"Come Follow Me"

Well, I've officially finished the reading that I got to do for our Extreme Book of Mormon reading activity. YAYYY! I did it!! This weekend, we (all of our ward's young women) are going to stay up all night and read the second half of the Book of Mormon! I can't wait!
So today, I was reading in the beginning of Matthew. I really love the New Testament because it really focuses on Christ. There were two verses that really stood out to me.
Matthew 4:19 & 20:
 (I'm going to include verse 18 here, just for the sake of background info. )

18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were ^afishers.

 19. And he saith unto them, ^aFollow me, and I will make you ^bfishers of men.

 20. And they straightway left their nets, and ^afollowed him.

I really like this because of the examples of Peter and his brother Andrew. When Jesus asked the pair to follow Him, they didn't ask why. They trusted in Jesus. Notice, they also didn't say "Hold on, let us just finish bringing in the rest of these fish, then we'll come." No. Peter and Andrew straightway left what they were doing to follow the Lord.

The Savior always has an open invitation for us to follow him. We should ask ourselves, "Are we straightway leaving our nets when we may be doing something that won't bring us closer to the Lord? Are we immediately turning to Jesus to follow Him again?"

This reminds me of a phrase that Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Twelves Apostles, said in this October's General Conference:

"Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it."

We can follow the Savior in many ways. 
First: We can literally follow His example. By doing this, you are letting His light shine through you, and other people will be uplifted.
Second: You can repent. You can straightway leave your nets of sin to repent, and follow the Savior.
Third: You can follow Jesus by working to build a relationship with Him. You can read the scriptures, pray, and fast. These things will help you feel the Spirit, and know Christ.

I know that Jesus is pleased when we follow Him. And I am grateful for the confidence and peace I feel when I know I am doing the right thing. I love my Savior, and I KNOW He loves me. I'm so grateful for His influence in my life, and will try to do everything in my power to serve others and Him.

To learn more about repentance, click here.

To learn more about the Savior, Jesus Christ, click here.

To learn more about the Holy Ghost, click here.

To learn more about the Twelve Apostles, click here.