Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them

Life is extremely tough; there is a lot of heartache, sorrow and tragedy. A lot of times terrible things happen and we never know why. But with faith in Jesus Christ we can be calm when problems arise. That is one of the biggest purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is to bring comfort to us when we are in desperate need. Like in this video when Elder Nelson was faced with death he was calm, ready to return home. While the lady on the other side was hysterical and freaking out. Elder Nelson was able to stay calm because of his faith in our savior Jesus Christ and he understands God's plan for us. We can all strengthen our faith and come to the same understanding as Elder Nelson by reading from the Holy Scriptures and praying. It will take time but we all can strengthen our faith.

My favorite part of this clip is when Elder Nelson says “Don't demand things that are unreasonable but, demand of yourself improvement...?” often times we expect of ourselves to much. We compare ourselves to others who have more, which is a terrible thing to do. You have to remember that everybody comes from different backgrounds and has had different trials and experiences in their lives, so everybody is at different levels. Don't demand one day to be perfect, that is unreasonable. Demand of yourself improvement everyday.

I invite all of you to start today. Demand of yourself improvement, whether it be strengthening your faith in Jesus Christ, becoming a better athlete, or becoming a better student, start today! Don't start with leaps and bounds start with small and simple steps. When tomorrow comes be able to look back and say I improved in one way. When you do so before you know it you will notice that you have improved by leaps and bounds, and you will impress yourself.



Prayer

So imagine you have the chance to have the President of the United States of America over for dinner. When you call him to see what day and time he is available you are going to work to his schedule. You are not going to call him and say it's this night at this time you better be here. You are going to do accommodate to him because he is kind of busy and kind of important. You are going to do everything you can to make sure your schedule will match his.

When you finally get down what time the dinner is going to be you will probably do everything you can to make it the best dinner ever. You will probably clean your house and make it look the best it has. You might even go to the store and get a really nice table cloth and placemats if you don't already have some. Maybe some cool looking cups as well. You will do everything you can to make it a nice dinner.

 

The same principle applies to prayer. Why do we when we pray sometimes ask for blessings and say I except it to happen like this, or this is how I am going to do it? Why do we in a nice way demand what we want from God, The Almighty? I think it is sometimes because we forget that God can see what is really best for us and gives us our blessings when it is the best time for us. We just want everything to happen the way we want.

After we pray we should do all we can to find our answer or receive our blessing; just like we would do everything in our power to make it a nice dinner for the President. When we ask God for something we then should do all we can to receive the blessing or find our answer. We read all throughout the scriptures that if we ask, then seek, it shall be opened.

I know that this is true because I have done it myself. Many times I turned to the lord asked for help, searched it out then it was opened unto me. I know if you do the same he will open the windows of heaven and blessings will come.

Signs

A couple of days ago a bunch of missionaries and I played a game called signs. This game is great and calls for a lot of laughter. To play the game everyone has to come up with their own sign. You want your sign to be something that would be hard to notice for example someone's sign could be shrugging one shoulder; it could be the peace sign, or even scratching your nose. When everyone has their own sign, you all sit in a circle so everyone can see each other and you go around and show everyone your sign. Then one person starts with the sign. To pass the sign you do the persons sign that you want to pass it to, then they do their sign to accept the sign, and you have the sign until they do theirs to accept it. Then the person who just accepted the sign passes it to someone else. One person stands in the middle and they close their eyes and someone starts passing the sign. The sign continues to pass and the person in the middle has to tag who they think has the sign, they are in middle running around until they tag the person with the sign. You can see why you would want you sign to be something hard to notice because then it is harder for the person in the middle to find the sign and tag that person.

When you first start playing the game it's kind of hard to follow the sign because you don't remember everyone’s sign and you lose it a lot. As you play the game longer and longer you get better at following the sign. It’s also tough because if you look away for just a second the sign could get passed and you will have lost it, so you have to pay attention at every moment. But as the game goes on you get better at passing it so sometimes you could pass it even when the person in the middle is facing you. It’s risky when you pass it like that, but if you can do it successfully everyone laughs and the person in the middle gets flustered because they know they just missed it. But even sometimes after you have played for a while you lose the sign every once in a while just because it was a sneaky pass or something like that, then you have to find it again.

