Book of Mormon: Helaman chapter 10

     Last Friday my husband and I went to the temple together.  While we went to the temple one of my good friends took Sage (my daughter) horse back riding.  I thought that was so nice of her and her husband to do that for us.  I love where I live, this place is filled with such good people and making friends comes soooo easily.

     While I was in the Celestial room of the temple I decided to read my scriptures and so I read Helaman chapter ten.  This chapter filled me with the spirit so easily.  A couple of versus that I loved were:

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

 5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

Isn't it crazy how much freedom is given when our will is in line with the Lord's?  On Saturday I attended General Women's conference. President Uchtdorf spoke on obeying all of God's commandments even when we don't understand why because He knows something we don't.  It is like a parent putting a plate of broccoli in front of a child.  The child doesn't understand why he needs to eat his vegetables but the parent understands and knows it is important.  And think of the freedom that child will have with his health if he eats healthy compared to someone who skimps on healthy food choices.  

If you would like to watch women's conference you can here.  It was so good, I cried because the spirit was so strong!

Love,

  Becky joy

New Testament: Mark 4:37-40

I don't want power, I want peace.

     I just got home from a fireside that was such a treat for my spirit to indulge on.  Emily Freeman, an LDS author, was the speaker and she spoke on peace.  Something she touched on in her talk was the story in the New Testament found in Mark 4:37-40 when the apostles with the Savior on a ship awoke Him in fear asking Him to save their ship from the disaster of the storm.
     I remember reading these same versus one day as I was studying this chapter in the New Testament 2 years ago (ask me why I remember the exact time frame, and the only thing I can answer is the people in my life at the time and the apartment we lived in) and I was amazed at the different message I got as an adult reading this story than I did when I was a child hearing the story.
     As a child I remember learning this story and thinking to myself,  if I have great faith then I will have lots of power to move mountains and to calm storms!!!  Which ya know, is true but as I read it on my bed in our apartment in Houston, Texas 2 years ago I remember reading the words from versus :37-38 that said, "And there arose a great storm of wind , and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he (talking about the Savior) was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow..."
     Those scriptures amazed me! Here the Savior is sleeping in a storm!  And when the Savior asked the other men on the ship after calming the sea, the questions, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"  I felt as though the Savior was looking at me and personally saying, "Becky why are ye so fearful, how is it that ye have no faith?"
     I decided I wanted to be like the Savior and not because He could move mountains, walk on water, or calm seas  The fact is, I didn't care at all about the part of Him calming the sea anymore, what really stuck out to me was that He had so much faith that He could sleep on the ship whether the storm was present or not.  I craved that peace because it was most certainly missing from my life at the time.  I didn't want power, I wanted peace.
     Looking back, I can't help but be thankful I learned it is possible to find peace through storms (or trials). I am most certainly not to the point where I could sleep in a flooding ship being blown around at sea, but right now I have so much peace in my life when uncertainty is also present.  In fact, I have never felt so much peace in my life as I do now (and I am pregnant so that is saying a lot), but I think it is because the Lord has never given me any reason not to trust Him, and I allow that knowledge I have gained to stay with me each day.

Love,
    Becky joy

Family Home Evening

     Every Monday we have Family Home Evening.  Tonight as a family we went to a restaurant for dinner and then came home and had our usual song, prayer, and lesson.  For the lesson I read a poem entitled "We're all different" by Susan Parry from the Friend:

"Some kids are short, and others are tall.

Some have lots of freckles and some not at all.

Some ride in wheelchairs because they can’t walk.

Others sound different from me when they talk.

Some kids wear clothes with a funny design

And have faces a lot different from mine.

Some kids are skinny and others more round.

When I think about Jesus, here’s what I’ve found:

He loves every child. He just doesn’t mind

What they look like or talk like. He’s still just as kind.

I want to be like Him. He’d never make fun

Of a child who looks different or can’t walk or run.

So when I see children who aren’t just like me,

I’ll think about Jesus, and like Him I’ll be.

I might feel a bit shy, but I know what to do.

I’ll be friends with them all—and I bet you will too!"

     I love the simplicity of this poem because it is easy to explain to my daughter who is nearly 3 years old.  But the gospel really is that simple to understand.  Jesus Christ loves all of us, he does not look on the outward appearance and I want to be just like Him.

