Quietly and mindfully, I diligently searched paragraph after paragraph for the knowledge and wisdom I so badly wanted to know. Rewind, as a reader you may be confused about what I am doing and what reasoning do I have behind my search. Eight months ago, my best friend and boy friend, Bo, was finally finishing up the preparations for the biggest journey of his life, he was soon to experience. This journey I am referring to is the sacred service to heavenly father through giving two years of his life to serve a mission in Paraguay Asuncion. Before Bo left we sat down and discussed our feeling for each other and what we were going to do for the next two years. Bo and I both were very confused on whether or not I should wait for him and support him throughout his mission. We decided, separately and in privacy we would both read our patriarchal blessings and pray. Continuing to search for my answer, toward the end of my blessing I read in a paragraph the answer I was looking for. With the knowledge I had just found in my blessing I quickly knelt to the ground in excitement to see if the wisdom, I so diligently searched, was indeed the answer I needed to follow. The prayer was one of the hardest and longest I have ever had in conversation with Heavenly Father. Soon answers and knowledge filled my mind and heart with understanding of what I was meant to do. As I continued to pray, thanking my Heavenly Father for the wisdom and understanding he filled my heart with, a slow and steady a feeling of evil washed through my body. I felt as if someone was standing behind me and whispering that I should stop my prayer and that what I had heard was in fact untrue and nothing would work out. In fear I ended my pray with recognition of my brother Jesus Christ and quickly rose to my feet to repeat the words I so many times had heard in stories from the scriptures, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave”. All at once the feeling of evil was gone and I was able to understand that the feeling I had just sent away was Satan trying to loosen my faith and wisdom. My emotions overwhelmed me and I cried for a very long time till I finally had the courage to call Bo and tell him of my experience. When Bo answered he was also overwhelmed with emotion when he described the exact experience that he had experienced at the same time I did. To this day I am still waiting and supporting Bo on his mission. I will never forget the wisdom and understanding both Bo and I experienced in that one night. Truly wisdom and understanding is from God, the teachings behind it are ones I wish to convey to you.
First let’s start off with the question, what is wisdom? Wisdom (noun): wise decision: good sense shown in a way of thinking, judgment, or action. Wisdom as described is the knowledge gained through experiences. Many may think that they have all the answers in the world and that they are for sure the wisest in the land. However they have forgotten where they obtained their wisdom. “…for the Lord giveth wisdom,” states Proverbs 2:6. As proven many times in the scriptures wisdom is obtained through God. “Therefore, he that lacketh wisdom, let him ask of me, and I will give him liberally and upbraid him not,” says D&C 42: 68. To obtain the wisdom required of us we must first do our part in asking God. A great example of this principle is Joseph Smith and his faith to perform this very task. Joseph ask in faith which church he should join. The Lord answered his prayers with the wisdom that none of the churches were correct and true, he told joseph that he wanted him to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Without Joseph Smith’s great faith and seeking for wisdom from God we would not have the true knowledge and church we have today. To apply this scripture to my life I always try to make my decisions through asking of Heavenly Father first before I act on any action, that i might have wisdom of what i should do in any and every situation.
Second what is the meaning of understanding? Understanding (noun): ability to grasp meaning: the ability to perceive and explain the meaning or the nature of somebody or something. To understand you are able to truly know what the meaning or concept of something is. To truly understand anything and everything that we desire to know is by far one of the greatest gift that can be obtained. Not only to truly understand within the mind but to truly understnd within your heart. We all have different ways of understanding with our hearts and we all feel differently so that we know that we understand. For me to understand with my heart i can feel warmth with in my body and it is not only within but it continues to shine through me till it radiates off my skin and all can see it. But truly understanding something should never end at just a feeling, “…he that keepeth understanding shall find good” Proverbs 19:8. Once you have obtained understanding do not forget that knowledge! Heavenly Father will not give us understanding of what we desire if we will in turn just live for it that moment and then forget what we have learned. Just as the scripture of Proverbs 19:8 states, you will find good in all things in life if you will but remember and keep the understandings that God has given you.
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” Many times I have asked these questions to myself and to Heavenly Father. Finally I was able to find answers to both of these questions in Proverbs 2:2, “So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understand." What does this scripture mean? To me this scripture tells us that knowledge and wisdom is attained throw listening with the ear either spiritually or literally. To listen with the ear spiritually we can either listen to the Holy Ghost and his promptings or listen to Heavenly Father when we pray. The wisdom we obtain literally through the ear can be that of knowledge learned from experiences of others, through their experience we can learn what to do or what not to do. “…apply thine heart to understand,” shows that to understand the wisdom we just heard we must take it and apply it in our hearts. In applying understanding to our hearts we will truly understand the wisdom that God has given us.
