"In Thee Is My Joy"

Have you ever studied Alma 33-34? If you have, you know how amazing these chapters are. If not, grab your nearest Book of Mormon, and study those chapters. Trust me when I say, they are so jam-packed with goodness that your cup will 'runneth over' with happiness!

A little background, before this, Alma had just been dealing with an Anti-Christ named Korihor. He taught all kinds of false things to the people which left them confused on what to believe or not. So in these chapters Alma teaches them the things they need to do to have faith in Christ.

First thing he teaches: Read your scriptures. When you read the scriptures, it is about God and Jesus Christ and you will come to know them.
Second thing he teaches: Pray to God, who is merciful! He will hear you no matter where you are! He will always, always listen to you. I love 34:11 "I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son."
Then Alma asks "Now... I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?"

What I love about these chapters is the simplicity. We start at the very beginning: Do you believe in God? And then if you do the simple things it will lead to not only your belief in God, but coming to KNOW Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! Alma and Amulek bear their testimonies to these people that if they will just do the simple things that we are asked to do, we will come to know Jesus Christ in a very personal way. They repeat it ELEVEN times! He is the 'Son of God'. He was born to bring about an infinite atonement that would save each of us, personally. He suffered both in Gethsemane, as well as on the cross, so that we can have eternal life!

In Alma 34:4 it says 'Yea, even that ye would have so much faith as even to plant the word in your hearts, that ye may try the experiment of its goodness.' Just give it the smallest amount of faith, even just to experiment to see if it is true, and in verse 31 'immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.'

There is so much good gospel doctrine in these chapters. It is all so wonderful. I'll end this forum with my favorite verse, the last one in chapter 34: "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions."

Tent. Dorm. Close Enough.

1 Nephi 2:15 And my father dwelt in a tent.

This was the first scripture I memorized! Simple, compact, exactly what I look for in scriptures I memorize. Sure, I have giggled every time I read this just for the sheer simplicity of the statement! But upon further reflection, I find myself relating to this scripture more than any others on that page. 

When you read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon, you can't help but feel sorry for the poor family that left everything to follow the Lord's commandments. They went through many hardships after leaving Jerusalem that would be so difficult, especially when you are unsure of the outcome of your journey. The amount of faith it took for Lehi to lead his family into the wilderness is staggering, and humbling to me. What I take from this scripture is that Lehi chose obedience over his own personal comfort. He left his comfort zone, entered the big wide unknown, and all so that he could follow Heavenly Father's commandments. The result of his faith led to the vision of the Tree of Life, and many other incredible spiritual experiences. He grew closer to God in the wilderness than he ever could have in Jerusalem. 

For me, this lesson hits extremely close to home at the moment. Having spent the past six months cozy and comfy at home has been a huge blessing to me. There is no place I would rather be than at home with my family and puppies. However, when December hit, I had the realization that I needed to return to school. It came full force, that I needed to go back to BYU. I had no housing arranged, no FAFSA completed, no classes registered, or anything. I was starting completely fresh, four weeks before the first day of classes. But, I followed the prompting and got myself ready. I had to choose faith over comfort this month. It was extremely hard packing up and leaving again, but how else am I suppose to grow? What I learn from Lehi, is that I need to use my faith and act upon it. Only then will I grow closer to God and learn to trust in Him. 

Weekly Forum? Don't mind if I do!

   An amazing benefit of being at BYU is having access to all of the amazing Religion courses offered here! I chose to take Rel A 275: Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon, which I am super excited for! One of our assignments is to do a weekly "forum" where I discuss a scripture I loved from that week's study and expound upon its teachings. The other stipulation is that I have to share this 'forum' with others! That's where you come into the mix.

I ask you, please, to help me complete this assignment by reading my weekly entries! I will be posting them to Facebook each week as well, so make sure to click the link! Hopefully all of us will be edified by this assignment, and learn a little bit more about the gospel!

Disclaimer: The things I will discuss are my opinions and beliefs. I will respect your opinions and beliefs as long as you respect mine, so hurtful or unnecessary comments are not appreciated in this friendly setting.