Church is a hospital for sinners

    Its been sooooo long since i updated. i guess life just got in the way. i apologize for that. i decided today to start up this Gospel Blog today with things that i learn that relate to the gospel during the week. etc. every post has to do with the Gospel, i will update it every Sunday, on a different subject every week. i hope to touch someones heart, and help someone to feel the spirit when they read it. even if the someone is me. so i hope you all enjoy it.

    so, a friend was asking today for advice about going to church, and how she has drank coffee all week and does not even feel bad about it. etc. she does not know if she is welcome at church. she absolutely believes in the Gospel has a testimony of the priesthood, and no longer believes in the the trinity. so she does not feel comfortable going back to the baptist church. she is asking, if she does these things that are against the principles of the Gospel, is she still welcome at church.

    This was my answer to her: "You are ALWAYS allowed to go to church! NO MATTER WHAT! Whether you are a member or not it does not matter! I have a couple of talks that I will share as soon as I get home from church. But as hard as it is. GO TO CHURCH, go to worship our GOD! don't go for anyone else but you and GOD! No one will kick you out. pm me if you need to talk. I'm hear to answer any of your questions." " Also the best advice I can give you is to PRAY! pray to Heavenly Father, ask him? He loves you, and he knows you and the desires of your heart. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your name! He knows everything about you! He created you! he is ALWAYS there for you! And he knows exactly how you feel."


    I wanted to look up a talk from conference that just will strike to her. because sometimes it helps a little more to hear it from our modern day prophets and apostles, and not just read it in the scriptures. so, i remembered that a couple of years ago Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk where he says "YOU matter to him" I, along with others have felt at one time or another not very welcome in church. but that is ONLY because of PEOPLE. People are not perfect! but the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS perfect! and Christ came to this earth, thousands of years ago, and set up his church, which is the same church that Joseph Smith restored. Jesus Christ then Atoned for not only our sins, but for EVERY feeling that we will ever feel! he is there to rejoice with us, he is there to weep with us, he is there to mourn with us, and to comfort us when we are in need. He loves us! he knows us! he knows our names! he knows us better than we know ourselves, and he knows the desires of our hearts! one of my favorite scriptures is Alma chapter 7:11-13. 

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

    The talk that came to me the most though was the talk from April 2015 afternoon session by Elder Renlund of the quorum of the 70. titled latter- day saints keep on trying! in that talk he quotes a young woman saying, “Oh, Thoba, the Church is like a big hospital, and we are all sick in our own way. We come to church to be helped.” this talk is so amazing and has stuck with me since he gave it almost exactly a year ago. i could listen to it over and over again. he also says, "President Thomas S. Monson has taught, “One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final.”8 Even if we’ve been a conscious, deliberate sinner or have repeatedly faced failure and disappointment, the moment we decide to try again, the Atonement of Christ can help us. And we need to remember that it is not the Holy Ghost that tells us we’re so far gone that we might as well give up." 

    I KNOW that our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us more than anything! he knows us, he knows the desires of our hearts and he wants us to return to him. Jesus Christ not only atoned for our sins, but so that we can go to him with anything and he can know EXACTLY how we feel. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true! I know that through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that SAME church that Christs originally set up, was restored. I know God lives, that Christ lives. I know this for myself. I have felt their love for me and know that i can go to them with anything! I hope that anyone reading this will feel the spirit and come to know for yourselves that they love you also. Trust in Them! They love you! 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

plan of happiness/plan of salvation

    so, i apologize for not updating for a while life has been kinda crazy lately. my baby/dog "Minnie" is very sick. i have taken her to 2 different vets, the first one just gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way, the second one said she had pneumonia really bad. and treatment is too expensive so I'm trying to treat her at home with better antibiotics and lots and lots of love and we will see what the outcome is. i love her so much but if she is supposed to go then she is supposed to go and i have embraced that. because all dogs go to heaven right? i think so.
    anyways, on to the plan of salvation. last week my mother was visiting my grandparents in their assisted living home and my grandmother said to her "I'm going to see my mom and dad soon" which makes me think that she is going to pass through the veil soon and be on the other side with her parents and the rest of our loved ones that have passed on. i am so grateful for the Gospel and knowing what we know and for the great plan of happiness or Salvation. we know the we chose all of this before we came here to earth. we know that there was a great war in heaven long before the earth was created.
     we know that there were 2 plans created and Lucifer's and Christs. Lucifer's plan was that we would all make it back to our Heavenly Father that we would have no choice in the matter. and Christs plan was that we would come to earth, that we would have a wonderful thing called agency. that we would be able to choose our way back home. by a majority vote we chose the latter of the two and chose Christs plan. unfortunately there was a third of the host of heaven that chose to follow Lucifer or Satan. there fore they were denied the blessings of coming to earth and receiving a body and participating in this wonderful plan and eventually gaining eternal life and making it back home.     so, we made it here to earth everyone on earth kept their first estate. now, it is up to us to keep our second estate. which means making the right choices, being baptized into the church of Jesus Christ by the proper authority (the priesthood) and making the amazing covenants that we make in the temple. the temple is the closest that we can be to heaven here in earth. it truly is the house of the Lord. it is the one place that we can be sealed to our families forever. when we are married/sealed in the temple we are sealed together for eternity not just til death do us part. it is so comforting in times like this to know that we can be with our families and our loved ones even after death. that we do go somewhere after we die. therefore we are less afraid of death.
     
