My Personal Trainer

As a missionary I get asked the question "why do we need an organized church?" a lot. As long as we are aware of God and seek to be good people, why do we need a "middle man"? Well, I must admit, it is a valid question, and so, I have begun to research it. I found my answer in two ways-scriptures and an analogy.
1-One reason we have a Church is because God commanded it. All throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon we learn of God calling prophets to set up and establish Christ's church "for the perfecting of the saints" (Ephesians 4:13). Christ tells Peter "upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), the Old Testament speaks of "congregations", and Christ himself called 12 Apostles and set apart men to help Him bring others to Christ. Basically, Church was never man made, but God mandated. We have a church because God set one up for us, and He even names its purpose, "for the perfecting" of us. That leads me to reason number 2.
2-Many of us have had the chance to walk into a gym. In a gym we find people taking classes, lifting weights, running on the treadmill, and even those people that go just to check themselves out in the full size mirrors. A few of these people may have a personal trainer with them, showing them workouts that will best help them reach their fitness goals. To me the people who have chosen to have a personal trainer will get far more out of their gym experience then those going at it alone. They may reach many of their goals, but for the gym to have its best affect on them they need a personal trainer who has all the knowledge and tools under their belt to help personalize, motivate, and teach them how to use the gym to their best advantage. The personal trainer isn't a middle man or a roadblock in the gym members way of using the gym's facilities-he or she is only there to work with them as they use all the gym has to offer. This is exactly how I feel about Church. It is not that Church is in the middle of me and my relationship with God and His commandments. Rather, Church is there to work with me to fully understand God's dealings with His children, motivate, uplift, and help me reach my personal spiritual goals in an individual and real way. It is not a hindrance at all, rather, a blessing and a tool God has placed here for us. I don't need Church to have a good relationship with God, but I do need the Church to help me build the strongest relationship I can have with Him. I would feel ungrateful and horribly amiss to say I didn't need the help of the organization of Christ's Church to become all I can become-to reach my full potential. Otherwise, I would be selling myself short. I never could have learned what I have or had the strength to apply what I have learned without the help of church meetings, leaders, and the incredible Spirit I feel each time I enter the building. It has been my personal trainer, and I am eternally grateful for its role in my life; I would not be who I am without it.

Additional Information Church Organization/Attendance:
Bible Dictionary: Church
Bible Dictionary: Sabbath
3 Nephi 27:3-11
Leviticus 8:3-5 (example of congregations)
3 Nephi 18:1-25
Moroni 6:5-6
Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-15
Exodus 20:8-11
1 Corinthians 12
Mosiah 18:8-9, 25
Doctrine and Covenants 29:7-8
Alma 6:6
Matthew 18:20
John 10:16
Ephesians 2:19-20

More than a washing machine...

A few conferences ago President Uchtdorf gave a talk (Your Potential, Your Privilege) on how often times we live far beneath our privileges. He told a story of a man that saved up for a long time to be able to go on a cruise. With little money for the actual trip he packed his own food to last him through the week long vacation. He declined the offers at the end of the day to join other cruise members for dinner, entertainments, and other attractions the cruise offered. It was not until the last day of the cruise he learned that all these things were free of charge and included in the price of his ticket. He had lived FAR below his privileges.

With it being April I have been reflecting a lot on the power that the Atonement can bring into our lives. As I reflected it reminded me of a blog my old missionary trainer wrote about t-shirts. She learned how to take a t-shirt and cut it up and tie it in such a way to make a beautiful scarf and related this to how we often feel like regular old t-shirts, yet we all have the potential to be so much more through Jesus Christ. It made me realize how just like the man on the cruise was only using part of the blessings that came with his cruise ticket, we often only use part of the blessings offered by the Atonement.

