As people learn this principle, many start out doing service they “have” to do. Then they progress to doing things they ”ought” to do. Finally they reach the point where they do things because they “want” to. When people do good things because they “want” to, then they are serving as the Savior would.
For many years I have dealt with a person who is very miserable and unhappy. I encouraged her to go out and be of service to others so that she could be happier. She has refused because she feels that she cannot be of service to others until she has made herself happy.
I remember a father who, when asked to help someone in the neighborhood move in or move out, would complain to his children because he had to go and help. What was he missing out on because of his attitude towards service? What lesson was he teaching his children because of his attitude?
One of the greatest lessons I have learned in life is that if I want to have joy in my heart and peace in my mind, I need to be of service to others. I have found that when I am serving others and doing so with the right attitude, I am the happiest and most content with life. I feel that others are blessed, and as I feel that I am becoming more like my Savior, I too feel blessed.
Search for Tag : joy
When asked about my Mormon Faith, my initial response is always the same. I passionately embrace the concept of an Eternal Family. Many of our beliefs are taken on faith. That is, I do not have a perfect knowledge of their validity, but I strongly believe them to be so. While I may not have a “perfect knowledge” of a family that lives on eternally, I do have such a knowledge of the temporal impact in my life.
The Book of Mormon teaches and reminds me to be a more loving, supportive and understanding spouse and parent. Love for my family is not just something in which I “believe,” but rather a tangible emotion I can grasp with certainty and conviction. Love for family drives my hope and bridles my selfishness. Family brings love, faith, joy and fulfillment into every aspect of my daily life.
While I may not have a perfect knowledge of Heaven, I am blessed to have a perfect knowledge of Family here on Earth. For me, it is everything.
I feel comfort knowing that Heavenly Father has designed this life so we might know joy. In our pre-mortal life He presented this plan where we each would have our own agency. It is a scary thing to most of us, because we knew we would make mistakes, affecting not only our own lives but also the lives of others. We knew that it would cause something called misery, and by knowing the bitter we would also know the sweet. Lucifer fought against this plan and took one third of our brothers and sisters with him. When I have been in the depths of misery, or a loved one is having a hard time, I take courage knowing that we are experiencing this wonderful plan to bring joy into our lives. By experiencing misery from our own hands, the hands of others, or even from natural occurrences, we know the bitter and it makes the joy that Heavenly Father wants us to experience a glorious thing.
I came across this verse when I was looking up something in The Book of Mormon. I like it because it testifies of peace. It tells me that Jesus Christ is real. I can be whole again even after any mistake, no matter how big. All I have to do is truly ask God to forgive me, and if I have repented with all my heart then I will feel joy again. I will feel peace. To know that for myself is really great.
The Book of Mormon makes me feel good. It can make me feel better in a way that other things just can’t. I am grateful to have this in my life.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. As the prophet Nephi explains in this verse, it exists to persuade us to believe in Christ, that through his sacrifice for us, we may be saved by His grace. It is also a powerful reminder that Jesus expects that we follow Him and live what He taught us.
Reading The Book of Mormon changed my life. Because of the teachings it contains about Jesus Christ, I know that He is my Savior. I know that because He died and was resurrected, I can return to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and my family forever. Even though I am far from perfect, I know that as I work to follow his teachings, He blesses me with joy and peace.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings me and my family joy. Why? Because when we have the love of God in our hearts, we share that love with each other and help each other no matter what life may bring. There is no trial that we cannot face if we have each other. Family is why we are here on earth.
I haven’t always been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I grew up in a home that studied about Jesus Christ, and the scriptures were very important to me in learning about Him. I belonged to a different church and I got to go to Sunday classes that studied the Bible and in the summer I went to a Bible summer school where we also studied about Christ. I memorized scripture passages from the Bible and learned about the stories in the Bible. The Bible was a very important part of my life.
