Happy New Year!

Yes!  It's a new year, and I am going to get caught up on the last month and a half of e-mails from Elder Castleberry.  Here they are! . . . I believe he is using a computer that is incapable of capital letters, so pretend they are there :) 

James E. Faust on Prayer

"I have learned from countless personal experiences that great is the power of prayer. No earthly authority can seperate us from our Creator."

"Our Father in Heaven possesses all knowledge, understanding, love and compassion. Prayer is a humble acknowledgment that God is our Father adn that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. It is a recognition that we need to help beyond our ability. It is an opportunity to express gratitude.

Many prayers are said on our knees, but silent prayers of the heart also reach to heaven. prayers vary in intensity. In times of great personal hurt or need, more may be required than mere asking.

The savior counseled that we should pray for those who despitefully use us. This principle is often overlooked in our prayers. The Prophet Joseph Smith understood it clearly. His petitions were fervent, his motives pure and the blessings of heaven regular.

No prayer has been more poignant than a Savior's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

An important element of all our prayers might well be the pattern of that prayer in gethsemane: "Not my will, but thine, be done."

I sincerely hope that as we say our daily prayers we remember to ask the Lord's blessing to continue to abide with our beloved leader, President Gordon B. Hinckley. No one -no one- fully knows, not even his counselors, how heavy his burdens and how great his responsibilities."

I love this quote i think it is so important that we pray with all our hearts! there really is no other way to fight off satan. one of my favorite scriptures is found in the Doctrine and Covenants section 10:5 "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; ye that you may conquer satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of satan that do uphold his work." I know that in our religion it is so important to always include our Heavenly Father in all the decisions that we make. If we do this there is no way for us to not find happiness. Also i love in the quote how it talks about praying fervently. i know that sometimes i get a little bit relaxed in my prayers. i think that it is so vital for us to pray with fervor everytime we approach our Heavenly Father in prayer.

My beautiful girl

Heres me, a simple guy with a beautiful girl! This is Amanda...aka the love of my life! we are not married, YET! soon to be though. she is amazing i think about her constantly. she is such a great person. Most of the things i say in this blog that are just personal perspectives, ya they will probably be from her! nothing in this world is better than having great woman to share life with! i sure do love this girl.

refined silver

We are indeed children of our Heavenly Father. To further illustrate this point we have the story of the silver refinery. so silver starts out as a raw material that is not perfect by any means, and really is not that beautiful. it does however have lots of potential! the silver gets put into the hottest part of the fire, and just about when the silver cannot take anymore and it is about to crack, the refiner pulls it from the fire. it is then cooled and then beaten with a hammer and chisel. this is an important step in the process making sure that all the unwanted stuff that is attached to all the silver is scraped away. It is then placed in the heat once again to fight off the heat, and this time it is left in there not until it is about to crack but until the refiner can see his own image in the silver.
As with our Heavenly Father he places us in paths that can be rough and we may feel like we are teetering on the edge of spiritual death, but he knows our limits. Just in the right moment he steps in to help us out. He continues this process until we are able to have His image in our countenance.

Elder Of Israel

Today i began to think about all that God has given me. The one thing that i really could never live without is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel that perhaps i can give back a little bit and become as alma said in alma 29:9 "an instrument in Gods hands" perhaps through this blog i can help people better understand my beliefs in the mormon faith. I love this gospel and i hope that others can embrace it the way i have. i hope to share some insights i have learned as well as answer some common doubts that people have that are not familiar with the mormon doctrine.