Faith is like a little seed

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Faith is often compared to a little seed.

First a little story.

Once there was a girl named...uh, let's call her Grace. I've always liked the name Grace.  Grace is born into a faithful family with lots of older brothers and sisters who are wonderful examples. Her parents love her, and have raised her in the church. She has always been active, raises her hand in Sunday School, and has never dated anyone. 

On the outside, she is a perfect Mormon-mold. But even though her life looks pretty perfect on the outside, she has some troubles on the inside. Her older brother always makes fun of her for her being the only non-special person in their family. Her younger sister, whom she was so close with, died of cancer.  She has had some unpleasant friendships over the years, and maybe she has had a sip of coffee once or twice. But no matter what she is going through, what mistakes she has made, she knows that if she could keep her testimony strong, she would be able to get through everything with God's help. 

The problem is, she isn't even sure God exists. And the paradox of all the lessons in church come down to one thing: how can Grace expect God to answer her prayers when she doesn't even believe? How would she be able to recognize the Holy Ghost testifying to her if she doesn't know what it feels like? Why would she deserve to have a testimony anyway?

Satan has put doubts in her mind. No matter what Grace does, they don't seem to be going away. 

But wait! Didn't I just say faith is like a little seed?!

When you plant a seed, you don't actually know if it will sprout, if it is a good seed. You have to have that smallest bit of desire to have a tree, enough to say "ya know, I'll see if this seed, this little seed, is the one! Today I will find out if this tree will give me good fruit!"

Alma 32:21 "And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

The problem is,  (scanning memory for my favorite fruit...) a peach doesn't grow in one day. You have to keep nourishing it, feeding it, just in case that slight possibility of THIS SEED being the RIGHT SEED is true. 

When we plant the seed of faith, or begin to try out what God says and see if it works, we are taking the first step.  

Alma 32:27 "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can NO MORE THAN DESIRE to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. "

Even if you feel like you have zero faith whatsoever, but you still want to believe (whether it be about Heavenly Father, or the church, or you are praying about the Book of Mormon, etc) follow that desire, try it out. By experiencing it for yourself you will find out if it is true. 

So if the missionaries told Grace to read the Book of Mormon, and then pray if it was true, and then they PROMISED her that the Holy Ghost would answer, then what should Grace do? Well, she still doesn't know if The Book of Mormon or Bible is true, so why should she listen to these people anyways? Well, if she tries it out, then she will be able to find out if it is true. If it is not true, no harm done. 

If, while she's reading, it tells her to ____________ (fill in the blank with follow the prophet, or honor parents, or love people) then she should try it out. She should act on it to see if it is true and good, if it makes her life better. 

As it grows and a person feels the Holy Ghost, the small seed of faith will grow a little. Finally, after a lot of work and in the Lord's time, she will be able to taste the fruit of the tree. She will have a full knowledge that these things are true. 

Now, know that these things take time. But take it from someone who has been through it, GOD WILL ANSWER. I know because I have tried it. I have planted this seed of faith in my heart and then studied and studied and prayed and worked and tried and finally was able to say "Yes. I have felt the Spirit testify to me that these things are true"

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and will answer our prayers. 

<3. Eliza

P.S. See some other awesome testimony posts here:

Marie-Rose at Hope Always and Pray Constantly

Whitney at The Life of a Mormon Teen

Whitney at  Sprinkles on My Icecream

Preparation, faith, and salvation

I wanna really quickly finish up these so that I can get to the last one, which is my favorite.

Feet shod with preparation for the gospel of peace. First, think about the importance of feet. They are our mode of transportation, and with good shoes, they will not get injured and we will be able to speedily complete any assignment we are given. I think the amount of time we take to prepare for the gospel and to integrate it into our lives is important because as we read our scriptures, pray, and trust in The Lord (all ways we can prepare for the day), we will be better able to rise to action quickly. 

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Look! The shield has the tree of life on it! ;)

Next is the shield of faith. I love this one. Think of how much safety and love and peace we have, all because of our faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. As we trust them, they will protect us. Our faith can also get stronger and stronger to the point where we can withstand the blows of the adversary.

Finally, the helmet of salvation. As we keep the plan of salvation of utmost priority, we will be able to have eternal perspective. After all, we are driven by our heads, so we may as well have our head protected and guided by a loving Father's plan for us.

