Prophet = GPS of Life

So lately I have been getting lost a lot. For most of my mission here in Montana I have been serving in small towns with the population no more than 3,000. I like it that way. I grew up in a small town and only having so many streets to have to worry about. If you did get lost you could probably walk the whole town in about 30 minutes or less and find out where you need to be.

Ok so I am used to small. So lately trying to figure out the crazy streets of Helena has left be confused. I have a map and we get a long fairly well but we sure do get lost a lot as well. People have asked me why don't I just us a GPS. Well for one I didn't have a GPS and two I am stubborn and wanted to see if I could learn the area better by using a map. But finally I caved in after getting lost one too many times even while using a map and borrowed a GPS. What a difference. Now I don't get lost. Miracle.

Wouldn't be nice if we could have a GPS for our lives. Sure we can get around fine just doing our own thing but if we something or someone to help lead us to where we want to go, heaven, it would sure make it alot easier. Luckily we do. We have a modern day prophet to help lead, guide, and direct us here on earth so that we can live with God again. Elder Neil L Anderson said, "In the confusion and commotion of our day and of the days ahead, we and our children need the power of revelation from the Lord’s prophets. The Lord has always revealed his will through his servants the prophets (see Amos 3:7), but as the world’s course diverges even more dramatically from the path of righteousness, our trust in the voice of the Lord through his servants (see D&C 1:38) will be even more critical to our knowing right from wrong."

So by following the prophet we have our very own GPS, guidence positioning system, for life. We can make follow the path that will lead us directly to God and back to Heaven. We have a prophet on the earth today, Thomas S Monson, and I suggest that you each take the time to see what he has been saying and apply it into your life so you can have a modern day GPS.

Families, Love Them Don't Hate Them

I love my family! I mean I really love them. Just look at them. How could you not love them? Each one brings a special spirit to our home. The greatest thing is that I know that they will always be there for me. Now my family isn't perfect but it sure is great. They are the ones that I can fully be myself with. My favorite times of the year always have to do on whether I am around my family or not. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday simply because that is usually when we all get together.

The greatest thing is that no matter what our family situation is like the Gospel of Jesus Christ can strengthen our relationships. "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." The Family: A Proclamation to the World 

How very true this is. If we just take the time to be with each other, to build each other up, to share the Gospel with each other, and to love each other then our families will start to be on the path of where we would like them to be.  We can start now. We can mend bridges or we can keep our ties strong as we follow the example of our Savior and love our families.

I am super excited to help my family grow closer together and to be with them for eternity. If you would like your family life to be a little better read the rest of The Family: A Proclamation to the World and try out the different things it suggest. I know it will bless you. 

God Loves You

Hey guess what? God loves you!

I think that this is the most important thing that any of us could understand. All other knowledge doesn't really mean a whole ton until you come to understand that God loves you.

But first before you can know that God loves you you have to know who God is to you. Is God someone who is close to you? Do you think that He is just some being up in the heavens that isn't really mindful of you? I can tell you that God is close to you and that you can have a very personal relationship with Him. In fact He is the father of our spirits. He created us. He knows everything there is to know about us. He even knows us better than we know ourselves. The scriptures strongly testify of who God is and how much He knows and cares for us. In Alma 18:32 it says,"...and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; fory by his hands were they all created from the beginning."

So God does know and love each and every single one of us. Knowing that He does opens all sorts of doors. For me the main thing that it helps me with is the understanding that He will and does answer my prayers. I just imagine how much my dad loves me and how he will answer my questions. God loves us even more than we can understand and if our dads will answer us then of course so will our Heavenly Father. "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7: 9-11)

But you don't have to take my word for it. Look around and see God's love. Pray to Him and feel God's love. Everytime you read the scriptures I know you will be able to understand that God does love you.

Hidden Blessings

Once upon a Fourth of July my siblings and I decided to light of some fireworks. Now these weren't big ones but the small black cat variety. We were just having a jolly ol' time watching the fireworks explode, you know just doing kid things. Well when we were done we went inside and went into the family room just talking with the family about the summer and different things. In the middle of our chit-chattings a nice man decided to knock and then open our door and tell us our house is on fire. Now the rest is typical 911 called, fire trucks come and try to hose down the house, and in the end the house is gone. But you know as sad as it was it was a blessing in disguise. How could it be a blessing in disguise? Well our house was a 1950s, or earlier, farm house. It was ok but definitely needed work and some up keep but because we had the house all the way paid off and it was fully insured the house insurance company covered the cost of a brand new house. So because of the fire we got a brand new house for free. Blessing in disguise.

Ok so there once were these people that we having a little jaunt into the desert totally to about 40 years. Well in the middle somewhere they got real thirsty. I can understand I mean a desert is really hot and there really isn't a lot of water around. So they were thirsty and started to complain. Well Moses, the prophet, got sick of them complaining and asked God for help. God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff. Now this is a true story. He struck the rock with his staff and water flowed out of the rock. There was enough water to quench the thirst of thousands and thousands of Israelites and their animals, all from a split rock. Blessing in disguise.

So now we have two examples of blessings that came in a way that we didn't expect them, blessings in disguise. I bet if you take the time you can come up with a huge list of blessings in disguise that you have received. All you have to do is take the time to pick them out. Remember that God is constantly giving us good gifts. In Matthew 7 it takes about how much God knows how to give us good gifts, "  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"  So God he wants to give us gifts, blessings, treasures, blessings in disguise, and all we have to do is ask. 

We Can Find Happiness

We can all find happiness. We just got to look for it and God will show us where it is. God wants us all to be happy and to live with Him in a "state of never-ending happiness."

2+2=350

Just this past week a member from one of our wards passed away. He was a very liked person and well known throughout the community. I had only met him once before he died but anytime anyone talked about him I could feel the goodness of his character. I don't think that there was one person that he didn't touch personally while he was alive. So, needless to say that at his funeral there wasn't a spare room. The chapel, the overflow, the gym, and the stage were all full and many people were standing. Those that had prepared the food for the meal were a little anxious. They were told only to prepare food enough for about 180 people. Well they started to express their doubts after the funeral service and were told that most people won't go to the grave side and most won't stay for the meal.

Break for a second. Remember in the Bible the story of Christ feeding the multitudes? A multitude had joined together to listen to Jesus Christ preach. The time had gotten away from everyone and the Apostles saw that the time was growing late and started to feel a little anxious for the people because they didn't have food for them. But Jesus, in His love, sends the Apostles out to find food and a miracle occurs. In Mark chapter 6 we follow the rest of the story.

"He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men."

This is where the miracle occured just like it had with Jesus Christ. More than the 180 people that they had prepared came to the meal. They said a prayer over the food that it would multiply just like it had when Christ blessed the loaves and the fishes. People were pilling food upon their plates thinking there would be enough. The women that were serving were constantly saying a prayer that there would be enough food and there was. Over 350 people were fed on the food that should have fed only 180. What a modern day miracle! The wonderful thing to notice is that all they had to do was to ask and then have faith that the food would multiply.

This is true in our lives as well. Miracles can and will happen we just have to have the faith  and believe and they will happen.  "Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." (1 Nephi 7:12)

Blink into the light

Imagine that you are in a room that is completely dark, pitch black.
Can you see anything? Not really.
Can you still get your way around? Sure, but it isn't that easy. At first it will be kind of difficult but the more you get used to it the easier it is to get around. Now while you are used to getting around in the dark how much easier would it be if someone turned the light on.

Ok so the light is on and you can see so much better. You can see that the walls are painted a soft ivory, that the molding is made from walnut. The carpet has a leaf pattern in it. The furniture is forest green and big and comfy. This room is much more wonderful now that you can actually see it in full detail. Before you only knew the main gist of it but for all the full details all you could do is guess. Isn't it interesting what light can do?

Now that we have the light on, would you go back to a life of pitch darkness? Hopefully not. There is so much more you can experience when there is light in your life. You can see better, you can move around better. Life it just way easier. So, we don't want to be in the dark. We like the light on. Interestingly though, no matter how much we love our new life in the light there are times that we are in the darkness again, even for a split second. We blink. We shut our eyes and surround ourselves momentarily in darkness.

How do we stop? Well really we can't. We are human. Because we are imperfect there are times of darkness in our lives even though we want to be in the light.

Now remember what life was like before you really knew about Jesus Christ or His Gospel? It was like living in that dark room. Sure, you got around and life was fine but remember how much greater you life became when you learned about Jesus Christ, the light? Things just seemed so much better. You learn about His grace and love and how you can express your love back to Him by following Him. You strive each day to do better, to be better, to always stay in the light. Now we aren't perfect we make mistakes, we blink. But we don't have to focus just on the times that we blink and then think that we are never going to be able to live with God again. Sure we make mistakes but that is where repentance comes in. That is where our Savior comes in. If we are striving to have our lives as bright as possible and trying our best each day, Jesus will make up the difference and bring in the light that we lack.

We blink, that is life but we can surround ourselves with so much light that we focus more on the light then on the darkness.