Recently I received a call to be the YW President in my ward.
I was filled with so many emotions, from excitement to inadequacy…
I love the youth so much!
Since then I’ve been wrestling with my calling (in a good way)…
To help my girls better succeed in their class presidencies I’ve been reading the church’s handbook…
BORING!!
I understand why it’s written this way (more like a business manual), but whooow, it’s hard to get into.
Anyway, as I’ve read and pondered, lots…
The work of salvation and exaltation is central to all we do in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I mean, I’ve known that… just like you probably know that…
But the meaning kind of gets lost in our day to day lives…
And it all becomes “buzz words” and “buzz phrases.” A blanket statement to mean so many things…
So, where do you start?
Often, we just don’t let our brains go down that path – I mean, you could be there for hours.
However, because I’m “seeking” and “wrestling” with this…
I have re-visited this phrase and dug deeper.
This month I would like to share some of the gold nuggets I’ve gleamed…
Don’t worry, we’ll just take it in bites sizes. And I won’t quote the handbook to you.
**
Until a year ago, when I heard “Salvation and Exaltation” I thought of the primary visual…
You know the one with the pre-mortal life, earth, spirit world, and the three degrees of glory…
In all the cute circles and rectangles…
Then #emilybellefreeman shared this new perspective of Salvation and Exaltation with me…
It changed my perspective and gave me a deeper understanding…
Our journey is to go from Heaven to Earth, and then back to Heaven again.
When we came to earth – we fell, or became a fallen people (all part of the plan).
This was necessary for our next level of growth and development as children of God.
Because we are fallen, we needed a Savior to help us return back to Heaven again after having experiences on this earth.
So Christ condescended (came down from His heavenly place) to …
MEET WHERE WE ARE, AS WE ARE (I love this phrase)!
He took upon Him, our pains, sorrows, hardships, sins, etc. so that we wouldn’t feel alone, condemned and lost forever. He offered us peace, hope, and love in its place!
But He wasn’t content to stop there… (heart)
He then taught us how to Become AS HE IS, WHERE HE IS (another phrase I love!)
We find His teaching when we read the scriptures and we Become as He is as we practice living those principles each day.
As I was looking at this again, I realized…
I need this every day of my life! (heart)
Every day I need to be saved from being a human or natural man –lol.
And every day I want Him to teach me a little more about how I can Become like Him!
Now, every time I hear, “The Work of Salvation and Exaltation, “ I think of this picture…
With Christ at the center… and it means so much more!!
