A Change of Heart = True Conversion

Whether you have been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints your entire life, or whether you just became a member yesterday, each of us must go through a process of conversion in order to obtain a testimony.

While reading in Alma chapter 23 today about the conversion of the Lamanites by Alma and the sons of Mosiah, a verse stuck out to me that I'd like to share. Verse 5 says, "as many as the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away." The statement that the NEVER did fall away is a bold one. Many people in and out of our church have been converted to Christ. How many of those people have now fallen away from various Christian religions? How is it that some people can fall away from the teachings of Christ so easily while others persevere?

After considering this topic this morning, I know that there are a plethora of reasons why people fall away: family, disinterest in organized religion, the actions and choices of church members and leaders, disagreement on doctrine, to name a few. The list is seemingly endless. It's easy to give up one something rather than to try and understand it and to work through our faith. I think that we can all learn something from the Lamanites turned Christian. They had a true conversion, which I'm sure included prayer, searching, and seeking the confirmation of the Spirit to know that the teachings were true. I KNOW that their conversion included faith and withstanding trials. Do you think it was easy for them to make a choice to be put to death rather than to sin again? I don't think it was easy at all. But, they would rather DIE than to make their same mistakes again.

I want to learn from their example. I want to make sure that when I ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness that I also ask to have a true change of heart and courage to remain faithful even during times when it may not be easy so to do.

Coming to Testimony like Enos

As I was reading Enos today, a few parts of it really struck me.

Enos 1:3 reads, "...the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart."

After enough says this, he kneels down to pray and ask forgiveness for his sins all day long and receives a remission of his sins as well as hears the voice of God. There are many valuable lessons contained in only this part of the story. First off, I truly believe that this is how many of us start to have a solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if we live our whole lives with a knowledge of the gospel, like Enos--who remembered the words of his father, but clearly did not believe them for himself before this time--we must also pray to gain our own testimony. We may be praying about a specific part of the gospel we want to understand better, or we may be praying in general to gain our own testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever it may be, we come to a real testimony in the same away: by exhibiting faith and then acting upon it.



All of this reminds me of a talk Elder Bednar gave when he was president of BYU-Idaho. He spoke on how vital it is for us to work everyday to keep our testimonies. If we don't continue to act on it, if we don't pray for guidance and strength from our Heavenly Father, if we don't recognize in humble gratitude those things that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have provided in our lives, then we will surely lose our testimonies over time. A testimony is like a fire. You must continue to feed a fire or else it will burn out.

All in all, I love Enos for his faith, diligence, and love of his fellow men (even his "enemies," the Lamanites). He exhibits such great faith that his will comes in line with the Lord's will, as in when he wishes for the scriptures to be preserved, which was clearly Heavenly Father's plan from the beginning. I know that if we, too, exhibit faith, Heavenly Father will guide our paths and provide us with our own strength.

Learning to Learn

As I was reading in The Book of Mormon this morning, I just had this overwhelming feeling of love for this book. I know that it is true. I am so grateful for its contents. I was reading a few of my favorite chapters this morning at the end of 2 Nephi (specifically chapter 29 to the end of 31). A few of the verses scattered throughout these chapters have really helped me to answer a question that’s been on my mind this last week.

As I’m preparing for school, I’ve become overwhelmed with the thought of how much improvement I need to make in my life. Not only professionally, but religiously and exercise-ishly as well. Sometimes I want to take on too much at one time and want to know everything and be perfect at EVERYTHING as well. That is just not how life works. And thinking that way severely overwhelms me to the point of not knowing where to start and THUS not starting anything! It’s really frustrating.

Like I said, I’ve been thinking about how to study better and how exactly to go about improving myself. The following are a few verses I read this morning that I felt helped me to see that learning comes little by little.

2 Nephi 28:30 “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”

This scriptures reminds me that if I am desiring to learn and striving to learn, I will learn. I most likely will not gain knowledge all at once, but I will gain knowledge little by little. We can’t possibly learn everything all at once. Our brains would explode and we wouldn’t know how to comprehend it. As a teacher, I KNOW that learning happens when you build upon previous knowledge slowly but surely. I need to apply this to my life. Additionally, I need to remember to prioritize my life so that Heavenly Father is first!

Another scripture I feel relates to this same idea is in 2 Nephi 31:3 – “For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.”

I truly take comfort in the fact that Heavenly Father knows how I learn. He knows me and he provides learning opportunities for me in SIMPLE ways according to my understanding and knowledge. WOW! That is such a powerful concept. Heavenly Father truly is a master teacher, because he uses the ultimate guidelines to teach us in SIMPLE ways. He delights in plainness. He is NOT out to confuse us or taunt us with vast knowledge we cannot understand. However, he will provide ways for us to improve so that we can attain that vast knowledge over time and according to the style in which we learn best. Thank you Heavenly Father!

While all of this didn’t answer my question directly, I do feel like I need to make my learning more focused and more consistent. If I don’t act like learning is a priority in my life, it won’t be! I need to delineate time for learning, both secularly and spiritually, in order to improve my life.

Attitudes of Gratitude

I was thinking today how grateful I am to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. No matter what happens during my week, every Sunday I look forward to attending church. I love Sundays! I love how I get time to be at peace with myself and my life. I get time to forget about the pressing demands of the world and to focus on my Savior. I have time on Sunday to reevaluate my life in order to improve for the coming week. Sunday is such a great day to fill my spiritual reservoir, to remind me of what life’s all about, and to just help me to chill out. Today, thankfully, was no different.

Lately, life has been a little stressful with preparing for an entirely new teaching position as well as getting ready for my little sister’s wedding this week. Needless to say, tensions have been high around my house! It was such a relief to be able to go to church with my family and just enjoy feeling of Heavenly Father’s spirit. I actually went to church twice: once with my family and then once with my boyfriend to our normal church congregation. I feel like I gained MUCH needed spiritual insight today. I had been praying in my heart all week about ways to overcome some current issues. I felt like I received answers to those prayers today at church. I am incredibly blessed to be able to attend our church and feel of God’s love and peace for me. Additionally, I know that attending church also helps Evan to search for ways to improve himself as well. All in all, I want to say that I know that our church is true. There are many Christian denominations that have SO much truth, wisdom, and love… they’re just missing a few key pieces. I’m thankful for the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I’m thankful for a God that blesses me in ways I cannot foretell nor imagine. I know that it is through His Spirit that I am able to gain a testimony of these truths.