God the Father appeared.

Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. It was the parting of the curtain to open this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life.  - Gordon B. Hinckley

Mothers and God.

Men, take care not to make women weep, for God counts their tears.

May each of us remember this truth; 'one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God.' Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.  Thomas S. Monson 

My Struggle is with God

It is okay to struggle.  It is okay to ache. It is okay to have unanswerable questions. Lets just keep showing up, and crying to the Lord, and climbing those stairs, and taking our answers to the right source like the Daughters of Zelophehad did.  I have faith that the answers are there... and sometimes the struggle is what will teach us the most.

That is why I won't be wearing pants to church on Sunday. 

My struggle isn't with any mortal edifice, organization, apostle or prophet. They can't give me what I really want. 

{To see. Like Abraham, Moses, and Enoch saw} 

My struggle is with God.  Only He has what I want, and I know that if I wrestle with Him long enough I will get it. 

And what I wear to church on Sunday won't change that. 

 

from Heather at Women in the Scriptures

Unfading Glory

"We came into the world for a great purpose, the same as Jesus, our elder brother, to do the will and works of our Father; in this there is peace, joy and happiness, an increase of wisdom, knowledge and the power of God; outside of this are no promised blessings. Thus let us devote ourselves to righteousness, help each and all to be better and happier; do good to all and evil to none; honor God and obey His Priesthood; cultivate and preserve an enlightened conscience and follow the Holy Spirit; faint not, hold fast to what is good, endure to the end, and your cup of joy shall be full even to overflowing, for great shall be your reward for your trials and your sufferings under temptations, your fiery ordeals, your heart yearnings and tears; yea, our God will give you a crown of unfading glory." (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, p. 154).

God will never desert us

No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, God will never desert us.  He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come.  We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying  His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed.  We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties that better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.  - George Q. Cannon.

Restored the Sovereign

At the signing of Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams addressed the other signers as he signed the Declaration of Independence and said: "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His Kingdom come." 

And at that statement and the signing of the Founders, our Independence was set in writing and the hearts of patriots.

Worship or be swept off!

Ezra Taft Benson: Never before has the land of Zion appeared so vulnerable to so powerful an enemy as the Americas do at present. And our vulnerability is directly attributable to our loss of active faith in the God of this land, who has decreed that we must worship Him or be swept off. Too many Americans have lost sight of the truth that God is our source of freedom—the Lawgiver—and that personal righteousness is the most important essential to preserving our freedom. So, I say with all the energy of my soul that unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God.

The Power of Thought

“As a being of power, intelligence, and the master of his own thoughts, a man holds the key to every situation, to make his life what he chooses it to be. When he discovers the divine power within his soul, he can lead his life to a God-like nature. If one dreams lofty dreams, so shall he become. There is magic in the way one thinks. If we expect the worst, we will get the worst. If we expect the best, we will receive the best. If we train our minds to have faith in God and ourselves, we are using one of the great laws of life. If we think and live righteously, happiness will find its place in our lives. It is amazing when we expect the best how forces are set in motion, which cause the best to materialize.… Our thoughts, more than circumstances, determine the course of our lives. Outward circumstances do not determine the course of our lives as much as the thoughts that habitually occupy our minds. These thoughts carve their impression on our faces, in our hearts, and on the tablet of our eternal souls” (Howard W. Hunter, Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, p. 74).

now is not forever

"Please understand that what you see and experience now is not what forever will be. You will not feel loneliness, sorrow, pain, or discouragement forever. We have the faithful promise of God that He will neither forget nor forsake those who incline their hearts to Him.²¹Have hope and faith in that promise. Learn to love your Heavenly Father and become His disciple in word and in deed."

Tonight, I am holding onto that promise and, as always, working to become His disciple in word and deed.  It's all I can do, especially during the "difficult times."

 

President Uchtdorf 

 

The Triangle(s): Romance and Discipleship

Christlike staying power in romance and marriage requires more than any of us really have. It requires something more, an endowment from heaven. Remember Mormon's promise: that such love—the love we each yearn for and cling to—is "bestowed" upon "true followers of Christ." You want capability, safety, and security in dating and romance, in married life and eternity? Be a true disciple of Jesus. Be a genuine, committed, word-and-deed Latter-day Saint. Believe that your faith has everything to do with your romance, because it does. You separate dating from discipleship at your peril. Or to phrase that more positively, Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, is the only lamp by which you can successfully see the path of love and happiness for you and your sweetheart. How should I love thee? As He does, for that way "never faileth."
—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU Devotional, February 15, 2000

Elder Holland at Harvard Law School

This says it all.
  

