Baptism by Immersion for the Remission of Sins

Good Afternoon Sisters!  I know, I am late again.  I have had several things come up in the past few days and I am getting my first opportunity to sit down and write to you.  Our lesson was by Michelle Gawley this past Sunday and was about one of the basic principles of the gospel, that is BAPTISM.  I loved that she invited her husband who is a convert of a year and a half to come share his feelings with us.  It really brought in the spirit and I could sense his enthusiasm and testimony of the gospel.

Baptism is the gateway by which we inherit the Celestial Kingdom.  Jesus Christ was without sin, yet He was baptized. He said His baptism was necessary “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). The prophet Nephi explained that the Lord told him, “Follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do … with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism” (2 Nephi 31:12–13).

Each of us whether at 8 yrs old or later in our life had a choice to make.  We had to first gain a testimony of the Priesthood.  If we knew that it was the only authority by which to baptize. We also had to gain a testimony of repentance.  Lucky for us that we aren’t just cleansed one time at baptism and then expected from there on out to be perfect or we would all be in trouble.  Be have the opportunity every time we make mistakes or sin to correct them and repent of those mistakes and be worthy again of those baptismal covenants that we took upon ourselves.  The sacrament each Sunday is one of those times that we can be reminded and renewed in our covenants.

While Michelle was teaching I was reminded of a story that President Faust gave in 2001 called “Born Again”.  In this conference talk he told of a Samoan man who used his faith to get his crippled legs into the baptismal font.  Here is the story that he recounted:

“Some years ago Albert Peters told of the experience he and his companion had of a man being born again. One day they went to the hut of Atiati in the village of Sasina in Samoa. There they found an unshaven, unkempt, misshapen man lying on a bed. He asked them to come in and introduce themselves. He was pleased to know they were missionaries and wanted to hear their message. They presented the first discussion, bore witness to him, and then left. As they walked away, they discussed Atiati’s condition; he had had polio 22 years before that had left him without the use of his arms or legs, so how could he ever be baptized, being so completely disabled?

When they visited their new friend the next day, they were unprepared for the change in Atiati. He was bright and clean-shaven; even his bedding had been changed. “Today,” he said, “I begin to live again, because yesterday my prayers were answered and you [came] to me. … I have waited for more than twenty years for someone to come and tell me that they have the true gospel of Christ.”

For several weeks the two missionaries taught this sincere, intelligent man the principles of the gospel, and he received a strong witness of the truth and the need for baptism. He asked them to fast with him so that he would have the strength to go down into the water and be baptized. The nearest baptismal font was eight miles away. So they carried him to their car, drove him to the chapel, and set him on a bench. Their district leader opened the service by bearing a strong testimony about the sacred ordinance of baptism. Then Elder Peters and his companion picked up Atiati and carried him to the font. As they did so, Atiati said, “Please, put me down.” They hesitated, and he said again, “Put me down.”

As they stood in some confusion, Atiati smiled and exclaimed: “This is the most important event in my life. I know without a doubt in my mind that this is the only way to eternal salvation. I will not be carried to my salvation!” So they lowered Atiati to the ground. After a huge effort, he managed to pull himself up. The man who had lain 20 years without moving was now standing. Slowly, one shaky step at a time, Atiati went down the steps and into the water, where the astonished missionary took him by the hand and baptized him. He then asked to be carried from the font to the chapel, where he was confirmed a member of the Church.

Atiati continued to progress so that he gained the ability to walk only by a cane. He told Elder Peters that he knew that he would be able to walk on the morning of his baptism. He said, “Since faith can move a stubborn mountain, I had no doubt in my mind that it would mend these limbs of mine.” I believe we can say that Atiati was truly born again!

Like Atiati, when we are baptized, we are spiritually born of God and are entitled to receive His image in our countenances. We should experience a mighty change of heart so that we can “become new creatures” and exercise faith in the redemption of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to maintain our standards of worthiness. The personal standards of worthiness to be baptized into this Church are plain:

“All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.”

Baptism by immersion in water is “the introductory ordinance of the gospel, and must be followed by baptism of the Spirit in order to be complete.”

