“Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.”

From this verse, it would appear that we believe in the Trinity. However, Christ is not saying that He is Heavenly Father. Rather, because He is to perform the Atonement, He becomes our Father. This is because to be father is to give new life. Through that Atonement, Christ becomes our Father because it is only through Him that we can have eternal life. We are also spiritually begotten of Him through repentance, which is also called a rebirth.

The second thing that has helped me feel closer to Heavenly Father is from Ether 6:5. This is after the Jaredites have entered their boats and are ready to travel to the promised land. It says, “It came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters.” The question is why did the wind need to be furious? Couldn’t it have been a strong wind, or even a light breeze? The answer to this second question is no, because when the winds of life are furious, that is when we grow the most. If we were never to go through trials, we would never grow to become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When life is all smooth, and we don’t have any problems, how often do we forget our Lord? Note these words from the wonderful hymn “Come Thou Fount,” “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” When we are going through trials, we more readily accept Christ as our Savior, and our Redeemer, and not just as another good man who lived on the earth.

Brigham Young University (BYU) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.

Here, in this column, students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the New Testament and gospel of Jesus Christ in the form of letters to someone they know.  In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to witness to all of us of the relevance, power, and beauty of the New Testament, and God’s plan of happiness for each of us.  We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. Let us know how these may help you in your own life. Share them with a friend.

Letter to my wife about giving up our will

I want to share an idea from my New Testament class this week. We were reading in Philippians 2 and noticed the importance of our will, especially in verses 12 through 17 or so. I have always found it interesting to notice that all we have that we can truly give to God, that He hasn’t directly given us, is our will. I have always felt humble about this idea and have loved attempting to accomplish it. Basically, the only way to do this is to place our will on the altar of God. Then, once our will has been given up, we can receive God’s will in our heart. I think this is the essence of the Atonement and our best way to become like Christ.

My professor told a story that really magnified this idea that I would like to share with you. It started with him telling us about a little old widow convert from his mission in Brazil. He said she lived down by the river on property that you don’t have to purchase, because no one is interested in a property that would flood a couple times every year. This woman’s house was tin-roofed and the slats that made up the walls left small gaps. In about a 10×8 foot house she had only a small bed, a stump for a chair, and a small table made of two sawhorses and three 2×6 pieces of wood.

After the bishop of the ward had been to her house, he felt badly for her and wanted to help her. He decided to start with one piece of furniture at a time. Over the pulpit during the next sacrament meeting, the bishop announced that a family that was in need of a small table and if anyone could spare one to come to his office after church. After church, he had a light knock on his door. It was the old woman. She said, “Bishop, I want to talk to you about your announcement today.” The bishop was afraid that she was offended. Instead, she told him that she thought all families should have a table to eat at and she had a very small basic table, but that she would give it to them until they could find a nicer one. The bishop then smiled and told her it was supposed to be for her. She was polite, but told him thanks anyways. She said he should spend his time helping those who really needed it.

I love this story, and think it very much explains the way we should give up our will. I hope I can do this and hope it brightens your day also.
Love you forever,

Ian

In Acts 27 we learn of Paul’s dangerous journey when he headed toward Rome. Verse twenty narrates their desperate situation: “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” There will be times in our lives when there is a huge trial or storm upon us and we might not have any hope of it clearing. Dark clouds will gather all around us, and we might think that it will never get better, but the storms in life usually pass.

As the travelers were on this journey to Rome and were caught in the storm, they could turn to a prophet (Paul) for guidance. As we are in the storms of our lives we need to turn to our present-day prophet, who receives revelation from our Heavenly Father for us. We should always listen and obey the prophet. He can give us guidance and hope in the future when those dark clouds gather round us (and even when the sun is shining)! I haven’t been at a point in my life where I have experienced a complete loss of hope. I am grateful that my trials have consisted only of gray clouds. I don’t necessarily see the sun, but I still receive light. I sincerely hope that when a trial of completely black clouds comes my way, I will have the strength, courage, and testimony to push away the black clouds surrounding me to give way to the sunlight, and the Son!

The scriptures are an amazing way to bring light into our lives and come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. They aren’t just black words on a white page. They are words for us! We need to read the stories and apply them in our lives. We should walk away from studying the scriptures saying, “This is my story!” I need to be more diligent in this kind of study. I will find the words the prophets have written for me. The Word of God is for you and for me, it is our story! Anyone can read the scriptures, but you have to search them and ponder them to make them your story!

BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.”  As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.

In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America.  (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names.  We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)

Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.

