Come Follow Me with Valerie

I was invited to share my story at a story telling night for Open Table Faith Ministry here in Tyler Texas. Here it is❤️

When I am filled with love I can see through God’s eye. I see the path is straight and everything is in one eternal round. I feel emotional regulated… peace, when I see the purpose in all things.

Joseph Smith had good and bad to him. It isn’t truth to just see the good and it isn’t truth to just see bad. Truth is found in wisdom/ nuance/ the grey.

The Church of Christ is those who love as Christ loves. You become a member when you repent and get rid of hate/biases. The Church of Chirst will look like people who are loving/healing people- leading people to healthier happier lives.

My false self was destroyed by the spirit of love. I hope to destroy others false selves by loving them unconditionally.

It’s IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to be unworthy. The thought or idea that someone could lose their worth IS anti-Christ. As I repented, I learned my worth, and as I learned my incredible worth I now see it in others. My brokenness was me not knowing my value, as I healed my eyes could see myself and others more clearly- as very valuable and loved.

I go over my lived experience and tie them into this weeks come follow me. Rock bottom, the depth of humility is where I have built my foundation and feel like because of rock bottom I could fulfill the law of Moses.

Becoming like a child was when I opened my mind to believe all things. When I started expanding my mind I could see God as a female too. Learning to see God as a female, getting to know Heavenly Mother, led me to see all people as good. When I learned to see all people as good my heart changed and I believe when our heart changes we become like Christ- we become Christs hands and feet. I believe t...

Freedom is treasure.

I went to Restore put on by Faith Matters and witnessed what’s in the Book of Mormon with my own eyes. I saw a group of people who had experienced a change of heart- creating a space of belonging. Shifting from a foundation on a church to a foundation on Christ. Shifting from a war mind set to a peace making mindset. I used to view some people as good and some people as evil- Now all I see are ALL...

My mind has changed of what a prophet is- I used to think a prophet was a leader of a church- but now I see a prophet as someone with no decision making abilities in a church…that’s unbiased and centered on truth. When we go without the truth of God(water) we suffer(famine) until we repent and truth of God(water) is restored that brings forth peace (its fruit).

How can I relate killing and war to my life today in 2024? How can I get an understanding from something I don’t understand? I have to liken it to my life right now in 2024. Killing I think I can relate to canceling/ losing respect for, war I can see as picking a side and loosing respect for a whole group of people- canceling a whole group. When my foundation was a church- I was in war and choas....

I believe that God wants us happy, healthy, and whole- NOT controlled. The spirit of oppression takes away our choices and freedom to make decisions for ourselves. The spirit of freedom IS the spirit of God. The Book of Mormon agrees!

I read scriptures so differently. I don’t take everything said as true and will argue, wrestle, and laugh at some things said in the Book of Mormon.

Feel to heal. Crying is how I process pain instead of projecting the pain. I went from a justice mindset to mercy by feeling the pain and crying a lot. To quote this weeks scriptures- I went through a “vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.”

When I read these scriptures before my faith crisis, when I understood the atonement differently -they filled me with so much fear- I would have been unkind to people like Korihor AND very Kind to people like Alma. After my Faith expansion, getting a different understanding of the atonement. I read these scriptures so differently- God loves both sides equally- Korihor is deeply loved and accepted...

I believe when we act from fear we make poor decisions, we have to feel safe- be saved- to make better decisions. We can help heal the world by making people feel safe❤️

There was contention/ hell… I imagine Lamoni rebuking everyone by saying. “Everyone is made in the image of God- everyone is Good, everyone is doing their best- no one is intentionally being bad. No one is evil. There are no sides- we are all one. Trust, love, and care for one another!” Once they listened and believed they no longer wanted to do evil, no longer had a desire to hate/distrust. They...

Speaking truth to power is brave- but might get you disconnected from acceptance of people who don’t want to know the truth and thrown into the fire. It’s so painful to see people thrown into the fire- but I know God will take care of them❤️. God has taken care of me.

Holy spaces are spaces where we are fully seen and fully loved. Holy people create these spaces… and we are blessed to be in them- because they can heal us. Chapter 12 goes over what I believe is the faith stages. Hardened hearts create the most wounding spaces, soft hearts create healing places.

We must love the world to save the world. Learning to see the good in everything was a repentance process that cleanse my mind from hate. I now see value in everything and love this world. Seeing everything as good also made my path straight- everything good and bad works for my good.

I am experiencing profound grief because of the loss of the younger generation- it’s our fault- we don’t know if they are okay because they are gone. They were not taken care of well so they are gone. If we awaken to our duty to LOVE one another- to take care of each other, we can heal our church…. Become a place where people want to be❤️. If people aren’t loved well they don’t come back.

I was an unbeliever, a knower. Until my faith crisis- in which I realized I didn’t have faith I had knowledge. In order to have faith there must be doubt. I have SO much doubt in the church, but because I LOVE the members of the church and see them as good- I have so much HOPE/ faith it’s true. Without having the spirit of love, I would not have the capacity to have this faith.

I believe changing our minds until we fill with love is our baptism, that enters us into the kingdom of God. When we are filled with love we see others clearly. There are so many paths to the kingdom of God. I also believe we will experience the holy sabbath day, peace and rest, when we love and value everyone, women equally to men, after we create a sacred space for everyone.

When we put our beliefs down on paper and worship that, we are creating graven images of things we cannot see. They become the God we worship. We can see harm come from this…. This destroys relationships…. Because our beliefs become more important than being kind to others.