Human Becomings

"Moments are the molecules that make up eternity" - Neal A. Maxwell

Consider if you will the plans that you have set forth for your future. You want a good home, a stable job, a loving spouse, to be able to provide and support a family temporally and spiritually. All of these things come and are set, based on the decisions and actions you make in the here and now. Alma 34:32 says "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." So as we are preparing now to get a good education, a good job, and life stability, we are also preparing for something greater. We are preparing to attain that spiritual stability that we all so desperately need.

In a general conference talk Elder Boyd K. Packer, an apostle of the Lord in these the latter-days, spoke very eloquently on the fact that we are here to prepare to meet God. Our time here, is to gain knowledge

and to act upon that knowledge in order to attain those things that the Lord has for us. Consider if you will the degree of a Surgeon. He must go through years of schooling, and put forth much effort in order to gain the degree that will give him the right to aid those who are in need of him. However he cannot go to just any trade school, he cannot just be admitted to any university and expect this diploma. He must go to the right school, and he must put forth time and energy in order to assimilate the knowledge necessary to move forward in the field of his choosing. Effort and action must be taken. As it is in life, we must take the proper steps, follow Gods path as laid forth for us, and we must be prepared to make a concerted effort to enter into his kingdom.

This next story is that of a girl I met only for a second, but she is truly someone I respect and admire, our meeting was short, but the mark she left on my life will last forever. She is an example of becoming, of learning the will of God, doing the will of God, and becoming the disciple he asks us to be. Taking these steps changed her life for the better, and now she is full of a light that shines through her, you can truly see our Heavenly Fathers image in her countenance, and the light of Christ most assuredly shines in her eyes.  

This is her story:

One summer I was given the opportunity to work at the Rockin R Ranch. I had no idea that my life would be changed forever. While working there I was invited to attend church, and not soon after I started asking questions and learning more about the church. 

At first I felt like the church just wasn’t for me. I was raised a Methodist and went to church regularly growing up but never really learned anything there. Church was just something you did for an hour on Sunday then you went on with your life. As soon as I was old enough to choose for myself I stopped going to church. I was always a trouble maker growing up but as soon as I hit my teenage years things got out of control. I was misunderstood and struggled with school from a young age. By the time high school came around I had started to give up all together: family, school, morals values. I thought life's too hard to be doing all this work and trying to be a good person. I wanted to make friends and have fun and that’s all I cared about.

The end of my sophomore year I was at the end of my rope. Things were worse than they had ever been. My relationship with my family was unbearable. School meant nothing to me. I hadn’t turned in an assignment for years and I never went to class. All I cared about was getting messed up and partying with friends. At this point none of the schools in Nashville wanted me and I was in trouble with the law. I had no respect for anyone not even myself. I didn’t care about anything. Life was about the party and I was going to live it up while I could.

 Monday, April 28, I was sent to a wilderness program in Clayton Georgia. Words cannot describe the three month experience I had there. The Blue Ridge Mountains were my home. I was only given the things I would need to survive. Towards the end of my stay in wilderness I thought I was pretty spiritual and happy but I had no idea how good it could really get. After wilderness I was sent to a Residential Treatment Center in Mapleton Utah for 11 months. I had been mentally and physically broken down in wilderness and this was my chance to start fresh and learn how to live right. I was still angry but with time I learned to love care and respect others and myself. I fixed my relationship with my family and learned how to deal with life without drugs. While I was there I met a man named Brandon. I absolutely hated the man at first but when the day came for me to leave I was crying in his arms. I didn’t want to leave treatment. It was the first time I was truly happy with life and I felt so safe! I had committed to living sober and was afraid I couldn’t stay clean in the real world. I had used drugs since I was thirteen and they had become a part of my everyday life. But I had been given the skills I needed to be successful and it was time for me to move on. I was home for my senior year and it was the happiest I had ever been. But even then I still left like something was missing. I still struggled with my identity; WHO AM I? I had no idea. The thought gave me chills. I would look in the mirror and know something was missing. Around Christmas time Brandi and Brandon contacted me and I agreed to come work for them for the summer. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. I really don’t even know why I said yes. 

As my senior year came to an end and the time drew closer and closer for me to go out west, I didn’t want to leave! All my friends told me to stay in Nashville and I agreed. I wanted to stay home for my senior year summer. Everything inside me told me don’t go. I cried for days but I had given Brandon my word so I went. I met the Snyders, Jacob Smith, and Shiloh White. Immediately I had respect for the LDS church. There was something about them that pulled me in. I had never met people who worked and lived so humble and happily together. They had so much love for everyone around them and it was easy to see. 

