My Soul Delighteth

Gospel Art Kit–There’s an App for that!

2012-02-23T05:00:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I reached in my Church bag to pull out my gospel art book and realized that I had left it at home! It has become one of my most powerful tools for helping my kids be reverent during the sacrament. I will usually turn it to the pages with the Savior in Gethsemane and the Savior on the Cross, and often we end up in the “Gospel in Action” section to look at pictures of the sacrament being blessed, and little children being reverent while they take the sacrament.

So, you can imagine my horror when I realized it wasn’t in the bag. What would I do now!?

Thankfully, I had my handy-dandy iPhone, and I thought “Oh, maybe the Gospel Art Book is available in the Gospel Library app!” Willing to stomach any possible data charges, I headed to the app, but no luck. Desperate, I resorted to Safari and lds.org and quickly found the gospel art book online. I loaded a few pictures and saved them to my phone (for easy access next time I forgot the book).

Today I was just sitting around thinking “I wonder if someone has made an app for that.” I did a quick search in the app store, and sure enough! There it was, for $1.99. I immediately downloaded it (that’s cheaper than the paper book from the distribution center), and upon browsing through the app, I realized that this app is not just the gospel art book, but the entire Gospel Art Kit! Remember, that big box of something like 600 pictures, all 8 1/2 x 11 size? I grew up with those as a Family Home Evening staple, so I was really disappointed when they discontinued the kit in favor of the gospel art book. I still wish I had all those pictures.

Well, now I do, sort of! I am really excited to have all those pictures (it has the picture of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s burying their weapons, which is one of my personal favorites). Especially now in an easy app on my phone. You can sort the pictures by number (which is somewhat choronological) or by name, and there is also a search function.

So when Sunday rolls around and my kids are fighting over the gospel art book during the sacrament (yes… it happens) I can just whip out my phone and let one of them look at the pictures on there! Although, I am also considering giving the kids their very own gospel art books for their Church bags, since they are only $3.50. Then no fighting over the iPhone either.

And when we’re waiting in line, or sitting somewhere with nothing to do, I can pull out my gospel art kit app and we can choose a picture and talk about the scriptures! Yay!

Have you found any useful gospel-related smartphone apps? Which are your favorite? Would you like me to share more reviews of my favorites?

I do not know the meaning of all things

2012-02-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

I commented the other day on a post over at That Good Part and I think I mentioned in a previous post how I have felt stagnant in my personal growth - which was easy to live with because my "level of righteousness", so-to-speak, was relatively good. I am far from perfect, but I have meaningful prayers, meaningful scripture study, and I do a pretty good job with my relationships, and loving others. Not perfect.

In fact, I have a long way to go. And that truth about if you're not moving toward the Savior, you're moving away from Him always hits me at this point in my thought process.

I have been trying to be really mindful of the things I don't know, and the many areas of my life that can use improvement.

I echo Nephi, who said, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

I have a sure, strong testimony of the gospel, of Jesus Christ, and His atonement, of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and of God's love for us. But I do not know the meaning of everything. Honestly, I don't know the meaning of a lot of things, really.

One of the areas in my life that needs improvement is faith. Which may sound silly because I have such a strong testimony - but I think that my testimony has been more knowledge than faith.

Alma said, "And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginners to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good. And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant". (Alma 32:33-34)

Because of my great parents and leaders when I was young, I think that my faith has been dormant in a lot of things, and because it has been dormant for so long, I have almost forgotten how to exercise faith!

Along with working this year on learning God's will for me, I think that I need to practice having more faith. Which kind of go hand in hand anyway.

How do you find the things you don't know? What do you do about it when you realize you don't know something? Is your faith dormant in some gospel principles because you have already received a perfect knowledge of that principle?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What Think Ye of Christ?

2012-02-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here – Teachings of Jesus)

I have mentioned before that I have always enjoyed Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ talks. When I was little and General Conference was … well, a little boring, I would color or maybe play a little conference bingo, but when I heard Elder Oaks’ voice, my ears would perk up, and I would listen to his whole talks.

I think that my favorite talks from General Conference are usually those given by Elder Oaks, and this one was no exception. I love how clearly he speaks, and how logical his arguments are (must be because he’s a lawyer). There is just something authoritative in how he speaks. As if he’s just daring someone to contradict him.

And how could you contradict what Elder Oaks testifies of in this conference talk?

“What think ye of Christ?”

(Image credit)

How do you answer that question? Here’s how I answer it.

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. While I will admit that I do not know everything about Him, what I do know, what I have learned about Him, I know is true. He is my Savior. The most significant part, to me, of His mission was His willingness to suffer for my sins, to take upon Him my infirmities, in the garden of Gethsemane, and then do give His life for me on the cross. And it didn’t end there. After three days in the tomb, the Savior took up His body again and was resurrected so that we can all live with our Father in Heaven again. I know that He has “engraven [me] upon the palms of [His] hands” and will never forget me.

Elder Oaks’ talk was a wonderful reminder to me of how I need to study the life of the Savior – the prophesies concerning Him, and most importantly, His own words. I made a goal after October General Conference that I would try to read all four gospels and the Savior’s ministry in America in 3 Nephi before April General Conference. I guess I have one more month. Better get down to business!

I would also like to really read and study Jesus the Christ, by James E. Talmage. I have read parts of it before, but I have never really done an in depth study of the Savior, and I think that it would be really beneficial.

The challenge Elder Oaks gave at the end of his talk to have citizenship in Christ’s Church and not use a visa to visit Babylon, have a second residence there, or act like one of its citizens, really called my attention to the ways in which I am not fully a member of Christ’s Church. I need to be constantly “examin[ing] [myself], whether [I] be in the faith.”

I need to have that examination daily. I know there are ways in which I let Babylon creep into my life, and I really do want to be a true follower of the Savior.

What think ye of Christ? Do you do a “self-examination” to determine if you are “in the faith”? How do you keep yourself away from Babylon? What is your testimony of the Savior?

Find more great comments and insights
into this and other talks from General Conference
at Stephanie’s General Conference Book Club

Joseph Smith and a Personal Relationship with Christ

2012-02-19T22:26:00.001-07:00

Today the Relief Society lesson was Chapter 4 from The Teachings of George Albert Smith manual. The entire lesson was about Joseph Smith and the restoration, and it was a really good lesson for me. I have always believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and when I was a teenager I think I started understanding the significance of the First Vision a little more, but I never really had a “missionary” testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. You know – when the missionaries teach about the First Vision and the spirit is so strong it almost knocks you off your feet. I’ve always been able to feel the testimony of others, but never been really able to feel that testimony coming from within. You know the difference.

A few weeks ago I was looking at the lessons in the manual and checking out which lessons I would be “teaching” in Relief Society (I feel it’s more like leading a group discussion than actually “teaching” – especially because I am one of the youngest members of our ward’s Relief Society). I noticed that last week was a lesson on the Savior and then my lesson was going to be on Joseph Smith, and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I wanted to lead discussion about the Savior! I love the Savior! I feel like I know Him! What a great topic!

But I had to teach about Joseph Smith. This somewhat mysterious man to me (even though I have read biographies about him, and I even took a History of the Church religion class at BYU – and I still didn’t really feel like I knew him very well) I would have to teach about and talk about for about 45 minutes. I didn’t think I could do it.

Then I started reading the manual. Wow. Talk about good stuff. And did you know that the Spirit will guide you as you prepare lessons? Just sayin’.

My favorite part of the lesson (after the part where I read Joseph Smith History 1:10-19 and had to choke back tears because the Spirit was so strong) was the part where President George Albert Smith said,

It was a very natural thing that Joseph Smith should seek the Lord. He came of a … people who believed in our Heavenly Father, in the divine mission of the Savior, in the efficacy of prayer, and that God would hear and answer his people if they went before him with a proper spirit. It was easy for this young man to believe, because he had been born and reared in a believing household; and when he went out into the woods in response to the injunction of the scripture (James 1:5): “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him,” he believed that his prayer would be answered, and our Heavenly Father has promised his children from the beginning, that, “by faith ye may know all things.”

This brought back a flood of memories of things that I had learned about Joseph Smith’s family. He came from a very faithful family – on both sides. His ancestors and his parents were men and women who believed in God and had great faith.

And then I thought, “Would it be (is it?) natural for my children to seek the Lord when they have a question? Do they have faith that Heavenly Father loves them and will answer their prayers?”

I realized that I am not doing nearly a good enough job raising my children in a “ believing household.” Sure, we have family prayer and read the scriptures together, but do I tell my children every time the Lord answers my prayers? Do I lead by example by going to the Lord when I need help or answers?

From Rob Gardner’s “Joseph Smith the Prophet”

I have a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that he is a prophet of God. I know that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in the sacred grove, just as he said he did.

On a different note, if you checked out the Sunday Study link-up yesterday, you’ll know that I was going to study this (somewhat ancient) talk by President James E. Faust. Well. I did. And wow. Now you need to go read it.

If you struggle with your personal relationship with Christ, go read that talk. President (well, then Elder) Faust has some great instruction to help you figure it all out. I want to have a more personal relationship with the Savior, and this talk has helped me clearly see the way I can do that.

Also, Chocotania’s post today about becoming something better than you are, three weeks at a time, was really well written and very motivating. I am going to follow her example and change one habit for three weeks, every three weeks (hopefully for the rest of my life). Can you imagine the impact that could have on your life? There is always something we can change, and as I mentioned in the comments on that post, I have been on a “personal improvement plateau” for the past year or so. I mentioned that my “status quo” has been pretty good. I read my scriptures daily, study the gospel mostly daily (in addition to the scripture study), I prayed daily, I basically did all the “basics”. But that’s not enough. I need to be moving forward. If you’re not moving toward the Savior, you’re moving away from Him, right?

So my plan is to change a habit or start a new habit for three weeks, every three weeks. I am going to spend this week praying about what to do first, because it has to be small and simple – line upon line. But I want to make sure that it is a really significant thing, and because my goal this year is to find out what Heavenly Father wants for me, I am going to make sure that I get His input on my first task.

How do you change habits or make new ones? How do you develop your personal relationship with the Savior? What is your testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith?

Sunday Study link-up

2012-02-18T14:41:00.001-07:00

(Image credit: LDS Media Library)

Can you believe the weekend is here already? Time has been going so fast for me lately, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Here’s this weeks’ lineup!

Cyber-Minutes and Light-Years – at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ: about serving our families and our children

The Mormon Moment – at Meridian Magazine: by Jocelyn, a great post. I really liked how she talked about the significance of the “individual” Mormon moment – the moments when we feel the Spirit.

A Personal Relationship with the Savior – from 1976 General Conference – President James E. Faust

Science and Religion – topic study after reading Fred’s comments the other day about science and religion

Now it’s your turn!

What have you read this week that you would like to share? What are you planning on studying on the Sabbath? Add your link below!

If you need ideas of what to link up, check out the first Sunday Study link up.

Forgetfulness and the Holy Ghost

2012-02-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just can't get enough of the Book of Mormon. I get sucked in and can't stop reading. I can't stop asking questions while I read, either.

For example, I was reading 1 Nephi 7 and I came across Nephi's little lecture to Laman and Lemuel - "How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen and angel of the Lord?" "How is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord has done for us?" "How is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things?"

This is the first time I realized that no one ever really answers those questions in the Book of Mormon. Laman and Lemuel just end up angry with Nephi and they tie him up. (more about that later)

Well, as I was reading, I thought of the scripture John 14:26 which says the Holy Ghost will "bring all things to your remembrance". In context, the Savior was telling his disciples that the Holy Ghost would help them remember the things He had taught them, even after he was gone. In the same way, then, the Holy Ghost can help us remember our blessings. But we will not have that remembrance without the Holy Ghost, and we need to have faith and be living worthy of his companionship.

From observation, we can tell that Laman and Lemuel didn't always have the Holy Ghost with them. They lacked the faith necessary for that gift, and so it was easy for them to forget the blessings and promises of the Lord.

I know that the Spirit has helped me remember my blessings and remember ye promises the Lord has given me. I hope that I can always remember the role the Spirit plays in helping me remember.

Have you ever forgotten blessings and promises you have received from Heavenly Father? Has the Spirit helped you remember those things?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Fulness of his Intent

2012-02-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

Post have been few and far between this week. I have been catching up in a lot of areas of my life and now I am getting back into posting. At least a little. I still need to do GCBC this week!

I have been reading the Book of Mormon every day, but not my one and a half pages, so I will probably spend some quality time in its pages this weekend.

Have I told you how much I absolutely love the Book of Mormon?

Here's part of why:

I have been learning that every page of this book has a purpose - and that purpose is to draw people to Christ and the Father and to salvation.

Faith in Christ. Repent. Be baptized. Receive the Holy Ghost. Endure to the end.

There is a reason we call them the "first principles and ordinances of the gospel". They are the ones that are plastered on every page of the Book of Mormon.

How are you doing with your Book of Mormon reading? Are you trying to finish by a certain time? What is your favorite message from the Book of Mormon?

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A Father's Testimony

2012-02-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

We hear a lot about how the stripling warriors were taught by their mothers and that is why they had such great faith. This story is a favorite among Church members, especially mothers. In fact, when it comes to parents teaching their children the gospel, this is probably the most quoted scripture story.

But there is another, less well-known story I would like to share. This is the story of Helaman and his sons Nephi and Lehi.

Helaman was a great chief judge who was very righteous. The Nephites were mostly righteous and prosperous while he was the chief judge. After he died, his son Nephi became the chief judge.

While Nephi was the chief judge, the Nephites started getting more and more wicked (although Nephi was a very righteous judge - "he did keep the commandments of God, and did walk in the ways of his father.") After a while, Nephi got sick of all the wickedness, and he got out of government and went back to missionary work (probably with his wife at this point, I imagine this was like him serving a couples' mission after retiring from the senate in the United States). He and his brother Lehi "took it upon [themselves] to preach the word of God all the remainder of [their] days". They made this decision because they remembered the testimony of their father, Helaman. "For they remembered the words their Father Helaman spake unto them."

And it turns out that what Nephi and Lehi learned from their father Helaman is almost as famous as the story of the stripling warriors.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

"And it came to pass that they did preach with great power," and they were able to teach the Nephites who had left the Church "insomuch that they came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance."

I love this story as much as I love the stripling warrior story. It is interesting to me that in both cases, the young men were taught about faith and prayer and the Savior (basic principles of the gospel), but while the stripling warriors used their faith to fight valiantly in a war to defend their freedoms, Nephi and Lehi used their faith to powerfully preach the gospel.

How were you taught by your parents? Were both of your parents equally influential in your gospel learning? Were you more like the stripling warriors, who were taught by their mothers? Or did your father teach you the basic doctrines of the gospel? Or were you like Abraham, who didn't learn the gospel from his parents at all?

Families are Forever

2012-02-13T15:15:00.001-07:00

We had a very merry Christmas for 2011, with the presence of every member of my parents’ family – even my oldest brother was there was there. Well, his picture was there, and we thought about him and talked about him a lot.

We took some family pictures (thanks, Victoria!) and when it was time for us to have the “mom and dad and offspring” picture, I kept looking around for my brother. There was someone missing. It was kind of hard. We really miss him.

As I was thinking about writing a post today, I remembered this oldy (but goody) from the LDS Church back in the 70s. The first time I heard it (when I was a kid) I cried my eyes out, and I still can’t get to the end without bawling.

It is a lot more poignant for me now. And I am so grateful for the testimony I have that families are forever.

“Dad, dad, it’s alright! Families are forever!”

“And he said, ‘Dad, dad, it’s alright! Families are forever!”

Do you have a testimony of eternal families? Have you lost a family member and been comforted by the knowledge we have that “families are forever”?

I Have not Required it, But the Lord

2012-02-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

When Lehi told Nephi and his brothers to go and get the brass plates from Jerusalem, he said

(1 Nephi 3:5)

Lehi told Nephi that it wasn't a commandment from him (Lehi), but rather a commandment from God.

This prompted me to ask the question, "How can I make sure that my children understand that the commandments are from God rather from us as their parents?"

I imagine that principle can easily be missed by children and their parents when parents seek to limit their children's agency, rather than teaching them the gospel.

I am reminded of my favorite scripture to read to my kids - Mosiah 4:14-15

"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit... He being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."

(my 4 year old almost has that scripture memorized... I really like reading it to them...)

Maybe this scripture holds some of the answer to that question.

How do you teach your children that the laws of God are truly God's laws, and not "mom and dad's" laws? How do you help them understand that what you are teaching them is not what you require of them, but rather, what God requires of them?

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Elder David A. Bednar’s Regional Conference Talk

2012-02-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that a few people have been finding my blog looking for Elder Bednar’s Regional Conference talk for the South Salt Lake Valley regional conference. Not sure if he has given another talk at a different conference since then, but I figured I should post the notes from ours. Our conference was on Sunday, October 23, 2011.

I actually found a website with an audio file and transcript. However, I am hesitant to post a link to it here because of a Church policy that says “Church members should not record the talks or addresses that General Authorities… give at stake conferences, missionary meetings, or other meetings. However, members may record broadcasts of general conference on home equipment for personal, noncommercial use.” I am going to send an email and figure out if it’s okay to post that, and I will get back to you.

Now I wish I had taken more notes. I am sure I took notes during the conference, but I can’t find them, and I am sure that I was more occupied with trying to make sure my children didn’t smash cheerios in the carpet of the Conference Center (our stake was invited – and encouraged – to attend at the Conference Center), or throw fits disrupting the people behind us. So I probably didn’t take very many notes anyway. However, apparently I either remembered a lot, or by some stroke of inspiration by the Holy Ghost I wrote here on the blog a lot of the things Elder Bednar said – most of the things I just mentioned in passing in another post, but I’ve collected them all here for you.

Sacrifices and Things That Matter

I made it home and we went to our Regional Stake Conference on Sunday where we listened to Elder Bednar. The first thing out of his mouth was a story about how his son chose not to play in a football tournament that was going to be on Sunday. And then how his sons gave up attending a college basketball game they wanted to attend – because it was going to be on a Sunday. Can I tell you how relieved I felt that I wasn’t driving up from Las Vegas during his talk? I don’t even know what those stories had to do with the rest of his talk (wrestling a four year old and two year old during conference might have had something to do with that) so I almost felt like his words were so that I would feel as if the Lord noticed my decision and approved of it.

Being With God

We had the privilege of listening to Elder David A. Bednar at our Regional Conference on Sunday at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. He spoke about a lot of things, but one of the things that stuck with me the most was his admonition to study the life and character of the Savior, because we need to receive His image in our countenance – and in order to become like the Savior, we need to know the Savior.

I thought it was interesting that Elder Bednar specifically mentioned studying the gospels and 3 Nephi, because during the Relief Society Broadcast I felt a distinct prompting to study those exact scriptures – to really study the life of the Savior so that I could become more like Him.

…

Elder Bednar pointed out the translation of verse 11: “Then the devil leaveth him, and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and behold they came and ministered unto him (John).” This translation is significantly different than the Savior having angels minister to Him. The Lord knew that John was in prison, and he had just been fasting for forty days and forty nights and had been dealing with the father of lies, and instead of worrying about himself, the Savior sent angels to minister to John.

The Time Shall Come

At our Regional Stake Conference yesterday, Elder David A. Bednar talked about this principle. We cannot be converted to programs, people, or policies. We are converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ – which is that He lives and that He atoned for our sins. Sometimes I think that we lose sight of the “most important message” of the Church. We need to remember that our message is of the Savior – and that is the message that we need to take to the world.

…

Yesterday Elder Bednar testified that He alone does not have any of the capacity or ability to be an apostle – but that through the atonement of the Savior and through the power of the Holy Ghost, he is made to be more than he is. I loved Elder Bednar’s thoughts about that and I think they fit in with Elder Clayton’s testimony that this work is God’s work. We participate in God’s work as we allow the Savior to make us more than we are – and God does his work through us, but it is still God’s work. And we would do well to remember that.

In case my notes aren’t enough, I found a few other people who wrote about Elder Bednar’s talk:

Mormon Wookiee: Regional Conference with Elder David A. Bednar
Mormon Angst: A Testimony is Not Enough
LDS Freedom Forum: Notes from Jason

Here are some links to a few similar talks from Elder Bednar:

In the Strength of the Lord” (BYU speech, 2001)
“The Character of Christ” (BYU-I Symposium , 2003)

Is this what you were looking for? If you attended, did you have any other notes from Elder Bednar’s address? Please share them here if you did!

That He May Prove Us

2012-02-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: This paper reminds me of a midterm that I wrote for this class about the Church of the Lamb of God. I can’t wait to post that paper – it was really long, so I might have to post it in parts. While reading the part where I say Heavenly Father “will give His children many opportunities to accept [the gospel]” I was reminded of something a friend of mine said during a Relief Society lesson. She said that before the judgment day “Each person will be taught the gospel in a way that they perfectly understand what they are accepting or rejecting.” I think that is pretty true, and kind of what I was saying in this paper.)

Nephi received a vision of many prophesies of the latter days. In these prophesies Nephi was shown the loss of many plain and precious parts of the gospel through the formation of a great an abominable church. Nephi was also shown the restoration of the gospel to the earth and the work that would spread the gospel to the world. The Lord also taught Nephi that some of the children of men would not accept the gospel. If the Lord knew who would accept the gospel and who would not, why did He not judge those He knew would not accept the gospel? Not only is the Lord merciful in that He will give His children many opportunities to accept and come unto Him, it is expedient that He should provide a way to test and try the children of men so that He may prove us – whether as followers of Him or followers of the “great and abominable church.”

