The Spirit and Making Decisions

“When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision.”

Elder Richard G. Scott, Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer, April 2007 General Conference

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng

"It is not expected that you go through life without making mistakes, but you will not make a major mistake without first being warned by the promptings of the Spirit. This promise applies to all members of the Church."

President Boyd K. Packer, Counsel to Youth, October 2011

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/counsel-to-youth?lang=eng




Move Forward in Faith

https://www.lds.org/ensign/print/2013/08/move-forward-in-faith?lang=eng&clang=eng

Great LDS Quotes resource

http://www.deseretnews.com/top/2681/52/-100-inspirational-quotes-from-Mormon-leaders-.html

There are so many great quotes collected at this Deseret News site, I wanted to put the link here so I can find it again.

The power of family prayer

Two strong admonitions on family prayer in the latest general conference:

Which parent in Book of Mormon times would have let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer?              

~Tad R. Callister  "Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of their Children"  October 2014 General conference

Parents, help safeguard your children by arming them morning and night with the power of family prayer. Children are bombarded every day with the evils of lust, greed, pride, and a host of other sinful behaviors. Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer. Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life.

~Richard G. Scott  "Make the Exercise of Faith your First Priority"  October 2014 general conference

Come Unto Me

I have spent time pondering what it means to take the invitation of the Savior to "Come Unto Me".  As you know, this scripture is one of my very favorites and has great meaning to me. 

Matthew 11:28-30

 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 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.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

In his latest general conference address, Elder Richard G. Scott gave us some insight on this:

When we are consistently praying morning and night, studying our scriptures daily, having weekly family home evening, and attending the temple regularly, we are actively responding to His invitation to “come unto Him.” 

So when we are doing these things, the troubles we have won't go away, but there will be more strength available, more tender mercies along the way, and peace in the midst of trial.  Elder Scott also said this:

The more we develop these habits, the more anxious is Satan to harm us but the less is his ability to do so.

So along with peace and strength from God, it lessens the pull from Satan.

Here is the link to the entire address: Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority

Here is another quote from this gem of a talk:

Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer. Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life.

I love the strength and inspiration that comes from prophets and apostles at general conference!

Compulsory means

The other morning, I was watching a discussion of BYU religion professors talk about Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  That is a wonderful section and full of so much doctrine and inspiration.  One of the professors made an interesting comment about these verses that has caused me to think about quite a bit:

36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

 37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.

The comment that the professor made was that we can't use Satan's tools (that is, compulsion and force, etc.) to do the Lord's work.  That never works.

I wanted to post on this so that I can remember it.  Some food for thought today.

Less Conspicuous Gifts

I miss Elder Marvin J. Ashton.  He had so much wisdom to share.  He gave a talk in 1987 about helping us to realize the gifts that Heavenly Father has given us that might not be as noticeable or recognizeable, but gifts nonetheless.  I posted about this once before, because he lists one of those gifts as "the ability to weep".  Here is a link to another great talk by Elder Ashton.

Here is the link to the talk:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/there-are-many-gifts?lang=eng

Here are a few quotes from it to think about:

One of the great tragedies of life, it seems to me, is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents or gifts. When, in disgust or discouragement, we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade-point average, wealth, power, position, or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable.

God has given each of us one or more special talents. Socrates made the famous statement, “The unexamined life is not worth living” (“Apology,” The Dialogues of Plato, trans. Benjamin Jowett, Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952, p. 210). It is up to each of us to search for and build upon the gifts which God has given. We must remember that each of us is made in the image of God, that there are no unimportant persons. Everyone matters to God and to his fellowmen.

Taken at random, let me mention a few gifts that are not always evident or noteworthy but that are very important. Among these may be your gifts—gifts not so evident but nevertheless real and valuable.

Let us review some of these less-conspicuous gifts: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost.

Okay, so I am basically quoting almost the whole talk.  It really is worth reading and pondering.

BYU Devotionals- I love them!

In the early morning hours, BYU tv runs BYU devotionals.  These are so inspirational.  I am getting a lot of favorites.  I thought I would use this post as a place to post links to the ones that I wanted to be able to find again easily:

J.B. Haws- Wrestling with Comparisons

Brad Wilcox- His Grace is Sufficient

Gifford Nielson- Rise and Shout and Shine Forth

Todd B. Parker- “True Doctrine, Understood, Changes Attitudes and Behavior”

