Spiritual food for thought.

Today, I just have a thought I've been dwelling on for the past 24 hours. 


    It is a difficult chain of thought to pinpoint a start, but I'll start with the infamous words, 

"Why me?"

     Let me counter those words with, Why not you? Let me begin by explaining my stance on this.  I used to be a very depressed, angry and confused teenager, as many of us are.  But, I still am so thankful for this to this day, I found a train of thought that brought me to who I am today.  Not angry, nor confused, and I am no longer drawn deeply into depressions.  The thought is, that I love inner conflict.  Is there something wrong with me?  Have I finally gone off the deep end?  No.  

    The fact that there was conflict inside of me brought me to realize, I am alive.  And the emotions attached to the conflict brought me to realize, I have worth (The facetious image of the angel on one shoulder, and the devil on the other popped into my head).  I really enjoyed the temptations to do things I know I shouldn't, and the yearning to do things I know I should.  I consider this my spiritual conception; the seed in my heart has cracked and begun to grow.

   Avoiding my whole conversion process, I know God wants me to come home.  What Father wouldn't?  And I know the devil wants more then anything, to pull me down to hell with him.  But that I have the opportunity to choose is so magnificent!  

 "...the trial of your faith, being much more precious then of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ..." (1 Peter 1:7).

    He doesn't physically appear, but what I believe this scripture is saying, is that our trials are the more precious things we have, because our trials, no matter how difficult, 'might be found unto praise and glory' when we receive our witness at the end of it.  And by that I mean, when we see the good and that bad that comes from it, where we can judge for ourselves whether we feel the peace of Christ in our lives, or we know we made a wrong choice.  Even Jesus Christ himself said this when we explained to the Brother of Jared, that "...ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith," (Ether 12:6).  And we know that we will know this, because "13...that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, everything which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." and "16 ...the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.  17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him" (Moroni 7:13, 16-17)

   But of course, Moroni who taught us this perfect statement, also warned us "...that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which good and of God to be of the devil" (Moroni 7:14), where he agreed with Isaiah of the Old Testament when he wrote "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20).

   My point being, the conflicts that arise within me persuade me to believe in God, because as often as heeded to God's inspirations, direction or Spirit, I've received a witness that I had chosen the right choice, and my life's blessings because of it were made known to me.  

       

    Now some of you may be saying, Michael! What're you talking about?  I don't have problems making decisions, I was saying why me, because I don't get why would God allow this to happen to me!  Let me quote a beautiful verse from the Qur'an.

  "And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record." 

Surat Al-'An`am (6:59-71)

    It is not a punishment, or a misfortune, at some point in time, it will be for your benefit.  Some things, we can't even comprehend anything beneficial coming from it.  But where has God ever let us astray before?  Any against Christianity could argue this, but their arguments would be based on the imperfections of individuals claiming to act in the name of God.  But this is not God.  God's laws are perfect.  This earth, is perfect, but it is men that have corrupted it.  But this is where I tie back into the beginning, the corruption, leaves room for the uncorrupted.  

    We can seek for the pure, the truths, and the peace that still lies within us, humanity and this earth, because we know and see everyday the other side.  The hate, the malice, and anger, and everything but peace.  It was not God's choice, that corruption would exist.  It was man's decision to choose corruption. Whether or not the devil was sent to this Earth, we would have had to overcome the challenges and master our bodies, so that we may become like our Father in Heaven.  For we believe that there are "...worlds without number..." (Moses 1:33), that God has created, and that Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement for our world as well as all of those.  But we also believe the devil to be present in this world, which is why I believe this world to be as corrupted as it is, because the devil is here and works directly upon us with his 1/3 of the God's children he deceived in Heaven.

   But these struggles we will have here, are not in any way in vain.  Here are some more scriptures that really helped me from the Bible and Book of Mormon.

"17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; 

the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no mean;

 the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no heard in the stalls; 

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet,

and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

To the chief singer on my stringed instruments"

Habakkuk 3:17-19

"...in thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow,

because of the rudeness of they brethren.

2 Nevertheless...thou knowest the greatness of God;

and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.

2 Nephi 2:2

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. 

I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; 

and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; 

for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, 

then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Ether 12:27