I Stand All Amazed

Dear Sammy,

Today my Book of Mormon class was amazing!! We learned about the difference between the Church of Christ and the Gospel of Christ, because they are two different things. I mostly want to tell you about the Gospel of Christ though, because it might be of help to you and bring you good feelings. In talking about the Gospel of Christ we were in 3 Nephi 27:13-21. Verses 13-15 tell of Jesus’ role in the

Gospel. These verses talk about how before Jesus could lift us up, He had to be lifted up (on the cross). And before He could judge us, He had to be judged by men. Jesus was judged according to man’s works, not His works. But when Jesus was suffering for us in the Garden, He wasn’t judged on His own merits.

He was judged on my, Kelsey Rasband’s merits, and on Sammy Shelley’s merits. He was punished based on our actions, not His. He didn’t want the punishment to be on any of us, any of His brother’s and sisters. He took it all on Him. It is so amazing to me that Jesus loves me enough to do that. He loves me, imperfect, flawed Kelsey, and He loved me so much he was willing to pay the ultimate price. Jesus was all alone that night, and He was alone because of you and me. But He still suffered for us. I can’t even fathom this. I love my Savior so much, and I am so grateful for what He did. I find it difficult to even express in words how I feel.

I hope you understand what the Savior did for you, and I hope you know that He loves you. He paid the ultimate price for you, because he loves you unconditionally, no matter what you have done. He wants you to come unto Him. Sammy, I know He is real and loves us. Next time you sing “I Stand all Amazed”, think of this and think of Him.

If you are reading this post and have any questions or comments, I would be happy to hear from you.

BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.

In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.

Mormon Thoughts: “Letter to my Husband”

Hi Sweetheart!

I love when I find scriptures that apply directly to our marriage. One scripture that made me think of us lately is in 3 Nephi 10:9-10. It’s when all the terrible destruction of the wicked is coming to a close, and the three days of darkness is starting to disperse. It says:

“…And it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend, and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the tumultuous noises did pass away. And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood.”

Christ visited the Nephites after His resurrection.

So how does this apply to us you ask? Well I was thinking how the darkness, the trembling, the fallingrocks, and tumultuous noises could all represent the trials and challenges that we might face in our marriage or family in the future. I’m not trying to be a downer, but I would bet that at some time or another, we will face a trial together that will physically or spiritually shake us. When that time comes, I want to remember these verses in 3 Nephi.

My favorite phrase in these scriptures is when it says “and the earth did cleave together again, that it STOOD.” I am a firm believer that we can overcome any trial or challenge we will face if we will hold to each other and to the Lord. Just like all the physical devastation, our trials won’t last forever. Eventually they will end, and if we have remained faithful we will be able to cleave together and stand. I know that trials—even though they may be extremely difficult or frustrating—can bind people close together if they choose to let them. I know this because I have watched my family grow together as we have gone through difficult trials. I remember when my dad’s dad, Grandpa Mike, was slowly dying in the hospital. I have never seen my dad so emotional and sad. But I noticed how supportive, caring and loving my mom was toward my dad. I watched them grow together even though they were going through a difficult trial. I know that we can continue to grow closer to each other as a couple as we travel through life together, whether in good or hard times. Thank you for choosing to stand by me forever.

I love you,

Jenica

If any who might be reading this letter have questions or comments, I would be happy to hear from you.

In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.

In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)

Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.

Mormon Thoughts: A Great and Marvelous Change

Letter to a Friend

Dear Cody,

I’m doing great man! It’s great to hear from you. I hope things have been going well for you lately. What’s new in your life down in Alabama? Are you still taking classes at JSU? Or are you working at all?

Anyway, my Book of Mormon class has been amazing, brother. I hope you get the chance to come to school out here in the future, because these religion classes change my life. Right now we are making our way through 3 Nephi, where Jesus comes to visit the people in the Americas. If I’m not mistaken, that chapter was one of the first ones we had you read when we met you two years ago.

Even though I’ve read that chapter (chapter 11 that is) hundreds of times, I am still learning new things about the coming of Christ to the Americas and His visitation of the Nephite people.

I’ll share something with you that especially impacted me the other day. In 3 Nephi chapters 9 and 10, the people are experiencing all kinds of storms and earthquakes and other destructive natural disasters and are witnessing the annihilation of many of their big cities. Then, immediately following all of this destruction, a thick darkness covers the whole land to the point where they couldn’t even light a fire to see clearly. That darkness lasted about the 3 days until finally the Lord spoke to them: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they [those who were killed in the destruction], will ye not now return unto me, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13). I love how merciful the Lord is in that verse.

Christ visited the Nephites after His resurrection.

