Growing in Grace

The last couple of weeks have been crazy. At the beginning of last week we had 5 baptism dates marked. Now we have one. It has been heartbreaking and so frustrating to watch our friends fall away. Especially after watching them experience the joy and peace that comes from this gospel message. But as we have started from the bottom again, trusting God, we have seen a lot of miracles. That is the gist of the last two weeks so if you are short on time you can skip to the end of this excessively long email! 


During all the craziness of these last weeks, I've done a lot of self reflection. The conclusion I came to is that I am an awful person. 

On the scale of awfulness I am probably not too much worse than your average human sinner but when I think about where I want to be, the weight of my sins is overwhelming. 
It is as C. S. Lewis says, 
"No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good." 

I've learned enough on my mission to know that God doesn't want us to stay focused on the bad. His plan is a plan of joy and joy does not come from dwelling in the past. 
I want to change but the process of change ahead of me is so extensive that I don't even know how to start. 

After seeking counsel from my mission president, I was reading in the Bible, 2 Peter 3. The last verse in this chapter really stood out to me. We are encouraged to, "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen" 

The phrase, "grow in grace" really stood out to me. What does it mean to grow in grace? 

If I were to objectify grace as a place to grow in, the picture that comes to mind is a garden: green, beautiful, full of light. 
After pondering it a bit, I realized that my visual of grace would be similar to my idea of the Garden of Eden. 

But the Garden of Eden was not a place of growth. Adam and Eve were stuck in a state of innocence in the garden. If they had not trangressed they would "have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created."(2 Nephi 2:11)

So my mind went to another garden instead. Though the garden in itself may have been similar in characteristics to the Garden of Eden, there was at least one night that it served a much more sorrowful purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the only perfect person to have ever lived, suffered for all the sins and all the pains of the world. 

In a painful act of perfect love, Jesus Christ personified grace. 

This is the grace that allows us to grow. And maybe you got there a lot faster than I did because the scripture in Peter literally says to also grow in knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Growing in Christ's grace is more than just being forgiven every time we fall. When we choose to grow in His grace, we accept His outstretched hand and we walk side by side with Him. We start to become new creatures. 

There is so much hope in knowing that Christ signed up for the whole thing. His love isnt going to run out. He is ready to help me change, no matter how long it takes. 

I know that God has a plan for all of us and change and growth is part of the process. But we are not expected to grow alone. God sent His Son to redeem us, so that we can grow in His grace, with His grace and because of His grace. 

So grateful<3 

Anyway those are my thoughts for the week. I love you all. Also. I am trying to catch up on emails so if you havent recieved a response in ages, stay tuned, it is coming;) 
Have a great week! 




























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