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
Each woman in a ward creates the Relief Society. Each of us is vital and needed to make the sisterhood complete. As I looked around the chapel on Sunday, I saw unique and different women, like different blooms in a stunning bouquet of flowers. I could immediately discern talents/spiritual gifts some sisters had that were different or more competent than mine. And I was glad! Spiritual gifts are characteristics of our Divine Parents given to each of Their children. The... Read more
Do you feel lonely at church? My husband and I have just moved into a new congregation and the flutter of “new place” vibes is hitting my heart. While I am really new now, I am confident I’ll feel comfortable in this new place soon, because that’s what I expect for myself and work to achieve. However, I recognize that church can be a very lonely place, so decided to share some of the things I do to make my... Read more
Today is the day! We “saw that it was needful for [us] to obtain another place of residence” when our rental house unexpectedly sold. We’d moved back to help Anthony’s mom as long as she needed us. Since her health has significantly improved, we felt the time was right to buy a house again. After diving into a tumultuous seller’s market and submitting multiple offers in tandem with what seemed like every other city resident, we found our home. We walked... Read more
What are your takeaways from the story of Noah and the flood and the ark and the dove? The story is found in Genesis 6-9. For me, among other things, the story of Noah’s ark includes a story of prophecy, a story of agency, and a story of consequence. I’m amazed that Noah obediently built the ark. I wonder how Noah’s family and the animals reacted as water immersed the ark. The ark crew absolutely put their trust in the... Read more
The topic of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming has fascinated my mind and guided my scripture study since my childhood family’s Sunday ask-whatever-questions-you-have gospel discussions. I really enjoyed these thoughts by Jessie Brown as she shared some simple and always timely ways to “prepare and look forward to His coming with faith and hope.” From Jessie Brown ~ Look Forward to His coming with Faith and Hope A month before Christmas, my daughter Ellie asked me if Jesus would come again... Read more
During a message on Love from the Sunday pulpit, an instructive thought flashed through my mind. I immediately turned to Fascimile 3 in the Pearl of Great Price to continue the lesson. The initial thought impressed that each figure depicted my hoped-for path of ultimate salvation. Without detracting from Joseph Smith’s explanation or proffering some intended wide-spread application, I’ll share how the Spirit “likened” Facsimile 3 to me. To understand what I learned, I share the applicable portions from the... Read more
The beloved hymn “O My Father” by Eliza R. Snow was originally called “My Father in Heaven” or “Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother.” While studying Eliza’s poem, I fixated on her title “Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother.” “Invocation, or” fascinated me. Why did she choose those words? To me, invocation meant prayer, and specifically a prayer given at the beginning of a worship service or meeting. A quick Google search to understand additional meanings of Invocation invited... Read more
Until recently, for me, faith, hope, and charity were oft-repeated though relatively abstract concepts. I believed and experienced faith as a principle of action and power. Charity, the least ambiguous in my mind, represented the pure love of Christ. I’ve felt of His love and grace so equated charity to a magnified version of my experiences. Hope seemed to vacillate between the faith and charity. Scriptures about hope seemed to summarize both faith and charity, so hope formed some sort... Read more
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