Why the "Little Things" Matter

There are times when I forget to pray or I forget to read my scriptures. There are some Sundays I don't get out of bed or I go to church in a bad mood. Every time one of these things happen I feel weaker. I feel like losing these "little things" makes me lose myself. Not the good losing either, not the losing myself in God, I lose myself in temptations. I falter greater than usual. I got the idea to talk about this from a video. Mormon Channel makes a few short 2-5 minute videos that are titled "Daily Bread". I found one recently titled Daily Bread: Pattern. This one is a short clip that talks about how we must gain a pattern, or a habit, or scripture study and prayer. A habit of keeping the commandments. Patterns that will bring us closer to the Lord. Start a routine of meaningful and heartfelt prayer. When you pray bring your thoughts and concerns to the Lord. Yes, He already knows them, however, when you talk to Him about it you can gain personal revelations to help guide you. Study the scriptures. THe Lord has blessed us significantly with the scriptures. I LOVE the Book of Mormon and I can testify you will grow closer to the Lord if you earnestly and sincerely read and study it. And I personally know it to be true. However, I understand you may not be of my faith, you may not believe in The Book of Mormon, and you know what? That is just fine, because we should all be studying the Bible as well. It is also very important and contains true doctrine. If we desire to grow closer to God, it is our responsibility to act. His hand is continually outstretched to us. We must take his hand if we are to get to him. These "little things" matter so much more than we think they do. They are the basics, they are part of our foundation. Elder D. Todd Christopherson said, in the video I linked to above, "People sometimes think "Well, those are such small things; prayer, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, pondering, meditating; how can that really produce a significant difference in a person's life?" But it does. As small as those things seem to be, as daily, routine sometimes they may seem to be, these are the kinds of things that day by day, transform us." 

Until the Next Time,

Sister Mims

The Atonement

I actually started this post a while ago, but I wanted it to be as perfect as possible hence why I took a while on it. This is a very serious and very sacred subject and I hope to present it in a manner that is both graceful and tasteful. A few weeks ago I got an email from Elder McEntire and he was talking about how wonderful the Atonement. He told me how much more he understands and uses it since he’s been on his mission. Of course that just struck in my head the idea to write this post. So, then I asked him for his understanding and testimony of the Atonement. Between him, the scriptures, a couple of talks, and PMG, I think I’ve gained some more insight.

What is the Atonement?

·     One thing I love about the Atonement is that part of its definition is in the word itself. At-one-ment, we use it to become one with Christ and our Heavenly Father. Atoning, used in the scriptures, is to suffer for a sin. Since Christ atoned for our sins if we are repentant the consequences of those sins can be erased. With those sins removed we are restored to that cleanliness that is required of God. There are two main parts to the Atonement. There is Christ’s suffering and His resurrection. The first part was when Christ took our sins, pains, afflictions, temptations, and sicknesses. Everything we have ever felt, even the things that we have believed no one would ever understand (Alma 7:11-12). That what makes the Atonement so wonderful, it’s unique to every single one of us! I love the way Elder McEntire put it, 

“He knows exactly what we're going through at every point in our life. This allows him to be our best guide to problems and troubles in our life, and as we seek his comfort and love during times of hardship, we can have our burdens made light and enter into his rest.” 

 Jason called Him our guide and that’s truly what Christ is he’s our guide to exaltation. The second part of the Atonement is the resurrection. The resurrection is when our spirit and body reunites after our death. Christ overcame physical and spiritual death so that we could follow his and become like Him and our Father. We will have perfect immortal bodies like them.

Why is the Atonement needed?

·     We are ALL imperfect. Every human to ever live, except Jesus Christ, have been imperfect. Without the Atonement there would be absolutely no way for us to return to our Father’s presence. If we didn’t have the Atonement this whole earth life would have been a complete and total waste. Sin keeps us from the Kingdom of God, through the Atonement we can be redeemed from those sins.

What we receive from the atonement?

·     We can receive many things through the Atonement. (1) We can receive the blessing of peace and comfort. I have personally received comfort by laying my burdens on the Lord and asking, sincerely for His help to get through it. (2) We can gain eternal life. Eternal life is the greatest gift God has ever offered us. His whole entire purpose of this is life is to bring about “the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

I want to share my testimony with all of my lovely readers out there that I know that Christ suffered all things for us. I know, with all the surety of my heart, that if we ask the Lord for help He will guide us. If we have faith and are repentant we can be made clean. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and I know Christ loves us. I know that through Christ we can be made whole. Through Christ we can be “made more than conquerors”. We can overcome all things because we have the perfect example of someone who already has. I urge you to use the Atonement and gain a testimony of it.

Until the Next Time,

Sister Mims