Here's the description of Faith Experience #3:
Living gospel principles requires faith. Read about faith in the Bible Dictionary or True to the Faith. Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ leads to action. Choose a principle such as prayer, tithing, fasting, repentance, or keeping the Sabbath day holy. In your own home or another setting, plan and present a family home evening lesson about how faith helps you live that gospel principle. If possible, ask a family member to share an experience that has strengthened his or her faith. Share your own experiences as well. In your journal write down one of those experiences and describe your feelings about faith.
Knowledge Project:
I also want to set a goal to get a project done that I have been wanting to finish. I need to be accountable to someone to make sure this gets done and that means you have been volunteered to make sure I do it.
I have been wanting to make a menu board all year that I have seen on Pinterest. The biggest part of the project is typing up the menu cards. So, the project will fall under the value Knowledge. The purpose of the menu board is to help me out with meal planning, preparation, and shopping (aka food budget). I am hoping to get 50-75 different recipes/dishes to rotate through. I am excited to try new things and increase my terrible cooking skills. I would love to have this project done by the end of August.
Ready.......GO!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Faith Experience #2 Report
Of all the excuses I could give for not doing better about working on Personal Progress goals, or at least reporting in, they just aren't good enough. So without further ado definitely longer than 2 weeks, here's the report on Faith Experience #2.
Just a reminder as to what the goal was:
Discover the principles of faith taught by the mothers of Helaman’s stripling warriors. Read Alma 56:45–48 and 57:21. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about a mother’s role. With a mother, grandmother, or leader, discuss the qualities a woman needs in order to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths. How can these principles help you in your life today and help you prepare to be a faithful woman, wife, and mother? Record your thoughts and feelings in your journal.
Principles of Faith taught in Alma 56:45-48:
-Courage
-Did not fear
-Think of others
-Taught
-Did not doubt
-Believed
Principles of Faith taught in Alma 57:21:
-Obey and observe commands
-Remember
Role of the Mother in The Family Proclamation:
"Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."
After reading through everything, I feel like the most important thing is to not doubt the principles and commandments of the Gospel. The commandments have been given to us to be a protection.
My mother taught me obedience. In not doubting her teaching and example, my life has been blessed as I have done the best I can to be obedient to the priniples of the Gospel.
My Grandma shared with me that mother's should first have Faith, Courage, and Obedience within themselves before they pass it on to their children. Mother's need to have their own testimony and knowledge and you must keep studying until you do. Once you have your testimony the studying continues and you can share that with your children and can teach them the principles of faith, courage, and obedience. The children can then put into practice what they have been taught.
I am grateful for my mom and grandma and their examples of Faith, Courage and Obedience. I have received many blessings from the knowledge they have passed down to me. It has helped me through the stumbling blocks I encounter throughout life.
Just a reminder as to what the goal was:
Discover the principles of faith taught by the mothers of Helaman’s stripling warriors. Read Alma 56:45–48 and 57:21. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about a mother’s role. With a mother, grandmother, or leader, discuss the qualities a woman needs in order to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths. How can these principles help you in your life today and help you prepare to be a faithful woman, wife, and mother? Record your thoughts and feelings in your journal.
Principles of Faith taught in Alma 56:45-48:
-Courage
-Did not fear
-Think of others
-Taught
-Did not doubt
-Believed
Principles of Faith taught in Alma 57:21:
-Obey and observe commands
-Remember
Role of the Mother in The Family Proclamation:
"Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."
After reading through everything, I feel like the most important thing is to not doubt the principles and commandments of the Gospel. The commandments have been given to us to be a protection.
My mother taught me obedience. In not doubting her teaching and example, my life has been blessed as I have done the best I can to be obedient to the priniples of the Gospel.
My Grandma shared with me that mother's should first have Faith, Courage, and Obedience within themselves before they pass it on to their children. Mother's need to have their own testimony and knowledge and you must keep studying until you do. Once you have your testimony the studying continues and you can share that with your children and can teach them the principles of faith, courage, and obedience. The children can then put into practice what they have been taught.
I am grateful for my mom and grandma and their examples of Faith, Courage and Obedience. I have received many blessings from the knowledge they have passed down to me. It has helped me through the stumbling blocks I encounter throughout life.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Faith Experience #2
After a crazy month long break, here's to starting off 2012 with more personal progress goals.
The next goal I am working on is the second required experience in Faith.