As the Prophet Joseph Smith once said: “You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”

I love those words, “today I begin to live again!”  Sisters how many of us are going through the motions of life?  How many of us are just getting through the day?!  How would our lives be different if we used our Baptismal covenants, accepted the Atonement for whatever is ailing us and BEGAN TO LIVE AGAIN?!  My challenge is to each of us to take inventory!  What is there in our lives that is stopping us from LIVING it?!  How can we better utilize the blessings of our baptism.

May you live each day to the fullest and enjoy more fully the sunlight!  I love you!  I am thinking of you!  Keep pushing those handcarts for the reward ahead is sweet!

Meg

COME TO JESUS

Sisters!  I don’t know how I spaced this, but I did!  I am going to blame the Layton’s delicious Sunday dinner on my lapse in memory!  I was sitting at my computer tonight and it DAWNED ON ME!  AHHHHHH I didn’t do the announcements!! No wonder I have had a rough week! J

Our lesson this week was given by our new ward member and newest called teacher, Sarah Udall.  She gave it out of lesson #19 Repentance.  I was so touched by her lesson .  She was VERY prepared and had AMAZING quotes to share and great perspective. 

Here are some of the highlights:

“Repentance is ever the key to a better happier life!” –Spencer W. Kimball

She reminded us about the talk by Elder Packer THIS conference where he taught us that each of US holds the key to our own prison. He says, “ Every soul confined in a prison of sin, guilt or perversion holds a key to the gate.  The key is labeled REPENTANCE! If you know how to use the key, the adversary cannot hold you.”

She shared with us the scripture out of D&C 19:16-17

“I God have suffered the things for all that they might not suffer IF they would repent, but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I.”

We are all in need of repentance.  We all need to cleanse our inner vessel as we continue through this journey of life.  It is up to us to take our key and USE IT.  Access our Heavenly Father’s Love and our Saviors sacrifice.  Are we willing to say as Alma, “I will give away ALL my sins to know thee.”

This video and song touched my heart Sunday as I continues my personal study about repentance.  I hope it will touch yours as well.  We all need him, we just need to come to Jesus!

All my love,

Meg

WE THANK THEE OH GOD FOR A PROPHET

Just a little side not before I put this letter in here. I have been so saddened this week as our Apostle Boyd K Packer has been attacked by people, even those of our own faith about the talk that he gave in General Conference this past weekend that referenced our stand on same sex relationships, although that was not the whole talk. I raised my hand and sustained him as a prophet, seer and revelator and I MEANT IT! End of story. No debate. The Lord does not lie and He, President Packer, is his mouth piece.

That being said, here is my message for this month for our RS newsletter.


We thank thee, O God, for a prophet
To guide us in these latter days.
We thank thee for sending the gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays.
We thank thee for every blessing
Bestowed by thy bounteous hand.
We feel it a pleasure to serve thee
And love to obey thy command.
When dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us,
And we know that deliv’rance is nigh.
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.
We’ve proved him in days that are past.
The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last.

We are now living in a time on earth where this message is of critical importance. We need a prophet, a guide, a direct conduit to our Heavenly Father that can give us the direction that we need to make it through these turbulent times. The days of riding the fence have passed. Things are becoming more clear, more black and white. Either we follow the prophet, or we do not. We cannot just pick and choose the counsel we follow, for all our inspired leaders are called of God to do just that, LEAD. Lead us to higher ground. Protect us from unnecessary pain and affliction. Sometimes things they say to us may hit close to home. The message may also be a sensitive subject to our heart. But we will never loose blessings from following our prophets, seers and revelators.
Conference is such a blessed time of renewal. A time where we can place our worries before our leaders and know that they will give us counsel on how to improve our relationships, how to become better stewards of the blessings we have, how to repent and come closer to our Heavenly Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, and how to strengthen our homes from the storms that are surely coming our way down the road.
Right now I am reading in the war chapters of Alma. There are many parallels found there that we are seeing today all around us. In Alma chapter 53 it tells us of the 2,000 strippling warriors who fought mightily to protect our liberties. Something that stood out to me this week while re-reading this chapter is in verse 17 it reads:




17 And they entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives; yea, even they covenanted that they never would give up their liberty, but they would fight IN ALL CASES to protect the Nephites and themselves from bondage.

