Becoming Strong

   The person that knows us the best is God. He know us better than anybody else, even ourselves. Oftentimes we have a certain perspective of ourselves and what our weaknesses are. However, God knows what our true weakness is and how we can make it strong. God said "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12: 27) This scripture means a lot, first of is that weakness is not a bad thing. Weakness is a tool that God uses to make us humble and more receptive to God himself. Moreover, His grace and mercy can help us overcome our weakness. But, what really struck me this week as we read this verse is that it God is the one who will show us what our weakness truly is. The weakness we may be working on might be the wrong one! So, as we turn to the Lord He can make our weakness into strength. But, we must first humble ourselves, come unto God and have faith in Him. As we do this we will discover our true weakness and it will become strong unto us. 

The Touch of the Master

  The story behind the brother of Jared is important in many ways. The part that I will focus on is when the brother of Jared faces the dilemma of how to have light on the barges. His people, the Jaredites, were told to cross the sea to get to the land of promise. So, the brother of Jared,  with the guidance of God, built barges to cross the sea. However, he faced several problems, one of which was that they didn't have light inside their barges. They could not resolve the problem themselves so the brother of Jared sought out the help of God. His response is given in (Ether 2:23) in which He asks the brother of Jared what should be done. So, God puts matters into the hands of Jared's brother.  "And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord." (Ether 3:1) The brother of Jared put forth his very best effort: he climbed a very high mountain; he molted sixteen stones, even though they only really needed eight for each ship; lastly he made each one like glass which was undoubtedly very hard for anyone at that time. Even though he put forth his best effort, they still didn't shine. However, when he approached God and asked for his help, the stones were made to shine. Often times even our best efforts don't succeed as we want them too. We do our best and work diligently to accomplish something but our work is still dull. Yet, when we turn to the Lord for His help and His touch we can truly see a miracle as our dull works are made to be brilliant.

Way to Be

   In 3 Nephi 12: 48 Christ states what His goal for us is "I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Fortunately for us He gives us the steps we must follow to reach perfection which we find in the sermon on the mount or the beatitudes. These teaching were truly opened up to me this week as we studied these steps which Christ teaches.  For me, I feel like I'm at different levels with each one. But, ultimately to continue up on the path of perfection I need to take each step at a time. So, I will only focus on one that I feel is a weakness for me in particular.

   Christ says: "blesses are the meek[.]" (3 Nephi 12: 5) The opposite of meekness is pride, and oftentimes I feel as if I am too prideful to receive God's guidance. I want to be the master of my own fate and make my own choices. However, in order to be truly meek I must submit my will to Gods by doing what He would have me. Whats more is that He understands and can see things that I cannot. Part of meekness is submitting to God's will which is exactly what Christ did by fulfilling the atonement. Christ never doubted God's plan He never tried to change it He never deviated from the path to try something different. Christ was truly meek in all aspects of His life. I know that as we follow Christs perfect example we too can come closer to being more like Him and like Heavenly Father.

Don't Look Down

   While studying the Book of Mormon this week in class we arrived at the climax-when Christ comes to the Americas. The part that I really want to analyze is the moment before Christ's arrival. Right before Christ arrives the peeple of the Americas "heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about; for they understood not the voice." (3 Nephi 11: 3) Similarly, when we as humans are confused we often turn to those around us for guidance and even more often we turn to to the internet for knowledge and help. Yet, just like the people in the verse we still do not understand. The verse continues "And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sounds thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven... And behold the third time they did understand" (3 Nephi 11: 5-6) Notice how it wasn't until the third time that they were able to understand. The reason they understood is because they looked heavenward. When we open our ears to God and are willing to listen to Him, He will help us. Whether through the scriptures or modern day prophets God always finds a way to impart His knowledge to us and help us understand. Therefore, rather than looking around us, or even worse-below us, we need to look heavenwards for God's help and knowledge.