January 6, 2011

Tonight I read a beautiful talk from the last General Conference by Elder Per G. Malm called Rest Unto Your Souls. Finding this rest includes a "peace of mind and heart, which is the result of learning and following the doctrine of Christ, and becoming Christ's extended hands in serving and helping other." I can say with total honesty of heart that I do feel such a constant daily peace in my soul. I feel such calm and comfort and I know it is a gift from God as a result of my willingness to be obedient to His commandments. I am so grateful for this gift of peace when there is so much confusion, worry, doubt, fear and calamity swarming around on every side. I know this is a gift I've received because of my faithfulness and obedience and I want to always be worthy of it. I want to spend the days of my probation being productive, improving upon my weaknesses, working hard, showing faith and diligence, and serving others. I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It truly does give me "the strength to stand tall and strong and to have [my] soul filled with light, understanding, joy and love." This is a wonderful, beautiful place to be.

January 3, 2011

Tonight I used the New Testament study guide, lesson 1. In John 1:1-13, it teaches that Jesus Christ is the word of God and that it was through Him that everything was created. He was and always has been completely obedient to every word spoken by God. I think His name/title of The Word is completely appropriate due to His perfect obedience in carrying out God's will. In verse 9 it says Christ is the light which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The Savior has given me life because of His gift of the resurrection and the Atonement. Because of the resurrection I have the hope of an immortal life. And because of the gift of the Atonement, the possibility of eternal life, or life with God, is a reality for me. He has shown me the way to go so I can obtain this eternal life. The hope that is a part of my life because of the resurrection and Atonement give meaning to my mortal day to day life. He has given me light as well through His example. It is a shining light to me of how to act, how to be obedient, submissive to the will of God and humble, and how to love and serve others. Following His light enriches my life immensely for how it helps me to strengthen relationships with the people I love and how it teaches me to be the best person I am capable of being. I am so thankful for the light and life of Jesus Christ, my Savior.

January 2, 2011

Tonight I read an Ensign article from this month by Elder Paul V. Johnson called Make Yours a Great Life. Two things really stood out to me from it. The first is this quote: "Your future is not determined by the conditions around you. It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts." I know this is true and am grateful to be living in this time. The second part that stood out to me is when he says that by living righteously we "will have the protection of a worthy life." I loved that phrase and find such comfort in knowing that the Lord's path of faith and obedience truly does offer protection. I am thankful for His protective power that is upon me and my family and I always want to continue to do what is necessary to always be worthy of that protection.

December 30, 2010

Tonight I read an Ensign article from Jan 2011 that is a classic from Heber C. Kimball called The Potter and the Clay. I thought it was neat that he was a potter by trade. I didn't know that. I have heard this analogy before, that we are to be like malleable clay in the hands of the Master who will form us into a beautiful creation, and it is an analogy that I love. He said, "That man or woman who will not learn the principle of subjection, and become like clay in the hands of the potter, will be led astray." Because I have my agency to choose how I want to be formed, it takes faith and trust in God to allow him to be the one to shape my life, trusting He will make of it something better than I could ever create on my own. I do trust in God and I trust in His work. I will keep His commandments and my covenants, following His pattern and design. I believe my life will be the most beautiful possible by doing so.

December 28, 2010

I read Elder David A. Bednar's talk from Conference called Receive the Holy Ghost. He emphasizes that the gift of the Holy Ghost isn't just something we are entitled to always as members of the Church, but that we truly must receive it. To do so he suggests we must "sincerely desire to receive the Holy Ghost, appropriately invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, and faithfully obey God's commandments." In each of my prayers I always ask the Spirit to be with me. It is something I truly do desire every moment of every day. To "appropriately invite the Holy Ghost into my life," this quote stood out to me of what not to do: "Casualness about or the breaking of covenants and commitments, failing to pray and study the scriptures, and inappropriate thoughts, actions, and language cause the Spirit to withdraw from or to avoid us altogether." I think it's especially easy to fail to pray and study the scriptures, and it is absolutely critical to my spiritual well-being. I am striving to be vigilant about that simply because I want the companionship of the Spirit with me always. I am so thankful for that wonderful gift and all that the Holy Ghost does. 