Love,

     Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Helaman Chapter 7

     In Helaman chapter 7 it talks about Helaman's son Nephi and how much sorrow he feels because of the wickedness of the Nephites.  The Nephites are desendents of Lehi and Nephi from the book of Nephi who were Prophets.  For the most part in the Book of Mormon the Nephites are the more righteous group of people but now they are putting their focus on worldly pleasures instead of their God and are becoming wicked.
     The scripture that sticks out to me the most is in verse 6 when it says, "Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years...."
     How long does it take to become wicked when we lose focus....not long.  I look at this scripture and realize for myself how important it is to make God my focus each day of my life.  I can't afford to allow worldly things to become my focus.
     How I made my relationship with God a priority today:  served a friend by watching her kids, read and studied my scriptures, talked to God through prayer, donated money to the scouts, read scriptures with my family and prayed with my family, shared my testimony with my sister-in-law, read the Prophet's message from the Ensign.
     Wow I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to name very many things when I began but then as I started I kept thinking of more and more things.  That makes me happy that I really am making my relationship with God a priority each day!  What did you do today??  Comment with the things you do each day. :)

Love,
    Becky joy

Book of Mormon--Helaman 6:4

Book of Mormon-- Helaman 6:4 And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people of the Nephites the manner of their conversion, and did exhort them to faith and repentance.

     When I read this scripture I started thinking about my conversion story to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I was born in the church and I heard my parents bear THEIR  testimonies to me every day of my life.  This was such a blessing for me and I don't think there is anything I can do to equal the blessings I will receive from this.  
     The interesting thing is, I always believed their words without realizing that my testimony relied on their testimonies.  When my testimony truly came and I knew for myself for the very first time that The Church that my parents raised me in was indeed true, was when I was a Freshman in college.  I will never forget the night.  I was reading my Book of Mormon (the same beautiful copy that I introduced to you earlier and you can see again here) and all the sudden my insides felt like they were growing like a fire was growing inside of me and thoughts started flooding my head such as, "Nephi really lived,  this really happened! These stories are journals, these people really lived!!  God is real, He is real, I mean He really lives, He is real!!!!"     
     Even though I had heard these things my whole life, I realized that night for myself that it was true.  It was not only a story, it was a truth.  From studying my scriptures, the spirit was able to grab hold of my heart and testify these things to me and I knew they were true.  
      Just as I did that night, as I type these words, that feeling returns.  The feeling of the spirit growing inside of me.  

Love,
     Becky joy

My Favorite Scripture 1 Nephi 17:50

My favorite scripture is found in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Nephi chapter 17 verse 50.   It says:
50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

     This is Nephi talking to his brothers after Nephi told them how he was going to build a ship.  His brothers thought he was crazy and this was Nephi's response.  I love Nephi.  He has so much courage and faith.  His response to his brothers has affected me greatly.  There is nothing that the Lord has asked that I can't do.  
     Something interesting that just came to my mind is forgiveness.  This is something the Lord has asked me to do,  I need to find Nephi's faith inside of me and get over this hurdle that is hurting me.  Why is forgiveness so hard??  I need to pray to be like Nephi, because I know these words are true.  God has commanded forgiveness so I can do it.  

Love,
     Becky joy 

Family Home Evening

     Every Monday night our family holds Family Home Evening.  Sometimes on these nights we just go out as a family like to the swimming pool or to a movie, but most Mondays we just do it in the comfort of our home with a prayer, primary song, lesson, game, and then treat.
     Tonight our lesson was taken from the Friend.  A magazine printed by our church made specifically for children.  The article I chose to talk about for the lesson is entitled, "Heavenly Father Loves You."  By Elder Uchtdorf (A latter day apostle of Jesus Christ).  Since my daughter is 2 almost 3 I started to tell her how much Heavenly Father loves her (oh and we held family home evening tonight outside starting with a dinner picnic).  As I was trying to explain how much he loved her, she laid down on the blanket and yelled, "look a star!"  Then the lesson turned into all the things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ created for us because they love us.  We ended with a family walk trying to name all the things Heavenly Father created for us.
     My heart began to feel so happy during this because I felt so blessed.  Sometimes I feel like these lessons are more for me than her.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ created and provided this beautiful world for us to live on.

