I saw this on the wall in the resource room at the Relief Society building on Temple Square. It really impressed me because I feel that with September coming it is time to reorganize my life and adjust my priorities. This is a guide that helps me to know where to start. The ideas are from Sister Julie B. Beck, former General Relief Society President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

 In the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 5 Alma is speaking to members of the church in Zarahemla. He says:

19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

21 I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. 

22 And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?

27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

After reading these verses and picture came to my mind:

 Imagine yourself in the temple. You are sitting, waiting to go into the Celestial room where you will have the opportunity to meet the Savior, Jesus Christ. You have dressed in the most beautiful white dress possible and have dressed very carefully for this special time. As you are waiting you look down lovingly at your dress and find to your horror that it has somehow been soiled with big spots of mud. You desperately try to rub the mud off but it only gets ground deeper into the fibers of the dress and all your actions seem to make the mud spots worse. Tears sting your eyes and you want to run and hide. You don’t want them to call your name when it is your turn to meet the Savior.

Your name is called and slowly, reluctantly, and shamefully you enter the room. The tears are freely flowing down your face and your eyes are downcast. You can’t bring yourself to look into the eyes of the Savior. Gently and lovingly the Savior lifts your chin and kindly looks into your eyes. His hand softly touches the soiled places on your dress and where the mud spots used to be a brilliant white fabric is seen. Your dress has “ been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ.”

The atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the chance to repent of those things that we do wrong so that we can stand blameless before God with a pure heart and clean hands. 

Have you ever been sitting in a conference and it was like the speaker was talking directly to you? That happened to me today. We were at Stake Conference but part of the conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake. President Boyd K. Packer was the last speaker. Right at the end of his talk he said something that was kind of like an after thought, but it was just for me. He said that if you were worrying about this or that remember that if you have faith, the Lord will let you know what to do and that you will know what to say in the very hour that you need it. He also said that the Lord will help and bless us. Those words were so amazing because for the last few days I have struggled with my calling as a Relief Society President. I have felt like I am just not able to do all that is required of a Relief Society President. There are times that I am afraid of not knowing what to say or I am afraid of saying the wrong thing. Then the challenges of being a wife and mother and still having time to take care of over 100 women is so daunting. What President Packer said this morning is exactly what I needed. It is wonderful that the Lord sends these "tender mercies" to us just in the hour that we need them most.

Planting A Garden

We just planted the garden tonight. When we plant the garden I always think about Alma 32 and planting the seed and the last three verses. We always think of planting the seed and nourishing it but the last three verses are interesting because they repeat themselves and whenever something in the scriptures is repeated three times that means it is important. It tells us three times how we nourish things. Lots of things need to be nourished besides testimonies. But look at the words nourish by you faith, diligence and patience in verse 41. In verse 42 it’s diligence faith and patience and in 43 it’s faith diligence and patience. 

Faith is something that you must have in order to accomplish anything. You need to have faith that you can do something. Take learning a new skill, you need to have faith to just begin. Then you need to have diligence - you need to work at it. But the most important is that you need to have patience. Patience is probably the most important and the hardest to do because we want something now. There is a little thought that says “Faith in God includes Faith in his Timing” (patience.). All these things we are experiencing will require patience and patience is a great virtue to develop. 

You can use this formula with every trial that you will have in life. Have faith that things will work out for your good - be diligent in your prayers, scripture study and keeping the commandments and the have patience in the Lord’s timing. And you notice in the very end of verse 43 it adds the words “long-suffering, and waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you. There again have patience and wait for the blessings. The blessings of the Lord are there and miracle can happen everyday of our lives if we just have faith, be diligent and have patience.

Visiting Teachers - Angels of the Lord

As a new Relief Society president I have struggled with how I was going to be able to know the needs of all the sisters in my ward and then help them. I just didn't know how I was physically and spiritually going to do this. A wise Bishop counselled that I can't be everywhere and that there are limitations on my time and my physical abilities. That is why the Lord put in place Visiting Teachers. I am so grateful for good visiting teachers who care for the sisters in our ward. I could not do the calling of Relief Society president without them. We need each other as sisters, to help and strengthen each other. I have often thought about the pioneer women in the early days of the church. When their husbands were gone on missions, or they were widowed, they were all right because they had other sisters to help them. I know that I will always have the sisters in Relief Society to help me through the hard times. They are angels doing the work of the Lord.

http://www.lds.org/service/leadership/relief-society?lang=eng#responsibilities-of-visiting-teachers

Cleaning Up For Spring

The first crocus of the year

 The first signs of Spring as just starting to show here in Glenwood and I am looking forward to getting into my flower beds, pulling out all the dead plants, trimming back perennials, turning the soil and getting everything ready for new life and a new growing season. The cleaning up and cutting back makes for a healthy and beautiful garden.

Our lives are much like a flower garden. We also need to pull out all the dead stuff that is holding us back whither it be bad relationships, grudges, sin or whatever it may be that keeps us from finding joy. Sometimes it is just a matter of cutting back on the activities that we are doing. I love Elder Dallin H. Oaks famous conference talk on “Good, Better or Best.” Most of the things that we do are good things but our time is so limited that we need to choose the best things for us. 

