tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1136472395689385712024-03-16T11:52:11.184-07:00Being A Mother Who KnowsBeing A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-58454682257988573042014-06-27T10:52:00.000-07:002014-06-27T11:03:19.806-07:00I BelieveToday, 170 years ago, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred. A big day in LDS Church History. In light of that and the huge publicity and current public discussion about LDS Church doctrine I want to declare what I believe. To draw my line in the sand.<br />
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<a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/god-the-father?lang=eng" target="_blank">I believe that I have a Heavenly Father.</a> <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng" target="_blank">I believe His Son, Jesus Christ, is my personal Savior.</a><a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/joseph-smith?lang=eng" target="_blank"> I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he restored the gospel of Jesus Christ along with the Priesthood of God as well as the Keys of the Priesthood of God. I believe that Joseph Smith translated the <i>Book of Mormon</i> </a>and that the<i> <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/book-of-mormon?lang=eng&query=book+of+mormon" target="_blank">Book of Mormon</a></i> is revelation straight from God. I believe that Thomas S. Monson is the<a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/prophets?lang=eng&query=prophets+of+god+today" target="_blank"> living prophet </a>of God on the earth today.<br />
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I have been a member of the LDS Church since I was 8. I always believed it was true but my conviction of it started when I was 15 on a vacation in Mexico City, Mexico at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_the_Sun" target="_blank">Teotihucan and "The Pyramid of the Sun."</a><br />
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My tour group ran into some missionaries there and they gave our tour guide a <i>Book a Mormon</i> and taught him right there at the base of "The Pyramid of the Sun." The Spirit testified to me that the <i>Book of Mormon</i> was true and that it was all true. The End. The experience was over powering. Fast forward through out my life and I have continued to be taught by the Spirit as I've humbled myself and repented. When I seek revelation and live worthily God speaks to me, like He does all of His children. Sometime He doesn't answer my questions right away, but He still always speaks to me. Three specific things I've learned are that:<br />
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<ol>
<li>The Book of Mormon and Church History are filled with accounts of people that rejected their leaders and apostatized from God's Kingdom. In these accounts I find patterns that teach me how to avoid personal apostasy in the latter-days.</li>
<li>Satan is on the earth trying to destroy God's children any way he can.</li>
<li>Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all my doubts, fears, concerns, etc. have been overcome and replaced with faith, courage and peace.</li>
</ol>
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As I study and remember the stories from the scriptures and from church history of those that didn't repent, became offended and angry and kicked themselves out of the kingdom I see a recurring pattern. I continue to see it today. (But this is a topic for another day).</div>
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When I pray, read my scriptures, attend church and attend the temple it "resets" my eternal perspective button. I am reminded of why I'm here on earth and that there is a <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation?lang=eng&query=plan+of+salvation" target="_blank">Plan</a>. I am reminded that as part of that <a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation?lang=eng&query=plan+of+salvation" target="_blank">Plan</a> I face, "an opposition in all things." <a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/2?lang=eng" target="_blank">(2 Ne 2:11-read whole chapter).</a> That I get to choose every single day to act for myself and choose who I will follow. I am reminded that there are two forces at work. One choice I make would lead me back to my Heavenly Father. Heavenly does that by inviting me and teaching me light and truth through the Spirit which is revealed to me in the scriptures, in my heart personally, and latter-day prophets. The second choice I have comes from Satan. His method involves lies, tricks, deception, and darkness. </div>
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The Book of Revelation teaches a lot about Satan. It says, </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"And there was a war in heaven and Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which<b> <i>deceiveth the whole world: </i></b>he was cast out into the earth, and <i><b>his angels were cast out with him</b>.</i> And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the<b> <i>accuser of our brethren</i> </b>is cast down, which <b><i>accused them before our God day and night</i>.</b> And they <b><i>overcame him by the blood of the Lamb</i>: </b>and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death."" (<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/rev/12?lang=eng" target="_blank">Revelation 11: 7-11</a>; emphasis added)</blockquote>
Lehi teaches us in <i>The Book of Mormon</i>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having <i><b>sought that which was evil</b></i> before God. And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. Wherefore, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the <b><i>father of all lies</i>,</b> wherefore he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil." (<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/2?lang=eng" target="_blank">2 Nephi 2:17-18</a>; emphasis added)</blockquote>
Abraham also taught about our pre-mortal experience saying,<br />
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"And there was stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will proven them herewith, to <i><b>see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their god shall command them</b>.</i>..And the Lord said: Who shall I send: and one answered like unto the Son of Man; Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. And <i>the <b>second was angry</b></i> and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, <i><b>many followed after him.</b></i>" (<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/3?lang=eng" target="_blank">Abraham 3:24-28;</a> emphasis added)</blockquote>
These scriptures teach me a number of things:<br />
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<ol>
<li>There was a war in heaven before we came to earth, and Satan was cast out along with his followers because they sought that which was evil.</li>
<li>Satan is described as a deceiver, an accuser of the brethren (all day and all night long), the father of all lies and someone who was angry.</li>
<li>Christ was chosen to be our Redeemer. And it is through Him and His blood that we overcame the Devil in our pre-earth life and it is how we will overcome him in our current earth life.</li>
<li>One purpose of our mortal life is to see if we will obey and do what God asks us to do. To see if we will life by faith.</li>
</ol>
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Satan is always in our ear whispering lies and deceptions. "That's not fair." "Why don't you get to be in charge?" "They ask to much." "I can't believe that the Bishop just said that." "Do you see the hypocrisy in that church leader? Why should I follow him?" "You could organize/lead this so much better." "You should read that story about Joseph Smith on the internet that your friend told you about." "Why do women seem to always get the short end of the stick?" "Don't worry about reading your scriptures today, you'll have more time tomorrow." It goes on and on and on. Always lying, always accusing someone in our ear and always tricking us. He is always in our ear along with his huge congregation of followers. Remember that his evil angels include men and <i>women. </i> I imagine these evil female spirits screaming the loudest in my ear destructive messages about men, marriage, children, the role of women and the priesthood. They can never have an eternal family so they will scream and rant all day long.</div>
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The glorious good news though is that through Jesus Christ and His atonement we can learn to reject these lies and quote the truth. I can replace these messages in my head with, "I am a daughter of God." "My Father in Heaven loves me individually." "I will honor my spouse." "I forgive you." "I am sorry." "I don't understand everything right now, but I stand with Christ and His church." "I choose to let this go." "I recognize that I need to repent." "I will use my time to build the kingdom and not tear it down today." "I will reject the lies and quote the truth." Sometimes its hard, actually a lot of times it's hard. I can choose to use my agency to pray, read my scriptures and stand in holy places. As I do so Christ will strengthen me. I've learned it's important to remember that while Satan screams and rants, God speaks in a quiet voice and invites me to follow Him. </div>
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Another important principle I try to keep in mind is that I was sent down here to see if I would obey God at all times; and with that I am expected to obey God in faith because a lot of the time I will not understand or know why. God said, </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God. For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith." (<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/98?lang=eng" target="_blank">D & C 98:11-12</a>)</blockquote>
So God is going to ask me to live by faith. If I do, cleaving to the good I have been taught, he will teach me little by little. This pattern has been true in my life. As I have asked questions and prayed and pondered God has, little by little, answered by questions. As I have been patient and trusted Him He has opened up so much to me about the divine role of women, priesthood power on the earth, my divine nature, my potential, and the significance of my eternal family. Yes, little by little, bit by bit, I have been taught.<br />
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I choose to use my agency to build the kingdom of God. I choose happiness. I choose faith. I choose to read my scriptures. I choose to keep my temple covenants. I choose to follow Thomas S. Monson. I choose Jesus Christ. <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/i-know-it-i-live-it-i-love-it?lang=eng" target="_blank">"I know it. I live it. I love it!"</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng" target="_blank">Consider this article</a> and pershaps ponder Elder Holland's counsel,</div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9f6ed;">"</span><span style="background-color: #f9f6ed; color: #2f393a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, </span><i style="background: rgb(249, 246, 237); border: 0px; color: #2f393a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.</i><span style="background-color: #f9f6ed; color: #2f393a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></blockquote>
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<br />Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-65428433078642820372013-09-26T11:34:00.000-07:002013-09-26T11:34:18.492-07:00Being Intentional With Our Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sooooo, as you know I've been doing A LOT of family history work. Right now my mom and I are on a mission to clean up the records on my dad's side of the family. We've never really had to do a lot on that side. Pioneers. Lots of people working on those lines over the years. We've been putting the histories and pictures of people that we have onto Family Search and its been fascinating!<br />
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As a result I've been reading a lot of biographies and obituaries. <br />
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A granddaughter wrote this of her grandmother, Elizabeth Mathews Campbell and an obituary of Elizabeth's granddaughter in law follows it,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Through my memory peers the face of a woman which portrays
that character of which type is of most use to mankind. To me it is a face which beams with devotion,
portraying that most noble character, "Mother." It is a face, perhaps a little tired of its
hard struggles; a face full of thankfulness for her all, and which shows a
willingness to give, to serve, and do all in her power for the benefit of
mankind. It is the face of my
Grandmother, my ideal woman, and no living should could help but love and
cherish her. Although this noble
character has not been placed into a worldly history, she will never be
forgotten by those who knew her and who were fortunate to enjoy her presence.</i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #555555; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lucille ...(98) passed peacefully on ..., </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #555555; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;">She married her lifelong sweetheart, ....in the Logan LDS Temple. They spent 75 wonderful years together until Theron's passing....</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #555555; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lucille enjoyed her life very much. She loved her friends and loved the association she had with them. She loved her beautiful gardens especially her roses. Her vegetable garden was amazing and always plentiful. The fruit room proudly displayed all of her frugally preserved produce. She loved to work with her hands whether it be in her gardens, knitting, quilting or crocheting. She was a lifelong avid reader and particularly enjoyed biographies and historical fiction. As a child, in her fathers orchard, she would climb a favorite apple tree to read. She and her husband traveled to Europe and Canada visiting children.</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #555555; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;">She was educated in Cache Valley schools graduating from South Cache High School in... and graduated from the USU LDS Institute later in life.</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #555555; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;">She was a charter member of the Modern Mothers Club of ...., a captain of the Elizabeth Mathews Campbell camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, and a member of the Women's Literary Club. She was a devout member of the LDS church fulfilling many callings through the years--Gospel Doctrine teacher for 11 years, Relief Society President, and a Temple worker.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
A little voice as been playing over and over in my head. How do you want to be remembered? When they write your obituary what are they going to say? Is that what you want said? These motivational quotes are going over in my mind:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Ask yourself if what you are doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow?"<br />"Whatever you do, do it well."<br />"The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."<br />"Do something today that your future self will thank you for."</blockquote>
And my favorite (for today):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If you change nothing, nothing will change."</blockquote>
So my question to myself is if nothing changed in my life would I be where I want to be at the end of it? Would my obituary say what I want it to say? Or do I have to change some things? I took some time to write down what was really important to me, mainly character and skills(talents), and I was surprised with some realizations I had.<br />
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I invite you to make sure you are being intentional with your life. Are creating yourself into the person you are supposed to be?<br />
