Music and Faith

Sing For Jesus, Sing For God
     Heavenly Father created all sorts of amazing, beautiful things: trees, birds, the sky, grass...dirt. I like dirt. It is fun..anyway! He created all sorts of natural wonders for us. One of my favorites is music. Oh how I love, love love love, music! He does too. He even had a special family group who were called to be musicians in the Old Testement. They were the sons of Asaph (1 Chronicles 25:1). How cool would it be if the prophet asked you to play the music at the tabernacle?? It would be so awesome! You know what is even cooler? You can.
   God loves music from everyone. He doesn't care if you sing well, or if you sing bad! It doesn't matter if you sound like a lovely little blue bird or a cat that just fell into a pool! Just sing! He loves it! Doctrine and Covenants 25:12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." God loves hearing music. So sing to Him!
   One of my happiest places is anywhere with my guitar. Just me and the music, singing what I want. Music speaks to me. It speaks to Heavenly Father too, so I invite you to sing for Him and Jesus!

                           

Want to here a great song? Look up For The Moments I Feel Faint by Relient-K.

Repent!

Oh Deer! 
     So a few days ago me and Sis Davies were driving home at night. "Deer, deer, Deer. Deer! DEER!" yelled Sis. Davies Took me a while but I finally understood what she said and hit the brakes! Well one of those silly deers wasn't paying enough attention and still decided to try and cross the road. "Gabump-a-bump" It ran into our car (which we named Sven). We stopped to check the car and he was fine. The deer was okay too; it ran off into the field. It was just kind of silly that we got hit by the deer.
    Some times we do silly things too. The deer should have seen the big bright lights coming its way, but it didn't. We do that to sometimes. You have a huge paper at the end of the semester, but you don't work on it till 2 weeks before. You have to call your boss to get work off, but you don't; so you can't go to the concert. Bah! Why do we do that to ourselves? Procrastination is bad. We can't procrastinate repenting either. If you wait to say sorry till tomorrow you will never do it! Tomorrow is always a day away!
   So I guess what I am saying is get up and go do. Like Nike says, Just Do It!

                                                        
Alma 34: 33,35

Christ's Love

Hate Is Easy. Love Takes Courage.     Apparently it is the week of wondering; I have another question. If everyone in the world wated for someone else to tell them that they love them how many people would know that they are loved?
 Someone needs to put their neck on the line first.

                                         

Hate is easy. There is no risk! You know where you are going to go: nowhere! Love takes courage. When you love someone you give them the opportunity to help you or hurt you. This is why Christ is so great. He will always love you perfectly! And if you let Him He will help you and heal you. He is the best!
John 3:16.

Where are you going?

In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland there is a fantastic quote: Alice is lost in a very strange world. She meets a talking cat and asks for advice on where to go. Alice: 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where —' said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
   So here is the real question. Where do you want to get to? Do you even know where you want to get to? If you do, which way ought you to go from here?

Learning From Gods Creations.

This General Conference President Uchtdorf said "It’s remarkable how much we can learn about life by studying nature." I really like that! One day in Rexburg a friend and I were out by the train tracks when the sky turned flamming orange. She asked me why we have sunsets. Being the rather litteral person I am I started to explain the science in sunsets. She quickly stopped me. "No, why did God give us sunsets?" I thought for awhile. "Sunsets are like teady bears from our hevenly home. They give us comfort while we are away."
  God gave us all of natures beauties for a reason. You ought to go pick one today, and offer up a prayer of thanks. I am sure it took lots of hard work, but He still made it, just for you. :}

    

Pres. Uchtdorfs talk: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-7,00.html

Be Strong And Of Good Courage

   God has given us lots of commandments. All of them have their reasons, and unique blessings. The law of tithing opens the windows of heaven, studying the scriptures testifys of Christ and bring eternal life, if we trust in the Lord He shall direct our paths, ect... There are alot!

   I really like this one in Josuha 1:7,9: "Be strong, and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt though divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersover though goest." When we follow Gods commandments we can be strong and of good courage, because the Lord is with us. Some people have gaurd dogs, some people hire body gaurds, I follow Christ, and He stands by me. I don't think it gets to much better!