Later, in chapter 11 verse 1 it says, “And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which and taken place.” My whole life, I have always pictured this verse to happen immediately after the darkness is taken off of the land and all the people are sort of walking around the rubble of their old cities marveling at this change, but in my class, I learned that it is more likely that verse 1 of chapter 11 didn’t happen until possibly a whole year later! And if that’s the case, the people were most likely almost recovered from the destruction that had happened in chapter 9-10.

In that context, verse one takes on a whole new meaning for me. Now, the people are gathering to the temple to worship God and they notice “a great a marvelous change which has taken place.” In my eyes, this change is no longer referring to the landscape in the aftermath of so many terrible disasters; the people are referring to a great and marvelous change that had taken place in their hearts. The people had become converted to the doctrine of Christ, and once they reached that level of spirituality, the Savior Himself appeared to them at the temple. Isn’t that amazing? I love these beautiful little messages that the Book of Mormon has. It’s awesome.

I hope all is well for you and that you are happy. Love you brother!

Jeff

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

Here, in this column, students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the New Testament and gospel of Jesus Christ in the form of letters to someone they know.  In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to witness to all of us of the relevance, power, and beauty of the New Testament, and God’s plan of happiness for each of us.  We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. Let us know how these may help you in your own life. Share them with a friend.

Mormon Thoughts: Finding Power

Email to my sister

Hey, so I know you were really excited to go through the Mormon temple! I also know that you haven’t been back for awhile. I don’t really know why you haven’t gone back. It’s probably just because you haven’t had time or it has just slipped your mind, but you know that I just went through like two weeks ago and I just wanted to share some stuff with you.

I’ll be honest, when I first went there, I was very confused but I really did feel the spirit so much. I think it is hard for some people, because they don’t understand everything they experience there, and so they maybe don’t have a huge desire to go back all of the time, or they go and still don’t understand and so they get frustrated. I just wanted to share something that I learned though, because I think it gives us insight into what God is trying to teach us in this life.

We learn more about God’s plan for us at the temple.

In my New Testament class we were talking about Ephesians. We talked about a ton of great stuff that I’d like to share with you sometime, but for now I wanted to tell you first about chapter six. In verse 11 it tells us that we need to put on the whole armor of God. In my class we learned that the Greek translation of the phrase “put on” is enduo, which translates back to, “endow yourself.” So we are to endow ourselves with the armor of God. And the armor of God is described after that verse. The one that was especially powerful to me was the shield of faith. We talked about how it is a shield and therefore it is portable. The shield can protect any part of us. So we see how important faith in the Lord is. It will protect us from all of the negative outside forces. When we have strong faith then we don’t let the doubts of the world penetrate, causing us to waver in our testimony of Christ.

Every time I go to the temple, I understand more about the amazing things God has in store for us.  But we have to stay on the path that leads to Him and try to grab onto the gifts He offers us.  A lot of those gifts come through the temple.

Your BFF,

Cassidy

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

Here, in this column, students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the New Testament and gospel of Jesus Christ in the form of letters to someone they know.  In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to witness to all of us of the relevance, power, and beauty of the New Testament, and God’s plan of happiness for each of us.  We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. Let us know how these may help you in your own life. Share them with a friend.

Mormon Thoughts: Moving Forward

Letter to a friend

Last week you were telling me that you don’t know what you are doing with your life. You said that you feel like everyone is figuring their lives out, and you are just going through the motions without progressing toward anything. We had a lesson in New Testament this week that I found really helpful in my life and I thought maybe could help you, too. We are in Romans right now, and there are a few verses I want to point out. First in chapter 5 verses 3-5, I’ll just summarize for you.

These verses give us insight on how we can obtain hope even through our tribulations. Through tribulation we gain patience, through patience we gain experience, and finally through experience we gain hope. I know you may feel like things aren’t going your way lately, and like there are things holding you back, while everyone else is moving forward. I’ve been there; it can be so discouraging! I challenge you to keep your head up and find hope for the future in the experiences you are having. You always have a clean future with endless potential.

The next set of verses I want to highlight are in chapter 6, verses 19-23. These outline the effects sin and righteousness have on our lives and on our futures. You’ve been quite an example to me over the months I’ve known you, little things you do to try to bring the spirit into your life and make your Heavenly Father proud have really impressed me. These few verses show us that if we choose to sin, our reward will be death and misery, but if we choose to be righteous and live our lives like I see you live on a daily basis, then our reward will be eternal life and a kingdom in heaven. You’re well on your way to gaining that great reward. When life gets hard, and it feels like you’re going nowhere, remember that our Heavenly Father loves you, and that He’s preparing a mansion for you in heaven. I know it can feel like we aren’t progressing in this life like everyone else is, but know that you always have the ability, no matter your circumstances, to progress in your spiritual life and THAT is what really matters.

