An Increased Relationship

Corey's dad sent this article to us and this first paragraph quote, I really love it and it's given me a new insight into covenants. This book by Kerry Muhlstein is on my list to read.

The Unique Relationship with God that We are Promised in the Covenant - Kerry Muhlestein

"Through years of studying the blessings promised to Israel, I came to the understanding that the first and foremost aspect of the covenant, the concept on which everything hinged and from which everything flowed, was that GOD WANTED AN INCREASED RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CHILDREN. This was both the purpose behind the covenant, the primary obligation of the covenant, and the most powerful blessing that flowed from it.

"God wants to have a different relationship with His children than they are capable of when they are both in and of this world. He wants us to take a step away from the world and towards Him. Because of this desire, He willingly binds Himself to us if we are only willing to bind ourselves to Him. This binding happens through an ordinance administered covenant, which allows His sanctifying power to enter us and change us into beings that are capable of being closer to Him, and which ties us to Him in an intimate and empowering relationship.

"When we remember that the purpose of the covenant is to increase our relationship with God, then it comes as no surprise that the great obligation is one that is designed to heighten that relationship.

"'It is the connection with God that counts. In other words, the defining duty of covenant holders is to remember what God has done for them, to be grateful for it, and to serve God. But above all, both in terms of duty and how it defines them, covenant holders are to love God. This love is to be the primary feeling of their heart, the central emotion of their consciousness, the consuming core of who they are.' - book God Will Prevail p. 62

"Because this covenant connection is so important, we will best understand the scriptures that speak of the blessings promised to Israel when we keep in mind the relationship God is trying to build with those blessings. The ultimate expression of that relationship will be when He has changed our natures so substantially that we have become Christlike, or godly, and thus will finally be capable of having the kind of full, close, and understanding relationship that God has been seeking for. If we understand passages about prosperity, protection, posterity, land, and having God as our God and being His people with this in mind, then we will find a greater recognition of those blessings in our lives."

Seeing His Hand

I found a little notebook today and shared a few memories in it with Melodie and Ethan on their missions. In Aug 2012 I had listened to President Eyring's October 2007 General Conference talk about writing down how you've seen the hand of the Lord in your life. I started to write them down. I have still have some pages to fill so I think I'll pick it up again. But here are the two entries I shared with them:

Thurs 6 Sep 2012

Sophia turned 1 year old today. Corey gave me a blessing before she was born that I would see the hand of the Lord during the delivery, so I prepped myself mentally for something to go bad/wrong during or after her birth, which the Lord would use as His way to show us his hand by healing her or me miraculously. Instead, everything went so over the top perfectly well with the delivery and my recovery that I was left scratching my head a little, asking and wondering "So, was that his hand?" I knew it was. So often we see his hand in our trials, but do we still see it in the prosperity and blessing he gives us freely without suffering? I hope I can, cause it seems like a much easier road to travel, to have faith and see his blessings without having to be "steamrolled over" by afflictions (see the book Triumph of Zion, pg 256-57) I think if you insert "gratitude" in the pride cycle after "Blessings & Prosperity" then it would just go right back to "Humility & Repentance" and we could just skip the whole Pride & Wickedness and Suffering & Destruction part of the cycle. Gratitude is key

Sunday 5 May 2013

We are home from our trip to California. This morning we attended the Valle Verde Ward, where a small miracle occurred. Before we went, Ethan was upset that he had to wear a dirty shirt that had some poop on the arm from when he held baby Sophia after she had a little accident last Sunday. He didn't want to come to church. We talked about the importance of going to Church as we drove. Ethan was crying. It was fast and testimony meeting. The counselor conducting shared his testimony of a time when he was on vacation in Vernal UT and felt obliged to attend church with his friend, but he only had jeans that he'd already been wearing for 3 days and his white shirt had some food stains on it. The only place to sit when they got there was up on the stand and he felt very embarrassed, but learned and knew he was where he should be and he testified of the importance of attending church. Attending church during less-than-ideal circumstances was a recurring theme in the testimonies through the meeting. It was cool, a lesson for all of us, a little tender mercy letting us know we'd made the right choice.  

Utterly Fantastic and Unprovable

"Miracles are outside of the realm of historical inquiry, and that's the reason why we say you have to have faith to believe. As desperately as we want to be able to prove every single aspect of the gospel, and as cool as those insight might be, fundamentally as a Christian, you believe something that is utterly fantastic, entirely unprovable. You believe that a carpenter, that lived 2000 years ago, was murdered by the Romans and came back to life, and because he came back to life, YOU'RE going to come back to life. That is not logical, it is not provable, no one else has done that, and it's absolutely true. We don't believe it cause we can prove it, we believe it because it's TRUE." 

Episode 3, Using Credible Sources in Studying Church History with Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaatmin 7:31