Hello my amazing family,
This week has been a challenging one. I was able to fast this week for humility and love. On Sunday I was shown a little bit more of what those two things really entail and I found that part of love is patience. I have a great need to be patient and long-suffering.
"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (Moroni 7:45)
Thus in my desire to love more I was shown more attributes necessary to love others. I am now going to work on many of these attributes. With regards to humility I have been shown areas in my life where I am not humble and where I have been, or still am, proud because of my abilities or experience. Yet I have seen a great change in the way that I view the difficulties ahead of me now. I see these weaknesses and have decided that I have a desire to overcome them. Since these weaknesses have been a great habit in my life I see that I cannot change on my own. I have decided to call upon the Atonement of Christ to be my strength. I have never had this perspective before and so I will need to act on faith. I have faith that through the Atonement of Christ I can be cleansed of sin and live a higher level of righteousness.
I believe that Jesus Christ will help me in my weaknesses because of the scriptures.
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27)
I now strive to do as this scripture directs and trust that the promise in this scripture is real. I have come unto Christ. He has shown me some great weaknesses that I have. Now, I have the decision to either humble myself and have faith in Christ or, I decide to be proud and deny the power of the Atonement. I desire to have faith! I trust that Jesus Christ will keep His promises. I already know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that the priesthood of God was restored to the earth. I know that this church is the one and only true church on the earth today. I now seek to build my faith and know with even greater assurety that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us and has the power to help us through any trial in our life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
