Scripture Power

The lesson today was taught by our dear Diane Betzner.  She taught lesson #10 on The Scriptures as well as used some great points in recent conference talks.  It was interesting that the thing that kept playing again and again in my mind was THE YOUTH!  Granted, I was an EFY coordinator for 5 years and so the youth and the teachings of the youth are always forefront in my mind, but through this lesson my mind was FLOODED with memories of the stories of and testimony that I heard the youth bear while working with them in this capacity.

I remember many times throughout the summer being reminded of the story when Jesus at 14 went and started teaching in the synagogue.  He was expounding scripture with men that were much older and felt like they were much wiser than He, yet He taught them.  Many times with the youth, they were my teachers.  They had a profound sense of doctrine and scripture and would freely share in that safe place that EFY creates for them.  Other’s were scripturally illiterate and would SOAK IN the teaching of their peers.   They would sit at their feet and take in word for word of what they were saying and through the week I saw them learning from the example of the GIANTS around them, and applying it in their own form of Scripture Study.

The one thing that stood out to me in the testimony meetings of this program was that most of the POWERFUL testimonies, the one’s that were their own not their parents were born about how they had been in seminary X amount of years and that they listened but when their family had taken them to such and such church history site (Nauvoo, Kirtland, Palmyra,etc) or that they had just participated in a Trek for their Stake and  all of the sudden it clicked and they got it!  They would stand there and powerfully testify that THEY KNEW that what is spoken of took place.  They felt it!  That the scriptures are true!  That the things taught in them are for us, and that they want to live up to the gospel standard.

I know that many of you are trying to get that same feeling from your youth!  You are praying for that light to come on, for that testimony to shout out!  You hold family scripture study, family prayer, family home evening.  You make sure they participate in their church activities and scouting programs.  I know that there is a struggle sometimes but you still encourage, teach and testify!  I want you to know that it IS making a difference!!  I can’t tell how many of their testimonies were how much they loved their Mom’s or loved their Dad’s and felt bad that they didn’t show it.  Or how through family scripture study they felt the spirit.  They may not be telling you, but THEY ARE LISTENING!

I was listening to a devotional the other morning and I wish I could remember who was speaking but one thing that stood out to me was, Why would we do scripture study at night when we are safely tucked into our beds and safe from the dangers of the world?  This speaker (BYU TV) said we NEED THAT POWER in the day!  When the temptations are being thrown at us!  We need that power that we receive through scripture study to combat the wills of Satan and make it through the pressure of peers.  It really struck me. I knew for me I needed to put that into action! Since that time, I have been trying to make an EXTRA effort for DAYTIME scripture study, making it the FIRST thing I do instead of the last and it has helped my outlook, my attitude and my choices already. I love that time of my day where I can be fed through the words of the prophets both anciently and modern.

I was sharing with my visiting teachers the other day of a great example I had on teaching your children to love the scriptures and thought that I would close with this to you today.  I think you are all fairly familiar with the family bond I have with the Whiting Family in the ward.  I grew up in Wade’s families ward and have been like family with them for the past 20 yrs.  I have spend oodles times with each family in their different homes, helping out with their different families.  Wade’s Sister Jolyn’s husband was always in charge of the bedtime routine.  That was when he would get his “quality” time with his kids. They did have family scripture study at a separate time but when he put the kids to bed, he would lay there with them and expound scripture stories and have them so intrigued it would open up all kinds of discussions.  I have never told him this but when he went up to the oldest child’s room (he was 6-8 at the time) I would follow shortly behind and lay on the floor outside his room and listen to the scripture stories that he told.  I was drawn into them too!  I loved hearing about Ammon and Nephi.  Lehi and Helaman.  He made them real to even me, the adult!  He made me want to be courageous and steadfast in  my choices.  Why do I tell you this? Because there is NEVER a wrong time to expound the scriptures to your children.  They are listening.  When you open up their understanding they are more likely to search for more on their own time.  It is never too late or to early to start!

I know that this topic can sometimes really overwhelm us and make us feel like we can’t do everything.  I too, even without kids, feel that way at times. But one thing I do know that if we start and just do it, it gets easier and easier and the understanding that we need comes stronger and purer.  Thank you Diane for helping me remember the times when I heard such pure testimony, remember the things I felt and be even more committed to get my mornings started off right by putting my armor on for the battle!

May you continue to be blessed in finding a balance for scripture study in your lives and homes!  I know that the promise in the intro to the Book of Mormon is from God and has a powerful influence for good in our lives and so I close with that,

“Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

Sister’s  you are true examples of women of faith who put your WHOLE HEART in teaching your children and helping them get closer to Christ.  Thank you for the example’s you are to me!  Have a GREAT week!

Meg

Celebrating Womanhood: Happy Mother's Day!

