Book of Mormon Class: Alma's Five-Step Process of Obtaining Faith

Prompt: I would like you to select a problem, uncertainty or concern that currently challenges your peace of mind. With your problem (challenge) in mind now I want you to place Alma's faith outline over it. You will need to superimpose his 5 steps or levels over your problem and demonstrate by mentioning them as you discuss your challenge.

This past week, I have been struggling with the death of a close friend. She passed away ten months ago, but something happened earlier this week that resulted in me questioning Heavenly Father and His plan for my friend, Heidi. So I took my concern to the Lord in prayer.

I took the first step of Alma’s faith outline, belief, and said a prayer. In this prayer, I expressed my hope that Heavenly Father had a bigger and better plan for Heidi, that she was special and was needed in heaven more than her family and friends needed her here on Earth. I expressed my hope that she would be reunited with her family someday. Lastly, I earnestly expressed my desire for Him to comfort me in this time of weakness, and more importantly, to comfort her family who was surely suffering more than I was. All these desires and hopes were deep, and I had faith they were true.

            Next, I exercised Alma’s second step, experiment, and my hopes compelled me to “exercise a particle of faith” and experiment on His words. I told Heavenly Father that I believed that families can be together forever and that He has special plans for all of us. I told Him that even though I didn’t understand everything, I believed that He knew what He was doing. I told Him that I believed it will all be okay in the end and that it was better this way.

            My pain was never completely taken away as I uttered this prayer. I was still engulfed in sadness for the next couple days, but I slowly felt the Lord comfort me as I continued to study faith and hope. That weekend, I went to the temple and that’s where I felt the most peace about my concerns. I felt the effects of Alma’s third step in his faith process. I felt the Spirit begin to “enlarge my soul” and “enlighten my understanding.” I felt calm and peaceful and I knew all the things that I had prayed for and expressed my hope for, were true. Heavenly Father listened to my prayer and addressed my concern.

            Since receiving this feedback from the Lord, I am currently in the process of step four and five: nourishing and knowledge. I know I don’t know everything about why Heavenly Father does what He does and I’ve made peace with the fact that I may never know the reasons for some things. But I will continue to learn more about faith and exercise it whenever I can. I feel ready to be able to share my testimony of what I have learned from this experience with my family, friends, and the people I will teach on my mission. I miss Heidi and I will always feel compassion for her family, but I know with all of my heart that Heavenly Father is taking care of her. I know that because of the Lord’s great Plan of Salvation and that He was willing to give His only Son to atone for our sins, Heidi and her family will be reunited someday. I am eternally grateful for this knowledge.

References: Alma 32 (Book of Mormon)

Hope.

This week I tried to develop the Christ-like attribute of hope. I read the appropriate section in Preach My Gospel and all of the corresponding scriptures. From Ether 12:4, 32 I learned that hope cometh of faith and that having hope will result in the desire to abound in good works and will lead you to glorify God. This principle makes sense to me because if you have hope for eternal life, you must have had faith in Christ first. It will also be easier for you to pray to and praise God if you first had faith that he exists and loves you and that you will be able to live with Him again someday. In Moroni 7:40-48 I also learned that without faith there is no hope and those who have hope are meek, lowly of heart, and have charity. The most important things we should hope for are to be as pure as Christ and that we’ll be able to live with Heavenly Father in our heavenly “mansions.” Once again, this scripture teaches that faith and hope go hand in hand. I never really understood the difference until I sat down and read these scriptures with a prayerful heart. Being humble seems to be an important factor in having hope. Someday I hope to be able to say that I have charity, the pure love of Christ, for all of God’s children.

Every day, I prayed to be able to understand the principle of hope better and for experiences that would give me the opportunity to exercise hope. The most significant teaching moment I experienced this week was when I got a text from my Mom about a dear friend, Heidi. Heidi unexpectedly passed away in March of last year (2013) from a pulmonary embolism in her leg. Next month, her parents are hosting a “Chasing the Sun-Heidi Run 5k” near their home in CA. My mom texted me letting me know that Sister Greenwood had a van of fifteen seats that could take me and my roommate, McKenna, to Rocklin so that we would be able to participate in the race. I was very excited for this opportunity to honor Heidi so Kenna and I both immediately went to Heidi’s blog to sign up. After signing up, I was looking at the blog and came across Heidi’s story, as written by her mother. My roommate had warned me about reading it a week earlier but curiosity overcame me and I began reading about the months leading to Heidi’s passing and how she was struggling with breathing, which affected her running and her future as a cross country runner for BYU-Hawaii. I read about the morning her mom found her on the floor, face gray and eyes rolled back into her head, and thought she was dead. I read about how the paramedics and doctors tried to revive her but they could not stop the blood from pooling in her body- her legs, her lungs, her head. I read about her sisters flying in from Utah to be able to say goodbye to their sister. I read about the crowds of families and friends (over 200) crowding the hospital hallways with the hope that Heidi would make it through. As you can imagine, reading this in detail was too much for me. I had already felt the pain of loss and the anguish that comes from losing someone you love at the time of her passing, and I was able to slowly overcome it. But now, all the pain came back and I mourned at the loss of a daughter, a sister, and a friend. It was again difficult to think of all the experiences Heidi would never experience on this Earth- high school graduation, the birth of her first niece, marrying her true love in the temple, having children of her own, etc. As always, I ached more for family, her parents and her six siblings, than I did for my own pain. Mine could never compare. After sobbing, I went into my room and prayed for comfort and prayed, like I do every night, for Heidi’s family, that they would be continually comforted. As I prayed, I recognized that I was exercising hope. I had hope that Heavenly Father had a special plan for Heidi and that was why she was taken from this Earth so prematurely and unexpectedly-she was special. I had hope that she was completely happy, living in the Celestial kingdom with her Heavenly Father. Most of all, I had hope that her family is forever and that they will all be reunited someday. I could not imagine living without hope. Hope is what keeps us going, helps us to survive our trials. More than ever now, I want to be a missionary and share this hope with others. I want them to understand that there is a life after this one and that families are forever. I will always exercise my hope of this and I am grateful for this week’s experience. And I can’t wait to see Heidi again.  