 How the Father and His Son are one. 
mind
deed
will
wish
hope
faith
purpose
intent
love

Just not in Body!
 

I learned that if the gospel is not working for me, it is because I'm not using it right - not because I'm not good enough or because God or His teachings are incapable of bringing me peace.

from here

Faith, Hope, Charity

Faith is believing that everything in my past has a purpose. Every misjudgment, jealousy and hurt. Every joy, indulgence and success. All my wrong choices, all my right choices pushed me forward to right now. My rejoicing, my repentance, my realignments, all of it, has brought me here. Faith is believing that I have been on an upwards progression all my life, guided by the very angels of heaven. There have been no mistakes so grave, no depression so dark, no wind so strong that I've been knocked off course. Faith is believing that the past has accumulated for my good. And though it still makes up my soul, the past is over.

Hope is believing that the future will come. A future of better things, stronger convictions and securer sense of self. It is having the confidence that everything I don't have today, everything I want, will come because I am worthy of it. Hope says, I am weak today, but tomorrow I will be a little bit stronger. Hope can promise all the hurt, all the fear, anxiety, the lacking will slowly leave, vanish, melt away. Hope is okay that today isn't perfect. Hope holds all the mysteries yet to unfold. Hope is never-ending because the future is always ahead.

Charity is all we have in the present. Our past is gone, our future is yet and there is no sense living in those two spaces. We remember, we project, but for now we love. We love all that we have presently, all that our eyes can see and bodies can touch. We love the people who are in our rooms, our spaces our dreams. We love with intelligence and understanding. We may not have the money we want, the body we crave the things that occupy our desires, but we can love the salary we do make, the body we have cultivated, the things that fulfill our needs. We love the meals we eat, the shoes we wear, the woman at the grocery store. Charity is the now we own, the present we can manipulate. It's all we have and it's all we have to give.

 From C.Jane Enjoy it (again) Her picture is below.

oh, and this too: 

I am a daughter of God, and therefore entitled to intelligence, creativity, joy, inspiration and beyond. These are my strengths. Real strengths. 

I think she means those are her personal strengths and not all daughters of God, but I hope they are mine too.

The Law of Moses

Restitution VS. Retaliation

Many think the Law of Moses or Mosaic Law is the lesser law or of lower importance.
*It is actually a preparatory law
*It is very strict to keep Israel in constant remembrance of God
*It is highly symbolic
*It is given as a school master or tutor to bring them to Christ

Warnings

How very blessed we are as God's children to know that He loves us enough to warn us. And not just individually, but as families, for that is how He wants us to come back to Him!

by Darla: http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2011/09/warning-labels.html

The Things of God

“A fanciful and flowery and heated imagination beware of, because the things of God are of deep import, and time, and experience, and careful, and solemn, and ponderous thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, oh man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanses of eternity, thou must commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God than the vain imaginations of the souls of men.”

Grace

"You've likely been asked if you've been

SAVED by grace.

But, has anyone ever asked you if you've been

CHANGED by grace?"

Brad Wilcox

Have a Nice Trauma!

"When God set the workings of this world in motion, He had a very definite plan. A major key in that plan is the fact that there must... needs be opposition in all things. The good news about that is knowing that for every bit of fear and grief and pain and sorrow, there is equal peace and joy and perfect hope. And do you know how that's possible? The answer ties directly into part one: God's love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son."

From: Anita Stansfield's book The Guardian page 301

Not so sure if this is true, because it's not from a credible source like a prophet, scholar, or someone like that, but would be nice if it was. Of course, then we'd say things like "Bring on the pain!" or "Have a nice trauma!" I was talking about his in front of a sales lady at Deseret Book in Logan a few years ago, with my friend Heather. We were talking about life and how it was such a trauma and how we should just say "Have a nice trauma!", instead of have a nice life! As we left the sales lady said the trauma quote to us.

Sometimes trauma can make us laugh! Like river rafting in the rain on the Yakima River with some whinny teenagers! Ahh.......the memories! (of a week and a half a go)

Let It Shine, Let It Shine!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

by: Marianne Williamson
Quoted by Nelson Mandela

All to our selves!

God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 148