Sunday, March 3, 2013

What we do in our life here and what we will do after we die

I recently just bought a book entitled "What's On The Other Side?" Written by Brent L Top.  It has strengthened my testimony in my purpose on earth!  In the D&C 130 we read that " that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy"  I already knew this but hearing it again and in this wording it strengthened me to be better, to be more diligent in my interactions with others!  I know that what we do here in this life will go with us into the next life as well!  The prophet Alma taught us that, the righteous, the spirit world will be a paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all thier troubles and from all care, and sorrow (Alma 40:12)  This does not mean that we will be lounging around doing nothing, but rather we will be anxiously engaged in a good cause!  We will be serving and teaching and sharing our love for the Savior with others that we will have no sorrow.  For sorrow can not exist where there is peace!  We will be full of hope and faith.  We will continue to grow and learn in spirit, for that is what we are here on earth to do.  To be tested and prove to Father that we can and want to obey the commandments he has given us.  As I now have more and more family passing to the other side of the veil, I know more and more that they are serving and preparing for the Savior to come back to reign again.  Pres Woodruff  related a dream or vision of the spirit world.  He said that he had seen the Prophet Joseph, he said he was in a hurry and could not talk.  He saw many brethren that were busy and could not stop to talk.  Pres Woodruff amazed that they were all in a hurry and had no time to talk.  Latter on he was privileged to ask The Prophet why everyone was in a hurry.  The reply was this "Every dispensation what has bad the priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to earth with the Savior when he goes to reign on the earth.  Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work.  We have not.  We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry to accomplish it." (What's On The Other Side? ch 4 pg 30-31)   There is a great urgency and what we do here with our time will help to speed the work along.  As we attend the temple and serve those that can not do their own work.  As we teach the gospel to those that are ready to listen and accept it here on this earth.   All of these things that we do here on earth affects what will happen when we cross the veil into the spirit world.  Let us look at what we are doing and make sure that what we are doing will be a righteous sacrifice to the Lord.  We are all sent here to do the Lords work and help each other become better and return to him a better and more learned person!

Friday, February 15, 2013

When ye are in the Service of your Fellow beings ......

All my life I have always wanted to serve others.  For the longest time I always felt that if I served someone that at least they would say thank you or even better do something back in return.  I have sense realized that this type of thinking is not only self destructing but not a true act of service.  When I was a little girl my mother was going through a rough time in her life.  Her marriage of 7 years was ending and she was left with 5 very small children to raise on her own.  She was truly blessed with a loving family and for the summer was welcomed by her brother Dan and his wife Jenny.  A true act of service, they did not expect anything in return.  They gave my mom and us kids a home full of love and kept us safe.  After the summer, moms sister Linda and her husband Mike took us with them to Illinois.  Another act of true service.  Of this service I would like to talk about.  For it was from my Aunt Linda that I gained a love of service from.  While living with my Aunt I learned to feel the spirit and searched out ways to keep it with me.  There are a few things that I remember about living there in Philo Illinois.  Scriptures, prayer and music.  My all time favorite scripture is Moisah 2:17 ...when ye are in the service of your fellow men, ye are only in the service of your God.  I can still hear Aunt Linda teaching us this scripture, I can still see her teaching this scripture.  I remember how much I looked up to her.  I did not want to do anything that would upset her, why would I, she had taught me so many things about how to be like the Savior that I just wanted to try my hardest to do as she would do.  When Aunt Linda taught us this scripture she also bore her testimony to us about service and taught us that we should serve others with out question or thought of what we would get out of it.  It was not till recently that I have figured out that it does not matter what we do or who we are serving we should do it because that is what Heavenly Father wants us to do.  He loves us and wants what is best for us.  Life is not about what's in it for me but rather how can I make someones day lighter and brighter.  A song that I love "Have I done any Good?" reminds me that I must continue to seek out opportunities to serve others.  These opportunities will not always come to me so I must pray for them and look for them.  I have a friend that writes for another friends website and this being valentines week she wrote about how to show love to your spouse.  Even though at this time in my life I am struggling in my marriage and am separated she shared something that sparked this post  and made me think about life and service and how I should be doing everything I can for others and expect nothing in return.  As I go through my day I find myself thinking ..."well I picked up my kids toys and they did not say thanks mom.."  I then stop myself and change my thinking to either ....I could have asked them to but I did not... or I am lucky to be their mom I get see the smile on their face when they see a clean room and feel of the love they have for me when they wrap their arms around me and say I love you!!!    So service a small act yet such a large principle that we all will take a life time to master!  I am grateful to my Father in Heaven who knew that service would be a super food to the spirit, that he gave His Son a perfect example to teach us this principle of Service.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Life After Death

Today on face book I came across a short but simple truth that The Prophet of the World, President Monson shared with us about death.  This life is not the end.  For me this such a powerful statement.  My mother passed away just over a year ago and I know that she is not dead, she is just separated from her body.  She is in the mist of those that love her.  What a peace this is to me to know that she is happy and not alone.  In the Book of Alma we are taught by Amulek that death is not the end....As you study these verses pray and ask God if these principles taught are true.  You can know this for yourself as promised by Moroni  verses 3-5.

Sharing with you my Testimony is important to me

I have had an overwhelming feeling that I need to share my testimony with all that will listen or in this case read it!

Some may ask what is a testimony and why do I want to share it with you.

A testimony to me is: Something that I have a firm belief in, something that I know without a doubt in my mind.  Something that I live my life for.

My testimony to you is that I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is His Son.  That Joseph Smith is the Prophet that restored the gospel to this earth in these the last days.  I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, that Joseph Smith was directed by the Angel Moroni to the Gold Plates, and translated them to what we now have as the Book of Mormon.

Through this knowledge I have been able to go through heart wrenching challenges in my life with a happy heart as I look to the eternal picture of all things.  Through this blog I and the post that will come I hope to be able to share with you the many principles that I have learned that are taught by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ through modern prophets.  So with this as my opening post I say enjoy the journey!