Hope Always

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The following verses are very special to me.
-2 Nephi 1:13 "O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe"
-> those chains? I see those as the chains of "misery and woe," of depression, of sadness in general. And while it's perfectly normal (healthy, even) to be sad from time to time, it's not okay to dwell on it. So if you find yourself having a pity party and dwelling on your chains of awfulness, "awake from a deep sleep"!! Heavenly Father wants you to be happy :)

-2 Nephi 1:15 "...I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love"
-> now isn't that just an amazing thought? Think of that. ETERNALLY. Heavenly Father loves YOU!

-2 Nephi 2:27 "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself"
-> remember how I said Heavenly Father wants you to be happy? Well, the devil "seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." Rude! Don't give the devil the satisfaction of seeing you hurt and sad and all that not-fun stuff. It says right here that you have the power to choose between them. Now, I understand that some people legitimately have a chemical imbalance in their brains that makes that choice nearly impossible. And the original intent of this verse is to motivate you to keep His commandments, not to motivate you to let yourself be happy. But you understand my point, right? I like to think of this verse both ways. I need to choose the right, and I need to let myself be happy. Cuz sometimes I have problems letting myself be happy.

-2 Nephi 4:20-21 "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh"
-> happy happy happy :) Heavenly Father is always there for you :)

-2 Nephi 4:26-28 "...why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions? And why should I yield to win, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace, and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy? Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul"
-> when I read these verses, I wrote in my journal, "why should I be depressed? Not why AM I, why SHOULD I? Big difference." Think about that difference in context of those verses.

I call these the "depression verses," because even tho the original intent was to warn against sin, they're great motivation to stop a pity party. I know they helped me a lot in times of trial.

As I said earlier, motivation doesn't work for some people. Not everyone can simply make the choice to be happy and have it work. If that's you, don't beat yourself up about it! I've been there. And I know you've heard this before, but d'you know what you can do to find happiness again? Get help! There are people out there who can help you! It's not a sign of weakness. Admitting that you can't do something on your own is a sign of great strength. Trust me.

<3 Marie-Rose

My Story

So here it is. My conversion story. The shortened version :)

In 7th grade, I was invited to Wednesday night activities by my Mormon friends. We made gingerbread houses :) it was the first time I'd ever gone to a "Mormon" event. I had a blast.

Around that time, I started asking questions. I didn't know anything about the Mormon faith, and once I learned that they didn't have priests like Catholics have, I had to know more about this weirdness. Granted, my Mormon friends thought Catholicism was pretty weird, too.

Anywho.

So we were all asking questions. This required me to learn more about Catholicism so I could answer their questions, and they had to learn more about Mormonism to answer my questions. There was much learning and spiritual growth happening all around.

The summer after freshman year, they invited me to girls camp. Oh boy, was that a blast :D at camp, I went to my first testimony meeting. It was a powerful experience. Most of camp, I focused on hanging out with friends and having fun, but I was very interested in the spiritual side, as well. I was impressed that people my age were so into religion. I hadn't thought it was "cool" to be "into" religion. Well, come to find out, these girls didn't care that it wasn't cool.

The same summer, I also went to Youth Conference. Many much religion classes and discussions took place at YC. I attended my second testimony meeting. Right before the meeting, I was talking with one of my friends, Sarah, about random stuff in general. One topic was colleges. I had no clue where I wanted to go, but I was pretty sure my mom would be a major influence in the decision and I did not want that. Another topic was how Katie, another friend, was mad at Sarah. Anywho, religion wasn't a major topic. But I started breaking down. I teared up (cuz of the colleges topic, believe it or not). After testimony meeting, I teared up more (Maggie, another friend, was moving out of state soon after YC). There was lots of emotional stuff going on. And suddenly, on the way home, I was suddenly questioning my entire Catholic belief system for no apparent reason. I totally broke down. My emotional state was not good.

That fall, I started doing research. Finding answers for my questions about Catholicism, not answers for my friends. I didn't always understand or agree with what I found. Everything seemed to be the "textbook answer," and I already knew most of those. It just didn't make sense. That was the year I was to be confirmed, so that got awkward real fast. I didn't tell my parents till after I was confirmed in the spring (side note- I didn't feel the Spirit at my Catholic confirmation. Problem? I think yes). My mom booked me an appointment with a priest at the church my family goes to, thinking I just had "major questions," not "major problems." I let the priest think he'd answered my questions, when in reality he didn't give me too much more to go on than the internet had the previous fall (granted, he did have some new and interesting things, but not enough).

