Every Trial and Experience

"We are now in a day of trial to prove ourselves worthy or unworthy of the life which is to come (DBY, 345).

All intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed for intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and exaltation. Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. If we obtain the glory that Abraham obtained, we must do so by the same means that he did. If we are ever prepared to enjoy the society of Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or of their faithful children, and of the faithful Prophets and Apostles, we must pass through the same experience, and gain the knowledge, intelligence, and endowments that will prepare us to enter into the celestial kingdom of our Father and God. … Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation (DBY, 345).

Should our lives be extended to a thousand years, still we may live and learn. Every vicissitude we pass through is necessary for experience and example, and for preparation to enjoy that reward which is for the faithful (DBY, 345)."

Brigham Young manual Chapter 35

Tests of Life are Tailored

"On this upward and sometimes hazardous journey, each of us meets our share of daily challenges. If we are not careful, as we peer through the narrow lens of self-interest, we may feel that life is bringing us more than our fair share of trials—that somehow others seem to be getting off more lightly.

But the tests of life are tailored for our own best interests, and all will face the burdens best suited to their own mortal experience. In the end we will realize that God is merciful as well as just and that all the rules are fair. We can be reassured that our challenges will be the ones we needed, and conquering them will bring blessings we could have received in no other way.

If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God’s goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn’t seem so. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” ¹⁹ Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be."
Elder Jeffrey Holland E. 10/2006

We live in a dangerous world

“We will not always be safe from the adversary’s influence, even within our own homes.  We need to protect our nestlings.  We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual.  The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about.  His objective is to cause injury.  If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded.”
                    Elder Packer, E.5/2013 p.7

A Sure Way to Eliminate the Influenece of the Adversary in your Life

Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.
Elder Scott, E.11/12  "The Joy of Redeeming the Dead"

Promise of Protection from Adversary

"As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I PROMISE  you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives."

Elder Bednar E.11/11 "The Hearts of the Children"

Eternal links that bind

"Elder Melvin J. Ballard testified that "the spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records. If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it." (Bryant S. Hinckley, Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joesph Ballard). and Elder Widtsoe said, "I have the feeling...that those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work receive help from the other side, and not merely in gathering genealogies. Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life." ("Genealogical Activites" p. 104). Quoted by Elder A. Theodore Tuttle, Eternal Links That Bind, Ensign, May 1980

Blessings of regular scripture study

"Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes.  We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings,  we labor to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions.  We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple.  All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently,methedrine other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase.  Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow."

P.66 Sermons and Writing of Ezra Taft Benson

Paint a missionary Tag on your heart

"If you are not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned to your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart-painted, as Paul said, "not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.  And returned missionaries, find your old missionary tag.  Don't wear it, but put it where you can see it,  The Lord needs you now more than ever."

Elder Neil Andersen, May 2013

In the very moment

I PROMISE you,

As you pray to know with whom to speak,

Names and faces will come into your mind.

Words to speak will be given in the very moment you need them.

Opportunities will open to you.

Faith will overcome doubt,

And The Lord will bless you with your very own miracles."

Elder Neil Andersen

 May 2013

Forgiveness

"The Lord knows everything, so of He chooses to forget something I suspect that that "thing" doesn't exist anymore."

Elder Groberg,  Refuge and Reality, the Blessings of the Temple, p. 92for

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car

“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

Adversity

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life's story will develop.
Pres. Uchtodorf, Your Happily Ever After, 5:2010

Use of time is a form of judging self

"But why this crippling limitation on our thought [thinking of only one thing at a time] if we are God's children?  It is precisely this limitation which is the essence of our mortal existence.  If every choice I make expresses a preference, if the world I build up is the world I really love and want, then with every choice I am judging myself, proclaiming all the day long to God, angels, and my fellowmen where my real values lie, where my treasure is, the  things to which I give supreme importance.   Hence, in this life every moment provides a perfect and foolproof test of your real character, making this life a time of testing and probation."
Hugh Nibley, Of All Things, p. 112

Why Rejoice

"We are commanded to be joyful because he has borne our sorrows.  He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief so that we need not be.  Our own sins and limitations are the things that make us sad.  He had no sins and limitations: he was not sad for his sake, but wholly for ours.  Only one could suffer for others who did not deserve to suffer for himself.

If we remain gloomy after what he did for is, it is because we do not accept what he did for is.  If we suffer, we deserve to suffer because there is no need for it if we only believe in him."
Hugh Nibley, Of All Things, p. 6

The Greatest thing I have done in my life

ALL BUT MY LIFE: A MEMOIR
by Gerda Weissman Klein

A sweet Jewish girl from Poland-age 18 during the Holocaust.
From Part 2 Chapter 6


At one point during her imprisonment she was part of a work crew operating weaving machines.  During this bleak time separated from loved ones and in difficult situations she thought to create skits and plays to entertain the girls at night in their bunks.