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Journey on my friends.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-83414173104059873482013-09-05T10:24:00.000-07:002013-09-05T10:24:28.155-07:00Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently I was out visiting some women as a Relief Society Presidency. I love making visits because the Spirit continues to testify to me of the greatness of the women I'm surrounded with. Making visits helps me to love them more, understand them and appreciate them. One sister we were visiting said that she has always been a person who finds that the glass is half empty. She said she has had to fight this negative thinking every day of her life. <br />
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This statement started me thinking. I used to be a person who viewed life as a glass half empty, but I don't generally now. What happened? When did it happen? How did it happen? Somewhere along the way I stopped being a pessimist. Many people tend to view life in a negative way. If you do and would like to see how I changed some of my attitudes then reader, read on...<br />
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*Please note: In saying that the glass is half full it is suggesting that a person view's life and life's experiences in a positive way. Viewing life with a half empty glass is attributed to looking at life and life's experiences in a negative way. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_the_glass_half_empty_or_half_full%3F" target="_blank">Here is a short article on this idiom.</a> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/glass+is+half+full,+the" target="_blank">Another.</a> <a href="http://askville.amazon.com/meaning-trust-glass-half-full/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=41369319" target="_blank">And one more</a>.<br />
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These thoughts came:<br />
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1. For me living with a glass half empty was part of my <b>natural man, </b>or our 'earthly man' as<a href="http://www.lds.org/ensign/1974/11/ocean-currents-and-family-influences?lang=eng" target="_blank"> President Kimball taught </a>us. He said, "The 'natural man' is the 'earthly man' who has allowed rude animal passions to overshadow his spiritual inclination." So living with a glass half empty or being a negative person is kind of the way I naturally want to go. But of course we can overcome the natural man. The natural man dwells in negatives, but God is about positives.<br />
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2. Living with a glass half empty is also a sign of <b>fear</b>. I used to think nothing good would ever happen. Nothing good could possibly come out an uncomfortable situation. I tended to assume the victim role, the whinny role and will everyone please notice me role. All signs of fear. If I'm living in fear and not with faith then I need to repent.<br />
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3. Perhaps living life with a good and happy attitude is a <b>gift of the spirit.</b> I know I say everything good and positive is a gift of the spirit. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I know this though: all good things come from God. So in a way they are gifts. Call it what you may. I also know that if we ask for a gift and it's a good gift the Father will give it too us.<a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/88?lang=eng" target="_blank"> (D & C 88: 63-64) </a>We are all born with a couple specific gifts. I think of them as freebies that we get to keep as long as we stay worthy. The rest we have to work for. But, we can claim them. Some of us may be born with an innate sense of worth, a happy cheery heart, the ability to be a peace maker, a heart of gold, a strong testimony, etc. We all have our freebies. Just because some of us might not be the glass is half full kind of girl doesn't mean we can't become one.<br />
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Okay, so this is what I try to do everyday:<br />
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1. <b>Praise God.</b> Everyday I need to thank Him for His blessings. I try to notice all the wonderful blessings God has given me. We are all so blessed. Sometimes I make lists. Sometimes I write them down in my journal. Some people write them on their blogs. Whatever. I try to notice my blessings and express gratitude for them. Doing so has changed my life!!!! The Lord teaches us:<br />
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"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea more."</blockquote>
2. <b>Serve Others. </b> Talk to people in the store. Say hi to people. Notice people. Visit a widow. Make cookies for FHE and then share half with the neighbor. Call our visiting teaching sisters even if you have already "seen" them for the month. Do some indexing. Send a happy text to a friend out of the blue telling them how much we appreciate them and we hope they are having a great day. Make our child's bed. Just once. Just because. The point is to stop thinking about myself. The more negative I feel myself getting in a day the more I realize that I've just been thinking about myself. I perceive my problems as great. But the moment I focus outward is the moment I realize I'm okay because the Spirit comes. The Spirit brings peace to my heart and I know God is taking care of me. My problems aren't that bad. Trust. Smile. Breath. Think of the big picture.<br />
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It's in those service moments I'm also reminded, "oh yeah, I came to earth to be tested." God's not punishing me. He's helping me strengthen my heart and my testimony. Where is my heart? Am I God-centered? Or am I me-centered? If I'm God-centered then I'm progressing and coming closer to my heavenly home.<br />
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3. <b>Change my thoughts</b>. I wrote all about that <a href="http://beingamotherwhoknows.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-sense-of-worth.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This past week something happened to someone else that made me a little CraZy. Mainly I was just irritated about the situation. It came down to the fact that I kept replaying the situation over and over in my head. Basically I was judging someone over and over. I kept thinking, "really, that's how we act now?" It was on replay. Finally after a day or do I snapped out of it and said, "enough!" I prayed, repented of judging them and some other bad thoughts, and spend the rest of the week rejecting Satan's attempts to keep me thinking about it. It's been tough. But I have to reject the lies and quote the truth. My natural man so wants to dwell on it. Grrr.<br />
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4. <b>Repent</b>. Yeah, I always come back to this one don't I? I think the gift of the atonement is the most amazing thing ever. Repenting doesn't mean we were bad, are bad or are forever to be bad. Repenting means, "Hurray, I'm coming closer to the Savior today because I've recognized some sins and I'm changing them with Christ." Elder Bednar said,<br />
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"Every appetite, desire, propensity, and impulse of the natural man may be overcome by and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We are here on the earth to develop godlike qualities and to bridle all of the passions of the flesh."</blockquote>
(Love the absolutes in that statement). So yes, we are natural men and women with a propensity to sin and feel sorry for ourselves, but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can overcome all those propensities. How sweet is that?<br />
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I believe absolutely that any weakness we have, like looking at life believing that the glass is half empty, is something we can change. As I have overcome this weakness my life as changed so much. I feel freer, happier, my faith is stronger... Life just becomes that much more awesome.<br />
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What ideas would you add that have made your life a 'glass half full' one?Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-35432303977038743082013-08-27T12:02:00.000-07:002013-08-27T12:02:39.011-07:00Family History Videos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I love family history! It so important. It will change your life. Here are some videos to motivate you and your youth. </div>
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This last video the youth may see this month with their Come Follow Me curriculum but I'm not smart enough to know how to copy it over. Sorry. It's straight off lds.org. Here is the link: <a href="http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-08-01-the-time-is-now?category=youth-curriculum-2013/08-august" target="_blank">Elder Bednar 3 minute video.</a></div>
Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-77415290826963008992013-08-22T14:25:00.001-07:002013-08-22T17:32:45.364-07:00Family History: Some Ideas to Get You Started<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love doing family history work! I was very blessed to have my mom be "that aunt that does our family history work." I grew up entering information into the computer, typing family histories and hearing stories of my ancestors. It certainly created a love for my ancestors.<br />
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Not everyone has that experience. For many, thinking about doing family history work is either scary or one more thing I have to do! It doesn't have to be that way though. I thought I would share four easy ways that might help you make family history work an easy and fulfilling part of your life.<br />
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1. <b>INDEXING.</b> Have you ever tried to index? Indexing is becoming very popular. Probably because it's so easy to do and so rewarding. Take time to watch this short video explaining what indexing is.<br />
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Here is another video, just out!, showcasing the blessings and happiness that indexing provides us.</div>
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Once you have done indexing you realize how easy it is. Indexing is a great way to serve if you home bound because of young children or home bound because of illness or age. It's a great activity to do on Sundays. You can index some records in as quickly as five minutes. I marvel that how simple it all is and what a blessing it is. </div>
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If you haven't tried indexing I'd invite you to try it out and realize what a blessing it will be. Even just one hour a week is fantastic. </div>
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2.<b> Family Tree</b>. Go to Family Search and set up an account. Click the Family Tree tag. At this point you need to enter your self, your parents, and your grandparents. You just need to add your living family members of your direct line. Then 'find' your first generation of deceased family members and link them to your living family members. From there you should be linked up. You should be able to view all the work that your aunt as done. You will be amazed and excited! Start playing around with family tree and understand how it works. Notice where you are from. Read the names of your ancestors and think about them. Let their names and dates and places become part of you. Easy and very fun. </div>
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3. <b>Pick A Name</b>. After you have played around for a while and are familiar with Family Tree pick an ancestor that stands out. (Even if she has her temple work done). Does that ancestor have all of their information? Is there a death date? Marriage date? Is there a birth place? If not on the same website (I always open up a couple of Family Search pages) go to the search page and start searching. New records are constantly being added. Information may be available now that wasn't when her name was originally done. Along the way you may find that you learn about some children that died that have not been recorded or about a first marriage where the spouse died young. There are lots of surprises out there waiting to be discovered!</div>
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4. <b>Upload Histories and Pictures. </b>For you more tech savvy individuals you might enjoy the new features on Family Tree. You can now upload pictures and family histories. Many of you have wonderful books of your family history that your aunt put together. Pull them off the shelf, dust them off and type/scan the information into your Family Tree. Your aunt will love you for it. As you do they will start to come alive to you. I believe this is one great way to honor our ancestors. To show them that their lives are important to us.<br />
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<b>My recent experiences. </b>This past week while working on some family history I felt impressed to try to find some more of a great, great, great mother's children. On the 1900 census record one question is how many children a women as had and how many are still alive. This provides great clues. Now this women's work was done 15 years ago, but for years I've been unable to find all her children. I had found 11 of her 13. I was getting close. As I was praying I felt impressed to pursue a cemetery record on<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/" target="_blank"> FIND A GRAVE. </a> (Another great resource!) As I studied the record, long story short, I felt impressed that the record was wrong. I emailed the compiler of the information and asked her to recheck. Sure enough it wasn't the cemetery record of the father, but of a missing daughter! Here is the picture I received:<br />
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I was so excited to meet baby Goldia! One hour of my life was so worth getting her information so that she could be sealed to her mommy and daddy!</div>
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Also a shout out to my wonderful husband. As I mentioned in a previous post he has had some massive health set backs. When he's been confined to the bed or a chair for the last six plus months he has spent his time doing family history work. I know that is one reason the Lord as blessed us so much. He is using his time the best way he can.</div>
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<b>Favorite Quote</b>. Elder Bednar and many other leaders have been championing the youth doing family history work. This is a BIG work and we need lots of help. What greater help that the youth of the rising generation. I love finding my daughter working on her own family history projects. <a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-hearts-of-the-children-shall-turn?lang=eng" target="_blank">This is a quote from Elder Bednar.</a> </div>
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"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." </blockquote>
A couple of weeks ago while doing family history work the Spirit testified to me that because I was doing family history work that those I worked on would protect my family in every way they could. As my children have gone back to public school this promise as great meaning and gives me great hope! Remember also that as we do temple work (after having done family history work) we are growing the army of God on the other side of the veil. We learn from Zenos that in the last days the laborers would be few. We need all hands on deck right now and there are so many that want to help us they just need to be put in the game and only we can do that.<br />
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I love family history work. I have a testimony that it is one of the "best" activities we can pursue. <br />