Mormons weren’t the people I thought they were. I could have fun with Hatti, Kord, Anndi, Hannah, Shiloh and Jake just like I did with my own family and friends back home. All the horror stories I had heard about Mormons weren’t true. Even with everything they knew about me and my past they all took me in as a friend without judgments. I was going to church with them every weekend. I hungered for more knowledge of the Gospel. I was so curious. The more I learned the more I loved and respected it but I still had my doubts. Eventually Shiloh and Hannah asked me if I would meet with the missionaries and I agreed. 

The first time I met with the missionaries felt pointless. I didn’t learn much or feel anything. The next time I met with them they asked me to pray to God and ask for truth. For the next month I prayed constantly throughout the day! Asking every question I could think of. I wanted to know anything and everything I could about the church. I was meeting with the missionaries three times a week and soaking up all the information I could. I prayed and prayed and felt nothing! But I wasn’t going to give up. Something inside me told me to keep trying. I started to read the scriptures and kept asking questions, going to church, and praying like crazy! I would stay up all night with Anndi Hannah and Shiloh talking about the Gospel. The scriptures were so hard for me to understand. I have always had a hard time reading cause I never learned in school and probably only read one book all the way through in my whole life. So Brandi and Brandon read with me every night. They broke everything down so I could understand it. The more I read the easier it was for me to understand. Two months after I started to investigate the church my prayers were answered! The missionaries and Jacob Smith were teaching me about the Kingdoms and how we get our bodies back after the second coming and I just broke down. I could feel the spirit the whole time they were teaching me and it was the most amazing feeling. Later Brandi had me read 3 Nephi 11: 7-15. I knew it was true! Everything! I could feel it. The prophet, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith. I knew it was all true. I knew it was God answering my prayers and I was so grateful! Then the missionaries had me read Mosiah 18: 9-10. After lots of prayer I wanted to be baptized. I wanted to live righteously and have the life style that came with being LDS and had never been so sure about anything in my entire life. My baptism was the most amazing day of my life. I didn’t have some huge revelation. I just felt so calm and at peace with my decision. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life! I will never understand why I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to find the church and get baptized! Even my worst day is a good day. I realize now how beautiful and precious my life is. I want to praise God for my struggles and my past because it’s made me who I am today and brought me to the Gospel! I don’t know how I made it through my trial without the gospel but now that I have it I know I couldn’t live without it. I no longer wonder who I am. I can look in the mirror and tell myself I am a DAUGHTER OF GOD. I want to share this happiness and the gospel with everyone! And we all can by living the gospel and having Gods image in our countenance.

We are not human beings, God never intended for us to just remain the same throughout eternity. We are HUMAN BECOMINGS, we are made of the stuff of eternity as President Uchtdorf once said, and staying the same just means that we are going backwards. Someone once told me that life is like riding uphill on roller blades, if you aren't continually working your way up you will most assuredly fall backwards.

God asks us to act on the message of the restored gospel because he knows that is the only way we can ever grow towards him, and our eternal goal should be to live with our Father in Heaven again, surrounded by our family and those we have come to know and love on this earth.  

Children of a King: Our Eternal Potential

 As children we see the world as a place of magic, anything and everything is possible! I believed that I could be anything, I believed that I could do anything, and I believed that I could accomplish anything. Dragons and far off kingdoms were only an imagination away. However as we grow we become jaded by disappointments that come, and our eye for magic begins to diminish and a heart of skepticism replaces it. Why can't the joy from the simple things remain in our hearts? I would say that with that joy of pure simplicity coupled with imagination great expectations would follow, and as those expectations aren't met, our heart becomes closed off and we expect less and less from life.

What would it be like if God was like that with us? If every mistake we made God just thought "well, you messed up, I guess you can't meet the expectations that I had for you, let's lower those expectations just a bit" We would never reach our eternal potential because we would never have someone there to help us make it! But God doesn't react that way, he knows the potential we can reach, and every time we disappoint him he reaches out with an outpouring of love and comfort and a request for us to repent and make a concerted effort to keep the commandments. He knows that therein lies the key to success and the fulfillment of our dreams. So why would we react that way? if God keeps his expectations for us set high, why ever would we lower them for ourselves?

The Lion King: A story of Great Expectations

Simba, as we all know, is a lion, born of a king, who learns from his father that he has a royal inheritance. Anything that the light touches is the land that he will inherit. Woah... that's a pretty big inheritance. In the bible the apostle Paul writes to the Romans of the heirship we, as children of our Father in heaven, hold.  "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17) Even Christ has said  "2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2) So if we are joint-heirs with Christ, and our Father in Heaven has many mansions, we have a large inheritance, but we must first answer the call to "be ye therefore perfect as my Father in heaven who is perfect" (Matthew 5:48)

 Simba has a large shoes to fill as well, and he begins to learn how to fill them, but unbeknownst to Simba, his uncle is forming a nefarious plot to overthrow the throne. Simba is trying to only please his father, but a mistake is made and tragedy is the result. Then happens one of the most tear jerking scenes in all of Disney movie history and Simba is left on his own, he runs away, and he desires to never look back.