Joseph Smith was quoted in this talk saying that the Holy Ghost "will whisper peace and joy to [our] souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from [our] hearts, and [our] whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God." I am so thankful to truly feel the absence of "malice, hatred, envying, strife and all evil" from my heart. It brings so much peace and calm to my soul and my relationships with others are blessed. I am so thankful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It is a wonderful feeling I always want to be worthy of.

December 27, 2010

I read President Eyring's talk from Conference called Trust in God, Then Go and Do. There are some issues weighing on my heart right now. I want to do what is right. I loved this quote from this talk that says: "You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song and prayer... you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you." I want God to be able to trust me. I want to be one of His valiant servants. I want to be fully obedient to His commandments, even when it is hard, because I do trust in His promises. His promises are great for those who keep His commandments. Thinking of these things has helped me to strengthen my resolve to do what is right in regards to the issues on my mind. I pray the Lord will lead me in that direction and I can recognize His Spirit. I am grateful for the opportunities I have to prove myself to Him, to prove I will be obedient and that I do trust in Him.

December 22, 2010

I read a Conference talk by Elder Mervyn B. Arnold called What Have You Done With My Name? He talked of the importance of honoring the name of Christ in all that we do. He also used the example of Nephi and Lehi in The Book of Mormon, who were named after their forefathers so they would remember their examples and remember to do good. We gave our son his name for a similar reason. There have been many to bring honor to the name he carries and I hope he lives his life also in a way that will honor the great men who have gone before him. I also think often about the legacy we will leave for our children and for generations to come and I want it to be one of faith and obedience to the commandments of God. 

I really liked the story he shared of his wife's experience with cows eating wheat grass that helped her understand the purpose of commandments - that "they are protective - not restictive." Keeping the commandments can "save [us] from physical and spiritual death." And "the wonderful blessings of obedience are numberless." I love the commandments and am grateful for their protection. I know my Heavenly Father loves me for He gave me His Son. I want to always honor the name of Christ in how I live my life and treat others.

December 11, 2010

Tonight I read Robert D. Hales talk from Conference called Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life. It was a very good explanation of what agency is and how it relates to us, beginning with our premortal existence and how we used our agency in choosing to come to Earth and how we continue to use it by choosing to follow the Savior. At the beginning of this talk he shared that the meaning of the word agency was unfamiliar to a non-member friend of his, and that even after looking it up in a dictionary, none of the ten definitions defined agency in the way we use it: as the idea that we have the ability and privilege to choose and act for ourselves. I was really surprised by that, since I am so accustomed to this principle of agency and what it means related to my power to choose. 

Two quotes stood out from this talk to me. The first is that "when we choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father, our agency is preserved, our opportunities increase, and we progress." The second is that, "whenever we disobey, we spiritually paint ourselves into a corner and are captive to our choices." I am thankful for the gift of my agency. And I want to always use it to choose righteously, as the Savior chose to use His agency.

December 9, 2010

Tonight I read The Transforming Power of Faith and Character by Richard G. Scott from the last Conference. It was a beautiful talk with a lot on the principles of faith, character and testimony. This mortal life is so important. I love this quote that "in the next life your righteous character will be evaluated to assess how well you used the privilege of mortality." I hope that my character will prove I have used this life well. I also really liked that he said, "you cannot be passive in life..." we get what we put forth, and the blessings of strong faith and character come as a result of consistent obedience. The end of his talk also stood out to me. He encouraged those who have determined to live righteously to realize that "you are making better progress than you realize." I do believe that I have focused on the right things in my life that will help me to build character and strengthen my faith. I am thankful for my faith and how it strengthens my character through the challenges I face.

November 21, 2010

I read Alma 50 tonight and the theme that stood out to me, as it has before, is that the Lord blesses and prospers exceedingly those who keep his commandments. It stood out to me that around this time "there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi." I believe this theme runs throughout the Book of Mormon for a reason, and that it is a message from Mormon to us in this day that the same applies to us. When we keep the commandments of God, not only does the Lord bless and prosper us, but we will experience great happiness. That kind of life, to me, sounds like one worth living. That is why it is, and is always becoming more so, important to me to be obedient in keeping the commandments of God.

