WHY I BELIEVE
I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t believe in HeavenlyFather and Jesus Christ. My parents taught me the gospel from infancy and I grew up knowing that Heavenly Father loved me and that I could pray to Him about anything at any time. My parents also taught me to keep the commandments and as I kept the commandments, I was blessed, and I came to be able to distinguish right from wrong not only by what I had been taught, but by the way that I felt. I learned that I was happy when I followed my conscience and did the right thing, like the time in elementary school when I apologized first after my friend and I had been arguing. And I learned that I felt bad when I did the wrong thing, like the time I took my friend’s “uncut diamond” (really a quartz) from her rock collection. I felt much better after I ran next door to confess and return it to her, even though I fell and cut my knee on the way! I experienced the joy of feeling clean in every way after I was baptized at age eight. I felt sad when I sinned again, but grateful that I could repent every time and be forgiven. In fact, from an early age, I learned that peace of conscience brings greater happiness than any possession or entertaining activity.
My father was called as a mission president to Córdoba, Argentina when I was 11 years old and I spent the next four years immersed in discussions of missionary work, attending zone meetings and member conferences with my parents. I served a two-week mission with a full-time lady missionary in the northern city of Salta. Later my best friend and I went out knocking on doors one afternoon and set up several discussions for the full-time missionaries. I always felt that I would serve a mission, but I was also concerned about it because I knew it would be hard. As my 21st birthday approached, I began to think seriously about whether or not to go.
During this time I continued to pray and study the scriptures. One day I came across two sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that answered my questions, “What is the best thing for me to do? Serve a mission, go to graduate school, or try for a full-time position on the ski patrol?!” Section 15 and 16 are addressed to John and Peter Whitmer, and the wording is exactly the same in each. The Lord says, “...the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father.”
There was my answer! Going on a mission was the best thing I could do at that time in my life, both for myself and for the people I would teach. I submitted my papers and was soon called to the Spain Madrid mission. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it set the tone and direction for the rest of my life. From that time on I have tried to put the Lord and His work first in my life and He has helped me grow and blessed me immensely, including many opportunities to experience the joy that comes from helping others draw close to the Him.
On my mission, I realized that Satan uses individually tailored lies and temptations to lead people away from Heaven Father’s plan of happiness for them. Because Satan’s intent is to deceive, I realized that he is not bound by the constraints of reality and truth. Yet there is only one reality and that is what Heavenly Father and Jesus are trying to help us understand so we can each reach our full potential and become like Them.
There are times even now when Heavenly Father is the only One who can truly understand my circumstances and the desires of my heart and the only One who can comfort me and give me counsel. Because He is real and He loves me, whenever I am unsure or afraid or discouraged or sad, I ask for His guidance and comfort, and when I really open my mind and heart to listen, He always answers my prayers with a feeling of peace and often specific thoughts that help me to understand and know what to do.
Mary Lee C.
Feb. 28, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Jasmine S.
Why I Believe…
I’ve always been rebellious and stubborn by nature. I was born into the church but even during the later years in primary after I had been baptized I was questioning the church and quite honestly thought it was all ridiculous. At age 12 I went to my mom and told her I didn’t want to go to church anymore and told her that I did not believe in God. She said she saw that coming and wasn’t surprised by what I said, but that I should pray about it. One night a while after that advice, I was really confused and decided to try it because I really wanted to know. I was just lying in bed at night, closed my eyes and said “Heavenly Father, are you there?” Immediately I experienced an extremely strong and overwhelming feeling that scared me half to death. I stopped praying and opened my eyes thinking some one might have been in my room. But the scared feeling started fading and a comforting feeling took over as the thought in my head as clear as day said “I Am”. I started crying and prayed again thanking Heavenly Father for giving me a personal witness that there really was a God, and I made a promise to Him that I would always remember that moment as long as I lived.