Me and my new companion, Elder Skoze, spreading the good news of the gospel!
Many times throughout the Bible people recognize the Savior.
They believe in Him and they have belief that He can heal them.
One of these stories is in Mark 10 verses 47-52. In 47 and 48 Bartimaeus, a blind man, recognizes Jesus and calls out to him saying, "Thou son of David, have mercy on me." He has a belief that Christ can help him, he exercises faith by calling out to Jesus. In verse 49, Jesus asks for Bartimaeus to come to him. Verse 50 Bartimaeus exercised his faith again and went to Christ. In 51 he shows his faith a third time by asking for his sight and in 52 Jesus says, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."
Immediately Bartimaeus receives his sight and follows Christ "in the way."
There are many important lessons taught in these short verses:
1. Belief>>>it all starts with having a belief--a hope that if we come unto Christ we can be healed. A belief hat Christ can help us overcome any trial, shortcoming, or weakness.
2. Faith>>> faith is an action word--acting on a belief in things which are not seen which are true. Bartimaeus exercised faith multiple times in these verses. Each time he acted in faith he was shown just a little more, and each time he was shown more what he needed to do, he acted on it immediately. \
3. Agency>>> there is a powerful message of using our agency to follow Christ in these verses. In Verse 52 Christ says,"And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way..." Bartimaeus doesn't cross a faith finish line so to speak or a choice finish line after he is healed, he still has to chose if he is going to keep following Christ or if he will just go his own way. Christ will always let us chose whether or not we will go our way or follow Him "in the way."
4. Endure to the end>>> Bartimaeus chose to endure to the end when "immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."
I know that by doing these four things
we can be healed from and/or overcome any trial, shortcoming, or weakness.
I know this because I have seen and experienced it in my own life.
Each week we have the opportunity to be healed when we take the emblems of the Lord's Sacrament. Then after that. we have a choice. When church is over, we all go our own way.
We have to decide [we get to choose] if we immediately follow Christ "in the way" or if we are going to coast through the week going our own way untill we call out to the Savior again, just before taking the Sacrament on the following Sunday.
Some ways to immediately follow Christ "in the way" include but are not limited to:
1. The Come Follow Me program for individuals and families
2. Daily prayer and scripture study
3. Fishing (not really but I wish)
3. Fasting --have you read the blessing of fasting in Isaiah 58?
4. Daily Repentance
5. Regular and frequent temple attendance
6. Member missionary work
7. Ministering
8. Paying a full tithe
9. Striving to attend all our priesthood meetings
10. Magnifying our callings
The list could probably go on and on, that's probably why so many of us use the excuse of not having enough time to justify choosing to go our own way.
For those of you who have fallen into the trap of not having enough time I invite you to repent,
to change, to make time so that you can follow Christ "in the way."
"...I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." (Mosiah 2:41)
I promise you as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, that as you make time, put God first, and follow Christ "in the way" our Heavenly Father will help you to accomplish every needful thing and you will be blessed with greater joy and happiness. And through your faithfulness one day you will "dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness." I bear my testimony of these things and promise the fulfillment of these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Elder Seth Saunders
New mission president and his wife, President and Sister Samuellian--They are awesome!
We toured the Oregon State Capital in Salem
Food, glorious food!
My companions mom sent us pizza on prep day!!!
Found out my sister went on a road trip to Oregon and Washington!
They left me surprise but it ended up being a surprise for them because they left it on the wrong doorstep...correct number but wrong apartment unit. haha I retrieved it the next day when I found out. They are awesome I'm glad they got to see a little bit of the beautiful state of Oregon!
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