Patience and Faith

This morning while I was reading in the Book of Mormon I had a couple verses stick out to me. They are in Mosiah 23 : 21-22 it says:
       "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day."

      This really answers a lot of questions for a lot of people it seems like at least once a month or more we will usually get someone that will ask us as missionary's "why does God allow so much suffering" why would God punish people like this".  These are fair questions and this verse does a great job at answering those questions. We see that the Lord with put us through trials to test our patience and our faith so that He can know the level of our commitment to Him and our commitment to keeping the commandments. Then he gives is a promise that whosoever putteth their trust in him they will be lifted up at the last day! I know that Christ loves us and wants us to return and be with him. So lets do our part and do our best as we go through trials and not doubt God and his love for us.

Christ in our Lifes

Since we are not to far into the new year yet its a great time to recognize Christ in or lives. There are so many ways that we can look for Christ in our lives but a few specific examples come to my mind.  First we can ask our selves do we feel like we have the spirit with us to lead us and guide us daily? Second are we worthy of having Christ in our lives, would he feel comfortable with the things we are doing? So after we ask our selves these questions we can see where we are at and decide what we need to do better in order to come closer to Christ and to feel of his loving spirit in our own lives. There are always things we can improve on to invite Christ into our lives. we have to make the effort to invite him into our lives.  Just as Christ said in Matthew 7:12–13
"12 Say unto them, Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
13 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

All we have to do is ask and we shall revieve and knock and it shall be opened unto us. Christ makes it so simple for us to have him in our lives its us that push him away at times. I know that as we do these simple things and make those changes in our lives we can come closer to Christ and feel the love that he has for us.