Think if you will of a time in your life where you were disappointed, hurt, and let down and you wished to never look back, but the pain of loss or regret still dwindled in your heart? With this, were your expectations lowered for yourself, for your future, for who you desired to be? I'm sure they were for Simba as well, (I understand he is a fictional character but bear with me here) he felt that it was his fault his Father had died, and he had no desire to reach the expectations that his Father held for him because he felt as if he couldn't reach them, therefore he forsook his royal inheritance for the wilderness.

But further on in life, Simba is told "remember who you are" reminding him that he does have a royal inheritance, and that so many are looking to him to make a difference. Simba had Great Expectations! 

"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it" - Rafiki

In the end Simba changes, he again seeks the path that will lead to happiness, he is reunited with his mother and family, and he reaches his potential and brings about peace in the land.  

Our Royal Inheritance: 

"As we journey through mortality, let us remember from whence we came; let us be true to the trust vested in us. Let us remember who we are and what God expects us to become." - Thomas S. Monson

We must understand that we are, like I said previously, Joint-Heirs with Christ. We once lived with our Heavenly Father in the premortal existance, and while we cannot remember all of our life before this one, but one thing we cannot forget is who we are and who we can become. The commandment to become perfect is not an easy one, but with the help of our savior and the atonement we can loose the pain of the past and look forward to the future with hope, always focusing on who our father in heaven sees we can become!

Faith

Repentance

Baptism

Recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost

Enduring to the End

These are the steps that MUST be taken, to again live with our Father in Heaven. 

Never loose hope, God knows who you can become, it is in your hands to become it!

Stories of Becoming: Lord of The Rings

One thing the readers of this blog must know is I LOVE Lord of The Rings, I love the story line, I love the setting of middle earth, I love the Elvish Language (one day I vow that I will learn how to speak it) But what I love most is...... (drumroll).... the story of Becoming, so my endeavor is not just to recount that beautiful story but to show the underlying gospel truths that dwell within, so let's begin!


Prelude
Something I love about the Lord of the Rings is understanding the Background of the Author. J.R.R Tolkein
grew up in a small town in England where there was not a lot of industry, it was a bit of an adventure, there were woods and creeks and things that would start the wheels of imagination turning in the mind of a young Tolkein. He grew up to love history, and as he loved the Anglo-Saxon people, he wanted to write something to commemorate their history (as they hardly had any written history at all.)
Tolkein was a professor of history at a university, and one day while correcting some papers, he penned the words "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" and so began the story of becoming that would start with a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and end with a Hobbit named Frodo Baggins. Not only are these novels a fantastic fantasy, they are also a good example of how we need a focal point to remove ourselves from the burdens that "so do easily beset [us]" (2 Nephi 4:18)
This book of fictional history has very interesting parallells to The Book of Mormon, and the history of an ancient people also seeking the light of the world, and trying to overcome their burdens through faith in Christ, and this book starts out with the words "I Nephi having been born of goodly parents" also commemorating a story that is continually in the making, helping with many peoples own "Becomings"


Faith
One concept that is personified over and over in the novels of the Lord of the Rings is that of Faith, weather it be in a purpose or a person, there are immense amounts of examples of Faith.. At the beginning of the first book of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo is given the one ring, Frodo has no idea what he has recieved, but this ring will be the cause of much trial, turmoil, and sorrow. He must leave Hobbiton because his life is in danger because of this small object, and he travels to Rivendell, the land of the elves. It is there that he learns what must be done, the ring must be thrown into the fires of Mount Doom. Arguements arise and Frodo takes upon himself this task "not knowing beforehand"(1Nephi 4:6) what he should do, only knowing that his goal is to rid the world of this evil object. If we look with our spiritual eyes, we see that, we cannot "lean unto our own understanding"
Proverbs 3:5 We must look to one who was perfect, who understands and knows the best path to take to reach the eventual goal of eternal happiness!

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” -Gimli

Repentance
The Journey continues, and there are many times when mistakes are made, just as in normal life, and when those mistakes happen, a sort of "repentance" needs to happen to right the wrong. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints we believe that "man will be punished for their own sins and not for Adams
transgression" meaning that the shortcomings of our fathers are not what define who we are, they may affect us, but we are not responsible for them we are only responsible for the actions we take in this life to choose the path of hope or of sorrow. Take the story of Aragorn, Isildurs heir. Isildur made the mistake of taking the ring for himself to get gain and power (just as at times we look inward to get gain and power), and he didn't make a righteous desicion to rid middle earth of the evil, but instead kept the ring for himself. In the novel Aragorn takes this mistake upon himself, and he fears that because of the mistakes of his fathers he will also be held accountable. But he learns this lesson, that the action of his forefathers is not something that defines him. Sure he has made mistakes, sure he is not perfect, but he is striving to be the "king" that he needs to become, in order to restore peace to Gondor.
Just as Adam made a descision that had a major effect it is not that sin that defines us, but we must look for ways in wich we can rid ourselves of the darkness that we have allowed into our lives and search to become that person that our heavenly father has envisioned that we can become, we all have the potential to be like him, perfect and whole, but we must look to Christ for that opportunity so that we can rid ourselves from those "burdens that do so easily beset us."