Lawrence E. Corbridge- Stand Forever

Here is the link to the general site:
http://speeches.byu.edu/index

Weatherford T. Clayton:  Christ: The Rock of our Redeemer

Ed Eyestone: Following Worthy Mentors

Chad Lewis: The World Needs to See and Feel Your Light

Scott Esplin: "Daddy, is Jesus real?" Overcoming Fear Through Faith in Christ


Gordon Limb: Recognizing and Responding to the Promptings of the Holy Ghost

Mike Middleton: Adding Star's to Your Life's Stars

Paul Farnsworth:  Avoiding Spiritual Drift

Elder David Evans
Elder Ron R. Clarke

Celia Peek- "Yea, They May Forget, Yet Will I Not Forget Thee."
http://www.byutv.org/watch/a974c56f-cbd1-483f-9f5f-92b6394add2b/byu-devotional-address-cecilia-m-peek-11910

Russell T. Osguthorpe- What if Love Were our only Motive?
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/osguthorpe-russell-t_what-if-love-were-our-only-motive/


Marilyn Berrett
Earnest Prayer

Damon Bahr
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bahr-damon-l_the-unique-opportunities-of-living-at-this-time-in/

Jeff Bellison- Gospel Gifts
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/belliston-c-jeffrey_gospel-gifts/


 Trenton Hickman- Weaknesses into Strengths in our Search for Knowledge
http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=2183

Richard B. Miller- Repentance and Forgiveness in Marriage
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1880

Jane Lassetter- Lead me, Walk Beside Me: Life Lessons with the Holy Ghost
http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=2169


Barbara Heise- Growing Toward Christ
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1885


Brent Nelson- I Know That He Loveth His Children
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=2189&view=2

Elder Anthony Perkins- Nevertheless, I Went Forth
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=2164


Bishop Gerald Causse- "For When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong"
 http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=2157 

Jeff Ringer- Finding Sanctuary
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1899 

Hello, I'm my Super Self!

A couple weeks before school got out, there was a day that the kids were supposed to dress up as their hero.  In the hallway, I overheard a little girl talking.  She was probably 1^st or 2^nd grade.  Anyway, she was wearing a cape and I heard her tell someone, “I’m my super self!”   She was so proud of herself.

That really struck me.  We should all try to be our super self! We should all try to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.  We may not always be able to do it on our own, but we can surely do it with the help of God our Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and our friend, the Holy Ghost.

I need to try harder to be my super self!

My life- the War chapters

 I am reading in Alma in my gospel study.  You know- the War chapters.  As I read these, it makes me tired.  They spend so much time preparing for war and then they fight in the battles and they win.  Then they go home and continue preparation and then they have more battles.  Then it looks like peace is established and they might be able to relax a little, but no.  There is an army approaching and they have to fight.  It seems relentless.  They never get a chance to take a break!

Sometimes my life feels that way.  There always seems to be something challenging occurring.  When you think the challenge is over, you turn around and there is more to be done.  It is relentless.  You work hard all day, you go to sleep, you wake up and do it over again, and on and on it goes.

But, always, there is the help of the Lord to spur you on and encourage you.  Good luck with your "War Chapters"!

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

                                                                                                        Doctrine and Covenants 128:22

                                                                                         

Church Service

Years ago, I was invited to a couples shower where the gift we brought the soon-to-be married couple would reflect something in our own lives that had helped our marriage.  I brought a basket of church resources and manuals and I said that from the first day Kevin and I entered our first ward as a married couple, we introduced ourselves to the bishop and said we were ready to serve.  I feel that this attitude about serving in the church has been a great blessing in our lives.  We have served in various callings and have encouraged and helped each other in various callings and that has been a huge benefit to our marriage.  That is why this thought from Pres. Eyring's conference message  (To My Grandchildren  Nov. 2014 Ensign)  resonated with me:

I urge those I love to accept and to magnify every calling offered them in the Church. That choice is one of the great keys to family happiness. The pressures at every stage of life can tempt us to reject or neglect calls to serve the Savior. That can put us in spiritual peril for ourselves, our spouse, and our families. Some of those calls may seem unimportant, but my life, and my family, was changed for the better by my accepting a call to teach a deacons quorum.

10 scriptures to cheer you up

This is from the LDS.org site:

10 Scriptures to Cheer Up Your Friends

Know people who are having a bad day? Sharing a scripture with them might be just the thing to brighten their day. And if they see that you believe in the scriptures, they may ask you more about your beliefs or the Church. Here are 10 scriptures that inspire with hope and provide comfort to the soul.

• Joshua 1:9
  
• Proverbs 3:5–6
• Isaiah 12:2
• Matthew 11:28–30
• John 16:33
• 2 Nephi 31:20
• Mosiah 4:9
• Alma 36:3
• Helaman 5:12
• D&C 136:29

There are other things at the site, like 10 videos to share and 10 conversations starters.  I thought I would add the link to the whole thing so that I can find it again.

Book of Mormon page titles- pretty cool

Here is a link to a pdf of Book of Mormon page titles that is pretty neat. This is from The Red Headed Hostess who got it from A Slacker Mom. http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Book-of-Mormon-Page-Titles.pdf