Jubilee

 

Ashley won tickets to Jubilee on Saturday at Thanksgiving Point and invited me to go with her. Super nice of her. I had never heard of Jubilee, but found out that it's like TOFW except it's not just LDS women there, but a variety of Christian women that @multiplygoodness brings together.

The theme was Rooted and it ended up being so neat to be there with so many women from different faiths, rooted in the love of Christ. We got to see our similarities and connect and feel God's love for all of us together. The music there was so great too!

One thought shared there was about how even among people from our same church, we still don't have the same faith. Every relationship we have is an interfaith relationship because everyone is on a different part of their journey and will believe things a little differently than you do. Each of us have a different relationship with God, even at different points in our lives it will look different because of the different life experiences that shape our individual opinions. And that is beautiful. It's why we need community. To help strengthen one another and remind each other how God is good.

"The best parts of Him are in us." (Grace Freeman)

I am thankful for the connection with faith outside of my own and the goodness I feel. Any faith is inspiring AND I am proud to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I feel absolute gratitude for the abundance of blessings I have received from my Heavenly Father and the love and hope that I feel daily. I feel so sad for the experiences people must have gone through in their lives leading them to conclude that God does not exist.

At the Jubilee, @thefaithcollective was there sharing an exhibit of photos and stories of women and the hard things in their lives that have strengthened their faith in God. There are miracles in the hard, miracles in the waiting places and miracles in tragedies. God is always good. The exhibit was so beautiful.

The very next day at church there was a talk given in Sacrament Meeting about casual vs. careful discipleship. It's been on my mind ever since. Do we want to be led TO the tree of life or just NEAR it? What does God really expect of us? "It is not enough merely to speak of Jesus Christ or proclaim that we are His disciples. It is not enough to surround ourselves with symbols of our religion. Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes." (Dieter Uchtdorf)

We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22), Faith leads to action and If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) He gives us commandments because He loves us and wants us to be more blessed by living them. We've heard all these scriptures before.

But this week on social media I saw someone post a reel answering yes to the question, "Can you be an active member of the church and have tattoos, piercings, drink coffee, swear, go out on Sunday and not wear your garments?" Of course you can. Members can choose to do whatever they want, just like anyone else. But “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it [that blessing] is predicated.” (D&C 130:20–21.)

"If we must give all that we have, then our giving only almost everything is not enough. If we almost keep the commandments, we almost receive the blessings." (Bruce C. Haven)

We can rationalize and justify our behavior as much as we want, but we'll only be hurting ourselves and missing out on the rich blessings God is waiting to pour out upon us. That's all. Everything we are asked to do comes with blessings attached.

I just find it so odd that in the name of being an active member of the Church, there are so many people proclaiming, to all of the online world, why we don't really need to follow what the Church and the Prophets teach... How is leading people away from promised blessings spiritually fulfilling? 

For me, believing in a living prophet means that instead of praying to ask if his counsel applies to me and then looking for the answer I want in order to stay comfortable, I'm praying to receive my own confirmation that it already does apply to my life.

That is literally what the flaxen cord is, spoken of in 2 Nephi. "...he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever." The little things that we think are no big deal, become habits that are added to other little things that gradually seem silly and then we find ourselves bound. But surely something so small won't keep anyone out of heaven! Probably not, but hopefully living against what you know to be right is worth the risk. God will always forgive sin, but he will never condone it so we shouldn't be advocating for it.

Satan doesn't need to convince us the church isn't true, the devil doesn't need to tell us that God doesn't exist. All he has to do is get us to put off doing anything about it until tomorrow. The devil's favorite word is tomorrow. Procrastinate repentance, procrastinate loving your neighbor, and procrastinate doing what we know we should because it will yield the same result as if we never believed in God at all.

The good news of the gospel is that it is never too late to change. This is a gospel of hope, healing and second chances. We don't have to be perfect, we just have be willing to try.

"Are you willing to do what it takes to get your blessing? Even if your feelings get hurt?" (Tamu Smith)

It's not going to be the easiest path to take, He never said it would be easy. He only said it would be worth it! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:10)

The gospel of Jesus Christ is worth living, no matter the sacrifices.

Also, I got to meet @mrdavebutler who I love to follow on instagram! His account is amazing and I especially love his "who won church" he has people send in every week. There are some good one liners and also funny things too.

And while I was gone at the Jubilee, my baby, who NEVER takes naps, slept for over 2 hours for Kyle! What the heck?! I'm so jealous.