A Prayer of Faith

This story, about the hymn “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” was taken from this website (which gives permission to share and copy the article).

One of America’s best known poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), contributed to the wealth of carols sung each Christmas season, when he composed the words to “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” on December 25th 1864. The carol was originally a poem, “Christmas Bells,” containing seven stanzas…

Read the rest of this entry »

I went visiting teaching yesterday. I must confess that I was not excited to go. I was tired. I didn’t feel good. I hadn’t had much downtime with my children because we have had lots of craziness (errands, doctor’s appointments, car troubles, dad out of town). More than anything, I just wanted to be cozy and comfortable at home. “Visiting teaching is never convenient,” I found myself thinking. (It really rarely is.)

I printed out the lesson and mused over the title: “Blessings of Relief Society.” I found myself wondering about why the lessons this year have focused on Relief Society. I even noticed some complaints I have heard about these lessons and about Relief Society creeping into my consciousness. (How easily negativity can try to take root!)

Fortunately, the Spirit was merciful enough to teach and to touch me during the next hour and a half, in spite of the bad start to my service. I was able to repent of my attitude and receive a clear answer to my question. Read the rest of this entry »

Members of our stake have been invited to read the Conference Ensign by the end of the year. What a wonderful challenge! Of course, General Conference is wonderful the first time around, but I always find that while reading, I see and learn things that slipped by me. Reading the talks also allows me to engage in one of my favorite Conference activities: identifying repeated themes.

Consider what Elder Eyring once said:

The Savior has always been the protector of those who would accept His protection. He has said more than once, “How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not” (3 Ne. 10:5)….

There seems to be no end to the Savior’s desire to lead us to safety. And there is constancy in the way He shows us the path. He calls by more than one means so that it will reach those willing to accept it. And those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets whenever people have qualified to have the prophets of God among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people, telling them the way to safety.

…One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated…. The Apostle Paul wrote that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor. 13:1). One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses, authorized witnesses, has been invoked. When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention and fill our hearts with gratitude to live in such a blessed time (Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 24, emphasis added).

My husband and I have been humbled by one of the themes we have discovered from this last Conference: the absolute necessity of clinging to the word of God as found in scripture and the words of living prophets.
Read the rest of this entry »

At the October 2006 General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke on Sunday afternoon. What struck me so much about his talk, “Prophets in the Land Again,” and still strikes me now as I read it and hear his voice in my mind, was the passion in his voice for his topic. It touched my heart.

What did he speak about? General Conference and what it means to us—or can mean, if we will let it. Read the rest of this entry »

O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
And when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.

Thou heardest, well pleased, the song, the prayer:
Thy blessing came; and still its power
Shall onward, through all ages, bear
The memory of that holy hour.

Laws, freedom, and faith in God
Came with those exiles o’er the waves;
And, where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.

And here Thy Name, O God of love,
Their children’s children still adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,
And spring adorns the earth no more.

Leonard Bacon, 1833

————————————-

And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes….
And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance….
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them. (1 Nephi 13:14-16)

To those of you in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving! (To all: It will be slow here for the next couple of days due to the holiday weekend.)

There were several talks from General Conference this last time around that really struck me. One of them was by A. Roger Merrill. He talked about the concept of receiving by the Spirit.

In our Church meetings, in our personal and family scripture study, and even this day as we listen to the Lord’s prophets and apostles, some of us will receive more than others. Why? I am learning that those who truly receive do at least three things that others may not do. Read the rest of this entry »

This was written by Mary A., one of our guest writers.

In the November 1985 Ensign, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency, gave a talk titled “Ten Gifts from the Lord.” The occasion was the General Women’s Meeting, held the Saturday before General Conference.

President Hinckley spoke to women of the church about their gifts and responsibilities in the church and in life, and encouraged them to concentrate on using and developing those gifts rather than being discontented by what they do not have. Read the rest of this entry »

This poignant piece was submitted by Stephanie, one of our guest writers.

Have we not been reassured about the fall of one sparrow and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered? (see Matt. 10:29–30; D&C 84:80). God is in the details! (Neal A. Maxwell, “Encircled in the Arms of His Love,” Ensign, Nov. 2002, 16)

During a routine obstetric ultrasound I was told that I needed to be induced immediately to give birth to my fifth child, just two weeks shy of my due date. I was not expecting that. My ultrasound revealed too little amniotic fluid and that the baby could be in danger. Because I knew that ultrasound measurements can be unreliable, I requested to talk to my doctor. I finally saw him a few hours later and asked him to repeat the ultrasound. Again the measurements showed too little amniotic fluid.

I knew I was dehydrated and hungry so I asked to be released to go home and eat, drink some water, pack, and see my kids before being induced. I had a strong desire to go home and be with my children and to call my parents. (I usually only called them on Sundays and this was Monday.) Read the rest of this entry »

This was written by Mary A., one of our guest writers.

On 20 September RoAnn wrote an essay called “Be of Good Cheer.” I found it inspiring and then I found a talk by Elder Maxwell that expounds on that same theme, and I wanted to point it out and to make a few comments of my own.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell gave a talk years ago entitled “Be of Good Cheer.” One might ask, in this day and age, “How does one go about being of good cheer? How is it possible?” Read the rest of this entry »

Before too much more time passes, I wanted to give us all an opportunity to share what struck us the most from General Conference. Was there a talk in particular that really caught your attention? Was there something that came as an answer to prayer? Was counsel given that motivated you in a specific way? Read the rest of this entry »