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What blessings have come into your life from doing family history work?Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-55757934620936312072013-08-20T13:45:00.001-07:002013-08-20T13:55:34.388-07:00The First Day of Our New Life: Faith Over Fear<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXW54aNpIfAzGZEWtzdYr4ySRibFIG5vsDoKYsrEWXiT2PX5nF6BDoVeU49XyD0dmvuzbx-I7yrpLPC5r8tsctPDu78HRjwWslPYQ01yGT0l1tBw_5pDtGvxAxIKfpmCU8IyeSMHwH_Y5/s1600/Grand+Champion+Horse+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXW54aNpIfAzGZEWtzdYr4ySRibFIG5vsDoKYsrEWXiT2PX5nF6BDoVeU49XyD0dmvuzbx-I7yrpLPC5r8tsctPDu78HRjwWslPYQ01yGT0l1tBw_5pDtGvxAxIKfpmCU8IyeSMHwH_Y5/s320/Grand+Champion+Horse+2013.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liberty: 2013 Horse Grand Champion at the County Fair!</td></tr>
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I started out the New Year planning great things for home school, family and personal enrichment. It was going to be another great year! All was going along as I planned. Then one day late in January while I was on a walk the Spirit said, "I want to give you some trials. You will be strong enough to handle them. Is that okay?" I choked. Every worse case scenario went through my head. Of course there is only one choice. I trust God. I want to serve Him always. So I took a deep breath and said, "yes." I tried not to think about it. There was no sense worrying about anything. Faith over fear.<br />
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Then in February Mr. Patriot, my husband become sick. Very sick. For a month he couldn't get out of bed. He couldn't even lift his head up. From the very first moment that I realized he was sick the Spirit said, "He is going to be sick for a very long time. But don't worry. Everything will be okay." So while many friends and family were sure that he was dying I knew he was okay. We did due diligence and went to several doctors. They were baffled. He finally became well enough to do basic activities. His energy levels fluctuate on a given day from 20-60% of his "previous life." He often goes into shock. I do not know why. He works 15 hours a week now as an average, but sometimes he doesn't work at all during the week . He works from home. He has limited energy and when its used up he's done. Some days he can do more than other days. Somedays I have to dress him. Our life together has required getting, "a new normal."<br />
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In the meantime I have learned how absolutely amazing my sweet husband is!!! He continues to make family and church/priesthood duties a priority. He is always smiling and happy. He is always making jokes. He still provides for us in amazing ways. The Lord has been very good to us and has blessed us financially and so this as not been a financial burden. I have come to see from this experience that he is dedicated to the Lord and trusts Him always. <br />
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In June I woke up one morning with the overwhelming impression that God wanted us to put our children back in public school. This was shocking! Never was that considered. Never was that talked about. There was never a chance of that happening. Unless of course God told us to do that. So after much prayer and fasting Mr. Patriot and I knew that this was the will of the Lord. The kids were brave. They took it well. They said we will follow God and we trust you. I knew then for sure that I had amazing kids. This rising generation is AWESOME!!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_XFjouBuhuXFhml_ZXRxjRTYSIvQQY_ME8csFyD7pg1QHkXiyM92-QMdiyksJkN91rzoElmcCiAC9BP70q_FSSy1NzPZiO6lthExolG50-rXVpN051R5d7jJ_WEOXWG1ozsD_bRmFX7O_/s1600/train+tracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_XFjouBuhuXFhml_ZXRxjRTYSIvQQY_ME8csFyD7pg1QHkXiyM92-QMdiyksJkN91rzoElmcCiAC9BP70q_FSSy1NzPZiO6lthExolG50-rXVpN051R5d7jJ_WEOXWG1ozsD_bRmFX7O_/s320/train+tracks.jpg" width="212" /></a>The rest of the summer was spent talking about being in toxic environments, being taught false things, peer pressure, being true to yourself, etc. etc. I felt like a train was coming and my foot was stuck in the tracks and there wasn't anything to do but to take it head on knowing that I would die. Things will never be the same again. <br />
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The first day of school came and went yesterday and the kids took it like champs. They have amazing attitudes. They are positive. They are good kids and are determined to stand and "catch the wave." They know why they are there. They are there to show kindness, light, hope, character, and excellence. It will be long. It will be hard. But I choose faith over fear. God knows what He is doing. <br />
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I felt promised from the very beginning that God will protect my children. I felt assured that they would not be spiritually lost. When we received school blessings (in August now instead of January-EVERYTHING it seems is different in our life now!) I was told that, "nothing outside the walls of my home could destroy my children." So true. Great promise.<br />
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This summer I had told Mr. Determination that I felt like I was sacrificing my children. He promptly replied, "They aren't yours to sacrifice." True again. They are God's and I must follow His plan for them, sigh! Faith over fear.<br />
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So what am I doing with my life now? I went through mourning in a way this summer. My only hobby was home schooling. So I've had to learn some hard things about myself. God has different plans for me. Everyone in our house is creating a new normal. That's okay, God knows what He's doing. Faith over fear.<br />
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How is God calling you to exercise your faith over your fear?Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-38412647468104158252012-10-27T20:47:00.000-07:002012-10-28T13:17:56.730-07:00A Sense of WorthThe last couple of years I have noticed when I talk to other
women or read women’s blogs there is an undertone of lack of worth among the
sisters of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zion</st1:place></st1:city>.
Why is that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course that can be
traced back to Satan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>President Joseph F
Smith said that the women of the church need,<br />
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“to lead the world and…especially the women of the world in
everything that is praiseworthy, everything that is God-like, everything that
is uplifting and this is purifying to the children of men.”</blockquote>
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If we, as women of Christ, feel a lack of value we won’t be
able to fulfill our purposes in the last days, we will be distracted by feeling
unneeded and inadequate. (Which is Satan’s plan). That is why I wanted to write
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To tell you how I finally came to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> I had worth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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I used to be a person that didn’t think I was ever good
enough for anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A great very many
of us I think felt or feel like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do
think some people come to Earth with an innate sense of their worth however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe this is a gift of the Spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One reason I believe this is because my
husband and a couple of my children intrinsically <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> they have value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
some of my other children cry and pout at any side ways glance because “they
know” someone is mad at them or whatever the grievance may be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of us aren’t born with a sense of worth
burning as brightly as others. I have come to realize that it is a gift of the
spirit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we can claim</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a gift we must seek if we want to
fulfill our purposes here in the last days.</div>
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One day while pondering in the early morning hours a couple
of years ago it came to me that I am here on Earth and there are two
channels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One channel (which is quieter)
is from my Creator and He sends messages of light, truth and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other channel (this one screams) is from
my would-be Destroyer and the messages are darkness, lies and hate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to realize that everyday my self-worth
channel was set on the lying channel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are some of the messages on the two channels:</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Creator:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
You are a child of God.</div>
Your life has meaning and purpose.<br />
You have a divine nature.<br />
I want you to come home to me.<br />
The worth of souls is great.<br />
I need you.<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<strong>Destroyer:<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
You are worthless.<br />
You can’t do anything right.<br />
You’ll never be good enough, so don’t try.<br />
You’re a fool.<br />
You’re family and friends think you are ridiculous.<br />
You are not needed for anything.<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
The lying messages are easier to receive because no effort
is required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a “path of least
resistance” message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easier to
listen to these messages the same way it is easier to eat candy and junk
food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We feel sick afterwards but we
keep eating because some how we think it is feeding us and it is an easier
message to partake of.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When realization dawned, I realized I wanted and needed to
change the frequency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course I want
life and not death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how do you
change 30+ years of entrenched messages of lies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized it was like loosing 50 pounds of
fat (or maybe a lot more!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized I
had to change, but it was still overwhelming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is so much easier to keep indulging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Or so I thought of course).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
what was the answer?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Repentance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
not the answer I wanted to hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
is always the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believed
Satan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had put my trust in Satan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had let him be my god for sending me self
worth messages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been deluding
myself into thinking I wasn’t sinning, but as a daughter who had made baptismal
and temple covenants I did know what the truth was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just wasn’t believing it before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized that not trusting in God was
breaking the commandments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
commandment is to love God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course it didn’t make me evil or
awful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It simply meant I couldn’t
progress like I wanted to until I changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It meant I wasn’t able to receive the light I wanted until I realigned
myself to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elder Cook said in the
last conference, “When our commitment is diminished for any reason, part of the
solution is repentance.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So I prayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
sorry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to listen to light and
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized that I needed to
exercise faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all the years of
gospel teaching the plain and simple truth was applying the first principles of
the Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I didn’t have a testimony of my own
self worth I had to start with a particle of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to trust God when he taught that I
really was a child of God and He needed me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> the message
He was sending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> they were the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to exercise my faith and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe Him</i>.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Then came the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because that is what faith is: ACTION.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It becomes a time to act and not be acted upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It becomes time to give up on the path of
least resistance. It was time to take the higher road, do an about face, and turn
to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
I had to reject the messages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply quoting President Uchtdorf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“STOP IT !”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stop listening to the lies and the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stop believing that Satan is telling the
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do this each time a lie came
in to my mind I had to reject the lie and quote the truth.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“You are stupid…….stop……wrong message…….I am a child of God
and He loves me.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“You will never be good enough for exaltation…stop…..wrong
message……I have a divine destiny….my life as meaning and purpose…..”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reject the lie.
Quote the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And believe it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was amazed how often the lies stream in
through out the day and I didn’t even realize it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easier to wallow in a lie from Satan
about ourselves than it is to listen to a message of truth.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
After you reject the lie and quote the truth you need to
redirect yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s time to stop
thinking about ourselves. The treatment is the same as those struggling with
angry thoughts or pornographic images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We could “hum our favorite tune,” praise God, count our many blessings,
and/or we can go serve some one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get
our minds off of the train of thought we were going down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get our minds off of ourselves.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The miracle is that as you reject the lie, change to the
truth channel and think about others your seed of faith grows until you
KNOW.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know and now you have a
testimony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know you are a child of
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know you do have individual
worth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You finally really believe your
life has purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People do like you.