The Lord told Nephi that “because of these things [the plain and precious parts of the gospel] which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, and exceedingly many do stumble…insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.” (1 Nephi 13:29) This may seem like a hopeless situation for those who never receive the plain and precious parts of the gospel. However, the Lord also states that He will be merciful unto the Gentiles and “bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel.” (1 Nephi 13:34) The Lord goes on to describe to Nephi the restoration of the gospel. The Lord wants His children to know of His gospel and would not let them perish in ignorance.

However, as more knowledge is revealed to the children of men, they have a much more crucial responsibility. The Lord said to Nephi that He would “work a marvelous work among the children of men.” (1 Nephi 14:7) This work is to be “everlasting” – or to be an eternal judgment. The Lord’s purpose in bringing forth the gospel in the latter days is to prove the children of men, either to convince them “unto peace and life eternal” or “unto their bringing brought down into captivity.” (1 Nephi 14:7). “Who’s on the Lord’s side, who? Now is the time to show!” (Hymn No. 260) The Lord has revealed His gospel in the latter days to prove the children of men and to separate them into those on His side and those against. The Lord has said that “whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.” (1 Nephi 14:10).

Although the Lord is merciful and wishes all of His children to return to live with Him again, there stands the eternal truth that “the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God.” (1 Nephi 15:34) Therefore, the Lord has prepared a way to prove the children of men and judge them according to their hearts by bringing forth the gospel in the latter day, requiring man to choose between “liberty and eternal life…or captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” (2 Nephi 2:27)

What things do you learn about from the revelations that were given to Nephi? Do you think each child of God will have every opportunity to accept the gospel? What is the great and abominable church? What is the Church of the Lamb of God?

Stand in Holy Places

2012-02-06T23:25:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

I didn’t get a chance to read this talk this morning, but I was super tired (my wonderful husband surprised me on Saturday with a brand new computer(!) and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday evening trying to get all my photo albums switched over to the new computer) – so I am trying to make up for it now.

I really enjoyed this talk. I am pretty sure that it was one of the first talks our ward Relief Society studied for our Teachings for Our Times lesson.

It’s not hard to see that what President Thomas S. Monson said about the “moral compass of society” is absolutely true.

“Also evolving at a rapid rate has been the moral compass of society. Behaviors which once were considered inappropriate and immoral are now not only tolerated but also viewed by ever so many as acceptable.”

It’s interesting that there are a lot of things that made people uncomfortable decades ago and now are mostly the “norm” – and some of those things are good (interracial marriage, women’s suffrage, etc) and some of those things are bad (views on homosexuality, skewed priorities of mothers, financial miseducation, etc).

“Although the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant.” The bishop of one of my student wards in college drew the two lines as pictured above on a chalkboard during a combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting. Actually, the first time he drew the lines, the top line ran parallel to the bottom line. He discussed with us how the world’s morality has always been slightly lower than the morality of members of the Church, but how members today are letting their standards fall along with the world – even though our standards are still higher than those of the world. Then he erased the top line and drew a straight line across like the one I have pictured. He then taught us about the constancy of God and how His laws never change, and so our standards should never be lowered. The gap between the standards of the Church and the standards of the world should be growing if the standards of the world are declining.

Most of us probably experience feelings of uncertainty when we think about raising children in today’s society, which is only getting worse and worse. President Monson asks the questions: “Do we wring our hands in despair and wonder how we’ll ever survive in such a world?” His answer is an emphatic “No.” And I echo that sentiment. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, and we know how to keep our families safe from the storms of the world. President Monson’s message is that the way to keep our families safe is by maintaining a close relationship with our Father in Heaven.

This is something that I frequently “wring my hands” about teaching my children:

“It may appear to you at times that those out in the world are having much more fun than you are. Some of you may feel restricted by the code of conduct to which we in the Church adhere. My brothers and sisters, I declare to you, however, that there is nothing which can bring more joy into our lives or more peace to our souls than the Spirit which can come to us as we follow the Savior and keep the commandments. That Spirit cannot be present at the kinds of activities in which so much of the world participates.”

I am always concerned that my children will feel this way – that the laws of God are restrictive. I want to teach them that obedience to God’s laws brings “more joy into our lives [and] more peace to our souls”.

Just tonight I had a conversation with my four year old, who is having a really hard time learning how to obey rules. He tells me all the time that he wishes there were “no rules” and that he could just do “whatever [he] want[s]” to do. We talked about how kites fly by being held by a string, and that if we let go of the string, the kite will fall down to the ground. Then we talked about how following God’s rules helps us feel the Spirit and how obeying our parents keeps us safe, and how obeying the rules to a game helps us have more fun.

I hope that bedtime conversation will have an impact on him. I know that just one conversation will not be enough – I will have to show him by my obedience to God’s laws, and other important “rules” and we will talk about this concept frequently. I still can’t help but worry about him.

On a concluding note, I have to say that I wish I could say that “not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer.” I want to make a goal to communicate with my Father in Heaven every day.

How do you keep your family safe in this morally declining world? How often do you communicate with your Heavenly Father?

Sunday Reads Link-up

2012-02-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first edition of my Sunday Reads Link-up! I am very excited about this (mostly because it will give me a place to stick talks that I want to remember to study on Sunday but also because you get to participate!).

Here’s how this is going to work. Each Saturday, I am going to post a few links to some of the talks/articles/blog posts/scriptures that I read/found that week that I either read and want to share, or were shared with me and I want to read. Does that even make sense? I think you’ll get the hang of it.

And I want you to share, too. I want you to link up talks/articles/posts/scriptures that you think would be appropriate Sunday reading material. Since I kind of have a thing with keeping the Sabbath day holy, I like to be armed with lots of good study material, so I don’t waste precious Sabbath study time (i.e., the kids’ nap time).

I haven’t really come up with a theme for this week, but some weeks I might have a theme. On “themed” weeks you don’t have to link to a talk/article/post/scripture that goes along with the theme. Anything will do.

I have a folder on my Bookmarks bar that says “Good Reads” and I bookmark things that I want to go back later and read, but I usually forget to do that. So this link-up party is more for me, I guess.

Without further ado, here are my Sunday Reads:

Teaching the Doctrine of the Family – Sister Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President

Baptismal Talk on the Holy Ghost – Scriptorium Blogorium

The Remnant in the Book of Mormon – Feast upon the Word Blog

3 Nephi 20-21

What are you going to be studying this Sunday? Link up here!

What should you link up?
1.) scriptures – link to the specific scripture at scriptures.lds.org
2.) talks/articles from Church magazines
3.) anything you can find searching on lds.org
4.) gospel related blog posts (try stuff from Women in the Scriptures, Diapers and Divinity, Scriptorium Blogorium, We Talk of Christ We Rejoice in Christ – there are lots of great blogs out there, just make sure the posts are gospel related)
5.) BYU/BYU-I/BYU-H devotional addresses, or Women’s Conference talks, or notes about talks from General Authorities
6.) anything else gospel related/Sunday appropriate reading material

I look forward to reading things you share!

Friday Fragments

2012-02-03T07:59:00.001-07:00

I’m going to do a little break from the ordinary here, mostly because I need it, and list 5 things I am grateful for (not necessarily in order of importance).

-1-

My Family.

Not just my family – everything about them. My heritage. The values my parents and my grandparents have instilled in their children and grandchildren. I am a member of a very giving, open, loving, caring, generous family. I could go on and on with examples of ways the Joseph Theron Smith family is amazing, but I’ll just say they are wonderful. Amazing and wonderful.

-2-

My husband.

Although he isn’t always very patient with me, he does help me see my weaknesses, and I can’t change what I don’t know is wrong. Marriage has been a great tool to help me grow and develop my personal characteristics. I just hope my husband can stand me long enough to let me grow.

-3-

The gospel.

Just read my blog. You’ll know why. I’m particularly fond of the Book of Mormon lately.

-4-

Search Engines.

Particularly the one on LDS.org, but any one that assists me in a search for knowledge and information.

-5-

My body.

I am always amazed at the ingenuity of our physical bodies. Their ability to heal themselves is miraculous to me. I wish I could say I take excellent care of my physical body, but sometimes I let it slide… and there really isn’t a good excuse. I need to take better care of it. Speaking of which… I better go get some breakfast so we can go the the gym! We’re going as a family today, with my sister and her husband, too! It’s going to be great (I hope – I’m still pretty sore from pump class on Tuesday…)

What are you grateful for?

Find more random bits of Friday
over at Women in the Scriptures

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow morning and link up your Sunday Reads!

Reading Again and Again

2012-02-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

If you missed my post yesterday – I finished the Book of Mormon on January 31st at 11:30pm! I made my goal of finishing by the end of January (although my goal changed a few times along the way).

As I was reading about the destruction in Ether and Moroni, I started getting really excited to start at the beginning again. I already had a brand new economy copy of the Book of Mormon ready for service! Doesn’t it just look like it is ready to be devoured?

I did the calculations, and including the title page, witness pages, and Joseph Smith history pages, I need to read approximately 1.6 pages of the Book of Mormon every day in order to finish by the end of the year. I decided that I am going to round up to two pages, that way if I miss a few days, or if I can only read one page, or half a page, some days, I’ll be fine.

My desire to read the Book of Mormon each year stems from a desire to be like Elder Richard G. Scott’s wife. In October General Conference, Elder Scott said this about his wife:

“For I don’t know how many years, as the end of the year approached, I would see [my wife] sitting quietly, carefully finishing the entire Book of Mormon yet another time before year’s end.”

I want to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover every year. I can’t remember where I read it (probably on the Book of Mormon Forum blog hop last year) (edit 2-3-12: turns out that was Cocoa from Chocolate on My Cranium! Thanks, Cocoa!), that someone mentioned keeping a scripture journal each time she read the Book of Mormon, and that she wanted to give one of the journals to each of her kids. Instead of keeping a separate journal, I use an economy copy of the Book of Mormon each time I read it, and I just use a regular old ball-point pen and underline, box, and circle words, draw, and write notes in the margins of the pages. By the time I am finished with the economy copy of the Book of Mormon, it is my scripture journal. But I loved this sister’s idea to give a copy to each of her kids. I think I will do this with my economy copies of the Book of Mormon. Since I will have a copy of the Book of Mormon for each year, I think I’ll have plenty of copies to share with my children.

As I write my thoughts and insights and questions in the margins of the pages, I think about this scripture:

“And upon these I write the things of my soul… for my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and profit of my children. Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.” (2 Nephi 4:14-16)

As I write my thoughts and feelings and questions in the Book of Mormon margins, I feel like I am writing my own scriptures for my children. And I hope that I can teach them to love the Book of Mormon as much as I do.

How do you study the Book of Mormon? How do you motivate yourself to read it over and over again? Do you read the Book of Mormon every year? How many times have you read the Book of Mormon cover to cover?

I Finished!!

2012-02-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

I finished the Book of Mormon!

I did it! I finished the Book of Mormon! I wish that I could say I have read it cover to cover countless times, but this is only the third time I have. However, I made a goal at last General Conference to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover every year.

I want to be like Elder Scott's wife.

After October General Conference, I was determined to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of 2011 so that I could start again in January. The holidays were crazy at our house, and so that didn't quite happen. Then I was determined to finish by last weekend, and I got so close, but it still didn't happen. Finally, I knew that I could finish by the end of January, and last night around 11:30pm I finished reading the Book of Mormon cover to cover.

It was a really interesting experience for me to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover in such a short amount of time (at the beginning of last year I was only in 2 Nephi).

I shouldn't have been surprised to find that every page of the Book of Mormon is a call to come unto Christ. There is a distinct theme to the Book of Mormon - it is: believe in Christ, have faith in Him, come unto Him, repent, be baptized, and endure faithfully to the end.

I know that the Book of Mormon is of God. I know it with a perfect knowledge. How? Why? This is what I wrote in my journal last night:

"for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the powe and gift of Christ; wherefore ye maknow with a perfect knowledge it is of God."

Moroni 7:16

I believe that no one can read the Book of Mormon and not come to that knowledge that it is of God. You cannot do it. You can deny your feelings all you want - but you will "know with a perfect knowledge" that it is true. Don't believe me? Go ahead - prove me wrong. I dare you.

Want a copy of the Book of Mormon? Just email me your mailing address and I will put one in the mail for you - with a personal message to you from me.

You can also request a copy from the Church by using the Book of Mormon link on the side bar -->

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Filled by the Sacrament

2012-02-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but one little piece of bread and one sip of water has never really filled me up. (not that it should).

But in 3 Nephi 18, when Christ administers the sacrament to He disciples and to the multitude, the scriptures say the disciples and the multitude "had eaten and were filled" and then later "they did drink, and they were filled."

Apparently taking the sacrament "filled" the Nephites. Filled their bellies? Probably not. I imagine that what the scriptures mean here is that the were "filled" with the Spirit of Christ and with the covenant they were making with the Father to "always remember" Christ.

Do you ever feel "filled" when you take the sacrament? Do you take the sacrament while thinking about the promise that you are making to "always remember Him"?

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He That Receiveth Light

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: Re-reading this paper, I can tell this is right after my high school AP English course… on another note, wow! I had forgotten(?) that I knew so much about Nephi’s vision of the interpretation of Lehi’s dream. Also my awareness of Nephi’s humility is good stuff. I think I am a lot more arrogant and prideful than I was when I wrote this paper. Some change is not as good as others… Either way, this is some good stuff! I hope you enjoy it!)

After Lehi recounted his vision, Nephi desired to know for himself of the revelation given to his father. Nephi’s desire led to a vision of interpretation of his father’s dream. What other knowledge did Nephi receive to interpret his father’s vision, and how did the Lord know that Nephi was ready to receive that knowledge? In addition to an interpretation of Lehi’s vision, Nephi received visions of the “condescension of God.” The life, death, and resurrection of Christ, along with the visitation of Christ to the Americas, were shown to Nephi as part of the interpretation because he followed the instructions of the Spirit and of the angel and acknowledged his lack of the wisdom which he desired.

The Spirit of the Lord caused that Nephi should be “caught away” into a mountain, which is symbolic of a temple. There the Spirit asked Nephi, “What desirest thou?” When Nephi professed his belief in the words of his father and his desire to know the interpretation thereof, the Spirit rejoiced, and then commanded Nephi to “Look!” This is the beginning of a pattern that continues throughout Nephi’s vision. Nephi responded faithfully to the request of the Spirit of the Lord saying “I looked and beheld…” What Nephi beheld is important, however it is very interesting that each time the Spirit or the angel bid Nephi “Look!” he looked without hesitation, opening the opportunities for more revelation.

At first, Nephi only received the vision of the tree, yet to more fully explain the interpretation of the tree of life and the love of God, an angel showed to Nephi the birth of Christ. When asked “Knoweth thou the condescension of God?” (1 Nephi 11:16) Nephi answered truthfully responding that he did not know the meaning of all things. He was humble and teachable and willing to receive the knowledge that the Lord was ready to reveal to him. To reveal the interpretation of the iron rod, the Lord showed Nephi his ministry among men during which Christ gave his word to the world, for Christ is the Word. The large and spacious building which represented the pride of the world was shown to Nephi by revealing the crucifixion of Christ, for Christ was “judged of the world…and slain for the sins of the world.” (1 Nephi 11:32-33)

Further interpretation was given when the Lord revealed the righteousness of the Nephites for the four generations following Christ’s visit to the Americas and the subsequent fall into iniquity to illustrate the mists of darkness as the temptations of the devil. (1 Nephi 12:17) Also revealed was the interpretation of the “great and terrible gulf” which was the “word of justice of the Eternal God.”

The vision given to Nephi revealed to him the life and purpose of Jesus Christ. The plan of salvation, as illustrated by the vision of the tree of life, is centered around Christ. He is the reason there is a plan and He is the plan. Therefore, that each part of the tree of life was explained by a revelation of part of Christ’s life and ministry confirms that the vision of the tree of life is symbolic of the plan of salvation. Nephi demonstrated his readiness to the Lord to learn these sacred things by being eager to learn, by looking when bid to look. Man is taught in this day through similar ways. The Lord bids one to “Look!” and the more one obeys that command, the more revelation that will be added to him.

What insights do you have about Lehi’s dream? Have you had times in your life when the Spirit has told you to “look” and when you obeyed you were blessed with personal inspiration and revelation?

Good Cometh of None Save of Me

2012-01-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Plugging along today in the Book of Mormon. I am really enjoying reading in Ether. I have been realizing through this experience of reading the Book of Mormon that I am pretty familiar with the stories of the Book of Mormon, but often less familiar with the words of the Book of Mormon.

For example, I knew all about the scripture in Moroni 7 about anything persuading a man to believe in Christ is from God. But I didn't know about this corollary:

I have said before that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold a monopoly on truth. Nor do we, as Mormons, or even as Christians, have a monopoly on following Christ. Every person who does good is following Christ in some way (yes, even Muslims and Jews who do not profess to believe in Christ).

"whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me." Ether 4:12

Have you been able to find Christ in unexpected places, by finding things that persuade men to do good?

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The Importance of a Name

2012-01-30T09:23:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

This talk inspired me to make this with Photoshop. I’m not great with Photoshop, but I think it turned out okay. I loved how Elder M. Russell Ballard dissected the name of the Church and talked about the significance of every part – even the seemingly insignificant article “The” at the beginning of the name.

(please feel free to share this image, pin it, whatever – just make sure to give credit)

I was also somewhat pleased that Elder Ballard’s talk was kind of a follow-up and clarification of President Boyd K. Packer’s talk in April 2011 General Conference when he talked about how important it was to use the full and proper name of the Church and to refer to ourselves as “members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” or simple “Latter-day Saints.” I know many people wondered what was going to happen to the Church’s “I’m a Mormon” campaign, so I am glad that Elder Ballard clarified that for now, it wasn’t going anywhere, but it’s purpose was to teach people who “Mormons” really are (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Elder Ballard said, “I have thought a lot about why the Savior gave the nine-word name to His restored Church. It may seem long, but if we think of it as a descriptive overview of what the Church is, it suddenly becomes wonderfully brief,candid, and straightforward.” I am sure many people wonder why the Lord decided to give His Church such a mouthful of a name, but, like Elder Ballard pointed out, it is wonderfully descriptive, and rather brief, when you look at all it really says (see image above).

“I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Because we believe in the Book of Mormon, which is named after an ancient American prophet-leader and is another testament of Jesus Christ, we are sometimes called Mormons.” I hope that I get the opportunity to use this response to the question “Do you belong to the Mormon Church?” I believe this response can also be appropriate when asked the question “Are you Mormon?” It’s wonderfully succinct and hits all the important points, while validating the person’s question.

Elder Ballard said, “Surely it would be easier for [people] to understand that we believe in and follow the Savior if we referred to ourselves as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Just think of how the media coverage might be different today if we had spent the last 100+ years referring to ourselves as “members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”? I do understand that when the Church was first organized it was important to distinguish us from other Christians – and that is still important. We don’t mind being “different” Christians – in fact, it’s the best part of our Church – we are not just another protestant religion. We belong to the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

“The Savior’s name is the only name under heaven by which man can be saved.”

“Do we realize how blessed we are to take upon us the name of God’s Beloved and Only Begotten Son? Do we understand how significant that is?” Do you refer to yourself as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? How do you tell people about the full name of the Church?

What will ye...?

2012-01-29T22:52:00.001-07:00

I just finished Ether chapter 2! I am getting so close! Only 39 pages left! I figure if I can finish Ether tomorrow and Moroni on Tuesday I will have made my goal of finishing the Book of Mormon by the end of January. I think that is totally doable!

I love this part of the story of the Brother of Jared -

When the Brother of Jared asked the Lord how they would have light in their barges, the Lord responded with His own question, "What will ye that I should do?"

The Lord went on to describe the manner in which the Jareditws would be transported across the water, and He went ahead and listed a few things that would not work. Then he asked again, "Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?"

This scripture always reminds me of the revelation given to Oliver Cowdery in the Doctrine & Covenants after he tries (and fails) to translate the plates. The Lord tells Oliver, "You took no thought save it was to ask me."

The Lord expects us to study out the answers to our own problems, and then go to Him for confirmation or a stupor of thought, or a new thought.

Have you ever had to study the answer to a question in your mind before going to the Lord in prayer? Do you find that you are more able to receive revelation and inspiration when you try to work your problems out on your own first?

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Friday Fragments – One

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

*1*

I tried to have a post scheduled for yesterday, but I totally forgot. Lame. I was going to have one of my Book of Mormon papers post, but I forgot to edit it, and so it will be up on Tuesday. I was going to post two each week (Tues and Thurs – mornings that are rushed around here, rushed = no time for blogging), but I think I may just post one each week.

*2*

I am going to start a Saturday linkup called Sunday Reads. It will be a place for people to link to Sunday-appropriate reading material. I will be posting some of my favorites from the week (mostly from LDS.org, but some from really good blogs). I will be posting it on Saturday so that if you’re looking for some good gospel study topics while the kids are napping after Church, you can come over here and get some inspiration. I’m excited, and I hope you’ll share some good stuff with me, so we can all get inspired.

*3*

I tutor online for a company that I love. If you are looking for some part time work from home, head over there and apply to be a tutor. Put down Rebecca R as your referral and I get a bonus if you get hired! But really, it’s a great job – super flexible, but helps me keep up my math skills (speaking of which… those are sooo rusty. I feel like my brain hasn’t worked in ages…) I usually tutor at night after the kids go to bed, but sometimes I tutor during naptime as well.