Baptism

The relationship between Frodo and the ring is one that I find to be quite profound, it's such a small thing, but it becomes such a burden to him as he continues to carry it through the story. Now think of Sam as the ever loyal friend, one who would never leave Frodo, no matter what the circumstance. Even when Frodo tries to go off on his own Sam loyally swims out after him and says "Gandalf said 'Now don't you leave him Samwise... and I don't mean too"
As thier journey continues Frodo begins to drift away from this ever loyal friend and towards the ring, it becomes something that he obsesses over, and he begins to believe that the ring, although a burden, will bring more happiness than a loyal friend, but even as Frodo is drifting towards the ring (sin) and Gollums heeds (the world pulling us in) Sam remains the same, and does everything in his power to eventually free Frodo of this burden that is weighing him down.

Christ has done the same for us, he is an ever loyal friend who doesn't ever leave our side even if we forget to remember him daily, he will never forget us, and just as Frodo threw the "one ring" into the fires of Mordor to free himself from a burden he carried, we also have the same opportunity to free ourselves from our sins, but without the Savior's lasting sacrifice we could never be free of those things that are continually weighing us down. But as we repent, and come unto him through the waters of baptism, that burden is lifted and he promises us we can be cleansed and free forever of those chains that are binding us, but we must continue on in Faith and righteouness to obtain this promise.

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” -Faramir

The Gift of The Holy Ghost
This gift is something we recieve after we have made that promise to the lord that we will continue to follow his paths, this gift sanctifies us and is that still small voice that guides and directs our paths. Sometimes I like

to think of Gandalf as a sort of Holy Ghost figure, because he has been sent to help us on our lifes "journey" he is one who warns of danger, he gives us hope when we feel like there is none. In the book there is a battle that happens at Helms Deep, and the outlook seems grim, there aren't enough soldiers, the enemy had broken through the defenses and in rides Gandalf on Shadowfax with the soldiers of Rohan following close behind to defend the freedom of man.
Sometimes in life we need spiritual back-up, we are fighting the good fight, we are trying to win the battle and it seems as if all hope is lost Christ promised this in regards to that battle against evil that we must wage every day "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Just as when Gandalf comes to save the day and bring peace to the hearts of men, we are promised that peace with the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Endure to the End
There is no one time for anything, there is no panacea for all the ails of the world, you can't just go through all the steps that God has prescribed for happiness and say "now I am done, I have done what was asked of me." There will always be opposition, Satan is always trying to rob us of our happiness, but there is a

continual hope, if I can leave you with anything, it is this, God is our loving heavenly father, he doesn't want us to fail, he has told us to endure to the end, not because he wants for us to struggle but he knows that within the struggle we will grow, we will come to understand who we really are, and we will find pure joy, happiness and peace that comes with living a gospel centered life. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, these will all bring us happiness that we have never imagined, blessings that the human mind cannot fathom, and the wonderful hope of a new day. Enduring to the end is the "wash, rinse, repeat" of the cycle and we can continue to grow upward if we just continually look to Christ and when we truly follow his example to become who our Heavenly Father sees that we can become
  
“End? No, it doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one which we must all take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass… And then you see it… White shores, and beyond, a far green country, under a swift sunrise.” –Gandalf

#TheStruggleisReal

I think the life of a gazelle in the wild can represent life pretty wonderfully. You are born, bright eyed and beaming thinking that nothing could go wrong. You grow and you leap and you play and you run, then you get to the watering hole and BAM! Crocodile attack... whooeee that was a close one, better not go back there! You graze a while and SMACK! There is a lioness hunter chasin your best buddy Steve  and your screaming and yelling "Steve noooo, not Steve, he was too young" and so you go on your merry way and BLAM POW Hyeenas are hot on your tail, and your thinking "man does this ever end."

Let's be honest there is a struggle on every side, you are out with friends on our merry way and BAM someone close to you falls to the whiles of Satan. Then you are in a fight with your brother SMACK you say hurtful words to your brother that need repairing. Then you are go on with life and BLAM POW someone close to you passes away and you are thinking to yourself "man does this ever end?"  Why is it that the struggle is real?

THE STRUGGLE

First off, there is a sort of entitlement that I think we all as humans feel at least once in this life, I don't think there is one person who hasn't thought to themselves "I've done This big thing so I'm extremely entitled to receive this big thing in return" it's a sickness I like to call me-itis, it's a major pandemic that definitely has a cure, but we are the only ones who can choose to cure ourselves of it.

