This last week was a really weird week and not much changed since the last email, so I am just going to write about a few things that I have been learning about lately.
I have really gained a strong testimony of how fear and faith can not coexist. On the 4th of July we had a specialized training meeting and our mission president talked about this. Ever since then I have really noticed the truthfulness of this saying. When we have fear, it holds us back from doing the things that the Lord needs us to do -- and the things we KNOW the Lord wants us to do. Fear holds us back from reaching our full potential as children of God. So we have to get rid of fear and have more faith, which is ridiculously hard sometimes, but always possible.
A week or two ago, I had a dream about the Second Coming. It was not doctrinally correct, at all, but it was a really. cool. dream. Ever since then I have thought a lot about the 2nd Coming and how awesome it will be. It is crazy to think that Christ will walk on the earth again and that we will see Him. However, as great as it seems, it is also a little intimidating and scary to think of everything that will happen and how the wicked will be destroyed. Not that I worry about any of you guys, but I think that it is important to remember that every. single. day. counts. We need to always be trying to become better people. We can't ever think that we can just slack off this one day and not read our scriptures and/or say our prayers. If we give Satan an inch, he will take the whole mile. Pride and wickedness come on little by little. I want everybody to be in the Celestial Kingdom and it is going to take a lot of work to get there, but it will be so worth it! I am just so flipping excited.
In Relief Society yesterday, our lesson was about how with God, all things are possible. I started rereading the Book of Mormon when I was in the MTC and as I have been reading it this time, I have come across a phrase that I had never notice before: "His MATCHLESS power". This phrase is used over and over again through out the Book of Mormon. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's power is MATCHLESS! Nothing else could ever even come close to it. They really can do anything and all things are possible with Their strength. Why would we ever want to trust in anything else? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ always win. Also in our specialized training, we talked about a story in the Old Testament about Gideon fighting the Midianites. Gideon needed to go to war against the Midianites who were a VERY large group of people -- innumerable. Gideon gathered together an army of 32,000 people to fight against them, but the Lord told him that that was TOO MANY people. He needed to make his army smaller. Gideon trusted in the Lord and eventually cut his army down to 300. Then the Lord was satisfied and told Gideon to get a bunch of lanterns and pots for his army. These 300 men surrounded the Midianite army, banged their pots together, and flashed these lanterns. This loud noise and bright lights confused the Midianite army and they ended up fighting and killing each other. The Lord works in mysterious ways. With Him all things are possible. Trust in the Lord and lean on His strength.
Love,
Sister Sylvester
Thanks for the inspiration!
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