Questions

Asking questions of my Heavenly Father, or "engaging in the wrestle" as Sheri Dew describes here, has brought me considerable personal growth... to the point where I have advised many to "Be careful what you ask for," but it has also brought me to the peaceful place I have reached now as I face a terminal illness. (Side note: I don't know, and can't possibly judge, the part mental health plays in our spiritual lives but I ache for those who are unable to trust their own thoughts. My prayers go out to those who suffer from that particularly heart-wrenching struggle. Someday all will be made right and we will understand the reason for our own specific trials.) 

This is a fabulous talk for all those who are seekers at heart. I have shared some of my favorite parts to remember and hopefully inspire anyone who questions. I am weak and simple but I want to bear witness of the reality of Jesus Christ's eternal plan of salvation for all of us. 

SHERI DEW -  http://www.byui.edu/devotionals/sheri-dew

Questions can either make you seek for truth 

or justify drifting from truth.

The Lord loves inspired questions asked in faith because they lead to knowledge, to revelation, and to greater faith.  

Champion wrestlers tell me that it isn't necessarily the strongest wrestler who wins. It is the wrestler who knows how to leverage his strength to overpower his opponent. Spiritual wrestling leverages the strength of true doctrine to overpower our weaknesses, our wavering faith, and our lack of knowledge. Spiritual wrestlers are seekers. They are men and women of faith who want to understand more than they presently do and who are serious about increasing the light and knowledge in their lives.  

Keep an eternal perspective

There have always been and will always be charismatic men and women who can launch what sound like, on the surface, reasoned arguments against the Father and the Son, the Restoration, the Prophet Joseph, the Book of Mormon, and living prophets. But doubters and pundits never tell the whole story, because they don't know the whole story-and don't want to know. They opt for clever sound bites, hoping no one digs deeper than they have.

Sound bites will never lead to a testimony. As seekers of truth, our safety lies in asking the right questions, in faith, and of the right sources-meaning those who only speak truth: such as the scriptures, prophets, and the Lord through the Holy Ghost.    

Questioning vs. Doubt

Questions are not just good, they are vital, because the ensuing spiritual wrestle leads to answers, to knowledge, and to revelation. And it also leads to greater faith. 

Men and women of faith are expected to have faith. While the Lord will reveal many things to us, He has never told His covenant people everything about everything. We are admonished to "doubt not, but be believing. But "doubting not" does not mean understanding everything.            

Doubting is not synonymous with having questions. To doubt is to reject truth and faith. As covenant sons and daughters, we are required to have faith, live by faith, "ask in faith, nothing wavering," and "overcome by faith." Learning by faith is as crucial as learning by study, because there are some things we cannot learn from a book.            

Questions are an invitation for you to grow spiritually

Thus, once the Spirit has borne witness to you that God is our Father and Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet called to restore the gospel, and that we are led by a prophet today, then you know the gospel is true because the Spirit has borne witness of the foundational truths that comprise a testimony. You have a testimony!

At that point, when questions arise or when blessings you've been pleading for remain unfulfilled, they are not an indication that you don't have a testimony or that the gospel isn't true. They are an invitation for you to grow spiritually.   

I repeat, once you have received a spiritual witness of the truths that form a testimony, even your thorniest questions about our doctrine, history, positions on sensitive issues, or the aching desires of your hearts, are about personal growth. They are opportunities for you to receive personal revelation and increase your faith.    

We don't have to have answers to every question in order to receive a witness, bear witness, and stand as a witness.            

But questions, especially the tough ones, propel us to engage in a spiritual wrestle so that the Lord can lead us along. Without plain old spiritual work, even God can't make us grow-or at least, He won't.           

It is worth engaging in a spiritual wrestle to learn to receive personal revelation, because we can only know what is true when the Spirit bears witness to our hearts and minds as only the Holy Ghost can. Revelation must include both, because intellect alone cannot produce a testimony. You cannot think your way to conversion, because you cannot convince your mind of something your heart does not feel.

Read the scriptures and stay as pure as you can

Seekers have certain habits that are key to learning to communicate with God. For starters, they engage in the wrestle, meaning they work at it. They immerse themselves regularly in the scriptures, because the scriptures are the textbook for the Lord's language. They also work to be increasingly pure-pure in their heart and thoughts, pure in what they say, watch, read, and listen to. Purity invites the Spirit. And then, pure seekers listen. 

