breecatasnana

"Ryanmercer as i have said before i am not demading anything from God, i have already been a christian for 16 years, i am more than ready to take the next step in my faith whatever and where ever that may be. Some people when they want somthing bad enough jump in and the confirmation comes later, and although sometimes i wish i was a bit like that i'm not. I have a husband and 4 children to consider. So i will continue prayfully seeking out God's will for my life and that of my family, and when or if im sure then i will make my move." Deb, God knows your heart and why you want to make sure of what you are doing. This is not the way God usually works, but that does not mean He wont answer your prayer. I don't know what God will do in this situtation. He usually works through the Holy Ghost and personal revelation. However, one thing I do know is that the LDS Church is very very family oriented. Salvation is not just on an individual basis it is on a family basis. We are saved as families not just individuals. The family is eternal and comes first. God would not want you to do anything that would hurt your family. I highly doubt they would baptise you if your husband did not approve. The church would never, never break up a family. God is letting you know the church is true, through revelation form the Holy Ghost. Perhaps for now, perhaps for later when your family is ready. Perhaps to help ready your family for the church. I would do all I could to bring my family closer to the church. You might have family home evening on Monday nights. The church has manuals to guide you in doing this. How you would go about it would depend on the ages of your children. You might have a date night with your husband once a week to make your relationship with your husband stronger. Another thing to try is family prayer morning and night, and family scripture study everyday. All these are things the LDS Church teaches us to do that you could live without your husband or his father rejecting. When God sees your willingness to do these things He will open doors for you to be able to do more. Don't over do it. Family home evening should be fun. The lesson should be short and the fun time longer. Family scripture reading can be limited to 10 or 15 minutes, or to one chapter, or to each person reading one verse, every what will work with your family remember it is to unite your family not divide it. In time you might try reading the Book of Mormon together as a family, just to investigate it as a family and see how ya'll feel about it, not to try to push it on your family. You might visit the church as a family just to investigate it and see how everyone feels about it. Step by step you can bring your family along with you. This is God's way, as a family. This is the LDS Churches way as a family. We do everything for the welfare and sake of the family. The leaders of the church issued a "Proclamation on the Family". You might want to read it. Your concern for your family almost makes you a Mormon right there. We just need to dunk you. LOL Penny

If you go to church you should feel the Spirit that is there. We are told to try the spirits and hold fast that which is good. If you go to church and you feel the Spirit there, you are then expected to act upon that. To hold it fast. I don't know if I can explain this or not, but I will give it a shot. God loves us, so He does not want to hurt us in any way. There is a scripture that says from him to whom more is given more is expected. In other words the more we recieve the more we are expected to live--the more accountable we are before God. God gives line upon line, precept upon precept. The pull you two are feeling is the Holy Ghost telling you the church is true and it is where God wants you. If you do not act upon that you will be held accountable, because you were given that much revelation. Now, if you attend church and the Holy Ghost is there for you, you will be held that much more accountable before God, because you have been given that much more revelation. God works in steps--line upon line, pecept upon precept. You feel the Holy Ghost pulling you, you act upon it by going to church, so you recieve the next inspiration--the Spirit in church. If you act upon that then you will be given more, here a little there a little, if you stop acting upon what you recieve God will stop sending, because He does not want you to be more accountable before Him and wind up being hurt more than blessed by what you recieve. When God tells you to do something you are accountable to do it. He will not tell you to be baptised until you are ready to be told that. He will lead you along step by step until you stop following. If you stop following the Spirit will leave you and you will lose what you were given. We are not given the Holy Ghost as a constant companion until we have moved to the point we are ready to follow Him constantly. We are given Him as a visitor so to speak to prompt us to move one more step, then one more, then one more until we are ready to commit. Once we commit, through the covenant of Baptism, then we recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and He becomes our constant guide for the rest of our lives. If we have reached the point that we are ready to make the baptismal covenant with God, then we have reached the point where we are able to follow the Holy Ghost throughout our lives. We will live what He gives us and be blessed by it and not condemned for having knowledge we did not act upon. Am I making sense? I don't want to confuse you. God only gives any person what he or she is ready to recieve, because He loves them, not because He is turning His back on them, but because He is waiting on them. He gives, then waits for us to move, when we move He gives more, ect all our lives. Baptism is just one step in that chain, followed by living the Gospel as the Holy Ghost leads. Receiving the priesthood is one of those steps, going to the temple is one of those steps. As we grow we receive more responsibilities, more callings, and make more covenants with God. Deciding to be baptised is just the first step, the first decision. If you make this decision then there will be a whole lifetime of decisions following it, but with one exception, you will have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to guide you and help you, not just as a visitor guiding you toward the church. I would suggest you go to church and see what Spirit is there, live the Word of Wisdom, read the Book of Mormon, live any part of the gospel you can and see what Spirit accompanies it. Jesus said the way one could know if what He taught was true was by living it. As you live each thing you will receive a conformation of it until you are ready to commit to live it forever and not just on a trial basis. At this point you are ready to be baptised, and move forward in the gospel. Penny