*4*

I have been doing loads of laundry today. (ha ha, loads – that’s a pun. Get it?) We have had too much bedwetting lately, and Papai (Portuguese for “daddy”) put the kiddos to bed last night without making sure they went potty before bed. Dad’s seem to be clueless sometimes about that kind of stuff. As a mother, I rarely forget to have the kids go potty before bed. But that’s probably because I’m usually the one changing the wet sheets in the morning and washing peed on clothes and bedding. I could draw a lot of life metaphors from that, but my head hurts right now.

*5*

We stayed up waaay too late on Sunday night talking with our good friends. It was an excellent conversation, and I think my mind was opened to a lot of things. It was interesting to hear all the different points of view and the ways people see things. I’ll have to write about it here some day. My goodness, it was a great conversation! Even though we all hardly agreed (the topic was marriage and physical appearances) I feel like I really came away with some new perspective on the whole matter. And it’s always fun to chat with these friends (most people would call it a debate – but it’s a good healthy one, and we’re always still friends afterwards… I hope!)

However, I am still recovering from the lack of sleep the great conversation caused. Seriously, I think we were up until 3 in the morning!

I’ll leave you with this one thought from the conversation – my husband told me at some point (either while we were engaged or shortly after we were married) that before he proposed he asked himself, “Could I still love Becca if she got really fat?” His answer was “Yes” and so he married me. That may sound really strange, but I think it was a really profound and important thing for a man to ask himself before he gets married. And he’s been true to it. I got really plump with my first pregnancy (especially compared to my marriage weight of about 110 lbs) but my husband thought I was beautiful – even after I wasn’t “pregnant” beautiful, but just “postpartum fat”. And I know that he will love me no matter what I look like, ever.

Meet more folks over at Heather’s Five for Friday linkup!

475

2012-01-25T14:37:00.001-07:00

I am on page 475 of the Book of Mormon. There are 531 pages in the Book of Mormon. I have 56 pages to go. I didn't finish over the weekend (wow it was a crazy - but fun - weekend), so my new goal will be the end of January.

This is kind of the most depressing part of the Book of Mormon. The Nephites are completely wicked and Mormon just stopped leading them - he was finally fed up with their wickedness. I can't imagine living in a society where I was the only righteous person (sometimes I feel like the only wicked person living in a righteous society).

I do really love the fervor of Mormon's testimony at this point. All he wants is for people to repent and come to God.

"And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgement-seat of Christ."

Sometimes I feel that way - if only I could persuade everyone to believe in Christ and repent.

Have you ever felt alone like Mormon? What parts of his story stand out to you? What part of his testimony is most meaningful to you?

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A Personal Witness

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: this paper reminds me of the admonition to never take anything the Prophets say at face value – we should always approach Heavenly Father with what we have heard, and ask “diligently” to know “by the power of the Holy Ghost” if the things we have heard are true. A personal testimony is always better than just hearing it from someone else. It reminds me of the Reading Rainbow series where LeVar says, “But you don’t have to take my word for it.”)

After hearing of Lehi’s visions and prophecies, Nephi discussed his desire to know for himself of the things that to Lehi were revealed. Lehi told of his vision of the tree of life and later went on to prophesy of the coming of Christ. Why was it so important for Nephi to gain such a personal testimony of the words of his father, and why is there no record of his brothers showing similar faith? Instruction has been given that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” (Moroni 10:5) However, it is given on one condition – “if ye shall ask with real intent, having faith in Christ.” (Moroni 10:4) This is real intent and faith that Laman and Lemuel lacked.

Lehi’s prophecies contained many things that may have seemed foolish to some of his less faithful family members. The prophesy that a Messiah or Savior would come to save the world from sin was difficult to understand. Oftentimes, the words of prophesy are not easy to understand and must be accompanied by a mind that “diligently seeketh” (1 Nephi 10:19).

In asking the Lord for a personal testimony of Lehi’s visions and prophecies, Nephi also developed greater faith in the power of the Holy Ghost and in the sameness of God. Nephi states that when he asked he knew that God would answer him because God had answered those “in times of old” (1 Nephi 10:17) and Nephi knew that God would answer all those after him.

In addition to gaining his own testimony, Nephi’s testimony was part of a “special purpose” (1 Nephi 9:3) that the Book of Mormon became in containing “more than one witness” (Alma 10:12) which has more power than the testimony of one. Nephi would add his personal testimony and revelation to the witnesses of several other prophets who had also testified of the coming of Christ – “how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah.” (1 Nephi 11:5)

Laman and Lemuel, as proven in previous experiences, lacked the faith – or even the desire – to gain a personal testimony of any of their father’s or brother’s teachings. They would not manifest even a desire to understand the prophecies of their father until shortly thereafter, after which Nephi chastises them for failing to “look unto the Lord as they ought.” (1 Nephi 14:3).

Nephi’s inquiry of the Lord not only blessed him in his own spirituality, but also blessed all future generations who would read the multiple witnesses of Christ given in the Book of Mormon. Moreover, Nephi’s testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost is assuring. Nephi testifies that all who are desirous to know can receive that knowledge through the awesome power of the Holy Ghost which is “the gift of God.”

Why do you think it was so important for Nephi to gain his own witness of the visions his father, the prophet, had seen and heard? Is it just as important for us to receive a personal witness of the words of the prophets? How do you gain that witness? Do you seek diligently, and look unto the Lord for that witness?

Love Her Mother

2012-01-23T16:05:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

I have no idea why I felt inspired to write about this now, but I think it has something to do with my husband learning how to love me, and our relationship growing and becoming stronger in the past few months.

Early last year, my husband and I got to a place in our marriage that could have been a breaking point. Thankfully, my husband picked up all the broken pieces and really did his best to fix everything. My husband is not your average guy. He is really amazing. Wonderful, really. He has a really hard past. He suffered things as a child that no child should ever have to experience. And the lack of help he received as a child to heal from those experiences has left severe spiritual and emotional scars (scars I didn’t see when we first got married, and scars that he didn’t even know were there). He is starting to heal, and it is a beautiful, but very hard, thing.

We have been married for six years, and those six years have been so hard. Of course marriage is a growing experience, and it isn’t always easy, but I never expected to have to deal with all of this hurt and pain. The thing is, I had a great, “normal”, very safe childhood. My father was a counselor and my mother was an elementary school teacher. Sure they had their faults and weaknesses – but they were, for the most part, normal faults and weaknesses, things that most parents struggle with. In general, my parents were kind, supportive, gentle, wise, and really taught us “the way [we] should go.” I have never really known many people with the kind of hurt and pain my husband has been holding inside for over 20 years. Those were the people who went to see my dad for counseling – people who had suffered hard things and needed help healing. Not me.

And yet, here I am. My husband and I see a marriage counselor just about every week. We have been seeing him since around September of last year, and I really think that he has been able to help my husband heal. There is still a lot of healing ahead (I hope). We’re nowhere near the end, but we are going to get there.

I am learning a lot about how to help my husband, and how to be strong when he is hurting.

And, thanks to the atonement of the Savior, the amazing man in my husband is able to come out from behind the scars and pain. I am learning to have more faith in the Lord’s ability to heal us. My husband has always been a righteous man, and always a very spiritual man. But the hurt from his past had caused such bitter feelings that they were eating away at our marriage. At first, I thought there was something wrong with me. It was really easy to feel that way. I felt like maybe he didn’t really love me.

How foolish! My husband loves me with all of his heart, and always has.

And I guess that is why I am writing about this after studying Sister Elaine S. Dalton’s talk. Because last October when she gave this talk, I didn’t think that my husband loved me, and so I worried about how I was going to raise a righteous daughter in a home where her father didn’t love her mother.

I look back now and realize how wrong I was. He has always loved me.

Sister Dalton said, “Love her mother so much that your marriage is celestial. A temple marriage for time and all eternity is worthy of your greatest efforts and highest priority.”

My husband and I have learned that seeing a marriage counselor is not as embarrassing as it seemed at first. In fact, we love talking to people about what we learned from our marriage counselor. He is an excellent counselor. Our marriage is top priority. And right now, it needs some help. We are putting forth our greatest efforts to protect our marriage and strengthen it.

For Christmas after our daughter was born, I bought my husband this book – Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker. I read a little bit of it, and skimmed the rest, but my husband read it cover to cover. She talks about a lot of the principles mentioned by Sister Dalton in her talk. I recommend this book to any father of a daughter.

My favorite thing that Sister Dalton suggested fathers do with their daughters was attend the temple with them. I think that is a fabulous idea! My favorite temple trips were the ones when my father came with us and baptized us.

Here are some other things Sister Dalton suggested fathers can do for their daughters:

You are your daughter’s guardian in more than the legal sense. Be present in your daughter’s life. Let her know your standards, your expectations,your hopes and dreams for her success and happiness. Interview her, get to know her friends and, when the time comes, her boyfriends. Help her understand the importance of education. Help her understand that the principle of modesty is a protection. Help her choose music and media that invite the Spirit and are consistent with her divine identity. Be an active part of her life. And if in her teenage years she should not come home from a date on time, go get her.

I really enjoyed this talk. I apologize for not writing more about the talk, but I really felt inspired to share what has been going on in our marriage. Maybe to let you know that my life isn’t perfect, and we have struggles that are really, really hard – just like everyone else.

We have to rely on the atonement of our Savior for strength, for repentance, and for healing.

What did you get from Sister Dalton’s talk?

Find more insight on this talk (and others) over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

A Lion Among the Beasts

2012-01-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I tried to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of 2011 and it didn’t happen, and so now I am trying to finish it by the end of the week. (as of Wednesday I have about 80 pages to go!)

My husband told me that I will probably have to do a less thorough reading to get through it in that time, but I was sure I would be able to get through it quickly while still studying and gleaning.

Then I hit 3 Nephi 20. You think 2 Nephi is hard, try reading 3 Nephi 20. I kept reading, even though I didn’t really understand what the Savior was talking about, and about a page and a half into chapter 20 I decided that I really needed to understand what was going on here.

I went back to verse 10, when the Savior starts talking about the remnant of Israel. I read it over and over again and I still couldn’t figure it out. I was a little unnerved that I couldn’t understand this passage, and so I finally prayed for Heavenly Father to open my mind and my hearts (“and their hearts were open and they did understand in their hearts the words which [Christ] prayed” – 3 Nephi 19:33).

And then I went back and read it again.

“Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel.”

Great. I’ve got this – the Nephites are a remnant of the house of Israel, and Christ had to come to the Nephites, because that was part of God’s plan. That’s all stuff I knew from seminary.

“Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled – behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them – And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.”

I had to stop here for a second and ask myself, “What words of Isaiah is the Savior talking about? Obviously not all of them, since there are some words that haven’t been fulfilled yet. And what covenant is He talking about?” The covenant God made with Israel was that Christ would come to them, and that He would gather His people. Also, that when Christ would come, the Mosaic law (which was part of the original covenant with Israel) would be fulfilled.

“And then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.”

The first line of this verse caught me off guard for a minute - “the remnants, which shall be scattered” – but I thought the House of Israel had already been scattered? And then I realized that he was talking about scattering the remnants of the House of Israel – the Nephites/Lamanites. We can see the “scattering” of the Nephites and Lamanites all over the American continents today.

Then the Savior must be talking about more of the words of Isaiah than just the Messianic prophecies. And the covenant He is talking about here must be the covenant to gather Israel.

Much clearer now (Note to self: praying before reading complex scripture passages is a great idea)

“And the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance.”

Also a well-known fact – America is the “promised land”.

“And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people –”

Here I am pretty sure the Savior is getting ready to talk about what will happen if the Gentiles don’t accept the gospel after they scatter the Nephites and the Lamanites and are given the promised land – remember, the Gentiles were given America as well to restore the gospel, because of the wickedness and eventual apostasy of the Nephites.

“Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thing adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.”

This is where I got stuck again. My first thought was that if the Gentiles reject the gospel, the Lord will allow the remnant of the Lamanites (the native people of the Americas) to destroy the Gentiles. *(see note at bottom of post)

(Image Source: Animal Planet)

Because I don’t like to speculate, I pulled out my old Book of Mormon seminary manual to see if there was anything in there. Nope. Just the “gathering of Israel” part. I even checked out this commentary video on BYUtv about it, but they did the same thing – talked about how important the words of Isaiah are, and about the gathering of Israel.

No one seemed to mention these verses, so I headed to Google (which I only use as a last resort when it comes to gospel study – I don’t like to find a bunch of stuff written by crazy people…)

I came across this blog, Feast Upon the Word, and discovered a series of posts discussing just this topic! The author is … very educated, it seems, and the posts are not for the faint at heart (I had to move to my desktop computer to read them, instead of my phone – it was really that intense – and I had to actually look up a few words he used online. And I consider myself pretty well educated with a decent size vocabulary).

I have a feeling that in order to really understand this part of 3 Nephi I am going to have to dedicate some time to studying Isaiah 52 and Micah 4-5, so I probably will just “skim” through these chapters and pick out what I can for now while I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon.

I am excited to study these passages in more depth, and hope to do so in the next few weeks!

*Turns out this passage is simply talking about the power of the House of Israel during the gathering of Israel to teach the gospel to the Gentiles and purify them. The Gentiles who won’t accept the gospel will be cut off from Heavenly Father.

Have you ever been absolutely stumped by a passage of scripture? Have you prayed to be able to understand the scriptures better? Where do you look for help understanding passages that stump you? Do you have thoughts on these passages in 3 Nephi?

Strength Through Adversity

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts

containing papers I wrote for a

BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: This is the first paper I wrote in my freshman Book of Mormon class at BYU in the fall of 2004. I have learned a lot since I took that class - I have learned a lot about repentance, forgiveness, and trials. I will admit I was - and probably still am - a naive, inexperienced young woman. The things that stand out to me about what I wrote here are Nephi's "frank forgiveness" of his brethren - charity anyone? - and the reminder that faith produces miracles, not the other way around. As I was reading this paper, I was a little surprised at the ... finality of my conclusion. It is important to understand that what Alma said about the blood of the innocent crying out in judgement against with wicked is true - however, in the past year or so, I have become increasingly aware of the fact that God will give us every opportunity to change - up until judgement day. And if we do repent and partake in the atonement, we can and will be forgiven of all of our sins - even the ones that seem very serious.)

While Lehi and his family journeyed in the wilderness, Nephiwas often ridiculed by his older brothers Laman and Lemuel. At one point, his brothers even beat Nephiand their other brother Sam with rods. Why when Nephi was so righteous, blessed, and even “chosen” did the Lordallow his brothers to bind him and beat him at various occasions? Not only did all of his trials help tostrengthen Nephi, but they also allowed his brothers to witness on severaloccasions the power of God, making their punishment for sinning against theAlmighty even more serious.

The Lord hassaid that “where much is given, much is required.” (D&C 82:3) Nephi was blessed, as he himself stated, with“goodly parents” (1 Nephi 1:1) and with many other blessings he describesthroughout the section. Because Nephiwas given so many great blessings, he was required to endure more than othersmay be required to endure. Countless timesNephi records statements from the Lord to himself saying “Blessed art thou,Nephi” (1 Nephi 2:19) and “thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thybrethren” (1 Nephi 2:22). Nephi wastruly chosen of the Lord who only gave him trial after trial to prove him andstrengthen him. Nephi grew in patienceand in love toward his brothers as he “frankly [forgave] them all that they haddone.” (1 Nephi 7:21). That kind offrank forgiveness can only come from one who has accepted the challenges of theLord and looks at those challenges in a spiritually positive light.

Every timeLaman and Lemuel were involved in mocking, abusing, or ridiculing their youngerbrother, the power of God was made manifest to them. When Nephi and his brothers returned toJerusalem to obtain the plates of brass, Laman and Lemuel beat Nephi and Samand stopped only with the appearance of an angel (1 Nephi 3:29). Later when Laman and Lemuel bound Nephi inthe wilderness and left him for dead, by the power of God, Nephi broke the bonds with which he was bound(1 Nephi 7:17-18). Unfortunately, eventhese miracles of God did not convert Nephi’s brethren because they had nofaith. “Miracles do not produce faith...faith comes by righteousness” (BD Faith). The Lord said to Nephi, “…inasmuch as they brethren shall rebel againstthee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.” (1 Nephi2:21). Not only does the Lord allow badthings to happen to good people for the growth and development of therighteous, but also so that “the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witnessagainst [the wicked], yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day” (Alma14:11).

The Lordallowed Nephi to be bruised and afflicted by his brethren for Nephi’s ownpersonal growth regarding his brothers and others. Laman and Lemuel’s judgment was also sealedby their actions toward Nephi and the other righteous members of Lehi’s family.

What lessons have you learned from Nephi and his family in the Book of Mormon?

Button, Button, Who's got the Button

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking for a while that I needed a button for this blog. So, after much ado (well, not really, just a few minutes of photoshopping) I present ... My Soul Delighteth's very own button! I hope you like it (and I hope you use it ;) ) If you have a button for your blog, let me know and I will add it to my sidebar. I have quite a few buttons up, and I usually try to visit the blogs of people who comment on my blog (if you are reading but haven't commented, let me know you're out there so I can come see your blog, too!)

I also made new Facebook and Twitter buttons, and a Pinterest button, and a button for my email and RSS feeds, too. Hopefully those are useful.

So what are you waiting for? Grab my button!

"not lost unto the Father"

2012-01-18T09:04:00.001-07:00

In 3 Nephi, the Savior comes to the Nephites and says "ye are they they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

I love this clarification that the Lord gives us.

Later He also says, "I ... show myself unto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them."

We talk a lot in the Church about the "lost sheep" or the "one and the ninety and nine" - we talk about bringing them into the fold. In our ward councils we make plans to find them and fellowship them.

They may be lost to us, but they are never lost to the Father.

We may feel lost sometimes, but the Father always knows us and knows where we are. We cannot be lost to Him. He can always find us, and He will always bring us home if we will let Him.

Have you ever looked for a "lost sheep"? Have you ever been a "lost sheep"? Have you ever felt lost? Do you know that the Father always knows where you are?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Book of Mormon Papers

2012-01-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

Students at Brigham Young University are required to take religion classes. The first religion class you usually take is Religion 121: Book of Mormon. Religion classes at BYU are usually taught by religion professors. My first Book of Mormon class was actually taught by a Mechanical Engineering professor. I was part of what BYU called “Freshman Academy” where you have three or four classes with the same group of students. One of those classes was Religion 121, and since we were all engineering students, an engineering professor taught our Book of Mormon class.

Not to minimize the effect of having dedicated religion professors, but my Book of Mormon class with Brother Jordan Cox was the best religion class I ever had. We basically had one standing assignment in Bro Cox’s class, and that was to read the assigned chapters in the Book of Mormon, and then write a one page paper in which we asked a question and answered it with the words from the reading assignment. He didn’t care how much we wrote, what size font we used, or the size of the margins – it just had to be one page.

The two midterms and the finals were also papers. One on the words of Isaiah, one of the Church of the Lamb of God, and for our final, we were supposed to write about our testimony.

I still have the copies of almost every paper I wrote for that class, and over the next little while I am going to post those papers on this blog. I am really excited to share these papers with you, and I hope you enjoy them.

Since the Book of Mormon is broken into two semesters of classes at BYU, these papers only cover the first half of the Book of Mormon. My goal this year is to continue the Book of Mormon papers that I wrote that Freshman year and write papers for the second half of the Book of Mormon, the same way.

I am really looking forward to it!

How do you study the Book of Mormon? Did you take a Book of Mormon religion class at a Church-sponsored university, or a Book of Mormon institute class?

Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear

2012-01-16T14:21:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

I love to share the gospel. I enjoy posting links to Mormon Messages and “I’m a Mormon” ads on my personal Facebook page. I love to talk to people about Christ, and the scriptures.

Maybe it’s because I was raised in the Evangelical south, maybe it’s because my father is a convert, maybe it’s because I am not a very private person and I really like to talk. Whatever the reason, I have rarely experienced fear in talking about the gospel.

I was really grateful for Elder L. Tom Perry’s talk at General Conference. He seemed to lay out – in no uncertain terms – how we should be sharing the gospel.

“First, we must be bold in our declaration of Jesus Christ.”

Growing up I had a lot of really close friends who were very religious Christians, and I think that it was their example of testifying of Christ that I follow in being “bold” in my declaration of Jesus Christ. My Evangelical Christian friends were always proclaiming Christ (both with their actions and with their words). I specifically remember in high school participating in “See You at the Pole” where a group of students came early to school and joined hands around the flagpole in front of our public school and took turns praying, whether in our hearts or out loud. It was a really interesting experience for me, since I was one of only six LDS students at my school (my younger sister being another of the six). I was so impressed that so many students were unashamed to be there, praying in front of the school. Certainly I am sure there were students there who were maybe there to “be seen” – but I knew several of the students there personally, and I knew that they had great faith in Christ, and believed in God.

“We declare our belief in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior. He willbless us and guide us in all of our efforts. As we labor here in mortality,He will strengthen us and bring us peace in time of trials. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints walk by faith in Him whose Church it is.”

“Second, be righteous examples to others.”

Again, growing up, I was able to join with the righteous example of my fellow Christians, even though they were of other faiths. My friends used clean language, they kept themselves morally pure, they were quick to help and serve, they were honest, trustworthy, responsible teenagers. They lived the gospel of Jesus Christ. They truly acted as Jesus would have them act.

