Sanctify

This week I would like to begin with two scriptures that I really loved this week. Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

and "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." ~Joshua 3:5

My mom emailed me this morning with a thought, or really just one word, for me to think about and apply. That word was SANCTIFY. This word is so fitting, because this morning in my personal study, I read Joshua 3:5 and immediately wrote it on a sticky note and placed it on my desk, eye-height. She also said something I really liked, "Don't let anything dull your sparkle, not even discouragement."

I am thankful Heavenly Father commands us to hope for better things to come, because they always will. I know this is true, especially when we are obedient. As we develop the Christ-like attribute of patience, we can also have HOPE. I think a reason we need to develop patience, is to have a process of coming to be more humble and submissive to God's will. So that when those blessings do come, we will have come to hope for something better. I know all of Heavenly Father's promises will come to pass, and in the mean time, we can become more like His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I know that patience in the Lord helps us become sanctified. 

Definition of sanctify

1. transitive verb

2. 1 :  to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use :  consecrate
3. 2 :  to free from sin :  purify
4. 3a :  to impart or impute sacredness, inviolability, or respect tob :  to give moral or social sanction to
5. 4 :  to make productive of holiness or piety observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it — Deuteronomy 5:12 (DV)

Our investigator, whose English name is Daphne, is getting baptized March 26th! She is absolutely amazing. She is 28 and working and preparing to do more testing to get into university. Who knows, maybe she'll go to BYU Hawaii!

Her whole family is baai sahn, which is like a traditional Chinese belief that believes ancestors are really important. Her family's heart has been softened though, her mom and sister are now willing to attend her baptism! This past week we taught Lesson 5, about learning, teaching, and serving in the church. I felt like we should read Ether 12:27, even though it wasn't very related to the lesson. She said that humility had actually been on her mind lately, and we had a great discussion on humility. Humility is something I am still learning. But I am coming to understand how humility and personal worth and self esteem are so interconnected. I feel that humility makes us rely on God, and it also teaches us our divine identity and potential. I think C.S. Lewis words it perfectly, "Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it is thinking of ourselves less."

I know that humility and patience help us become sanctified and HAPPIER :) 

Our purpose here is to BE joyful, and it is not something you necessarily find. You seek and cultivate and choose it. 

Alma 28:14

• Book of Mormon

And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life. 

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Sister Dopp