Now I have gone off on a tangent I know but let me bring it back, now if we were given everything, not having to work one day in our life would we ever feel the fulfillment of receiving, or would we believe that it was only something we deserved, and of minor importance. If we never felt the pain of loss, or the struggle of living paycheck to paycheck would we ever be grateful for those things we did have? I don't think so. I believe that it takes that hardship, that pain, that struggle, to feel that joy, and that comfort and that peace.

We are spirit children of our Father in Heaven, I know I have asked myself many times "where did I come from before this life?" and "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16.) I know parents desire the best for their children, they want them to grow, to progress, to become something, to achieve greatness! But on this path of becoming, children face challenges and the only way that they can grow is to be put under pressure and face opposition. Just as a lump of coal cannot become a  diamond without extreme heat and pressure, so it is with our souls, we cannot reach our eternal potential without the struggle placed in our path. Our Heavenly Father desires the best for us on our journey here on earth. This brings to light the question, "why do bad things happen to good people?" I would ask to those who ask that question "how can good people become greater without the pressure of trials?" Those who are not seeking for betterment will never find hardship because those who stagnate are not met with pressure but digression. Just as a muscle without opposition will not grow but decrease in size. Stagnation never brings opposition, it only brings retrogression

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
C.S. Lewis

OUR LIFE ON EARTH

Our life is interwoven with many other peoples, we see on the news the pain of the world, the sickness, the hardship... the struggle. We feel a deep pain for them, but why, why would we ever empathize with anyone that we don't know unless .....we did once know them and deeply care for them? Our spirit is like the hard drive of our being, it remembers everything we have ever done or seen or experienced, including the life before this, that is why for me this concept of living with our Father in Heaven resonates deep within my being. Feelings are so much more than just chemical reactions in the brain, they are a spiritual compass that guides us, and as we listen to them we are able to discern truths we once knew before we came into the amnesia of this world.

We are given a wonderful gift of agency, and there is a pattern that we see in the Book of Mormon (another testament of Jesus Christ) and the Bible, that as people choose Gods path their struggle is lessened and their "burdens made light " (Mosiah 24:15)

CHRIST LESSENS THE STRUGGLE

"The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah - David A. Bednar

The Savior Once Said: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my Yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30) 

Consider if you will this unique message, he offers rest to those who struggle, but he does not automatically take away the struggle, it still remains. He asks us to take His yoke upon us, we don't entirely loose our burden but our Savior offers to pull alongside us, because he has already been through the struggle he can lessen the pain and make our burden light!

This is the power of the atonement, one can never know the joy that comes from following the savior if they never take the steps to come to know Him. I have come to learn this as I have seen the power of the atonement change my life and change the lives of others, it truly is a blessing to know that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that Jesus is the Christ, He lives, and he does have an infinite amount of love for us.
He doesn't want to see us struggle, but he does want to see us grow and that is why the struggle is real, because we need to learn, we need to become, and we need to come unto him to do it.

Where Is Your Focal Point?

I find painting and art to be fascinating, when I see simple artistic ventures I think to myself.... yeah... I can probably do that, then when I try to draw it the drawing looks like that of a five year old, so perhaps I should leave the art to those with that skill.

The Focal Point

When I was in 8th grade art, I drew a picture of a room, there were chairs and a bed and I made the lines all slanty like so that it would seem as if one was looking into a room and it made physiological sense. Well I turned that drawing in and needless to say I got a less than acceptable grade, and written on the top of the paper in red ink were the words "where is your focal point?"

In life we need a focal point, a goal or focus that draws us nearer to the eventuality of an ultimate goal, but what is our ultimate goal? I'm not talking about loosing five pounds this week, or becoming a big corporate guru, no, I want you to think and ask yourself, what is the end-all-be-all, when I lay my head down to rest for the last time, what will I have desired to ultimately accomplish in my life, and am I secure in where I am going after this?

God has a focal point for us, and prophets have told us that "by small and simple great things are brought to pass" and he wants us to reach our potential, that's why difficulties, people, and other things are put in our path, so that we can make the choices that will point us toward eternity. How do we take the next step to eternity spent with a loving Father in Heaven, What is the path that he has pointed us towards, Why do we want to be there? All of these are innate questions that we as human beings have, but we have recieved answers all we have to do is adhere to them, and one of those answers is Baptism. God has told us that it is an essential covenant to enter into his kingdom, and that baptism must be performed by someone who holds Gods authority to seal on earth and in heaven. We will get to the why later but first is a story of what it can do for us!

