If Thou Shalt Ask, Thou Shalt Receive

Two Sundays ago I met Elder Patrick Kearon from the Quorum of the Seventy and it was such an amazing and blessed experience. It was fast and testimony meeting and already that is usually incredibly amazing just on our own. But the spirit that Elder Kearon brought into the room was so phenomenal I was in tears for almost all of Sacrament meeting. Often, I would wonder what it would be like to meet a General Authority. In the time that I've been a member of this Church, I've heard many stories from friends, counsel members and even missionaries of when they first met a General Authority. All of which were great stories and I loved hearing every single one of them, but unfortunately something had kept me from really having a great and spiritual understanding of how much it really meant to them and how important that really had been.

Up until recently, I had developed such a strong testimony in everything that I have been taught up until this point except one thing. During the time I was taking the lessons from my Missionaries it seemed like they had done a good job of making sure that I knew great amount of the Church's doctrine and beliefs. Which I felt was purely amazing and I had already known that this was where I needed to be and my life from then on depended on Christ the Savior and my Heavenly Father. One thing that I feel like we did not get to discuss before my baptismal date is the fact that there are living Prophets and Apostles on this earth today that have been chosen by God Himself. That was not really all that well explained to me which is completely understandable because I had no time to learn text books worth of information on each topic. Especially since I knew that I knew enough and I knew that every ounce of my being, my heart, soul, mind and every fiber of my body knew that this Church and Gospel was true. So I eased my mind with just telling myself and trying feel reassured with the fact that as time went on I'd learn more and have more time to build and make testimonies that I had already mostly developed. Which I did, my testimony grew more and more every day and with every time I read the scriptures, went to church, spent time with the friends I had made in the church, spoke to Heavenly Father and met with my missionaries. Everything was growing and going so smoothly that in a short time I had completely forgotten my goal in forming a testimony in the Prophets and Apostles of today. 

When after going for so long without worrying about the goal that I had set up for myself, one day a while back it hit me. It was during another fast and testimony meeting at church and somebody had gone up and shared their testimony on the Prophets and Apostles of this day. It was so simple, yet so pure and beautiful and that was seriously all it had taken for that seed to be planted within me. That's when I knew that I needed to do my best to continue watering that seed, then as it grew into a small plant I knew that I needed to keep nurturing it and making sure that I was taking as good care of that seed. Which happened slowly and surely and it definitely became something so special to me and I'll never forget the experiences that it took to gain that testimony.

So never be afraid of sharing yours, even if you feel like it's not good enough, long enough or even strong enough. That's not true, what makes your testimony special is that it's yours, and you never know what seed will be planted in who. That's what happened to me, the quick and simple yet so pure and beautiful testimonies of my fellow brothers and sisters, telling me that they knew that the Prophets and Apostles of today are the true Prophets and Apostles called of God. That's all it took and since that moment I've never given up on it and neither should you.

Pray As If You Were To Die Tomorrow

At this point in time I am counting down the days. My excitement level is exceptionally high and my spiritual enlightenment level is through the roof. Never in my entire life have I ever stayed so dedicated and focused on anything until now. In 55 days it will be a whole year since I was baptized and confirmed a member of this true church of Jesus Christ and accepted the one true restored gospel that is on this earth today into my life. Since then I've done nothing but improve, grow, and learn which leads me to what I wanted to discuss in this post. In my journeys both spiritual and physical, which have taken place in this last year I've learned and discovered so much about the gospel, it's doctrine, prophets, history, Heavenly Father and of Christ the Savior himself that it's lead me to learn more about myself then I even thought was possible. 

Revelation comes to us in funny ways. It also comes in ways that are so profound that you have no clue what so ever how to deal with it or even understand. Both of these ways are very crucial for our spiritual growth and ability. But when simplicity comes your way, take advantage of that with nothing but positive intent. The title of this post is called Pray As If You Were To Die Tomorrow for a reason and that's to bring up a topic that was brought up in my stake's conference just two weekends ago. Like I said, revelation varies. But whether we realize it and understand what's being brought forth unto us is up to us. Everything comes in the Lords time frame and if we choose to ignore that or not take it as seriously as we should then that would be us bringing disappointment into our lives. Not Heavenly Father. Lately, I've been having a very hard time dealing with patience and discipline. Every single day I pray about it, asking for help and strength for me to do whatever it is that I need to do to please Heavenly Father, my supervisors and the costumers whom I'm working with at work since my discipline and patience problem has been stretched out the most with my work life. But if I had not recognized the importance in knowing that everything happens in the Lord's time frame, then I would have driven myself crazy by now. Which is where the phrase "Work as if you were to work a hundred years but pray as if you were to die tomorrow" comes into play and made a significantly huge impact on me. 

Since my patience and discipline had been tested the most recently, to hear Elder Snow of the seventy share that quote with us during stake conference, my eyes were opened to something completely new and amazing. Heavenly Father doesn't just give us what we pray for. He recognized what is in our hearts and what is in our minds, then when we come to him with our prayers and ask for him to place his hand in our lives is when he steps up to the plate and works with us. So when I would kneel and pray to him, asking for patience and discipline, he didn't just hand it over to me on a silver platter. He gave me more opportunities, whether it be at work, home or school to practice what I had been praying for. Elder Simpson also really helped me realize that the same day. But as long as we pray hard, work hard, play hard and love hard nothing can fail as long as it's all placed in Heavenly Father's hands. So I cherish that quote and I cherish the love and strength that Heavenly Father has provided me with. I know that my prayers are important to him and I know that he is very mindful of me and everybody on this earth. We just have to be in the right mindset and be willing to let him, his love and teachings in. 

Revelation has been a very important part of my life in these last ten months, quite obviously since my blog is called Revelation Revolution. But like I said revelation varies. To this day there are still things that I am asking for which Heavenly Father may not have provided an answer for me and he may have and I'm just not paying as close attention as I possibly could. Then there are times where it's like a whack to the face and with this stake conference, that quote was just like it. Heavenly Father works in very mysterious ways. But I'll always appreciate that because it makes you stop, think and listen. Which is something I'll always appreciate no matter what.