Love,
     Becky joy

Book of Mormon- Helaman 5

     I would have to say Helaman chapter 5 is on the top of my list when it comes to favorites in the Book of Mormon.  I actually wrote on my other blog about the scripture Helaman 5:12.  You can read about it here.
     I remember a few different occasions when I read verse 23 that something happened to me.  The spirit entered me and touched me deeply.  This is an amazing miracle:
    " 23 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire, even insomuch that they durst not lay their hands upon them for fear lest they should be burned. Nevertheless, Nephi and Lehi were not burned; and they were as standing in the midst of fire and were not burned."
     They were standing in a fire yet they were not burned.  It goes to show how the Lord protects us until we are finished on the earth.  The Lord had a purpose for these men and so he preserved their lives.
     Now while they were surrounded by this fire they were actually in prison and about to be taken to be slain.  As the fire encircled them the guards stood back and were amazed and then let's read what happens:

26 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand forth and began to speak unto them, saying: Fear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing, in the which is shown unto you that ye cannot lay your hands on us to slay us.

 27 And behold, when they had said these words, the earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison did shake as if they were about to tumble to the earth; but behold, they did not fall. And behold, they that were in the prison were Lamanites and Nephites who were dissenters.

 28 And it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came upon them.

 29 And it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to declare good tidings.

     The earth began to shake, darkness spread, and fear filled the Lamanites.  I compare verse 28 to sin.  That is how sin feels: dark, stuck, lose perspective, fear.  But because of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, we have been given the chance to walk away from sin, repent, and be saved from the awful hell that sin creates inside of us.  In verse ten it says, "for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins."  

     We of course have to choose for ourselves to walk away from sin and repent, otherwise the atonement can do nothing for us.  How do we repent??  Well other than stopping the sin as these men were asked to do by refraining from killing Nephi and Lehi, the men are counseled to cry unto the Lord in prayer until they gained faith and the darkness would leave. 

  41 And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.

 42 And it came to pass that they all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed.

What was the result of crying to the Lord?  Fear and darkness dispersed and I love the next part:

 47 Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.

     The fear and darkness was replaced with peace.   Who doesn't want peace?  I surely would like more peace in my life.  So how do we get peace?  Leave your sins and cry unto the Lord.  As I study more and more about the atonement I realize how beautiful the Lord's plan is and how much He loves me.  

Love,

     Becky joy

Does God treat us fairly? Book of Mormon: Helaman 4

     Today I am in Helaman Chapter 4 in the Book of Mormon.  Now I couldn't help but think while I read this chapter that the Lord is really unfair:

 13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.

 14 But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins.

 15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.

     In fact after reading these scriptures I realize that the Lord treats us much better than what might be considered fair treatment.  From verse 13 we can see that these people turned their back on their Father in Heaven and boasted or became cauky about what their own strength and knowledge.  Because of this, the Lord was unable to help them.  He lets us have our agency (will and freedom to choose right from wrong)   and He is never going to force His own will on us.  So they turned their backs on Him and because of this they had to go through unnecessary suffering and they lost the ability to prosper and "possession of almost all their lands."  

     But then as we look at versus 14 and 15, they decided to repent and return to their God.  And how does He handle it after they turned away?? More blessings.  The Lord helped them prosper once again.  Is God fair?  I would say not, He treats us better than fair.    

     In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we are asked to pay tithing by giving 10% of all the money we make.  Some people may complain and think that is too much to ask, but I feel that my Heavenly Father treats me better than fair as I sacrifice this money to the church just as He was better than fair to the Nephites.  

      One example I can think of is when I received my very first job at the age of 16.   I kept a little jar in my bedroom and each time I cashed a check I would stick 10% of my paycheck into the jar and I would often forget to bring it with me to church on Sunday.  Sometimes I would see that money sitting in the jar and I would borrow from it leaving little notes saying "I owe you 5 dollars"  with good intention of course to pay it back.  But even though I had every intention to pay my tithing, the Lord couldn't give me the blessings that come from paying tithing until I actually paid it, so I was on my own financially.  