And you know God loves you.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
And then you live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You discover greater depth to your relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You feel a greater capacity to love other
people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You feel joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You receive personal revelation. In a nutshell you soar with God.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thoughts from Spring
2012 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>General Conference on this subject:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elder Hales, “…a life
of joy and happiness, is an essential part of Heavenly father’s plan for each
one of us…As our spiritual desires increase, we become spiritually
self-reliant….the sacrament gives us an opportunity to come to ourselves and
experience ‘a mighty change’ of heart-to remember who we are and what we most
desire.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elder Soares, “To sow
in the Spirit means that all our thoughts, words, and actions must elevate us
to the level of the divinity of our heavenly parents….the natural man, which
allows people to be influenced by passion, desires, appetites, and drives of
the flesh instead of looking for inspiration from the Holy Ghost…Therefore, our
daily question must be, ‘Do my actions place me in the Lord’s or in the enemy’s
territory?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JUST READ THIS WHOLE TALK.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elder Scott, “One must
be ever mentally and physically clean and have purity of intent so that the
Lord can inspire….The more closely you follow divine guidance, the greater will
be your happiness here and for eternity-moreover, the more abundant your
progress and capacity to serve.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brother Ochoa quoting
Elder <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Holland</st1:place></st1:city>,
“I am looking for men young and old who care enough about this battle between
good and evil to sign on and speak up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are at war.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">President Uctdorf,
“This ‘mighty change’ of heart is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is
designed to bring into our lives.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elder Nelson,
“Spiritual progress is attained through the steps of faith, repentance,
baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, including the
endowment and sealing ordinances of the holy temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as the body requires daily food for
survival, the spirit needs nourishment as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The spirit is nurtured by eternal truth.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Read Sister Beck’s
talk.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-2734160112077591852012-10-24T18:21:00.000-07:002012-10-24T18:31:01.537-07:00How Should I Vote? Obama, Romney or Neither?<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recently, I
read a blog post from a lady I have followed for several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She remarked that she did not know who she
was going to vote for yet, but she was leaning toward Romney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She cited that in the previous election she
had voted for Obama.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have also
read/talked to others who declare they won’t vote for either one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will cast a “non-vote.” <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have been
surprised by these ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all I
have to say I’m not personally thrilled by our choices this election cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a conservative and I did not vote for
Romney in the Republican Primary Election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Romney is too moderate in my opinion; which was exactly why my fellow
blogger was willing to vote for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Would I go so far as to cast a “non-vote” though?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
There are a lot of tough questions facing
Americans today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions about foreign
policy, border control, welfare, environment, fiscal spending, health care,
social security….. The list goes on and on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This much I’ve established:</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Everyone has a different idea on how to solve a
said problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that person always thinks
they are right.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Both parties contain people who are corrupt and
they receive financial backing from corrupt people.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Both parties contain honorable people despite
what the other party thinks.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>No one really has all the answers.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>It’s impossible to agree with someone on
everything.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 75pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Some issues are more important to some people
than they are to others. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
I do believe at the end of the day there
are two issues that are critical and more important than anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two issues must be fought for no matter
what else you believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Period. Game
over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two issues are: the sanctity
of human life and the preservation of the family unit.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
People must be placed in government
who will defend these values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All other
ideas must always be secondary to preserving human life and defending the
family as the fundamental unit of society.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/protect-the-children?lang=eng">Elder Oaks recently said</a>, “We also
need politicians, policy makers, and officials to increase their attention to
what is best for children in contrast to the selfish interest of voters and
vocal advocates of adult interests.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Whatever differences we have (which are A LOT),
Romney and I do agree that human life is sacred and that marriage is defined as
a union of one man and one woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
therefore will and must vote for him if the choice is between him or Obama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is no other option.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
These issues are not secondary
issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They chart the course of a moral
or an amoral people. We condemn our society when we allow the sanctity of life
to be desecrated by legislation.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/protect-the-children?lang=eng">An apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ
recently had these thoughts to give on the subject of abortion and children, </a></div>
<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/protect-the-children?lang=eng"></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Children are highly
vulnerable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have little or no power
to protect or provide for themselves and little influence on so much that is
vital to their well-being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children need
others to speak for them, and they need decision makers who put their well-being
ahead of selfish adult interests…</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“From the perspective of the plan
of salvation, one of the most serious abuses of children is to deny them birth…</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Many laws permit or even promote
abortion, but to us this is a great evil.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He did not say abortion is a
difference of opinion, like whether we promote social medicine or not, but he
said abortion is EVIL.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Remember the words of the Savior, </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Matthew 18:5-6</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/protect-the-children?lang=eng">In speaking of marriage the same apostle shared these thoughts,</a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Throughout history, marriage has
first and foremost been an institution for procreation and raising
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has provided the cultural
tie that seeks to connect the father to his children by binding him to the
mother of his children...</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Our church leaders have taught
that looking ‘upon marriage as a mere contract that may be entered into at
pleasure…and severed at the first difficulty…is an evil meriting severe
condemnation,’ especially where ‘children are made to suffer.’”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He went on quoting a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> writer who noted “the
striking fact that even as traditional marriage has declined in the <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country>…the
evidence has mounted for the institution’s importance to the well-being of
children.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
And finally, “The social science
literature is controversial and politically charged on the long-term effect of
this on children, principally because as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New
York Times</i> writer observed, ‘same-sex marriage is a social experiment, and
like most experiments it will take time to understand its consequences.’”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
As the family is protected so is
the child.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A superficial view of the Civil War
produces the idea that the war was just about slavery, but it wasn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many in the south it was an issue about
state’s rights and the South fought for state’s rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that had been the only issue I believe our
little family would have worn gray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, as important as state’s rights are, the rights of human beings
must always be more important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
certain “inalienable rights,” bestowed upon us by our Creator are taken away
from others then you and I must stand up and say, “NO!” </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Slavery had to abolished, even if
it meant big government had to come in and stop it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today no push for less taxes, foreign policies, or social medicine can ever be more important to Americans then the
rights of all children and families.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
I desire to stand before that bar
of God and declare I did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> vote for
people that did not honor life and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I further desire to declare that I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i>
vote for people who would promote morality in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">America</st1:country></st1:place>.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Please join me in voting for life
and family this election.</div>
Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-39496025326557928022012-05-17T19:31:00.001-07:002012-05-17T19:31:11.716-07:00PicturesWe are having a fabulous time in Boston. Only two days left. My daughter has kept up her blog with pictures and little details about our trip. You can read her blog <a href="http://olivia-horselovngirl.blogspot.com/">here.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Here are some pictures from our house. My mom has been taking pictures while we've been gone. We are so excited.....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz193SVJVorYn2vMTAiqqNC3LP8Otc7rEzQJVskgLOANi6mbmOVn7x6EM1OqLw9ljkVIaGXhyphenhyphenJZ_dAV_Wx32QdvwwCQh6hTs1XZALZ-5vCWv7wQR-V-AGd75MDKCeJZAXKAbdba5dBou-/s1600/photo2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz193SVJVorYn2vMTAiqqNC3LP8Otc7rEzQJVskgLOANi6mbmOVn7x6EM1OqLw9ljkVIaGXhyphenhyphenJZ_dAV_Wx32QdvwwCQh6hTs1XZALZ-5vCWv7wQR-V-AGd75MDKCeJZAXKAbdba5dBou-/s320/photo2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-32699304218423462762012-04-07T17:02:00.001-07:002012-04-07T18:49:42.824-07:00Our HouseI REALLY need to stop saying that I am going to post more because the reality is that I probably won't. But that doesn't mean I don't have blog posts still scrolling through my head. It also doesn't mean that I have stopped thinking of my blogging friends. If you are out there-I am thinking of you! : ) <br />
<br />
<ul><li>(Mama Rachel I couldn't leave you a comment. I am thinking of you too).</li>
<li>Good news. They started on our house. Yeah. There is a very large hole and they are pouring the foundation next week. Please read extreme excitement into my voice.</li>
<li>The hypocrite in me: </li>
<ul><li>my house is going to be LARGE</li>
<ul><li>If I had to live in my 760 sq foot house forever I could, but my kids and my husband have decided not to (okay maybe I want a bigger house too).</li>
</ul><li>I rarely wear skirts any more</li>
<ul><li>I still think I should, I just don't</li>
</ul><li>So please forgive me for being a hyprocrite. We can all change our opinions right?</li>
</ul><li>I went to Hawaii with my hubby, it was lovely</li>
<li>I got a stress fracture on my foot from running</li>
<li>I am still studying everything I can get my hands on about health. </li>
<li>I really want to write a post about women having self worth. I had that problem-very bad- until a couple of years ago and then I finally figured it out. It's simple. So note to self: write a post on how I came to realize my self worth.</li>
</ul>I'll see you in another couple of months when I get back on the Internet.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-1152667070983561772012-02-18T05:58:00.000-07:002012-02-18T05:58:00.280-07:00Prophets Speak: Elder Richard G. Scott and President James E. FaustOne of the conference talks that I read this week that caught my eye was the talk by Elder Scott entitled, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The Sanctity of Womanhood.”</i> This talk was delivered in the Priesthood Session on April 1, 2000.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Some of the quotes that stood out were:</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“So many of our sisters are disheartened, even discouraged, and disillusioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others are in serious trouble because of the choices they make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Satan has unleashed a seductive campaign to undermine the sanctity of womanhood, to deceive the daughters of God and divert them from their divine destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He well knows women are the compassionate, self-sacrificing, loving power that binds together the human family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would focus their interest solely on their physical attributes and rob them of their exalting roles as wives and mothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has convinced many of the lie that they are third-class citizens in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That false hood has led some to trade their divinely given femininity for male coarseness…</div><br />
Because it is their nature to give and please others, many women do not realize their intrinsic worth. That loss makes them vulnerable to those who would convince them that their major role is to be physically appealing.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“So many of our own young women sacrifice their God-given endowment of femininity, deep spirituality, and a caring interest in others on the altar of popular, worldly opinion.”</div><br />
Satan is so loud in trying to get us distracted, turn us into males, and/or destroy our belief in our inherent individual worth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am grateful for Elder Scott reminding us of our worth and our importance in God’s plan.<br />
<br />
In the Young Women’s meeting given the week before President Faust taught along the same theme, <br />
<br />
“I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the “highest place of honor” in the Church and in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the divine adornment of humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, you spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Femininity is part of your inner beauty.”Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-78322477189264878592012-02-12T15:58:00.000-07:002012-02-12T15:58:35.133-07:00Spiritual CreationsI recently finished reading Elder Bednar’s new book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Increase in Learning: Spiritual patters for obtaining your own answers.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">There are only four chapters in the book. At the end of each chapter there are several “readings” that help the reader learn more about the principles taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These readings are his previous related conference and CES talks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The four chapters are:</div><br />
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Our Individual Responsibility to Learn</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Knowledge, Understanding, and Intelligence</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Prayerful Inquiry: Asking, Seeking, and Knocking</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Doctrines, Principles and Applications</li>
