Faith, Hope, and Charity

So, I am slowly reading the Book of Mormon. This time, from back to front. I have an added study technique...to type it in paragraph form. This helps me to slow down and think about what is being taught. It also helps me to find the main idea and process those ideas and feelings more clearly.
My lesson learned today is on faith, hope, and charity. In this chapter (Moroni 7), Moroni is quoting his father (most of Moroni is filled with these choice words). We get down to the "meat" of the chapter in verse 20 when a question is posed: "How is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?" This is an important question because Matthew already taught us that (Matthew 7:7-11 ) God gives us the best gifts and He desires that for us. Thus, he explains in the following verses of Moroni 7 about the Atonement, but in verse 25 spells it out that "by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing." The Atonement remains ineffective if we do not exercise our faith upon it. Our desire to rid ourselves of sin and to ask God for forgiveness is necessary for this to take place. In the following verse (verse 26) we are told that "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good (repentance, therefore, being good), in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you." This is further emphasized in verses 33 and 34 where it states "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." and "Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved." However, he also counters that if we do not have faith in him, then we are "not fit to be numbered among the people of his church"(verse 39).
These concepts are furthered later in the chapter as it describes the relationship between having hope, which leads to faith, which (hopefully) causes us to develop charity...which it is also pointed out here in verse 46 that "if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth." We are then counseled to pray with "all the energy of heart" for charity. Guess what? This is exactly what enacted the fulfillment of the Atonement. Christ was filled with charity for us, his fellow man, and bled from every pour in not just empathy, but real pain and sorrow for our pains and sorrows. At last, his heart broke on the cross and his mortality was ended only to continue that charity through the eternities as a perfect and immortal being!! What incredible hope is that!?
This was an excellent chapter to remind me of some of those blessings I prayed for diligently as a missionary. Sadly, those things have not remained in my focus upon returning from that bountiful field. Perhaps I can do better if I can remember this lesson and once again pray with all the energy of my heart for charity so that my family will grow in the gospel but also that our ward will grow and especially the Young Women's program for which I have been given responsibility!