The Lord knows our hearts even if we can’t express how we feel.

Finally, I want to touch on something that I struggle with in times of feeling inadequate, and that is knowing what to pray for. Often times I’ll be feeling distraught and get down on my knees, but not know how to express what I’m feeling to our Father in Heaven. Chapter 8 verse 26 shows us that in times like this, we don’t always need to find a way to express what we’re feeling. The Lord knows, He can feel our prayers just like He can hear and answer them.

I hope this has helped you a little bit as it has helped me, know that I’m here for you just like you’ve been there for me before, be sure to let me know if you need anything.

Your friend,

Darrell

Additional Resources:

Mormon Beliefs

In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.

In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)

Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.

Mormon Thoughts: Enduring through the Trial

Letter to a friend

Before I took a class on the Book of Mormon I always assumed that Christ came down to visit the Nephites only three days after His crucifixion and resurrection. Now I know better—the Nephites actually had to wait nearly a year before they had the chance to see Christ. However, during this time they didn’t wait passively; they were working hard to change both their outward circumstances and inwardly they worked to change their hearts. In fact, on the day that Christ descended, the people were conversing about him. In other words, even though time had passed, they were still using the terrible trials that had befallen them to make themselves better, more worthy people.

Like the Nephites, we must prepare for our meeting with Christ by enduring our trials with patience.

I believe this can apply to people today. Sometimes a trial will happen in our lives and though we survive it, we are neither made better people nor blessed because of it. We will be better prepared for these circumstances if we look to the example of the Nephites during this time period. Just like the Nephites, we can’t be passive while waiting for our trials and afflictions to pass; we need to work in order for them to change us. We can also see that trials will take some patience. Christ didn’t visit the Nephites immediately after His death and the destruction that followed it; He made them wait. Likewise, we might wonder why a trial is lasting so long, or why our lives haven’t been especially blessed for making it through the trials, but just like the Nephites, we need to learn to be patient and work hard in the meantime.

Life can be extremely hard. It was for the Nephites and it still is for people everywhere today. The trick to getting through is trying a little harder to be a little better and having the knowledge that eventually we will all meet Christ personally, whether in this life or the next.

Additional Resources:

Mormon Beliefs

Here, in this column, students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the New Testament and gospel of Jesus Christ in the form of letters to someone they know.  In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to witness to all of us of the relevance, power, and beauty of the New Testament, and God’s plan of happiness for each of us.  We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. Let us know how these may help you in your own life. Share them with a friend.

Mormon Thoughts: An Epiphany

A letter to my sister

I had an epiphany this week in New Testament class. It is about the purpose of righteousness. We have been talking a lot the last few weeks in the letters of Paul to new converts about the differences between grace and why we need to do good works, such as what we read this week in Philippians 2:12. Because the original expectation was that we need to be perfect, and that was not attainable, that is the reason for the Atonement, right? So why can we not just take advantage of the Atonement and do whatever we want? It is because in performing the Atonement, Christ set a new standard for us to attain, you know, the laws of sacrifice, the gospel, etc. He transferred the debt we needed to pay from Heavenly Father to himself. He still wants us to become perfect, so He does not leave us without any rules, we are still expected to become something more. So my epiphany this week was about the purpose of righteous actions.

The Atonement sets a new standard for all who desire to be followers of Christ.

My professor said something about connecting to God, and I am not sure why that resonated so much inside me, just because it seems like such a simple concept. But I was thinking about it, and in my experience, I find that when I do something “good,” it is as if I am trying to achieve something; I am reaching for some abstract ideal. For example, God did all this stuff (Creation, Atonement, and everything needed for us to get back to Him) for us, and gave us the law of chastity, so I will be chaste for the sake of being chaste. I realized this was not the reason we do it. It is to connect with Christ. Let’s say we were building a bridge. Christ already has His part built, in just the right place with just the right materials, etc. It is now our object to attach ourselves to Him. Or in another analogy, to attach our branches to Him, the Vine.

It is through Him that we attain sustenance and that all blessings flow. In surrendering the only thing we have to give, our wills, we achieve the ultimate victory. When we seek to connect to Him, we are no longer focused on just our actions, but also our thoughts and attitudes. Ironically, we still need His help to do our part of the bargain as well. But if I had to trust my will, my life, and my whole soul to anyone, I am glad it is the most loving, all knowing, and perfect being in existence.

With warm thoughts,

Ashley

Additional Resources:

Mormon Beliefs