What Does God Sound Like?

I have had many experiences that have helped me understand what God sounds like. From my experience, God makes me feel joyful and happy to do his will. In Galatians 5:22-23  it tells us what the fruits of the spirit are. They are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and temperance.

God also tells us to repent. A lot of the time when God calls us to repentance it does not come peacefully if we do not really want to repent. Here are some examples of people who did not really want to repent, but were told to by God through a prophet.

In Mosiah 12-17 it tells us about King Noah and his priests and how they did not like the truth and how they killed Abinadi because they did not like the message. Alma repented though because he felt the power, and he knew he needed to change. He also taught the people and many of them repented. Mosiah 18 

Laman and Lemuel didn’t like the truth. The wicked think that the truth is hard. It cuts them to the center. 1 Nephi 16:2 The righteous want to repent and do what God wants them to do.

God gives us experiences to help us learn. God helped me understand what he sounds like through my experiences. God gave Nephi many experiences and tests to help him learn.

One of his experiences was to kill Laban. He had been taught that you should not kill, but because the Lord told him to, it was what he needed to do. Maybe that experience was to help him obey God, even if it was against what he would usually do. 1 Nephi 4:10-18 

But we also need to make sure that Satan is not telling us to do something and be tricked. Sherem was tricked by the Devil. He taught the people false things and tried to trick Jacob. When he was on his deathbed, he confessed that he had lied. He had taught things that were wrong. He feared he has committed the unpardonable sin. He had lied unto God and had denied God. He says that the scriptures truly testify of Christ. He died. Jacob7

In D&C 50:15, it tells us that we receive spirits that we don’t understand, and we judge them to be of God. In this are we justified? I had an experience where some spirits were confusing me.  They kept bossing me around, and I didn’t understand what I was supposed to be doing. I prayed many times for help. I have learned that Satan likes to depress us. I am glad I had these experiences. I understand God much better now.

By Rachel Willis - age 13

What Alma Did

Alma the younger was not a righteous man. He told people to come and follow him, and he taught bad things. He was not good at all. He was a walking along and an angel appeared. When it went away, his friends saw Alma on the ground and brought him home.  Alma rose up and talked about what he saw. And he said, “I saw Jesus.” Then, Alma taught good things. His friends were good too, but some people were still mean. Alma taught in the church with the sons of Mosiah. Mosiah 27  

By Crystalynne Willis - age 9

Greed

I was pitching some hay to the cows the other day, and I realized how greedy they are. We have a lot of power over the cows because of their greed. The other way to control them is by physical force. They will come in the barn because there is grain in there. We can pitch some hay in front of the manger and the cows will come, then we can lock them up to do whatever we need to do with them.

 

The same thing applies to us. Others can have power over greedy people. Think about money. Some people will devote their whole lives to earning a lot of money. It controls them. On the other hand, you could just get enough for your basic needs. Like in the story Harvard Gringo. I’m not saying that money is a bad thing; it is just that we should not have any worldly thing control our lives. 

Greed and desire are a little bit different. Greed has more of a selfish connotation while desire is just wanting more. You could have a strong desire for more knowledge without being greedy. If you had a strong desire for money then you’re most likely greedy. But it also depends on what you use the money for. I will admit that I’m pretty greedy at times, and it lets people have power over me. We don’t want people having power over us, so lets try not to be greedy.

 By Jared Willis – age 14

Jonathan’s Jungle Dream

Joshua and I were hiking; we found a little Jungle and a pond with a turtle. Joshua called me to pick up sticks. I found yarn in the ground.  I pulled on it, and it made a hole. There was a door. I opened it and saw a little kitchen and an old women sewing. I got back to Joshua. Then I saw a rope, and I pulled on it, and it made a hole. There was a door too. I saw a lady sleeping and a dog. The dog came and played with us. We went home and told Mom and Dad.

By Jonathan Willis – age 8

Rachel’s Apartment and House Plans

One of the things I have enjoyed doing over the past few months is drawing house plans. I like trying out different shapes and sizes of houses. I also like drawing apartments. As I continue to draw houses and apartments, I learn how to draw and make houses and apartments nicer.

When we are driving, I often look at houses and say in my head what I think about the different houses. I use some of my dad’s house plan books to see different styles and shapes of houses. I think drawing house plans is fun.       

By Rachel Willis - age 13

My Dream Going up the Mountain

We were going on a hike up the mountain to the Jesus rock. We were going so fast that I almost fell off the steep hill, and it was scary. I did not want to go any further, so we went home. I did not to go there any more. Then, I was going to go with Mom, but my Dad woke me up from my dream saying rise and shine.     

By Crystalynne Willis - age 9

God Has Time For Us

I was thinking how small I am compared to everything in the universe. There are billions of planets and galaxies. I am just one small person. It is amazing that God cares for every person and everything. It would be very difficult to get an appointment with some big important guy. God is the ruler over everything, yet he still has time to talk to you whenever you want to talk to him. Isn’t it nice that we have such a great God?

By Jared Willis – age 14