That night, after the interview, I was reading True to the Faith, an LDS scripture reference book. While reading the section on the Holy Ghost, I suddenly thought, "I want to be baptized." Whoa, slow down! Where did that come from?? It sure wasn't me. I believe it was the Spirit.

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The next morning, one of my friends texted me about a Book of Mormon question I'd had the previous night. Within two minutes, another friend texted me from EFY (another church camp), saying she had some BOM verses she felt that I should read. If that wasn't Divine Inspiration, I don't know what is!

It's been over a year since I decided to be baptized, and I still want it just as much, if not more, than the day I made the decision. My parents requested that I wait (they didn't flat out say no, but they do want me to wait), so I'm waiting. And I will be exceedingly happy when that day finally comes :D

<3 Marie-Rose

*all names have been changed

Church Info

Have questions about the Mormon church?

1. Go to Mormon.org (a website geared towards people who aren't Mormon who want to learn about us)
2. Go to LDS.org (a website more for Mormons, but still great to explore)
3. Comment a question on any of my posts and I'll do my best to find you an answer!

I believe that everyone has a right to their own beliefs. It's not my place to try to convert you. In fact, I can't convert you. Only God can do that. I just think it's fun to learn about other religions! So if you like, post a blurb about your religion! I'd like to learn about it!

Now, at some point I'm gonna post about "the power of member missionaries," cuz member missionaries answered all of my questions when I had them, and were guided by the Spirit in what they were to say, and that's why I'm a convert. But don't think I'm pushing that on anyone else. Just because that's my story doesn't mean I expect it to be yours :)

<3 Marie-Rose

Seminary

You might think I'm crazy. And maybe I am. But today I got to go to seminary and I was SUPER excited.

I rarely get to go to seminary. My parents aren't Mormon. I wasn't raised Mormon (convert, remember?). So at my house, sleep and homework comes before seminary. Always. Except today! One of my best friends is moving out of state soon. She asked me if I could come to seminary one more time before she goes. With my work schedule and my sleep schedule and my school schedule, today was the best day for me. So I went!! :D

I absolutely love our teacher. She's so full of energy. She's decided to focus on the scriptures majorly this year, to prepare us for missions. So we talked about the plates that the Book of Mormon came from. She showed a cheesy little video that really explained it well. There's a bunch of different plates, most of them abridged by Mormon and Moroni.

Anywho.

After class, I stuck around to chat with her a little bit, cuz I can't come to class every day. She told me how much she loves it when I can come, and how the class loves it too. She actually remembers that one time when I was 14 or so, when my Catholic religion teacher was doing a unit on other religions and got the Mormonism bit wrong and I corrected her! I've been asking questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since I was in 7th grade. In 9th grade is when my Catholic religion teacher gave us incorrect information. So my current seminary teacher was pretty impressed that I'd actually stood up for the church, before I'd even decided to become a member.

So seminary kinda made my day :) not only cuz of chatting with my teacher after, but cuz I felt the Spirit during the lesson. We spent much time pointing out why it's obvious that Joseph Smith didn't write the Book of Mormon, he HAD to have translated it, and he HAD to have had help from the Spirit.

I know, deep in my heart, that this church is true.

And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen :)

Scripture Discussion

Today I'm gonna talk about my favorite scripture ever. Matthew 10:29-31.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

I like this scripture because it reminds me that Heavenly Father cares for me. And d'you know what? He cares for you, too! More than you could ever imagine. It specifically says, "ye are of more value than many sparrows" (v31). Wow. Granted, we don't think of sparrows of having much value, but you are of MORE value than MANY sparrows. Now that's pretty awesome :)

Also in this scripture is the reminder that He knows each of us individually. If "[a sparrow] shall not fall on the ground without your Father," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows," then doesn't this scripture tell you that Heavenly Father is always with you? He's better at this than Santa Claus, who "sees you when you're sleeping / he knows when you're awake / he knows if you've been bad or good / so be good for goodness' sake!"(PS how do you spell Claus? or is it Clause?)

Another scripture that I really like is D&C 18:10

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"

You're worth so much more than you give yourself credit for :) One of the Young Women values is Individual Worth. Why would that be included as one of only 8 values if it wasn't important?

<3 Marie-Rose

PS this post is for you, BatMoose! :)

Hello, World!

Marie-Rose here!

So I don't really have a plan for this blog. There will certainly be religious stuffs going on here. I'm a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There will probably be other stuffs. I don't know what yet.

Guess what! I get my braces off tomorrow!
Guess what else! 278 days until I plan to be baptized :)

 Bear with me as I get used to this. You'll get the conversion story eventually :)

Have an awesometastic day! :D