Monday Message

Marriage and Divorce, by Elder Dallin H. Oaks



I think that the words of advise Elder Oaks gives to couples struggling in their marriages also apply very well to any married couple. Very succint and touching.

Purity

"The Savior was critical of some of the early Saints for their 'lustful . . . desires' (D&C 101:6; see also D&C 88:121). These were people who lived in a non-television, non-film, non-Internet, non-iPod world. In a world now awash in sexualized images and music, are we free from lustful desires and their attendant evils?"

D. Todd Christofferson

"Come to Zion, Ensign," Nov. 2008, 38–39

Scripture Thought

I feel as though this blog falls by the way side a little for me. I have three blogs, and usually my personal and cooking blogs get more updates than this one does. But I've been trying to write in a "scripture journal" with some thoughts from my studies in the scriptures and I've decided that I'm going to try and share some of those thoughts here. I can't guarantee that these thoughts will be daily, but I am going to try to have them more frequently so it will be a "spiritual journal" for me and not just a record of events and quotes that have helped me in some way.

Scripture Thought
1 Nephi 17:13 -

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led. "

Though this scripture is specifically talking to Lehi's family and their situation as they strive to get to the promised land, I think it can apply to our personal lives as well. God lightens our journey through life, this "mortal wilderness", with the scriptures, personal revelation, prophets, temples, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He provides the way for us to get through life and trials by means of the Atonement, so that we can return to the "promised land," the Celestial Kingdom, on the provision that we keep His commandments. Because we know it is through the Atonement that we are able to return to live with God again, we know it is by our Savior - only through Him - we are led to that ultimate goal.

Any other thoughts?

Trust in the Lord

“‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.' The Lord Jesus Christ is our partner, helper, and advocate. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be successful. If we do our part, He will step in."
Joseph B. Wirthlin

"Come What May, and Love It, Ensign," Nov. 2008, 28

Sunday Will Come

This is a video from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk, "Sunday will Come." Please visit the link below to see.

Sunday Will Come

The Greatest Gift

"By participating weekly and appropriately in the ordinance of the sacrament we qualify for the promise that we will 'always have his Spirit to be with [us].' That Spirit is the foundation of our testimony. It testifies of the Father and the Son, brings all things to our remembrance, and leads us into truth."

Dallin H. Oaks, "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 17

Our Homes

“We may be well-advised to consider together, in family council, standards for our homes to keep them sacred and to allow them to be a ‘house of the Lord.’ The admonition to ‘establish . . . a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God’ (D&C 88:119) provides divine insight into the type of home the Lord would have us build. Doing such begins the construction of a ‘spiritual mansion’ in which we all may reside regardless of our worldly circumstance—a home filled with treasure that ‘neither moth nor rust doth corrupt’ (see Matthew 6:19–20; 3 Nephi 13:19–20).”

Gary E. Stevenson, "Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples,” Ensign, May 2009, 102

Hope is a Gift

"Hope is a gift of the Spirit. It is a hope that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of His Resurrection, we shall be raised unto life eternal and this because of our faith in the Savior."
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Infinite Power of Hope," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 21

Weathering Storms with Optimism

I needed this today.

"We can't predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come." [emphasis added]

Elder L. Tom Perry
"Let Him do it With Simplicity"