Sunday thoughts

 I shared the following message with my siblings, their spouses,  Shawn, and my mom.  

Hello Family:

I just wanted to share a few things I came across last week.  The first is from the world wide devotional that Elder Holland spoke at last Sunday evening. I haven't had a chance to listen to it but someone I follow shared his apostolic blessing he said at the end. I thought it was very powerful, so I typed it and it is below:

An apostolic blessing – for this New Year regarding things I know with certainty and things you will always need

 

 I BLESS YOU - that the simple but exquisite power inherent in the principles of salvation such as faith and hope and charity will always be evident and efficacious in your life.

 

I BLESS YOU – to know, as I most assuredly do, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is personally precious, everlastingly hopeful and eternally true.  I testify with apostolic authority that that is so, and as such is the only unfailing answer to life’s many challenges, yours and mine, the only way to be exalted in the grandeur of eternity.

 

I BLESS ANY – among you, who might be speaking these days of a faith crisis.  Real faith, life changing faith, Abrahamic faith, is always in crisis, that’s how you find out if it’s faith at all.  I promise you that more faith will mean less crisis until finally God says, Well done, though good and faithful servant.  

 

I BLESS EVERY – single solitary one of you to know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exactly that, the Church of Jesus Christ.  And that only through the ordinances and opportunities it provides can one fully come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.  

 

I BLESS EACH ONE of you, Individually, and by name, with every gift you need for this quest.

 

AND I BLESS YOU, plead with you, to patiently persevere, as your Father in Heaven in His wisdom, finds the best way to FREQUENTLY give you what you ask, but UNFAILINGLY give you what you need.  

 

The second thought that really struck a cord with me was from a speaker in church today. He talked about how in John 6 some of Jesus's disciples walk with Him for a bit and then choose to walk away from Him.  He gave 3 ways to help us continue to choose to walk with Jesus - this is by REMEMBERING!

1) Remembering our Own Experiences -importance of writing these down when we have felt God's love and felt glimpses of eternity in our own life. 

2) Remembering Our Family Experiences over generations - through genealogy, talking to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. 

3) Remembering what God has done for his people - through scripture study. 

Just wanted to share these thoughts I have been thinking about this past week and today.