Baptism, and the Reception of the Holy Ghost

The greatest part that comes after repentance is the feeling of forgiveness. I have talked with countless people who have gone through this great process and have all felt the lift of forgiveness. Is that all though? Nope. After one repents they then are ready to be baptized. This picture is of Christ being baptized. A few of my favorite scriptures regarding baptism are John 3:5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." I love it because it's so blunt, like me! Another one of my favorites is found in the Book of Mormon. Its 2nd Nephi 31:5 "And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!" The funny thing about this verse is I didn't add the exclamation point at the end, its meant to be read that way.
This picture is of an amazing guy named Ross getting baptized. What a wonderful event to see someone enter into the waters of baptism to be washed clean, then after receive the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost is given to those who repent and are baptized.
It is a special gift given from Heavenly Father. What the gift does, is it literally guides us in thought and spiritual revelation. Here comes another one of my analogies. Think if you were in a dark room and you knew that there were dangerous things in the room. Spiders, snakes, land mines ext. Would you rather cross the room with a huge flash light in your hand? Or wander through the darkness hoping not to die.... Well the answer seems simple. As it is with life, we are all wandering through a dark and dangerous room(life) we need this help called the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Here is a link to read more up on it!http://mormon.org/searchResults?theme=blue&query=holy+ghost Thanks for reading my Blog. Your awesome. WATCH OUT FOR THOSE LAND MINES!

After Faith Comes Repentance.

The second principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is repentance. Now, I want to make something very clear. Repentance is not a "bad" thing. In fact it's a wonderful beautiful thing that everyone HAS to go through. Repentance simply means to turn or to change. Since Christ is the only one who lived a perfect life we all must repent.
For me repentance is a gift. I am truly grateful for the chance I have to repent. Most people think that repenting brings shame or embarrassment. This is false. Repentance sets you free. It makes all the wrongs right again. You might say to yourself, OK OK I get it now. But how do I repent? Great question, here's how.
The steps are basic. First, you must recognise that you have done something wrong.
Admit to yourself that you just plain messed up. Second, you must stop whatever it is that is not in line with God's commandments.This is means to forsake your sin.
Third you must confess. Pray sincerely to your Father in Heaven and plead with him to forgive you. Forth you must make restitution. This means to fix the wrong that was done. For instance, if you stole something you must pay it back. If you hurt someones feelings, tell them your sorry and you love them. Fifth and finally you must forsake. Which means to simply never do it again. Make a promise with your Father in Heaven that you wont do that any more. These are (in my interpretation) the 5 steps of repentance.
I never said it was easy. Although I know that true repentance brings us forgiveness, peace, comfort, and joy! Did we forget the title of my blog? Peace at last..
I tell you my friends, repentance works. As crazy and as imperfect I am, repentance is a wonderful thing that we should not fret. Our Father in Heaven smiles when we his children choose to turn toward him and live his commandments, otherwise known as repentance.

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ

I have talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have mentioned what is does for our lives. Now I will tell you what it actually is! The first part of the Gospel is "faith." Faith is talked A LOT about in the scriptures,and for good reason. We need to learn it over and over so we understand what it is and how we gain it. Faith for me has been JUST like how Alma Ch.32 puts it. Verse 28 Alma says "Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." I love this description because it is so simple to grasp. Me, not being the brightest bulb out there understands that both seeds and faith grow over time. Both seeds and faith need to be nourished and taken care of. If not, they will wither and die. Our faith will grow each day as we pray to our Father in Heaven and read the scriptures. This picture of Jesus Christ by Simon Dewey reminds me of who we are to have faith in. Christ is the ultimate example of faith. When Christ healed people he made sure they had faith for Him to heal them. In the other picture(right,by Walter Rane) Christ is healing a blind man. In Mark 8:23 It reads,"And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought." Christ asked the man if he saw anything. Then Christ gave the man his sight. The man must have had faith in Christ to be able to be healed. As we also must have faith in Christ. I urge you with all the strength that my fingertips can type to keep building your faith in Christ. Christ will never cease to have faith in you. Remember, this is only the first part Gospel.