Alright I'm glad to be done with that. ;) tomorrow will be the fun part: the weapons :)

I'm so grateful for all the protection we have in this gospel, and for the peace and comport I feel from the Spirit everyday.

<3 Eliza

How can we get closer to God?

I was sitting in Young Women's and just felt a strong impression that you needed to hear this.

The topic of the lesson was "how can we know Heavenly Father loves us, and how do we get closer to him?"

The teacher took out three objects and laid them out. They were a cell phone, a flashlight, and a map. She said these were ways we can reach a destination. The most important place we want to get to is back to our Heavenly Father. We also have spiritual tools: the cell phone represents communication with God through prayer, the flashlight is the Holy Ghost lighting our path, and the map is the scripture which lay out God's plan for us and answers any questions we have about what directions we need to take.

First we talked about the Holy Ghost. Many times, the Holy Ghost will be sent to us in answer to our prayers. The Holy Ghost (aka Spirit) will tell us truth to our hearts and minds about anything we want to know. The Spirit is God's messenger and tells us what he wants us to hear, and as we feel the comfort and peace of the Holy Ghost, we can know for sure that God loves us.

The scriptures (bible, Book of Mormon, etc) shows us the will of God and gives us examples of other people who have had to overcome the same problems we are going through. Many times, as we read the scriptures after we pray, the Spirit will show us things we need to know at that moment in the scriptures. As we act on the answers we recieve, and follow what the scriptures say, we will come to know God better and get closer to him. For example, the scriptures tell us we should serve others. As we actually go out into the world and help people, the Spirit will witness to us that what we are doing is right and that God loves us.

Lastly we talked about prayer. Heavenly Father knows even the smallest sparrow, and he knows the thoughts and desires of your heart. Just like any father, he wants us to talk to him, to tell us our problems and victories, to ask for help. As you exercise faith in God by praying, he will answer your prayers. Miracles come by simple prayers.

God will answer EVERY prayer. But how will we recognize the answers to those prayers? Sometimes the answers will not be what we want to hear, or will not come as quickly as we want them to. But if you pray with real intent and listen for an answer with an open heart, the answers will come.

Answers to prayers may come as peace, the voice of the Spirit, an idea, a dream, calm, love, or through the words of the scriptures. This is called revelation.

There was a time when I needed an answer to a question I had, and I needed it NOW, because I felt uneasy and unsure of everything. But God didn't answer my prayer immediately, because he wanted me to learn patience and to trust him. He knows what is best for us, and will give us the answer we need in the exact hour when we need it. And he did. 

Remember, you are a child of God, and he loves you. 

(Copyright Intellectual Reserve)

Pioneer Faith

(copyright Intellectual Reserve and lds.org)

We are so lucky. I mean seriously, so lucky. 

Running water. Indoor heating. Family. Friends. America. Clothes. Flowers. 

Yeah sure none of those things are perfect. We fight with our families, wish our clothes were this or that, and think that some conspiracy business is going on with the government. But atleast we have those perfect imperfect things. 

I don't know how in the world the pioneers did it. First they didn't have indoor heating unless their house caught on fire. The occasional stream was their running water. Many of them left their families for their faith. Friends and family members died as they crossed the plains. They were leaving America to go to uncharted territory. Clothes were hard to find and hard to make, much less cute. And as they crossed the plains in the winter, they didn't even have flowers to comfort them.

All this on the words of a man. But they did it because they believed that God had called a prophet on the earth today, had restored precious truths that made up for all the pain they were going through. They believed in answers to prayers, in miracles. They believed in forever families and resurrection and Jesus Christ. 

We believe in that today too. Would we be able to leave our homes behind and follow God's will to walk across the country pushing handcarts in the dead of winter? Of course not all left in the winter. But even those who didn't: many had to choose between family expectations and will of God. Many knew the consequences of joining "them Mormons." Despised of many, killed and persecuted, and now tossed from the frying pan into the fire as they faced the uncertainty of the journey. 

As I think about that move, I am grateful for the trials small in comparison I am dealing with. I can still talk to friends in Virginia, and visit a couple times a year. My whole family is together, and we all love each other. I didn't have to push tons of weight twenty miles a day in order to reach an unknown destination. 

I got to go to trek this summer. It was so cool. At that point I knew I was moving. It was so amazing. I am truly amazed with the faith the pioneers had.

Keep the faith