What We Believe - Jesus Christ

I've been thinking for a while about writing a series of posts that explain more about what we believe. As most of you know, Jason and I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I love it. And it makes me so happy. And it has been the biggest blessing in my life, of all my blessings, my whole life.

Because my faith makes me so happy, I want to share it with you, and explain exactly what we actually have faith in. I'm going to break it down into a series of weekly posts, until it's all here.

The first, and most important thing about what we believe:

We believe in Jesus Christ.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 
- 2 Nephi 25:26

We believe that he is the son of God. We believed that he came to earth (just like us) and lived a perfect life (not like us), and because he was perfect and committed no sins, he was able to pay the price for our sins. He suffered in the garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross to pay for our sins. Because of this atonement we will be able to live with God after we die, even though we've lived imperfect lives here. Jesus Christ saved us, which is why he is called our Savior, and our Redeemer. 

          "He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.

          "He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvary’s cross. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth." - The Living Christ 

In addition to saving us from spiritual death, Jesus also saved us from physical death. As the son of a mortal mother (Mary) and an immortal father (God), he was able to take up his life again after he died. He rose from the tomb, which is called being "resurrected." And because he was resurrected and broke the bands of death, we will all be resurrected, too. After we die, we will live again - not just as spirits, but with our perfected, immortal bodies. 

Jesus Christ loves us individually. He knows each one of us. He wants us to be happy. To show us how to be happy, he has given us commandments. Keeping the commandments leads us to happiness and peace. When Jesus says to "Come follow me," he means to come know him, learn who he is and his love for us, and keep his commandments. If we follow him and try to be like him, we will be happy.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:20

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency of our church has said:

"We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world. 

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son." - The Living Christ

I'd like to add my witness to theirs that I know Jesus Christ is the son of God. He is our Savior. He lives. He loves us. He wants us to be happy. I know these things are true. I have felt them in my life.

If you have any questions about what I've written here, feel free to contact me through email or leave a comment.


Resources you might be interested in:

• Jesus Christ, Savior & Redeemer, a page on our church's website that explains what Jesus Christ means to us, how he is our Savior, what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ, and how to follow him
• Mormon.org, a website filled with answers to frequently asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• The Living Christ, a testimony of Jesus Christ
• Chat with the Missionaries, where you can live chat with Mormon missionaries and ask them any questions you want. 

Videos that made me laugh really hard

I hope you are having an awesome Saturday. I wanted to share some videos with you, because they're awesome and they'll brighten your day.

First of all, Studio C's weather report:



Then this video that made me laugh so hard I almost cried:



And finally, some goats yelling like humans:



Enjoy! And have a good Saturday. :) Our plans for today are going to our stake's pioneer picnic, which should be fun. The weather is nice and cool here right now, and hopefully it stays that way for the picnic. :)

Need Answers? Go to the Source.

I was browsing the LDS.org website this week (the official website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and I came across this cool section with resources for youth. They had some inspirational videos, and I watched this one first and loved it.

It's basic message is, if you're hearing a lot of different opinions and thoughts and theories about God and aren't sure which is correct, ask him. And he'll tell you.

I just really liked it, and like the way they showed it. :) The passages they're quoting are from here, Joseph Smith History.

I hope you have a great Sunday!

Courage

Hey everyone! I just watched this today and I loved it. It's about courage and faith, and it was just very touching.



I hope you're having a great Sunday. :)

LDS General Conference

This is going on today! Check it out here; it's awesome!

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

I saw this video for the first time today. I love it. This is Jason, through and through. He's the best father, and I am so lucky to have him as my husband. I am also so lucky to know about our Heavenly Father, who loves us all individually and provides for our needs as well.

If you have a moment, watch this! You'll like it!

Free Butterfly Quiet Book Template

Well, I did it. I made another one.

Do you remember when I mentioned here that I had been working on a project? Probably not, since it was just a little side reference and I never mentioned it again. Well, I was making another quiet book!

Two, actually. My niece Emily was turning one and so I made one for her birthday, and a copy of the same book for Ellie. 

I made a Butterfly themed book, called the Butterfly Book. And you can get the free template here!

I was inspired by the quiet books at Shaer Talents and One Lovely Life. The book is four pages long (not including the front and back covers). It has a caterpillar page, a flower page (with little butterflies on ribbons), a big butterfly with flappy wings page, and a leaf pocket page (full of colorful shapes to decorate the butterfly's wings with).

Here's the caterpillar page and the flower page with tiny butterflies:

The caterpillar on the caterpillar page has removable body pieces, attached with velcro. It also has a peekaboo little caterpillar hidden in the cocoon. 

Here's the flower page:

The flowers are attached by their yellow pollen-y part in the middle. Since the petals aren't sewn down on the edges, they kind of pop up and are ruffly. Ellie really likes playing with them.

This page also has two little butterflies attached to the page by ribbon. They can "fly" to each flower and land on them.

Here's the butterfly dress-up page. It's got a big butterfly to decorate, and a big leaf pocket to hold all of the different, colorful wing shapes:

The butterfly is attached just by its body (with the edges of the wings sewn underneath the body) so that the wings are free to flap up and down.

And here's the back:

Ellie loves playing with it. Her favorite page is definitely the first one; she loves taking the velcro caterpillar off the page and carrying the pieces around.

Since there was such a big demand for a template the last time I made a quiet book, I made sure to make one this time around! To download the free Butterfly Quiet Book Template, click here or on the pictures below:

Happy quiet book making! If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask. :)