When my mom and sisters and I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the missionaries told us that the Book of Mormon was another testament that taught of Christ too. I can remember reading in the Book of Mormon in the book of 3 Nephi, chapter 11, that Christ had come to ancient people and showed Himself to them. It is a great chapter that tells of His visit there, and the joy they felt as He was there and taught them.
Now I love studying both the Bible and the Book of Mormon too, and learning about Christ from both of those scriptures. I love the stories and being able to use them as I teach my children principles to live by. I like to look for ways that I can compare them to my life and improve as a person. For example, in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Christ teaches the beatitudes and ways we can be better individuals, and how we should treat each other. I really like being able to understand better ways of treating others. The Book of Mormon has had a great impact on my life and of the lives of my children.
Growing up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I never felt I really needed to be “converted” to the teachings that I had grown up learning. It wasn’t until my Junior and Senior years of high school that I really felt like my belief in the Church was being tested. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at the age of sixteen. Being told that not only did I have a serious pain condition but that it would also stick with me for life, led to my developing a serious case of depression. I allowed myself to become bitter and angry with God, and got myself mixed up in a crowd that wasn’t conducive to the standards the Church had in place. However, I began to feel empty inside. I was happy, but I didn’t feel whole. I began to wonder if having the Lord back in my life would help me to feel complete again. While reading the Book of Mormon, I found many verses that talked about abandoning sin, and coming unto Christ, but Alma 5 particularly stood out. Not only did it encourage me to abandon living the life of frivolity that I was currently participating in, but it compared all of us on earth to sheep being watched over by “the good shepherd”. The line, “the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; . . .that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life” was the tipping point in turning from the life I was currently living, and coming unto the Savior That was the best decision I have ever made. I have never felt as peaceful, jovial, and simply content with who and where I am in life, as I have since I decided to make the decision to abandon the person that I was and become a member of the fold which is actively watched over and protected by the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My soul hungered. My legs were burning from the climb. A moment’s rest at the top of the mountain was a needed reprieve. Beads of sweat pooled where my bicycle helmet met my forehead. Behind me I glimpsed the hair pin curves and twists of the narrow asphalt road exposed between the openings in the dense pines and oaks.
The view was spectacular, but my mind was elsewhere. During the arduous press up the incline, the words I had read were stirring deep in my heart. A seventeen year old boy raised in the Mormon faith, I had often heard my parents speak of the joy of the saints. I wanted to know with greater surety of the things of God. My heart was filled with desire for assurance and conviction of what I had been taught and what I hoped and professed to believe. I had felt God’s love for me and felt he cared when I prayed to him. Jesus’ teachings in the Bible were profound and brought out the best in me. My desire was to ask God about something else: the Book of Mormon.
I remembered the story of Enos, a hunter. He had been out hunting in the forest. Like me, he reflected on what his father had taught him and was filled with desire. Like him, I decided to pray. Climbing a large boulder and kneeling in the moss, I vocalized my desire to know what I believed to be true. I cried out for help. I pleaded for God to help me be a better person. I wrestled with the intensity of my soul, a wrestle that did not fully begin that day or end that day. I felt the love of God. My faith in Him and His Son grew. I trembled with the distinct knowledge of his love for me.
Like Enos, I turned my thoughts to others, and I knew of God’s love for all mankind, for each of his children. I felt strongly that God loves each one individually and I prayed for my family, my friends, and then for those I did not know, and finally for those I didn’t even like.
My conviction of the Book of Mormon solidified. I felt the truth of that book. God had given answer to the desire of my soul. I did not see angels, I did not hear a voice, but I felt deeply of God’s concern for me.
My journey that day had been a hunt that brought me nearer to God. Life is full of twists and turns and mountains to climb, replete with highs and lows, pain and joy, and sorrows and happiness. I still have much to learn and I still make mistakes. I know better that God cares about me, and that the story of Enos’s hunt in the Book of Mormon brought me closer to Him. My journey in life remains a hunt that draws me nearer to God.