November 20, 2010

I read Alma 49 which I loved. It is the story of the Lamanites actually coming to battle against the Nephites, thinking for sure that they had the battle won easily because they were prepared with armor and shields and they went to attack what they knew to be the weakest place of the Nephites. Well they were "utterly astonished" because of how the Nephites had prepared, thanks to Moroni's instructions. So they went to the next weakest city, swearing they would attack. The awesome thing is that was precisely what Moroni expected them to do, so that city was even stronger than the first. But because they had sworn to attack, they did. And all of their captains were killed along with over a thousand others, while not one Nephite was killed. Their success in preparation was because they had kept the commandments of God. I think this story is an amazing example of the power of protection that comes from obedience to the commandments and I love it. It puts a large smile on my face.

November 10, 2010

I am using Preach My Gospel for my study tonight. I'm doing the personal study on page 2 which is studying the tree of life in 1 Nephi 8 & 11. After Lehi ate the fruit of the tree, his first desire was for his family to eat of it also. With the fruit of the tree being the love of God, this is my same hope and desire for my family as well. I really want them to partake of this fruit because it is "desirable above all other fruit." To partake of the fruit, people had to "press forward" to get on the path that led to the tree and once they were on that path, they had to hold to the rod of iron to avoid losing their way. For me to receive all the blessings of the Atonement, I need to be humble and repent with a sincere heart. I need to come unto Christ and press forward with a steadfast faith in Him. Commitments and covenants help to partake of these blessings because when I am committed to keeping my covenants, I am obedient and repentant, striving to be worthy of the Spirit and humble. They offer me a direction to go, whereas, without them, I can imagine it would be easy to become distracted from the importance of daily obedience and faith.

October 30, 2010

I read Alma 44:1-10. Verse 4 stood out to me a lot because the claim is made by Moroni that "God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion." I wondered about all the war accounts included. What if this verse is the lesson to be learned from all the different war accounts. I wonder if all the wars that are won or lost can be attributed to the faithfulness and righteous obedience, or to the lack of that faith and obedience.

October 16, 2010

I read Alma 36 where Alma shares his personal conversion experience with his son. According to Alma's experience, here is the pattern of being "born of God":

1. to recognize and feel the hopelessness of our situation as being separated from God because of our sins
2. to remember Jesus Christ's atonement performed on our behalf
3. to bear testimony of the power of Jesus Christ's atonement
4. to labor diligently in building the Lord's kingdom

Another thing that I noticed in this chapter was a phrase that Alma begins with in verse 1 and that he ends with in verse 30, and that is: "inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land... and inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence." This suggests to me the importance of realizing and remembering that it doesn't matter what spiritual experiences we've had or haven't had, our prosperity and our connection to God depends solely on our decision to be obedient to the commandments. I have chosen to be obedient and keep the commandments, no matter what, and I'm striving my best to do so.

October 15, 2010

I read Alma chapter 35. In it, it talks about the people of the Zoramites who were "angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft." And later Alma is thinking about all the people he had been to preach the gospel and he saw people in every city whose "hearts began to wax hard, and they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word." There were also many who were converted because of the word, but it seems that the majority of the people had hard hearts and were angry because of what they heard. Obeying the word of God is hard if one is set on doing things their own way. To be obedient, I have to be willing to set aside all my own will and obey the will of God. This is not conceivable for many and they feel offended and angry because of their unwillingness to humble themselves and let go of their own ways.

October 9, 2010

I read Alma chapter 33. The people are asking him more details about how they can plant the word in their hearts and what it is. He uses the existing scriptures to teach them that it is through constant, daily prayer, and through scripture study that they can do so. The thing I love most about this chapter is when he reminds them of Moses and when he lifted the serpent on the stake and all the people had to do to be healed was to look at it. But even with how simple that was, many wouldn't even look at it because they didn't believe it would heal them. Their unbelief kept them from performing an amazingly simple and easy task that would have saved their lives. This illustrates to me the vitalness of my choice to believe. When I choose to believe, it is easy to obey and do the things that will bring healing and wholeness to me. But with disbelief, I perish. I want to always, always be a believer. I want to always choose to believe and then subsequently be obedient. I trust in the Lord. I will keep the faith.

