Self Cultivation

At the start of this blog, since its title is Self Cultivation, I thought I would share what I mean by self cultivation. This life has many purposes, among which are: to be tested to see if we will obey God or follow Satan, to learn and progress and grow in faith, wisdom and experience, and to receive a body of flesh and blood. How well we learn how to cultivate ourselves, to improve ourselves spiritually, intellectually and physically, using Brigham Young's idea of praying like everything depends on God and working like everything depends on you, will determine our success in cultivating the best within us and allowing our spirits to dominate and temper our outer shells we call the physical body. I served a two year service mission for my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in Buenos Aires Argentina where one of my mission presidents shared with me his philosophy in life. It is that if it doesn't uplift don't do it. I love that! It is so simple yet very hard to apply. It is my quest in life to use this philosophy in my personal pursuit to create my best self intellectually, spiritually and physically by applying my belief and knowledge that I am a child of God and that through the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ all things are possible, and what that knowledge should make one do with his or her life. I am a follower of Christ, a soldier among his hosts in heaven and on earth. I acknowledge Christ as my Savior, and the Savior of all of God's children. I believe in Him and believe he can do what he says he can do for me and for you. I have faith in him by living up to my beliefs. Most importantly he helps me emulate his life. I strive each day to become a better disciple of Christ and to invite all of my brothers and sisters in this universe to do the same. I invite all those that don't know Christ to get to know him, and even if you are never Christian nor ever want to be, I still love you and so does Christ. All I want is for my brothers and sisters to take all the truth and goodness in their lives and bring it with them to the feet of Jesus, the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings and see what He can add to their lives. I testify that Jesus is the Christ. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth. I testify that The Book of Mormon is true scripture and is a companion to The Holy Bible. I invite all to read from The Book of Mormon, to think about what they have read, and to ask God if it is true or not. God will tell you the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. I am grateful for those that read this and hope it will be of value to strengthen you, to help you get closer to God even if you never want to be Christian let alone a member of the LDS church. What I do believe is that the LDS church has the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has what the Church in Christ's day lost due to the killing of the apostles with a restoration of priesthood authority, prophets, revelation and necessary ordinances like baptism done the way Christ did it, with his authority. What I also know is that the LDS church does not claim to have nor does it have a monopoly on truth. Truth is found in many religions and philosophies and science. I am a seeker of truth and respect all media that teaches truth. I hope to not be misunderstood and hope to be an instrument in God's hands to help strengthen my brothers and sisters through and because of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.
Sincerely,
your brother Andrew