Relationships: How

Jesus Christ is our perfect example. As we follow His example and live His teachings, we will be happy. His example includes how to interact with others.

He showed us how to put other people's needs before our own. He showed us how to forgive. He taught us to be kind, to love, to listen and to be compassionate. He taught us to repent and to apologize, even when we must admit we have been wrong the whole time. He taught us to understand others, to be patient with them and with ourselves. He taught us to love and pray for our enemies, to do good to them. He taught us to not seek revenge and to avoid anger. He showed us that we can turn to God in prayer to receive help.

I know trying to be like Jesus makes me happy. "What would Jesus do?" or "How would Jesus treat this person?" really are awesome questions that can help us quickly choose to uplift and encourage others. We feel closer to Him as we do.

Understanding and Leadership

"Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual. We can show forth our love for others even when we are called upon to correct them. We need to be able to look deeply enough into the lives of others to see the basic causes for their failures and shortcomings."

Spencer W. Kimball

Read "Jesus: The Perfect Leader" here. 

All, That, His

As we follow Jesus Christ, we often have high hopes for ourselves.When we give into old temptations, or we do, say, or think something we thought we weren't going to do, say, or think again, we can easily feel embarrassed or discouraged. 

There are three words that are worth emphasizing in some verses found in the scriptures:

All - Nothing is more inclusive than 'all'

That - So That, 'a fin de que' in Spanish - both suggest purpose, motivation

His - Jesus'

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore He suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto Him.

"And He hath risen again from the dead, that He might bring all men unto Him, on the conditions of repentance.

"And how great is His joy in the soul that repenteth!"

Fear, or I've Stopped?

When I was younger I loved roller coasters. I thought they were the most beautiful things on earth. I knew everything about them, including the stats of the record holders (tallest, fastest, etc.), the ground-breaking ones that changed the industry, and the famous parks that housed the good ones. I knew everything except for what it felt like to be on one  I had gone on little ones, but when opportunities came for me to ride the ones I knew about, I was too afraid to.

Fear is fascinating. It stops things. It becomes a problem when we are governed by it, when we let it influence important and meaningful decisions. And when we let it influence our relationships.

Relationships are built on honesty and commitment. Fear can stop us from being honest. And it can stop us from being committed. It can keep us from pursuing or developing relationships.

Fear is subtle. It can be hard to recognize when we are being motivated by our fears. But, if we don't recognize them, we'll continually be negatively inspired by them.

The opposite of fear is confidence. Or faith. Faith in Jesus Christ is just that: confidence in Jesus Christ. We trust Him and what He says. We trust that as we live His teachings, we will be happy. Even though our lives may seem to be a mess or out of our control, or our future seems unknown and unnerving, we trust that He knows what is best for us and that He has perfect control over our situation. We trust that He wants to help us and that He has all power to do so. He will always keep all of His promises. 

We fight our fears through faith in Him. We trust that He can and will help us become who we really want to be.

Prayer - Daisy

Faith to See God's Hand

Character Trees

My friend Morgan is a missionary.  Check out her most recent blog post. 

My name is Morgan...and I am a Mormon Missionary: Character Trees

2 of 8 - What Does Follow Mean?

This is part 2 of a potential 8-entry post about how we can come to know God and enjoy our relationship with Him, what He expects of us, how He continues to guide us now just as He did during Bible times, and how we can have peace in this life and prepare to live with Him again as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God's plan for us to follow while we're on earth is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we live the gospel, we will become more like our Heavenly Father, we will find true purpose in life, and we will be happier.  

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a lifestyle. We begin by learning about what Jesus has taught us to do. We then try to change what we're currently doing or not doing to fit with what He taught. As we do so, we learn that we can trust Him. We can then make promises to God that we are willing to follow Jesus Christ. We make those promises when we are baptized. By keeping the promises we make when we're baptized, we are blessed to have the Holy Ghost to guide us at all times. The Holy Ghost will help us know how we can be more like the Savior. We then try to serve and help others as God would want us to. We do our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

We may feel that we don't know enough, don't really believe enough, or have messed up too many times to follow Jesus Christ. But, the gospel was designed for imperfect people! Us making mistakes is just a reality of life. There is nothing limiting us from receiving the blessings of the gospel besides our own decision not to live it or to give up trying because of despair or frustration.  

When we make mistakes, disappoint ourselves, or leave God for awhile, we can begin again by trusting that Jesus can and will forgive and help us. And He will. Knowing or hoping this, we repent - we try to change, we try to live Jesus' teachings, we ask for forgiveness. We make promises with God, or we renew those promises by going to church and taking the sacrament. We try to listen to the Holy Ghost and live Christ's teachings, including His invitation to keep on repenting. We can start living the gospel at any point in our lives, no matter where we are or what we've done or what we know. The perfect starting point to begin to follow Christ is wherever we are right now.

Living the gospel helps us understand ourselves and it makes our relationships with others better. We become more like God, so we can love even more. Life becomes even more full and meaningful when we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1 of 8 - Who God Is

This is part 1 of a potential 8-entry post about how we can come to know God and enjoy our relationship with Him, what He expects of us, how He continues to guide us now just as He did during Bible times, and how we can have peace in this life and prepare to live with Him again as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God is the Supreme Being of the universe, the Creator of all things, and the person who gave us life. He is a person. He has a body. He has feelings and emotions; He can see and hear and laugh and sing and run and everything.  

We are related to Him; He is our Father. He loves and knows us. We lived with Him long before we came to earth. He is loving and understanding. He wants to be close to us. He is patient with us and our weaknesses. He loves us no matter what we do or how we act or how we feel about ourselves. We are His children. We can trust Him.

We can talk to Him. We do this as we pray. As we humbly and sincerely express our feelings and thoughts, He listens and answers us. He can respond in many ways, including through the Holy Ghost (to learn more about the Holy Ghost, go here). We can learn how kind and understanding and forgiving He is as we have experiences with Him.

He wants us to be happy. This is easier to accept when we know for ourselves who He is and what He is like. He wants us to enjoy all the happiness He enjoys. In order for that to happen, we need to become like Him. He sent us here to earth to gain experience and to learn so that we could become more like He is. This earth life is can be very difficult. "He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right (Preach My Gospel, pg. 31)."   

 He has given us guidance for us to follow during our time here on earth. This plan includes principles and truths we can choose to accept and follow. This plan is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

God sent Jesus Christ to earth to help us. Jesus Christ has made it possible so that every person who wants to return to God can. He suffered for our sins and made it that death does not end our existence or our relationships. If we will live His gospel, we will be able to live with our families and loved ones forever. We will be able to live again with our loving Heavenly Father.

To learn more about God, visit here.