the spirit world is so close. we know that it is also here, that the spirit world is around us. it is not a different universe or place. they are all around us, watching over us. so, it comes to no surprise that many of those that pass on, often see their loved ones that have passed on before them as they go.
ex: Emma Smiths last words before she died were "Joseph, Joseph, I'm coming, I'm coming" and my grandmother knowing that she is going to see her parents soon. as heartbreaking as it is for us here on earth, i can only imagine that it is a lovely reunion with the loved ones that have passed on before us.
it is very comforting to know what we know about death and the resurrection and the afterlife and what we can have if we only choose what we know is right and choose to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. like Alma says "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear"
      so today's lesson is, let us prepare for the last days, let us not procrastinate the day of our repentance. because today is the day to prepare to meet God. therefore let us live everyday as if we were going to see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the flesh.
i know that as we do, we will be prepared to receive the blessings that we chose to come here and work so hard to receive. that we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father and our loved ones again. as hard as it gets we can still choose to do what we have to do to get what want the most.
and i say this in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Happy Sunday everyone!

women in the scriptures

so a questions was raised. why are there not more women named in the Book of Mormon?
well, i believe that some women do not need to be names in the scriptures. but i also believe that maybe, while writing the scriptures the Lord and those prophets knew that there were going to be people that would do everything that they could to discredit the Book of Mormon and its truthfulness. and part of doing so they were going to try to discredit and us the names of those mentioned in it, and they loved their wives and mothers so much that they wanted to give those people little room to say anything about them. i believe that is also why we don't hear much mentioned about or know the name of our Heavenly Mother. i believe that our Heavenly Father knew that people were going to take his name in vain (even though they would be breaking a commandment) and he loves our Heavenly Mother so much that he did not want that to happen to her.
i get so tired of people talking about how women don't get the credit they deserve in the scriptures and in the church. but in reality we get a lot more credit with things than the men do. we get praised every time the leaders speak about the women in the church. our Heavenly Father and our Leaders hold us women so high and love us so much. but sometimes we let society get to us and lead us to believe that is not the case. i urge all of you to as you watch conference in a month and listen to our leaders, try to count how many times women are talked about and held at high esteem by them.
I know that our Heavenly Father loves us women so much. and i hope that all of you other sisters in the world will come to realize that.
i have found a great article on women in the book of Mormon. and it has actually inspired me to read the Book of Mormon looking for things like she did in this article.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/09/

my-book-of-mormon-sisters?lang=eng

small enough

so, i haven't been on here in quite a while. I've been seriously slacking! I'm sorry about that.
so, I'm sitting here watching the movie "Charly" trying to figure out what i was going to write about tonight. and i thought about today's lesson in young women's. about families. so, tonight i am going to write about how families can be together forever!
there is a line in the movie that says "God didn't promise that i would live, he promised that we would be together forever" that line is so touching to me. marriage has been a difficult topic for me for a few years now. since i am getting older, and it is seeming more and more probable that i will not get married. i pray everyday that i will meet my husband that day. and i try to trust in the Lord and his timing, but sometimes it is just so difficult. one thing i know is that my Heavenly Father loves me and he is mindful of me, and as hard as it is sometimes to swallow. i know that i will meet the man of my dreams. and as for now i will be the best daughter, sister, aunt, niece, granddaughter etc. that i can be. i know that families can and will be together forever!!! i know that with all my heart.
there is another line in this movie that touches my heart, when Charly is baptized they are at the christus at temple square and she says " you believe it, Don't you? and he says, No... I Know it"  some times i ask why, we all do, sometimes God doesn't tell us why. sometimes we will never know why, sometimes we just need to trust that He knows what he is doing and we are following his guidance.
FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!!!

i know that we were not put here to walk this earth alone. we have the one that knows us better than we know ourselves to walk with us everyday if we will have him. President Monson's talk here is about that and how we can always pray to him and he Will be there. We will NEVER be alone. 

there is a song by Mindy Gledhill that i found on my mission. that whenever i am feeling alone and that i don't know if he is with me or cares. i like to listen to it. i say this prayer, just to know that he is here. "...i don't need the strength of Samson, or Chariot in the end, just want to know that you still know how many hairs are on my head, Oh great God, Be small enough to hear me now..." 