     Well as time went by my boss kept cutting my work hours and sometimes wouldn't even put me on the work schedule.  I was so confused why this was happening and soon figured out my boss did not like me very much.  I was a very hard worker and kept myself on task but I had learned that I had offended her many times as I spoke about my religion on the job.  This was the hardest trial in my life at this point (kind of funny looking back now and seeing what I have been through now) because of the way they treated me while I was at work and wondering if they were even going to give me work.  

     Finally one day, after receiving a paycheck, I took the whole paycheck and paid my tithing jar back.  Then when Sunday came, I turned in my tithing.  Peace came back into my life concerning the job and something amazing happened about a week after I turned in my tithing while I was at a store with my Dad.  My Dad, just out of blue felt inspired to ask the manager if there was a job opening for me.  She said they were looking for someone and she handed me an application.  I brought back the application the next day and was hired on the spot.  I was able to quit my other job and I had a new job where I was loved and respected.  I never held onto my tithing again.  I learned, the Lord pays much better than a silly job does.       The Lord could have turned His back on me just like I did in a way to Him, but really He was just waiting for me to come unto Him so that He could hand me a blessing He was waiting to give me.  I love Him,  He is so good to me.  He treats me better than fair.  

     

Love,

     Becky joy

Book of Mormon--Helaman 3

27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

 28 Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

 29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

 30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

     The first time I read through this chapter I was unimpressed with all the pride.  Then I read it again and realized I missed these beautiful scriptures and then of course (keep in mind I am a little over 8 months pregnant) tears came.  Not because of sadness but because as I read these scriptures I started to remember in my own life when I called unto my God through prayer and then watched miracles unfold in my eyes.  I know these scriptures are true and one of the most wonderful things about the Book of Mormon is that it has made me come to know for myself that GOD IS REAL!  I can't prove that to anyone but I can testify from my own experience that as you call upon the Lord, you will see His hand in your life as well.

Love, 

        Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Helaman Chapters One and Two

     These are hard chapters I decided.  There is not a lot of good in them.    Lots of murder and secret plans, lying, deceiving, ...etc...to make a long story short I do not want my home to be like this.  I don't want brothers to turn against each other for power or for pride to cause violence.  It is obvious to me these people do not focus on God in their lives, instead their focus is worldly rewards which in the end rewarded none of them anything but death.
     I want to hang a saying on my wall because one day I felt strongly about this, "Instead of trying to impress people, why don't you try and impress God."
     When those words came to my mind for the first time, tears started to flood in.  That is something I want to live by each day of my life.

Love,
    Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Alma 58

     I have been slacking on my blogging!! I blame being pregnant, any down time I have lately sends me snoozing.  The thing I love about blogging accompanied with my scripture study though is that it makes me study the passages instead of just reading them.  As I blog, I read over the scriptures many times and then I take time to ponder about the words as I think about what I would like to share. So I want to keep it up!
      I just finished reading Alma 58 from the Book of Mormon.  The scripture that stuck out to me from this chapter is verse 40--

"40 But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come."

     This is right after the young stripling warriors just fought in a battle, and while it is a miracle that none of them were killed, many were severely wounded yet they still looked at the miracle in the situation instead of the wounds which I think is awesome!   Something that I think is more awesome is the way it describes their relationship with their Heavenly Father:  they were STRICT to remember him every single day.  They made sure to recognize His role in their lives each day and they did keep His commandments continually.  What did this equal:  Trust in Him, or Faith.  It is easy to trust someone you spend time with and take time to get to know well (granted they are trustworthy).  They had so much trust, courage, and love for their Father.  They were able to stay positive in a hard situation because they knew their God.

Love,
   Becky joy

My Family....Alma 56:47

Today I thought, since the scripture I wanted to talk about touched on the influence a Mother can have for her children, I thought I would introduce you to my family:

I am on the left next to my husband Weston, and our little daughter Sage is in the front and center (her usual desired spot).  Last night my husband brought the mattress into the living room and we had a sleepover as a family.  It was a lot of fun!  Although our little 2 year old did stay up until after midnight, it was still a success.  I love the life we are creating.

(Don't you just love our couch ;)

Tonight for family scripture study, we studied about the 2000 stippling warriors and how they trusted God because they did not doubt their Mothers.  As a Mother, this is powerful to me.  The best thing I can do for my little Sagie girl and our future son is to teach them to have a relationship with God.

 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

Love, Becky joy