"That They Might Have Joy"

This past week was super good! Every day I just continue to learn more and more and I can't believe that I am coming up to my 3 month mark soon! Time just seems to be slipping through my fingers, especially since I have such a short attention span.....haha I may not be able to remember right off the top of my head who we saw yesterday or what we even talked about. But I do remember how I felt. As I reflect back on most of the experiences I've had on my mission so far, the memories that stick out the most to me usually are the feelings or emotions that I felt in that moment.

And let me tell you, I have felt a lot of different emotions since April 17th. Happiness, anger, peace, anxiety, comfort, depression, and so on and so forth as Sister Sorensen would say :)  But the 2 main emotions that I have felt the most have been love and joy. Every time I reflect back on a lesson we had or just a memory of us driving in the car, I have continually felt love and joy. I may have had other emotions that were blinding me from seeing it at the time, but just looking back now I can't even remember what those other emotions felt like. And I know that that is solely because of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Just like the poem titled "Footprints In The Sand", I know that Christ has always been there right next to me the whole time. And on several occasions, He was definitely carrying me. In 2 Nephi 2:25 it says,

"Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy"

 

I was reading a talk recently by Elder Richard G. Scott titled "Finding Joy In The Journey" where he talked about that verse. He said that God's promise to give us joy is unconditional. But the choices we make and the way we live our lives in order to receive that joy is what is conditional. That they MIGHT have joy. WE have to be the ones that choose to follow God's commandments. WE have to be the ones that pray and ask for His help and guidance. WE have to be the ones that exercise that free agency that we have been so dearly blessed with, in order to receive that fullness of joy. In the footnotes of that scripture it says that Joy is "Mans potential to become like GOD" As we live our lives in accordance with God's will, we will be able to receive ALL that He has to give us. He is standing there waiting to bless us and give us joy, WE just have to be the ones that reach out our hands and accept it. But it's never to late to change our ways and to turn around and reach out our hands. Just like the story of the Prodigal Son; as long as we are willing to come back to Him, and put that faith and trust into action, then we will be able to experience that fullness of joy and happiness and love that He WANTS us to have.

 

 

I am so grateful to be here in Poway serving the people in the Green Valley Ward and I have truly come to see miracles happen every single day. God is our Father. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Christ Lives. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly the restored Gospel of our Savior and Redeemer that provides us with all the keys to live with Heavenly Father again.

 

 

I love you all!

 

Sister Morgan