Discover the principles of faith taught by the mothers of Helaman’s stripling warriors. Read Alma 56:45–48 and 57:21. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about a mother’s role. With a mother, grandmother, or leader, discuss the qualities a woman needs in order to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths. How can these principles help you in your life today and help you prepare to be a faithful woman, wife, and mother? Record your thoughts and feelings in your journal.
I'm giving myself up to 2 weeks to do this. Stay tuned.... :)
The next goal I am working on is the second required experience in Faith.
Discover the principles of faith taught by the mothers of Helaman’s stripling warriors. Read Alma 56:45–48 and 57:21. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about a mother’s role. With a mother, grandmother, or leader, discuss the qualities a woman needs in order to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths. How can these principles help you in your life today and help you prepare to be a faithful woman, wife, and mother? Record your thoughts and feelings in your journal.
I'm giving myself up to 2 weeks to do this. Stay tuned.... :)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Reporting In
It has been longer than 3 weeks for the goal I was working on, but what a crazy time it has been. I have learned so much!
Here's the post and goal I'm reporting on.
Here's what thoughts I had as I read the scriptures and the 2 conference talks.
Hebrews 11: Faith is the 'assurance' of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What a great list of so many prophets and individuals in the Bible who have provided many examples of the action required for Faith to take place and their witness.
Alma 32: I have read these versus on many occasions about Faith. Today, as I read this chapter, right after Hebrews, this verse stuck out to me, "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (vs 21) As I read through this chapter I learned that once faith is put into action (desire, belief, and continuous nourishment) your understanding of principles of the gospel change from I believe to I know.
Ether 12: "Faith is the things which are hoped for and not seen." Don't dispute that what you can't see. Once you put faith to work, you will be able to see and understand the greater picture of things. Like the book of Hebrews, the book of Ether provides us with examples of prophets and individuals in the Book of Mormon who have exercised faith and their witness.
JSH: What a great example a 14 year old boy is on Faith. He had a desire to know which church to join and having a basic belief in God and prayer received an answer to a simple but fervant prayer.
First conference talk read. I found it interesting that as I read through this I had made many of the same conclusions from reading the above scriptures first. I love how Elder Edgely says that faith is a choice. Your choice. You first have to take the step in the dark.
https://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/faith-the-choice-is-yours?lang=eng&query=faith
The second talk I read is by Elder Kevin W. Pearson. Below the link is my favorite part.
http://lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=faith
P.S. I typed that from memory, but had to look at it find out where all the punctuation correctly belonged.
Here's the post and goal I'm reporting on.
Here's what thoughts I had as I read the scriptures and the 2 conference talks.
Hebrews 11: Faith is the 'assurance' of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What a great list of so many prophets and individuals in the Bible who have provided many examples of the action required for Faith to take place and their witness.
Alma 32: I have read these versus on many occasions about Faith. Today, as I read this chapter, right after Hebrews, this verse stuck out to me, "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (vs 21) As I read through this chapter I learned that once faith is put into action (desire, belief, and continuous nourishment) your understanding of principles of the gospel change from I believe to I know.
Ether 12: "Faith is the things which are hoped for and not seen." Don't dispute that what you can't see. Once you put faith to work, you will be able to see and understand the greater picture of things. Like the book of Hebrews, the book of Ether provides us with examples of prophets and individuals in the Book of Mormon who have exercised faith and their witness.
JSH: What a great example a 14 year old boy is on Faith. He had a desire to know which church to join and having a basic belief in God and prayer received an answer to a simple but fervant prayer.
First conference talk read. I found it interesting that as I read through this I had made many of the same conclusions from reading the above scriptures first. I love how Elder Edgely says that faith is a choice. Your choice. You first have to take the step in the dark.
https://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/faith-the-choice-is-yours?lang=eng&query=faith
The second talk I read is by Elder Kevin W. Pearson. Below the link is my favorite part.
http://lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=faith
First is doubt.
Doubt is not a principle of the gospel. It does not come from the Light
of Christ or the influence of the Holy Ghost. Doubt is a negative
emotion related to fear. It comes from a lack of confidence in one’s
self or abilities. It is inconsistent with our divine identity as
children of God.
Doubt leads to discouragement.
Discouragement comes from missed expectations. Chronic discouragement
leads to lower expectations, decreased effort, weakened desire, and
greater difficulty feeling and following the Spirit (see Preach My Gospel [2004], 10). Discouragement and despair are the very antithesis of faith.