Sisters,

 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!  I missed you today and was so sad that I didn’t get to tell you all that personally! It has been an exciting weekend! I have been in Utah and came to surprise my Mom. And surprise her I did!  I showed up in her ward today and boy was she surprised when she saw my name on the program as the speaker in Sacrament and as the conductor of the Youth Choir as well.  It was so neat to honor my Mom that way today.  Since I wasn’t in the lesson with you all today I thought I would send you a sneak peak at the talk that I gave.  I am honored to be a Woman and to be striving just like you everyday to be worthy of hat divine endowment! Have a great week!

In April Conference 2006 Sister Elaine Dalton shared a poem that her grandfather used to say and I have loved it and repeated it since.

You don’t have to tell how you live each day;

You don’t have to tell if you work or play;

A tried and true barometer stands in its place-

You don’t have to tell, it will show in your face,

If you live close to God and His infinite grace-

You won’t have to tell, it will show in your face!

As Women of the church we are blessed with this light in our countenance.  It comes to us when we keep the covenants that we made with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ and you have made the choices which qualify for you to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  That light that comes to us is the Savior’s light.  It is the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  By the way you live the gospel, you reflect His light.  Your example will have a powerful effect for good on the earth

Sister Dalton continues, “Can one righteous woman change the world? The answer is a RESOUNDING YES! You have the Holy Ghost as your guide, and He “will show you all things…you should do” It is the daily consistent things that you do that will strengthen you to be a leader and an example—daily prayer, daily scripture study, daily obedience, daily service to others.  Are any of us perfect at this?  NO! But we still try and this TRYING makes us worthy of that light!

As we do these things we become more like him and His light shines through us.  And when other’s see that light, they want to be around it!

Do any of you like to play the find a Mormon is the most random places game?  I don’t know if I am alone in this quest, but I LOVE to people watch.  Especially on vacations!  And my most favorite thing to do is find the Mormons!  You know the people with that special light in their eyes!  I have found them in airports all over the US, in shopping centers outside of the typical Utah towns, on cruises you name it.  Now I am pretty friendly person and after observing that light and watching a few of their mannerisms revealed, I have dared to say are you LDS?  And 99% of the times I have asked which have probably numbered in the 20’s they have said YES and I have an instant friend and bond. 

One such instance happened to me in Puerto Rico.  I went with a bunch of my friends there.  One early morning we decided to take an adventure to the island of Culebra.  To do this you have to stand in line by 6am and get a ticket for a one hour boat ride that takes you there for the a day excursion and brings you back that evening.  As we were standing in line I noticed a group of girls with that “Mormon light” within them.  I mentioned to my friends that they were for sure Mormon and they teased me about my theory.  We continued to watch them.  Another girl joined their group and when I looked over at the new arrival I saw she was wearing a shirt that said Old Nauvoo. I laughed told the Spanish speaking member of the group to read the shirt and He rushed over to communicate with them in Spanish and let them know that we too were LDS.  We spent the whole day on the island with them and had a BLAST! All because a glance at their bright light radiating from them. 

The one thing that we can know for sure is that Satan is very opposed to that light that is within us!  He has DECLARED WAR on Motherhood or Womanhood in general!  Sheri Dew in a talk entitled, “Are We Not All Mothers?”  Talked about this very thing. She says, “He knows that those who rock the cradle can rock his earthly empire. And he KNOWS that without righteous Mothers loving and leading the next generation, the kingdom of God will fail.”

I connect with Sheri Dew and feel her light and her understanding of Motherhood without being a Mother herself.  She explains things in such a way that it excites my spirit!  One thing that I learned from this talk that I never have thought about before is she shares this thought, “When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman’s most sacred role.  While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve, “the mother of all living”—and they did so BEFORE she ever bore a child.  Like Eve, our motherhood began BEFORE we were born.  Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, righteous women were ENDOWED premortally with the privilege of Motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that.  It is the essence of who we are as women.”  

As that was not powerful enough to describe our roles of Motherhood President Hinckley declared, “Men have to have something given to them in mortality to make them Saviors of men, but not mothers, not women.  They were born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be saviors of human souls… and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children.”

As we know, not all of us get to exercise the gift of Motherhood directly, that is in our own homes.  But the Father doesn’t take that away from us who fit in that category. We still have great opportunity to do so vicariously. We just simply have to find other ways. All around us are those who need to be love and led.

Nearly a century ago President Joseph F Smith said this to the Women of the Church,

““It is not for you to be LED by the women of the world; it is for you to LEAD the women of the world in EVERYTHING that is God-like, everything that is uplifting and... purifying to the Children of God.”

Sheri Dew makes this point,

“How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch, and read; how we fill our time and our minds; how we face temptation and uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty and feminity are hallmarks of a righteous woman? How will our young women learn to value women of God if we don’t show them the virtue of our virtues?”

