A Prayer of Faith

This may sound strange, but I’ve looked forward to the day when I could teach my children more about the law of chastity and all that entails. But I wasn’t ready for that opportunity to come so soon, nor to be thrust upon me by a neighbor child’s sex-ed lesson to my three children (my youngest is only four, mind you!). Fortunately, my oldest (age 7) came to me directly and we had a good talk. I kept things pretty general, and made a point to bring in the law of chastity. I want the doctrinal and spiritual and wonderful aspects of it to be more the focus than the, er, mechanical. That’s a tricky balance because ya gotta have both. Read the rest of this entry »

A little over a year ago, just before the April conference 2005, I really wasn’t feeling well. I had just found out I was expecting another baby, I was trying to take care of Kendra, and I just felt rotten! To make it worse the first few talks that conference made me feel so guilty and so down that I didn’t know if I was going to come away feeling like a loved daughter of God, or just a complete failure. It was a very, very painful time indeed.

Then came Elder Bednar and his wonderful talk “The Tender Mercies of the Lord”. I felt inspired, loved, and that all was right with me. I had the privilege at the time to be the R.S Teaching of Our Times instructor and I knew that this talk would be one of the lessons I would be presenting.

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I like likening the scriptures unto myself. Give me that profit and learning, I say.

I’ve heard it’s easiest to start with the “insert my name here” verses, like Doctrine & Covenants Section 25 is fairly easy to personalize with my own name in place of Emma’s, thinking of myself as an elect lady has its difficulties. Murmuring not over things unseen in my own life–oh the list I have of those. Supporting and comforting my husband, been there, done that, and I’ll be delighted to keep being there and doing that. Learning to sing the hymns of Zion, so that my song can be a delight to the Lord, oh, it’s a giant step up from my joyful noise. Rejoicing, keeping my covenants, the list goes on and on–this is a treasure trove of likening. Read the rest of this entry »

A dear, special & unique friend just called. We had a quick chat, our own moment of Gospel Sisterhood. As brief and scattered as the conversation was, by the time we hung up not only was my heart full, my happy-meter was peaked scale-high. I felt cozy yet vibrant, peaceful yet vital. It’s a unique feeling, but one not too uncommon in my life. It was familiar, and yet I hadn’t pegged it down. Unable to account for my own overabundance of warm fuzzy, I immediately turned to my most trusted counselor in matters of all things Naiah–my husband.

As I was animatedly relating the conversation to him, I heard myself call out “The Lord loves me!” That was it. Not only did I feel loved by her, I felt loved by Him. Read the rest of this entry »

We were thrilled when Pam Hansen, author of Running with Angels, graciously consented to do an interview to coincide with our review of her book. I hope you enjoy this chance to get to know Pam a little better. I sure did!

APoF: Have you always wanted to write a book?

Pam: Heavens no! I didn’t even pass the A.P. test! That’s really the miracle of it all – writing a book was never one of my goals.

APoF: What was it that led you to write the book? Read the rest of this entry »

Pam Hansen takes her readers on a very difficult and intimate journey, though her misery, her frustration, and her inspiring triumph. Her story begins with the despair of losing a baby, and it continues on through the heartrending trials that follow that first major blow. She describes the pain that she felt, but also the comfort she found in food. This false comfort led her down the path of weight gain and poor self-esteem. She writes:

“For many years, it had seemed that my body was not a true reflection of my spirit. It was almost as if my body was separate from the person I really was. I hated and blamed it for not dropping the weight I wanted to lose. I loathed looking at myself in the mirror. I was not making the connection that my body was just responding to my actons. Read the rest of this entry »

I had a fun, out-of-the-ordinary day yesterday. I went to lunch with two friends. One I hadn’t interacted with for nearly two decades. I’ve known her since elementary school, and we played on the junior high school basketball team together. The other friend was our coach and teacher from that era.

Going out to lunch with girlfriends is fun enough, but we did much more than fill our tummies and get our social fix. We fed our spirits. Read the rest of this entry »

April General Conference marks the passing of the old year and the beginning of a new one. There are reports of missionaries, baptisms, wards, stakes, children of record, prominent members who have passed away since last April, read by the secretary to the First Presidency. There is business at hand, calling and releasing leaders, votes of thanks, votes of sustaining, generally conducted by a member of the First Presidency. Somewhere in there, usually right in between, comes my fix–I’m an audit groupie. Read the rest of this entry »

For a period of many years I had difficulty with the concept of gratitude. I wanted to stop working. I greatly desired that my husband could find a job that would bring that about. I prayed, I cried, and prayed some more. I think the only thing I prayed and cried more for was the gift of more children. The guilt was horrible, I felt so ungrateful to want even more blessings. After all, I had a warm home, a good job working with the most precious of Gods children, a wonderful husband, two sweet children, loving parents, good friends, fairly decent health, great sisters, a brother I adore, and so many more I could not name them all at once. How could I possibly want more? Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of months ago, my daughter was playing out in the yard when she overheard the boy next door “say something bad.” She came to me and was visibly upset, but she would not say what she had heard. After some gentle wheedling, she would tell me as much as that he had taken the Lord’s name in vain. We talked about it from a variety of angles. “Not everyone shares our faith,” I told her Read the rest of this entry »