The reason I love the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is because it teaches the doctrine of exaltation and not salvation alone. It teaches us not only how to return to God's presence (salvation) but also how to return to him LIKE him (exaltation). In essence, it teaches us how to become. We all come to this life as a t-shirt. We will often make mistakes and thus get grease, grass stains, soda stains, mud stains, etc all over ourselves. It is at these times we call upon the powers of the Atonement and get ourselves thrown into the washing machine, perhaps with some extra strength Clorox. This aspect of the Atonement is generally familiar to us and hopefully frequently utilized, BUT, it is only half of the story. If this is the only way we use the Atonement we, like the man on the cruise, will be living beneath our privileges. The power of the Atonement is more than just a cleanser, it is also a refiner. Like the ability the t-shirt has to become a beautiful scarf, we too have the opportunity and ability through Christ to become like Him and our Father in Heaven. All we must do is follow the directions laid out for us. The t-shirt could only become a scarf as the the directions were searched out, studied, and carefully applied. We too must search the words of Christ and follow his gospel laid carefully out for us: faith in Him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (2 Nephi 31). As we follow these steps we will be able to fully utilize the blessings offered through Christ Atonement and live within our divine privileges so lovingly offered to us.

"I Believe in Christ, So Come What May"

I was asked to bare my testimony on the Savior for a meeting on Easter Sunday. It could only be three minutes long and I thought to myself, how can I ever express my feelings on Jesus Christ in just three minutes? In preparation I read the lyrics to "I Believe in Christ". One of the last lines of the song reads "I believe in Christ, so come what may". I realized that that was my testimony of Christ. One of the greatest miracles of the Atonement is that it does not just save us from physical and spiritual death, it does not just promise to make up all of the unfairness we have in this life, and it does not just mean we can one day be back in the presence of our Heavenly Father again-it also means that there is absolutely nothing we will face in this life that can wipe the smiles off our faces IF we center our faith and lives in Jesus Christ. That is why He is the "rock of our salvation". If we build our lives on Him and Him alone then the winds and waves of mortality cannot bring us down. The Lord has said "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25). That is our promise. I have experienced in my life that come what may I always have the right to peace, joy, progression, and fulfillment because Jesus Christ has opened the way for us to be so through His Atoning sacrifice. I testify that there is nothing His power cannot make right, nothing His love cannot heal, and nothing that He can not help us overcome and I say so in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Good Friends

In last October Conference Elder Richard G. Scott told us that "To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship." ("The Power of Scripture" October 2011 Conference). I've been thinking a lot about that phrase. What do good friends do? A good friend is there when you are frustrated, a good friend is there when you are discouraged, a good friend is there to make you smile, to encourage you, to stop you from doing something you'll regret... If we're blessed enough, we have a good friend somewhere for us in every single occasion in life. Good friends are there at the drop of a hat to help us. Good friends show up when we need them most; even if we didn't invite them to be there. Good friends help shape us, better us, and help us have joy in this life. With good friends around us, there isn't anything we cannot get through, accomplish, or become.
When I thought more about what a good friend does I realized that Elder Scott was right; scriptures are good friends. To become friends with someone you have got to take the time to get to know them. Only then can they be there when you need them. As we get acquinted with the scriptures then they will be avaliable to us at any time we need them; just like our good friends.

Below are people's experiences with their scripture "friends". If you would like to add your own experience please Facebook me and I'll post it. Thanks!

-Like good friends we often have one that is there for us the most or one that we go to when we need help the most. We usually have a scripture that is the same way. For me it is is Mosiah 27:16 "Remember the captivity of thy fathers". I love that phrase. No matter how bad I get myself in "captivity" I know that the power of the Lord is such that He can and will deliver me if I rely on Him and His grace.

-1 Nephi 20: 18: O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
I like to modify this in my mind to say: Because thou hadst harkened to my commandments, thy peace be as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
I love the imagery of this scripture because I love to sit by rivers and the ocean and hear the water move. It is so calming-and beautiful to watch. I always feel close to the Lord and awed by the majesty of it all.

-Whenever I need a good laugh I look up John 2:9. It is when Christ turns the dirty water into wine for the wedding feast. The verse reads "When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;)" I just like that there is a winky face in it because the servants knew where the wine had really come from.
-D&C 112:10
-2 Nephi 1:15
-Jacob 3: 1-2
-Jacob 2:8
-Doctrine and Covenantas 121:7-9
-Isaiah 41:10
-Nehemiah 4:23
-Moroni 10:5
-Enos 1:8