This next story of becoming is truly one that I love, because he sees a major shift in who he was and who he now is and because his focal point has shifted from himself to Jesus Christ he is forever becoming a better person

Growing up I never really cared to get to know who God was, and I never felt like I needed Him. At school and on the field I had life pretty well figured out. I had scholarships and offers to accomplish my lifelong dreams in baseball. To a lot of people it looked like life came easy for me. But at home I had a family that was falling apart due to alcohol addictions. To everyone around me it seemed like I had it all, but I wanted the home life that everyone else around me had. I thought that this was just the hand I was dealt for my life and that I needed to accept that. So I started making bad decisions and became content with the way my life was going. Throughout all of this a good friend and teammate of mine was taught by the missionaries and baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He saw me changing my values for the people around me, and thought that the message the missionaries shared would bring some clarity to me with the questions I had on what was going on in my life. Eventually I began meeting with the missionaries, but I wasn't open to what their message entailed because of the change it would require me to make in order to live the Gospel. But when they taught me the Plan of Salvation I had my eyes opened and felt like I was starting to understand what life was all about. Hearing that God has big plans for each of us and that we all have the opportunity to change our circumstances, gave me a vision of what life would be like if all the blessings that came from loving the Gospel were true. So I started keeping the commitments that the missionaries left me, and overtime I couldn't deny the blessings that had come from living the Gospel standards. I also saw that if we focus on accomplishing the goals and journey God has prepared for us, that He will take care of all of our other wants and desires; and that we would have a happier life here on earth, and in the life to come. Just like He has promised! Four years after joining the church, I have seen a kid who was caught up in every ungodly thing this world has to offer, turn into a full time missionary sharing the same great message that changed his life with people everyday. I have also seen a family that was falling apart become a family focused on the well being of one another. I have a testimony that God keeps His promises. If we follow the example our Savior has given us, we can know that God will take care of any other concern or trial in due time. I know that the Gospel of a Jesus Christ works and that it blesses the family as well as the individual, and all God asks of us is to seek Him and His counsel first so He can bless our lives (3 Nephi 13:31-33) :) 

Baptism has changed his life for the better, and I know that it is such an essential thing for us to take that covenant upon ourselves. It comes to the point in our life where we must choose where we stand and what stand we want to make, as we make that covenant with God we are telling him that we promise to follow our savior and in return we are blessed more then we could ever imagine. I know that I hold my covenant with God so dear to my heart, and it's such a blessing in my life, and as we strive to follow our savior we are baptized to show to our heavenly father that we are willing to unite our will with his.

On the Path to Joy

One of the things I have always been baffled about is how many people don't think that science and faith can flow together, well I must make the audacious statement that I believe that they are wrong, and I will tell you why. In the Book of Mormon there is a scripture that says "The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44) If "everything denotes there is a supreme creator" then I am going to use a physical scientific fact to represent a wonderful spiritual truth.

 

When I was in chemistry in high school I remember learning about catalysts, a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. So the chemical change could perhaps happen without the catalyst it's true, but the reaction would be far slower and less complete without said catalyst. Follow me if you will to the spiritual truth that this represents for us. Repentance is a scary word to many, but I would like to bring it to a more hopeful light, repentance is the catalyst for our spiritual progression and mental and spiritual healing, yes we could perhaps forget the hurt and sorrow that our sins bring us as time goes on, but the residual effects of that sin will always be there, but through faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance we are boosted into a completely different realm of happiness that we could never have imagined. Repentance is our catalyst to true joy.

 

This brings me to my next story of becoming....

 Meet Gwen, she is an amazing daughter of God and through coming to know her and where she came from I am amazed at the eternal potential she has found and shares every day with those around her, she is an amazing example of the believers and she took a long road to get there, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to cross her path and feel of her amazing love and strength.  

 

 

