Elder Jeremy Ashton Boyd: VICKSBURG VOLUMES: CHAPTER TWO

Week two and my thighs are weak too,

Taken from this months ensign. There are no coincidences in the gospel.

Mountains: “Mountains are not easy to climb. Then, as now, the Lord called His disciples to climb mountains to emphasize the efficacy of effort and obedience. He will ask the same of you, figuratively and possibly literally, also.”

PHYSICALLY AND LITERALLY the hills of Vicksburg are the way the Lord distinguishes his disciples. Will you bike or blubber? Will you cycle or complain? The choice is yours. But with our tyrannosaurus thighs and boyish enthusiasm, we choose the hills. God uses mountains as preparatory consecration and in his flawless arithmetic, delivers his most powerful sermons on the highest hills. Don't give up before you reach the top- what's waiting for you at the top of your mountains? It's time to put some metal in your peddle and find out. WELCOME MY FRIENDS TO VICKSBURG VOLUMES: CHAPTER TWO.

One of the biggest highlights of this week is that our mission was visited by yet another general authority, Elder Foster! It's basically been like General Conference around these parts with all these inspired men and their divine messages. Elder Foster certainly didn't disappoint either with his magnificent mantle. The biggest impressions I took away, weren't necessarily in what was said... but what was felt. To quote my journal,

"I felt two great impressions today: God knows my name and the nametag is precious."

These nuggets are what prompted these realizations...

"Don't give up until you've reached the top. When you start to view yourself from an eternal perspective, you will stop expecting perfection and start cultivating progression."

"If you're never challenged, you're never changed."

"No mission can achieve its full potential without member help. The Lord's way- is not for members to help the missionaries... but the missionaries to help the members."

So yeah, if you're a member-- make sure you know that you are indispensable to this work. You are valued, you are essential, you are loved, and you are needed. As we develop our spirituality and skills as missionaries and member missionaries, we will hasten the effectiveness of the work of the Lord. As Paul says to our fathers, I say to our relationship with our members-- "for we without them cannot be made perfect- neither can we without our members be made perfect." It is a perfecting relationship that we should have, as missionaries, with our members.

Oh, and just as a quick side note, I had a personal interview with Elder Foster-- and I can testify that the general authorities of this church are called of God according to his purposes. His words will forever be written on the "fleshy tables of my heart."

Something else that has "fostered" (pun intended) in the fathoms of my mind this week is the authorization of God. As members of the church our minds are constantly centered on our own personal power and authority but have you ever contemplated the authority of God, and how we authorize him to exercise his power? This principle here, I have found, is the fine balance between agency and omnipotence.

Isn't that astounding to think? An all-knowing and all-powerful God, who can execute every endeavor to perfection without restriction, allows us to authorize him through our own agency? "I the Lord am bound when you do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." He is literally, "bound" to fulfill his part when we authorize him through our righteous exercise of agency.

One of the greatest ways we authorize God is through faith. The principles of the Gospel are organized according to essential spiritual priorities. "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, FAITH." To draw upon the powers of heaven, we must first believe and trust that they do in fact exist and they can, in fact, offer us the divine assistance we require unto salvation.

I wish to avoid vain-jangling (a beloved term here in the South) and hold this truth to be self-event through scripture we find in the Book of Mormon. In Moroni 10:7 we read,

"And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by POWER, according to the FAITH of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever."

God's power is permitted through our submission to believe in Him without surety of his existence. However, it is through this same principle that we can attain a surety of that very existence, and we acquire such a witness through the "power" of the Holy Ghost.

I wish to liken this relationship to a parable of Boyd:

My parents used to hold blessings ransom on the condition of the righteous exercise of obedience. I remember specifically throughout my years as a little boy(d), the rewards that would come from unloading the dishwasher. Whether it was recreational time with friends, a tasty treat, or the positive affirmation of a proud parent-- blessings would come as I willfully did what they asked. And, if I might add, if I did it without being reminded or requested, the appreciation was increased ten-fold. Over time, I grew to associate unloading the dishwasher as a rite of passage per se to doing the things that I desired. This correlation both made for an obedient son, two happy parents, and a very clean kitchen.

