Come unto me as a little child

3 Nephi 9: 22 Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.

Brother Griffin's Book of Mormon class has opened my eyes to a new way of reading the scriptures. Never in my reading have I really given thought to how the people being talked about actually felt, what they saw, or how they reacted to these things. After this scripture was read, Brother Griffin posed the question, "where do you think the children were at this time?" I know that if I had been young at this time in history, I would have made every effort possible to stay close to my parents. Unable to see through the thick darkness, I would have been reaching out for a piece of fabric, for a shoulder, a wrist, an index finger, anything that I could hold onto so that I could feel safe. Knowing that I was with my parents would help me to feel protected because I know that they would do anything for me. In reverse, I know that my mom and dad love me so much that they would be reaching out to me. They would have held onto me so tightly the minute the destruction began and they would make every effort to keep me safe throughout it. So, when the Nephites heard these words "as a little child" how did they react? Did they look down at the child they held in their hands, the child frightened and confused, clinging to them for dear life? It makes sense to me. So then, one way to interpret the Savior's words "as a little child" is to realize that in order to inherit the kingdom of God we must cling to the Savior. In other words we must pray fervently and with faith knowing that He will hear our prayers and that it is ONLY through Him that we can be saved or that we can survive our latest trial. We must feast upon the words of Christ (the scriptures) with ferocious hunger. We must be steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments and in serving our God. Our testimonies must be strong in this day. Satan's power is strong, but with Christ we cannot fail. As I have been preparing for my mission, I have realized the importance of these things. It is not enough to go through the motions of reading my scriptures and saying my prayers, but when I do these things with full purpose of heart, there is no power strong enough to break my testimony.

Push forward through prayer

Recently, I have been making the effort to make my prayers more meaningful and to really rely on the Lord through my prayers. This week in class we discussed the story of Samuel the Lamanite, a prophet of God who prophesied of the signs of Christ's birth. At the time when the signs were supposed to occur many of the Nephites lost faith and began to doubt that the signs would come. This group of people then began to persecute those that still believed that the signs would come and Christ would come into the world. They set a date that they would kill all those who believed that Christ would come if the sign hadn't been given by the end of that day. 3 Nephi 1:11-13 says "And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." In past times when I have read this passage I always assumed that the date was decided to be the next day, and so Nephi prayed that night, and the sign was given. In class, Brother Griffin presented a more reasonable alternative. Imagine that the date was set to be a few weeks later. Nephi would have prayed every day until the sign came. In the scripture, it says that he prayed in behalf of his people. His life was also at stake and yet he was more concerned for his people. I love this way of interpreting the story so much better (even though we cannot be completely sure on the details) because it is more consistent with how Heavenly Father answers prayers. To quote my teacher, "Prayer is not about pushing buttons, it is about pushing yourself." Heavenly Father doesn't often answer our prayers immediately. Rather, He allows us an opportunity for growth by delaying the time that he answers our prayers. While the natural man might wonder why God didn't choose to just put us out of our misery, it is important to remember that this life is our time to grow and become like God. As I've been thinking about how to make my prayers more meaningful, I realized that there are so many things to pray about. Here is a list to start with.
1. Express gratitude
2. Pray for strength and virtues
3. Pray for blessings
4. Pray for others
5. Pray to understand His will
6. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel
7. Pray for the companionship of the Holy Ghost

The Celestial Staircase

In Book of Mormon this past week, we discussed the famous pride cycle. For example, in Helaman 11, the Nephites start out in a state of wickedness. Nephi prays to have a famine come upon the people so that they will repent.When the famine comes the people become sorrowful and humbled because of the destruction that has come upon them. Seeing their repentance, Nephi prays to Heavenly Father to send rain again. The land then began again to bring forth fruit in the season and the Nephites were blessed and prospered. Just three years later the Nephites return to their wicked ways.
In class, Brother Griffin presented two other cycles. The Telestial Spiral remains on the right side of the circle when our own sorrows only lead to more pride and the cycle repeats. The Celestial Staircase; however, remains on the left side of the circle. This occurs when our prosperity leads us to be humble because we are able to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives. Humility leads to repentance and then to more blessings and prosperity. This is the cycle that we want to emulate in our lives. We can do this as we put our trust in Heavenly Father and choose to lay everything at His feet. Everything we have in this life has come from Him so it seems only right to attribute the praise to Him and to turn to Him in gratitude. This side of the cycle is called the Celestial Staircase because it embodies the perspective that a person must have in order to gain Exaltation. This cycle depends on humility which is submitting our will to Heavenly Father's will, giving up the natural man, making sacrifices now for an eternity of blessings incomprehensible.

To the Wonderful Women in my Life

Throughout the past 19 years of my life, there have been women along the way to guide me and strengthen me. It amazes me how strong you are! Of course, I can't hesitate to express the deep gratitude that I feel for the sacrifices that my loving mother has made in my behalf. Mom, you are my best friend. You have been with me through every trial and have guided me with your sweet spirit. I know that Heavenly Father looks down and thanks you for the work you did in raising 4 wonderful kids. Several other women, sisters, teachers, church leaders, and friends have been a good example to me in my life.
In my Book of Mormon class this past week, we studied Alma 57-63 and learned about the 2,000 Strippling Warriors. These are young boys and men who chose to go to war against a more wicked group in order to preserve their religion, their freedom, their peace, and their families. The faith of these young men is absolutely astounding! But what amazes me more is that they attributed their faith to their mothers' teachings. "I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them" (verse 21). President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "I know of no better answer to the foul practices that confront our young people than the teachings of a mother, given in love with an unmistakable warning". Because of their mothers, these 2,000 Strippling Warriors had such immovable faith in the power of God that they did not doubt that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. And because of their faith, they were saved. Not a single young man was killed. My Book of Mormon teacher explained faith this way, "Faith is not to know that God can do something or could do something but that God WILL do something".
I am so grateful for the faith of the women in my life. I hope that I can be a mother as great as you. Don't underestimate the power for good that you have in this world. Don't forget how precious you are to your Heavenly Father. You are so beautiful to Him.