Families Can Be Together Forever

 

In "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," an official declaration released in 1995, Church leaders proclaimed that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." God's plan enables families who live the gospel and receive the necessary ordinances to be together forever with Him.

 My family is one of the most important things to me. They bring so much joy into my life. I love the times we spend together. They are some of my best friends. I love them so much and I am so grateful that I can be with them forever!

Learn more about families and how your family can be together forever.

The Still Small Voice

As we strive to stay on the path that leads to eternal life, the Holy Ghost can guide us in our decisions and protect us from physical and spiritual danger. 

The Holy Ghost can give us guidance in our lives... but we must listen and then act. I had an experience with this just this morning. Sister Valentine and I were getting ready to ride our bikes I was getting some things from the trunk.I used my keys to open a box then I set the keys down. The thought came to me that I needed to move my keys. I then thought no I wont lock the keys in the car it will be fine. I went getting the things I needed. Sister Valentine started talking to me and without thinking I closed the trunk! As soon as I pushed the trunk down I realized what I had done.

Locking the keys in the car wasn't the worst thing and it all will be taken care of. But it could have so easily been avoided if I had just listened to the quiet voice of the Holy Ghost.

What other things has the Holy Ghost told us and we not listened?


Want to know how you can have the Holy Ghost to guide you?  Just ask me!

creation

Today has been such a great day to be a missionary! Its been really nice weather and I have been able to ride my bike. As I have been outside watching everything turn green I have thought about how wonderful this world is.
Believe in ^aGod; believe that he is, and that he ^bcreated all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all ^cwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not ^dcomprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Mosiah 4:9)

Faith

I love faith, I love learning more about faith. Bishop Richard C. Edgley gave a great talk in General Conferance, Faith--the Choice is Yours.

"Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism.

"When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast a devil out as they had just witnessed the Savior do, Jesus answered, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove” (Matthew 17:20). I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed."

Just as he has seen mountains removed by faith so have I. What a blessing it is to be able to see these mountains removed by faith. When we have overcome these things we are so much stronger and we have grown so much.

Faith is a choice so I add to  Bishop Edgley and say "Let us choose faith." I know that as we choose faith, we choose to beleive in Jesus Christ, then to act on our belief we will be strengthend. We will be able to over come the mountains in our life no matter what they may be.  As we choose Faith we will be happier, we will have more joy in our lives and we will be able to make it through those hard times in our lives.

I'm so grateful for my faith and the strength it has given to me. You to can find this faith to help you.

Service

Serving others has helped me so much in my life. It has helped me love others and it brings happiness in my life. I have grown so much as I have done service. I have developed so many skills that I wouldn't have otherwise. 
Christ is our perfect example and he spent his life serving others. I know that as we serve we will have more charity. 

How are you going to serve others?

Relief Society

The purpose of Relief Society as established by the Lord is to prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them:

1. Increase their faith and personal righteousness.
2. Strengthen their families and homes.
3. Serve the Lord and His children.

"We want to come unto Christ. When the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society, he said that the women were not only to look after the poor but also to save souls. ¹ This is still our purpose. We are to assist in the Lord’s work of salvation, which is 'to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39)." Sister Julie B. Beck

I have such a great love of Relief Society. As a young girl I always remember my mom talking to me about Releif Society (RS). She would share with me the things she learned and she would tell me how much she love RS. Because of my mom's love and testimony I developed a love for RS. I was so excited when one day I would be old enough to be apart of RS myself. I didn't understand when my friends didn't want to be apart of this great organization. An organization that was truly inspired by Joseph Smith.

Relief Society has made a difference in my life, it has helped me become closer to the Lord, it has strengthend my faith, and it has brought me friends. Relief Society has also made a difference in the world as sisters work together and help eachother with love for eachother and our Father in Heaven.

We must Act!

James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only
James 2:26 Far as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also

We must act  we cannot just believe. Joseph Smith read James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. This scripture calls for action to ask God. That is what Joseph Smith did... he prayed. He received his answer when he exercised his faith and he acted.

Just as Joseph Smith followed the council given in James so have I. I have asked God if the account of Joseph Smith did happen, if he really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, and if the Book of Mormon is true. I asked, I acted and when I did so the Holy Ghost witnessed to me that Joseph Smith did receive an answer to his prayer and that through him the Book of Mormon was translated, and it is another testament of Jesus Christ. Knowing this brings so much peace to my life. It strengthens my faith. I know that because he has answered my prayer, Joseph Smith's prayer, and so many others that he will answer your prayer. But we must have faith, and we must act!

Patience

Sometimes it is so hard to be patient. We live in a world where we want things now. But God is Patient... and so he wants us to be patient. Patience is the ability to do God's will and accept his timing.

I think by having patience it shows many things. It shows love. When we are patient with others we show our love for them as we help them. So many times it would be easier to do things our self, but what would they learn. I taught kids how to sew. So many times I could see they were struggling and I just wanted to do it for them. I was a lot more experienced, I could do it quickly then they could continue working on it. But what would that teach them they would never be able to do it by them self. By being patient and helping them they were able to do more and to learn for them self.

Another thing that patience shows is our trust. To be patient we must have trust in the Lord. We must know that if we do our best and serve him, and follow him the best we can things will work out. But it is hard. When it takes a long time we start to doubt. But He is always there for us... He will not leave us alone.

Alma 24

Today I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma 24. In this chapter the Laminates have come unto Christ and took upon the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.  

16And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ^ago to our God and shall be saved.
 17And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did ^abury them up deep in the

These people were truly converted. They gave up their weapons so freely. They would do whatever was needed for their salvation. What do we do? What little things are we holding onto? We need to be more like the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's and give away everything that we might know Him. These people were blessed for the things that they did, and each of us will be blessed if we give up things in in our lives that our not in harmony with Christ.  The Lord loves you... He wants you to come unto him. He is there for you.