Week 14: Run with Patience

Week 14: Run With Patience

   If I have learned (and relearned) one thing through scriptures study, it is that God really does answer our prayers, and that, sometimes, He does it through his written word. This past week I was really struggling with my self-worth as well as patience with the Lord's timing. Many of my friends have recently gotten engaged and had success in their lives. I, on the other hand, have hit a ruts and obstacles that make me feel like I have "fallen behind" or that I am not as blessed as others are.

    Heavenly Father wanted to teach me that thinking was not from Him this week through my scripture study. I was reading in Hebrews 12, when I came across a few verses that really stuck out to me, Verses 1 and 2 say, "...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and to set down at the right hand of God." 

    First off, I really liked the wording of verse one about running with patience the race set before US. Each of us has our own path, our own identity and destiny that we must fulfill. Each of us has a path set before us, which is OUR path to follow. We need to have faith and patience in the Lord's timing. He is in control; all we need to do is run OUR OWN race!

    Secondly, I think the author of Hebrews wanted us to the reason that we could have patience in our races of life; this is the reason why after asking us to have patience, he talks about Jesus Christ. As we read in verse two, Jesus Christ endured his path and now he is here to help us finish ours. I am grateful for the Savior. I am grateful, not only for his example, but in him helping me along my own path. I pray that I, as well as anyone who reads this, will remember that Christ is God's gift to each of us individually, and that through him, we can have joy in patiently walking down our own individualized paths of life. 

Week 13: Adam and Christ

Week 13

Adam and Christ

    Recently in my studies, I have decided to study more about the life and ministry of Adam, the first man to walk to Earth. While doing this study, we covered a scripture in class that really interested me. This scripture talks about Adam and puts him in a perplexing position; the scriptures is found in Romans 5:19, which reads, "For as my one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."   This scripture seems to put Adam in bad light; many Christians nowadays believe that Adam's first sin was what ruined humanity. As the scriptures put it, this sin made us, his offspring, sinners and kicked us out of God's presence and made it so we will have to die. They quote other scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 15:22 to support such a claim.
  However, this week, I read a talk which really put this into perspective. In a talk given by Tad R. Callister called Our Identity and Destiny, Callister talks about how important Adam was to God's plan. When describing Adam and Eve,  he said, "They were in a state of spiritual neutral and could not progress toward their divine destiny until they were cast out of the garden and thus put in spiritual gear... Being immersed in a world of good and evil, having the capacity to choose, and being able to draw upon the powers of the Atonement resulted in man having unlimited opportunity to progress towards his destiny."
   This talk helped me to realize Adam had a very important job in helping us return to live with our Heavenly Parents; now when reading the previously stated scripture, I don't see it as a comparison, but as some of the steps in God's plan. God wanted us to rely on the Savior He provided, and the only way He could make sure that was possible was through the Fall of Adam, through showing us how desperately we need His help. 
   I am so grateful for a Father who loves me. I am also so grateful for a Father who is willing to cut me down and hurt me, so that I can be raised even higher. And I am grateful for a Father who was willing to send down His son to help us on our way back home.