I love that! Right there it PROVES that WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! We can fight in ALL cases to protect ourselves from bondage. There are MANY things that put us in bondage. Our weaknesses are one of those things! Our prophets try to give us the tools to protect us and help us through our weakness and become STRENGTHENED in our fight against our liberty.
President Ezra Taft Benson said: “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 361).

Sisters, May we stand on solid ground. May we heed the words our leaders have just spoken to us and cling to them as we STRENGTHEN our families and homes from the forces of danger all around us. We are in this together! WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! Faith and Action is what will keep us heading on the right path back to our Heavenly Father. I love you Sisters. I am so thankful for all the things I learn from you as I watch the great choices that you make each and every day in your service to the Lord both in and outside your homes. Have a great month! Meg

ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD

ALOHA!! I’m BAAACK! And I missed you all last week, although I LOVED being in Hawaii more than you will ever know. I never thought I’d ever make it there, and to be able to go there for free and get paid for it, was a DREAM COME TRUE! I thought I’d include some Hawaii lovin’!
This is from the deck of our housing on Waikiki at sunset

Sister Suzann Garner taught our lesson this week. It was on the talk, “All Things Work Together for Good” by Elder James B. Martino. I read this talk myself about a month ago and it really touched me, I am so glad that I got to hear about it again. “We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from that experience.” I feel like we had a similar talk by Sister Allred at Woman’s Conference this past Saturday.

Elder Martino goes on, “ Each of us will face trials and tests,…it is how we react to those difficulties that will determine our success and happiness. Each of us will face adversity no matter where we are. We are taught in the scriptures that there “must needs be…an opposition in all things.” We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face them but HOW we will face them.”

Sister Garner put up examples of what we in our ward may be facing. Some of them were: Divorce, eating disorders, pornography or affairs, being single, problems with children, financial, emotional etc. Elder Martino explains, “ Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly, permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more and more Christ-like… recognize the good that comes from each experience”

I can tell you sincerely and honestly that there have been several really hard trials that I have been through and the blessings that come when you can hold your head up high when you have made it through it and see how your life has been blessed through that trial are COMPLETELY WORTH IT!

I have had some really special experiences with the talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, “Cast Not Therefore Away Thy Confidence” I would encourage any of you who are struggling with life or your testimony to read that, I turn to so many times a year myself. In that talk he tells us, “I wish to encourage every one of us regarding the opposition that so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose. In his letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul was trying to encourage new members who had just joined the Church, who undoubtedly had had spiritual experiences and received the pure light of testimony, only to discover that their troubles had not ended but that some of them had just begun.”

Satan has a way to come just at the very time that you think you are coming to the end of a trial or decision and try to deceive you or question what you had felt. Remember to pay attention to the FIRST answer and peace you were given and don’t allow Satan in to discourage you any longer. The most miserable times of my life is when I have let Satan in to my mind or my heart and allowed him to make me miserable. Sisters, we have had enough things to face, let’s not let Satan add to them!

Elder Martino gives some great perspective as to how we can better face the trials that come our way. First ask ourselves:
• What am I to do?
• What can I learn from this experience?
• What am I to change?
We can learn a lot from the Savior’s example while he was on the earth. FIRST, He sought not to do His will be ONLY the will of His Father. Second, When we are faced with trials, we must learn to not complain or murmur. THIRD, When we face our challenges we must seek greater help from God. FOURTH, Learn to serve and think of others even in our times of trial. FIFTH, Forgive others and DO NOT seek to pass the blame of our situation to them.

Sisters, none of us are free from trials. It may seem like someone has it all together, but in reality there are things she is dealing with in private that may knock your socks off! It is part of the plan that we all have opposition, some may just deal with it differently and it may not be as apparent to you. Let us keep these awesome teaching moments from Elder Martino close at hand so that next time, next moment, today even, as we go through our trials we can keep an eternal perspective as to why we may have to bear these burdens. I will close with his words. Know that I love you and I am CHEERING YOU ON! Meg

“As we pass through the trials of life, let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become more prayerful, let us serve others. And let us forgive one another. As we do this, “all things will work together for good to us that love God” I bear a solemn witness that our Father loves us and He sent His Son to show and pave the way for us. He suffered, He died, and He was resurrected that we might live, and He desires that we “might have joy” even in the trials of our lives.”

