Alma's Repentance Process

This week we focused on the repentance process of Alma the Younger.  I have been very fortunate not to have to go through a difficult repentance process.  But I can only imagine what it must have been like.  I am sure that it was a process of much sorrow and then great joy in the end.

I couldn't help but think about Alma the Elder.  As a parent, it must have been difficult to watch your son not only be an unbeliever, but to intentionally preach against what you know is true.  I also would have been praying every day for my son to come back and realize the error of his ways.  How much joy he must have felt when his son finally came back to the gospel.

I hope that I never have to experience that with my children.  But I also hope that if I do, I will be able to have the same amount of faith as Alma the Elder.

Putting Off the Natural Man

In the third chapter of Mosiah, in verse 19 it says:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever,unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

I loved this verse this week.  I was thinking about how the Lord's plan is so amazing.  He gave us the Holy Ghost to help us to stay away from the things of the natural man.  He knew that we couldn't do it alone.  Satan is so powerful and cunning.  He has a way of manipulating things in such a way that if we are not listening to the Spirit, we could easily be lead astray.

I was reading the traits that were in this scripture and thinking about how many of those I could say with confidence that I felt like I had mastered.  It turns out that I have not mastered one!  I am working on patience but the others also have quite a long way to go.  I know I am not perfect but this week I am going to ponderize this scripture. By doing that, hopefully I can have these things in the forefront of my thoughts.

Nephi the Hero

In the reading assignment this week for my Book of Mormon class, we read about Nephi's prophecy's of our day.  It was so amazing to read about how he interpreted the things that he knew would happen.  I enjoyed his thoughts on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  How amazing it is to me that he was able to know of those things and testify that they are true.

Nephi has always been a Book of Mormon hero to me.  He has so many qualities that I want to have in my life.  I enjoy reading about him.  He had patience in adversity.  He had unwavering faith in the Lord.  He always listened to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  He was able to teach the gospel without fear.  He was able to lead his family even in the midst of murmurings and contention.  I am grateful to know that he saw our day and called us a "delightsome people."

2 Nephi 30: 5-6

 5 And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they  shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge  of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.

 6 And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them   from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their  eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.

This weeks readings was very uplifting for me. I am so grateful for the perspective it gave me this week.

The Atonement

I discovered through my journey this week that I have a lot to learn.  I had a really hard time with my scripture reading this week. I didn't understand what I was supposed to be getting out of it.  I soon discovered through a conversation with a family member who is also in Pathway, that I was not the only one.  She also struggled to find deeper meaning to our scripture study this week.  As we were talking, I realized that my testimony of the Atonement is a "Primary" testimony.  I am a primary teacher and have been for most of my adult life.  The way I teach my primary children about the Atonement is the way I understand it.  I know that without the Savior, I could not be forgiven for my sins.  I know that he took on all of the heartache, pain (both physical and mental), and mistakes I have made and will continue to make in my life. I know that Heavenly Father loved me enough to create a plan that would allow Jesus to make up the difference for all of my shortcomings after all I can do.

I really liked in 2 Nephi 9 where Jacob is explaining what it would be like without the Atonement. Then in verse 10 he says, "O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell." That is exactly how I felt even before I read it.  I was thinking about how awful it sounded to "crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more."

I may not have understood everything that I was supposed to for this week but I do know that I have a testimony of the Atonement, as simple as it may be.  I know that without it, I would never be able to make up the difference for what I lack.  I love my Savior and all that he has done for me.  I am truly grateful for my knowledge of the gospel.

Grateful in Any Circumstances.

I am so excited to be on this amazing journey through the Pathway program.  In just the last few weeks, I have noticed changes in my life.

This week was an especially hard week for me.  I had a hard time getting all of my school work done. It felt like every time I sat down to do school work, one of my kids needed something.  My oldest son (11 years old) had a huge project due at school this week that he needed help on. He has a learning disability and my husband gets easily frustrated with him.  That means that I am the only one who can help him.  My middle son (9 years old) is such a social child and always wants me to run him to and fro his friends houses to play.  My baby (4 months old) has been teething and so all he wants is for me to hold him.

Somehow, even though all of this was going on, I managed to get my work done in the nick of time.  However, I didn't really feel like my whole heart and mind was in it.  I was looking forward to going to my weekly gathering to hopefully gain some insight that I felt like I had been lacking all week.  I left home a little but early hoping to be able to gather my thoughts before class started.  I was sitting in the parking lot with my windows rolled down waiting for it to be closer to class time.  I went to roll up my windows in my car and realized that my car battery was just about dead. I knew my husband couldn't come and get me because he had all of the kids at home in bed.

I went into the gathering and found several willing men who were happy to volunteer to jump my car afterwards so I could get home.  I immediately said I silent prayer in my heart thanking Heavenly Father for that small blessing.

Then someone asked me if I would be willing to switch the day that I signed up to be lead student with them because they had a conflict with doing it this coming week.  I realized that I would be off of work this week and could spend more time focusing on being lead student if I switched with her.  Yet another small blessing.

When our gathering was over, several of the men in my group came out and made sure my car would start so that I wouldn't be stuck.  It made me feel so comforted to know that I have people like that in my group.  Blessing #3.

Then my home teacher came over today and changed my battery for me so that I didn't have to take the kids out and try and do it on my won.  Blessing #4.

I watched a talk by President Uchtdorf this week that was called Grateful in Any Circumstances.  I know that I could have looked at this week as a series of horrible things but because I was able to listen and apply his counsel, I saw all of the blessings instead.  I think that is the first time in a long time that I was able to do that. I was so excited today that I wanted to shout it from the rooftops! What a blessing!

And because I loved it so much... I am going to share the talk with all of you!

Grateful in Any Circumstances