i know that he always was, is , and will be with me throughout my life. i know that he does the same for you. i know that we can be with our families and those we love forever! i know He lives, and that he loves us, and that we may not always know "why" but we must trust that he does and that he knows what he is doing.

are we not all mothers?

first i want to apologize i haven't gotten on here in quite a while. i will be better at it.

ok, so it was mothers day this last Sunday. part of this post is very personal and i don't talk about it much but today i am going to in hopes that it may help someone else realize that they are not alone.

 my whole life all I've ever wanted is to be a mother, but obviously my plan has not worked out as i planned, i can only hope that my Heavenly Father has something spectacular in store for me. i always joked about the fact that Alvin Smith is waiting for me on the other side of the Vail. the older i get the truer that statement feels. although i would not mind marrying Alvin Smith, I'm not sure i can wait that long. it is hard for me to see my best friends getting married and having children. i don't think some people realize how hard it really is. i don't let them see how hard it is for me. i pretend that it doesn't bother me too much, but really it does. not being a wife and a mother is one of the hardest things, actually its probably the hardest thing I've had to deal with in my life. in November i want to time out for women with my mom and sisters and my aunt Cheryl. it was amazing! it was something that i really needed. Sheri Dew was there and gave the most amazing talk. it hit me hard and helped me a lot. she talked about how she has fasted and prayed every month for a husband for 50 years. and how there was one conference when she was in the General Relief Society that she had to write a talk and was inspired to talk on mothers, she thought i am not a mother how am i supposed to write a talk on mothers. and then she wrote one of the most amazing talks called "are we not all mothers" here it is:

if someone as amazing as Sheri Dew can live her life with out marriage. i can get through it to. it is just something that some of have to go through. all we need to do is turn our burden over to the Lord, so that he can help us carry the load that is to heavy to bear.

now on a happier not, my mother is one of the most amazing people i know and the mother that was sculpted and molded especially for me and my siblings. there is no doubt in my mind that she was meant to be my mother and i was meant to be her daughter. i hope that all of my siblings feel the same way. we (all 9 of us) have put her through the ringer, some days i am surprised that she has survived. and some days that we survived. he he i mad this slide show for her on mothers day and put it to this song. i heard this song and thought it was very fitting for her. every bit of it describes her. i hope she knows how amazing she is and how much i love and appreciate her and hope to one day be the kind of mother that she is. i love you mom!

#becausehelives

this weekend is not only conference but it is also easter. there is not a better way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ then listen to his special witnesses bear witness of him. i dont have much to say today because everything that i would say is summed up in one talk. Elder Hollands talk was amazing as usual! i absolutely love the story that he shared about the 2 brother rock climbing. and thought it was amazing how he spoke of Adam and Eve. and of the fact that it is so completely centered on our Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement. so here it is just in case you missed it and if you didnt then watch it still because you cant listen to it enough. also i wanted to post the video that the church made to celebrate easter this year.
May we remember our Savior Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he made for us in the Garden of
Gethsemane, and that he Rose from the dead so
that we may rise for the dead and live in our
mansion above. Happy Easter everyone!
#becausehelives i can face tomorrow!

follow the prophet

today i went out to Logandale and wen to to church at my sisters ward. my niece just so happened to be speaking in primary:) she did so good! she spoke on following the prophet. and with conference coming up i thought it would be a good topic for tonight's post.

why should we follow the prophet?
here are just a few reasons.
1. because he communications directly with God on what the church needs
the prophets full time job is to be in constant communication with God, he talks to him all day every day. he doesn't get any time off from being the prophet. being a prophet is full time job and it is not easy.
2. Christs church is built on the foundation of prophets and apostles. if we did not have a prophet on the earth today. i can tell you it would not be organized, we would not be able to do the things that do now without any direction. for example, you have seen the difference between children that grow up with parents that lead and guide them, and those that don't have those parents. sometime they find their way but it takes them much longer and it is much harder. God is very organized and always has been.
3. the Prophet is not allowed to lead us astray. if the prophet were to tell us to do something that was against Gods will. he would not allow him to be the prophet anymore.
Preach my Gospel states: those who listen to and follow the counsel of living prophets and apostles will not go astray. the teaching s of the living prophets provide and anchor of eternal truth in a world of shifting values and help us avoid misery and sorry. the confusion and strife of the world will not overwhelm us, and we an enjoy the assurance of being in harmony with God's will.
so, as we watch the prophets and apostles speak this coming weekend may we keep those and many more reasons to follow the prophet in mind. i know that we have a prophet on the each to day that will NEVER lead us astray, i know that he will only lead us to God, and to do right.
please watch conference this weekend and keep an open heart to everything that he says. i know i will:)
Happy Sunday and have a great week!