"voice" of the Lord

 

 

"…Between the poles of sin and adversity, lie such intermediate points as unwise choices and hasty judgments. In these cases, it may be unclear just how much personal fault we bear for the bitter fruits we may taste or cause others to taste. Bitterness may taste the same, whatever its source, and it can destroy our peace, break our hearts, and separate us from God. Could it be that the great ‘at-one-ment’ of Christ could put back together the broken parts and give beauty to the ashes of experience such as this? I believe that it does, because tasting the bitter in all its forms is a deliberate part of the great plan of life. This consequence of the Fall was not just a terrible mistake; rather, it gives mortality its profound meaning:

 

‘They taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good’

 Bruce C. Hafen

 

 

"What we know is not always reflected in what we do."

 David A. Bednar

 

 

“To miss the misery is to miss the joy.

And to miss the joy is to miss it all."

Bruce C. Hafen

"Righteousness is simply a humble understanding of how unrighteous

one is coupled with a deep commitment to become better."

 James L. Ferrell

"The gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. And the Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good. Help from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mortality

from bad to good to better and to change our very nature."

 David A. Bednar

 

 

"God uses no magic wand to simply wave bad things into nonexistence. The sins that he remits, he remits by making them his own and suffering them. The pain and heartaches that he relieves, he relieves by suffering them himself. These things can be shared and absorbed, but they cannot be simply wished or waved away.

They must be suffered."

Stephen E. Robinson

 

 

"The deep hurt is the mirror image of the deep joy that still awaits you."

Bruce C. Hafen

 

 

"The scriptures are like a written “recording” of the “voice” of the Lord a voice we feel in our hearts more than we hear with our ears. As we study the written word of God, we learn to hear His voice in the words we read. As we return repeatedly to the holy scriptures, we gain experience and confidence in hearing and feeling His voice.

 

David A. Bednar

 

 

 

"Being Mistreated is the most important condition of mortality,

for eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us."

 James L. Ferrell

 

 

"It frankly does not make sense to occasionally 'fill up' with water, with long periods of dehydration in between. The same thing is true spiritually. Spiritual thirst is a need for living water. A constant flow of living water is far superior to sporadic sipping."

 David A. Bednar

 

 

 

"In the long run, our most deeply held desires will govern our choices, one by one and day by day, until our lives finally add up to what we have really wanted most--for good or otherwise. We can indeed have eternal life, if we really want it, but only if there is nothing else we want more."

 Bruce C. Hafen

 

 

"The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that miraculously we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us part of who we are."

 Brad Wilcox

 

 

Truth lived in faith

"Don't judge yourself by what you understand of your potential.

Trust in the Lord and what He can do with your dedicated heart and willing mind."

Richard G. Scott

"Do not allow yourselves to be made to feel inadequate or frustrated because you cannot do everything others seem to be accomplishing. Only you and your Father in Heaven know your needs, strengths, and desires. Around this knowledge your personal course must be charted and your chioces made."

 Marvin. J. Ashton

"In this age of one hour dry cleaning and one minute fast food franchises, it may at times seem to us as though a loving Heavenly Father has misplaced our precious promises or He has put them on hold or filed them under the wrong name. . . ."When heaven's promises sometimes seem afar off, I pray that each of us will embrace these exceeding great and precious promises and never let go. . . .

God will remember you."

Spencer J. Condie

One of President Lee's favorite sayings was:

"It's all right to pull the cow out of the mud on Sunday,

provided that you don't push him in on Saturday night."

"Just as the lame man at the pool of Bethesda needed someone stronger than himself to be healed, so we are dependent on the miracles of Christ's atonement if our souls are to be made whole from grief, sorrow, and sin".

Merrill J. Bateman

"The Prince of Peace was sent to "bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to them that are bound"

(Isaiah 61:1).

The Lord Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, is the Great Physician,

the One sent of the Father to heal our wounds, to dry our tears, to settle our souls."

Robert L. Millet

"The only person you should try to be better than,

 is the person you were yesterday."

"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion;

for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God".

(D&C 101:16)

"Our lives become extremely busy. We run from one thing to another.

We wear ourselves out in thoughtless pursuit of goals which are largely ephemeral.

We are entitled to spend some time with ourselves in introspection,

in development, in thinking, meditating, pondering things."

~ President Gordon B Hinckley ~

"..Those who have chosen to 'come unto Christ' soon realize that they do not 'own' themselves. Instead, they belong to Him. We are to become consecrated along with our gifts, our appointed days, and our very selves. Hence, there is a stark difference between stubbornly "owning" oneself and submissively belonging to God."

Neal A. Maxwell

"Some people pray cream and live skimmed milk"

I solemnly testify that God our Father lives, that His plan is perfect. I bear testimony that as you raise your voice in prayer, those prayers are heard. They are best answered when offered from a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I know that someday I will be judged for how well I testify of my certain knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I solemnly witness that because of His Atonement, our Father's plan of happiness will succeed. Satan's plan is doomed to failure. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I solemnly witness with every capacity I possess that He lives and that He loves you. Through your obedience He will help you find happiness.

