Hello everyone and Happy New Year!! This has been such a wonderful week. Oh the excitement and wonder of what the new year will bring.
I have pondered a lot over the year 2011! This has been the best year of all my life. I have learned so much, and God truly is helped me become the man I want to be, and the man He needs me to be. I have come to deeply know the purpose of life and the need for a Savior. The work of Jesus Christ is amazing to watch. It’s a marvel to see His hand in our lives. I have come to understand that no matter where we all are, what path we are headed down, are down, or have been down, He won't leave us. He wants us back, all of us back. And we can all play a role in bringing people unto Him.
There was one brief experience this week that helped mold my testimony of the power of prayer and the importance of trials of faith. Towards the beginning of the week, we were really having a hard time finding people to teach. It seemed as if we were working harder than ever, but we weren't able to find anyone. It was New Year's Eve and we had just prayed with every fiber of our souls throughout the day that we could just find someone to teach that would except a baptismal date. It was about 8 p.m. and we still hadn't found anyone. We went to this certain area of apartments that we had just recently knocked, and a man named Edgar answered. He greeted us with a huge smile and wanted us to share a message. As we began to share a message my mind and heart were filled with peace. He said, “I was just talking to my Dad about wanting to go back to a church. I really want to change my life around.” He wants to be baptized and we just had the most tender lesson I can remember. I realized something really important. That truly, everything we go through in life, good or bad, is to help us gain charity. Trials of faith, help us learn to have true charity. To love when its hard to love, and to press on focusing outward, rather that inwardly focusing on despair. I am grateful that we have trials in this life. They are all part of God's plan. We can choose whether to rise or fall.
As I was sitting in a church meeting yesterday with the Elders Quorum, I was really touched by the spirit. I looked around at all of these men, all from different walks of life. Some making millions of dollars a year, others much less fortunate. We were all woven by one common thread, that we were all children of God with the same divine potential. I wondered where these men would be spiritually, if they would just do all that God asks and be 100%ers. The power in a new year is that we can change. Our mind can change right away after we gain new knowledge.
This morning as I was studying the scriptures I was really impressed with a section from 3 Nephi 14:21-27: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a afoolish man, who built his house upon the sand—And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” In this walk of life we can all be church attenders, we can all say that we know Christ and that we follow Him. But do we really? And what are the consquences when we don’t follow God with all of our souls?
Here in Issaquah it's really interesting to watch the growth of trees. Many trees are 100s of feet tall and have been there for what looks like forever, they have withstood the test of time and are striving to reach its full potential in height and beauty. But then there are the ones, mixed in between all the others that haven't made it. That have fallen short, and decayed and eventually end up tossed across the ground, merely a stump in the road. They must not have sought to grow and deepen their roots in their times of trial. God has given us every tool, to ensure that we don’t fall short! We have been given everything to return and live with him again.
I want to end with this wonderful scripture, from Doctrine and Covenants section 76. “Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out. His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand. From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail. For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory. And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations. And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught. For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.”
I leave you all with my testimony that God lives, that we can only reach our full potential in this life through following our Savior! I know that He lives, that He will guide our every footstep! The path may seem hard, but in the end, following it is the only intelligent thing to do. It is happiness. It is eternity. I love you all!! This year can always be better than the last. It can be a year we draw nearer unto Christ! Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Aiken
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