How relevant this comparison is to our relationship with Heavenly Father and the blessings he has in store for us. Easily, my parents could have granted the freedoms of adolescence without my indentured servitude, but it was the obedience to their commands that permitted them to bless me with those things that I desired. It wasn't me unloading the dishwasher that made the treat exist, or the time with friends relevant... that was already there, but it was my willingness to comply that permitted my parents to endow those things upon me. Our Heavenly Father has issued unto us, "the unloading of many dishwashers." He gives us commandments, upon which our desired blessings are predicated through obedience. Do you think the blessings he has don't exist if we don't unload our dishwashers? No. Of course not. God would cease to be God if he wasn't, "all-blessing." His blessings are however contingent privileges. As missionaries, is it our faith that constitutes the existence of the elect? No. They already exist. But, it is our faith that authorizes an omnipotent God to direct our paths to their location. Was it ACTUALLY the touching of the garment that healed the woman having an issue of blood? No, it was her FAITH that made her whole. It wasn't the touching of the garment that made her complete, but her faith in that very act that authorized an all-knowing and powerful savior (who knew where she was, what she was struggling with, and how deep was her faith) to allow such an exercise to draw upon his power. Our prayers authorize God to bless us with answers. Our studies authorize God to bless us with wisdom. Our good works authorize God to bless us with Christlike attributes and strengthened relationships. And THAT is the balance between agency and omnipotence-- although God knows what will happen, he cannot allow such without our decision to obey and authorize.

So yes, spiritual tangent over. But, I challenge you all to think of what ways you can authorize God in your life, and how you can, "unload your dishwashers" to draw upon his power and permissive privileges. :)

The reason this has been on my mind so much is that Vicksburg has been both a refiner's fire and a gateway to my own developed discipleship. It isn't just agency or faith that authorizes God either, he's actually a pretty easy man to please if you just do what he says. Sacrifice, consecration, repentance.... literally every principle of the Gospel is an opportunity for authorization. For example...

Sacrifice: If the Vicksburg Elders go biking in sub-freezing temperatures with sore thighs and hoopla of hills, God will bless them with an elect emporium.

Consecration: If the Vicksburg Elders will set aside the luxuries of life, the embellishment of eloquence, and the comfort of a car... submitting all their desires and motivations to the will of the Lord... the pews will overflow with peculiar people.

This week was just evidence that the Lord is mindful of us and our missions- and as long as we do our part, he will do whatever it takes to let us know he is there. We found more people to teach, some came to church, and the Lord provided a way for us to accomplish the things the Lord commanded us. Thirteen more people have been recruited to our teaching roster- and the work moves forward in Vicksburg. As long as we are willing to bike I know the Lord is willing to show us the miracles he has in store for those who stretch themselves spiritually, emotionally, AND PHYSICALLY.

Well yall, I hope this coming week is just BLESSED with the authorization of the Lord. Evaluate your faith and ponder in what more you can do to bind the Lord to the blessings he has in store! Unload your dishwashers and I know the Lord will unload his rewards. Take those mountains with pride-- actually, that's impossible... hills are the slopes of humility... take those mountains with HUMILITY and the Lord will use them to teach you how to magnify your callings through your mountains! I love you all. I know this church is true. And it is my prayer that through the power of the Lord you all know, that in and through Him and your tyrannosaurus thighs, you can do all things. HAVE A GREAT WEEK Y'ALL! ELDER BOYD LOVES YOU!

With all the strength of a great "thigh"phoon,

Elder Boyd

This Week's FB Post:

There is an hour of peace and rest, unmarried by earthly care. Tis when before the Lord you go and kneel in secret prayer.

Before this life, we comfortably conversed with our Father in Heaven and our elder brother Jesus Christ. We talked openly with them. Their faces were familiar to us-- and as children of God, we lived blissfully in free communication with a divine family.

However, now in mortality and under the spiritual anesthetic of forgetfulness-- they yearn for our remembrance and conversation. Instead of our oft correspondence with our Father, we touch base with him... maybe once or twice a day? Pray, he is there! Speak, he is listening! You are his child, and in his infinite wisdom he has hidden you from perfect knowledge... but that doesn't mean he doesn't miss his father-daughter/son talks.

When we know who we are in our relationships, it changes us. Secret prayer is the secret to finding your true identity. Sometimes you may think that who you really are is one of those mysteries yet to be unfolded through the windows of heaven-- but that's the biggest secret of all- there really is no secret to who we once were, who we are now, and who we are becoming. We are most ourselves when we are on our knees and prayer is the key to finding one's true identity. Prayer, better than any other communication, will give you a greater and broader sense of how chosen you are and how willing the father is to give to them that asketh. Prayer authorizes the Lord to bless us and is truly the gateway to knowledge and blessings. When you're down to nothing God is up to something-- it's no coincidence that you are quite literally at your lowest when you pray. It is from there that God can build you up through the blessings and answers he has in store for you, and the communication he has been waiting for.

May your heart be turned to pray and your soul be united with heaven as you remember the secret to who you really are and the answers and identity you can find through secret prayer.

#LBRMSingingSunday.

Shoutout to the smiles of singing. That's another secret, the secret to happiness: laugh about your imperfections! And find someone to laugh with you.