</ol>This book is power packed with some fantastic tools to help us learn through the Spirit better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times there were certain parts that seemed overly simplistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, as I took the time to reread and pray I realized there was a great depth of “hidden treasures of knowledge.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is so much more for me to understand with this book, but two of the biggest lessons I learned were: spiritually creating your day and the why, the what, and the how of the gospel.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">At the recent World Wide Training they talked a lot about the why, the what, and the how of the gospel, or so I’ve been told.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hear the Training will be (is already?) available on line for us to listen to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Included in the book by Elder Bednar is a DVD that helps with learning and understanding the principles taught in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interview was particularly helpful in understanding more concretely what Elder Bednar meant with the why, the what, and the how of the gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not going to write more about that only to say these principles have been very helpful in being a parent and also for myself trying to learn what the lord is trying to teach me.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I do want to write about the principle of spiritually creating our day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On first glance the principle was basic and I thought I already had that down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever think that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On rereading it I realized there was much to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After rereading and rereading the chapter again I starting working through the talks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His first talk, that I distinctly remember listening too, was from October 2008 and it was called, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pray Always. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said:</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“The patterns used by God in creating the earth are instructive in helping us understand how to make prayer meaningful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the third chapter of the book of Moses we learn that all things were created spiritually before they were naturally upon the earth.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“’And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth,</div><br />
“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:4-5).<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“We learn from these verses that the spiritual creation preceded the temporal creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a similar way, meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day-and proceeds the temporal creation or the actual execution of each day. Just as the temporal creation was linked to and a continuation of the spiritual creation, so meaningful morning and evening prayers are linked to and are a continuation of each other.”</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Elder Bednar than gives some examples of how to spiritual create your day through prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically you go through all the things you want to accomplish, say and be that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example you want to interact with your kids nicely and happily all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You express this desire and you visualize yourself doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ask for help from the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We work the day through with Him with what he wants us to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically you play out your day with the Spirit guiding you through it in your mind.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Then you go to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As that spiritual creation becomes a physical reality you recognize the Lord’s help with your weaknesses in accomplishing otherwise impossible tasks like being patient or having the energy to do something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With each realization Elder Bednar reminds us to thank our Father throughout the day for blessing us and lifting us higher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we do this he says we are keeping the commandment to, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord”</i> (<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alma</st1:place></st1:city> 37:36).</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">At the end of the day you review your day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did your spiritual and physical creations match up?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank Him again for working miracles in our life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repent for the things you did wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reflect what you could have done better in those situations.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">That’s basically the main thoughts with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned from this HOW I can have the Lord much more involved in my life.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I have been earnestly trying doing this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I am letting the Lord lead me through my day each morning in prayer I have learned how I can apply this principle to other areas in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, I now spiritually create my Sunday School lessons on Sunday morning, I strive to spiritually create my week, my husband is helping guide our family through spiritually creating our week as a family, I spiritually create specific goals or tasks-long or short, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The list goes on and on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The results are that I am seeing miraculous and AMAZING things happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am doing and being in ways I seemed forever doomed to not bring about.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Another important concept I realized is how important it is to have solid evening prayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been able to recognize more specifically all the blessings God is pouring out on me and also I feel like I am repenting much better and completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After doing this I spent time spiritually creating my early morning wake up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray for help to get up easily and quickly and I visualize myself doing so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask for His help and tell him that as it is 10:30 PM and the thought of getting up at 5AM the next morning is very unappealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say I am tired. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask Him to please help me and deliver me from these feelings and this insurmountable obstacle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is important to make sure I start my day off right. This is also important because for the first hour or two I don’t prayer beyond a prayer in my heart because if I did I would fall asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So my evening prayers are my spiritual creation for the morning until I am able to say coherently my morning prayers.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Through my reading in this book I have realized the importance of asking the right questions in my prayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joseph Smith could have asked any number of questions but he specifically asked, “Which church should I join?” After finding out that Nephi needed to build a boat he asked, “Where can I find ore to make the tools?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asking the right questions is very important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process of reading, pondering and prayer help us to learn what the right question is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we learn the right question to ask I testify the heavens will and do open!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> H</o:p>ere is one of my favorite statements about prayer found in the Bible Dictionary:</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> but are made conditional on our asking for them.</i> Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.” (Emphasis added).</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>As it says, this amount of mental effort given to prayer takes work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are so easily distracted with life that it is hard to quiet our minds enough to communicate with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is worth it though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All these things have very life changing for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope some of these thoughts and principles can help you.</div>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-61270414349392705882012-02-05T20:28:00.001-07:002012-02-05T20:37:12.431-07:00Thinking About Whole FoodsI have been reading a lot of books about food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve read books about what hunter-gathers ate, books about people sneaking into poultry farms in the middle of the night and the horrors they saw, books trying to prove how dogs would really rather eat a vegan lifestyle (okay that was just a chapter in a book about raw foods), I also read a clever recipe for how to make raw pancakes (it was actually very good)….The range of books on the topic of food in my public library is quite extensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of it is a little nutty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have studied in the scriptures extensively on the subject as well-that’s where I started-and I have found some really interesting things. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The most important message I have gotten in all my reading is to eat WHOLE foods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not parts of food, but real, whole foods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An apple is a real food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found some salsa that only has whole foods in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s yummy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I have found one book amongst the masses of dwaddle on the subject that has some good ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s called, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”</i> by Michael Pollan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He makes some interesting points about how we are more concerned with nutrients (or parts of food) instead of in the food itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is his succinct, sage advice: “Eat food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not too much. Mostly plants.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That pretty much sums it up right?</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Mr. Pollan had some good advice about his first point: “Eat food.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Pointing out he means real food, not parts of food or synthetic food).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are his points to finding and eating (whole, real) food.<o:p> </o:p></div><br />
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.</b> He says Go-Gurt is not food and your grandma wouldn’t recognize it. (She would recognize yogurt though).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the way we all know where our red food coloring comes from that is in all our food right? Red bugs, crushed up from <st1:place w:st="on">South America</st1:place>. Yummy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think red M&M’s, grapefruit juice, strawberry yogurt….</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting. </b>(like Twinkies)</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Avoid food products containing ingredients that are</b>:</li>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="a"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unfamiliar<o:p></o:p></b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unpronounceable<o:p></o:p></b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">More than five in number<o:p></o:p></b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Contain high-fructose corn syrup</b></li>
</ol></ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">He listed “Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread” as an example of a food that breaks all of these rules. He listed all 41 ingredients but I’m not going to type them here. It would take up a lot of space. He pointed out unfamiliar ingredients like ethoxylated monoglycerides and unpronounceable ones like azodicarbonamide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds yummy doesn’t it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of course it has high-fructose corn syrup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know how many food items contain high-fructose corn syrup?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try checking out your refrigerator and you shall be surprised. (Unless your name is Lara or Misty, you threw those foods away along time ago).</div><ol start="4" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Avoid products that make health claims.</b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(We’ve all heard that one).</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.</b> Meaning go to a farmer’s market or grow your own food.</li>
</ol>I thought those were some very basic ideas to get our family started on a whole foods way of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been thinking a lot about what Leah Widtsoe said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quoted her in my last post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Summarizing her thoughts she said we should spend as much thought into what we feed our children as we do our prize winning livestock. Coming from the area of the world I live in and the passion around us for 4-H that is a very interesting thought.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-14029765606428173052012-02-04T17:44:00.000-07:002012-02-04T17:44:59.473-07:00The Word of WisdomMy early morning study as led me to ponder seriously “The Word of Wisdom.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it is “that time of year” when the world thinks about diets and dieting I’ll share a recent resource that I have discovered.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As I have been restudying the Word of Wisdom I remembered that in John A. Widtsoe’s biography, written by Alan K. Parrish, which I had read several years ago, there was a lot of dialogue about The Word of Wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I pulled it out. I learned from the biography that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elder Widtsoe and his wife Leah wrote a book called,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> “The Word of Wisdom-A Modern Interpretation</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their book was approved by President Grant and in a later edition by President McKay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book later served as a manual for the Priesthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Joseph Fielding Smith said of their book, <em>“This work is needed immediately and should be published as soon as possible.” </em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">President McKay wrote, <em>“Elders Joseph F. Merrill, Charles A. Callis, and Albert E. Bowen, acting under appointment, report that they have read your manuscript entitled THE WORD OF WISDOM-A MODERN INTERPRETATION, with very great interest and found it to be an ably written exposition of the Word of Wisdom as seen in light of a multitude of confirmatory evidence furnished by modern science….We are therefore pleased to give our consent to the publication of this book.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">When their book was up for another printing Leah would not proceed without the approval from the first Presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parrish writes, <em>“Each of the presidency wrote a strong letter of endorsement urging that the book be updated and reprinted.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Their book is available through Amazon and a free copy is available on line <a href="http://www.ldsveg.org/WidtsoeWordOfWisdomAModernInterpretation.htm">here </a>to print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not the best layout however.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>In Widtsoe’s biography the author compiled several quotes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Elder Widtsoe wrote: <em>“To many of our members feel that if they refrain from taking liquor, tobacco, tea and coffee, they are keeping the Word of Wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are doing so only in part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the law be understood and lived, people would not be ill and the blessings promised may be fulfilled…<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">.The</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Christ must ever try to care for the whole man.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">He also said, <em>“The Gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to give man health and happiness. Health is concerned with the spirit and mind as well as with the body of man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gospel is mistakenly supposed to concern only man’s spiritual health. Mental and physical health forms the only assurance of spiritual progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A man who is physically or mentally ill is not truly happy, though he may approach spiritual peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three parts of man’s nature are interrelated and depend upon one another’s welfare.