PRIESTHOOD POWER

Happy Middle of September!

Hope this email finds you all with smiles on your face and ready to face ANYTHING that is thrown at you because you have the gospel power to combat it, right?!

We were given an great lesson by Kelly Beeson this week in Relief Society.  She took us on a plane ride.  She was the non member sitting next to us and she had us explain to her as we would to a perfect stranger knowing nothing of the gospel, the restoration.  It kept us all on our toes.

Kelly was blessed to work on the FARMS project while she attended BYU.  There she was given an assignment to record and type letters that were written by Orson P Pratt.  Something powerful that she said as she was able to share her experience briefly with us was that while she was reading and typing she felt time and time again “ This man REALLY saw an Angel!” She said it was amazing that even though he ended up leaving the church, he NEVER denied the experience that he had with Joseph Smith!  What an awesome testimony she gave, having experienced reading the actual letters where he recounted it with others.

Something that I was thinking about A LOT during this lesson was The Priesthood.  That is definitely something that sets us apart from other religions.  We have holders that have been given that power from the Lord in our day.

Growing up without the priesthood in my home, I often prayed for better understanding of this power and the miracles it can bring forth.  Because of my intense desire to understand and experience the power in my own life, I have been given poignant experiences with the Priesthood that I will treasure forever.   One inparticular was standing out to me as I heard all of you sharing in RS this week.

I have shared before with you all that I worked many years in the EFY program (Especial For Youth).  This program is for the 14-18 year olds of the church (although we do have a number on non members attend as well).  It is set up like a bible style camp and is held in college campuses all over the world now. 

We have a special day in the week program that is a spiritual day.  It happens on Thursdays.  This is the day that all the youth and leaders dress in their Sunday best and we have mini classes talking about our worth and virtue to the girls and missions to the boys.  Then that night it ends with testimony meetings.  It is the day all counselors and leadership look forward too, the day of miracles some of us call it.  You see the light finally come on in some of your most challenging youth’s heads and you see a light of testimony starting to grow.  This day at EFY is always solemn and special.

Of course we give our Youth a break from the spiritual things and they eat lunch and have some free time.  On this particular day that I am going to talk about, I was at BYU-Idaho.  I was incharge of keeping the youth from butting in the lunch lines etc this day.  Having 800 youth come to eat at relatively the same time, is a challenge and this day hadn’t proven any less of one.  The lunch room was crowded, loud and boisterous to say the least.  I was talking to the youth and laughing with them when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I noticed something startling.  I noticed a youth go down and begin to have a seizure.

We had just had a training that VERY morning while the kids were in classes about how to react in an emergency situation. I watched fellow counselors move in as we were told and we formed a circle around this girl with our backs faced inward as to not cause a scene.  It worked amazing.  Only a few youth had seen what was happening and we were able to keep things calm and continuing on as normal.  As I sat there on the outside of that circle I could here the priesthood holders discuss what her full name was with her sister who was there and then without any warning the ENTIRE lunchroom went SILENT.  A hush fell over that lunch room.  You couldn’t hear one noise (not even the voice of the men giving a blessing) all you could feel was this OVERWHELMING sense of calm and spirit. 

I as well as many other’s had tears flowing down our cheeks.  It was a power like I hadn’t felt before, it was tangible, it was so powerful it HUSHED a sea of 800 hungry, boisterous teens.  The only way that I knew that the blessing was over is that as soon as the AMEN was done the teens in the room started to carryon like nothing had happened. 

I reflected on that experience all day.  I was so touched at the reverence that the youth showed for the moment of healing that was taking place.  I wondered how in the world they all knew to be quiet at the same time as the blessing was being said. 

That night as I got my girls settled down for bed they said, “Meg, can we ask you something?” I said of course.  “What happened in the lunchroom today?  Why did we feel so compelled to be reverent?”

These youth had absolutely NO IDEA that there was someone that was having a seizure. They had no idea that someone was administering a blessing. All they knew is they were compelled to be reverent.  That was such a testimony to me and to them, of the power of the priesthood.  It has power to compel you to be reverent if it needs to.