I have noticed the scripture from 1 Timothy 4:12 has been quoted several times in the last two or three conferences. “But be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we need to let our lives be proof of our faith in Jesus Christ.

My sister and I babysat a lot when we were younger. Usually we would tend for the same families – whoever was available would take the job. We mostly worked for families in the ward. One summer, however, I had a daily job tending for one of my dad’s coworkers, and my sister occasionally helped out. They also had a friend who we would occasionally sit for. This friend emailed my dad one day and said, “Those girls are so happy and cheerful, and so responsible! What’s their secret?” or something (I’m paraphrasing). We were able to share with that family that we are so happy because of our knowledge of the gospel. We were also able to share with them the doctrine of eternal families. They had an older daughter who had passed away several years before we met them, and we gave them pamphlets and the video “The Road Home.”

Jocelyn blogged about this exact thing the other day - "Why Mormons Smile So Much”. If we have a testimony of Christ and have really received the Spirit, we can’t help but smile! The gospel is a “plan of happiness” – hence the smiling.

“Next, speak up about the Church.”

I was blessed to be able to speak freely about religion with my friends. They didn’t fully understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and I was probably not very good at explaining things for them. However, our conversations were usually “two way” – as Elder Perry has suggested they be, “When our professional and personal associates inquire about our religious beliefs, they are inviting us to share who we are and what we believe…Your associates are not inviting you to teach, preach, expound, or exhort. Engage them in a two-way conversation—share something about your religious beliefs but also ask them about their beliefs. Gauge the level of interest by the questions they ask. If they are asking a lot of questions, focus the conversation on answering those questions. Always remember that it is better for them to ask than for you to tell.”

I think that many people are uncomfortable talking to Mormons about their religion because they are worried that we’re going to go all “missionary” on them. If we would simply answer their questions and even ask questions about their faith, we would be able to be much more effective in sharing the gospel. I had a recent experience where I was able to ask question about Job’s Daughters, a program sponsored by the Free Masons that is similar to Boy Scouts. It was a really great opportunity to get to know more about what my friend was involved in, spiritually. We never talked much about the Church, since I was the one asking questions about a program she participated in, but showing interest in the beliefs of another person can build bridges that they may feel comfortable crossing in the future. This friend happens to know more about the Church than your average person, but perhaps now she will come to me when she has questions about the Church, and I can answer them for her.

If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you haven’t already, I encourage you to go to Mormon.org and create your profile (you will need your membership number which is on your temple recommend, or you can get it from your ward membership clerk). If you aren’t a member, I encourage you to go to Mormon.org and browse through the profiles of other members there, and the answers to FAQs posted on the site by members of the Church.

I recommend Elder Perry’s talk as required reading material for every member of the Church – especially those who are either afraid to share the gospel, or those who scare people off when they are trying to share the gospel.

How do you share the gospel with your friends? Do you have a two-way conversation about faith and religion? Do you ask your friends questions about their faith? Are you an “example of the believers”? How do you declare Jesus Christ?

Find more insight on this talk (and others) over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Exactly One Line

2012-01-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here – The Book of Mormon – A Book from God)

You may not know this about me, but a few years ago I finished my bachelors degree in Mathematics with a minor in Physics from Brigham Young University. I love math. I even love geometry. I didn’t at first, but the more I studied physics, the more I realized I loved geometry.

One of the basic postulates of geometry is that through any two points there is exactly one line. When I heard this postulate spoken of in General Conference by Elder Tad R. Callister I almost cheered! I love when the General Authorities talk about math and science concepts in Conference. I feel that there is something really divine about math and science.

But I digress.

The Book of Mormon. Elder Callister says that with it there is no middle ground, “It is either the word of God as professed, or it is a total fraud.” From a logical viewpoint, this makes sense. It can’t just be a “good book,” since it talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ and professes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God it either has to be from the devil or from God – because you can’t just write an untrue book about Jesus Christ without it being false. So either Joseph Smith received gold plates from an angel and translated them by the power of God as he said he did, or he was possessed by the devil and conjured up this book.

Elder Callister compared it to C. S. Lewis’ argument of why a person must either accept or reject the divinity of Jesus Christ – not merely think of him as a “good person” or a “prophet.” Said C. S. Lewis,

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. …You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God:or else a madman or something worse. … But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

I love C. S. Lewis. I enjoy a little bit of logic when it comes to the gospel – even though the ultimate test of truth comes through the Holy Ghost.

Back to the geometry lesson - Elder Callister described why we need both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

The principles of geometry state that there are an infinite number of lines that can be draw through one point. In every direction – not just the lines we can think of on a plane, but an entire space. Lines going everywhere! Who wouldn’t be confused with all those possibilities?

But add just one more point, and suddenly you have only one possibility – through any two points there is exactly one line. There are absolutely no other possibilities.

When you think of it that way, it is easy to see why there is only one true Church of Jesus Christ, and why that Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. The doctrine of the Church is based on the Bible and the Book of Mormon, together as testaments of Jesus Christ. As Elder Callister puts it, “Only one interpretation of Christ’s doctrines survives the testimony of these two witnesses.”

In his talk, Elder Callister described several instances where the Book of Mormon clarifies doctrine put forth in the Bible, but says, “none is more powerful nor poignant than the Book of Mormon’s discourses on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” I love reading about the Savior, both in the gospels, and in the epistles of Paul in which he teaches people about the Savior. I love reading the words of Isaiah, which are rich in prophesies of the Savior. But by far my favorite place to read about the Savior and His mission is in the Book of Mormon. Some of my favorite passages are Mosiah chapter 4 and Alma chapter 42 – although nearly every page is full of testimonies of the Savior and His mission and atonement. There is something about reading the Book of Mormon that seems to pull me toward the Savior. My thoughts are turned to the Savior more often, my life is more in line with the teachings of the Savior, and my testimony of His divinity and atonement is strengthened.

In the Book of Mormon, Moroni teaches, “For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” Which is exactly what the Savior taught when He said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every … house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” So, the Savior himself taught that if anything persuades people to believe in Him, it must be of God – because Satan cannot persuade people to believe in Christ, otherwise he would be divided against himself.

The Book of Mormon draws me closer to Christ almost involuntarily – without even trying, it pulls me to the Savior with an indescribable force. Then, as the Savior himself taught, it must be of God.

To any who have not read the Book of Mormon and think they know whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Christ, I tell you that you cannot know if it is true if you do not know whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. Elder Callister testified, “An honest, unbiased reading of the Book of Mormon will bring someone to the same conclusion as my great-great-grandfather, namely: ‘The devil could not have written it—it must be from God.’”

And as the 14 year old girl testified, “I have read every page of the Book of Mormon and I know it’s true.”

I, too, have read every page of the Book of Mormon, and I know it is of God. Every page draws me close to the Savior and testifies of Him. How grateful I am for its power and its truths.

How do you know the Book of Mormon is true? Have you experienced “an honest, unbiased reading of the Book of Mormon”? Do you judge the truthfulness of the Church without having read that book?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

I should have kept my mouth shut

2012-01-15T22:15:00.001-07:00

Well, I got a new calling (two actually, but that’s another story) a few weeks before Christmas – choir director! Which wasn’t a huge surprise – what was mostly surprising was that it took them so long. That was probably because when we started attending this ward I complained (only a little!) about having had so many music callings, and I kind of just wanted to try out something else, you know?

Well, it turns out that callings are actually from Heavenly Father and we don’t get to pick, and I will probably be a choir director for the rest of my life (or in some other music calling) and I have finally realized that I don’t mind that one bit! I love music. Love it. I am passionate about music, especially music in the Church.

So, I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting several years ago when I was the choir director for a different ward (I posted an edited version of that talk here). One of the talks I read in preparation for that talk was Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ talk in November 1994 General Conference titled “Worship through Music.”

Last week I was talking with one of the counselors in the bishopric and he mentioned that the Bishop was thinking about spending some time during Ward Conference (in two weeks) talking about singing during Sacrament meeting, because he had noticed that a lot of the members of our ward don’t even pick up the hymnbook during the hymns. I mentioned that I had given that talk on the importance of music and had read that amazing talk by Elder Oaks addressing the exact topic!

That’s where I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

Because now I am giving that talk (well, another edit of it, since the other talk was actually about teaching children music) in Sacrament meeting next week.

And leading the choir in a special musical number.

Good thing I already taught today in Relief Society (oh yeah, I have three callings – but they call the RS teacher and ward organist “part time” callings…). I wonder how long until my ward gets sick of seeing me? (my husband and I gave talks in October, the same day that I gave the lesson in Relief Society. It was great).

In other news, my two year old came down from bed a little while ago with my economy Book of Mormon clutched to her chest. She loves the Book of Mormon, and she can’t even read yet! She mostly just loves carrying it around with her – but she doesn’t carry around any other book – just the Book of Mormon. In fact, she just fell asleep on the couch beside me snuggling it like a teddy bear.

All I know is seeing her hugging the Book of Mormon made my heart swell. I love my kids. Being a mother is the greatest thing I have ever done, and I love it. Absolutely love it. I try to remind myself how much I love it every day – especially when I am tempted to complain about how hard it is. It is hard! But what good things aren’t?

Friday Fragments – Enough to Do

2012-01-13T15:58:00.001-07:00

Oh life has been exciting in the past month that I have been scarce around the blog. We got sick, then we got better, then my family came to visit for Christmas, then they left, then we got sick again, and in the middle of all this I had to report a friend to CPS.

That is a long story, and I had a lot of turmoil about it for the past few weeks, but as the days go by I realize how right it was. It felt really right when I did it, and then I had a hard time with it, and then I worried that it wouldn’t be enough to protect the kids, and then I realized that sometimes we just have to let go, and let God.

Which I have a really hard time doing.

I love the military, really, I do. My husband has had some amazing opportunities this past year, and is currently having another great opportunity. These opportunities are also opportunities for me. Opportunities for me to realize how I love having a husband and not being a single mom, and for me to learn how to do life on my own. Thankfully I’m not completely without him – we get to call each other and text message and things.

Also, I have to acknowledge how grateful I am that he hasn’t been deployed. His military assignments are much more benign. Although I wouldn’t mind him being deployed (after all, that’s what we signed up for), I am very grateful that he has not been in harms way at all.

Anyway, this is single-mom run #1 for the year. I know there will be at least two more times – well, actually just one long run, where his unit will be taking him out of one exotic location and sending him to another. Ha ha. After the fact, I am going to tell you all about what he said to me yesterday about it. It was so funny. And I had just told him that I have noticed he has a hard time seeing all of the great things in his life.

My daughter did what I hoped she would never do…

She cut her own hair.

In the picture on the left you can see where she gave herself some “bangs” (… 1/2” bangs…) and on the right you can see she wanted to add some layers… unfortunately the shortest layers were pretty short, even though her hair looks like it is still pretty long.

The hair stylist was great and did fabulous repair job, but her hair is so short now! I am hoping to grows back fast.

The blessing in all of this? I don’t have to be the first one to have her hair cut. I had been thinking about it for a while – how and when we would decide to trim her hair – because all hair needs a trim. I probably would have waited until she asked for a haircut, which may not have been ever. Now, that first baby haircut is out of the way, and I didn’t even have to agonize over it!

If you haven’t heard of Sista Laurel and Sista Beehive over at As Sistas in Zion, you should really check them out. They are hilarious. I love those girls. They had a particularly funny post up today about the kid with the viral “Mormon on Drugs” video (which I haven’t watched) in which they talked about how famous Mormons serve “cannery missions.” Ha ha. It was funny.

My post Look Up When you Can’t Sing was featured over at yourLDSblog.com (which I had never heard of before). I got so many visits from that link it was unreal. I don’t know if anyone who came from over there is still checking me out, but welcome, if you are! I hope you enjoy this blog!

Meet some more friendly folks
over at Heather’s
Women in the Scriptures blog!

Come, Let Us Anew

2012-01-12T20:58:00.001-07:00

I have started writing this post a few times in the past week… but things have been crazy, and I didn’t think I could just jump back into blogging without explaining my absence, or at least incorporating my reasons into a post.

Remember this talk by President Uchtdorf a few years ago? He talked about slowing down when life gets crazy and focusing on the most important things. I love this blog – I love studying the gospel in depth and writing about the things I am learning. However, over the Christmas holiday we had 10 extra people in our house (including 3 extra children) and most days there were between 2 and 4 extra dogs. We have a relatively roomy home, but with that many people it was all I could do to keep up with my own chores/family and spend time with my parents, brothers and sisters and their children and dogs.

So basically, the blog went on hold, and I spent some much needed quality time with my mom and dad and siblings. We haven’t all been together since my brother passed away last summer. And my other older brother was able to be sealed to his wife’s twins from her first marriage. It was a really great time, and I had to fight the urge to spend time blogging – it would have made me frustrated and stressed (as if there wasn’t enough stress from having so many people to cook for and clean up after.)

I had to remind myself to follow President Uchtdorf’s advice about slowing down through turbulence.

My dear brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most.

The optimum speed for my circumstances over Christmas and New Year were reading my Book of Mormon as much as I could (even though I didn’t end up finishing before the new year) and writing as often as possible in my journal, attending Church meetings, spending time with my family playing games and eating, and doing what chores I could afterwards.

My husband left for a TDY assignment last Monday, and the rest of my family left the next day, so after a full house for nearly two weeks, it’s now just me and the kids for a few weeks.

I am left musing over the new year and resolutions and the atonement and basically feeling a suddenly drop in pressure.

Basically, let me just sum up my thoughts about the New Year:

1.) the atonement is a daily-use principle, and allows us to make “resolutions” each day, as if it were a new year every day of the year
2.) I usually make long-term goals at General Conference time each year – April and October – so there’s my excuse for not making any New Year’s resolutions.
3.) my husband and I talked about having a family theme for each year (we never have before, but we think we should start). More about that when he gets back.

Looking back, I would say 2011 was “the best of times, and the worst of times” for me. Between 2010 and 2011… well, let’s just say life has not been what I expected it to be. That’s the thing about life and relationships. You don’t know what is in store, and you cannot predict the behavior of other people. Period. I am trying to learn how to live my life the right way, and it is hard. The Lord has counseled me to stay in close contact with Him so I can know His will for me, and I think that is going to be my personal theme this year.

This year, 2012, will be the year I figure out how to live my life the way Heavenly Father wants me to live it. Not the way I think I should live it, or the way I think He wants me to live it – rather, I will seek personal revelation and inspiration so that I can actually live my life the way He wants me to. So that every thought, word, and deed is what He wants for me.

So, “come, let us anew our journey pursue”!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Do you use the atonement daily? What are your thoughts on the new year?

Redemption and Repentance

2011-12-29T12:11:00.001-07:00

(find the talks here – Redemption – and here – The Divine Gift of Repentance)

“The choice to repent is a choice
to burn bridges in every direction
[having determined] to follow forever only one way,
the one path that leads to eternal life.”

-Professor Noel Reynolds

I have a strong testimony of the principle of repentance and the gift of the atonement. I am not sure when I gained that testimony – I am sure it came gradually over the years as I grew up. I am also sure that the strength of that testimony is helped by the strength of my testimony that God loves all of His children. When you know that God loves His children, it is easy to understand that He would give them a way to get back to live with Him. A loving God would not shun us at the first hint of sin.
As strong as my testimony of repentance has been, I think that my understanding as been somewhat superficial. This quote from Elder D. Todd Christofferson struck me, “Attempts to create a list of specific steps of repentance may be helpful to some, but it may also lead to a mechanical,check-off-the-boxes approach with no real feeling or change.” I want to be sure that I am not approaching repentance with “no real feeling or change.” I want to change. That is the glory of repentance.
I can remember when the first spark of real understanding of the atonement happened for me. When I was a young woman, a young man in our ward bore his testimony one Fast Sunday about the atonement. He talked about how it is the atonement that allows us to do better each day. He didn’t talk about repenting from grievous sins, he was talking about the “little” things – learning and growing each day. That has always been the foundation of my testimony of the atonement – it is the power by which we progress each day. When I get impatient with my children, it is the atonement that allows me to try again the next day (or the next minute!) and erases all the mistakes I make as I learn how to be a mother.
That’s a pretty comforting knowledge – that my mistakes are not lasting. If I partake of the atonement each day – even in each minute of each day – my mistakes can be washed away!
Having this “daily repentance” understanding of the atonement has probably been the foundation of my understanding of repentance.
The underlying principle in repentance is change. Elder Christofferson said, “Perhaps as much as praying for mercy, we should pray for time and opportunity to work and strive and overcome.” How often do we pray for forgiveness without praying for the strength and opportunity to change and do things differently?
The ability we have to repent comes from the plan of redemption. Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr said, “‘To redeem’ is to buy or to buy back…if we repent, we can be forgiven of our sins, the price having been paid by our Redeemer.” This redemption is provided, whether or not we partake of it. As President Packer said, “There is a Redeemer, a Mediator, who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent.”
Ironically, the most beautiful part of the atonement to me is that there is nothing we can do to repay the Savior. Elder Curtis said, “[T]he plan of redemption calls for our best efforts to fully repent and do the will of God.”
His statement reminded me of a BYU Devotional by Brad Wilcox, in which Brother Wilcox compared the atonement to a parent paying for piano lessons for their child.

Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.

Elder Curtis quoted the hymn Savior, Redeemer of My Soul and I loved the line “Never can I repay thee, Lord, But I can love thee.”
How true! I hope that I can do my best to love the Lord and to repent daily of my weaknesses, making them strengths through His infinite atonement.
How do you partake of the atonement? What are your feelings about the plan of redemption? Are you sometimes discouraged when you have to repent over and over again? Do you recognize the growth that you have made in your repentance journey? What is the meaning of the atonement and repentance for you personally?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Enduring Trials

2011-12-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I was inspired by Elder Richard G Scott's talk at October General Conference when he talked about how at the end of each year his wife could be found quietly finishing the Book of Mormon again.

When I heard that I decided that I would follow her example and read the Book of Mormon every year. I think January would be a fine time to start each year, and the Christmas season will be a good time to finish up each year, so I am trying to finish the rest of the Book of Mormon by the end of this year. I am close! Finishing up Helaman.

And today I read this verse, which reminded me of the trials that I have been talking about recently - the suffering that has been caused by the actions of others. Mormon describes how some of the members of the Church at this time became prideful, and persecuted the humble. And then he talks about how the humble people reacted...

"Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

As I have learned to yield my heart into God in my suffering, I have felt this peace and consolation, and even some of this purification. This is the correct pattern to follow when you are suffering because of the actions of others. Humble yourself and turn to Heavenly Father and He will bless you with peace, and He will help you refine your soul.

How do you deal with trials? Do you feel yourself becoming more humble? Or do you become bitter and hardened? Are you able to find "joy and consolation" in the Savior, by turning your heart to God? Do you allow yourself to be purified through your suffering?

Friday Fragments - Vol 8

2011-12-16T22:46:00.001-07:00

I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year so I can start fresh in January and start on my new habit I want to create of reading the entire Book of Mormon every year.

I have about 15 more days. I hope I can do it!

My family is spending Christmas and new years at my house this year! That means on Christmas morning we will have 9 adults, 5 children under 7, and 4 dogs at our house! It promises to be fun (if a little hairy!!) and I am looking forward to it a LOT!

My sister who lives nearby is coming over on Monday to help deep clean before the company starts arriving.

Papai was playing with our little princess today and things got a little... rough (he pulled her in the laundry basket and it fell over with her in it - she smashed her face against the side/handle of the plastic basket and ended up with a bloody nose. I think it was her first bloody nose ever.

As it didn't end up in an ER visit I am counting our blessings... but at this rate her first ER visit might not be far in the future (V already has the record for earliest and most ER visits... I think he has been to the ER at least 3 times and urgent care at least that many.

I enjoy posting from my phone using this app. I have been posting at night after I read my Book of Mormon and write in my "real" journal. It has been nice.

I turned into a mama bear today when four year old V pushed two year old J into the wall in a mini-fight over the toilet (there are three in this house... no need to fight!) - not sure if I should be happy or sad that my children fight over who gets to go potty...

Thankfully I stopped myself just before I swatted him (gently, but firmly) on his rear end. At the last second my logic overcame "mama bear" mode and I remembered that teaching non-violence with violence is simply not effective. So V and I went into his room and we talked about patience and gentleness and how the Savior didn't push people and how he was kind and gentle, and that when we do something rough, we need to fix it by doing something gentle. He went in the bathroom and gave his sister one of the sweetest hugs. It was fabulous.

Man it was nuts how fast mama bear took over when I hear J's head hit the wall outside the bathroom. And thank goodness the Spirit steps in every now and then to hold me back from yielding to that natural man!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Christmas Spirit

2011-12-14T21:30:00.001-07:00

There is something different about the Christmas season for me this year - and ironically that is the fact that I don't feel much different at this time of year than I do all year long.

I love the fact that more people are focused on Christ at this time of year, and that He is the topic of conversation more than usual. But for me, this Christmas season came up rather unceremoniously. I have been working on being more Christ-centered in my life and in my thoughts this year - and I think that is why I don't feel like there is much different between this season and the past several months.

Now, don't get me wrong - I love Christmas and the whole season - but the worshipping Christ and thinking about him - well, it just feels like that is what I have been doing all along! Which really makes me happy, because that means that I have had a very Christ-centered year (well, at least the last five or six months).

