Our Personal Conviction

Straight to the point: "The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion."

Dallin H. Oaks - Ensign, Nov. 2001, 7

Parental Certainty

"No child in this Church should be left with uncertainty about his or her parents' devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ."
- Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 2003, 85

Fiery Darts

Our sunday school lesson last week was on this subject, based on this scripture:

"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked". (Eph 6:16)

Someone made a comment on this that really resonated with me. Paraphrasing, they said that fiery darts were much more dangerous than regular darts/arrows. A dart might be able to penetrate a chink in some armour, but it would only do localised damage, whereas a fiery dart once it has penetrated will consume the rest of the body, and quickly.

You can definitely see the correlation here to temptation and sin - that it is never localised, that it does affect 'all' of us, once acted upon. I think that the reverse is also true though that good attributes can consume the bad too. I hope that we will increase our faith, thereby increasing our protection from these nasty fiery darts, that just keep on coming!

Journals and Blessings

I was reminded recently of this talk by Elder Eyring about the importance of keeping a journal, and recognising your blessings. I hope it uplifts you too:):

______________________

"I came home late from a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father-in-law, who lived near us, surprised me as I walked toward the front door of my house. He was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property.

He smiled, spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work. I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.”

I went inside. I didn’t go to bed. Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family. Grandpa didn’t have to do what he was doing for us. He could have had someone else do it or not have done it at all. But he was serving us, his family, in the way covenant disciples of Jesus Christ always do. I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it.

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.

The years have gone by. My boys are grown men. And now and then one of them will surprise me by saying, “Dad, I was reading in my copy of the journal about when . . . ” and then he will tell me about how reading of what happened long ago helped him notice something God had done in his day.

My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness. It will build our testimonies. You may not keep a journal. You may not share whatever record you keep with those you love and serve. But you and they will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done. You remember that song we sometimes sing: “Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

"O Remember, Remember", General Conference, October 2007, Henry B. Eyring

O Holy Night

Power From on High

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, then God will endow us with power from on high."

Ezra Taft Benson - Ensign, May 1998, p.81

Humble, Up and Down

Fabulous quote on humility, courtesy of Elder Maxwell:

"One can be sincerely grateful for his major blessings but regularly murmur over minor irritations. One can have humility that is hierarchical: being humble up, but not humble down. Enduring large tests while failing the seemingly small quizzes just won’t do."

—Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1997-