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Elder Widtsoe wrote, <em>“In the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, the sanctity of the body is second only to that of the spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the duty, as well as the desire, of every person to preserve his physical health, so that he may live out most completely the destiny of his existence.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The author summarized some of Leah’s writings by saying, <em>“That teaching children about [physical health] exceeds the importance of teaching them reading, writing, or arithmetic.” </em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And later he summarized her again by saying, <em>“Leah explained that mortal bodies are composed of dust of the earth, which chemists had divided into fifteen elements that could be found only in the Lord’s foods, the plants and fruits of the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children should be fed with at least as much thought as farmers put into feeding their prizewinning livestock…a person’s health is largely a function of the food consumed.”</em></div><em> </em><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As some of you may be pondering health at this time I invite you to read the Widtsoe’s book as I think it will add value to your studies.</div>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-45848282030694475342012-01-08T19:44:00.001-07:002013-08-20T13:54:42.994-07:00Called to Testify<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>I reread this from President Monson, “Once we have a testimony, it is incumbent upon us to share that testimony with others.”(Ensign, November, 2011 page 67).</o:p></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So my mind’s been pondering this indepth..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had a lot of amazing and wonderful experiences the last while and I haven’t really shared them with others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure some shouldn’t be shared, but I have had plenty of faith promoting experiences that should be shared and that could be faith building to many people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel the call to start blogging more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To testify. To help share the good news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I just have to remember to blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">None of these experiences are anything to “write home about” as far as being awe-inspiring or “that should be in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ensign</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are however, quiet faith building experiences that remind me that I am a child of God, God does have a plan for me and He knows exactly what I’m up too.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So where to start?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel impressed to let you into my life a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to admit I am not exactly thrilled about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll see where this goes….<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have a bad habit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Well, I have more than one, but we won’t get that personal today).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love thinking about when I get to sleep next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imagine being in my jammies and snuggled down in bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So cozy, warm and blissful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It is 20 degrees outside, perhaps that is prompting my cozy, snuggly thoughts).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just thinking about it is well, “ahhhh.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So here’s the big problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sleep too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not a morning person or a night person, I am simply a sleeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps you don’t get enough sleep, but I get plenty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It gets worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lord has told me over and over that I need to get up early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For years it’s the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I go in spurts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve gone months upon months of getting up at 5 AM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Numerous times I’ve done this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do well for six months and then I go back to day dreaming about sleep and it’s just too much and I succumb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the real problem is the getting up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is it so hard to get up early?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the obvious answers are: it’s cold and it’s dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another is that I just love snuggling with my husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why get up?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s sooooo hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Lord’s been inviting me again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, He never stopped, I just didn’t want to listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am like a child with my hands over my ears, “I can’t hear you!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plan was working really well until it happened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lord tried a different approach and my husband did something really jerky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that’s how I initially viewed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He heard the Lord call him and so he started getting up early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t even discuss it with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sleeping soundly in his warm arms and then, he’s gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s up studying on the couch in the cold and in the dark (well outside it is).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he keeps doing it every morning.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So who am I supposed to snuggle with now? The cat? The dog? The nine year old?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to say I just started to get up with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What else can I do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here we go on round number 25 of Deanna trying to get up early to obey the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope it lasts because the spiritual outpouring of blessings that come to me when I get up early and study are amazing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are more important than my sleep. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another interesting tidbit is that even when I sleep in (until 7:30) I still go through my routine: journal, conference talk(s), and scripture study every morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually for just as long too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However I always get WAY more out of my studying when I study earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like I said, it’s cold and it’s dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My eyes are glued shut and I’m delirious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it never fails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learn more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every single time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The scripture that always comes to me when I think about this is Doctrine and Covenants 88:83, “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband and I always “argue” about this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say it means we should get up early and he says it means we should seek Christ early in our life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re both right I suppose, but it has been a great comfort to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a testimony that when we get up early the Lord will speak to us, that when we draw near unto Him, He will draw near unto us. (D & C 88:63)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s so simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why is it so hard to comply?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I receive so many spiritual blessings when I heed the call to seek Him early.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">President Packer said this to the graduates of BYU-H, <em>“These are sobering times you are going out into a world that is different than the world I faced when I was {19}…You won’t survive spiritually unless you know how to receive revelation…I don’t know whether you know how to receive revelation, but you won’t survive without it…it’s a noisy world, and you’re going to have to learn personally, and privately, and individually that revelation will come when the Lord can speak to your feelings…go quietly into the world and quietly go about your affairs-learn that in the still, small hours of the morning the Lord will speak to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He will never fail to answer your prayers.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BYU-H Commencement Address, December 7, 2005.</em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I find this quote motivating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only about the importance of revelation in our lives (which is a top of the list priority in teaching my children), but because of the promise that the Lord will speak to us in the quiet hours of the morning and teach us everything we can possibly handle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those quiet hours He will mentor us on receiving personal revelation and fulfilling the measure of our creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So why is it that we learn more in the early morning hours than later?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know the answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s quiet. Perhaps nothing in the world has had a chance to mess with us yet that early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps because it is cold and dark the Lord accepts that seemingly pathetic sacrifice for what it is-the best we can do.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I hope to testify more regularly about the truths I am learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Because again to quote President Monson, "Once we have a testimony, it is incumbent upon us to share that testimony with others."</span></span></div>
Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-26664839146138837672011-12-10T20:51:00.000-07:002011-12-10T20:51:51.796-07:00Some New Testament ThoughtsHello blogger friends. How are you? It's been almost 6 months since I've posted. I'm not sure what happened.<br />
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The last six months have been heavenly. <br />
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I was called as the Gospel Doctrine Teacher this fall. What a wonderful experience. I thought I spent a lot of time in the scriptures before, but that has accelerated. What can be better than that?<br />
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Some of the thoughts I've had from my studies are:<br />
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<strong>James 1:8;4:8 </strong> <em>"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways....Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."</em><br />
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I have been pondering the concept of duplicity. I of course don't want to be double minded. How am I? What am I doing, thinking, saying that causes me to be a different person in different situations around different people? I am striving to strip out the hypocrite in me. What do I really believe?<br />
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<strong>1 Peter 3:15 </strong>"<em>But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.</em><br />
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Peter was writing to the Saints of Asia Minor "who were in danger of being terrified into a denial of their Lord." (Bible Dictionary: Peter, Epistles of) Peter was writing them to give them hope and courage in the face of their adversity. <br />
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I don't face this kind of adversity. I do have opportunities to testify to others and have an answer always. One day a friend called me who is not LDS. She asked what I was doing. Usually I say something general. On this occasion I answered her very specifically. "I am reading my Bible." She responded that she didn't know that "Mormons read the Bible." We were able to have a nice conversation because I answered specifically instead of generally.<br />
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<strong>Revelation 12: 10</strong> (from Joseph Smith Translation) <em>"For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."</em><br />
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This one was a lightning bolt for me. The verse is talking about Satan in the War in Heaven. Before he was cast out. Apparently he was constantly -day and night- accusing everyone to God. I have always associated Satan as the great deceiver, but now also I see another of his traits- "the accuser." Again I do not want to be like that either. What is the opposite of accusing?<br />
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I read this in one of my favorite books this week, <em>"Pharisees might be the type who, when they go to worship, criticize the sermon, the song leaders, the people in the choir, the elders, the ministries, and the number of contributions. They have forgotten that the whole idea behind the Sunday morning gathering is self-examination. As I spend more more time examining myself, I feel better and happier. My job description is not to help God fix other people, but to work on myself with the help of God."</em><br />
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Over the last several months I have been focusing on striving to put on my divine nature. <a href="http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/more-than-conquerors-through-him-that-loved-us?lang=eng">(see Elder Johnson's April talk here).</a> To strip myself of all the gunk, bad habits, vanity, pride, anger.... and the lust. Lust is a big one. Thanks to the apostles Paul and Peter I have come to see how much lust is in my life. The more I learn the more I realize how much farther I have to go. <br />
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I hope someday that the attributes necessary will some day "abound" in my me that I shall "neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:8)<br />
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So to sum up the last six months of my life would be to say that I have been striving to bring about the prophecy of Ezekiel. <em>"And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesth and will give them an heart of flesh:" (Ezekiel 11:19)</em>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-82934404826214680942011-06-19T21:05:00.000-07:002011-06-19T21:05:13.727-07:00Receiving Our KingI recently found a couple of posts that I wrote last month and never published them for some reason. Here's one of them:<br />
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I recently gave a Young Women’s lesson entitled,<a href="http://lds.org/manual/young-women-manual-3/lesson-16-temple-endowment?lang=eng"> “Temple Endowment.” </a>This was a great lesson that I highly recommend! Included was a quote from James E. Talmage:<br />
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“{In the endowment, members covenant to} observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; <strong>and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,-the Lord Jesus Christ. </strong>With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.” Emphasis added. (James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1968], p. 84)<br />
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The part that I highlighted stood out to me. We are to contribute to preparing the earth for the Second Coming. No wonder I feel such a burning desire to raise children of high moral standards who will also continue to help prepare the earth. This is a great charge. Not only does it say to prepare the earth but it says “to seek in <strong>every </strong>way” to do this work.<br />
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What does this look like? How do we prepare the earth?<br />
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I think it means rejecting the world, raising children according to God’s standards and not the worlds, warning our neighbor, and keeping our covenants. When they talk about “raising the bar” in our devotion we truly must raise the bar, and we must do it <strong>every </strong>way we can.<br />
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A scripture has been running through by mind for the last several weeks it says, <br />
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“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13<br />
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I have come to realize that while I probably will not be asked to die as a martyr I can still lay down my life. How? I can voluntarily choose to lay down my <em>worldly </em>life with all its exciting enticements and entitlements and I can choose to live a <em>godly </em>life. I can choose to give up more of my fun and more of my ‘me time’ and I can choose to serve my family and my friends. I can bear testimony, I can research family history names, I can visit my neighbor, I can read to my children, I can study my scriptures, I can attend the temple, etc. I can voluntarily reject the excessive pull of the computer, the movies, the brain-candy books, the girls day outs, etc. and I can choose a spiritual life. <br />