Your welcome. Penny

My daughter has the same problem. I tell her why borrow trouble. We do not know all that is to be known about polygamy. She is worrying about something that may never happen. There are enough real problems to deal with now. Just concentrate on your growth today, and let the future take care of it's self. Once we become perfect, and are endowed with the pure love of Christ we will no longer be bothered by the weakness of the flesh. If, and I repeat if, we are to be asked to practice polygamy in the Celestial Kingdom it will not make us unhappy. It will only add to our joy. There are many Celestial laws we cannot live now, but when we become Celestial beings we will be able to, and with great joy; so don't worry about all those things that are yet future, and that we only understand in part. Just try to take care of today. The way I feel is if I am an only wife I will be happy to have an eternal family. If I have sister wives I will just have that much more joy in my larger eternal family. Either way I will have what is best for me. Heavely Father wants my eternal happiness and knows what will give that to me. He will not ask me to do anything that will make me unhappy. Whatever He asks me to do will only bring me joy. Remember the scripture that says Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. That is the purpose of our creation and will be our eternal blessing. Penny

If you and your husband join the church and are active for about a year, you can get a temple recommend. You will recieve your endowments, be sealed together, and have your children sealed to you. They will be allowed in the temple for this sealing. Generally children are not allowed in the temple, but for the sealing they are. Penny

You sound so much like me. I was raised Baptist. I searched many different religions including those you mentioned. I could not find the answers I needed, so I decided there was something wrong with me, that I could not be "saved". I finally prayed to God telling Him I was giving up. I was not going to any church and I was not even going to talk religion any more. Within a day or two the missionaries from the LDS church knocked on our door, and my mother invited them in. To make a long story short I refused to have anything to do with them at first as I had told God I was going to do. They finally got me to listen to them more or less just to get them to go away. To my surprise they began answering all my questions that other faiths had not been able to answer. I began asking questions, and they kept answering them. The day finally came to decided about baptism. My sister and I decided that we pretty much liked what we had learned so far, and that if we learned things later we did not like we could always go back to the Baptist Church, so we decided to get baptised. That is when the real answers came. After baptism and recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost so many things began opening up to me. I went back and read the pamphlets they had given me and all of a sudden I had new understanding of them. It was as if someone just opened up my mind and started pouring knowledge in it. I learned so quickly and so much that I knew what I had done was the right thing. This was in 1966. My sister and I are still members as is our mother. I have grown constantly in the gospel and am still growing and hope to continue to grow even after this life. My personal opinion the draw you feel to the LDS Church is the Holy Ghost telling you it is true. It is personal revelation from God that this is where you belong, where He wants you to be. Your doubts are worrys about things others have told you and how they have treated you. You are torn between the two, and only you can choose. Take it from a 61 year old woman who has been where you are. If you will just follow the Holy Ghost and join the church you will know what you did is right. Just hold onto the Holy Ghost and what He teaches you and He will lead you all your life. That is what I did and it worked perfectly for me. I live in Southern Mississippi where being a Mormon is not easy. I have had family members throw my Book of Mormon in the garbage. I have had people express extreme disappointment in me, and worry about me. While these things aren't fun by any means, The companionship of the Holy Ghost and the blessings of the gospel more than make up for it. I think of the Jews who converted to Christ and how they were treated by those Jews who did not accept the gospel of Christ, and I know how they felt, but something inside them made them go with the gospel anyway. That something was the Holy Ghost. It is offered to all. At some point or other we will all feel it's pull. The sad thing is we will not all follow it. For what every my two cents is worth from 43 years of experience I can tell you the gospel is true, and if you make the decision to join the church you will never regret it if you take the Holy Ghost as your guide and follow Him for the rest of your life. Penny

Thank you. Everyone here is so friendly and welcoming. I appreciate that. breecatasnana

Thank you so much. Everyone her has been so kind and willing to help. I may take you up on your offer. I clicked on the link in your post and joined that site as well. I made a couple of posts, just playing around trying to figure out how that one works. It seems like a good site as well. Thanks again. breecatasnana

Thanks Truegrits. Good to meet another grandma here. Was hoping I was not the only one. I am just taking my time. I guess I will figure it out sooner or later. breecatasnana

Thanks everyone for your welcome. This site is a bit advanced for me. It will make me streach a little trying to figure it out. breecatasnana

I am new here and trying to figure out how everything works. I am a member of the LDS church from the South, Mississippi, converted as a teenager in the 60's I am a mother, gramdmother, and housewife, and would just like to say hello to everyone. breecatasnana