That sweet little nose
My boys!
Happy birthday AJ, this past Saturday! He's such an amazing uncle and will be the best father someday. I Iove him.
Also, I love this set of scriptures:
Joseph Smith History:
21 Some few days after I had this vision, Ihappened to be in company with one of theMethodist preachers, who was very active inthe before mentioned religious excitement;and, conversing with him on the subject ofreligion, I took occasion to give him anaccount of the vision which I had had. I wasgreatly surprised at his behavior; he treatedmy communication not only lightly, but withgreat contempt, saying it was all of the devil,that there were no such things as a visions orb revelations in these days; that all suchthings had ceased with the apostles, and thatthere would never be any more of them.
22 I soon found, however, that my tellingthe story had excited a great deal of prejudiceagainst me among professors of religion, andwas the cause of great a persecution, whichcontinued to increase; and though I was anb obscure boy, only between fourteen andfifteen years of age, and my circumstances inlife such as to make a boy of no consequencein the world, yet men of high standing wouldtake notice sufficient to excite the publicmind against me, and create a bitterpersecution; and this was common among allthe sects—all united to persecute me.
23 It caused me serious reflection then, andoften has since, how very strange it was thatan obscure a boy, of a little over fourteenyears of age, and one, too, who was doomedto the necessity of obtaining a scantymaintenance by his daily b labor, should bethought a character of sufficient importanceto attract the attention of the great ones ofthe most popular sects of the day, and in amanner to create in them a spirit of the mostbitter c persecution and d reviling. But strangeor not, so it was, and it was often the cause ofgreat sorrow to myself.
24 However, it was nevertheless a fact that Ihad beheld a a vision. I have thought since,that I felt much like Paul, when he made hisdefense before King Agrippa, and related theaccount of the vision he had when he saw alight, and heard a voice; but still there werebut few who believed him; some said he wasdishonest, others said he was b mad; and hewas ridiculed and reviled. But all this did notdestroy the reality of his vision. He had seena vision, he knew he had, and all thec persecution under heaven could not make itotherwise; and though they should persecutehim unto death, yet he knew, and wouldknow to his latest breath, that he had bothseen a light and heard a voice speaking untohim, and all the world could not make himthink or believe otherwise.
25 So it was with me. I had actually seen alight, and in the midst of that light I saw twoa Personages, and they did in reality speak tome; and though I was b hated and c persecutedfor saying that I had seen a vision, yet it wastrue; and while they were persecuting me,reviling me, and speaking all manner of evilagainst me d falsely for so saying, I was led tosay in my heart: Why persecute me for tellingthe truth? I have actually seen a vision; andwho am I that I can withstand God, or whydoes the world think to make me deny what Ihave actually seen? For I had seen a vision; Iknew it, and I knew that God knew it, and Icould not e deny it, neither dared I do it; atleast I knew that by so doing I would offendGod, and come under condemnation.
A
No comments:
Post a Comment