Gwen's Story of Becoming

It all started with one of the greatest childhoods to be known. I lived in a world that I had created full of dinosaurs, gnomes, fairies and Disney characters. I had at least 4 imaginary friends, all being animals, and I always had a sibling to take part in any grand adventure that came to my mind. I had a father who worked hard to take care of our family. I had a mother who never showed me anything but love and always knew how to keep us happy and feed my imagination. I was raised to believe and feel that I was a child of God and had great worth. I grew up joyfully singing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam." I lived in my own world where I was a hero and I was special until I reached middle school....that's when I started to see the world around me and myself in a different way. Through middle school and high school I had many disheartening experiences with my peers. Through the way I was treated, I began to believe less and less in my worth and began to believe more and more in the negative things that people would say about me. Throughout high school I would come to school in the most random outfits- each one depicting a different decade or genre- I did this in part because I'm naturally a pretty eclectic person, but I also had no idea who I was or who I wanted to be and it not only showed in the things I would wear but, also the people I would spend time with or the things I would do. Near the end of high school I began to take part in activities that were contrary to the things I learned as a child in church and in my home. As I grew, this only became more and more apparent in my young adult life. Nothing I did or said showed the world or myself that I was truly a daughter of God. I made a lot of decisions during those times that brought my family, those around me, and myself a lot of heartache. I had completely lost a sense of who I was and of who God was. Without a testimony of God, I spent a lot of years depending on substances and other poisoning sources for strength and peace. I was never able to find anything or anyone that could offer me the happiness and peace of mind that I was so desperately searching for. It wasn't until a trip to New York City filled with indescribable experiences that my heart began to be softened and I began to feel like there really was someone watching out for me and that they were trying to tell me something. I returned home feeling ready to come back to the God that I knew as a child. Although my efforts to do so were sincere, my heart was not truly broken and truly contrite and I again slipped into old habits and my comfortable way of living. Finally, I got to a point in my life where I felt cornered by everything and everyone I thought I loved and trusted. I had reached my rock bottom and felt like there wasn't a person in the world I could call to carry me out of the hole I had dug myself into. It was during this time that I learned what true prayer was. Through humble and inexperienced prayers, I began to understand who God was once again. I began to feel like I was truly His daughter and that He loved me. As I came to Him with a broken heart, He taught me how to make it whole again through my Savior, Jesus Christ. This was a life changing experience for me. Through the beautiful process of repentance, I finally came to know and understand what it means to have a Savior. I came to know who Jesus Christ is to me personally. I learned that Christ will always be there to carry us out of our darkest places and our holes, no matter how deep. Since that pivotal point in my life, I have still experienced heartache and trials, but now I have the strength and hope needed through my Savior and Heavenly Father's love. I understand my purpose as a daughter of God and I have received so much direction in my life.

My life has completely turned around to a bright path that I never could have imagined. God led me to serve a mission and I was apprehensive and afraid when I first felt prompted to go but my mission meant everything to me. I feel like my mission was a way to make up for lost time with my Savior and to show Him how grateful I am for all that He has done and continues to do for me. One huge blessing that has come from my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is direction and inspiration. I finally have dreams, goals and aspirations! I have come to understand more about the unique gifts and talents that Heavenly Father has given me and how He wants me to use them. I truly believe now that I can do anything with God on my side. The biggest dream that I've gained from the gospel though, is my dream to return to the arms of my Heavenly Father someday. This has added more meaning to my life than I could ever try and put into words. My journey so far has brought me peace, joy, purpose and direction. I still have a lot of life to live and I look forward to what may come and who I will continue to become the rest of the way!

 

 

God will never leave us, he has always given us a chance to return to him and there is no such thing as too far gone! I like to say that "Joy is the eternal state of the soul," there may be things that bring us happiness for a time, but repentance, and turning to Jesus Christ is the only thing that can bring us that pure joy that so many people are seeking. 

 

"Lead yourself. If you must follow someone, follow the genuinely joyful. Joy is evidence that something is working." Eileen Lighthawk  

 

"Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding"

Becoming something is not always an easy thing, imagine if you will, a blacksmith toiling away in his shop. He first begins with a large hunk of metal, it is nothing to wink at, nothing that would make you look on in awe and wonder, but the blacksmith sees in his minds eye what that hunk of metal can become; the hunk of metal doesn't see it (most obviously because it doesn't have consciousness)  but this achievement of potential will take time and great care. He begins by heating the metal, putting it under extreme pressure, and beating it down to become a beautiful sculpture, or a tool that will be useful in days to come. The metal could not have become that tool or sculpture on it's own, it took the hands of the craftsman and patience and care to become what the master saw that it could become.

If the hunk of metal was not an inanimate object and had a consciousness of it's own, wouldn't it have had to trust that the master had a far better plan for it than it had for itself?

Now I know that this is a pretty far fetched metaphor, but hear me out. When we lived in the pre-mortal existence with our Father in Heaven he told us of our Heavenly potential, we had been shown the opportunity to become something far greater when we came to this earth and through his help we could become greater than we could when left to our own devices. So we accepted that it would be hard, that we would be under extreme pressure, and sometimes we would rather break than undergo the stress and the pain that this world has to offer, but the Master always is there to comfort, to uplift and to help us to see that we have a far greater potential than we have ever imagined.

This begins my story of becoming......

I figure that I will not share someone else's story of becoming if I am not willing to share a story of my own first.

As a child I didn't ever understand the point of Church, it was a boring thing that we had to do for 3 hours every Sunday, it was exhausting, and unless I had something to doodle on, you would most likely catch me sleeping, my mom would nudge me and quietly say "pay attention" but I never really understood the point of it all, why was church so special?