This is a first for me, though. Usually Christmas catches me by surprise, and I find that I have been craving the Christmas Spirit all year.

So this year, the season is so different - and yet very much the same.

Do you feel different during the Christmas season, or do you feel like this is how you have been living all year? How do you keep your life Christ-centered year round, and not just at Christmas? What do you love most about the Christmas season?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Let Us Resist Evil

2011-12-13T23:17:00.001-07:00

In Pahoran's epistle to Moroni (which was a humble to response to a scathing epistle Moroni had written to Pahoran) he described to Moroni all the wickedness and rebellion that had been going on in Zarahemla. Tonight I was struck particularly by this verse:

"[L]et us resist evil, and whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words... let us resist them with our swords, that we may retain our freedom..." - Alma 61:14

This made me think about my own efforts to resist evil. Earlier, Pahoran had said, "we will resist wickedness even unto bloodshed." What am I willing to sacrifice for righteousness? Friends? Prestige? Popularity? My own life?

What are you willing to sacrifice for righteousness sake? Do you resist evil in your life? How do you resist evil? What are some ways you protect your home and your family from the influence of Satan?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Look Up When You Can’t Sing

2011-12-12T10:48:00.001-07:00

(find the talks here – It Is Better to Look Up - and here – The Songs They Could Not Sing)

Elder Quentin L. Cook pointed out that one of the questions General Authorities hear the most is “Why does Heavenly Father allow bad things to happen to good people?”

My husband and I have talked about this principle a lot. It is also spoken about in General Conference pretty frequently. There are three sources of suffering that we may experience in this mortal life.

1.) suffering caused by our own sins/disobedience to God’s commandments
2.) suffering caused by the sins of others/their disobedience to God’s commandments
3.) suffering caused by the mortality and imperfection of this world and our bodies – disease, natural disasters, etc

Elder Quentin L. Cook made a really good point when he said, “Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan.” First of all – of course it is not evidence of an imperfection in Heavenly Father’s plan! His plan is perfect, and His plan and purpose for each of us is beautiful and perfect and will ultimately bless our lives in ways we never thought possible if we will have faith and turn to Him. I think that we are quick to judge both ourselves and others when we encounter adversity. It is easy to think that someone “brought upon themselves” their trials. But remember those three sources of suffering? Only one of them has anything to do with our own choices.

“The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God.” Lately I have been enduring some trials that have been caused by source #2. I have found myself staring at the floor, wondering what is wrong with me and why this his happening to me, and trying to figure out what I did to deserve this (that is, I was thinking that I was enduring these trials because of source #1). Elder Carl B. Cook asked, “Why is it a challenge to consistently look up in our lives? Perhaps we lack the faith that such a simple act can solve our problems.” I did not have the faith that looking up would solve my problems. My problems were being caused by the agency of another person. How could anything I could do change anything? I wasn’t the one making poor choices – I can’t make choices for other people. That was when I read Corine’s post on charity and I realized that even though the suffering was caused by another’s choices, I could choose how to deal with the trial.

Elder Carl B. Cook said, “As I thought of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s power, my heart found the comfort I had sought in vain from the floor of that descending elevator.” Notice that Elder Cook’s problems didn’t go away – but he did find comfort. He went on to say that if we “exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy.” I have really been experiencing a refiner’s fire lately, and as I have been turning to the Lord for strength, and practicing charity, I have been learning that these trials are the Lord’s way of perfecting me and purifying me. For what? Maybe nothing other than to live with Him again someday. But as I look to the Lord for strength in my trials, and as I learn to forgive and love, I am feeling myself grow and develop in ways I didn’t even know I needed to grow.

When Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke about songs that will not be sung, it reminded me of my older brother. My oldest brother passed away a little over a year ago. There were so many songs he didn’t get to sing – and yet, there were so many things he was able to do in his life. Elder Cook pointed out “A unique challenge for those who have lost loved ones is to avoid dwelling on the lost opportunities in this life.” For me, this lost opportunity would be the opportunity to encourage my brother to come back to the Church.

The prophet Joseph Smith said “The only difference between the old and young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstanding all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope.” The glorious part about loosing my brother is that he is not gone forever. He is in the Spirit world (which is all around us) and he can still learn and progress, and I feel like he may come back to the Church. I know at least that he is with our family – our grandparents and aunts and uncles, and they are looking after him and teaching him and testifying to him.

What did you learn about adversity and trial from these talks? Do you look up when you are feeling discouraged or when trials are in your way? Have you felt like you were in a refiner’s fire? Did you feel yourself growing? Did you see a more perfect version of yourself come out of the fire?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

A Time to Prepare

2011-12-05T09:16:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

I remember hearing Elder Ian S. Arden’s talk during General Conference and really loving this phrase, “We must be sure that being busy also equates to being productive.” I couldn’t help but think about all the times I have been “busy” but not productive. It happens more frequently than I would care to admit. Especially when I let myself get sucked into the blogosphere or other social networking sites. As I listened to Elder Arden’s talk again this weekend, and as I read it today, I was reminded of Elder David A. Bednar’s devotional Things as They Really Are that I posted about a while ago. Elder Bednar stressed that life should be experienced through our mortal body, not through digital or virtual worlds.

I have to remind myself of that when I feel like my “best friends” are some of the women whose blogs I read. When I sit in Relief Society and feel like I don’t know the sisters very well, I wonder why I have been spending so much time getting to know these bloggers, and so little time getting to know the sisters in my ward (granted, I have been reading the blogs for a few years and I have only been attending this ward for a few months – but still! I need to put in a little more effort on the real-life friendships). Part of my hesitation to get to know new people is because of my pride and my judgmental attitude (which I’m working on). “Electronic games and cyber acquaintances are no lasting substitute for real friends who can give an encouraging hug, who can pray for us and seek after our best interest.”

I have been learning that the “X” button to close a window is my greatest tool. It’s like that old rule about if something inappropriate pops up on your computer, you just turn it off. You can’t hurt your computer more than the images will hurt your soul – so just shut it off. It’s a similar principle. If I can make myself press the “X” button, rather than just minimizing the page while I go read General Conference, then I am less likely to idle away my time on another website. I particularly love to read news articles – which is good, but there is always something more to read on the internet. It’s not like a magazine or a newspaper that you can put down once you’ve read all the articles. It keeps going. Forever and ever. Elder Arden talks about becoming a “master manager of our time.” This is something that I am continually working on doing – especially as a mother of young children. It’s hard to ever feel like there is enough time in the day to do everything. Almost every night when I go to bed I think, “If only I could have done more.” I can usually be found humming the hymn “I Have Work Enough to Do” – always aware that there is more to be done. I love, though, what Elder Arden said about President Monson, “With all that he does as a prophet of God, he ensures, as the Savior did, that there is still sufficient time to visit the sick, to lift the poor in spirit, and to be a servant of all.” Sometimes I think, “Why can’t I do all that, and still keep my toilets clean!?”

“Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may,be bought at any store for any price.” This quote reminded me of a trailer I saw for a movie in which time becomes money, and money becomes time. You work for time, and you can spend your time on whatever you want – but you better be careful, because if you run out of time, that’s it – you die. I haven’t seen the movie, but I think it is a good metaphor for time – you can’t buy it, of course, but you can waste it. If time was like money, and once you ran out you died, what would you spend your time on? Would you buy that candy bar? Or would you save it up and travel the world? Or give it to someone with small children?

“With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another.” So one of the most important things we can do as we learn to become “master managers” of our time is to figure out or priorities. What does matter most to us? Once we know what we value the most, we need to learn to match our activities with our priorities.

The theme scripture of our family blog is Alma 34:32 which says, “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God”. I truly believe that is what we are doing in this world, and so my highest priority would be to prepare myself to meet God. That seems pretty simple, but figuring out what I actually need to do to prepare myself (and it changes with every season of life) is the hard part. Right now, a lot of me preparing to meet God is learning to have patience – with myself, with my husband, with my children, with my season of life. The way I prepare to meet God might be different later than it is now.

Elder Arden’s talk at the very least has helped me be aware of the activities with which I choose to fill up my time, making sure they don’t give “the false impression of being busy and productive” but rather are productive. Sometimes I can be very productive without even appearing busy (playing with my children – do we ever say “I’m busy” when we’re playing with our kids?).

If you are having a hard time figuring out what matters most in your life, I would direct you to President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk in October 2010 General Conference titled Of Things that Matter Most. It will probably help you. I also wrote about it here on the blog.

How do you make sure that you make the best use of your time? Do you carefully choose your activities to match your priorities? Do you sometimes confuse “productive” with “busy”? How can you make sure you are choosing the “things that matter most”? How are you becoming a “master manager” of your time?

Friday Fragments Vol 7

2011-12-02T08:37:00.001-07:00

I have my first dentist appointment in… 2 years(!?) today. With all the moving and travelling we did over the last few years it just never happened. Well, today is the day… the moment of truth. I just hope I don’t have to have much work one…

I made yummy orange chicken last night. We have some extra little boys with us this week, and their favorite is orange chicken, and so last time they were with us I learned how to make it, and I promise them I would make it again for them. I’m glad they asked me the first time, because it’s a favorite around here now!

My husband and I have had a little cold (congestion and sore throat) the past few days… I hope we don’t pass it on to the kiddos. If you are a mother, you need to read this post (well, the post Stephanie linked to). Seriously. Go read it. You won’t regret it. And you may actually find yourself going about your work today with a lighter heart. Really. It worked for me! I’m having a hard time coming up with things today – but maybe that is because I am anxious to get to the darned dentist (see #1) – mostly just to get it over with… wish me luck!

Children are hard - So don’t have any

2011-12-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine shared a “funny” video the other day. If you want to watch it without having it spoiled, hurry and click on the link. If you don’t have a desire to watch it, read on.

The video opens with a young father and his son (probably 6 or 7?) at a grocery store. The young son takes some cereal off the shelf and puts it in the cart. The father picks it up and deliberately puts it back, and thus ensues a little “take it out, put it back” war between father and son. Suddenly, after the father puts it back again, the young boy starts throwing a tantrum, screaming, throwing things off the shelves, lying on the floor screaming and hitting the floor, all while the bystanders watch in displeasure and seem to give the young father one of “those” looks (if you’ve ever been in the grocery store with a screaming child, you know what I’m talking about). You notice (or maybe you don’t, but I did) that there are only adults (and most of them older – think 40s+) and none of them have children (of any age) with them. The commercial ends with a close up of the young father’s face and a message at the bottom: “Wear condoms.”

Now, while the irony of the video might be somewhat funny, I found the message to be in poor taste, and exactly what Elder Neil A. Andersen was illustrating in his talk from General Conference about children and how the world views them as a lower priority than anything. The message I observed in the video was this, “Children are hard work, so make sure you don’t have any.”

The video is in another language with subtitles (I think French?) and I thought that a commercial like this would probably not fly in the United States. Fortunately we have enough mothers who aggressively defend motherhood (like Rachel Jankovic) in the United States that I think there would be some really negative backlash to a commercial like this being aired in the United States. But in Europe, where families values have eroded so much that some countries are trying to get more men to be teachers so that children will have positive male role models (what happened to fathers?!) I thought this commercial was probably very well received.

I thought the message in the commercial might have been more “don’t have kids if you’re not ready to have kids” if there had been other, well-behaved children in the commercial. But in the commercial you will notice a blatant lack of children. So that leads me to believe that the marketers weren’t just targeting people who might not be emotionally, mentally, physically, or financially prepared to have children. Since the only child in the entire commercial was acting like a monster (while the father simply stands by and “lets” him throw the fit – a conversation for another day) – which even well-behaved children will do sometimes – there was no other conclusion to draw other than that the marketers view all children as trials and burdens which we should protect ourselves from by wearing condoms (or using another form of birth control – don’t worry, I am not knocking birth control here – there is a time and place for that, too).

I know this sounds a little harsh, and maybe I am off – maybe the marketers really were saying “If you’re not ready to have kids, wait until you are.” What did you think?

PS – I included a few pictures of my two year old during some of her tantrums. (which happen quite frequently… because she is two) so you would know that I don’t think my children are always perfect. I wanted to be fair and include pictures of my four year old, but either he doesn’t throw tantrums as often as she does, or he just makes sure he isn’t throwing tantrums while we are taking pictures. Either way – parenting is hard, children are hard – mine throw tantrums all the time. But it is by far the most important thing we can ever do.

What message did you see in the commercial? Do you think the commercial illustrates, at least somewhat, the lower priority most people in the world give to having and raising successful children? Or do you think it is simply a harmless message?

Charity Never Faileth

2011-11-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

You know when you hear about some gospel topic over and over again and it seems like Heavenly Father is really trying to get something through to you – and maybe He feels like you’re not going to get it the first time?

Well, on Saturday morning I woke up feeling… well, a little less than charitable. I was extremely ornery. I hopped on my computer to check the blogs I usually read, and the first thing on my blog reader was this post by Corine over at Joy in the Journey. I read this quote, and immediately knew it had to be printed and taped up on the wall in my bathroom.

I have read Moroni 7:44-45 (men is nothing with out charity, etc) and 1 Corinthians 13 (charity suffereth long, is not puffed up, not easily provoked, etc) countless times. I have listened to and studied talk after talk after talk after talk after talk at General Conference on charity, but for some reason (natural man, anyone?) it is so hard for me to remember, in all my actions, to have charity.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” But the greatest is charity. So if you have faith and hope, fine, but if you don’t have charity, you are “nothing” as Paul so eloquently puts it.

Since Saturday I have been working really hard at being charitable. You’ll be happy to know that I haven’t woken up ornery at all since then, and I don’t plan to start being ornery again any time soon. I am being more patient with my children and my husband, and I am learning to endure difficult circumstances without feeling like a martyr. Not feeling like a martyr when I am suffering because of the actions of others is probably the very hardest thing for me – charity doesn’t come easy for me, especially when I feel like someone who shouldn’t be hurting me is hurting me. But thanks to Corine’s post, I am putting that away (that feeling like a martyr). It’s not fun, feeling like a martyr. It makes me cranky and ornery and stressed (and it makes me break out – and that is never a good thing). It makes me short tempered with my kids. Basically, when I lack charity in one area of my life, it causes my charity to vanish in all the other aspects.

So if I want to have charity with my children, I’ll have to have charity with everyone in my life – even those I don’t think deserve my charity. What?! Did I really just say that? Yes – that attitude is the very thing that has been keeping me from having charity. I was honestly believing that this person didn’t deserve my charity. Fortunately, the Savior commanded us to love everyone – not just people we think deserve our love.

Basically if I can just remember to do everything Elder Ashton describes in the quote above, I should be fine. I’ve been working on it, and I am getting better – I have been able to have so much more charity the past few days. And it feels better.

A lot better.

Do you ever notice yourself lacking charity? How do you remind yourself to have charity throughout the day? Do you post quotes up by your mirrors like I do? Do you carry around a token in your pocket? What do you do to remember to be charitable to everyone?

Wheat and Tares

2011-11-29T08:36:00.001-07:00

For in that day, before the Son of man shall come, he shall send forth his angels and messengers of heaven, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them out among the wicked; and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. For the world shall be burned with fire. JST Matthew 13:42-44

What does it mean to be wicked or righteous? When the Savior taught the parable of the wheat and the tares and other parables about the kingdom of heaven, he said that at His coming, he would send angels and messengers to separate “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” and “cast them out among the wicked.”

The Spirit World – levels of righteousness

In the Gospel Principles manual, we can read a little more about where those that “offend” and those “which do iniquity” will be sent. We know that during this life, those who have not accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ (whether or not they even had the opportunity) will be sent to Spirit Prison. “In the spirit prison are the spirits of those who have not yet received the gospel of Jesus Christ… also in the spirit prison are those who rejected the gospel after it was preached to them either on earth or in the spirit prison. These spirits suffer in a condition known as hell.” (p.244) In Alma we read, “ the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil – for behold they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord… these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity.” So does this mean that everyone who has not received the gospel in this life is “wicked”? We could assume that, since they are in “spirit prison” with those who suffer because they will not accept the gospel. But there is more to spirit prison than just suffering. “The spirits in paradise can teach the spirits in prison” (p.243) and “if [the spirits in prison] accept the gospel and the ordinances performed for them in the temples, they may leave the spirit prison and dwell in paradise.” (p.244) So being in spirit prison doesn’t automatically pass a judgment of “wicked” on a person. The wicked go to spirit prison and suffer in condition known as hell, while those who were righteous go to spirit prison to wait for an opportunity to accept the gospel, and to wait for their temple work to be done.

The spirit world, then, is just like the mortal world we live in right now. There are levels of righteousness and spirituality, and there are levels of suffering. In this life, when we are righteous and live the gospel, we have peace – we also experience suffering, because that is the nature of this world; however, we can experience peace as well. Those who do not have the gospel, yet live righteously, are also living in a measure of peace and happiness. Just because they don’t have the gospel does not mean they need to be tormented. There are those who have an even greater measure of the spirit and peace, those who believe in Christ, but do not have the fullness of the gospel. I think that when we realize how the spirit world is set up – that there are righteous people even in spirit prison, we can understand that there are righteous people on this earth who do not have the fullness of the gospel. This understanding of wicked and righteous helps me to be less judgmental of those I associate with.

Many of us have heard Christians who say anyone who has not accepted Christ is going to “hell” – and that they will be burned and all that. Thankfully we have a more understanding view of how the spirit world works, and those who are righteous, even if they have not had an opportunity to accept the gospel, will not suffer in “hell”, although they will dwell in spirit prison. But sometimes I think we are misguided in our understanding of what is wicked and what is righteous, and there are members of the Church who will tell you that those not of our faith will be going to hell.

The Second Coming of the Savior Jesus Christ gives us another opportunity to study the “wicked”and the “righteous”. “When Jesus comes again… the wicked will be destroyed.” (p.257) Again, who will the wicked be at the time of the Savior’s coming? Probably more those who are in the second category of the spirits who will be in spirit prison – those who reject the gospel after it has been preached to them, whether in this life or in the next. The Gospel Principles book gives us a little more insight into who will be left during the Millennium (after the Second Coming – remember, at the second coming the wicked will be destroyed, and the righteous will live on the earth during the Millennium). Who will be “the righteous”? “They will be those who have lived virtuous and honest lives. These people will inherit either the terrestrial or celestial kingdom.” (p. 263)

Will only members of the Church be living during the Millennium? No – all people who have lived virtuous and honest lives will be on the earth during the Millennium. I know many people not of our faith who are virtuous and honest people. They will all live with Christ as well. “Eventually everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is the Savior.” But until then, it will be just like living with our kind Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, black, Asian, Republican, and Democrat neighbors as we do today.

Puts it into perspective now, doesn’t it? If we cannot live in happiness and in harmony with people who are different than us now, what makes you think you will be able to live that way in the Millennium? It makes me want to be more kind and charitable to people I don’t agree with, especially if they are kind and charitable people. I want to be able to live during the Millennium, but I know that I won’t be able to if I don’t learn how to get along with people right now, in this life.

I hope it is easier for you now to understand the difference between “wicked” and “righteous” – and that not all those in spirit prison are horrible people – some of those people may even be resurrected during the Second Coming with the other righteous during the First Resurrection. (see Gospel Principles p. 260)

A sister in our Relief Society made this very profound statement, “Each person will be taught the gospel in a way that they perfectly understand what they are accepting or rejecting.” When someone rejects the gospel, we have a tendency to judge them as “wicked” – but as this wise sister said, they will have the opportunity to understand perfectly what it is they are rejecting or accepting, and maybe they don’t understand it perfectly.

How do you understand wickedness and righteousness as it pertains to the Spirit World and to the Savior’s Second Coming? Can you look around you now in your life and see people who you think might actually live during the Millennium that before you maybe thought wouldn’t? Does having a better understanding of who the righteous are help you desire to get along and associate with people you may not have before because of their beliefs?

Children

2011-11-28T11:17:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

“In the most beloved story of a baby’s birth,
there was no decorated nursery or designer crib –
only a manger for the Savior of the world.”

I have been thinking a lot about Elder Neil L. Andersen’s talk since General Conference. When I was a teenager, I thought a lot about being a mother. It was really all I wanted to be. I dreamed of having a house full of kids. Mothering children has always been on my mind.

The thing about having children (in God’s way, at least) is that it isn’t a one-person decision. I don’t get to just decide to have kids, or not to have kids – it is a decision I have to make with my husband, “with sincere prayer and acted on with great faith.”

There are many women in today’s world who want to have children and raise them as a single mother. They don’t see anything wrong with that. I see a lot wrong with that.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World states, “Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.” When single women decide to bear and raise children by themselves, they are teaching those children the complete opposite. Sure, it’s hard to be married, and it is hard to compromise and maybe not do things exactly the way you want to, or the way you think is right. But that is where children belong – with a mother and a father who are trying to work together, to be unified. They may not always be perfect, but children are entitled to being raised with a father and a mother who are trying to make things work.

Unity in marriage is another post entirely, but there needs to be unity in marriage for the decision of bearing children – obviously, since neither a man nor a woman can biologically have children without the other. Which means that the choice to have children rests with both the husband and the wife.