Playing this game is kind of like following the spirit. At first it is hard because you can't always recognize it. You don't know everyone’s signs, you will find it but then they pass it and you lose it again. But as you practice you get better at it and you are able to follow it and rarely lose it. You have to be paying attention at all times because you if look away for just a second you will lose it. The same with the spirit, if you do something bad for just one second you will lose it. Then it takes a while for you to get it back. As the game goes on you also get better at passing the sign as well, so eventually you can pass it in front of the person in the middle’s face and make everyone laugh. As you follow the spirit you get used to the voice of the spirit and you get better at acting on the promptings you receive, then like the rest the more you practice it the better you get at it. But just like in the game after you have played for a while and you have gotten pretty good at it you still may lose it. The same with The Spirit you may lose it because it may do a sneaky move or something you weren’t expecting it to do. But because of you practice you are able to find it pretty quickly again and continue following its promptings.

When The Game Is On The Line

So here is a football sinario. Your playing against your rival team, the game is on the line, fourth quarter with 1:22 left on the clock. The other team just scored to make the score 28 - 26 your team is down by 2 points. Your team gets the ball after the kick off. Your offense is in it to win it; you all are playing lights out football. Your team is driving down the field your on their 38 yard line. You're the wide receiver the coach calls on your number with the game on the line. Down... Set... Hike! The play starts, you're sprinting your guts out, you break to the outside and the defender trips and falls, the ball is in the air coming your way. You can't believe what just happened your wide open... catch it's a race to the end zone. The safety is coming in hot, he's the last guy to beat and you win the game. you try to juke him but he hits you, his helmet lands right on the ball and knocks it out of your hands fumble... they recover with 21 seconds left, game over.

This situation is intense; some people never want to be in that situation because they would never want to let their team or themselves down. Some people live for those situations; they want to be the playmaker.

This situation is kind of like receiving a prompting from the Holy Ghost and not acting on it. You did the hardest part you received the revelation or you caught the pass when you were wide open. But then you fumbled and lost it.

No matter whom you are, or where you live, or what you do, you will at one point in life or another receive a prompting from the Holy Ghost. You will make the catch but it will be up to you to see if you hold on to it when the game is on the line. It will be up to you to put both hands over the ball and make sure you don't drop it. Because when you are able to do that you will win. Whether you break the tackle to score a touchdown or just make the catch and get tackled in field goal range your team will win.

Think about how great it is to catch a game winning pass. That feeling is awesome, your team loves you, the crowd goes nuts, and all your hard work paid off. It was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears you put into practice.

Think about what it is like to receive a revelation from God on what you are to do with your life and you act one it. The feeling you get is better than awesome it is indescribable; you know that you are loved from your Heavenly Father and that your life is heading in the right direction. You know that you were able to perform when the game, your life, was on the line.

“The Little Girl” by John Michael Montgomery

Listen to this song then read what I have to say about it "The Little Girl" by John Michael Montgomery

This song is amazing! It is so sad, what the little girl says about Christ will bring a tear to your eye. I don't know if this song is based off of a true story but I wouldn't doubt it if it was. I love the message this song portrays how Christ is going to be there for you.

Christ is there for all of us, even during our hardest times. He may not be there physically but the Holy Ghost is there prompting us and helping us get through life. Christ is our Savior and He loves us, He fulfilled the Atonement so He knows how to help us. During the Atonement He suffered not only for every sin we will make but he suffered every kind of anguish as well. He did this for us so he would know how to help us and so He could be there to comfort us in a time of need and let us know that everything will be okay.

Like is says in the Book of Mormon in the the book of Alma Ch7 vs. 11-13 Christ suffered so that He would know how to succor His people. Succor means to run quickly too, to aid, or to help. Christ did this all out of love because He wants to help us. I am so grateful for what Christ did for me and the more I come to understand the Atonement I come to know how real it is and how much effect it has in our everyday lives.