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I think that as I do this I will be seeking in every way to contribute (as God teaches me line by line) to the great preparation that the earth must go through so that we can receive <em>our King</em>.<br />
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<a href="http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/preparing-the-world-for-the-second-coming?lang=eng">See also Elder Anderson's recent address on this subject.</a>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-11261666824140582042011-06-15T18:03:00.000-07:002011-06-15T18:03:15.823-07:00Let Us Be Self-Correcting<em>For some reason my quotation button is not working...</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I continue to thrill in reading and learning about the early history of the Relief Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This month for our book club meeting we discussed,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> A Centenary of Relief Society 1842-1942</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed the opportunity to relook at some interesting events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition to several readings I also took the time to read from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On page 201 is a “synopsis of the Prophet’s Remarks to the Female Relief Society.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reads, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><em>“President Joseph arose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spoke of the organization of the Female Relief Society; said he was deeply interested, that it might be built up to the Most High in an acceptable manner; that its rules must be observed; that none should be received into it but those who were worthy; proposed a close examination of every candidate…thus have an select society of the virtuous, and those who would walk circumspectly; commended them for their zeal, but said sometimes their zeal was not according to knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One principal object of the institution was to purge out iniquity; said they must be extremely careful in all their examinations, or the consequences would be serious.” (March 30, 1842) D.H.C. 4:570</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In another section (see page 239) the Minutes of a Relief Society Meeting, held June 9, 1842, were given where Joseph Smith spoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notes read,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>“Said it is no matter how fast the society increases, if all the members are virtuous; that we must be as particular with regard to the character of members now, as when the society was first started; that sometimes persons wish to crowd themselves into a society of this kind when they do not intend to pursue the ways of purity and righteousness, as if the society would be a shelter to them in their iniquity.<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>“He said that henceforth no person shall be admitted, but by presenting regular petitions, signed by two or three members in good standing in the society, and whoever comes in must be of good report.”<o:p></o:p></em></span></div><em> </em><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today in the church we do not have to apply to participate in Relief Society. However, I see great value in giving ourselves some self-inspection regarding Joseph Smith’s words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elder Christofferson recently spoke of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>“Eventually, much of our chastening should come from within-we should become self-correcting.”<o:p></o:p></em></span></div><em> </em><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Joseph Smith states we must be worthy, virtuous, walk circumspectly be zealous with knowledge, engage in ongoing purging of our iniquity, high character and of good report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I observe areas from my own life that I need to work on.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The topic of virtue in itself could be discussed indefinitely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Virtue being, “A pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards” (see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preach My Gospel</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For the Strength of Youth</i>). There is more to virtue than simply being chaste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would include not gossiping, judging righteously, humility, having charity, being positive, pure & kind thoughts,….I think that virtue covers pretty much all my faults! Grrr!<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I recognize these words from the prophet as an opportunity to reflect on my own conduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see I have many areas to improve on; aligning myself more fully to the purposes of Relief Society helps me to be more effective in my work of building Zion through my family and through Relief Society.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The great pronouncement given by Joseph Smith to the Sisters also applies to us as individuals,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I seek the blessings of knowledge and intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What great promises are ours when we live up to our potential!</span></div>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-10432506016889808862011-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:002011-05-30T20:25:32.950-07:00Family BlogDear Friends,<br />
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Thanks to my very dear friend Misty I have created a new family blog that is anonymous. I will post a lot more pictures there then I do here (which is zero). Hopefully you can get to know us all a little better.<br />
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We still do not have the internet so I won't be posting a lot for another month or so. By July we hope to have the internet up again. It has been a wonderful break not having the internet, but it is time to reconnet.<br />
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Liberty has started on line classes through <em>Williamsburg Academy</em>. Determination wants to take classes from the <em>Leadership Education Academy</em>. I need to connect again with my family. This will be achieved by blogging and emails. Also I am almost out of family history names to take to the temple and so I need to start researching again. One last reason is that we will not have to cut down a tree to get the internet! (We do live in rural Idaho).<br />
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Thank you also for being so kind regarding my last post. I think you all "got" what I was <em>trying </em>to say and I appreciate your kind comments. I know it is a touchy subject and I think we were able to communicate it all so kindly. What a tribute to all of you!<br />
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I hope you all had a family filled Memorial Day weekend.<br />
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Love, Deanna<br />
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<a href="http://beingafamilywhoknows.blogspot.com/">Here is the link to our family blog.</a>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-44002388779294699152011-05-19T21:18:00.000-07:002011-05-19T21:18:03.671-07:00What’s My Mission?<span xmlns=""></span><br />
One of the great problems I see among the youth (and that I personally experienced) is the phenomena I will call split personality. Growing up I was repeatedly asked, "What did I want to be when I grow up?" I learned by first or second grade that any answer was acceptable except for one, I should not say, "mother." I learned how to answer other questions asked like, "How was the world created?" I also learned I was supposed to give the answer, "mother" at church and home. Thus I had a set of answers for school and a completely different set of answers to the same questions at home and church. This may eventually lead us to become a totally different person in each situation. I see this "split personality"manifested among the youth at a whole new level than even I experienced. Satan is ramping up his game well!<br />
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I have talked regularly to my children about being the same person no matter where they are. However, within the Leadership Education circles I am starting to see the split personality creeping in among the "leaders." Recently I listened to several seminars and read a book that all are promoting this. In the TJEd world it is called, "Finding Your Mission." Youth are encouraged to seek out finding what their "mission" is. Often it is not expected to be discovered until the youth are a little older, but an ongoing fascination exists in that it is all the talk while the youth are in scholar phase. One seminar I listed to said, "Nothing will be more satisfying in your life than figuring out what your mission is and then having the courage to fulfill it."<br />
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You may be wondering why I see a problem in this. It is simple. We have already had our missions revealed to us. We are to be mothers and fathers. Of course I know in the TJEd world that they encourage motherhood. I appreciate that, it is certainly different than public education, BUT, motherhood is still considered a side note. In the book I recently read the woman (who is a high profiled TJEd leader) cried to her husband that wasn't she created for something more that to change poopy diapers and clean up vomit? When was she going to be able to embrace her mission? Her husband lovingly told her, that he was sure it would be soon.<br />
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I fear these statements convey to our youth that there is something more to life than parenthood. It would seem that being a mother is just one of the things you do in this life. Somehow, you must be defined by something else though. This would be a potentially lifelong dedication to a "mission." I believe this is misleading. Consider this:<br />
<ul><li>Heavenly Father chooses to be called Father.</li>
<li>His work and His Glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This means ongoing parenting.</li>
<li>Keeping our First Estate enabled us to have bodies and procreate.</li>
<li>Godhood is Eternal Parenthood.</li>
<li>If we qualify for Exaltation we will be granted the ability to have a "continuation of seed."</li>
<li>Those not qualifying for Exaltation will be impotent, even those obtaining the lower two degrees of the Celestial Kingdom will be denied the right of continuation of seed.</li>
</ul>Simply put eternal lives is about parenting forever. Why not embrace mortality and strive in every way to submit to this high and noble calling? A calling so noble that that is what our Heavenly Father does. When we choose to place lesser value on this holy calling we will lose power in our lives.<br />
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The noise of this world is LOUD. It is hard to hear the voice of the Father calling us to this high calling. Satan, the father of lies, is louder than God, telling us we were made for something more or better. It takes great faith to turn off the tantalizing noise of the world and tune into the sweet, still small voice of the Spirit. I have come to personally know for myself that great blessings come from turning off the noise. I am hearkening to the voice of the Lord and I am just beginning to have a glimpse of His wonderful and majestic plan. It is more holy and more awe inspiring than anything that Satan can counterfeit. <br />
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Perhaps along the way many of us will do great things. I suspect we will. We are the last laborers in the vineyard. We were saved and reserved because we were the best of the best. I simply say that in all our doing we must make sure that <em>being mother </em>remains our priority AND we teach this to our children. <br />
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There are times when we will literally parent 24/7. Then there will come a time that we will have more "time" on our hands. Perhaps at this stage we may ask, "How can I help build the kingdom?" "How can I further work on my parenting skills, which really comes down to bringing souls to Christ?" I would suggest that Relief Society and focusing on the Three Fold Mission of the Church would provide untold service opportunities. <br />
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As I have extra time I have sought out my faithful Relief Society Presidents through the years and asked for extra assignments. It is through the Relief Society (which is under the Priesthood) that my surplus of time and talents are dedicated. Through the years I have been given many extra opportunities to serve in this way. I have learned that "there are chances for good all around." My talents are used to build the kingdom, but it hasn't come in the way I have often <em>wanted</em>. It has come as I have worked under the direction of my husband and within the ward. There is more than enough to do in my family and ward to fill my time and build the kingdom. I am simply saying I don't need to go "find a mission," I simply need to <em>live </em>my mission already given to me. "There is work enough to do ere the sun goes down," and Zion needs to be built. We further that cause by submitting to our role of mother/nurturer. We further the work of the Father by striving to be mothers who also partake in the Father's work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. <br />
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So in a nutshell perhaps we could change the message to our youth to be, "Nothing with be more satisfying in your life than realizing that your mission is to be a mom/dad and then having the courage to reject Babylon's message that there is something more important than fulfilling your family roles."Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-28748137378292749832011-05-07T07:42:00.001-07:002011-05-07T07:49:02.880-07:00Sister Beck and Women's ConferenceI just had the opportunity to read Sister Beck's wonderful address at BYU Women's Conference last year. She spoke on many things that have been close to my heart the last little while and she says it so much better than I do! <br />
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She spoke on her quote that I love, "When our priorities are out of order we loose power over our life." She shares many great ways to help us keep our priorities in line while we live on earth. She asked repeatedly throughout her talk, "Why are we here?" and "What is our mission?"<br />
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I read this talk to my husband just now as well. We were able to discuss some great things. I stated, "We as women are always so depressed and confused. The simple answer is to get our priorities in order." He responded, "Yes, women do, but it sure would help if the men and families also got their priorities in order as well." I am grateful for a good husband who recognizes that men also must get their priorities in order. The battle to recognize Satan's lies and deception is a battle that men and women face alike; together though, as a husband and wife unified we will be much more successful in casting Satan out of our hearts and homes.<br />
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<a href="http://beingamotherwhoknows.blogspot.com/2011/04/mom-needs-headgates-too.html">Here is the link </a>to the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago that goes along with her message.<br />
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Please take the time to read Sister Beck's important message. The transcript of her article is found <a href="http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,9118-1-5187-1,00.html">here</a>.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-3999291555399716642011-05-06T13:48:00.000-07:002011-05-06T13:48:39.354-07:00The Blessings of Being God-CenteredI had a ‘lovely’ post almost ready for publication when “poof” off went the computer and gone forever (for whatever reason) went the ‘lovely’ post. Sigh. I wrote about the purposes of Relief Society and how important it is to incorporate them into our lives. It was really just another way of saying the same things I said in a previous post, “Mom, Needs Headgates Too!” So since I have already said that I’ll move on to some fresh thoughts.<br />
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I need to let you in on a little secret. For years and years I have not felt self-worth. So dumb huh? How could I feel that when I grew up with “I am a Child of God” and the Young Women’s Program? I think that it’s because I was seeking my worth from the world. I have always been a stay home mom that has tried to do the right things. Somehow though I kept worrying about what the world was thinking about me instead of God and my husband. Let me tell you that in the world’s eye a stay home mom doesn’t earn any prizes. That was the last place the world wanted me. <br />
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I’ve mentioned many times that the last two or so years I have diligently worked on submission to my Heavenly Father. Line upon line and precept upon precept God has taught me. <a href="http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng">(See Elder Bednar’s recent Conference talks to learn more about this wonderful principle). </a>It has just been in the last couple or so months that I have really began to see I truly do have self-worth. I no longer beat myself up about all the things I can’t “do right.” I have come to absolutely love being a nurturer. Love it! I am happy. I have peace. I have a hope in a glorious resurrection. <br />
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I have wondered how this happened. I came across a paper when cleaning out things recently and it said this,<br />
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What happens when I am temporally (or self) centered?<br />
