Week 12: Belonging

Week 12: 

Belonging

    Before I share my thought, I need to lay the scenery:
If I were to admit my biggest struggle at BYU, it is the lack of belonging I feel; in the sea of 35,000 students, I feel like a dot on a huge wall or a single, lonely blade of grass in a blanket of green. It has been so hard for me to find a group of friends that I can "belong" with.
    This past week, I was really struggling with this feeling of loneliness, so I did the only thing I knew I could do: I prayed. I prayed for a friend, someone I could latch onto to help me get through this hard time. After praying for what felt like an eternity, a scripture reference came to me that I did not recognize in 1 Corinthians 3:23. The verse reads, "And ye are Christ's and Christ is God's."
   In that moment, I thought, 'I belong to Christ and if I belong with Christ, he will care for me; he wants to be with me.' Sometimes we forget, as Christians, that we have promised to take Christ's name upon us; we have promised to be part of and belong to Christ's team. As members of his teams, he promises to always take care of us and help us thrive. It is on Christ's team that we can find a sense of belonging. I know that he is the Savior of the world, and he cares enough to help us feel like we belong. He will never leave us alone; he will always give us a place to belong.

Week 11: Prayer for Us

Week 11:

Prayer for Us

    This week in class, we have been covering the night that the process of the Atonement began for our Savior. While reading, I found a passage that was very interesting and that I would like to share.

     In John, chapter 17, Christ is going to the Garden of Gethsemane and is being followed by his apostles. In this chapter, Christ offers a prayer known as the great intercessory prayer. For a lone time, I have wondered what the word "intercessory" means; so, I decided to look it up. It means to intermediate or plead on the behalf of someone else. Having some knowledge of the chapter, I automatically thought that it was in behalf of the apostles that were with him. However, after reading, I realized it wasn't only for them; in verse 20, he says, "Neither do I pray for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word."    

    All the sudden, I realized that not only was he praying for his apostles, but for me and for everyone else who believes on him. Now this prayer grew in significance as it was meant for me as well. It helped me realized how much Jesus loves us and how much he wants for us. Now the question is: what is it that he was pleading for in our behalf? If we look at the next verse it tells us, "that they all may be one; as though, Father art in me, and I in thee..." 

      Jesus Christ's only purpose is to help us become one in purpose, thought, and dead with our Father. How dedicated was he to that purpose? Well, following this prayer, he suffered, bleed from every pore, and then died for us, so that we can become one with the Father. How wonderful it is to know that we are not alone he journey back to our Father in Heaven; Christ will do everything he can to help us there! I know that He lives and that He will continue to help each and everyone of us in our journey back home.

Week 10: Go Through Samaria

Week 10:

Go Through Samaria

This week in preparation for my religion class, I was reading John 4. This chapter is well known for the story where Jesus teaches the woman at the well. However, this time as I was reading, verse four stuck out to me. Jesus is on his way into Galilee, however, it says that, "he must needs go through Samaria." In the context of jewish tradition that move did not make any sense. Even though this was a shorter path to Galilee, Jews considered Samaritans filthy due to their heritage, and they did everything possible to avoid them. So I asked myself: Why would Jesus do this? After a few minutes of meditation, I felt the Spirit whisper to me, "because he wanted to interact with the woman at the well; not just talk with her, but bind her wounds  and then enable her to become the person she needed to be."

I felt like I had a similar experience last week. This past week was a really rough week for me. School was tough, the social scene was not that much better....all in all, I just wanted to give up because I felt so alone. I felt like a outcast at a campus of over 35,000 people. While doing my homework last weekend, I got an impression to pray, so I began to pray. As I did this, I felt the love of the Savior around me, helping me to remember that I was not alone and that I was greater in his eyes than I realized. On a day where I was alone, Christ came to me. He is willing to do whatever it takes, even breaking social norms of old, to come to our aid and help us remember our identity and destiny.
I pray that anyone reading this will remember the Savior's role in our everyday lives and see their true identity with the help of the Savior.

Week 9: Sheep

Week 9

All We Like Sheep

   As a teenager, I remember hating the parable of the lost sheep and the good shepherd. In my mind, it was always brought up when talking about less-active members of our quorum; I can still hear my young mens leader say, "we need to help the Good Shepherd and help find those lost sheep. The reason this bothered me was that, during the time I was a teacher and priest, I struggled with severe depression. As our leaders talked about the lost sheep, I remember thinking, "But what about those injured and wounded sheep among the ninety and nine? What about us that are part of the fold, do everything we need to do, and struggle? When will He help me?"

   A few days ago, I got my answer. I was reading in the Book of Mormon when Abinadi was testifying of our Savior and quotes Isaiah. In this verse he says, "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way" (Mosiah 14:6 and also in Isaiah 53). 

   I realized that even as a struggling sheep in the ninety and nine, I had still turned my own way. I had done as Peter had when he took his eyes off of the Savior and began to sink. I had turned my gaze from him and had lost my faith in his abilities to remember my wounds. All of us in our own away turn from him, whether it be in sin or just losing faith in his ability to heal and raise us. However, we need to remember that because we all have all turned to our own ways, each of us is that lost sheep, whom the Lord will "go after that which is lost until he has found it." 

    I know that Christ will find everyone of us, lift us, and help us to great things. All we have to do is keep our gaze on him!

Week 8: Lifts Us

Week 8

He Lifts Us

     One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is the story of Peter walking on the water. As many of you know, the story goes that the apostles were sailing in the middle of a stormy night and see Jesus walking on water towards them. Peter, to prove that Jesus was not a ghost, asks, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water" (Matthew 14:28); to which the Lord invites him to come. Peter got out of the boat and started walking to Jesus. He was doing so well until he looked around him at the tempest; at this point he begins to sink and shouts out for the Lord to save him. The Savior does save him and then tells him this, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:31) 

     This week I had a very similar experience. I was preparing to take a Chemistry test, praying and studying the entire week, and I felt like I had done everything to prepare. I started the test and everything was going smoothly, until I got to a problem that I didn't feel strong in. I began to "sink," feeling I had no chance of doing well. I said a prayer begging with almost the same plea: "Lord, Save Me!" At that moment, I looked back at the problem and saw tiny detail which made the problem solvable and finished the problem. In my mind's eye, I could see the Savior pulling me up and asking me that same question, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

     When we look at the story of Peter, we might wonder why he was afraid of sinking; if he were a fisherman, he would have been a very skilled swimmer. In analyzing this, we could see that the fear of the storm took him. I felt that same way about my test; I had studied and was capable of doing well on my test; however, fear of failure took me. It feels nice to know that there is a Savior who, although knowing we are capable of fixing our own problems, is willing to lift us up in times of fear. I know that he will come to our aid, and, most of all, I know that when we fail to see that strength within us, he believes in us.