October 2, 2010

I read in D&C 78:10-22 and really loved especially verses 17-22. In verse 17 it really struck me of how precious I am in the sight of the Lord. It says, "Ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you." I read that and think of my own little child and how little he understands of what I have prepared to give him by teaching him of the plan of salvation. And being a little child, knowing how much he is still learning, helps me to have so much patience with him and love for him. I absolutely delight in watching him learn and grow. Because of my own feelings as a parent, I can imagine a bit how endearing we must be to our own Father in Heaven. It really makes me feel so loved by him. I trust him and really believe he has my best interest at heart. He will "lead [me] along" and bless me with "the kingdom" and "the blessings" and "the riches of eternity" if I do the things which he has commanded. He wants to give everyone all these blessings of eternity, but to receive them, we must qualify ourselves. I don't have to know or understand all things, I simply have to be faithful and obedient. I find great comfort knowing He is leading me along. Being obedient to his commandments is being "a faithful and wise steward." And being so, I "shall inherit all things." There is such amazing promise in understanding this principle of obedience and this part of the plan of salvation. I am so grateful to know I have Heavenly Parents who love me and are leading me along, helping me to learn the things that will bring me the greatest eternal joy and happiness. I feel great honor at knowing of my divinity as a child of God.

September 30, 2010

Tonight I read Alma 31 where Alma goes on a mission to the Zoramites who are living wickedly. I love what it says in verse 5 about the power of the "preaching of the word" ... that "it had a more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else." I believe that power comes from the Spirit of the Lord. One does need to be humble and have an open heart to be influenced by that power. The Zoramites "would not observe to keep the commandments of God," and "neither would they observe the performances of the church." These were people who had had the gospel in their lives. They knew it. Again, this illustrates the vast importance of living obediently and with faith. Those simple ways of living help to protect against the loss of the Spirit. It has to be real in our actions, not just wishful thinking, or believing that one is living righteously simply be believing the tenets of the gospel. Faith is action and we need to be showing through our daily choices whether or not we are choosing to obey God. My actions show that I love God and I'm willing to be obedient to His commands. I hope I will always show that through my actions.

September 25, 2010

Tonight I attended a wonderful spiritual feast at the General Relief Society meeting. For my personal study, I read a talk from the last General Young Women's meeting by Ann M. Dibb called Be of a Good Courage. I loved the definition of courage: "a mental or moral strength to persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." She discusses four ways to "help us overcome our obstacles, complete our journey, and enjoy the blessings of the Lord in our 'land of promise.'" The four ways she talks about are:

1. Prayer
2. Obedience to the commandments
3. Scripture study, and
4. Following the prophet.

Doing these four things in our life "provide[s] the most powerful source of courage and strength there is: FAITH in our Heavenly Father and in His Son Jesus Christ." I could not help but notice a striking similarity to four guides that were talked about in a talk tonight at the broadcast. They were:

1. Daily prayer
2. Daily scripture study
3. Obedience, and
4. Service.

I think it could be easily said that the top 3 essential things we can incorporate into our lives to help us return to our heavenly home are:

1. Daily prayer
2. Daily scripture study, and
3. Obedience to the commandments.

I am so glad that I have the great desire to do all three of those things and that I have established consistent habits. It has been a blessing in my life and I do feel an increased measure of the influence of the Spirit which helps me make right choices, helps me feel peace, and which gives me the strength to resist temptation. It is a joy to be on the path back to my heavenly parents.

September 13, 2010

Tonight I read an Ensign article from August Ensign called Listening as Samuel Listened by Elder Walter F. Gonzales. I liked this article a lot and what really stood out to me is the repetition of the phrase: "speak; for they servant heareth." And that it was "only after he showed his willingness to listen... that the Lord revealed His will." He focuses on two ways that the Lord reveals His will to us: through prophets and through the Spirit. I really liked how he taught the difference between hearing and listening. "When we hear the words of the prophets, we realize that those words are the will of God and that we must be willing to follow them. Hearing the voice of the Spirit is more than feeling His promptings. It is acting according to those promptings." I love receiving and hearing the Lord's will for me in my life. I truly feel that He knows me and He wants my happiness eternally. I trust His plan. I love to hear and obey. It brings great joy to me.