Richard G. Scott

"You're going to have some dark moments. We all do. But when they come, I hope you will remember to let the sunshine into your life. Don't be hard on yourself, and don't let other people be hard on you either. Give yourself credit for the good things you do. If you make a mistake, give yourself credit for trying...if you do only half of what you wanted to do, or do it only half as well as you would have liked, pat yourself on half your back.

 But lighten up!

Be lighthearted enough that you can float above the dark clouds and see the rainbows in your life.

The gospel brings a whole rainbow of light into our lives".

Chieko N Okazaki

"Trust In The Lord" 

". . . we may in our anguish feel that we could bear anything if we could only understand the divine purpose in what is happening . . . the righteous live by faith and that faith is not an easy solution to life's problems.  Faith is confidence and trust in the character and purposes of God . . . .

Our religion is 'not weight, it is wings.'  It can carry us through the dark times, the bitter cup.  It will be with us in the fiery furnace and the deep pit.  It will accompany us to the hospital room and to the place of bereavement.  It can guarantee us the presence of a Captain on the rough voyage.  It is, in short, not the path to easy disposition of problems, but the comforting assurance of the eternal light, by which we may see, and the eternal warmth, which we may feel.  'The Lord is good; Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Marion D. Hanks

There will always be a need for you to walk to the edge of the light of your knowledge and testimony into the twilight of faith. You will be asked to exercise faith in truths you have not yet come to prove through your own experience or through the sacred witness of the Holy Ghost.

Exercise faith in Jesus Christ and in His infinite capacity to bless. Faith leads one to action, to achieve goals even when there is little visible evidence to give hope of success. Faith is abiding trust in truth. Therefore it is a source of power to know simple yet profoundly important truths and to have the faith to live them. Enduring happiness is rooted in unchangeable truth lived in faith.

Richard G. Scott

"In your pursuit of excellence, real effort is required. Remember, 'he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully' (2 Corinthians 9:6)."

Thomas S. Monson

‎"No service, No Christ.

Know Service, Know Christ."

Unknown

"Since 'God is love' (1 John 4:8), the closer we approach Him, the more profoundly we experience love. But because a veil separates this mortality from our heavenly home, we must seek in the Spirit that which is imperceptible to mortal eyes."Heaven may seem distant at times, but the scriptures offer hope: 'Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart' (Jeremiah 29:13)." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 "Should you become discouraged or feel burdened down,

remember that others have passed this same way;

they have endured and then have achieved.

When we have done all that we are able to do,

we can then rely on God's promised help."

 Thomas S. Monson

"Wonderful, glorious things are in store for you,

if only you will believe, obey and endure."

~Thomas S. Monson~

Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

Before you were conceived,

We wanted you.

Before you were born,

We loved you.

Before you were here an hour,

We would die for you.

This is the miracle of love.

It gives birth to understanding

"Listen to the quietest whispers of your mind. They are telling you the choices that will help you the most."

When a person can find the gift within the trial, then the trial will have served its purpose.

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself...

'How did I get through all of that?”

Thoughts don't have to be sinful, only distracting enough to weaken the communication so we don't hear the whisperings of the Spirit. Looking unto him in every thought will eradicate thoughts that fuel the fires of jealousy, envy, pride, and related diseases that distract and destroy.

"Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly;

then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God"

"I will tell you who you are, when you tell me what you think about,

when you don't have time to think".

David O. McKay

“Intellectual pride is very prevalent in our day. Some people exalt themselves above God and His anointed servants because of their learning and scholarly achievements. We must never allow our intellect to take priority over our spirit. Our intellect can feed our spirit and our spirit can feed our intellect, but if we allow our intellect to take precedence over our spirit, we will stumble, find fault, and may even lose our testimonies”.

Joseph B. Wirthlin
"God does not send thunder if a still,

small voice is enough."

Neal Maxwell

“We do not know the future, but our Father in Heaven does,

and He will lead and guide us if we let Him.

We once had a major decision to make. When our prayers left us uncertain, I went to see Elder Harold B. Lee. He counseled us to proceed. Sensing that I was still very unsettled, he said, "The problem with you is you want to see the end from the beginning." Then he quoted this verse from the Book of Mormon, "Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith"

Boyd K. Packer

"You must learn to walk a few steps ahead into the darkness,

and then the light will turn on and go before you."

“When He answers yes, it is to give us confidence.
“When He answers no, it is to prevent error.

“When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him.....
In everything you do in your family, keep in mind the miracle of the Chinese bamboo tree. After the seed for this amazing tree is planted, you see nothing, absolutely nothing, for four years except for a tiny shoot coming out of a bulb. During those four years, all the growth is underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that spreads deep and wide in the earth. But then in the the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet!

Many things in family life are like the Chinese bamboo tree. You work and you invest time and effort, and you do everything you can possibly do to nurture growth, and sometimes you don't see anything for weeks, months, or even years. But if you're patient and keep working and nurturing, that "fifth year" will come, and you will be astonished at the growth and change you see taking place.

Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence.

