Join the journey!
This week:
Read: Alma 39-42
Explore: “Peace and War,” LDS.org, https://history.lds.org/article/peace-and-war?lang=eng
Write: Choose an idea, doctrine, or verse from this week's reading and record your thoughts and impressions.
As this year draws to a close, we pause to reflect on the good and hard things that have come to pass. Only with time, it seems can we truly understand the patterns of our lives. This is why the Book of Mormon is so central to our faith; it provides us with a perfectly proportioned view of the dealings of the Lord with His people. It is broad enough that we see essential patterns come into focus, yet condensed enough that the narrative feels accessible and comprehensible. it provides us with models for personal, family, and community living in relationship with God. May your study of scriptures, church history, and your own personal history give you a glimpse into the patterns of your own life in the coming week and year.
This week's personal reflection was written by Theresa Roth of the Woodland Park ward, and a member of the Stake RS presidency. Thank you Theresa!
Thinking about the atonement in preparation for contributing to our blog, I am reminded: Sin violates the law. Justice demands that in order to regain wholeness, blood, free from taint, be the currency to pay the debt. My understanding of blood sacrifice is scant, but it hints to me that our first earthly parents were welcomed into mortality when blood flowed through their veins. When it no longer does, we die. Our Savior’s perfect blood somehow enables life to continue even after we die (immortality). And His blood provides opportunity for us to live with our heavenly and earthly families forever (eternal life). O the mercy of our great God!
What joy and gratitude to ponder our Savior’s loving sacrifice in fulfillment of our Father's will on our behalf! Christian, my son lost to brain cancer, yet lives, and although my husband isn’t (yet) a member of the church, I have faith that somehow, someday, my son will be mine again.
My dear sisters, it is our Savior’s atoning blood that enables priesthood power to seal families together forever. What a humbling experience to be proxy in the temple for others, for that purpose. Just last week, I was able to participate in the sealing of the Johannes Schaible and Anna Maria (born) Höhn family. Married 23 October 1838 in Vöhringen, Württemberg, Germany, they had thirteen children. Ten died within days of birth; the three who survived longest died at 5 months, 7 months, and 17 months of age. Anna Maria, pregnant as she buried baby after baby, knew nothing of the restored gospel and the sealing powers of heaven. What a blessing to be part of this family’s ordinances that unites them forever! (If you are interested, you can find the family on familysearch.org; Anna Maria is #L5R9-GS3.)
I send you all my fondest aloha at this glorious season. May you and I press forward, increasingly grateful in thought, word, and deed, for the love and mercy of the Atoning One, our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
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