It was very interesting and humbling to realize who I am in the natural man

I have learned a LOT this week!!!

First off, about obedience. In our leadership meeting President talked a bit about this, and then my comp and I taught about it in our Zone Meeting. Why are we obedient? What difference does is make? We know the phrase that says, "Obedience brings blessing. Exact obedience brings MIRACLES." This reminded me of 2 Nephi 27:23 that talks about how God is a God of miracles, but miracle will only be done de acordo com our faith. Obedience produces hope which produces faith. 

Let me explain. President said, Okay...what happens when you aren´t obedient...doubt comes into your mind..."wow....I don´t think I deserve to be blessed.....I didn't keep that rule or commandment, so I don´t deserve blessings or help from the Lord" Doubt kills our hope, and where there isn´t hope, there also can´t be faith. How can you have the faith to work miracles if you don´t have hope that anything can happen bc you weren´t obedient and don´t deserve blessings? When we are obedient, we have the hope that the Lord will bless us. This hope inspires us to work and go after the righteous desire we have which creates faith. And FAITH is the power that God uses to work miracles in our front. It´s AMAZING!!!!! God´s got it all worked out!!!

I also learned about the atonement. I had to give a talk at the last minute on Sunday, and I learned a lot writing it during Sunday School. 

We know that Jesus Christ was the only perfect person to walk the earth. He was perfect in obedience, righteousness, and patience, but He was rejected, suffered and died for us. Because of his sacrifice, EVERYTHING is possible in God´s plan. We can continue strong and learn in our difficulties, and we can CHANGE-become better people. (Moises 1:39)

There´s a phrase that I then read from a talk that I studied this week (Mom, in respect to your question about the ward-read this talk, and go one step at a time-one program at a time, and apply everything you do to Personal Progress)

"What we should remember when we behold Him is that because of Him, and all He did and all He was and is, we too can triumph. We also can overcome. We can live abundantly in the midst of trials. If we choose to “behold” Him and accept and apply His saving gospel, He will save us. He will rescue us from the effects of our own fallen natures and foibles, and He will save us from sin, from spiritual mediocrity, and from ultimate, eternal failure. He will purge, refine, beautify, and eventually even perfect us. He will give us joy and peace. He is the key to abundant life."]

 But my personal question for YEARS has been HOW, HOW, HOW can I actually, actively apply the Atonement in my life? So, he talks in the talk about oak trees (or shrubs..) and how their roots are deep to help them be strong and to nourish them. So how can we?

By study and by faith (D&C 19:23) 

Scripture study (Mom, ask questions-start your study with a questions, and then read the BoM first and see where it leads you)

Family home evenings

The examples of others-this is why we come to church-to learn together. One strengthens the other bc maybe your weakness is the strength of someone else, and your strength their weakeness! Everyone works together!

Serving others to therefore serve Him

He went about doing good! It doesn´t have to be big-just DO (acts 10:38)

Always remembering Him

We should worship him with reverence and Love-this is a chance for us to develop our relationship with him, and really feel how much we love Him

We want to be like Him, so we need to remember Him and do the things He did-small simple, daily steps

*** these are the small simple, daily, repetitive, but ESSENTIAL things that allow us to daily apply the atonement in our lives-like the deep roots, they grow gradually.*** 

(and a cool side note-I talked my comp through a personal crisis yesterday, and learned something. Roots have a lot of different branches that grow at different rates. Sometimes one little branch stops growing to allow the other to grow. It´s the same thing in us . Many times we feel that we aren´t doing, being, growing enough, but really we just aren´t seeing how other parts of us are growing-that the Lord is shaping us. So just look up and focus on the good, and it´ll all be okay!***

The Savior Jesus Christ is the exemplar of every virtue. He was the one perfect man ever to live. He atoned for our sins. Through His Atonement we can become women and men of Christ. We can be cleansed, changed, healed, and refined. Our souls can become things of beauty.

May we “behold the man” more completely. May we emulate Him more worshipfully. May we follow Him more eagerly. May we sink our roots deeper in the soil of salvation until we rest on Him, the Rock of our Redeemer. May we increasingly enjoy the blessing of the abundant life He offers.

 My invitation to all of you is to do the small things, work together in the church, in families, in the community-serving, worshipping, forgiving and helping one another. Invite those you know and love to feel the same peace, light and direction that we have in the gospel, and as a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise you that if you do these things, you will feel the poder capacitador of the atonement, your sins will be forgiven, and you will have the spirit more abundantly in your life to sanctify you. To make you a different person!

Also, I learned about the sanctifying power of the Spirit this week! In practice! I had an interesting experience this week. 

I had about 2 days where the Lord let me see who I am WITHOUT the influence of the Spirit. It was surreal. I, all of a sudden, became jealous, tired, grumpy, even angry, all of this inside of me, and I couldn´t seem to snap out of it. Logically, I knew that nothing was wrong and that this was really weird and that I just needed to smile and be my normal, happy self, but I couldn't seem to do it. It was as if I were watching as a 3rd person. I tried talking it out with my comp (but I was angry with every little thing she said-I kept apologizing bc i didn´t know what was going on, but I just got madder and madder at myself for being like this! She´s so patient! I tried writing in my journal, sleeping, NOTHING WORKED!) Finally, it just suddenly stopped, and I became normal again. I prayed that night asking why something like that had happened, and the Lord told me that THAT is who I would be if I hadn't been baptized and sanctified little by little everyday by the Spirit. THAT is how my investigators feel-trapped in their bad habits and sins. It was very interesting and humbling. To realize who I am in the natural man. WOW! I´m NOT a cool person! Yeesh! I´m not cool at all! But also very empowering knowing that if I choose to walk with God, I can be someone different, happy, peaceful, resilient, and driven, and that I can improve everyday. HE doesn´t fail of falter, so with Him, I can have the hope and assurance that everything is and will be okay.  [Side note from Mom:  This was so interesting to me, because I have NEVER seen her like that.  Then I realized that this was a young lady who decided to read the Book of Mormon as a 7 year old before she was baptized and accomplished that goal, and then kept learning and progressing from there.  Since before she reached the age of accountability, she has always sought to have the Spirit with her, so of course, none of us have ever known the "natural man" Ashley.  Kind of explains why raising her was such a piece of cake.  Haha!]

I´m out of time, but next week I´ll write about the AWESOME revelation that i received about sanctification during sacrament meeting...like 3 pages of revelation! I wrote a whole other talk hahaha!!!! I´ll write next week!!!

Love you all so much!!! Go and be happy, truly happy! That´s what God wants! Your happiness!!!

Love, Sister Little