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep that promise and as the years went on my entire family became completely inactive. By the time I graduated high school I had nothing to do with church, was hated by many of the people there anyway, and the feelings were mutual. But Heavenly Father did not stop pulling for me. I remembered a lesson in Young Women that I occasionally attended about a thing called a Patriarchal Blessing. I remembered someone said it would help guide you and tell you things about your future. I obviously did not have a real knowledge of what this was because I looked at it more like a fortune cookie than the sacred blessing it really is. So I decided I wanted to get my Patriarchal Blessing. I lied my way through the bishop’s interview and got my blessing on July 8th, the month before I was supposed to leave for college. After I got the blessing, I felt something in my life needed to change (the Spirit) but that quickly changed to anger because I thought nothing in my blessing was new to me and it was just all a bunch of stuff they say to people all the time. At that moment I decided forever that I was never going to believe or go to church again. And the very next day, Heavenly Father pulled for me again by knocking my feet out from under me…
I was a swimmer and planning on swimming in college for San Diego. Literally the day after my blessing I had an accident during weight training and tore up my right shoulder. I ended up getting surgery and haven’t been able to swim competitively since. Everything else started crashing around me. My boyfriend of three years dumped me at this same time, I ended up failing out of my freshman year of college because I was depressed, and I had been a victim of a very serious crime that was now being investigated. So on top of everything else, I had police interviews, court appearances, counseling sessions etc. Without getting in to detail, I’ll just say the man that committed the crime ended up pleading guilty and getting ten years in prison with life time parole. My world had ended for me. All my plans for myself were gone and I was in so much mental and emotional pain that I actually wanted to die and was hospitalized for such. Everyone around me was telling me I didn’t need to forgive this man for committing this crime, that he didn’t deserve forgiveness. I was truly suffering; there are no words to describe what I felt. But once I decided that dying wasn’t an option, I was desperate and would try anything to piece myself together again. That’s when I decided to go to church for the first time in many years. I marched in to the University Wards building, and the bishop immediately pulled me in to his office. He happened to be a psychologist and familiar with my life since the incident had been all over the news. I am eternally grateful to that bishop for teaching me about the true nature of God, that He is kind, and about agency of people used both for good and bad and why we are given the gift of agency, and the Atonement, and about forgiveness. Forgiveness saved my life. When I finally had enough faith the try and pray again, I pleaded for the weight of all the hate and anger I felt to be taken from me, and when I expressed my faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement, I felt a literal weight lifted from me like I could breathe again. That was one of the most spiritually strengthening moments of my life where I got a true glimpse in to the power of the atonement. I moved to Tucson for a fresh start and lived with three LDS women, and eventually after some struggling started taking the missionary discussions with two amazing Sister missionaries. Sister Mikesell is still a dear friend of mine to this day and we both strongly feel that she was sent on her mission specifically to help me. So with the support of my roommates, Sister Missionaries, and a wonderful home teacher who is now my husband, I was able to find faith. A year later I was married in the temple and I haven’t wavered once in 6 years now.
I was like Alma 32:13 “And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.”
But I have found that I much prefer to be this way, Alma 32:16 “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.”
I have been given so many opportunities to accept the gospel in my life, but ended up being compelled to be humble. But I am grateful that I was humbled (as hard as that was) and now have a very strong testimony in Heavenly Father and His Son and His plan for us. The more I study and learn the more everything just makes perfect sense to me. I know there is a God and He is our Heavenly Father who loves us so much and fights and pulls for each one of us daily. He is waiting there at the top of the hill with a gift and we just have to walk up there to go get that precious gift. I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to suffer and atone for all of my sins and yours. I know that we must follow His example for us to be baptized by the proper authority and receive the saving ordinances and obey His commandments for us. I love the temple and wish I lived right next door and could go every day. I believe everything that Joseph Smith said he saw and admire him greatly for his own personal sacrifices, strength, and courage. And most of all I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who never gave up on me. And that is why I believe.
~Jasmine~
Feb. 26, 2009
I’ve always been rebellious and stubborn by nature. I was born into the church but even during the later years in primary after I had been baptized I was questioning the church and quite honestly thought it was all ridiculous. At age 12 I went to my mom and told her I didn’t want to go to church anymore and told her that I did not believe in God. She said she saw that coming and wasn’t surprised by what I said, but that I should pray about it. One night a while after that advice, I was really confused and decided to try it because I really wanted to know. I was just lying in bed at night, closed my eyes and said “Heavenly Father, are you there?” Immediately I experienced an extremely strong and overwhelming feeling that scared me half to death. I stopped praying and opened my eyes thinking some one might have been in my room. But the scared feeling started fading and a comforting feeling took over as the thought in my head as clear as day said “I Am”. I started crying and prayed again thanking Heavenly Father for giving me a personal witness that there really was a God, and I made a promise to Him that I would always remember that moment as long as I lived.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep that promise and as the years went on my entire family became completely inactive. By the time I graduated high school I had nothing to do with church, was hated by many of the people there anyway, and the feelings were mutual. But Heavenly Father did not stop pulling for me. I remembered a lesson in Young Women that I occasionally attended about a thing called a Patriarchal Blessing. I remembered someone said it would help guide you and tell you things about your future. I obviously did not have a real knowledge of what this was because I looked at it more like a fortune cookie than the sacred blessing it really is. So I decided I wanted to get my Patriarchal Blessing. I lied my way through the bishop’s interview and got my blessing on July 8th, the month before I was supposed to leave for college. After I got the blessing, I felt something in my life needed to change (the Spirit) but that quickly changed to anger because I thought nothing in my blessing was new to me and it was just all a bunch of stuff they say to people all the time. At that moment I decided forever that I was never going to believe or go to church again. And the very next day, Heavenly Father pulled for me again by knocking my feet out from under me…
I was a swimmer and planning on swimming in college for San Diego. Literally the day after my blessing I had an accident during weight training and tore up my right shoulder. I ended up getting surgery and haven’t been able to swim competitively since. Everything else started crashing around me. My boyfriend of three years dumped me at this same time, I ended up failing out of my freshman year of college because I was depressed, and I had been a victim of a very serious crime that was now being investigated. So on top of everything else, I had police interviews, court appearances, counseling sessions etc. Without getting in to detail, I’ll just say the man that committed the crime ended up pleading guilty and getting ten years in prison with life time parole. My world had ended for me. All my plans for myself were gone and I was in so much mental and emotional pain that I actually wanted to die and was hospitalized for such. Everyone around me was telling me I didn’t need to forgive this man for committing this crime, that he didn’t deserve forgiveness. I was truly suffering; there are no words to describe what I felt. But once I decided that dying wasn’t an option, I was desperate and would try anything to piece myself together again. That’s when I decided to go to church for the first time in many years. I marched in to the University Wards building, and the bishop immediately pulled me in to his office. He happened to be a psychologist and familiar with my life since the incident had been all over the news. I am eternally grateful to that bishop for teaching me about the true nature of God, that He is kind, and about agency of people used both for good and bad and why we are given the gift of agency, and the Atonement, and about forgiveness. Forgiveness saved my life. When I finally had enough faith the try and pray again, I pleaded for the weight of all the hate and anger I felt to be taken from me, and when I expressed my faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement, I felt a literal weight lifted from me like I could breathe again. That was one of the most spiritually strengthening moments of my life where I got a true glimpse in to the power of the atonement. I moved to Tucson for a fresh start and lived with three LDS women, and eventually after some struggling started taking the missionary discussions with two amazing Sister missionaries. Sister Mikesell is still a dear friend of mine to this day and we both strongly feel that she was sent on her mission specifically to help me. So with the support of my roommates, Sister Missionaries, and a wonderful home teacher who is now my husband, I was able to find faith. A year later I was married in the temple and I haven’t wavered once in 6 years now.
I was like Alma 32:13 “And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.”
But I have found that I much prefer to be this way, Alma 32:16 “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.”
I have been given so many opportunities to accept the gospel in my life, but ended up being compelled to be humble. But I am grateful that I was humbled (as hard as that was) and now have a very strong testimony in Heavenly Father and His Son and His plan for us. The more I study and learn the more everything just makes perfect sense to me. I know there is a God and He is our Heavenly Father who loves us so much and fights and pulls for each one of us daily. He is waiting there at the top of the hill with a gift and we just have to walk up there to go get that precious gift. I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to suffer and atone for all of my sins and yours. I know that we must follow His example for us to be baptized by the proper authority and receive the saving ordinances and obey His commandments for us. I love the temple and wish I lived right next door and could go every day. I believe everything that Joseph Smith said he saw and admire him greatly for his own personal sacrifices, strength, and courage. And most of all I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who never gave up on me. And that is why I believe.
~Jasmine~
Feb. 26, 2009
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