You are looking at the newest Gospel Doctrine Teacher in the Sterling Heights Ward! I was set apart today with a beautiful blessing of so many things I needed. I have had alot of anxiety about this calling because of how inadequate my doctrinal knowledge is. The second the bishopric members laid their hands on my head and started the blessing after all of my meetings, my anxiety melted away and I felt so much love from them and from our Father in Heaven. The things that were said were the very things I needed to hear and brought me so much comfort.
Jumping back to a couple hours prior, at the end of a beautiful testimony meeting we sang the song "Be Thou Humble". The last verse touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.
"Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee
To serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love.
Be thou humble in thy longing, and the Lord thy God shall take thee,
Shall take thee home at last to ever dwell with him above."
In going to Gospel Doctrine today, people were saying how excited they were that I would be a gospel doctrine teacher and telling me I will do a great job. Only problem is that actually added to my anxiety, because now it feels like there is this high bar of expectation I am going to try to be meeting. But I am grateful for their kind words and love.
The lesson today was on scriptures in Abraham & Moses in the Pearl of Great Price and Genesis. Our teacher was so knowledgeable which was great to learn from, but did add to my anxiety. How would I ever follow her? I learned many interesting things in class today and am so glad I attended. I wish Hen could have been there.
One thing we talked about was the idea of Fore-ordination vs destiny. The difference between the two being Agency. With Fore-ordination basically there is an opportunity available to an individual, but it is up to them to choose that opportunity. Destiny is the implication that the individual has no choice but to accept what will happen and no matter what they choose, the same outcome will happen.
This made so much sense to me. I always was confused when they would say, God knows what we are going to do before we do it. How can he know? We haven't made the choice yet. But I think he knows what we are going to choose because he knows us and we are very predictable when you take into account our likes and habits. Also I think about our Patriarchal Blessings, how those things can be fore-ordained in the sense that they are opportunities available to us if we choose that path.
We learn about fore-ordination in the book of Abraham, when God tells him in chapter 3 vs 23.
"And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born."
This scripture teaches us so much. It teaches us that we were all different spirits in the preexistance, we already had personalities, and we had already proved whether what responsibilities we could be trusted with.
There is so much we learn in this chapter and the whole thing is really worth reading. Here is a link and the chapter header.
"Abraham learns about the sun, moon, and stars by means of the Urim and Thummim—The Lord reveals to him the eternal nature of spirits—He learns of pre-earth life, foreordination, the Creation, the choosing of a Redeemer, and the second estate of man."
When Hen got home from work that night I read to him from all the chapters we had discussed in class and tried to teach him the things he missed. It was fun to share my knowledge with him.
As I have started to study for my first lesson to give on the 23rd, I have already learned so much. Another teacher in the ward gave me the Youtube channel "Don't Miss This". I watched it the other night and my mind was literally blown away by how much I learned about the events and story of Adam and Eve. I am so grateful for the plethora of resources available to me to prepare these lessons. The only hard part is going to be trying to pare down from so much good information.
I also came across this quote on Facebook this week that I shared and many individuals commented with kind encouragement and useful tips.
One of the scariest thoughts that I try to not think about too much, is that every learning we have, experience, growth etc has a purpose to prepare us for someone greater. Which can be very overwhelming to think about. The argument to that is our Father in Heaven will not give to us more than we can handle, whether that be temptation (1st Corinthians 10:13), or trials, or callings. So my guess is ignorance is bliss, and it is good thing I don't know exactly what I am being prepared for later, because that would probably make my mind explode. Another tender mercy of the Lord.
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