I continued on with this indifferent thought process and I continued to attend church, I would ask my father occasional questions and we would discuss intriguing gospel topics but never did I care to understand what was being taught because somehow I thought, "this doesn't apply to me."
Well, because my faith was lackadaisical I started to slowly slip away,
C.S. Lewis once wrote about this slow slipping in a book called the Screwtape Letters he says

"It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing... Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"

This is the effect that I brought upon myself, things that I would never be comfortable with became the natural, and things that I thought I would never do became the norm, I had lost sight of my heavenly potential, and even my earthly potential, ultimately I was lost.
Finally I reached my lowest point, I had no idea how I had gotten there, I had no idea why I was there, but I knew something had to change, so I started to make things right, I knew something in me had to change but I didn't know what, so I left the life I knew and went to the other extreme and really didn't do anything except for school and work, I wasn't very social and I lost all of the people who I once thought really cared, I was devastated and I still was not of the belief that God, or Jesus Christ and my lack of faith could ever be the answer.
July 13, 2012 my world was turned upside down. Six weeks prior my sister had been admitted to the
hospital and she had been slowly getting worse, she had been put in a medicated coma because her seizures weren't stopping, and her brain was still seizing in the medicated coma, she was in a slow decline of her life, and my family and I watched helplessly from the sidelines. We were told that we would either have to pull the plug, or take her out of the coma and she would live as a vegetable for the rest of her life, so we made the decision to let her go peacefully on July 13. As we watched the life slowly slip from my sister, my heart was torn into a million pieces, this amazing wonderful girl was gone from this earth, and a spark was lit in me, that this life couldn't be it, there was assuredly more, I would see my sister again, and I knew at that moment that somewhere deep inside I had always known that.
My dad one day in his sorrow said pertaining to the gospel "if the gospel is true, then I hope I will see her again" and I responded "Dad, it's not IF it's BECAUSE it's true that we will see her again" suddenly the roles had shifted and my faith was growing and I could feel it, I had more of a desire in my life to align my will with God's then ever before because I knew if I did I would be able to be with my family for eternity as a result. As I began to do this I felt more joy, even though I had gone through this loss in my life I was at peace because I knew that there was a higher power that was there looking out for me and assuring me it would be okay,he was there the whole time shaping me to what I needed to be.

God has a plan for us, I testify that He is there, that he loves us, and Faith is only the beginning, Faith leads to great things and as we have Faith, and submit to the masters will, we are able to become something much greater than we ever thought possible!

If you have a story of becoming you want to share, send it to me at kaitlyn.king@myldsmail.net

  

The Beginning

 

 

Every great story, no matter what genre has a great beginning. This
beginning establishes the characters, you become invested in those
characters; who they are and where they came from and you are ready
and willing to learn more about them, what they want and where they
are going. You laugh with them, you cry with them, you begin to
empathize with them in their circumstances, all because you know where
they have come from and how hard they have worked to get where they
desire to be.

 

When one reads a book, you don't jump to the end to find out how all
those characters end up because it changes the meaning of the story. No
longer are you on the edge of your seat and anticipating the next plot line or pitfall this is not the point of the story. The point of the story is to understand the apprehension and struggle that brought the characters to the endpoint, the final moment of bliss that is an overview of their trials. Our stories are the same, the
excitement doesn't come from knowing where we will end up, but how we
get there, we are eternal beings with a summation of great qualities that intermingle with those of others to help with Gods purposes.

To understand the point of this blog one must understand who they are. Not on a temporal plane, no that would be far too easy that is merely the accumulation of their deeds and possessions over time. But I speak of a spiritual plane, I know that we are all children of God the Eternal Father, and we are here on this Earth for a great purpose. Take away the trivialities of the day to day living and look deep within yourself and find that little thing within you that states who you are....your little "I am." You are so much more than flesh and blood, you are eternal and I wish to share how the characters all around us came to know of their eternal purposes!

C. S. Lewis wisely said: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be... strongly tempted to worship. … There are no ordinary people. … Your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses”

 

I am here to write about the potential of the characters in this great story of life, the characters that inhabit
this earth, because we are all continually writing our own story. Each
and every one of us has a plot line filled with the protagonist and
antagonists of our lives which drive our stories along. Sometimes we feel our story is trivial, and
we "don't amount to much." I must say that those thoughts are wrong
completely wrong. I submit that we are all intertwined in a much
bigger plot line than we could ever imagine. The story of each
individual person somehow has affected you, directly or indirectly, a mother caring for her child in Russia has somehow touched your life through the ripple effect of cause and effect without you even knowing it,
and all of us need one another, to fulfill a much greater plan.

 

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says "He hath made every thing
beautiful in its time; also he hath set the world in their heart, so
that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning
to the end."

 

I write the stories of others, not to make those who read apprehensive about what is to come, or what they have not accomplished, but to realize that they can accomplish so much more with God then they could on their own, as you read about these people understand that somehow their storyline has affected yours, and you are better because of it.

 

Please feel free to comment below as you read further and continue to read of not only myself, but the people around you, and my end goal would to be that you realize not only your own eternal potential but the eternal potential of those around you because of Gods great plan for all of us.

 

 

 

God gives us trials not to break us, but to make us!