Everyone will have their own list of best things that need to be done, but there are some areas that as women we tend to neglect. We need to ask ourselves if we are taking care of our own spiritual, physical and emotional needs. Are we studying the scriptures and taking the time to pray and develop a personal relationship with our Father in Heaven and with our Savior Jesus Christ? Are we taking the time to eat right, exercise and to get enough rest? Are we taking the time to build relationships with others, develop talents and engage in creative activities that recharge our batteries? I have always loved the saying that an empty cup cannot give to others. Our cups (or in the case of a women) our buckets need to be full so that we can serve and help others.

At this time of Spring and renewal may we each take time to make changes in our lives to do those things that are “best” that we may find more joy in our lives and that we may become a healthy and beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Genealogy Fan Chart

Genealogy Fan Chart

I am going through the family history class for Sunday School. The teachers told us about this site that will show your family history as a fan chart. It is really interesting to see where the research needs to start.

Developing a Personal Relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ

This week I have been thinking about the last general conference and trying to finish the conference issue Ensign before the next one comes out. Going through it so fast with a highlighter was really amazing. Do you know there was a major underlying theme in most of the talks? It was that Heavenly Father knows and notices us. He knows our trials, sorrows and our joys. He remembers us and wants to help and bless us. He is waiting for us to develop a personal relationship with Him and to come to Him in prayer to ask for the things that we need. Those ideas were in almost half the talks in the November 2011 General Conference.

I talked to my husband about it last night and about how it was such a reoccurring theme throughout the conference. He said that in our minds we know that it’s true that Heavenly Father loves and cares about us but sometimes it is hard to feel it in our hearts. I had that problem once and then I was called into the stake. I found that in order to serve the Lord, I had to have that personal relationship because it was a calling that I was unable to do on my own. It seems that it takes going through times of difficulty and hardship that forces us to develop a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father

As I read through the talks it seems there are steps to developing this relationship. First you must have sincere prayer. Like any relationship communication is so important and when we communicate with Heavenly Father we do it through prayer. Sometimes we think that we can only pray for big things but if you go to Alma 34:17-27 it says to pray for your houses, flocks, fields, crops and basically everything. Things may seem small and trivial to others, but what is important to you is important to the Lord.

Another thing we need to do is study the scriptures. That is were we find revelation and where our Heavenly Father can speak personally to us. I love reading the Doctrine and Covenants because the Lord seems to speak to me through the Doctrine and Covenants. I can put my name in the place of whosever name is mentioned. D&C 6 has become a special section to me because as I was reading it, it was if the Lord were saying the same words to me. It is through the scriptures where we really learn about our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I love the Book of Mormon too. I love Nephi, Moroni, Alma, all the wonderful prophets and their teachings. I think if I were on Survivor, my personal item would be the Book of Mormon with a picture of my family taped inside.

Then finally you need to keep the commandments and serve others. We tend to be drawn to people who like the things we do, and who are like us. If we are like our Heavenly Father or if we are trying to be like Heavenly Father we will seek Him more. When I think of the Savior I think of his love, care and compassion. He took time to bless those in need. He called children to come unto him and he blessed them. He taught, rebuked with love, and cared for each one individually. He still does that now! The personal relationship you develop with your Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ will help you to overcome any trial or adversity that may be in your way.

"A Hair of His Head Shall Not Fall to the Ground Unnoticed" D&C 84:116

The other day I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants. A scripture popped out at me, as scriptures tend to do sometimes. It was such a random scripture and one that you would usually pass over in your reading. The scripture was; "Let him trust in me and he shall not be confounded; and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed" D&C 84:116. I thought about a hair from your head. Have you ever noticed the amount of hair that you pull from your hairbrush after brushing your hair? You really don't miss them from your head and you wouldn't know they were gone if you didn't find them in your brush. But the Lord notices, a hair is such a little thing but He notices when it falls. That thought stuck in my mind for a few days and every time I would see a hair I would think that the Lord has noticed this hair.

Yesterday just as we were sitting down to dinner the phone rang. The call display said the call was from Utah but I didn’t recognize the number. When I answered, it was an Elder Lund calling from Lisbon, Portugal. At first I was worried about Sister Thomas. She has been serving a mission in Lisbon and has been there for only two weeks. Elder and Sister Lund are also serving a mission in Lisbon. They told me that they had spent the evening with Sister Thomas and what a wonderful sister she was. Sister Lund had given her a hug and fed Sister Thomas and her companion brownies. They also told me that she looks good and has a sweet spirit about her. Sister Lund also asked about what kind of cake Sister Thomas likes because she wants to make a cake for her and make sure that she gets her birthday parcel on her birthday next Tuesday. The joy that filled my heart after talking to the Lund’s was indescribable. I had been so worried about my daughter, in a new country, learning a new language and being alone. There in the mission field was a senior couple from Utah with loving hearts taking care of my daughter and the other missionaries in Lisbon.

I thought again about the lost hairs in a hairbrush. The Lord notices us; He knows when we need a little help or comfort. Having someone in Lisbon who would love and care for my daughter may have been just a little thing in the eyes of the world, but to me it was a big concern. I am so grateful for senior missionaries who serve around the world and the love and support that they offer to young missionaries.  “A hair of his head will not fall to the ground unnoticed.”