something better.  It took some time and some effort to make it something more, but in the end it was worth it.  Because now I have things that I can use. 

Slippers 







Bag       

 Scripture cases








 Wallet






Now everyday we pass by people.  We look in the mirrors and see ourselves.  Do we look at ourselves and think "EW!  What is that?"  or do we look and see how good we are?  How much progress we have made?  Do we see how great we are to God? 

"Remember the 
worth of souls 
is great in the 
sight of God."  D&C 18:10

Everyday we have the potential to become better, to improve.  We can become who God wants us to be.  We cannot afford to look at someone, something or ourselves and not see the value!  Because as we see value in others we will begin to see the value we have in ourselves. 

Our VALUE is GREAT in the sight of God!  Pray to recognize it!  It will bless your life to see yourself, and other's, through God's eyes. 

FORTUNE COOKIES!

So I got this fortune cookie today at lunch.  I had been debating right before if I should get some ice cream to celebrate my 8 month mark of being out on my mission.  I opened the cookie and read this:

Now I don't know how this one was so accurate, but I learned something.  God knows what I am thinking.  He can answer our prayers and our THOUGHTS in the simplest way.  God knows each and every one of us.  He wants to help us.  But we have to decide if we want to follow His advice?  He is an all knowing God, so I decided I better listen to Him, for He knows what is best for me.  Do you listen to God's advice?

Getting an answer

Recieving answers to questions we have on what direction our life should take is a hard thing to understand sometimes.  The answers to prayers can come from friends or aquaintances.  Sometimes it is through a warm feeling or a thought that comes to mind.  But sometimes it can feel like God is not answering our prayers.  That we can't get a "yes" or a "no" on a question.
God is hearing and listening to your prayers.  He hears everyone of them.  But in the course of our lives, he gives us oppurtunity to use our agency.  He wants us to develop our faith and to decide on an answer and then move forward with faith.  He would never allow us to do anything that would harm us or not allow us to return to him from a mistake we made without first warning us. 
"For behold, it is not meet
that I should command
in ALL things..."  D&C 58:2
When we are not getting an answer, God sometimes wants us to take a step of faith.  Decide what we want to do and see which is the best solution.  Then we step forward.  If we are getting a feeling of peace and joy with the decision, than it was right.  But if we get the feeling that something is wrong or discomfort with the choice, than we need to re-evaluate. 
Here is a clip of how some people feel they have gotten answers to their prayers.  Get out a piece of paper and listen to their answers.  Write down ideas that stand out to you and look for those feelings when you are seeking direction.




Move forward with faith.

Standing alone

Sometimes in life, we may feel a lot like this flower.  Being bright and cheery in a dark and bland world.  God has asked us that we let our light so shine, that we may be a beaken to the world.  That we can bring joy and light back into this world that is dark and grey.

"Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your light so shine before this people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

3 Nephi 12:14-16

We show our faith by the way we live.  If we are willing to rise above our situations and strive to come closer to Christ, others are going to see that.  We can be a light to others through our examples.  We can show to them how the gospel makes us happy.

A prophet of God said,

"If the gospel of Jesus Christ does not make me a better man, then I have not developed as I should, and if our neighbors not in this Church can live among us from year to year and see no evidence of the benefits that come from keeping the commandments of God in our lives, then there is need for reform in Israel."

People should look at us and see the blessings of being an obedient son or daughter of God.  We can stand out like this flower.  Others will look at us and see that we are brighter, happier, and are standing a little taller than the rest of the world, and that is a GOOD thing. 

If you desire to have this joy and happiness, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to read the Book of Mormon and pray, and that happiness will begin to fill your life, I promise!

Gaining a testimony

I was in the Mission Training Center and we, as missionaries, practice teaching one another.  So I was pretending to be an atheist for the other missionaries.  They were asking me a few questions and I was answering them.  Then I looked out our small window and said
"Look outside.  How can you look out there and think that there is a God?  There is NOTHING that proves there..."

I was going to finish that phrase, but was cut off by my emotions.  I couldn't say that God didn't exist.  I could not deny the testimony that I had received through my life. 

Joseph Smith said about receiving a vision from God "I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, NEITHER DARED I DO IT."

So how do we gain the testimony that it gets to the point that we cannot deny it?  Gaining a testimony takes work.  We have to desire to gain it and work to gain it. 

Alma 32:27 "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." 

So first we have DESIRE.  We have to want a testimony.  We plant a seed.  We long to know the truth of something.  Then we go to work, or NOURISH the seed!  We nourish the seed by earnestly praying and reading more about it.  If it is the testimony, or knowledge that God exist, then we study out the scriptures and find where there is proof that God exist.  For example:
Alma 30:44 
"The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." 

We continue to PONDER upon these teachings and PRAYING and asking if this is true.

Then, we know if it is true if it begins to grow, or gives us peace and sometimes warm feelings about the subject.  We know that if a seed is bad, that it will not grow and will not produce anything.  Or, we know that it won't make sense or feel right if it is wrong.  But if it grows, it will continue to grow as you strive to nourish it.  Then it can become a belief. 

Alma 32:34

"And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and you mind doth behind to expand."

I can promise you that you can gain a testimony of anything if you desire to find the truth.  Then you can say,

"I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it."