Faith.

Every week in  my Missionary Preparation class we work on developing or learning about a different Christ-like attribute, as found in "Preach My Gospel." This week was faith.

This week I worked on the principle of faith. First, I read the required material in Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. Then I read the suggested scriptures and church material on faith. A few things that stood out to me was when I read a couple scriptures on how to obtain faith and what you can do through having faith. For example, I learned that faith comes by righteousness, while miracles can confirm one’s faith. Faith isn’t something that we are rewarded with; we have to earn it by keeping the commandments and repenting of our sins, ultimately coming closer to Christ. We shouldn’t think that we have to see miracles to have faith; they should only serve to strengthen our faith. This reminds me of Korihor and how he thought (or at least Satan convinced him) that he needed a sign in order to have faith or proof of Christ. That’s not how it works. You need to exercise faith in order to have it. Our faith can also be kindled by hearing the testimonies of those who have faith. This reminded me of testimony meetings and how sometimes I don’t appreciate their importance. It didn’t ever occur to me that you can strengthen your faith through the stories and testimonies of others. The last thing I learned was what blessings can come through faith. Through faith, you can have knowledge that your life and your actions are accepted by the Lord.  You can receive many blessings that have been available to man. Lastly, and best of all, you can receive an assurance of salvation. All these things are characteristics I want to have in my life someday. I yearn for complete and unflinching faith. Right now, I am striving to reach a point where I feel like the Lord approves the life I am living. I’m as far from perfect as anyone but I hope that by preparing to serve a mission I can become a better person.

            That brings me to how I decided to exercise more faith this week. After learning about faith in the scriptures and in True to the Faith, I decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father to give me experiences where I could exercise my faith. I knew what I was getting myself into and I went to bed half expecting that something crazy and drastic would happen the next day. I just wanted to see if I had faith, enough faith to completely trust in the Lord- no matter what happened. Well, nothing life-changing happened the next day but I did have one of the worst days ever. I got three bad grades (not my fault), accidentally wasted $40, totally biffed it on the road in front of someone, AND had less than 24 hours to prepare for a playing test. Looking back it all seems trivial now but I was NOT happy. I wondered if this was my test of faith, if so, I was grateful it wasn’t that difficult to get over and I had faith that my day would turn around. I surely didn’t have the great trial of faith that I was half-expecting; if anything I simply learned a lot of humility. But, I did learn that the Lord always gives us tender mercies. That night I got second chair in University Band which made me very happy. I prayed each day that week for instances to learn faith and He did teach me. I was talking to my mom a couple days later and she told me they had found renters for our house in Illinois that’s been on the market for almost four years. Coincidently (obviously not coincidental at all), that will be the time that I’m going to be on my mission. The Lord blessed my family with the tender mercy of financially supporting me and my family so I can serve Him and preach His gospel wherever He sends me. I also exercised and will continue to exercise a lot of faith as my mission call comes closer and closer. I have faith that I have repented of all my sins and that I will be worthy to serve a mission. I have faith that I will be needed wherever the Lord sends me. I have faith that even when times are hard on my mission and I don’t think I’ll be able to bear it any longer, I WILL get through it because the Lord loves me and He needs me to have experiences and trials that will strengthen me and allow me to serve Him continually on Earth and in heaven when I return to Him.

            I will continue to exercise my faith as I prepare for my mission and I know the Lord has a great plan for me. It is becoming more apparent to me every day how trivial daily problems and aspirations in my life are in comparison to learning and gaining experiences that will strengthen my faith and mold me into the person the Lord needs me to become. I’m excited for my mission and I expect it to be difficult. Very difficult. But I have faith that by being where the Lord wants me to be and by doing what the Lord wants me to do, I will be able to perform miracles and bring others to Christ—but only through the Spirit. I will take no credit for my successes. I will simply be a servant to the Lord and a way for him to touch the hearts of others and return them to His fold. 

