Waves broke my friend’s face. Periphery Waves She lounged in a tide pool, enjoying the water, and holding her infant son securely to her chest. She watched her husband and two-year-old daughter exploring the tide pool’s ridgeline. Suddenly, in her periphery, she saw monster waves thundering toward them. Regularly the news tells stories of people walking atop tide pools being swept away into the sea by random massive waves. Recently a crashing wave tragically pulled my sister’s... Read more
This morning as I read 3 Nephi 17:8, a phrase stuck out in a way I hadn’t noticed before: I see. For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you. I see that your faith is sufficient. Why see? Why not one of the other senses, like feel, or even words like know or believe? I had the thought to look up See... Read more
A friend and I laughed recently about the fact that almost nothing in our lives has gone according to our pre-adult plans for our lives. Seriously almost nothing. Along those lines, we talked about my latest random miscarriage at 50 years old, lucky 13, and how she was coping as the cruel calendar shouted that we’d passed the one-year mark of her adult son’s suicide. We talked about both of our moving upheavals and craving for stability as we sought... Read more
It’s time for General Conference! I love the opportunity to sit and learn from prophets and apostles and leaders who serve around the world. Aside from setting aside the time to be present during conference, the most important thing I do is decide on some questions I’d like to have answered during conference. For me, General Conference is an opportunity to have a long conversation with God. So I ask myself, “If I had a chance to sit and talk... Read more
This has been a period of separation. Separation isn’t unique in our histories. Separation stories fill our religious history. From the very beginning, Adam and Eve were separated from God. We have exoduses of the House of Israel from Canaan and Egypt, tribes to the North, and saints driven from Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. People separated themselves because of faith and fear, envy and conviction. Brothers were sold and killed, divided and lived. People separated themselves from lepers and prophets. ... Read more
Continuing with details and other stories from other perspectives parallel to the Biblical narrative, I pulled this interesting conglomeration of information from the Jewish Encyclopedia about Moses‘ life up until the time he approached Pharoah to let God’s people go. I left the source information inserted if you’d like to read the stories from the source materials. Stories of Moses Moses is Judaism’s most important prophet and many mythical legends persist about his life. So it seems like a great time... Read more
I love sitting and thinking in the Lubbock Texas Temple’s celestial room. As peaceful solitude surrounds me, I contemplate issues and questions, usually while staring at the glorious dome or chandelier or stained glass. In the mornings, the sunlight dances on the glass and crystals creating a colorful kaleidoscope. One morning as I focused on the chandelier, I noticed that each crystal became a prism, individually catching the sunlight and sharing that light through some color of the spectrum. Curiously,... Read more
Joseph’s encounter with Potiphar’s wife proved pivotal in his covenant journey and eventual marriage to Asenath. The Genesis account shares a couple of verses highlighting Joseph’s commitment to preserving his virtue in what seems like a one-and-done experience. However the Book of Jasher (an apocryphal book mentioned in the Bible and translated into English in 1840) provides much greater detail, devoting an entire chapter to the account of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Chapter 44 of the Book of Jasher 1... Read more
The human spirit is amazing! And humans who rely on and see the hand of God in their lives see miracles and are able to do things they never could achieve alone. I loved this miracle success story from my friend Roxanne Carlile who experienced extreme pain, loss, and grief in an instant. I watched some of her intense recovery in person and then from afar, and followed her progress in awe of how her foundational faith and resilience sustained... Read more
Studying Genesis’ story of Joseph in Egypt this week brought so many questions to mind about Joseph, Asenath, and the rest of the House of Israel. It seems like gathering in Egypt brought an end to their family dysfunction. Because when people in the scriptures have difficult trials with their successful outcomes, they lived happily ever after, right? There are people with pretty full scriptural stories—as full as we get by summarizing lives in a few pages. We get great insight... Read more
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