Few of us will reach our potential without the nurturing of BOTH the mother who bore us and the Mother’s WHO BEAR WITH US!  Those Mother’s are in each of us.  I have been blessed with some of those adopted Mothers in my life who BEAR WITH ME and because of the sweet relationships I have with them it helps me TO KNOW that you don’t have to give birth to someone to LEAD them, to love them.  Infact, it is because I know they love me that I let them help lead me.  Their light is such a calming force in my life.

I wish that you could all know how blessed I was the day Our Father sent me into the arms of my own Mother.  When I was only 9 months old my parents got a divorce and my Grandfather moved my Brother and I along with all 11 of his own children from Marshalltown, Iowa to Provo, Utah.  Since that time my Mother raised us on her own with no help or support from my Dad at all.  My Mom is a true example of that light.  She has always been full of love, testimony and truth.  She has been my hero as long as I have known what a hero was.  I am thankful that I never had to question what side of the line my Mother was on.

Sheri Dew put it this way, “WE ARE THE LORD’S SECRET WEAPON!  Our influence and light comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning…  The world won’t tell you that, but the spirit will.”

Sisters, today is a special day of rejoicing in that endowment!  It isn’t a day to bring discouragement, frustration, or pity. It doesn’t matter whether we don’t have any kids, or we have 18 and counting we are ALL given that same endowment!  And it is up to us to use our light in ALL Ways to love and lead those, even each other, back to the one who blessed us with such a high honor!

Many of you have blessed me to live vicariously through your families and allowed me in small ways to love your children and to you I am so thankful.  I learn from you, I lean on you and I watch the magnificent job you do in bringing light to a world of darkness and confusion!

When you live close to God and his infinite grace-- You won’t have to tell, it will show in your face!  

That's what I LOVE about my church!

Sisters,

What a great day we had to learn, worship and feel the spirit together.  I absolutely loved the testimonies that were born and for the spirit that I felt exude from each of you.  Both those who shared experiences of Woman’s Conference and other’s who bore testimony of Sisterhood and the gospel of Jesus Christ, THANK YOU!

This week in Relief Society we had the privilege to have a combined meeting with the Priesthod as we were reminded how to be a member missionary’s . Sometimes we make it seem so much harder than it actually is.  Wade Whiting taught with such zeal for the gospel and the work that you couldn’t help but catch the fire! (Of course I am partial because he has been like family to me for 20 years now and I have always loved his contagious testimony!)

He gave us tools on how to open our mouths and just be us, not try to set up the situation perfectly. His teachings reminded me of lessons I learned as a missionary in Columbus Ohio.  They were so poignant to me that I still think about it with EVERY missionary type experience I have to this day!

Elder Kikuchi of the 70 came through my mission and met with us as missionaries to do some training and introduce a new tracking approach to us.  While he spoke he shared recent (as of 2000) statistics of the church with us.  He said that the church has found that on average it takes a non- member 7 experiences with hearing about our church to let the missionaries in their door.  Hearing about the church could be through just hearing about “mormons”, hearing a commercial or radio spot, seeing a pamphlet or book, having neighbors who are, having a friend who may be, being invited to an activity or class at church or in a members home etc. 

He challenged us that every time that we open our mouths and even just mention who we are, or what church we belong, we are puling off a number!  It might be that as missionaries we would knock on a door and Sally behind the door has heard about our church in 3 different ways and you might pull off that #4.  Or you may meet someone in the grocery store and get into a casual conversation with them and they have never seen nor heard about anything to do about our church and so #1 peels off.  But what about that time that you open your mouth to a neighbor and it is lucky #7 and they inquire and want to know more!

When he taught this to us it was an Ah ha moment for me!  I totally got it!  Why is it that we are so afraid to share something that we are so much apart of?!  Something that has blessed our lives and made us better people?! 

If we remember it as simple as “I will help get them one step closer to letting those missionaries in their door and pull off a number” how much easier than is it for us to share tidbits about the church. 

Wade offered us a great way to start into those conversations and I have personally used this time and time again and it works! It is not offensive and is a subtle way to share your feelings about the church with anyone from stranger to family. 

When having a conversation with someone about a particular topic, work in the words, “That is what I love about my church” as you talk about things that would relate to why we do what we do!  I promise you that it works!  It gets easier and easier the more you practice and you have more and more opportunities open up to you as you put it into practice.  It is as simple as that!

One thing that I like about my church is the close association that I have with all you women.  How great is it that we get to meet together often, that we have support in ways of visiting teachers, activities and great neighbors!  Thank you for being apart of my life.  I am a better person for knowing and associating with each of you, if only everyone in Gilbert was so blessed!

Have a great week!  Keep those lights shining before men!  I am going to Utah to surprise my Mom for Mother’s Day, but I will send you the announcements from Utah next week!  You are wonderful and are loved so much, don’t forget it!