Just as the world has succumbed to Satan’s lie that it’s okay for single, unmarried women to raise children on their own (I’m not talking about women who get pregnant from a dumb decision, or a mistake – I’m talking about women who purposefully get pregnant while they are single because they don’t want to get married, yet they want to have children. I am also not talking about women who would get married in a heart beat, but want to raise children and so they adopt or foster as a single woman – those women are to be praised for their courage), Elder Andersen says, “Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family.” I have thought of this a lot – if there is no reason you shouldn’t have more children (you don’t have a job, your health won’t permit bearing children, you are physically unable to bear children, etc – and even in some of these cases, people will bear children), then why shouldn’t you bear children? The world will tell you ___ number of children is enough. I have a boy and a girl, and I can’t tell you how many times the world has told me, “Oh, you have a boy and a girl, that’s perfect, you can be ‘done’ having kids!” What a horrible lie. Sure, I enjoy my boy and my girl, but I have never once thought that I was going to be “done” after two children – regardless of their genders! What a crazy lie the world would have us believe.

I love when the prophets and apostles quote other good Christians at General Conference. Frequently quoted are C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens (best of times, worst of times), and William Wordsworth, but Elder Andersen actually quoted a contemporary Christian blogger, Rachel Jankovic. I almost fell over backwards when I heard him quote her, and then after conference I had to go look her up. Of course, her quote is now being spread around the internet attributed to Elder Andersen (if you spread her quote, please give her credit). The entire blog post she wrote was very powerful. The part Elder Andersen quoted was this

Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."

Part of me wonders what Rachel thinks of being quoted from the pulpit at LDS General Conference. I took the time to read her entire post that this quote was taken from, and it was excellent. I decided today to go buy her book, Loving the Little Years. That sentiment reminds me of a quote from President Monson in General Conference of October 2008 where he said, “If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.”

The other day I came in to my bedroom where I had laid our two and a half year old to sleep on our bed. She was asleep – next to my journal and my economy Book of Mormon. When I opened up my journal, I noticed she had scribbled on a few pages and on the inside covers. I expected to get upset (my journal is very precious to me) and then I thought about reading through that journal when my little J is grown up and independent and doesn’t need me to snuggle her and put her down for naps anymore. And I thought what a beautiful reminder that scribble in my journal will be of the innocence of her childhood, and the precious child that grew up under my care.

I enjoyed the story Elder Andersen told about Elder Mason’s talk with President Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball asked Elder Mason “Where is your faith?” When I first heard that story, and that question, I thought differently about it than I do right now. At first I thought that I didn’t have enough faith and that is why we aren’t expecting a third child yet. But now I am realizing that the Lord wants me to have faith that all my righteous desires will be realized. I need to have faith that I will have all those children my heart desires to have. And I don’t need to be bitter because I won’t have what I want right now.

I was particularly pleased that Elder Andersen reminded us not once, but twice “we should not judge one another on this matter… we should not be judgmental with one another in this sacred and private responsibility.” I think that goes both ways – we should not judge people who do not have children yet, and we should not judge people who choose to have many children, even though it may seem that they have “too many” children. It is a very personal decision, and one made between a couple and the Lord.

How have you had to have faith when it comes to bearing children? Do you think there are things that you need to do before you have children? Are children highest on your list of priorities? Do you cherish each child the Lord places into your family?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Covenant Keeper

2011-11-24T08:26:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about covenants lately. It is good to do a little self-evaluation every now and then to see how well we are keeping our covenants. After October General Conference, I felt a great sense of urgency to evaluate how well I am keeping my covenants – and to be more diligent and faithful in keeping them.

Sister Barbara Thompson talked about keeping covenants at General Conference, and she talked about her mother’s example. She spoke about cleaning out her mother’s belongings after her mother passed away and that her mother’s belongings were evidence that her mother was a covenant keeper. Suddenly I was filled with a great desire to be a covenant keeper.

We make many many covenants. Most of the covenants we make with God are made in His sacred and holy temples.

President Boyd K. Packer reminds us that “we are a covenant people. We covenant to give of our resources in time and money and talent—all we are and all we possess—to the interest of the kingdom of God upon the earth. In simple terms, we covenant to do good. We are a covenant people,and the temple is the center of our covenants. It is the source of the covenant.”

Our Relief Society lesson last week was on the Millennium. We talked about Satan being bound and how the scriptures teach us that “And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power”. After reading this scripture we talked a little bit about how we can bind Satan in our own lives by our righteousness. We can never completely escape from Satan’s influence in our lives today because not everyone will live righteously – but if we live righteously, that is, if we keep our covenants, and we surround ourselves with those who keep their covenants, then Satan will be effectually bound in our lives – at least for the most part.

There is so much protection in keeping covenants. Sister Thompson said, “’Lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.’ Keeping covenants is true joy and happiness.This is comfort and peace. This is protection from the evils of the world. Keeping our covenants will help us in times of trial.”

What strength have you received as you “cleave unto covenants”? Think of the covenants you have made. Are you “cleaving” unto them?

The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn

2011-11-21T10:20:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

“Family history is not simply
an interesting program
or activity sponsored by the Church;
rather,
it is a vital part
of the work of salvation
and exaltation.”

my maternal grandparents

I don’t know about you, but when I read Elder David A Bednar’s talk I had to keep myself from heading straight to FamilySearch to work on my family history. I usually spend Sunday afternoons working on family history work - whether keeping a record of my own family, or working to find records of my ancestors.

When I was in Junior High school I went to an International Studies Magnet school. Basically that was just a fancy name for saying that our school offered four different language classes (Spanish, French, German, and Latin) and that the classes were often focused on other cultures and nations. In addition, eighth graders were encouraged (maybe required… I can’t quite remember) to participate in a Culture Fair – like a science fair, but instead of doing a project that had to do with science, you did a project that had to do with culture. There were several different categories you could choose from, and somehow I ended up choosing family history. I created a nice display board with a family tree I drew and glued construction paper leaves to the branches, as well as pictures of my ancestors, along with their names, birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates. In my preparation for this project, I discovered that we didn’t have any record of my great great grandfather. Normally great great grandfathers aren’t too hard to find – most people my age grew up with their great grandparents – I am no exception, I was very familiar with my father’s maternal grandmother. I was also very familiar with my father’s paternal grandfather, even though he passed away in 1949. I knew stories about him, and I knew about where he came from. But his father still eluded us.

I think that experience was the spark that ignited the spirit of Elijah in me. I have spent a lot of time off and on working on that line, trying to find information. One of the biggest trials is the political and cultural upset that surrounded my great great grandfather’s life, so the work looking for names on that line has been slow – well, really I haven’t made much progress at all. I keep trying as much as I can. Sometimes it is hard to make the time to work on family history with little ones running around, but I try to regularly spend some time doing family history research.

Elder Bednar’s talk was kind of hard for me to read, unlike most of his talks that are so straight forward and simply spoken. But maybe that was just because I kept wanting to go over to the Family Search website and find names. I did appreciate his background on the spirit of Elijah and the prophecy from Malachi about the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood. I think that we don’t really think about that very much – we kind of take it for granted. And I think people not of our faith don’t even understand it at all, so his explanation was probably as much for newer members and those not of our faith as it was for the members.

I love the idea of the temple as the place where we forge “the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers,which fulfills the mission of Elijah.”

When I was twelve years old, ready to go to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for the dead, I sat down with my bishop for an interview (we were actually in the mothers’ lounge in our small building because his office was being used and all the other classrooms were in use with the other ward that met in our building). I was pretty confident that I would “pass” the interview – I was a pretty good young woman, I tried to read the scriptures, say my prayers, and keep the commandments, and I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of what I would be doing in the temple. But the first thing that wise bishop asked me was “What does it mean to gather Israel?” Okay. He had stumped me. I hadn’t been through seminary or institute yet – I had just barely graduated from Primary! I had no clue what he was talking about. Thankfully I had enough sense to say so. Of course, he didn’t mind – he wasn’t testing me, he simply wanted to teach me a profound and central principle about the work that we do in the temples. That wise bishop went on to teach me about the spirit of Elijah, the keys of the Priesthood, and the significance of sealing every member of God’s family to Him in the temple. I have never forgotten that chat with that wise bishop, and I know that his wisdom and his willingness to teach me has made a huge impact on how I view the temple, family history work, and missionary work.

Back then, of course, family history work was a little more intimidating for me. There were all these microfilms and microfiches (little fish?) and big machines and old computers and pedigree charts that took up the whole wall and binders and binders of family group sheets. It was overwhelming for my young self. However, I still remember a few trips to the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City when we would visit Utah. I also remember spending a lot of time playing with the machines in the family history library at the stake center while my mom toiled away finding names and preparing them for the temple. By the time I was old enough to attend the temple and do baptisms myself, I was definitely a little more interested, and my mom helped me learn how to use PAF and by the time I was in high school and the internet was useful for things like this, I learned how to search the internet for family names. When I went off to college, I started spending a lot more time working on family history research. Now with the new Family Search, family history work is so much more simple and even our youth can do it – as Elder Bednar is counseling them.

It is my hope that I can help my children recognize the importance of family history work, and really have that same testimony that my bishop helped me understand as a youth. I loved Elder Bednar’s testimony that

It is no coincidence that Family Search and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends.

I really have a testimony that the youth can and will do this – they will use the internet and their technologically savvy minds to further the work of the Lord, and it will be amazing.

The promises that Elder Bednar made to the youth were significant. He said,

Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary.As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

I want those promises for my children! I worry so much about the influence of the adversary and technology and I am constantly thinking “How am I going to keep my children safe?” Well, Elder Bednar gave me the answer right here – help them get interested and get involved in family history work. My children are four and two right now, but I am sure I can think up ways to get them interested in family history work. In fact, my brain is cooking up ideas right now just by mentioning it!

In conclusion, I love this admonition from Elder Bednar,

Young people increasingly need to be learners who act and thereby receive additional light and knowledge by the power of the Holy Ghost—and not merely passive students who primarily are acted upon.

This is one of my biggest goals as a mother – to teach my children to act and not to be merely acted upon. If I can teach them to act, and most importantly, to act righteously, I think I will be a successful mother.

How do you get your small children interested in family history work? How did you gain your testimony of family history work and temple work? What does the spirit of Elijah mean to you?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Friday Fragments Vol 6

2011-11-18T10:18:00.001-07:00

I added Facebook and Twitter buttons to the blog in the sidebar. Check ‘em out! I think they are pretty nifty. I designed them myself! Right now I don’t do a whole lot of posting on either, but the RSS feeds of the blog do show up there, so if you don’t use a blog reader and you want to get some update when I post on this blog, go ahead and follow there. I’ll often share Ensign articles, good talks, books, music, and scriptures that I like on the Facebook page. I decided next Conference that I will be “tweeting” during Conference! That’s right – My Soul Delighteth is movin’ on up in the internet age! It’s going to be exciting. And maybe I’ll even have another giveaway soon (even though I still haven’t shipped your temple prints, folks! I will do it soon, I promise! Fall caught me off guard. We started a co-op preschool, and that threw me for a loop, I guess).

Here is a shameless plug for my Math Savers website. I am working really hard at increasing content, but that’s easier to do when you know people have questions. So if your kids have questions on their homework that you can’t answer, send them to me over there and I’ll try to write a post just for you! Math is my other love. I love math, and I absolutely love teaching math. If I wasn’t so addicted to being a mom, I’d be a high school math teacher. In a heart beat.

If you missed my post about BYU’s parenting program You Can Do This – go check it out. If you are interested in participating, let me know. I think it is going to be really great. I already set up a blog for participants. There will be several ways to participate – we will have an in-person meeting, and if you want to participate in that via the internet, we’ll have a Google+ hangout set up for that. If you want to participate strictly off-line, you can participate through the blog found here. I am really excited to go through these principles that the folks over at BYU’s school of education have put together. I think it will be a great learning tool for us, and I hope you find it to be useful in your family as well.

How do you deal with someone assuming you always have a bad attitude? I have tried to see where I have a bad attitude, and while I know that sometimes I do have a bad attitude, usually when this person thinks I am having a bad attitude I’m honestly not. This person gets really upset, and then there is no talking to them because they are completely convinced that I was in the wrong, and all I was doing was trying to understand. They won’t rest until I admit that I had a bad attitude (even though I didn’t have a bad attitude, I was simply trying to understand them!) and they just keep getting more and more angry – but I don’t know what to say! Should I just agree with them? It doesn’t work, they know that I don’t believe it, and then they get even more upset. If I disagree, they also get upset…

I know it may look like I am trying to make myself look good in this picture, and I am sure there are things that I could have done better, but sometimes no matter how cordial, loving, respectful, or understanding I try to be, this person still thinks that I am being disrespectful, mocking, hateful, hurtful, etc. I understand where this person is coming from because of their upbringing (this person’s parents were/are very degrading to their children, and said person was belittled almost every day of their growing up years and to some extent still is when they visit family). I know that the misperceptions are caused because of this person’s past – and so I do not judge this person for getting angry every time I open my mouth to speak. In their mind, I am being disrespectful, because that’s how said person’s parents were. But I am not this person’s parents nor will I ever be nor do I want to be like them. So my dilemma is that this person thinks that if I didn’t do something wrong, then they did something wrong, and then this person gets upset because they are always “wrong” and I am always “right.” Something a wise marriage counselor once told me is that it is less about who is right and more about what is right.

But most of the time, this person is so concerned with who is right that they can’t see that I don’t care who is right, I care about what is right (and unfortunately, because of this person’s messed up childhood/adolescence, they have a pretty messed up perception of what is right, because they had all the trust in the world that their parents were doing it right, when in reality their parents were doing it very very wrong.) But that doesn’t make this person wrong. And I don’t know how to get us over that hump.

So how do I get this person to understand that I don’t care about which of us is right? It seems like no matter what I do, this person won’t believe that I am not trying to be right – I just want what is right.

I just want to be a good person. That’s all.

Find more fabulous Friday 5’s over at
Heather’s Women in the Scriptures
Friday Five linkup.

with all the feeling of a tender parent

2011-11-17T07:49:00.001-07:00

(1 Nephi 8:37)

Parenting is a sensitive topic, and because of the individuality of each child, there are different ways parenting has to be applied in different situations. A friend of mine often said that she didn’t really like parenting books, because she didn’t think anyone could really tell her how to raise her kids, because they were her kids, and they were unique. While I agree (somewhat) with this attitude – children are unique and indeed have unique needs – I believe that there are some universal principles that govern good parenting, and they happen to be gospel principles.

My very favorite institute teacher (someone you’ll hear me talk about a lot on this blog), Uncle Wally, talks about following Heavenly Father’s example for parenting in an article in the book, My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures. He expounds on more gospel-related parenting skills in his book The Soft-Spoken Parent. The parenting skills and principles I have learned by listening to Brother Goddard’s advice and knowledge (and experiences) have really enriched my life as a parent.

Last night my husband and I watched the overview of a parenting program developed by Brigham Young University’s school of education. It is a program they have developed after years and years of research and study of families, children, and parenting. It’s called You Can Do This: an Approach to Raising Wonderful Children. I love that they don’t call it the approach to raising wonderful children. Obviously that leaves room for other approaches. However – I believe that this program is founded on gospel principles.

After watching the overview video, my husband and I decided that it would be a good idea for us to go through the program together. Then we had an idea. What if we could get some of our friends to participate with us, in a type of book-club? Then I had an idea – what if I could get some online friends to participate with us in a type of online book club?

I think that maybe we will wait to start until the beginning of the year, due to the holidays and the busy schedules that people will have, but I hope that this can be an enlightening experience for all of those who choose to participate, and that we can learn a lot from this program and from the parents who will participate with us.

Each week the assignment will be to read one of the “lessons” in the program, and then during the week try to implement those strategies in our families. When we get back together at the end of the week, we will discuss what went well for us, where we have room for improvement, how the principle worked in our family, and then move on to the next principle.

There are more than 50 lessons, but we will try to pare it down and maybe combine a few lessons to shorten the course. Or maybe we will do it in 3 month intervals, and repeat? If you have any ideas how to go through this program in a group setting, let me know. As I said, this will be a kind of “book club” feel – not us teaching you (we have so much to learn ourselves!)

If you would like to participate (either online or in person – in person would be in the Salt Lake Valley, since that is where we live) let me know. We will probably do the online participants in a Google+ hangout video conference.

You Can Do This - English from McKay School of Education on Vimeo.

I will post more information on the blog as we get this thing organized. In the meantime, I invite you to go check out the website, You Can Do This and watch the overview video, or I have embedded the video here on the blog. We will probably ask each couple to watch the overview video prior to the first meeting. It is about 26 minutes long, but well worth it. My husband and I really enjoyed watching it, and we are looking forward to working through this program with a group.

What parenting programs have you participated in that have been meaningful to you and have created a difference in your parenting skills? Would you be interested in participating in this program with us – whether in person or online?

The Song of the Righteous

2011-11-15T13:02:00.001-07:00

Note: This is an edited version of a talk I was asked to give in Sacrament meeting in 2008 when I was the ward choir director in a ward in Springville, UT. I tried to shorten in a bit, but it’s still pretty long (it was a 10-15 minute talk…) I have been enjoying the Mormon Channel’s new Music Stream, and it made me think of this talk and all the wonderful principles I learned while studying for it.

I have a great testimony of the power of music. I have played and sung many pieces of musical importance, and performed in various venues throughout my life. I have several favorite pieces among the great composers of Debussy, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Bach, and others. But by far my favorite music to experience, whether by listening or performing, are the hymns.

There have been times when I have been able to share my testimony through the hymns, and those are the times when my testimony feels the strongest – unbreakable, unshakeable, and immoveable. In a way, I feel that the hymns, especially those in the Children’s Songbook, have provided the foundation for my gospel knowledge.

But the hymns didn’t provide that foundation on their own. I credit that foundation to the exposure my parents gave me to the hymns from an early age.

Ever since I can remember, there has been music in our home. The earliest of those memories has to do with the hymns. When my mother was a member of the Stake Relief Society Presidency, our family would travel to the different wards in our stake, often an hour or more away from our home. It would have been a lot easier for my mother to simply take the trip herself, but she would make us go with her, and our family would sing in the ward’s sacrament meeting. Often, the song was “Love is Spoken Here.”

My father has worked in family therapy for years, and once as a young child, our family went with him to a family retreat sponsored by his agency. One evening, while all the families were gathered after dinner, our family sang “Love at Home.” Our parents loved sharing truth through music, and so experiences like these were common for us.

President Boyd K. Packer said, “Parents ought to foster good music in the home and cultivate a desire to have their children learn the hymns of inspiration.” It is hard to cultivate that desire to learn the hymns if we ourselves, as their parents, do not cultivate the desire in us to learn the hymns.

Several years ago, Elder Oaks shared the following experience,

“I had finished a special assignment on a Sunday morning in Salt Lake City and desired to attend a sacrament meeting. I stopped at a convenient ward meetinghouse and slipped unnoticed into the overflow area just as the congregation was beginning to sing these sacred words of the sacrament song:
’Tis sweet to sing the matchless love
Of Him who left his home above
And came to earth—oh, wondrous plan—
To suffer, bleed, and die for man!
(Hymns, 1985, no. 177)
My heart swelled as we sang this worshipful hymn and contemplated renewing our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. Our voices raised the concluding strains:
For Jesus died on Calvary,
That all thru him might ransomed be.
Then sing hosannas to his name;
Let heav’n and earth his love proclaim.
As we sang these words, I glanced around at members of the congregation and was stunned to observe that about a third of them were not singing. How could this be? Were those who did not even mouth the words suggesting that for them it was not “sweet to sing the matchless love” or to “sing hosannas to his name”? What are we saying, what are we thinking, when we fail to join in singing in our worship services?
I believe some of us in North America are getting neglectful in our worship, including the singing of hymns. I have observed that the Saints elsewhere are more diligent in doing this. We in the center stakes of Zion should renew our fervent participation in the singing of our hymns.” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Worship through Music,” Ensign, Nov 1994)

I witnessed this myself when our family was attending a Portuguese ward here in Utah. The Brazilians in our Portuguese ward sang the hymns with such vigor and testimony I was almost moved to tears each Sunday during Sacrament meeting. Contrast that with our English speaking ward we recently started attending. The hymns during sacrament meeting are barely whispered, and there are many who do not sing or even mouth the words. We must sing the hymns. There is no other way to gain a testimony of their significance and importance.

You can download almost all the hymns of the Church, including the hymns from the Children’s Songbook, from the Church website. There are a few hymns that are not available for download due to copyright restrictions, but for the most part, you can download (for free) and listen to and learn any hymn that might be sung in Sacrament meeting.

The First Presidency Preface to the Hymnbook says, “Teach your children to love the hymns. Sing them on the Sabbath, in home evening, during scripture study, at prayer time. Sing as you work, as you play, and as you travel together. Sing hymns as lullabies to build faith and testimony in your young ones.” These are simple suggestions that make an eternal impact of the testimonies of your children. There is nothing more special than rocking my children to sleep singing “I am a Child of God.”

My husband often comments that I have a song for everything (almost any phrase or topic can get me singing something). This is especially true for gospel topics. The songs found in the Children’s Songbook teach very deep and significant doctrinal truths in a simple, joyous manner. If our children learn the songs of the Children’s Songbook, their gospel understanding will be much more advanced by the time they graduate from primary. There are songs in Primary that teach about the Plan of Salvation, as so eloquently and simply stated in the song “I Lived in Heaven.” Children learn of baptism through dozens of simple songs. They learn of the life of the Savior, the Savior’s love for them and for all His children. They learn about the importance of helping at home, of service, of love, of scripture study, and prayer by the words of a song. There is no basic gospel principle left out of the Children’s Songbook. Do you understand what a significant blessing that music is to your children?

