Obedience Opens Opportunities

When I served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Philippines, my mission President, David Martino, had a I came to really love.  He would simply say, "Obedience opens opportunities."  I strove then to apply it my missionary work and still strive to apply it to my daily life.  Because, IT IS SO TRUE!  I was reading last night in the book of Helaman.  Where an ancient day prophet tells us how we can be happy. (I promise it all ties together... just go with it) In The Book of Mormon, in Helaman chapter 14 verse 31, Samuel the Lamanite tells us that Heavenly Father "hath given unto [us] that [we] might know good from evil, and He hath given unto [us] that [we] might choose life or death;"  In a different place in the Book of Mormon, Nephi, another prophet, helps us understand this better.  He says, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil....I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life".  And while I'm quoting really great scriptures, let's throw in one from the Bible.  Romans 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants ye are to whom ye obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness."

So there it is, right?  Our gift of agency.  It has been "given" unto us.  We are free to choose.  We can choose to follow Jesus Christ or we can choose to follow Satan.  We can choose sin or we can choose righteousness.  But we can see that if we choose to obey, we choose for ourselves liberty and eternal life in the life to come.  But not only that, if we go back to what my Mission President says, "Obedience opens opportunities," then we realize that by following the Savior, by being obedient to His gospel and His commandments, that we choose for ourselves opportunities and blessings in this life as well.  We choose happiness.  So not only does obedience open opportunities for us, obedience ultimately brings happiness.

It's true, people.  I promise.  It's real life.  All He asks is that we obey and then he "doth immediately bless [us]" (Mosiah 2:24).  It's like one of those stupid Algebraic proofs that I had to do in High School and despised with a fiery burning passion.  But I guess it applies to life after all.  You start with one variable, and work through the problem, and the solution is always the same.  If you start by being obedient, even though it may be hard or things may seem for a minute like a disaster, the outcome will always be blessings and happiness.  I've had one of those weeks.  I mean, obviously I'm not perfect.  Not anywhere even remotely close to perfection, but still just trying my best.  I've tried my best to be exactly obedient in following the Savior, and I've seen blessing after blessing pour into my life.  Every day is the happiest day ever if we "obey from the heart" (Romans 6:17).  I wish I could just give you all my testimony of this so that you could just do it and experience all of the blessings as well, but all I can do is just plead with you to try it out for yourselves.  And try it out long enough to really see the results.  I promise the outcome will be blessings and happiness.  After all, obedience opens opportunities.  Opportunities for blessings and happiness and much, much more.

Beginnings of blessings

I've been reminded a lot this week about a song I came to love in High School.  "Life is Good" by LFO.  As I've remembered it different times throughout this week, it's made me think about how many stinking blessings I have in my life and how I've been so selfish not sharing them with others.  Blessings are meant to be shared people!  And since it's definitely time to start this little bloggy blog back up again, here's a chance for me to kill a few birds with the same stone.  Re-start my blog, inform the world of my goings-on, spill my thoughts onto screen, and attempt to share a few of my blessings...  
There is an LDS hymn entitled, "Count Your Blessings".   When I was on my LDS mission in the Philippines my Filipino lovers would always say that the lyrics to the song should really say, "SHARE your blessings."  I completely whole-heartedly agree. Aren't blessings exponentially increased as we share them with others?  Some of the lyrics from "Life is Good" will help me as I try to share a few of my week's blessing with you:
"What would you do if you wake tomorrowNo more sorrows, your dreams came trueSo knock on wood and cross your fingersNow count (or share) your blessings, it's up to you"
Had some of those sorrows this week but literally on the morrow, my dreams came true.  Blessings counted for sure!  Like how I got my dream job to be a teacher at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.  Can't believe I'm going to get to paid to try and take a small part in preparing the Lord's valiant missionaries to go out into the world and share the truth of the Gospel.   "knock on wood and cross your fingers" that I can do what He needs me to do.  So what do we do when those times happen in our lives?  If we wake and find we weren't just dreaming, but our dreams are reality.  Like Cinderella, that the wish our heart made has been fulfilled.  Do we just brush it off and keep going or do we count it a blessing and pass it on?  I want to do better at counting and sharing my blessings.  Count your blessings.  It's up to you!
Just a quick count of some of my blessings today:1. Friends2. Clean apartments3. RAIN!4. Playing sports5. Laughing til it hurts6. Ridiculous music videos7. Sleeping in8. Banana pancakes9. Free samples at the grocery store10. The Book of Mormon
"Life is goodLife is greatLife is unbelievableLife is hard, life is cruelLife is so beautiful"
Even the hard and the cruel are some of life's greatest blessings.  Hard coming home from my mission?  Yes.  Hard not having a place to call home? Yes.  Cruel to rip me out of the Philippines away from the people I came to love with my whole heart?  Yes.  But good to be back at college, meeting new friends, catching up with old ones? Yes.  Great to be able to attend the temple and find ways to be an everyday missionary?  Yes.  Life is unbelievable.  Life is beautiful.  With all it's twists and turns and bumps and bruises.  A roller coaster for sure.  But never dull.  And even if you throw up along the way, guaranteed you'll end with a smile on your face.  Life is just a series of new adventures.  Aren't endings not really endings at all but just new beginnings.  Here's to new beginnings.  Beginnings of endless blessings!  Life is good!  Life is great!  And every minute of it is a blessing!