Wisdom and understanding does not come easily if they are separated, the two are only truly effective if wisdom is obtained first and the understanding of wisdom follows. Like in Proverbs 15:21 “Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh upright,” we cannot just have wisdom, the understanding of the knowledge makes the true wisdom. I know that when I first found the words of wisdom within my patriarchal blessing, that I had so diligently looked for, I could not just stop my search at just those words. Questions would have forever haunted me if i had done so; what if the piece of information I had found was meant to guide me in another part of my life rather than the path I desired to take? what if i just took bits and pieces of some important message and only looked at it how i wanted it to sound? In taking the information or words of wisdom to Heavenly Father through prayer I was able to truly understand the intent and purpose that Heavenly Father had for me in the situation of waiting for Bo and supporting him in his mission. I was even able to feel the adversary in proof that the decision I was making was true and of God because if it had not been true and right satan would not have tried to interupt my prayer and scare me away from that wisdom. Without the verification of Heavenly Father I would not be as strong and determined as I am in supporting and waiting for Bo, because only the lord alone knows the true sorrow and heartache it brings me to be away from Bo. To end this blog I want to leave you with a scripture from Proverbs 3:13, I hope that it will truly touch your heart and bear witness to you that all that has said in this blog is inspired, straight from my heart, testified of in the bible and through my testimony of the gospel again proven to you of its truthfullness. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
Work Cited:
1. The Online Scriptures
2. The Book of Proverbs
3. Encarta Online Dictionary
First let’s start off with the question, what is wisdom? Wisdom (noun): wise decision: good sense shown in a way of thinking, judgment, or action. Wisdom as described is the knowledge gained through experiences. Many may think that they have all the answers in the world and that they are for sure the wisest in the land. However they have forgotten where they obtained their wisdom. “…for the Lord giveth wisdom,” states Proverbs 2:6. As proven many times in the scriptures wisdom is obtained through God. “Therefore, he that lacketh wisdom, let him ask of me, and I will give him liberally and upbraid him not,” says D&C 42: 68. To obtain the wisdom required of us we must first do our part in asking God. A great example of this principle is Joseph Smith and his faith to perform this very task. Joseph ask in faith which church he should join. The Lord answered his prayers with the wisdom that none of the churches were correct and true, he told joseph that he wanted him to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Without Joseph Smith’s great faith and seeking for wisdom from God we would not have the true knowledge and church we have today. To apply this scripture to my life I always try to make my decisions through asking of Heavenly Father first before I act on any action, that i might have wisdom of what i should do in any and every situation.
Second what is the meaning of understanding? Understanding (noun): ability to grasp meaning: the ability to perceive and explain the meaning or the nature of somebody or something. To understand you are able to truly know what the meaning or concept of something is. To truly understand anything and everything that we desire to know is by far one of the greatest gift that can be obtained. Not only to truly understand within the mind but to truly understnd within your heart. We all have different ways of understanding with our hearts and we all feel differently so that we know that we understand. For me to understand with my heart i can feel warmth with in my body and it is not only within but it continues to shine through me till it radiates off my skin and all can see it. But truly understanding something should never end at just a feeling, “…he that keepeth understanding shall find good” Proverbs 19:8. Once you have obtained understanding do not forget that knowledge! Heavenly Father will not give us understanding of what we desire if we will in turn just live for it that moment and then forget what we have learned. Just as the scripture of Proverbs 19:8 states, you will find good in all things in life if you will but remember and keep the understandings that God has given you.
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” Many times I have asked these questions to myself and to Heavenly Father. Finally I was able to find answers to both of these questions in Proverbs 2:2, “So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understand." What does this scripture mean? To me this scripture tells us that knowledge and wisdom is attained throw listening with the ear either spiritually or literally. To listen with the ear spiritually we can either listen to the Holy Ghost and his promptings or listen to Heavenly Father when we pray. The wisdom we obtain literally through the ear can be that of knowledge learned from experiences of others, through their experience we can learn what to do or what not to do. “…apply thine heart to understand,” shows that to understand the wisdom we just heard we must take it and apply it in our hearts. In applying understanding to our hearts we will truly understand the wisdom that God has given us.
Wisdom and understanding does not come easily if they are separated, the two are only truly effective if wisdom is obtained first and the understanding of wisdom follows. Like in Proverbs 15:21 “Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh upright,” we cannot just have wisdom, the understanding of the knowledge makes the true wisdom. I know that when I first found the words of wisdom within my patriarchal blessing, that I had so diligently looked for, I could not just stop my search at just those words. Questions would have forever haunted me if i had done so; what if the piece of information I had found was meant to guide me in another part of my life rather than the path I desired to take? what if i just took bits and pieces of some important message and only looked at it how i wanted it to sound? In taking the information or words of wisdom to Heavenly Father through prayer I was able to truly understand the intent and purpose that Heavenly Father had for me in the situation of waiting for Bo and supporting him in his mission. I was even able to feel the adversary in proof that the decision I was making was true and of God because if it had not been true and right satan would not have tried to interupt my prayer and scare me away from that wisdom. Without the verification of Heavenly Father I would not be as strong and determined as I am in supporting and waiting for Bo, because only the lord alone knows the true sorrow and heartache it brings me to be away from Bo. To end this blog I want to leave you with a scripture from Proverbs 3:13, I hope that it will truly touch your heart and bear witness to you that all that has said in this blog is inspired, straight from my heart, testified of in the bible and through my testimony of the gospel again proven to you of its truthfullness. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
Work Cited:
1. The Online Scriptures
2. The Book of Proverbs
3. Encarta Online Dictionary
5 comments:
Great picture! I like also your main sentences for the first couple of body paragraphs where you say, "First: . . ." and "Second: . . ." Why did you stop doing that with the rest of your paragraphs?
AH! A picture is worth a 1000 words for sure! And I loved the set up of your blog! Great job and WONDERFUL testimony!
Your personal experience gave me chills :)
Great blog. That picture is amazing.
Awesome story. The spirit was definitely there in reading your blog. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing such a personal story with us. I like how you looked towards your blessing for knowledge and wisdom. Your testimony shines through your writting.
Post a Comment