Dear Friends and especially Family,
First off, I love you sosososo much!!!!
Second off—watch this video. We are ALL in need to repent.
Regardless of our age, what we've gone through, or what we've achieved, none of
us is perfect, and ALL of us need to ask for forgiveness, and to forgive. We
might not think that we make the biggest conscious mistakes, but it is often
the little things that we do, or don't do, that drive the Spirit away from our
hearts. This often happens without our notice.
I am the very last person to be close to
perfection, and I am definitely not be the most experienced or righteous
person, but I have been called by a prophet of God to share what I know to be
true. The message that we have been called to share is meant to guide people to
change; to be humble and desire to improve; to repent. It is also meant for us
to strive to do the same.
King Benjamin gave a reminder to his people in Mosiah
4:30: But
this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe
the commandments of God, and continue in the faith
of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of
your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.
Our thoughts, and words, and deeds really do
reflect our desire to keep the commandments of God.
Jesus told his apostles why He
gives us commandments, and points out one that He wants us to focus on: John15:11-12: These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. This
is my commandment, That ye love one
another, as I have loved you.
I know that if we try and keep God's commandments
we will be blessed, and we will be happy. It is totally under our control, and
completely up to us, to keep the commandments 100%, or not. What is not under
our control is what other people choose to do — often, they choose to let their thoughts,
or words, or deeds go against how God has told us to live.
What do we do with such people? Good question! Well,
I'm not perfect, and I don't understand all situations, but God is and does. What
does Heavenly Father have to say about it?
3 Nephi 18:32: Nevertheless,
ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall
ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return
and repent, and come unto me with
full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them;
and ye shall be the means of bringing
salvation unto them.
So, we aren't supposed to treat
them with anger, or frustration, or disgust, or spite, or impatience, or any other
negative adjective that you can come up with.
Is this easy? No; it never will
be, it never has been, and it isn't supposed to be.
The Sons of Mosiah had a rough
time with their brethren the Lamanites. Alma 17:5: Now these are the circumstances which attended
them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in
mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit.
These were the children of a
king, and friends of a prophet. They had seen an Angel, and all that they
wanted in the world was to help their brothers the Lamanites to share in their
joy and happiness. They were rejected, slandered, abused, and put into prison.
Their mission wasn't easy for them. Imagine what could have been going on in
their heads — if they had been called by God to share His gospel, why weren't
they having any success? Why did they have to suffer so much? If this was God's
work and His glory, where on earth was He when they needed Him?
He was always there, and He
would always be there, with them.
But they didn't see it, and
their discouraging circumstances lead them to depression. This is what
happened: Alma 26:27: Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were
about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us,
and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.
I know that God will bless us
and comfort us if we are humble and obedient. He will not give us any challenge
that we can't handle, grow from, and learn from. He will bless us for our
constancy in faithfulness — perhaps not when we want it, but always when it will be best for us and for those we serve.
I feel like this is something
that most of you reading probably already either suspect or know. Let's imagine
you've already served a mission, or that you've been a member for a long time,
or that you've read the Book of Mormon so many times that you've got much of it
memorized. You've probably discovered this for yourselves a long time ago,
probably through harder circumstances than I, and you are probably more
dilligent and spiritual on top of it all. Hearing, again, that you just need to
keep on being obedient and living the gospel might not be the newest of all
news, or the most hope-inspiring of all solutions. It's kinda hard sometimes to
see how really doing all of the little things is actually supposed to help.
Maybe it doesn't fill you up like it used to. Maybe it's been a while since you
actually felt something spiritually impactful. You know all the doctrine — when do
you get to start feeling the “magic” again? When do you get to see actual
changes occurr in your life and in the lives of those around you? When do you
get to have another glimpse of heaven, to feel Heavenly Father's love and care
for you?
What does Heavenly Father have
to say about this point of view?
Alma 37:34 Teach them to never
be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls.
D&C 6:33-34: Fear not to
do good,
my sons, for whatsoever ye sow,
that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye
shall also reap good for your reward. Therefore, fear not, little flock;
do good; let earth and hell combine against
you, for if ye are built upon
my rock, they cannot prevail.
Like it or not, the answer to all these questions
is more diligent obedience and more humble service. This includes faith,
repentence, and renewing (or returning to make fresh) our covenants with
Heavenly Father. The answer to every
question in life is to re-consecrate ourselves to live as our Savior would have
us live. It's something that, if we can keep in remembrance, will bring us
lasting peace and happiness, and satisfaction in our personal relationships.
But don't take my word for it. In King Benjamin's
words: Mosiah 2:41: And
moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.
For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if
they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state
of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
(so I guess you shouldn't just take King Benjamin's word for it either. Looks
like this is something that we need to try out, and retry, and retry, and
retry, for ourselves. Haha, and that's what earth-life is all about!!)
We have all already decided to live this way. This
is how Alma described what we've all promised to do:
Mosiah 18:8-11: ... Behold, ... as ye are desirous to
come into the fold of
God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s
burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to
mourn with those that mourn;
yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of
God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even
until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first
resurrection, that ye may have eternal life — Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of
your hearts, what have you against being baptized in
the name of
the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with
him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his
Spirit more abundantly upon you? And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their
hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.
Something that we really need to ask ourselves, periodically throughout the day, or
the week, is: What is the desire of my
heart? The desire of our heart is reflected in our thoughts, and words, and
deeds. Our decisions, in all and every situation, reflect our desires.
When we decide to do something wrong, is it bad
even though we recognize what we should have decided? Yes!
Is there ever any circumstance when it is alright
to act against, or beneath, our understanding of what is right? No!
Is Heavenly Father really watching my thoughts,
words, and deeds, even when I'm having a bad day or things aren't going well?
Yes!
Is it all over for me if I'm not doing everything
as perfectly as I know I should? No!
To
all of these questions, it might be interesting to ask, “Why?” John told us why — because (John 3:16-17) God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved.
I am not by any means perfect, nor by any standard
better than anyone else. But I know that Heavenly Father IS REAL, and that He
LOVES ME (and if me, then EVERYONE ELSE as well!!). I know that Jesus Christ is
my Savior, and that, because of what He did for me, I really can be clean and forgiven of my many
imperfections and mistakes. Because He loves me, He tells me about it by the
mouths of His prophets, ancient and modern. I know that the Book of Mormon is His
message to me, and that He wants me to read and apply it. I can always feel of
His love for me, and of the peace He wants me to have, as I live the Way He
asked me to. I know that these things are true, because I've felt Him tell me
so. You can feel the same, and so can everyone around us.
Never forget that Heavenly Father loves you, and
that He wants so much for you to be happy. You are His precious child, and He
wants nothing more than for you to come Home, and for those around us to come
Home, too.
Please, take some time this week to pray and think
about how you could come closer to
Home; who you could help to come
closer to Home; and how you could do
it. Then, have faith, and do it. By
doing so we will be helping Heavenly Father's work to move forward.
In the words of President Monson, our prophet
today: Now
is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to
labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means
for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His
work.
I love you, but what's even more important is
to know that Heavenly Father loves you more than you could ever imagine. You
are important, and you have more potential than you could ever imagine.
Heavenly Father has big plans in store for you, specifically YOU, and you will fulfill your potential as you
first, realize exactly who you are, as God's child, and what is in store you
you, eternal happiness, and then make your decisions based on those
realizations.
I don't know if any of you need this message,
but I need it, and I hope that it helps. :) I
love you!!!
Simply,
Élder Zubeldia