 It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow.

It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding."

Stephen R. Covey

"Too often we pray for patience but we really want it right now.

We may not know how or when answers to our prayers will come but I promise you they will come.

Do not give up on the Lord, His blessings are Eternal."

Robert D. Hales

Beware the Wolves

My home teachers David & Annalisa Gardner taught me this lesson this past Sunday

it is not only a wonderful lesson for the youth but for us all!

Beware the Wolves

By T. C. Christensen

Why would the deer move closer to the very wolves that could destroy them?10447_000_010

Wolves were a huge problem for the pioneer handcart Saints. The Saints were continually aware of their howls at night and their lurking presence. The wolves followed the buffalo on the plains, but many times the buffalo moved on (almost overnight) and left many soon-to-be-hungry wolves in their tracks. Those wolves also followed the pioneer Saints across the plains.

 

Many pioneer Saints journaled about the wolves, their aggressiveness, and their continual threat. Plus, many Saints were from England, where wolves had been hunted to extinction almost 200 years earlier. So to these Saints, a wolf was a mysterious, frightening animal they had never seen.

Mesmerized Deer on the Film Set

While working on the pioneer film 17 Miracles, my team and I created several scenes to convey this threat of wolves. We brought in a wolf trainer, and one day he left his wolves in a trailer while we looked for some good places to shoot scenes in the heavily wooded outdoor studio. Even though they are “trained” wolves, they are still wolves and can be very aggressive. They have natural instincts to attack and kill.

We returned a couple of hours later and were amazed to see a deer standing less than 15 feet from the trailer. Her ears were out, her eyes alert, and she was staring at the trailer. She seemed mesmerized.

Normally when you see a deer in that wooded area, the deer sees you, bounds off, and disappears within seconds. This time, not so. The deer was so focused on that wolf-harboring trailer that she didn’t even notice us until we were about 15 feet away. She finally noticed our presence and then seemed to come out of her trance and ran off. I asked the trainer if he’d ever seen anything like that before. He hadn’t, and he couldn’t explain it.

The next morning when the trainer approached his trailer to begin the day’s work, to his astonishment he saw close to 15 deer standing in a circle, all the way around the trailer. Like the first deer, they too were transfixed and stared intently at the trailer. Their circle grew smaller and smaller as they each continued to move closer to the trailer. The trainer could hear the wolves inside, pawing and clawing away as they seemed to be saying in wolf language, “Let me at ’em!”

Again the trainer moved very close to the deer before they became aware of him and ran into the nearby woods.

The Unseen Dangers—for the Deer and for Us

I saw a great lesson in that experience. Why would an animal be attracted to and try to get closer to the very thing that would kill it? It seems to go against all reason. With only the trainer’s quick flip of the latch to open the trailer, the wolves would have reached the deer before they could take more than a few steps.

There are many times when we could have a similar experience. There are dangerous things in our world. At some point, we may face something that we know is not good for us, and yet we may be attracted to it for an unexplained reason. We may want to get closer to it, even though our parents, leaders, and the Spirit keep telling us to run. We may be curious and want to figure it out and learn what secrets are behind its doors, just like the deer did.

Two Ways to Stay Safe

When moments like those happen in our lives, we must heed the warnings and promptings to get out of the situation. We cannot allow ourselves to get closer to anything that can spiritually kill us. To stay in such a situation is dangerous and can lead only to heartache.

There will be times in life when it’s best for us to run from the danger of spiritual wolves. There will also be times when it’s best to send the wolves running away.

That’s what pioneer Levi Savage learned to do in the movie 17 Miracles. His character is uneasy about wolves. Whenever he tries to confront them, they chase him and he chooses to retreat. Then as the film ends, Levi finally overcomes his wolves. He does not run from them. He stands up to them and scares them off, yelling, “Never come back!”

Whenever you hear, see, or face the threat of spiritual wolves,

run away from them or make them run from you!

Beware the wolves. Do not get close

“If you will listen to the counsel of your parents and your teachers and your leaders when you are young, you can learn how to follow the best guide of all the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. That is individual revelation. There is a process through which we can be alerted to spiritual dangers.”

President Boyd K. Packer

He stopped what He was doing

Author Unknown

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .

They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.
ALL BUT ONE !!!

He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings,

and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.
He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye,

told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination

and explain his taking a later flight.

Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
The 16 year old girl was totally blind!

She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration,

and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her,

 no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised;

these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with,

"I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued,

"Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?" Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would.

Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church.

It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall.

He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up in a Garden called Gethsemane

and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

He will make the difference

“Men’s Hearts Shall Fail Them”

By Hilary Weeks

In a world that is crumbling, our walls of faith and dedication must be continually  fortified.

Our hearts require constant reinforcing in order to remain courageous.

This 3 minute and 25 second video featuring Elder Nelson will give your heart added courage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMwKxmTLaCs

“If you have faith, you can handle difficulties.”

“Be patient with yourself.  Don’t demand things that are unreasonable.  But demand of yourself improvement.”

“As you let the Lord help you, He will make the difference.”