Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 is one of my favorite scriptures that help me better understand how the Holy Ghost or the third member of the Godhead works. We know the Holy Ghost does not have a body of flesh and bone but is a personage of spirit. This is so that he can be felt by more that one person at a time- just like the sun. There is only one sun, but it can be felt by millions of people all over the world at the same time.

Sometimes it's hard to recognize when the Holy Ghost is telling you something but Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that some of the "fruits of the spirit" are:

Love

Joy

Peace

Long Suffering

Gentleness

Goodness

Faith

Meekness

Temperance

The way we can know something is true is by the things it produces. Or its fruits. For example, Noah's "fruit" was the ark, Moses parted the Red Sea freeing his people, and Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.

So we have all these "fruits," but how do we know if they are true? It's just like real fruit. You have to try it, taste it yourself to know if it is something you like. People can tell you that strawberries are good but you won't know until you actually try it yourself. So test it out! If you want to know if something is true or you don't know what choice you should make- try it- taste it and pay attention to the "fruits of the spirit." Just as there are different fruits you can eat, there are different fruits, or different ways the spirit works in our lives.

If you feel love, peace, goodness, or faith while and afterwards then it is a good fruit.

My challenge to you is to go try it, test it out. Read the Book of Mormon. If you already have, read it again and pay attention to the feelings and thoughts you get while you are reading and praying about it. I have done this and I know it is real, and that it works. I know Heavenly Father wants us to succeed and be happy in this life. That is why he has given us the Holy Ghost to testify of truths. 

The 2,000 Stripling Warriors

I love how every time you read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you think you may have read it, something new always stands out. This time reading the story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors one major thing stood out.

The battles they were up against were defiantly not in their favor. But they didn't let that discourage them, because they remembered the things their mothers had taught them- that if they would not doubt, God would deliver them. (Alma 56:47)

They go into war and Heleman, their commander, in Alma 56:56 says that after the fight is over,

"to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength..."

They enter into another fight and again they "obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them." and they remembered the things their mothers taught them. (Alma 57:21) Because of this, two hundred out of the two thousand and sixty fainted because of the loss of blood. Heleman says,

"Nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received MANY wounds.

    And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

    Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually." (Alma 57:25-27)

Just because the 2,000 stripling warriors were righteous doesn't meand they were exempt from receiving many wounds. Infact there wansn't one who didn't receive MANY wounds. the sentence "neither was there one soul among them who had not received MANY wounds" stood out to me. Just because we are faithful and are doing the things we know we should be doing doesn't mean we aren't going to receive wounds along this path we call life. We are in a battle and the wounds we do receive are going to only make us straonger and prepare us for bigger wound thats may come later on down the road. I know we have a loving Heavenly Father who is very much aware of us and our needs. I know we will all receive wounds in this life, and we may even "faint" because of them. But just like the stripling warriors we won't receive any wounds we won't be able to handle. The point of this life is to learn and grow so that we can be more like our Heavenly Father and return to live with him again someday.

Happy 4th of July!!!

The 4th of July is just around the corner. How grateful I am for the men and women who have fought for our freedom and are still fighting today. My heart and respect go out to them. Thank you for all you do!

If you can for a minute and think what it would be like not to have the religious freedoms and rights we have today. I can't imagine! As we continue to put our faith and trust in God he will watch over us and provide us with the things we need. God bless America- My Home Sweet Home!!