Built On The Rock Of Christ

   We all know that if you want a strong sturdy house to last for a long time you must have a mighty strong foundation. A week, sandy foundation is just going to wash away, and take your house too! So how do we get this nice, firm foundation?
    Christ comes and teaches the people how to administer the sacrement and puts the cherry on top with this statement: "And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them. Therefore blessed are ye if ye shall keep my commandments, which the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you." 3 Nephi 18:12-14 pg 442.
   So God gives us a commandment to partake of the sacrament "ye are built upon my rock." What better rock could we ever build on? Christ is all powerfull, all knowing, and perfectly loving! That is why He gave us the sacrament; becuase He loves us and wants us to recieve a 'remmission of our sins." What great joy that can bring to us! Take the sacrament which Christ gave us out of love and be clean that we may have His spirit to be with us. That is awesome!

                   

Following His Voice

   Back in the ol' days shepherds would simply call after their sheep and the sheep would come. They knew the shepherds voice, and they knew his good intentions. The sheep trusted in the shepherds love. Now shepherding is done with sheep dogs. The sheep follow the shepherd, but only because they are scared of the hounds. Fear is not the best way to motivate people, but it sure is effective.
   I see the same pattern in my own life. I follow Christ the good shepherd because I know He loves me, and that I can trust Him. Satan, however, wants us to follow Him so he sends his evil hounds. I am so greatful for the Best Shepherd who leads me though the valley of the shadow of death; which lead right into another great scripture!
   Psalms 23:1-4 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me besides the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

             

A Watchman On The Tower.

Who is the watchman?
   Doctrine & Covenants 101:53 "Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and-after you have planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen on the walls thereof-built the tower also, and set a watchmen on the tower, and watched for my vineyard, and not have fallen asleep, lest the enemy should come apon you."
   Christ has a mighty vineyard full of trees that He cares to diligently. He build hedges and walls around to protect us, His beloved trees. He also built a tower and has set a watchmen for our protection, to gaurd us from bandets. Who is the watchmen, who has Christ called to this dutey?
  Because Christ loves us He has given us a watchman, just as He did in days of old. I know that this watchman is the prophet Thomas S. Monson. I know it because that is what the Spirit told me. I am so excited to get to listen to Pres. Monson's message to the world this weekend, along with all the other modern day apostles. What a blessing this is to us. I know that Christ really does love each one of us, and that is why He has set the watchman. I exhort you to listen to the watchman, to keep the bandits from coming in. Keep your self safe, and listen to Gods mouth piece. If you don't know where, go to http://www.lds.org/ and select "General Conference."

                                               

Be Your Best Self

   Matthew 5:14-16 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
   Each of us a spiritual child of God, our loving Heavenly Father. He cares for us very much: "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10.) He cares for you very much. Because He loves each of us so deeply He asks that we be an example to the world so that more of His children can find Him and come back home.
   I know that Heavenly Father gave us all unique gifts, talents, and personalities so that we can help each other find Christ. You have something unique, something that no one else has! Be bold. Don't be selfish; share youself! Be the best you that you can be! My mom has a poem on her fridge that says "Live so that those who know you, but don't know Him, will want to know Him, because they know you."
   Be your best self for Christ! You owe it to Him.

Blind Faith

One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
  I have thought alot about this concept. Our belief, our knowledge of Christ doesn't come because we have 'proven' His existance is real. You can't 'prove' that He really did die on the cross to take away our sins, and then rise to live again so that we might live once more also. No matter what all the scientists say you can't prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
  I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is the Son of God the Father. He did come to earth and die to take away our sins, and He did rise the third day. Not only this He still lives! I don't see Him right here with me, but I know that He is real! How do I know this? Because of faith. Some where down the line I choose, I decided, I stepped into the darkness and put my trust in the unbelievable. The Holy Ghost bore witness to me of Christ and all that He does. The Holy Ghost confirmed what I had choosen to believe. And now, because of this knowledge, I am so much happier! Some one is out there, loving me, and watching out for me always. Isn't that the best? Yes! It sure is.


              

The Refiners Fire

In 3 Nephi 24:3 says "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall ^apurify the ^bsons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may ^coffer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
     I do believe that this is refering to how Christ purifes us all. The interesting thing is that He compares us to silver. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that when you refine silver you know that it is pure when you can look in the silver and see your reflection. Christ knows we are pure when He can look at us and we have His countanance apon us. How cool is that!

Start at the begining, and when you get to the end-stop.

My name is Sister Elise Smith, or Sister Smith if you would please. I am a missionary for The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints in Michigan. I love the Lord, and I love His word, and so I get to go out and share it with people every day! As missionaries we often go knocking doors, or simply talk to people on the street. Now we get to share the truth that we have found on-line. How neat is that! So here I go. This is my blog. I will try and share new thoughts and insights atleast a couple times of week. If you have any questions or neat thoughts please share them!
:} Sis. Smith