I invite you to decide today that you will pay the price to wrestle with difficult questions, to become lifetime seekers of truth, to learn to speak the Lord's language, and to receive a witness of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel.            

If you will, you'll have the privilege of helping prepare the earth for His return. You'll be able to defend the faith because of your ever-increasing faith.               

The Savior is going to come again. May we stand for Him and with Him

Click here to see the whole talk --->  Sheri Dew - Are You Willing to Engage in the Wrestle?

Not the only place...

This marvelous testimony is from John Pontius who passed away from cancer December of 2012 but recorded many of his deep and inspiring thoughts in a blog called Unblog My Soul (<--click to read). His wife compiled her favorites in this book. It is FULL of great things like the moment after his father passed away and came to tell him in his own voice, "It's true! It's all true!"

"Let me say as strongly as I possibly can: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth. It is not the only place where truth or Christ or faith or hope is found. It is just the greatest of such places.

It is not the only place 

where truth or Christ or faith or hope is found. 

It is just the greatest of such places.

It holds the authority and the priesthood keys and is the only place that does. It has within its doctrine, ordinances, and structure everything that is necessary for every blessing mankind can seek in mortality or in eternity. It has a prophet selected by the Savior Himself and apostles whom I joyfully sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. From one inspired program and gospel principle to another, this church has it all.

Is the church flawless? No, flaws come from flawed people who have yet to understand Doctrine & Covenants 121; but they do not come from the Lord or His gospel. Even those beloved brethren who sit in the red seats are still just people. And as Judas could not by his betrayal diminish the office of apostle nor the Church, so is the Lord's Latter-day Church still true, despite what flawed people may do within it.

And as Judas could not by his betrayal 

diminish the office of apostle nor the Church, so is the Lord's Latter-day Church still true, 

despite what flawed people may do within it.

This is the truth, and this will be true until Christ returns in glory. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only true, but it works, it functions, it exalts, it binds the ordinances and seals the covenants. It calls down angels and ministering beings and lavishes blessings upon those who see past the gears, nuts and bolts, and happenings of the Church and who look heavenward at what this inspired church is successfully providing for us.

So I say, "Choose ye this day." As for me and my house we choose to serve the Lord, as He reveals Himself through the latter day kingdom."                  
                                                                                                 --John Pontius

Hinderment is Hazardous

While we are on the earth, our bodies form a protective shield for our imperfect thoughts as we grow and mature, but it also prevents us from knowing why and how a person came to feel and believe the way they do. The spirit is the only way we can understand the "feelings and context" of others. 

There are many ways to say the same thing, just as there are many ways to infer what a person is implying. We can use "compassionate language" and "compassionate thought" by cultivating the influence of the Holy Ghost in our dealings with our fellow travelers within and without the church. 

"I bear humble witness that we can "minister grace" through compassionate language when the cultivated gift of the Holy Ghost pierces our hearts with empathy for the feelings and context of others. It enables us to transform hazardous situations into holy places. I testify of a loving Savior who "looketh on [our] heart" and cares what we are thinking."
   --Elder Craig L Zwick 





Free Agency allows us to have our own opinions but it does NOT let us choose the consequences of voicing those opinions. Regarding those who would cause agitation and dissension in those earnestly seeking the peace found within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, choose carefully, those words which form the thoughts you share. 

Becoming a great "hinderment" is hazardous. 

Charity is the pure love of Christ and just as we are asked to cultivate charity for all, we are required to forgive all. To do anything other than using compassionate language and compassionate thought puts us in the same precarious position Alma the Younger found himself in Mosiah 27:9-10. (Book of Mormon)

 9 And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the Church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.

If we are truly converted we would NOT want to give the enemy of God ANY power over His children. 



True believers would want to protect His children from anything that would separate us from His Love. The following talk given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in the October 1984 General Conference can give us a clear view of where we stand by answering his "test questions" and give us a visual to cling to, trusting completely in an omnipotent and omniscient Heavenly Father whose entire purpose of being is to bring about our eternal joy and happiness. 

"If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will, in the end, make no difference what you have chosen instead." --William Law

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1984/10/the-caravan-moves-on?lang=eng

Click here to listen to The Caravan Moves On

I am so grateful for my lack of agitation. I am so grateful to feel the peace and confidence found from testimony bearing apostles of God. I am so grateful for their guidance, love, and service in His Kingdom. 

I pray that we can turn "hazardous situations into holy places" as we go about our daily lives and nurture the peace that comes from knowing we can love as we are loved.