Mosiah Chapter 3--Testimony of Christ

Mosiah Chapter 3 is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon, and it contains key elements of my testimony.  There is great reason to rejoice in Christ, for I do know that he is full of grace, truth, mercy, and love.  He has demonstrated this to me time and time again.  I know that is in only in and through Christ that we can be saved.

 1And again my brethren, I would call your attention, for I have somewhat more to speak unto you; for behold, I have things to tell you concerning that which is to come.

 2And the things which I shall tell you are made known unto me by an ^aangel from God. And he said unto me: ^bAwake; and I awoke, and behold he stood before me.

 3And he said unto me: Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the ^aglad tidings of great ^bjoy.

 4For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy ^arighteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.

 5For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the ^aLord ^bOmnipotent who ^creigneth, who was, and is from all ^deternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a ^etabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty ^fmiracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the ^gblind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

 6And he shall cast out ^adevils, or the ^bevil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

 7And lo, he shall ^asuffer ^btemptations, and pain of body, ^chunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can ^dsuffer, except it be unto death; for behold, ^eblood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his ^fanguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

 8And he shall be called ^aJesus ^bChrist, the ^cSon of God, the ^dFather of heaven and earth, the ^eCreator of all things from the beginning; and his ^fmother shall be called Mary.

 9And lo, he cometh unto his own, that ^asalvation might come unto the children of men even through ^bfaith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a ^cdevil, and shall ^dscourge him, and shall ^ecrucify him.

 10And he shall ^arise the ^bthird day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to ^cjudge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

 11For behold, and also his ^ablood ^batoneth for the sins of those who have ^cfallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the ^dwill of God concerning them, or who have ^eignorantly sinned.

 12But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he ^arebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the ^bLord Jesus Christ.

 13And the Lord God hath sent his holy ^aprophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive ^bremission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even ^cas though he had already come among them.

 14Yet the Lord God saw that his people were a ^astiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a ^blaw, even the ^claw of Moses.

 15And many signs, and wonders, and ^atypes, and shadows showed he unto them, concerning his coming; and also holy prophets spake unto them concerning his coming; and yet they ^bhardened their hearts, and understood not that the ^claw of Moses availeth nothing ^dexcept it were through the ^eatonement of his blood.

 16And even if it were possible that little ^achildren could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are ^bblessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ ^catoneth for their sins.

 17And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be ^ano other name given nor any other way nor means whereby ^bsalvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the ^cLord Omnipotent.

 18For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink ^adamnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and ^bbecome as little children, and believe that ^csalvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the ^datoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

 19For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the Holy ^fSpirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

 20And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the ^aknowledge of a ^bSavior shall spread throughout ^cevery nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

 21And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found ^ablameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent.

 22And even at this time, when thou shalt have taught thy people the things which the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, even then are they found no more blameless in the sight of God, only according to the words which I have spoken unto thee.

 23And now I have spoken the words which the Lord God hath commanded me.

 24And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the judgment day; whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his ^aworks, whether they be good, or whether they be evil.

 25And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful ^aview of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of ^bmisery and ^cendless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls.

 26Therefore, they have drunk out of the ^acup of the wrath of God, which justice could no more deny unto them than it could deny that ^bAdam should fall because of his partaking of the forbidden ^cfruit; therefore, ^dmercy could have claim on them no more forever.

 27And their ^atorment is as a ^blake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up ^cforever and ever. Thus hath the Lord commanded me. Amen.

Very Blessed

It has been a while since I've posted any thoughts.  Part of that has been the stress looking for work; part of it has been laziness; and still another part of it has been the family reunion we just had.  My sister and brother and their families were able to come (from very long distances) to celebrate the 4th of July with us.  We had one or both of their families with us over the course of weeks.  It was a lot of fun to have them with us, even though we didn't DO much of anything--except hang out with each other.  It was enough for me.  I am glad they came.  I am truly blessed with a wonderful family.

Another reason why I have not posted is because of a new development in our lives.  We were contacted by the adoption agency again.  The boys' birth mother is expecting again and wants us to take the baby--another boy.  We were excited, but being out of work, the thought of paying for another adoption was daunting, let alone the new health status of the birth mother.  This time, she tested HIV positive.  This came as quite a blow to me, but as I studied it (chances of HIV positive baby, living with HIV, etc.), and as I prayed about the decision, we felt that we needed to adopt the child anyway.  Somehow the Lord would provide for us to adopt the baby, and IF the child was HIV positive, he would need a loving and secure home.  I sometimes doubted how well we could provide for him being out of work right now, but I felt that God would provide a way for that as well.  Part of the security that the baby would have being in our home is that of his older brothers.  They are already very protective of each other and I am sure they will be a source of strenght to him as well.

In the end, after taking our decision to the Lord, we decided to move forward with the adoption.  The agency has been very helpful and we have been able to move forward with the paperwork realtively quickly.   As we discussed how we could raise money, we announced our decision to friends and family and they have all been very supportive.  In fact, friends in Iowa are doing wonders putting together a garage sale fundraiser for us.  Family and friends in Utah have donated items for a garage sale we are planning here.  Other freinds and family have already donated money, some at a great sacrifice of their own--to which we can't thank them enough.  All in all, I am feeling very blessed right now.  At times I am overwhelmed with the generosity coming to us.

God is good.  He loves us.  I have no doubt that he lives and answers our prayers.  I trust that he will continue to bless me and my family with this new addition as he already has (through those of his children that have reached their arms out to us). 

Thank you all.