Discouragement leads to distraction, a lack of focus. Distraction eliminates the very focus the eye of faith requires. Discouragement and distraction are two of Satan’s most effective tools, but they are also bad habits.
Distraction leads to a lack of diligence,
a reduced commitment to remain true and faithful and to carry on
through despite hardship and disappointment.
Disappointment is an
inevitable part of life, but it need not lead to doubt, discouragement,
distraction, or lack of diligence.
If not reversed, this path ultimately leads to disobedience, which undermines the very basis of faith. So often the result is disbelief, the conscious or unconscious refusal to believe.
The scriptures describe disbelief as the state of having chosen to harden one’s heart. It is to be past feeling.
These Six Destructive Ds—doubt, discouragement, distraction, lack of diligence, disobedience, and disbelief—all erode and destroy our faith. We can choose to avoid and overcome them.
Faith Project
Good news!!! I memorized the Gethsemane poem and I even did it before the last day of my Institute class....which was yesterday.
Here's the poem:
In golden youth when seems the earth
A summer-land of singing mirth,
When souls are glad and hearts are light,
And not a shadow lurks in sight,
We do not know it, but there lies
Somewhere veiled under evening skies
A garden which we all must see--
The garden of Gethsemane.
With joyous steps we go our ways,
Love lends a halo to our days;
Light sorrows sail like clouds afar,
We laugh and say how strong we are,
We hurry on, and hurrying, go
Close to the border-land of woe,
That waits for you, and waits for me--
Forever waits Gethsemane.
Down shadowy lanes, across strange streams,
Bridged over by our broken dreams;
Behind the misty caps of years,
Beyond the great salt fount of tears,
The garden lies. Strive as you may,
You cannot miss it in your way.
All paths that have been, or shall be,
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane
All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say,
Not mine but thine, who only pray,
Let this cup pass, and cannot see
The purpose in Gethesemane.
--Ella Wheeler
P.S. I typed that from memory, but had to look at it find out where all the punctuation correctly belonged.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Faith
Oh how life has changed since I have been in a regular habit of prayer both morning and night. Of course that was a habit I started before starting personal progress over again but even as it has become a goal to accomplish it has strengthened me time and again. I have one week left to go in order to accomplish all that has been asked of me as I work on the first experience under Faith.
Alma 32: 17-18 reads "if thou wilt show unto us a sign, then we shall know, and then we will believe.... I ask is this faith? Nay. for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe... faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ys have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true."
I learned once that even if an angel were to appear to you, without faith you wouldn't believe it.
Faith is knowing you can move mountains even though you've never had cause to. Faith is knowing you can get through this hard time even though there is no end in site. And Faith is knowning that there is someone, bigger than you and me, watching over us and blessing us.
I know that for many it seems hard to understand why we believe the way we do, and to be honest sometimes it's hard for me to understand. But I have faith. Faith that tomorrow will come and faith that I can get through it. I have faith that there is a God and that he is watching over me. I don't know what tomorrow will bring but I know that I someday God will explain to me why my life worked out the way it has. And I am going to do my best to make him proud of me by being a good person and living in faith. I want to be able to look him in the eyes and tell him I did all I could do.
Faith is a hard seed to plant, espcially when you look at all the sad things happening in the world. But the gospel means that we rejoice in the good and we look forward to the day when all is said and done. The gospel gives us "good news" to rejoice in!
Love you, mean it <3
Alma 32: 17-18 reads "if thou wilt show unto us a sign, then we shall know, and then we will believe.... I ask is this faith? Nay. for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe... faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ys have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true."
I learned once that even if an angel were to appear to you, without faith you wouldn't believe it.
Faith is knowing you can move mountains even though you've never had cause to. Faith is knowing you can get through this hard time even though there is no end in site. And Faith is knowning that there is someone, bigger than you and me, watching over us and blessing us.
I know that for many it seems hard to understand why we believe the way we do, and to be honest sometimes it's hard for me to understand. But I have faith. Faith that tomorrow will come and faith that I can get through it. I have faith that there is a God and that he is watching over me. I don't know what tomorrow will bring but I know that I someday God will explain to me why my life worked out the way it has. And I am going to do my best to make him proud of me by being a good person and living in faith. I want to be able to look him in the eyes and tell him I did all I could do.
Faith is a hard seed to plant, espcially when you look at all the sad things happening in the world. But the gospel means that we rejoice in the good and we look forward to the day when all is said and done. The gospel gives us "good news" to rejoice in!
Love you, mean it <3
Monday, October 31, 2011
Faith R.E. #1 & Project
Hello! My name is Amy. Welcome to our blog. I hope you enjoy reading and following us on our journey as we complete experiences of 8 values through the Personal Progress Program. I also completed the Personal Progress program as a youth between the ages of 12-18. I had been thinking about going through the Personal Progress book again and working on some experiences when Jessica and Tiffani started this blog, so it worked out perfect to join in with friends and share our experiences with each other and you! I encourage you to join us in the things we learn and experience. As we share these with you, I ask that you be respectful of the experiences and lessons that are learned by each of us along the way.
I decided to start with an experience in Faith. Here’s the description:
Faith Required Experience #1
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn about faith from the scriptures and living prophets. Read Hebrews 11; Alma 32:17–43; Ether 12:6–22; and Joseph Smith—History 1:11–20. Read two general conference talks on faith. Exercise your own faith by establishing a habit of prayer in your life. Begin by regularly saying your morning and evening prayers. After three weeks of following this pattern, discuss with a parent or leader what you have learned about faith and how daily personal prayer has strengthened your faith. In your journal express your feelings about faith and prayer.
If you click on each of the scripture references, it should take you to the scriptures for you to read if you like.
Here is a link to the 2 general conference talks I read:
https://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/faith-the-choice-is-yours?lang=eng&query=faith
https://lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=Faith
Along with each value, a project that will take at least 10 hours to complete, is required.
I have been taking an Institute class this semester on the Atonement. Our teacher presented us with a poem titled, Gethsemane and encouraged us to have it memorized by the end of class, which is December 7th. As I started memorizing the poem the value of Faith came to mind as the place to begin my Personal Progress journey. So as I work on the experiences for Faith, memorizing this poem will be my project for this value. I’m hoping to have the poem memorized in 32 days (which will be ~Dec. 3rd)—that’s one line a day! My memorization skills aren’t anything to brag about, but as I exercise Faith, it may just happen!
I will report back in three weeks with my experiences.
I decided to start with an experience in Faith. Here’s the description:
Faith Required Experience #1
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn about faith from the scriptures and living prophets. Read Hebrews 11; Alma 32:17–43; Ether 12:6–22; and Joseph Smith—History 1:11–20. Read two general conference talks on faith. Exercise your own faith by establishing a habit of prayer in your life. Begin by regularly saying your morning and evening prayers. After three weeks of following this pattern, discuss with a parent or leader what you have learned about faith and how daily personal prayer has strengthened your faith. In your journal express your feelings about faith and prayer.
If you click on each of the scripture references, it should take you to the scriptures for you to read if you like.
Here is a link to the 2 general conference talks I read:
https://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/faith-the-choice-is-yours?lang=eng&query=faith
https://lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=Faith
Along with each value, a project that will take at least 10 hours to complete, is required.
I have been taking an Institute class this semester on the Atonement. Our teacher presented us with a poem titled, Gethsemane and encouraged us to have it memorized by the end of class, which is December 7th. As I started memorizing the poem the value of Faith came to mind as the place to begin my Personal Progress journey. So as I work on the experiences for Faith, memorizing this poem will be my project for this value. I’m hoping to have the poem memorized in 32 days (which will be ~Dec. 3rd)—that’s one line a day! My memorization skills aren’t anything to brag about, but as I exercise Faith, it may just happen!
I will report back in three weeks with my experiences.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Good Works: R.E. #3
I've decided to start on good works (required experience #3) because I've been extremely self-absorbed recently and I need to focus on someone else. Tonight at mutual (the activity for the young men and women of our church) I was talking to another leader, Anna. I talked to her earlier this week and she had mentioned how stressed and busy she was. She looked completely worn out tonight. What better time to experience good works? Tomorrow I've planned to go to her house and help her with preschool, and with cleaning her house. For those of you who don't have a personal progress book, you can follow along with this description of the experience requirements:
Read Mosiah 18:7–10, and in your journal list three ways you can comfort others or help them bear their burdens. Do the things on your list, and tell a family member or leader about the experience and how your attitude and understanding have changed.
I'll report back to you after a few acts of good works :)
Thank you for making this journey of my personal progress with me! I appreciate your support.
Read Mosiah 18:7–10, and in your journal list three ways you can comfort others or help them bear their burdens. Do the things on your list, and tell a family member or leader about the experience and how your attitude and understanding have changed.
I'll report back to you after a few acts of good works :)
Thank you for making this journey of my personal progress with me! I appreciate your support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)