Elder Packer encouraged all families to make sure that music lessons are a part of their children’s upbringing, and especially that parents provide the opportunity for children to learn to play the hymns of the Church. He said,

“The time for music lessons seems to come along when there are so many other expenses for the family with little children. But we encourage parents to include musical training in the lives of their children.

Somehow Andrew and Olive Kimball did, and Spencer learned to play. Somehow Samuel and Louisa Lee managed to do it, and Harold learned to play. And now, as the leaders of the Church assemble for our sacred meetings in the upper room of the temple, we always sing a hymn. At the organ is President Spencer W. Kimball or President Harold B. Lee.

How wonderful is the music instructor who will teach children and youth to play and will acquaint them with good music in their formative years, including the music of worship. To have such music as a part of one’s life is a great blessing.” (Boyd K. Packer, “Inspiring Music—Worthy Thoughts,” Ensign, Jan 1974)

My mother is a piano teacher, and she makes sure that her LDS students learn how to play the hymns. That didn’t start with her students, however. My brothers and sister and I have always been required to learn to play the hymns. It started with learning from the Hymns Made Easy book, and as our ability to play the hymns increased, if it increased, we moved on to the regular hymnbook. Some of my siblings still play from the Hymns Made Easy. Nevertheless, for each of us, it has been a great blessing in our lives, as we have been able to provide the service of accompanying any kind of meeting. It has helped us learn the importance of music, of service, and of the gospel.

You do not need to force your child to become a great performance musician. It can be as simple as teaching them to play a few simple hymns, or having someone you know teach them how to read music and play from the Hymns Made Easy book. That simple ability to play the hymns will bless them throughout their lives. Maybe you will even be inspired to learn to play the hymns as well.

I encourage each of you to ponder the words of the prophets on this subject. Think about President Packer’s admonition to give our children music lessons. I hope you take to heart Elder Oak’s counsel to sing the hymns in our worship services, to be an active participant in the music of the gospel. Cultivate the desire to understand and gain a testimony of the significance of music in the gospel. Please come to Sister Taylor or myself for help with increasing your musical abilities.

I pray that we will use the gift of music to bring the Spirit of God into our homes, into our meetings, and into our lives, and let that Spirit testify to us of the truthfulness of the gospel and the reality of our Savior.

How have you made good music a part of your life? Do you worship through song with the hymns and songs from the Children’s Songbook? Do your children learn how to play the hymns? Sing the hymns? How do you study the gospel through music?

Forget Not – You Matter to Him

2011-11-14T08:35:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here – Forget Me Not)
(find the talk here – You Matter to Him)

In President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk, You Matter to Him, he spoke of a great paradox of man: “compared to God, we are nothing; yet we are everything to God.” To me these have always been some of the most beautiful principles of His gospel – that He knows and loves even me – one little person in a sea of faces and people and lives. And He doesn’t just know who I am, He loves me and cares for me deeply. Deeply enough that He gave His only begotten Son for me!

(image credit: wonderferret)

When I went to EFY (Especially for Youth) as a teenager just finishing high school, during one class with our session director (who just happened to be Matthew Richardson – now a member of the General Sunday School Presidency who gave a talk in October General Conference), he put a rubber glove over his head, covering everything except his mouth and blew it up. He said, “This is one kind of pride – the puffed up kind.” President Uchtdorf talked about this as one of the ways that Satan “appeal[s] to the extremes of the paradox of man.”

Then, Bro Richardson deflated the rubber glove and said, “This is the other kind of pride – the ‘I’m not worth anything’ kind of pride.” President Uchtdorf described this by saying, “[The adversary] attempts to focus our sight on our own insignificance until we begin to doubt that we have much worth. He tells us that we are too small for anyone to take notice, that we are forgotten—especially by God.”

Bro Richardson concluded by saying that neither having the rubber glove puffed up, nor having it deflated was going to be good for us. The solution was to completely remove the rubber glove from our head.

“How much larger your life would be
if your self were smaller in it.”
~G. K. Chesterton

I think that quote by G. K. Chesterton sums it up quite perfectly. President Uchtdorf said, “What matter[s]to [Heavenly Father is] that [we are] doing the best [we can], that [our] heart [is] inclined toward Him, and that [we are] willing to help those around [us].”

In President Uchtdorf’s talk from the General Relief Society Broadcast gave us a few things that if we will remember, will help us avoid having a rubber glove on our head.

When I heard the things that President Uchtdorf spoke about in his Relief Society talk, I couldn’t help but think what a timely message it was. I have been noticing a general despair among women in the Church these days (and I have by no means been exempt) and it touched me deeply that a prophet of God would know exactly what we needed to hear, and say it so perfectly.

You can read the whole talk on your own, and I highly recommend you do, so I won’t worry about quoting everything – but I will share the parts that meant the most to me.

I loved that he started by saying, “God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.” Which I took to mean that we can stop beating ourselves up for not being perfect – because God already knows it. And then President Uchtdorf followed up with, “God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.” How often have I looked at a family and thought they were “perfect”! The irony of comparing ourselves to others is that we almost always end up playing to one or the other of the extremes President Uchtdorf spoke about in his talk about the paradox of man – we are either comparing our weaknesses to the strengths of others (thus downplaying our own worth), or we are comparing our strengths to the weaknesses of others (thus convincing ourselves that we are somehow worth more). This reminds me again of that quote from the article on refinement I posted a while ago. Talking about ourselves and talking about others are both ways to be prideful. But talking about ideas, doctrine, books, etc are the things that will inspire us to be more like the Savior.

I feel this way a lot, “Dear sisters, many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others. Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself.”

I wrote about good and foolish sacrifices a few weeks ago when I got back from a Ragnar Relay. If you haven’t read that post, I would ask that you do. It was a really significant learning experience for me. But as a disclaimer, I want to add this bit from President Uchtdorf’s talk: “Every person and situation is different, and a good sacrifice in one instance might be a foolish sacrifice in another.” Although I can’t for the life of me figure out when running a race like that would be a good sacrifice, maybe someone can help me see.

I am usually pretty good at being happy now – I am rarely waiting for my “golden ticket” – in fact, I wouldn’t even know what my “golden ticket” is! I enjoy my life in the moment so much that I have to continuously remind myself not to “temper [my] goals.” I am usually striving for the righteous desires of my heart, but I think that in my complacency and happiness with my life how it is, I sometimes slow down when I could be stepping up the pace a little. I am working hard to find that balance between enjoying what I have now, and working toward something better. My husband is usually the one waiting for his golden ticket, but I am the one who is sometimes too content with one bar of chocolate that I don’t even worry about buying more chocolate in an attempt to get a golden ticket.

“My dear sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not an obligation.” When President Uchtdorf mentioned this principle, I immediately thought of people who say things like “I can’t do that, I’m Mormon.” or “I have to serve a mission, because I’m a Mormon guy.” I am working on writing down a statement that describes “why [I] committed to making [the gospel] a foundational part of [my life]” I think that if I can come up with a good “why” statement, the gospel will “[cease] to become a burden and, instead, [become] a joy and a delight.” I would love to say that it is a joy and a delight, and that it is precious and sweet – but I know that it can become more precious to me, if I will really focus on the why.

In the Mormon Messages above, go straight to 1:24 and listen to what he says about serving a mission. That is what President Uchtdorf is talking about.

“No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love.”

I wish everyone could really understand that quote – God loves you with an infinite love. He knows you! He made you! Of course He would love you. But it’s harder to really internalize than it sounds. I have had a strong testimony that the Lord loves me from the time I was very young. It has been a great blessing in my life, and it is something that my heart yearns to share with every person on this earth.

Do you know that the Lord loves you? Do you sometimes fall into one of the traps of the adversary in drawing us to the extremes of the paradox of man? How are you able to find a peaceful place where you understand both doctrines? In what ways do you try to be patient with yourself? How do you recognize foolish and good sacrifices? Are you happy with your life now? Why have you made the gospel such a fundamental part of your life? Do you know that Heavenly Father loves you?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Friday Fragments Vol 5

2011-11-11T08:26:00.001-07:00

On Fast Sunday I was fasting for a particular thing (some answers to some very important questions). As I prayed at one point during our meetings, I had a very distinct stupor of thought during which I basically forgot about what I had been fasting for. After that stupor, I received some of the most beautiful revelation about a subject that was significantly more important at this moment in my life – revelation I wouldn’t have received if I had been occupied with getting answers I thought I needed.

Turns out Heavenly Father knows my needs better than I know them. Good thing.

My husband and I were talking last night about a woman he works with who’s husband, when her family was much younger, was always serving in bishoprics and stake presidencies. All but one of their seven children are no longer active in the Church, and in fact, want nothing to do with the Church because they see it as this horrible organization that took away their father and mother (their mother, for some reason, also had many leadership callings while their father was a bishop and their children were young). This broken-hearted woman told my husband that she thought the sacrifices they made for the Church were going to “save” her children in a sense.

Unfortunately, she didn’t understand that the Church’s role is to support the family, not the other way around. I suppose it is easy for people serving in time-intensive, leadership callings in the Church to say “Oh, I am sacrificing for the Lord’s kingdom – He will take care of my family” and proceed to virtually ignore his/her familial duties because they are so busy with their job and with their Church calling.

One important thing we discussed is that our children have agency, and even two of Lehi’s sons rebelled and chose to leave the Church – and their father was a prophet.

I commented to my husband about how President Monson was called to the apostleship at age 32, and his oldest child was nine, I believe. To the best of my knowledge (correct me if I’m wrong) all of his children are still active in the Church. I imagine that this has less to do with the Lord “taking care of it” and more to do with the fact that I am sure President Monson did his best to lead his family, even as he helped lead the Church. I am sure the Lord blessed his efforts – but that’s just it, I’m sure he made an effort to still be there for his young family.

It just something to think about, especially if you have young children and you are in leadership callings – as you sacrifice for the kingdom of God in leadership callings, don’t leave your family to chance. The Lord will bless your efforts, but you have to make an effort.

Ha, I guess the last one was a little more than a ‘fragment’ – I’ll make up for it here. After talking about making sure you are taking care of your family duties, I’ll tell you my husband spends a lot of time away from home (between military assignments and Church assignments, there were a few weeks this summer when we maybe saw him for a few days every few weeks). He’ll be gone this weekend, too. Anyone up for a girl’s night out tonight?

My Dad is Canadian, and although the use of poppies for Veteran’s Day (or Remembrance Day in Canada) is seen in the United States as well, I don’t think it is nearly as prolific here as in other countries. Sometimes I think that is because in the United States we don’t know exactly how to honor veterans. I have associated the red poppy with Veteran’s day my entire life.

May we remember those who have given everything for freedom.

Yesterday, the US Army’s Facebook Page wrote,

A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, National Guard or Reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount "up to, and including my life."

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

Becoming a False Prophet

2011-11-10T07:29:00.001-07:00

I was reading a post over on How to Be Superwoman about Personal Revelation, and I skimmed over an article she linked to that one of her readers had sent to her. The article was basically arguing that there is no such thing as personal revelation (or “personal words from God” – his words) because we can’t always be 100% accurate 100% of the time, and a prophet has to be 100% accurate 100% of the time.

I think the author of the article made a really good point. I don’t mean to say I agree that there is no personal revelation – of course I believe there is – however, I still think he brought up some valid concerns about personal revelation.

People who believe in personal revelation (especially us Mormons, since we rely so heavily on it) can be very susceptible to become false prophets to ourselves.

How do we avoid become false prophets to ourselves? Here is the (edited) comment I wrote on Amy’s blog. It is mostly my testimony of personal revelation, and maybe some of the scriptures or points I brought up will help us understand and discern between true personal revelation from God, and what we think is from God, but is not.

The Bible tells us to ask God "Ask, and ye shall receive... knock and it shall be opened unto you." (Luke 11:9, Matt 7:7) "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." (James 1:5) I can tell you right now, I lack wisdom on just about every topic in my life. Especially as a mother. I have no clue what I'm doing - so I ask God, and He helps me. I am so grateful for that knowledge that God will answer my prayers.

I have asked, and I have received answers to many questions - including whether or not the Bible is true, whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, and most importantly, if Christ is my Savior. He is.

Paul said, "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." So if we have a testimony of Jesus, we have the spirit of prophecy (when we are testifying of Christ).

I would also add that I do not believe I (or anyone) will ever receive revelation from God that will be contrary to His word in scripture and from His prophets. (i.e., the person receiving "revelation" that he should not marry - that isn't from God, IMO). The scriptures make a really good measuring stick for what is revelation from God, and what is not. The Book of Mormon says, "all things which are good cometh of God...(see James 1:17 & 1 John 4:1-6) that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve Him, is inspired of God... for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." Moroni 7:12-13,16

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt 7:15-20)

I think that the author of the article makes a good point that people can become false prophets to themselves, and quite possibly to others. I see it all the time both in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and out of the Church. You have to be very cautious with personal revelation. It is very easy to become a false prophet if you aren't careful. But I think the author throws the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. If we don't have any revelation, how are we to know anything? How do you know the Bible is true? How do you know Christ is your Savior? If you know these things, how did you come to a knowledge of them? Or are you simply just hoping they are true?

Or did you get that knowledge from God? (knowledge from God = revelation)

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that the fullness of that gospel is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that God loves me and that He speaks to me.

Maybe God doesn't speak to me in a burning bush, but He does speak to me through a burning in my heart. And I am grateful for it.

How do you recognize when personal revelation is from God? How do you avoid becoming a false prophet to yourself? Have you ever had what you thought was a prompting from God, only to realize, upon further inspection, that it was indeed not from God?

We Do Not Doubt Our Mothers Knew It

2011-11-09T08:24:00.001-07:00

At the Denver Temple in Littleton, CO

On Fast Sundays in Sacrament Meeting (our main worship service) congregation members are invited to get up and share their testimonies. Our four year old, V, always wants to get up. Because four year olds can be… loquacious… and sometimes say things that don’t make sense, I always grill him before he goes up (out of principle, I don’t “help” our kids with their testimonies when they are at the pulpit saying it – if I were to help them, it would be my testimony, and not theirs – if they are going to bear their testimony in front of people, they need to learn to have their own testimony. I’ll help them at home, or even in the pew, but once they get up there, it’s all on their own).

I’m glad I grilled V on Sunday because at first he was talking about Santa Claus hurting Jesus or something crazy like that (four year old imaginations are… active). Usually I tell him that he gets to go up and tell everyone the things he knows are true (and then I give him some ideas, like “I know Jesus is my Savior” “I know Heavenly Father loves me.” “I know the scriptures are true.”)

On Sunday, his testimony (which he ran by me in the pew, and then bore powerfully – as powerfully as a four year old can – which believe me, it’s pretty powerful – at the pulpit) was this:

“Jesus died on the cross for us.
If we obey Him we can live with Him again forever.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night before bed I was reading in a little book I found (probably at DI? I have no clue where this book came from. Maybe my husband’s stash of books we got last fall from his folks’ house after we finally bought our own place? Who knows) called What Latter-day Stripling Warriors Learn from their Mothers. I reached for that particular book last night because I came to Alma 53 in the Book of Mormon in my personal scripture reading before bed.

For those of you unfamiliar with Alma chapter 53, it is in this chapter where the Nephites (who have been doing a great job defending themselves against the Lamanites, and even took a bunch of Lamanites prisoner – thanks to Captain Moroni and Lehi) start getting beat down a little by the Lamanites again (“thus because of iniquity amongst themselves, yea, because of dissensions and intrigue among themselves”) and the people of Ammon (who had “taken an oath that they never would shed blood more”) were “moved with compassion and were desirous to take up arms in defence of their country.”

Well, turns out breaking covenants is frowned upon, and Helaman (another mighty Nephite military leaders) helped persuade them not to break their covenants.

But it turns out those men who had made covenants had sons who hadn’t made a covenant not to fight. So they rose up, took up arms, and “entered into a covenants to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives; yea, even they covenanted that they would never give up their liberty, but they would fight in all cases to protect the Nephites and themselves from bondage.” I think it is interesting that we always talk about the Stripling warriors and how much their mothers taught them – but what about what their fathers taught them? Their fathers taught them about making and keeping covenants. Although the purpose of the covenant for the sons was different than the covenant of their fathers, those boys knew how to make and keep covenants because they watched their fathers make a keep covenants.

I love the story of the Stripling Warriors, and I had never really thought much about what they learned from their fathers either, but I thought it was really profound that they were willing to enter into such a covenant to protect the Nephites.

Back to the book I was reading. As I was reading I thought a lot about what the stripling warriors said to Helaman “We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” and I got to thinking, “Do my kids know that I know?” and “What did their mothers know? What do I need to know and make sure my kids don’t doubt that I know it?” I thought about the characteristics of these young boys as described in Alma 53:20-21 “they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all – they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted. Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.” Children model what they see, so if I want my children to be like the stripling warriors, I must be like them – courageous, strong, be active, be true, be sober. And I must teach them to keep the commandments of God (by keeping those commandments myself).

In Alma 56:47, Helaman describes what they learned from their mothers, “yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.” So their mothers taught them faith in God. And they “did not doubt [their] mothers knew it.”

I want my children to be able to say that about me – I want them to know that if they have faith, God will deliver them from whatever trial or tribulation they may face. And I want them to know that I have a testimony. How do I do that? I guess I share my testimony with them every day, and I live according to my testimony.

How can I show my children that I know the gospel is true? How can I show them that I have faith? What things do I need to know so that my children will be able to say “We do not doubt our mother knew it”?

Counsel to Youth

2011-11-07T07:17:00.001-07:00

(find the talk here)

Last night my husband and I watched the CES Devotional that President Boyd K. Packer gave. At the beginning of his talk, almost as an aside, President Packer mentioned how when he was first called as an apostle, when they would walk back to the Church office building from their weekly temple meeting, President Packer would hang back and walk with Elder LeGrand Richards. The other members of the Twelve would say to President Packer, “It’s so nice of you to stay back and help Brother Richards.” President Packer said they didn’t know why he did it. He then talked about how Elder Richards could still remember President Wilford Woodruff (the fourth president of the Church) – he had last heard President Woodruff speak when he was twelve years old. President Packer walked with Elder Richards so that he could learn from him. When my husband and I were looking for houses, I told him that I would rather live in an older neighborhood with established families, rather than the young military community near us. I told him the reason was that I would rather live around families who had already successfully raised children (and grandchildren in some cases) rather than families in the same situation as us – young, freshly married, small children – because I didn’t want to be around people making the same parenting mistakes I was going to be making. I wanted to be around people who could show me how to be a better parent.

I think in general as a society we don’t value the wisdom and experience of those who are older than us. We think that we can just learn it all, from books, TV, the internet, college. Last night my husband and I were talking about how it must have been when we were in Heaven talking with Heavenly Father about how this life was going to be. I’m sure He showed us what was going to happen, and we saw spirits with bodies and thought, “That is awesome! I want to do that!” but of course, we had never actually done that, so we didn’t know exactly what it was going to be like (which is part of why we are here). We can’t fully understand something we have never experienced. You can’t really know what it is like to loose a child unless you have lost one. You can’t really know what it is like to commune with God unless you have communed with Him. You can’t really know how to raise children until you have actually raised children.

President Packer read this poem as part of his talk at General Conference:

The old crow is getting slow.
The young crow is not.
Of what the young crow does not know
The old crow knows a lot.

At knowing things the old crow
Is still the young crow’s master.
What does the slow old crow not know?
—How to go faster.

The young crow flies above, below,
And rings around the slow old crow.
What does the fast young crow not know?
—Where to go.

That’s why it is so important to surround yourself with people who have experienced more than you have. Because they can help you learn the way to fly – even though you may be able to fly faster than them, it doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know where to fly.

(Image credit: expertinfantry)

One thing that specifically stood out to me from President Packer’s talk was when he said, “you young people are being raised in enemy territory.” I heard this as, “You parents are raising your children in enemy territory.” That sounds pretty frightening, to say the least. But I know that if I listen to the prophets, and to Heavenly Father, I will be able to successfully raise my children in this world.

I really appreciated President Packer sharing with the youth (and all of us) how he gained his testimony, and how at first he relied on the testimony of his seminary teachers. I also thought it was interesting that President Packer had not received a Patriarchal Blessing before he had enlisted in the Air Force (he had to have been at least 18 years old at that point). That made me wonder a little what his upbringing was like – it was probably just normal like any other child, rather than particularly extraordinary. But thought correct use of his agency, look where he is now! Look at how valuable he has been to furthering God’s work. I am grateful that he was willing to share such personal tidbits about his youth with our youth. I will have to remember to share this talk with my children when they are a little older.

President Packer also talked a bit about agency and the importance of and proper use of our bodies. I have been studying Elder David A Bednar’s CES Devotional talk titled Things as they Really Are in which he talks about our bodies. It has really been an enlightening experience for me, and I feel like I am coming to understand the importance of our physical bodies a little better.

What stood out to you from President Packer’s talk? How do you learn from those who are older and more experienced than you? Do you look for opportunities to learn from them as President Packer did?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Friday Fragments – Vol 4

2011-11-04T10:17:00.001-06:00

If you were here reading Friday Fragments two weeks ago, you know that I ran a Ragnar Relay. If you want to know how that turned out, I wrote about it when I got home. I feel like Heavenly Father wanted to teach me some things,

and He did.

On the wall next to my bathroom mirror, I hang quotes. It is like my little corner of reminders for how I need to live my life. I recently put this quote about refined speech up there, and I am going to add these five things from an old talk by President James E Faust that Stephanie shared today. Do you have a place in your home where you hang quotes? Reminders? (I have a few above my kitchen sink, too – one is simply a picture of a mountain that says “Faith to move mountains” and the other is a quote about motherhood and needing to spend more time with my children).

If you read our family blog (if you don’t and you want to, just email me at mysouldelighteth (at) gmail and I’ll send you an invite) you know that a while ago, things were rough for our family. Details will remain private, but back in May, I wrote this post on our family blog:

“hope ya know, we had a hard time:

“…many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life.” (Elder Quentin L. Cook)

We’re experiencing a little bit of this right now and could use some extra prayers.”

Well, it has been nearly six months since things got really bad, and things are really better now! My friend who has been living with us commented to me that I don’t seem as anxious (me + the kind of stress we had = anxiety … bad, bad, bad anxiety). I feel less anxious, and I feel a lot more like myself! I have been getting things done, I have been playing with the kids, I have been nicer to the kids (I am ashamed to say that I have been a really rotten mom for the past year or so… like I said, I get anxious when I am dealing with the kind of stress that was going on). I am just really grateful to Heavenly Father for 1.) helping me endure the hard times, and 2.) softening hearts so that there could be a change and things could get better. I know we still have a little ways to go, but I feel as if we have burst free from the trial that had been holding us back.

I wish I could write more about our family here on this blog, but for now, we have to keep a relatively low public profile. I should probably have a pseudonym, but I really don’t like being anonymous – I like being real. I will continue to use my children’s initials to talk about them, and I don’t mind mentioning the general area where we live, but I’ll try to steer away from talking about the city we live in, etc. If you do want to get to know our family on a more personal level, you are welcome to send me an email at mysouldelighteth (at) gmail and I will send you an invitation to view our family blog. You can also learn more about my kids over at Child’s Play (my “preschool” blog – I don’t post there very often, but you can at least get to meet my kids a little). I like to keep things relatively separated – I also have a gardening blog, which I haven’t posted on for a while, but I’ve got new plans for that one. The blog that will hopefully evolve into a money making blog is Math Savers (I got my degree in Math with a minor in Physics and I dream of someday teaching high school, but until then I content myself with tutoring occasionally, and writing posts for Math Savers). Now that I am struggling less with that anxiety, I will probably start writing more on all of these blogs (especially the math one).

I just watched this Mormon Messages video today with V (my 4 year old). He loved it, and so did I. I think it was really well done, and I love the little animation, the videography. Basically the whole thing was excellent. And the man’s testimony (I can’t remember his name) was powerful.

Read some more Five For Friday posts over here.

Mysteries of Heaven

2011-11-03T08:03:00.001-06:00

I started reading this morning in Matthew chapter 13, but instead of reading straight through I decided I want to study each parable a little more in depth. Before studying the parables, though, I want to study parables in general.

Whenever I read parables, or read about parables, I am reminded of my days in high school English classes, reading great literature and writing papers about what the author was actually saying. I remember getting annoyed at this once my junior year of high school. In fact, I wrote a poem, trying to make it sound all allegorical, when in reality I was just writing about the topic at hand. I remember having my English teacher read it and tell me what He thought it was about. I don’t think he fell for my little trick, but I do know that my attitude about analyzing literature got a lot better my senior year. I was really good at it, after all. I got to the point where I actually enjoyed reading literature and analyzing it.

I didn’t realize how perfectly that skill would translate into my gospel study until I got to Brigham Young University and took my first Book of Mormon class. My professor was not a religion professor – he was a Mechanical Engineering professor, and his class was probably one of the best religion classes I took my entire time at BYU. He really taught me how to study the scriptures. In his class, we had one assignment each day. We were to read an assigned section of the Book of Mormon, and then write a one page paper (didn’t matter what font size, margins, spacing, etc – whatever got our thoughts to fit on one sheet of paper, and take up the whole paper) asking a question about what we read, and answering it. Our midterm was a paper on the words of Isaiah, and our final was a paper about our own personal testimony. I learned so much about studying the gospel from following that pattern – ask a question, then find the answer.

Another thing I learned in high school (from a seminary teacher? from a Young Women’s leader? a Sunday School teacher? my parents? not sure…) was that truth can be found anywhere, and that the Spirit will help us discern truth. It was during high school that I started seeking for truth in all of my studies. As I would read textbooks and other reading assignments, as I would listen to my teacher’s lectures, I would carefully listen to the Spirit to discern what was true, and what was simple man’s philosophies. It wasn’t always easy, and I am sure that I wasn’t always accurate, but developing that ability to find truth in all things has been a real blessing in my life.

Between these two skills – being able to ask questions and find answers, and being able to find truth in all things – I have felt my study of the gospel has been greatly enriched.

One of the places I feel I have really been able to apply these two skills are in studying the words of Isaiah, and in studying parables.”

The word parable means “setting side by side, a comparison”. In a parable, gospel principles and doctrine are described by ordinary things – things in every day life. The Lord often taught this way (in parables) – and more so during his Galilean ministry. This is not really surprising, since the Savior was a Galilean, and His teaching was a lot harder to stomach by people who knew Him, and knew His family. Such an “ordinary” person could not be the Savior. Could he?

Why did the Savior teach in parables? He tells us in Matthew 13. “Because it is given unto you [the disciples] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [people who don’t believe Christ] it is not given.” We get as much truth from parables as we are ready to receive. I feel like we get as much truth out of life as we are ready to receive. My husband and I were recently talking about finding meaning in everything, and one of us made the observation that life must be more worth living if you can find meaning in everything. I think that is a true statement – because the more truth we are willing to see, the more truth we will find, and the more truth we have (light and knowledge) the closer to Heavenly Father we can be.

Do you find meaning in parables and the words of Isaiah? Are you able to find truth and meaning in everything? What is your favorite parable from the Savior? What is your favorite Latter-day parable?

My Yoke Is Easy

2011-11-02T07:29:00.001-06:00

This morning I read Matthew chapters 11 and 12 and while I was reading them I was trying to answer this question, “What do I learn about the character of Christ from these chapters?”

To be honest, it was kind of a hard task this morning. The Savior did a lot of teaching in these two chapters, but a lot of it was hard words to the Pharisees and others who were hard of heart. But then when I read Matthew 11:8-30 I thought about our baptismal covenants, and the Savior’s promise to us, and how we can use His promise as an example of how to keep our baptismal covenants.

In Matthew the Lord promises us:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

In Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, we learn about our baptismal covenants:

and now as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort…

Because we take Christ’s name upon us in baptism, we must learn to become like Him and do the things that He does.

Christ is “meek and lowly in heart” and bears our burdens. When we are baptized, we covenant to do the same for others – bear their burdens to make them feel light.

What does it mean to be meek and lowly in heart? A definition for “meek” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “easily imposed on.” The Savior is easily imposed on – we don’t have to plead and argue with Him for Him to agree to take our burdens. He just does it when we come to Him and ask. And we barely even have to ask, because He already knows that we have a burden.

In our lives, there are always people around us with burdens to be born. There are those who mourn, and those who need comfort. We do not need to wait for them to plead with us to take their burdens – the Savior is easily imposed on for comfort, and we should be the same way.

Sometimes we may feel that we can only bear our own burdens, but I know that we can bring both our burdens, and the burdens of others which we bear for them, to the Lord, and He will lighten our load. In Elder Alonso’s talk from General Conference, he said, “When we serve our neighbor, we help those who are in need. In the process we may find solutions to our own difficulties.” So as we bear the burdens of others, often we can find that our burdens are lightened as well.

What things have you learned about the character of Christ from the scriptures? How do you keep your baptismal covenant to bear one another’s burdens? How do you feel your burdens being lightened by the Savior?

Things as They Really Are

2011-11-01T09:11:00.001-06:00

(find the talk here)

After watching the Mormon Messages video about the Young Woman’s purse (from a talk I really enjoyed), I clicked on this video: Things As They Really Are. There were a few moments during the video when I almost cried. By now you should know that I am a softy and I cry at just about anything. Seriously, sometimes watching my kids play can make me cry. Watching home videos of my kids when they were babies? Tears. Home videos of my childhood? Tears. I’m just saying, it’s not very significant that I cried during this video, because just about anything can make me cry.

Back to the point – you should watch it. Everyone should watch it.

Here are the two questions Elder Bednar gave for us to study:

I offer two questions for consideration in your personal pondering and prayerful studying:
1. Does the use of various technologies and media invite or impede the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost in your life?
2. Does the time you spend using various technologies and media enlarge or restrict your capacity to live, to love, and to serve in meaningful ways?
You will receive answers, inspiration, and instruction from the Holy Ghost suited to your individual circumstances and needs.

Because I liked the video so much I decided to go read the talk the excerpts came from. The excerpts in the video were taken from a CES Fireside given by Elder David A. Bednar which was subsequently published in the June 2010 Ensign. I knew that it was familiar, because I had read it in the Ensign.

The talk is rich. Powerful. Packed with truth and declarations from a prophet of God. I won’t go through the whole thing, because a lot of the good stuff is in the video, but there were a few things that stuck with me from the talk.

At the beginning of his talk, Elder Bednar stated that the topics he was going to discuss had “both immediate and eternal implications.” Usually we know that our actions have eternal implications, and a lot of times our actions will have earthly implications – but usually down the road. This made me perk up – these topics have immediate implications.

In the talk, Elder Bednar really stressed the doctrine of having a physical body. Having a physical body is very important for our eternal progression, and one of the reasons Satan tries so hard to ruin that is because his eternal progression was stopped when he was denied a body due to rebellion against God. I recently read the account of the Savior casting out devils and the spirits going into the swine and running into the sea to be killed. Elder Bednar pointed out, “when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine,showing that he would prefer a swine’s body to having none.”

Teaching us about the importance of our physical bodies, Elder Bednar said, “Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal estate.”

The first attack by the adversary Elder Bednar pointed out was that of addictive substances and behaviors, as well as preoccupation with body image. I have always been well aware of this attack, and have thankfully never dealt too much with any of these attacks in my own life. I had good parents who taught me to stay healthy, and who taught me that “healthy” is better than “skinny” – or whatever the world thinks is the best body image. I have also been able to stay free of harmful addictive substances (also thanks to my good parents).

The next attack Elder Bednar speaks of is thrill seeking, doing things that put our bodies at risk so that we can get an “adrenaline rush.” He said, “putting at risk the very instrument God has given us to receive the learning experiences of mortality—merely to pursue a thrill or some supposed fun, to bolster ego, or to gain acceptance—truly minimizes the importance of our physical bodies.” Thankfully I hate adrenaline rushes, and I get plenty being a mother (“Don’t touch that!” “Don’t lean so far over the edge of the deck!” “Don’t climb that!” “What is that coming out of your nose!” “What’s wrong with your eye?!” … need I go on?) and I have never had any desire to put my physical body at risk for anything. This has at times prevented me from experiencing some really fun and not dangerous things, but my husband who is somewhat of an adrenaline junkie is helping me experience more things that I wouldn’t originally have experienced without him – because I put them in this “high risk” category and they aren’t really – like riding dirt bikes and jet skis and motorcycles.

The last attack is one that I sometimes fall prey to. Do I sometimes “neglect eternal relationships for digital distractions, diversions, and detours that have no lasting value”? I can tell you that I have frequently idled away time on the computer – purposely wasting time because I want the day to end, or because I am depressed about something, or because I can’t think of anything better to do (i.e. I am lazy). I am ashamed to admit it, but it is true.

Most of the time I spend on the computer is usually writing in this blog (studying the scriptures and writing about it), writing in our family blog (preserving our family history), working on family history, writing family members. But I spend far too much time on “virtual relationships” – even if they are good relationships. I enjoy reading a few blogs written by LDS women – women who seem to be like me – they enjoy the gospel, they enjoy writing about the gospel, and they enjoy being mothers. Elder Bednar stressed that “things [should be] experienced as they really are through the instrument of our physical body”, even, no especially, “the sincerity in the eyes of another person as testimony is shared”. All this time I have been feeling like my time spent communicating on LDS women’s blog has been justified because I am sharing my testimony with them, and they are sharing their testimony with me – but there is something to be said about experience that testimony sharing in person, face-to-face, experiencing it through our physical bodies rather than simply our mind. I was so grateful to be able to spend time a few weeks ago (in person, with my physical body) with one of the women I look up to a lot on the blogosphere.

Because we have moved so much in the past few years, I have been keeping in contact with my friends from all the places I have lived through this virtual world. This has been good for me, but I think that I have neglected making new real friends where I am now because I am able to still connect with my old friends. I know that this has been stifling my growth – it’s just different when you have a best friend who sees you in person “as you really are.” They have a different perspective of you and they can see what you need to change and can help you with the things you really need help with.

After re-reading this talk I have decided that I am going to make a better commitment to make true, real friends in my neighborhood and in the real world so that I can experience those relationships that are so necessary for this life and for our mortal experience.

The last thought I wanted to share with you was about fidelity in virtual worlds. Elder Bednar talked about two scenarios. The first - high fidelity with a good purpose (such as flight simulators, surgical simulators, computer software that helps build safe buildings, etc) - “Such a simulation can be constructive if the fidelity is high and the purposes are good—for example, providing experience that saves lives or improves the quality of life.” Then he showed these two pictures. The one on the left is a virtual simulation of a sealing room in a temple. The picture on the right is an actual picture of that room after it was built and furnished.

The next scenario he described was high fidelity with a bad purpose – such as video games or online social networking where you start to forget “the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication.” This kind of simulation “can lead to spiritual impairment and danger if the fidelity is high and the purposes are bad—such as experimenting with actions contrary to God’s commandments or enticing us to think or do things we would not otherwise think or do ‘because it is only a game.’” I have to think about that – how often do I justify behaviors or experiences because “it is only a game” or “it is only a TV show” or “it is only a movie”?

Elder Bednar also stressed the importance of personal fidelity – that is, being the same person online and offline. I have tried to be diligent in being the same person online as I am offline, but sometimes I feel like I am a better person online than offline – I mean, in my online world I know that I speak less harshly (it’s easier to control my words when I have to type them – and I can see how they come out), and I know that I am more tolerant of others in an online world than in the world around me.

Fortunately, that means I know that I am capable of being tolerant and of measuring my words – I just need to work on being that way in the real world. It isn’t enough to be that way online. I have to learn to actually be that way, which means conquering the natural man – something that is a real experience, and not a virtual one.

How has the digital world affected you and your family? How has technology blessed and enriched your life? How has it been a challenge for you? Do you remember that your body is essential for eternal progression? How do you make sure you are having real experiences? Are you working on learning how to use your body in a real way?

All Hallows

2011-10-31T21:53:00.001-06:00

Note: Although this post doesn’t have much to do with the scriptures, it does sort of talk about the Church Handbook of Instruction, so that’s how I am justifying posting it on this blog. And I think you’ll get a kick out of my kids, and maybe you want to hear all about Halloween 2011.

Our ward does a Trunk or Treat every year on Halloween.

This year posed a problem.
Halloween was on Monday night.

Why is that such a problem? you ask.

Here’s why:

Monday nights are reserved for family home evening throughout the Church. No Church activities, meetings, baptismal services, games, or practices should be held after 6:00 p.m. on Mondays. Other interruptions to family home evening should be avoided. An exception may be made when New Year’s Eve is on a Monday.

That’s straight from the Church Handbook of Instructions. No ward activities on Monday nights.

However, somehow our ward got special permission (from the Stake Pres? From President Monson?) to do the Halloween chili cook-off and Trunk or Treat on a Monday night! I think it helped that the entire partay is in the parking lot. And the fact that it’s probably one of the biggest non-member/less actives drawing event. Everyone in the neighborhood comes (and brings chili) – even people who never come to Church on Sundays (or any other day of the week). I also think that a lot of neighborhood kids who are in other wards come and start their trick or treating out in our church parking lot. It’s safe, fun, and you get a warm bowl of chili! Plus, we usually start at 6pm and it’s not quite dark yet.

Keeping with tradition, we were about 30 minutes late (last minute costuming, last minute chili preparations… you know, the usual).

Last year we made the mistake of taking the kids on our street after the Trunk or Treat. Duh – all the people at the houses were the same folks at the Trunk or Treat. So this year we got smart and went to the neighborhood on the other side of the main road. The kids made it up one side and down half of the other side of one street (probably about 1/8 of a mile – which is pretty good for little ones!)

Toward the end, J’s bucket got so heavy she couldn’t carry it anymore! And by the last few houses, Papai was carrying her. But she really enjoyed everyone doting on her and gushing over her costume. J the paper doll. A costume that cost under $1. Score.

We also had one of those scary car-almost-running-over-small-trick-or-treater experiences with V. They had just scored some candy at a house with a very big, but gentle, Mast-weiler (Mastiff/Rottweiler mix – one of the most beautiful dogs I have seen!) and we were headed back down his walkway to cross his driveway to the sidewalk when a chick comes ripping into the driveway. V was already making his way to the sidewalk. I don’t think she saw him, but we yelled at him, and he took off toward their garage, away from the car. We were all freaking out, but there were no injuries, and after some great big hugs, we were all fine.

When we got home and started getting ready for bed, I was asking J if she had fun trick or treating. Of course she had fun. Here is the rest of our conversation:

Me: What did you say when you went to the houses?
J: Trick or treat!
Me: And what did you get?
J: Candy!
Me: And then what did you say? (expecting her to say “Thank you” – my favorite part about trick or treating is getting to practice manners!)
J: Strawberries!

Me: …

Okay. Well, we’ll work on that.

Without Delay

2011-10-31T11:27:00.001-06:00

(find the talk here – Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time, without Delay)

When Elder José L. Alonso spoke of losing his young son in Mexico city, my heart pounded and tears welled up in my eyes. I don’t know if it was just the mother in me, but hearing of any parent losing a child, whether temporarily, or for this life, evokes a lot of emotion in me. We lost site of our then three year old once in a big box department store, and I can still remember how my heart raced as we ran around the clothing department calling his name. I remember being grateful for the store employees who calmly communicated on their radios the situation, and our son was quickly located.

I appreciated Elder Alonso’s comment that they did not need a planning meeting to go to the rescue of their son. They “simply acted, going out in search of the one who had been lost.” I think that I am often guilty of waiting for instruction to go to the rescue. We recently started attending a new ward, and I want to serve and help people, but I haven’t received a visiting teaching assignment yet. That has been my (quite lame) excuse for not helping or serving more. Why am I waiting to be instructed to go to the rescue? I am sure that I am quite capable of searching out and helping those in need, and I know the Lord will help me in that effort if I actually step forward and go to work. Elder Alonso reminded us that “Each day we have the opportunity to give help and service—doing the right thing at the right time, without delay.” Why do I delay when the opportunities are all around me?

Elder Alson began his talk with this statement, “In our day many people are living in the midst of sadness and great confusion. They are not finding answers to their questions and are unable to meet their needs.” This made me think about times in my life when I have been in the “midst of sadness and great confusion,” feeling lost, and not finding answers to my questions. Thankfully, I have frequently been rescued by the help of wise parents, loving teachers, good friends, and righteous priesthood leaders. In those times, though, feelings of despair often threatened to overcome me. The rescue that I found was not necessarily those good people in themselves – they rescued me by reminding me of the Savior, sharing their testimonies and urging me to rely on Him. Indeed, “true happiness is found in following the example and teachings of Christ.”

Have you been rescued at times in your life? How do you go to the rescue of others? Do you need to be instructed before you go to the rescue? Or do you search and rescue when it is needed, “without delay”?

Find more insight on this talk over at
Diapers and Divinity’s General Conference Book Club

Refined Speech

2011-10-30T15:34:00.001-06:00

Thought I would share this quote from one of my favorite Ensign articles about refinement. By Douglas L. Callister of the Seventy titled Our Refined Heavenly Home.

To Think About Jesus – violin obligato

2011-10-29T11:57:00.001-06:00

So our Primary Presidency asked me to play a violin obbligato with the primary for the primary program in a few weeks. First, they asked me to play something with If I Listen With My Heart. The conversation went something like this:

Primary Gal: Hey, Becca, could you play your violin with the primary for If I Listen with My Heart?
Me: Sure! (I never turn down an opportunity to play the violin. Love love love my violin!)
Primary Secretary: Great. So… do you need us to get you some music…? (I knew where this was going)
Me: I could just make something up.
Primary Secretary (voice dripping with relief): That is exactly what we wanted to hear! Thank you so much!

About a week later

Primary Secretary: Hey, Becca, so could you play with To Think About Jesus instead?
Me (thinking how great it is that I am a procrastinator and haven’t even pulled out my violin since she first asked): Sure! No problem.

So this morning I was frantically scratching out an obligato part on MuseScore (a fabulous free, open source music composition program) because we were supposed to have practice for the Primary program at 10am. Around ten o’clock I finally print off the finished product (thankful that we live around the block from the chapel), load my violin and my Sunbeam (V) into the car, and off we go. I get to the church parking lot and it is completely empty. Oh snap, practice isn’t until next weekend.

Well, at least now I am prepared a week in advance!

And I thought perhaps I would share my arrangement in case any one else wants to use it (either for this year’s program or for whatever – family home evening, you know, or something).

Please feel free to share a link to this page (please don’t copy and distribute the actual image on your own blog). And if you use the music, please print it in it’s entirety with the copyright tag in place.

If you would like a PDF copy (better quality for printing) don’t hesitate to email me at mysouldelighteth (at) gmail.com and I’ll send one right your way!