Yielding Our Hearts unto Christ

After listening to the messages of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a few weekends ago, one of those messages from Jean B. Bingham really struck a chord with me. Please take some time to watch it if you haven’t yet. Here is a link to her talk.

 

Sister Bingham talked about how we can find joy from the difficulties of life by having faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. We should study The Living Christ document which was signed by The First Presidency (three members of LDS apostle Church leadership), The Quorum of the Twelve (our 12 apostles) and presented in January of 2000.

 

I have had friends who have memorized this beautiful, testimony of Jesus Christ and thought I probably should do that as well, but never did. This choice document, The Living Christ, tells of the life of Jesus Christ in the premortal existence as well as on earth and His second coming, quoting other biblical testimonies.

 

When we hear important words testifying of the Savior, we are uplifted and edified.  Our spirit soars because within us we come to know that He loves us so much that He gave His life for us to make it possible to return to Heaven. Reading or hearing a testimony of Him keeps me on my spiritual track and humbly reminds me of how I should help others too.  I must testify here that developing and continuing to nourish a testimony of Jesus Christ has helped my family immensely.

 

My children have heard the testimonies of Jesus Christ during all of their earthly existence which has set the example of a service filled life. All nine of them do service for others and have learned to be such great people. I know it’s the example of a Christ-centered life that helps them stay on track. For example, my 4th son, Moses, is serving on a mission in Gilbert, Arizona and says this about his experience with the gospel and Christ in his life:

 

“I can tell you there is power in living the gospel. At times it seems like we have to just do a lot of mundane things that are supposed to help, but really looking for peace through the gospel and through Jesus Christ is satisfying. It brings lasting peace.”  

 

I love that.

 

After the last conference session ended on that Sunday afternoon, I felt prompted to watch Ben Hur (with Charlton Heston from 1959) with my youngest son and a friend.  As a child, this movie had such a profound effect on my experience with Jesus Christ as I grew up in a Jewish home.

 

I knew my son should watch it with me for his first viewing and although a big investment in time (as the movie runs three hours and thirty minutes) it was well worth watching. The movie itself is a testimony of the divinity of Christ’s life on the earth. It is hard to watch without shedding a few tears and you can’t help but have a great appreciation for what the Savior did for us while on earth.

 

Last week, I was listening to The Book of Mormon on the way to work and came across a verse in the book of Helaman that really touched my heart. In the book of Helaman, the Nephite people (people of North America 50 years before Christ is born) learn to live in righteousness and their spiritual leader, Helaman wrote of his people:

 

“Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Helaman 3:35)

 

The phrase of “yielding their hearts unto God” jumped out at me and I went home and reread that verse again.  Reading the meaning of “yielding” from the Merriam-Webster dictionary it says: “Tending to do or willing to do what other people want.”

 

Through the teachings of Helaman and their dedication of fasting and praying, their faith in Jesus Christ was strengthened and their hearts became pure and sanctified. What a wonderful testimony of a faithful people. As we read to the end of the chapter, they were a peaceful people and were blessed with great prosperity.

 

Through the teachings of Helaman and their dedication of fasting and praying, their faith in Jesus Christ was strengthened and their hearts became pure and sanctified. What a wonderful testimony of a faithful people. As we read to the end of the chapter, they were a peaceful people and were blessed with great prosperity.

 

We can do the same in our life: yielding our hearts unto God. It’s an endearing virtue and if we can have peace in our life (even with all of the tragedy we have witnessed over the past few months), we will have no fear for our future with our families. We can “fill our souls with joy and consolation” and we can find peace.