Helamen 5:12

Last Sunday in Relief Society they issued the sisters a challenge to have a more personal relationship with the Savior. To help us they gave us a 12 week scripture reading schedule where for each of the weeks you have one scripture that you read everyday. They also gave everyone a notebook to write down your feelings about the scriptures and about your testimony.

I like these kinds of challenges. I've never been good at writing things down when I read my scriptures, but I found on my mission 100% that when I write down thoughts I realize that I have a lot more inside of me than I originally thought. My brain may not seem to process the words in depth just on the surface, but when I start writing about it a lot more comes out than I thought was in there.

I decided to write down here what I wrote down in the notebook, because maybe someone else who reads this can build on what I was thinking this morning as I wrote. An inside to the spiritual side of my brain I guess, so they are more personal thoughts. But why not?

The week 1 scriptures was Helaman 5:12.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

"This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon and in all the scriptures combined. It is on my mission plaque and I shared in many times with people I taught on my mission (investigators and members alike). I like it because my perspective changes immediately and my focus is brought back to the fact that the middle - the ROCK - of everything in this life in Jesus Christ. Without Him nothing makes sense. Without Him there is no point to life, because maybe it would be possible to live but with no chance of repentance or happiness or of having an eternal future. How pathetic of an existence would that be?? Seriously though, the Son of God gave His life to be our redeemer so we could and would have a chance at living with His and our Father again. It must be a pretty significant event if so much is focused on it. I want to live with God again. I want to live with Christ again. It is simple.
To do that I can't take for granted my Savior. Because of Him when the bad stuff happens I can move forward. I can get past it. And when I'm not happy I know that I can become happy again if I let Him help me. It's all centered on the fact that He cares and wants us to find that happiness. so He helps. No one can ever help me as much as my Savior has and continues to do.
It's so dumb the little things that we do that turn into big things and are frequently acts of complacency that screw us up and prevent us from accepting the Savior's help for a little while. I mean, usually we'll get out of whatever funk we're in and realize that we're being selfish with out time and stupid, but why does it have to happen at all? I know the answer. I need opposition to grow. I'm not perfect. But there are many answers beyond that. I constantly fall down and do this even though I KNOW it's wrong. I grew up in the church. I served a mission. I have a testimony. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the truth. So why am I dumb sometimes?
I believe these moments of dumbness happen because I am weak. But I also believe that I have a lot more in me to make and keep me stronger than my weaknesses. Ether 12:27 - one of the coolest scriptures because we realize that it is SUPPOSED to happen like this. Without our moments of stupidity we wouldn't be able to realize that we are weak and work hard to become stronger. And continue the cycle of falling down and rising above the entire time this mortal life continues.
I mess up all the time. ALL THE TIME. But I believe that understanding this fact and moving forward through repentance and using the help Jesus Christ freely gives that I can be better."

Maybe it doesn't make that much sense at times, but I believe that Christ is my rock. He is the foundation of everything and if we do not have a testimony that He lives and He loves us then it is difficult to move forward. I want everyone to know that I love my Savior.