“Best of all I loved those upturned faces between the bunks, the smiles and sudden laughter, the knowledge that it was in my power to bring them an hour of fun to help them forget.  When I look back now over the years thinking of their happy faces I remember too how pitifully few lived to know the joy of freedom.  When I remember the forests of Czechoslovakia where most of them lie in unmarked graves I thank God that I was able to make them forget.  Even now when I meet the few girls who survived and they remind me of those performances I feel humble and grateful. 
I know that that was the greatest thing I have done in my life.”

Repentance & Grace

"Only repentance leads to the sunlit uplands of a better life."

"Repentance is a divine gift 🎁, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. " 😊

"Repentance exists only as an option because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

"Repentance means striving to change to change.  It would mock the Savior's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross for us to expect tha He should transform us into angelic beings with no real effort on our part.  Rather we seek His grace to compliment and reward our most diligent efforts (see 2 Nephi 25:23)”

"Perhaps as much as praying for mercy, we should pray for time and opportunity to work and strive and overcome.  Surely The Lord smiles upon one who desires to come to judgment worthily, who resolutely labored day by day to replace weakness with strength.  Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts. But there is something refining and holy in such striving."

Elder christofferson

GC 11/11

After the Manner of Happiness

"It was only after Nephi had completed the temple in the wilderness that he stated, "And we lived after the manner of happiness."  The 'manner of happiness' is found in the temple.  It is covenant keeping."

Referring to 2 nephi 5:27

Sis. Elaine Dalton GC 11/11

PRAYER

"It is as tragic to think we are too sinful to pray as it is for a very sick person to believe he is too sick to go to the doctor!"

"I am led to believe that Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that arr important to us become important to Him, just because He loves us."

Elser J. Dean Cornish
GC 11/11

Kept Covenants

"One of the Lords purposes in organizing the Relief Society was to prepare His daughters for the greater blessings of the priesthood found in the ordinances and covenants of the temple."

"When people sift through our possessions after we have died, will they find evidence that we have kept our covenants?"

Barbara Thompson
RS Broadcast 2011

I awoke with a Hymn in my head in the middle of the night.
It was on my mind in the morning.
It has resurfaced several times throughout the day.
Surely, this is a message for me...
Hence I "Humbly" acknowledge it publicly:

"Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee,
Shall lead they by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers.
Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee,
Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares.
Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee,
To serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love.
Be thou humble in thy longing, and the Lord thy God shall take thee,
Shall take thee home at last to ever dwell with him above.

Advice from Pres. Monson

From "Consider the Blessings" by Pres. Monson, October 2012

"I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness."

"I would recommend this same exercise to you-namely, that you take and inventory of your life and look specifically for the blessings, large and small, you have received."

"I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more The Lord will entrust to us His errands."

"I have learned, as I have mentioned in previous messages, never to postpone a prompting."

"I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant.  The Lord is in the details of our lives."

Charity

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other,
When we don’t judge or categorize someone else,
When we simply give
each other the benefit of the doubt
or remain quiet.
Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings;
Having patience with someone
who has let us down;
Or resisting the impulse to be offended when someone doesn’t handle something
 the way we might have hoped.
Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.
Charity is expecting the best of each other.”
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
“The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword”
Ensign 1992:May-19

If Ye Love Me

“IF ye love me,
keep my commandments,”

So we have
Neighbors to bless,
Children to protect,
The poor to lift up,
And the truth to defend.
We have wrongs to make right,
Truths to share,
And good to do.
In short, we have the life of a devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. 
We can’t quit and we can’t go back.  After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. 
The Crucifixion, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it.”

Elder Jeffrey Holland, October 2012

The Esssentials, Linda Reeves

As a young mother, Linda Sheffield Reeves felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for four small children and the things she thought needed to be done — keeping the house clean, preparing meals on time, staying caught up on laundry. Her husband, too, felt burdened with balancing the demands of work, Church callings and home life. Together, they determined to fast, pray and go to the temple and ask the Lord what they needed to change.

Photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Brother Melvyn K. Reeves and Sister Linda S. Reeves met in their ward in Pasadena, Calif., and have been married 38 years.

After weeks, even months, of petitioning the Lord, the answer became clear: They needed to make personal and family prayer, personal and family scripture study, consistent temple worship and weekly family home evening their first priority.
"I cannot quite say enough about the difference this made in our lives," she said. "Was our house always clean? Did the laundry and dishes get done in a timely manner? Sometimes, but the blessings of increased spiritual strength and testimony, love and kindness in our home and confidence before the Lord have been worth every effort."
The experience not only taught her to put the most important things first, but was yet another example of the faith she had developed in Heavenly Father.
"We knew the Lord would help," recalled Sister Reeves, who was sustained March 31 as second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency.