Hey y'all!
[Summary at the very bottom cuz I know not everyone has the time or attention span to read this.]
This week I want to talk about faith. (Again.)
Faith in Jesus Christ is one of my favorite things to teach because there is so much flexibility. There are so many different ways to teach, explain, make a metaphor for faith. I compare it to trust falls, stairs, picking your nose & sucking your thumb at the same time. There's so many scriptures you can use to teach about faith. I love it.
This week at zone conference Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt of the Seventy shared with us Alma 5:15. This is the Prophet Alma testifying to His people, he says, “15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” Elder Corbitt broke it down to look, forward, with an eye of faith, view or see (the Lord's promise fulfilled), imagine to yourselves (begin with the end in mind), works of righteousness.
We are to go about missionary work (& life) as though the Lords promises have already been fulfilled. Would your life be different if you knew, really knew that all of the promised blessings in your patriarchal blessing would be fulfilled? They will be as you are faithful. Would your life be different if you really knew that your family would be together forever as you faithfully keep temple covenants? View those promises as though they have already been fulfilled.
Live as though every good thing is in store for you. Because every good thing is in store for those that make and keep sacred covenants.
We can expect miracles because we have the type of faith that allows for miracles to happen all around us.
As we look forward with an eye of faith and see theLords's promise fulfilled we don't have to be afraid. We can better walk towards Jesus Christ. We can be more obedient and repent each day, we all need to repent each day.
Do something that requires faith. Here's what I did.
About a week before Zone Conference we had zone council where we were invited to memorize something called the Treasure Program. Which consists of Raleigh North Carolina mission specific advice and a lot of parts of Preach My Gospel like the different sections of lessons, how to begin teaching, the baptismal invite, and more. The treasure program is about 5 pages when written nicely in my notebook. I'm not sure how many pages that translates to on a Google doc but it was a lot and we were given less than a week to memorize it. I had a bit of a head start because I had been trying to memorize it since… the beginning of my mission. But I couldn't seem to keep it all in my head.
After zone council I made a weekly goal of seeking and expecting miracles specifically seeking and expecting the miracle of memorizing the treasure program. So I prayed about it and I prayerfully made a study plan and then I acted on that plan. And guess what?
Five minute before Zone Conference I passed it off. Miracles are abounding. Maybe it's kind of a silly miracle and it sure took work on my part but it really is a miracle.
I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help us with our righteous desires. I know there are miracles everywhere.
Love you all!
Still holding to the rod,
Sister Owens
Summary: Alma 5:15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
Faith. Have it.
This week I exercised faith by memorizing the treasure program, 5 pages of good things missionaries ought to know. Being able to memorize this was for sure a miracle that required faith.
Here's the link to my mission pictures album:
Perfectionism ruins lives.