Sometimes revelation comes line upon line, precept upon precept...but sometimes it feels like it comes truckload by truckload. This week I feel like I've gazed into heaven. My entire mission I've been learning. I've learned about faith, patience, the Atonement, the commandments, grace vs.works, the resurrection, the temple, how to contact people, how to feel the spirit, you name it, I've probably studied it, experienced it, thought about it, taught it. Up until this point they've felt a little like disconnected principles, floating around in my head. Now they are beginning to merge together into a beautiful, magestic whole. I've been searching and praying for answers for awhile now...and seriously this week, God has just been throwing down sacred truths, one after another.
And I know that they are true, because each one makes life/existence/the gospel, more and more simple, clear, beautiful.
I know they are from God because they make sense, and because I feel like I've heard them before.
"If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal." -D&C 42:16
My mission is not about "changing." It not a fight against true myself, struggling to reach a perfection that is simply out of reach. It's not taming the natural man, It's getting rid of him completely. I'm not changing into something new or different or against my nature. Rather, it's giving myself to God, and allowing Him to pull back the layers...the layers of worldly distractions, culture, ignorance, unbelief, appetites, passions, dependancies, all the baggage we collect in this earthly existence, all the walls that we build, to reveal who I really am and what I am really destined to become. The mission, (life and eternity for the matter) is about becoming who I really am.
And who am I? That is a question we must all ask. And then we must spend the rest of our lives becoming who we really are.
And it's not easy. That is why God offers His help. It would be impossible with out Him, we are too weak, too imperfect and too human. That is where Jesus Christ comes in. Every day He is there, waiting for us towant to know. To want to know badly enough that we ask. And to ask sincerely enough, with the determination to do. Then he'll take us by the hand, show us the path, and then we will become. And what will we become? Moroni says it more eloquently than I ever could:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."
We will become like Him.
And the best part is...that this isn't hard. This is the easiest way. The path of discipleship may be rough sometimes, but it's a road of contentment. It's an exciting path. It's the only way to true fulfillment, profound joy and lasting happiness...
Wow, well that's enough of my thoughts. Anyways, those are just my musings for the week. In other news. All those things that I just explained are happening in the lives of people all around me. And that is profound joy. I see Murielle not just giving up cigarettes so she can get in the water, but becoming a refined woman, a true disciple of Christ. I don't see Philippe just giving away Book of Mormon's because it's what "everyone does" in the church, I see a changed man sharing something precious that he's found with others.
This week has been beautiful. I had the best exchange of my life this week. With Soeur Cameron. Yes, Soeur Cameron, my MTC angel. It was seriously a tender mercy. Estelle and Charlotte came to the baptism of Rene, Cedric and Yann. When we showed up for church yesterday morning there was a whole crowd of people waiting to get into the church...who was it? It was our recent converts...half an hour early. I felt the Spirit put words into my mouth, I saw wall after wall fall down as the spirit testified to people in the street and in their doorways. This is real. This is powerful. And it is possible for each one of us.
I love you all and I wish you all a great week!
Soeur Lorraine Hilton
"Only as we spend the time to think deeply about the questions asked in
the Book of Mormon will the Spirit help us find answers - answers that,
when internalized and acted upon, have the power to help us grow and
change our lives" John Hilton.
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