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1. Life is not fair.<br />
2. I am not sure I will qualify for the Celestial Kingdom.<br />
3. I do not have enough time to get all things done.<br />
4. I am overwhelmed.<br />
5. I feel pressure most of the time.<br />
6. I am not sure when the Holy Ghost is with me.<br />
7. I rely on others to make me feel of worth.<br />
8. I feel like a taxi cab driver.<br />
9. My life is not mine.<br />
10. I only enjoy the weekend.<br />
11. I do not feel forgiven.<br />
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What happens when I am spiritually (or God) centered?<br />
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1. I feel closer to Heavenly Father.<br />
2. I have great hope to be raised unto Eternal Life.<br />
3. I receive more revelation.<br />
4. What I do each day is now worthwhile.<br />
5. I have less stress.<br />
6. When my children make mistakes, I can handle it.<br />
7. My feelings of self-worth have increased one hundred fold.<br />
8. I feel free.<br />
9. I am able to get all things done.<br />
10. I enjoy each day.<br />
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As Elder Bednar has taught us we must submit line by line and precept by precept. As we act in faith and go through this process one day we will wake up and we will realize that we are changed. It will be a gradually change that will be so imperceptible that it seems that growth is not happening. But it is! <br />
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I have realized that little by little God has been changing me. I have been changing from a life that was temporal or self-centered to a wonderful new life that is now spiritual or God centered. I am becoming that spiritually centered person. Perhaps a number 11 could be added. I feel joy.<br />
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A life of submission is a journey that requires a lot of patience with ourselves. It requires a lot of repentance. It requires a willingness to play by Heavenly Father’s rules and not our own. Our progression is not always measurable. But it is worth it. I have a long way to go in my life, but I am beginning to truly see the blessings of submission. <br />
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My worth is no longer determined by the world’s standards or ideas. The world’s plan to push entitlements and worldly lust and pleasure on me is rejected. I know that I must stay centered in Jesus Christ. And bit by bit I can remove their damning influence in my life. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”<br />
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AND I can enjoy Mother’s Day this year without a twinge of guilt or spending the whole day in tears. I am doing what my God wants. I am a mother in Zion that it building up the kingdom of God.<br />
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<em>The above list was found in a workbook entitled, “Becoming Spiritually Centered and overcoming the World,” written by James B. Cox.</em>Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-2717271161859576612011-05-02T20:04:00.000-07:002011-05-02T20:04:25.566-07:00Heber C Kimball Prophecy<span xmlns=""></span><br />
As the days go by and I work out my submission to the Lord I find that I do not post as much <em>as I would like</em>. That's the point though, doing what the Lord wants and not what I want. I always have plenty on my mind to share, but most thoughts seem destined to stay in my mind or shared with close family and friends. We will see what each day brings.<br />
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I have been impressed though to share a prophecy by Heber C Kimball that has been passed down in my family through the years. Elder Kimball was called as one of the original apostles in this dispensation by Joseph Smith. Later he was called to the First Presidency and served as first counselor to President Brigham Young in Utah. I've had multiple experiences lately that have brought to mind this prophecy; included in those experiences were many thoughts from our recent General Conference. This prophecy will be familiar to many but I feel to share it anyway. This prophecy contains timely information to those recognizing the signs of the last days that are upon us. You will see that several parts of it have been fulfilled and other parts are in the processing of being fulfilled. It is my hope that this information with prove useful to you and your family. <br />
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<blockquote>"An army of Elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth the search out the righteous and warn the wicked of what is coming. All kinds of religions will be started and miracles performed that will deceive the elect if that were possible. Our sons and daughters must live pure lives so as to be prepared for what is coming. After a while the Gentiles will gather by the thousands to this place and Salt Lake City will be classed among the wicked cities of the world. A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the saints, and the results will be financial bondage.<br />
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"Persecution comes next and all true latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit. Many will apostatize and others will be still not knowing what to do. Darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. The judgments of God will be poured out on the wicked to the extent that our Elders from far and near will be called home, or in other words the gospel will be taken from the Gentiles and later on carried to the Jews.<br />
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"The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that, as President Young tell us, when you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail. Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to tests that will try the integrity of the best of them. The pressure will become so great that the more righteous among them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes. <br />
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"Then the prophet and others will make their appearance and those who have remained faithful will be selected to return to Jackson County, Missouri, and take part in the up building of that beautiful city, the New Jerusalem."</blockquote><br />
Passed down in personal family records. Printed in the <em>Deseret News</em>, May 23, 1931.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-1810223536106538802011-04-21T19:59:00.012-07:002011-04-21T20:08:47.118-07:00Mom Needs Headgates Too!<span xmlns=""></span><br />
As I mentioned in a previous post I enjoyed an <a href="http://radio.lds.org/programs/conversations-episode-15?lang=eng">interview on the Mormon Channel with Sister Julie B. Beck</a>. Among the thoughts she shared I found great truth when she said, "When your priorities are out of order you lose power over your life." <br />
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What are our priorities? I think as women of the covenant and sisters in the great worldwide organization-Relief Society-our priorities are different than the women of the world. The First Presidency has identified several key things that they name as the highest priority. In a letter to the membership of the church they said, <br />
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“We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform” (First Presidency letter, Feb. 11, 1999).</blockquote>We can also recall Elder Oakes counsel of good, better, best to seek the best priorities. I loved Elder Maynes recent conference address where he suggests developing "celestial traditions" for protection to our family. Based on these ideas I developed a list of the most basic priorities that are the most important in my role as wife and mother.<br />
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Personal priorities: prayer, scripture study, church attendance, and regular dates with spouse. Ensuring that three family meals are prepared and eaten together, clothes are cleaned, and basic housekeeping is maintained.<br />
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Family Priorities: prayer, scripture study, church attendance, Family Home Evening, wholesome family activities, and specific attendance in each organization (Young Women's, Priesthood duties, Primary, Relief Society, etc).<br />
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That is a very basic list. I may be missing something obvious. I think most of our lists with be somewhat the same. <br />
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A secondary list of priorities would include: fasting, temple attendance, visiting teaching completed, magnify a calling, etc. These are of course very essential.<br />
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The juggling of these basic priorities requires order. I think of it as a "House of Order." When these things are not done than disorder and confusion are the results.<br />
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What is the power that we will lose out of our life? When our priorities are out of order we will lose the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. When we have our family priorities in a place we have built for our lives that day a sure foundation. We are so ordered that we are entitled to the ongoing companionship of the Spirit. That ongoing companionship of the Spirit is so vital that it is impossible to navigate successfully through this day and age by ourselves. The Holy Ghost cannot dwell in us when we are house of confusion and disorder. When our lives are lived in a knee-jerk reaction to the demands of outside forces we cannot claim the power of the Holy Ghost that is necessary.<br />
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Sister Beck points out that when we have those vital things done in our lives and our family's lives each day than you can live your day calmly and peacefully. You will not be blown to and fro. <br />
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We may cause our lives to be unorderly when we focus on self. When we spend time on the computer, gaming, watching TV, shopping, crafting, or reading "brain candy" books without first ensuring that the daily priorities in our family are met we will find ourselves out of order. Of course there are the unexpected times when we can't have a perfect day, but when we focus on having a day filled with keeping our priorities I have found that it is rare indeed to have a day when I feel "out of control."<br />
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I think generally we try to stay grounded. I loved Sister Beck's comment though because it says when we do the right things-our priorities-we will be in balance and we will face much less depression and stress. As I see now clearly how to avoid those burnout moments of depression, sadness, anxiety, or being overwhelmed I can see what I need to focus on. I need to fulfill my role as <em>nurturer</em> and I will find peace each day from the constant companionship of the Spirit. The Spirit will cause me to be happy and recognize my self-worth.<br />
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As I review the headgate principles and think about developing "celestial traditions" (and not telestial or terrestrial ones in my life or my family's life) I realize that I need to make sure that I close the wrong headgates in my own life also. The wrong headgates will cause me to overlook my priorities, face addictions, and keep me off track. So I can ask myself the same questions I asked about my children's toys. What are my toys that I use in my free time? (Facebook, gaming, reading, etc). Who was the creative one-the toy maker or me? Are we making "little junks" and wasting family resources all in the name of crafting? Are we watching movies that our children are not allowed to watch? Do we read books that contain pornography, but rationalize it because we are married adult women? Perhaps as adults we are "entitled" to things that are children are not? Sister Beck has spoken often on a latter-day philosophy of women believing they are entitled to things. She says we must reject that mentality.<br />
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Perhaps we feel we are entitled to "me time?" I have a wise friend who says we don't need "me time" we need "God time." He will heal us and strengthen us in all the ways we need. When we have God time from having established correct order in our homes than the Spirit will teach us what we need. Perhaps we need to go on a walk or read a book. If God is our mentor we will have the Spirit teaching us and telling us when it's time to get back in the battle. The Spirit will teach us when we have been on the computer to long or whether we are wasting our time and need to do something else. <br />
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More headgate thoughts. Are we pursuing the internet, book reading, TV time, shopping, crafting with the Spirit? Have we first done our family work for the day and ensured that everything is well ordered? Then with the Spirit directing us we will read the right book for the right amount of time. We will pursue worthwhile art that will bless our family. We will use the internet for a limited time to study or do family history. We will do it at the right time and for the right amount time because the Spirit will be our constant companion.<br />
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When we have the power of the Spirit, which comes from correct priorities, we will have that constant guide telling us what to do and how to live our lives. We will learn how to submit. We will have Christ has our 'living center.' <br />
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Through the years I have seen women (and many times it has been me!) who are running their lives from one sporting event to the next, one running workout to the next, or one project to the next, one workbook page to the next, etc. etc. Most of them are harried, stressed, tired, and empty. Their life is being controlled by society's demands and expectations. <br />
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Again I am grateful for Sister Beck's counsel. Whether we home educate or not we can find balance in our lives by seeking to fulfill our priorities for the day. Again that promised blessing is the ongoing companionship of the Spirit with its great blessing of joy filling our lives!Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113647239568938571.post-81076774889427473482011-04-14T19:45:00.000-07:002011-04-14T19:45:40.056-07:00LDS ResourcesMr. Patriot, Leader (age 8) and I took an unexpected trip back east again this past week. Mr. Patriot's grandfather died, but he lived to the age of 86 and had a full life. It was a fast trip and it involved a lot of driving. Usually we fly, but this time we drove. We were gone six nights and three of those nights were spent in the car driving. Not so fun. <br />
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We were able to enjoy some Church History stops along the way. Some we could not see due to time restraints and the fact that it was two AM when we were driving by some of them.<br />
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Here we are at the Sacred Grove for the second time in six weeks. I love this place... (Leader apparently was smiling silly).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj957Ib6050jdCHdwWE4h0zp1AaDiKalBqotCstK03tPfxtNkCquAD-KWxrLdBWe6xRWaxo7BhixCHqbwlStFDplzWpLQPjh0iY8i1bJaX9-iGKa2hIr4pPbt0v-w_wTeP4UJvHK_w8LTcF/s1600/Winter+2011+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj957Ib6050jdCHdwWE4h0zp1AaDiKalBqotCstK03tPfxtNkCquAD-KWxrLdBWe6xRWaxo7BhixCHqbwlStFDplzWpLQPjh0iY8i1bJaX9-iGKa2hIr4pPbt0v-w_wTeP4UJvHK_w8LTcF/s320/Winter+2011+023.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We were also able to visit Kirtland; what another wonderful place. I was especially impressed and blessed to stand in the small room above the Newel K. Whitney store where the "School of the Prophets" was held and section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants was revealed (among many other marvelous things). Below is Thankful Pratt's, wife of Parley P. Pratt, headstone; one of the many courageous women of the Restoration.<br />
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I am so very grateful for all the historical sites that the church maintains. <a href="http://lds.org/placestovisit/eng/">Here is a list of them</a>. I have been able to see many of them. I have always been blessed with an out pouring of the Spirit as I've visited these places. I encourage you to make plans to see them in your lifetime!<br />
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I have also been enjoying the <a href="http://radio.lds.org/?lang=eng">Mormon Channel</a>. There are so many thought-provoking interviews from church leaders. There are also inspiring stories of many others. I have also been enjoying the <a href="http://radio.lds.org/programs/relief-society?lang=eng">Relief Society History interviews</a>. When I have a chance I'll download a couple that look interesting and then listen do them later during family work time.<br />
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As most of you know the church as a new version of a family favorite: <em>Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration</em>. They have changed 40% of the movie to help reach a non-LDS audience. You can learn about the changes to the film and other information in <a href="http://newsroom.lds.org/article/film-about-joseph-smith-now-available-online">this news article</a>. The movie is available for download on the Mormon Channel and YouTube. You can access it off of the news article or on<a href="http://radio.lds.org/joseph?lang=eng"> this link</a>. We were able to share this as part of a FHE lesson with a part-member family we had over a week and a half a go. They enjoyed it very much. They had their first missionary discussion at our house last night one hour after we got home! I recommend this to you!<br />
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I am grateful for these resources that compliment my scripture study in increasing my faith and personal righteousness.Being A Mother Who Knowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989126074756517909noreply@blogger.com0