This is my Savior

Well. It's been an awfully long time since I have posted. And for that, I apologize.  It's been pretty crazy around here. I've been making up homework for almost a month now because I was so sick a few months ago. But, that's enough excuses right?

This is my Savior. He is your Savior too. I love Him with all my heart. He is the reason that life has meaning and value. He loves us with an infinite love. Infinite. Try to fathom that word. Infinite. His love for you and me has no beginning and has no end. His love is limitless and perfect. He proved that when He suffered for our sins in Gethsemane and died for us on Calvary. And then after three days' time He arose from His sepulchre, victorious over the bonds of death.
I know He lives. I have felt His power in my life. I have tasted of His redeeming love when I have partaken of the divine power of repentance. I have felt the peace which comes from knowing that I am loved enough for the Master of the world to sacrifice Himself for me. I know that I can live with Him again if I strive daily to live as He does.
Sometimes, when it feels like no one's there, when everything goes wrong, and when it seems as though every sadness, temptation, and pain in the world have conspired against me, He is the only one who can help me through my pain. My knowledge of His ultimate love for me helps me maintain the strength I need to see my trials to the door.
I know He is always there for me. It's such a powerful knowledge, the most invigorating knowledge in the universe. The beautiful universe. The universe that He created for our enjoyment, which universe contains worlds without number all created by the hands of our Holy Redeemer.
He loves us. He gave the ultimate sacrifice for us. And He lives. This is my Savior.

"I know He lives.

I will live my life to Him.

The Savior gave this life to me,

and He gave His own

that I might be free.

I know He lives.

This is my testimony."

-Whitney

These are the lyrics of the chorus of a song I am writing about my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ. 

This song is my ten hour project for the Faith portion of Personal Progress.

To learn more about Jesus Christ, click here.

Your Spiritual iPod

Yesterday I was riding the bus home from school. On my bus, I sit by myself, because of all the stuff I have to carry around (my bookbag, viola, lunchbox, etc....). I listen to my ipod on the bus because the other people on my bus are really loud and crude. They talk about things that I don't want to think about, because they won't help me have clean thoughts.
You are similar to me.  You too need an ipod to drown out the things of the world. A "spiritual ipod".
So, what is a "Spiritual iPod"?  When I didn't want to hear the things that the people on my bus were saying, I turned the volume up on my ipod. So when the world is getting to you. you can "turn the volume up" by reading the scriptures, praying, and listening for the Holy Ghost. These are the things that will help you drown out the unpleasantness of the world.  And, unlike a regular iPod, your spiritual ipod has no maximum volume. It can never be too loud.
There's a saying my mom tells me that goes "We should be in the world, but not of the world." This means that even though we live in a world full of sin, we don't have to let that rule our lives. We can still live righteously in this world even though the people around us may sin. And how do we do that? By turning up the volume on our spiritual iPods.
Then there are the times that your spirtual iPod may break, and you sin. It happens to everyone. But you don't have to worry. You can fix your spiritual spiritual ipod! Your spiritual ipod can be fixed through repentance. After repenting, your spiritual ipod will be stronger!
I know that the Lord is pleased when we choose the right. We are His children, and He loves us infinitely.

"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.