The Book of Mormon

This is the first mini-paper I wrote for my Book of Mormon class. Our prompt: "I want you to give me a paragraph about how important the BoM is to our faith.Then in the second paragraph I would like you to talk about your experiences and feelings for this book." Pretty simple right? (Now these are my kind of essays!) It's fairly short and simple- I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know about the Book of Mormon BUT this assignment definitely reinforced my testimony about its truthfulness.

The Book of Mormon is undoubtedly the most essential part of the Latter-Day Saint church today. The Prophet Joseph Smith himself called it, “the keystone of our religion.” Without the Book of Mormon, there would no foundation for our faith. As expressed by President Benson-that is the reason why the Book of Mormon was given to Joseph Smith, translated, and published before the Church was even organized. This proves to me how important the Book of Mormon is to our religion and how it should not be taken lightly. Each member should read the Book of Mormon prayerfully as often as they can. Each member should realize that the counsel and gospel principles were specifically chosen for us and our time. It is through the Book of Mormon and its teachings of Christ and His atonement that people are converted as they come to realize that this book and the Church are true. And it is through the Book of Mormon that we can each become closer to God and be worthy to return to Him again.

                I have been working on my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon since I was a child. I have read it cover to cover more times than I can count. At first I read every night simply to be obedient to the teachings of my parents and Primary teachers, but over the years it became a habit that strengthened my faith and understanding of the gospel. Looking back, reading the Book of Mormon affected my life in more ways than I knew. For example, the summer after my senior year of high school, for whatever reason still unknown to me, I stopped my nightly scripture reading. That summer turned out to be one of the most difficult times of my life. I felt very alone and pushed away the people I cared most about. I didn't realize how powerful the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, could be in times of struggle. I have a firm testimony that the Book of Mormon can bring the Holy Spirit into your life and can act as a way to receive blessings from the Lord. After coming here to BYU and taking multiple religion classes, my interest and vigor in reading the Book of Mormon has been renewed. Now, I am preparing to serve a mission and share this wonderful testament of Jesus Christ and message of his atonement to people around the world. I know this book is true with all my heart and I hope to be able to be a medium through which the Spirit can reach out to people who need this truth. I have no problem proclaiming that the Book of Mormon is central to my testimony and that because of it, I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints is true and that I have a Father in Heaven who sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for my sins and the sins of the world. I love the Book of Mormon and I look forward to learning more about the inspired messages of the prophets in this class.

Putting On My Armour of Light

I, Kelsey, having been born of goodly parents...

Alright, alright- I'm not good at opening blogs, I admit it. You can stop cringing now.

Before you stop reading as a result of my cheesiness, I would just like to let you know that it won't happen again. Actually I can't promise that. You may proceed.

So I guess this is the part where I explain why I've decided to start my own blog. Well guess what, I actually don't know why. You thought I had a big, super important reason for doing this, didn't you?  Haha sucker! (Sorry, that wasn't very nice. I already feel bad. I apologize).

In all truthfulness though, I don't really know what I'm doing. I haven't even decided if I ever want people to read this. I just wanted a place where I could put all my thoughts and spiritual experiences together for future reference. So yes, I intend for this to be a solely spiritual blog (we'll see how long that lasts).

As of now, this blog will probably consist of assignments I had to do for my Book of Mormon and Mission Prep class. There will be a lot of serious, and quite frankly-boring, content (content that if you were anything like me, you would most likely skip over). Probably stuff only a mother would love (love you Mom). But who knows, maybe someone will find something I say uplifting and that would be great. But as of now, this blog is for me and my spiritual growth. Besides, it makes it easier to write honestly if I don't feel like I have to impress an audience.

One last thing. I should probably explain the purpose behind my blog's name. If you didn't already notice, "armour of light" is a phrase from a verse found in Romans Chapter 13. I first stumbled upon this scripture at an EFY I went to and this verse has stuck with me since. Whenever I read this verse I imagine a soldier putting on his armor, piece by piece, preparing for war. More than anything I want to be that soldier. I want to cast away all the darkness that I have seen or allowed into my life. I want to cast away all my sins by surrounding myself with light. What is this light I speak of? Well, friends, I am talking about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Only through accepting Him into our lives can we find the ability-or even the desire-to become better. Only through Him can we be forgiven of our sins and have a hope of returning to live with our Father in Heaven again. Only through Him will we be able to put on this "armour of light."  I don't imagine that this can be done in one day. I imagine that its a slow process. Day by day I am trying to develop Christ-like attributes, pieces that I can add to my "armour of light." I want-no, I need-to be a better person and this is ultimately what my blog is all about: my journey of trying to be more like my Savior.