That day (as well as many others since) I was taught such a valuable lesson and my faith in Priesthood power was strengthened and made alive again.  I am so thankful for the restoration of the gospel.  For the Priesthood power that it brought back to the earth.  I am thankful that daily through the worthy men in my life I have access to that power. All I need to do is call upon them to bless me with it. I am thankful for the youth of the church that taught me that miracles still happen and who were in-tune to the change in their behavior and made it possible for all of us involved to feel that HUSH that came into the BYU-I lunchroom that day.

Sisters, may we never take this blessing in our lives for granted.  May we be compelled and reverence this gift that we have been blessed with.  May we always feel comfortable to ask for it to bless our lives.  The Priest brings amazing power in our life if we will allow it to work.

Keep pressing forward with faith Sisters!!  Have a great week!!  YOU CAN DO IT!

TO LOVE THE THINGS GOD LOVES

Good Morning Sisters!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!! Hope that all of you are enjoying the day with friends or family.  I am enjoying the day not nannying my twins! Wish I could’ve slept in though, my body is so on this 4:30am schedule though.  Have a great day!

Our lesson today was taught by Carole Richards, our Relief Society President.  She got some of her thoughts from a talk entitled, “ To Love the Things God Loves” from the Ensign in 1981.

We focused on the desires of the heart and that is always such a great teaching to go back to often.  For if we can keep our desires in line with God’s desires, the outcome of our lives would be so much more bright, wouldn’t it?!

In this talk Dennis Peterson shares a story from his mission to Japan and how he had a life changing  moment, while watching an investigator change from a mean and abusive man, to a kind and loving father through the gospel.  He then found a passage in the book, Jesus The Christ,  that made a lasting impression.  It is too powerful not to share.  He relates the following:

 “In Jesus the Christ, it explains that the Savior “had the capacity, the ability to sin had He willed so to do … Nevertheless his insurance against [sin] … is not that of external compulsion, but of internal restraint due to his cultivated companionship of the spirit of truth” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1973, chapter 10, paragraph 2 from the end, p. 134).

It was a moment of real revelation for me; I understood finally that Christ’s ultimate defense was not his supreme will power but simply that, nurtured by the Spirit, he had no desire for Satan’s grimy alternatives. He loves the things his Father loves. Thus, as his desires became deeds, those deeds reflected a spontaneous righteousness that came from the very depths of his being.

That was the key: to love the things God loves, to make his desires my own, and thus to be truly like him. My problem was that I had been trying to act in godly ways while wanting ungodly things. If I could change the desires of my heart, then my actions would spontaneously become godly.”

I loved this teaching. “If I could change the desires of my heart, then my actions would spontaneously become godly!”

What are our desires of the heart?  Are they turned to the things of God, or do we desire having all the best of the things or the world? 

The gap between good and evil is closing in on us every day. We have to determine where are desires are going to be set.  What our ultimate goals are in this life. Where we want to be. 

I love the story in the Book of Mormon where the prophet King Benjamin asked his people to gather to the temple, “they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple” (Mosiah 2:6) I think this perfectly depicts the desires of their hearts.  They believed that King Benjamin was a prophet of God and their desires were to heed to his words so they  put their doors toward the temple READY to hear.

Where are our door point toward? So our tent door show our true desires? Are we heading ourselves and our families in the right direction?

It is always good to take our temperatures and realign our lives continually so that we are closer to the things that God loves.  I know it is a daily battle.  None of us has it easy.  The battle is what strengthens us for the REAL battle ahead.  It is what prepares us to STAND at the  last day.  The real battle hasn’t started, we are just getting our armor ready.  Every thing that we do to become more godlike, every righteous desire,  gives us one more layer in our shield.  I know that I need every layer that I can get.

Carole said something yesterday that I jotted down because it reminded me of my favorite quote.  She said, “He (God) may not always put things in our time table, but he is listening!”  My favorite quote is by Neal A Maxwell, “Faith in God includes faith in His timing!”

May we all continue to work on “turning our tents toward the temple” that we may be able to align our desires with God’s desires and have faith in him that he KNOWS what is the best for us, because he does!

I love you Sisters and appreciate all the righteous desires I see in you.  I am blessed to be part of you!  Happy Monday!  

KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS

Sisters!  How fun to be back with you after I have missed a couple weeks.  Every time I return after even a week away, I get so excited to be part of things with you again!

Today was our Conference Talk Sunday with our lovely Suzann Garner.  We went over the talk by Elder Bruce Carlson of the seventy from April Conference entitled “When the Lord Commands”.

I read this talk last night and was so impressed by the power in which he taught, using great experiences from the scriptures as well as how he taught in simple terms. 

He taught us that generally when we aren’t keeping the commandments it is because of  3 basic reasons:

1.       We have convinced ourselves that the commandment does not apply to us

2.       This commandment is NOT important

3.       This commandment is just TOO hard!

One of my favorite quotes out of this talk is the following:

“At times we may rationalize that the Lord will understand our disobedience because our special circumstances make adherence to His laws difficult, embarrassing, or even painful.  However, faithful obedience, regardless of the apparent size of task, will bring the Lord’s guidance, assistance and peace.”

This talk was perfect for me at the moment.  I personally needed it to reconfirm to me that a recent conversation I had with a friend, was on point with the gospel teachings.  We know that this world is getting increasingly BLACK AND WHITE.  Being a “fence sitter” is just not enough any more.  We are all being forced to DEFINE our beliefs and HOLD TO THEM. 

One of the heart breaking things that I personally have been going through for years is a lot of my dearest friends in the gospel are choosing a different path, a path that takes them COMPLETELY out of the  path of the Plan of Salvation.  Many of my friends are choosing to lead a homosexual life and giving into those tendencies.  I was having a conversation with one of my best guy friends who I have worked with in gospel teaching situations before. It was a tearful, agonizing conversation in which he was telling me that he has made the choice to continue with this type of lifestyle.  He was talking to me about how heart wrenching it has been for him and how much he has missed teaching in the church, and how he loves the gospel and yet he has “CONVINCED” himself that those 3 things (discussed above) apply to him.

 I talked to him about the Atonement and that he can come back, he doesn’t ‘have to” live this lifestyle.  He told me that it is “just too hard” not to. When he said that, the spirit filed my mind and I was able to talk to him boldly and yet be filled with love.  I told him, “Do you know what the only difference between you and me is?”  He of course said, “What?”  I continued, “The only difference between you and me is that I am straight and you are gay and I choose to bridle my passions and you choose to act on them.  If you chose to be not act on them, you could have all the same rights, covenants and blessings that I do.”  It was silent on the phone for what seemed like 5 minutes, knowing that he was thinking about what I was saying I left it at, “ You know I love you.  Anytime you need me to remind you, I will be here.” And that was the end of a very long conversation that we had that night.  Just when I was at my emotional end, just at the part of the conversation when I was spent “dealing with it”, the spirit took over and said what needed to be said in a way that I personally had not thought of before.

When we choose to live the commandments even when it is HARD.  Even when it is inconvenient.  Even when we have to trade something that we really want for something we want even more, we receive peace and all the blessings that are associated with keeping the commandments.  Living the commandments is ALWAYS the right choice!

  I appreciated the reminder in today’s lesson from the teaching of Joseph Smith.  It was discussing when he kept going to the Lord to allow Martin Harris to take the plates and finally after the third round of asking, The Lord agreed and through that process, Martin lost the manuscript and the plates were taken away from Prophet Joseph for a time.  After this painful lesson Joseph taught, “ I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, DO IT!”

Growing up my Mother would always say, “When the prophet speaks, the debate is over!” as she was teaching us a certain principle that we found particularly hard to hear.   I think that mantra fits the teachings from Joseph Smith as well.  And the great news is when we do, WE WILL BE BLESSED!  Keeping the commandments saves us from so much UNNECESSARY heartache we just need to DO IT! 

Sister’s you are all example’s to me of Women trying hard to keep the commandments.  None of us are perfect but the more time we can stay close to the commandments without faultering, the better we will be in this world of so much contradiction.  May you be blessed as you follow the Lord and heed to the teachings of our leaders today!

Keep the Commandments! Keep the Commandments!

In this there is safety; in this there is peace.

He will send blessings; He will send blessings,

Words of the prophet; Keep the commandments.

In this there is safety and peace.