we need not stumble in darkness

The emblems of the Savior’s Atonement remind us that we need not stumble in darkness.

We can have His light with us always.

Robert D. Hales

Jesus is the great Mediator. Through omnipotent and omniscient, all-powerful and all-knowing, He is our friend. May all who profess to be Christians, all who know and testify of Jesus, come unto Him and follow His teachings and example, being one as Heavenly Father and Jesus are one in purpose, to unite ourselves, to lift and strengthen each other, and take upon us one another’s burdens as our Savior has taken our burdens upon Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Robert D. Hales

“Our challenges, including those we create by our own decisions, are part of our test in mortality. Let me assure you that your situation is not beyond the reach of our Savior. Through Him, every struggle can be for our experience and our good Each temptation we overcome is to strengthen us, not destroy us. The Lord will never allow us to suffer beyond what we can endure.

Robert D. Hales

The purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop,

and be strengthened through our own experiences.

Robert D. Hales

Whenever we choose to come unto Christ, take His name upon us, and follow His servants, we progress along the path to eternal life. Follow the example of Joseph Smith and the pattern of the Restoration. Turn to the scriptures. Kneel in prayer. Ask in faith. Listen to the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ lives. This is His work. Of this I bear my special witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Robert D. Hales

Learn that your name and needs are known by our Heavenly Father, just as Joseph’s were. Live the gospel with patience and persistence. And in the name of Jesus Christ, I promise, “If ye will … ask Heavenly Father in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping the Lord’s commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.”

Robert D. Hales

    

"Gratitude expressed to our Heavenly Father in prayer for what we have brings a calming peace-a peace which allows us to not canker our souls for what we don't have. Gratitude brings a peace that helps us overcome the pain of adversity and failure. Gratitude on a daily basis means we express appreciation for what we have now without qualification for what we had in the past or desire in the future. A recognition of and appreciation for our gifts and talents which have been given also allows us to acknowledge the need for help and assistance from the gifts and talents possessed by others."

Robert D. Hales

"There is nothing that we are enduring that Jesus does not understand, and He waits for us to go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. If we will be obedient and if we are diligent, our prayers will be answered, our problems will diminish, our fears will dissipate, light will come upon us, the darkness of despair will be dispersed, and we will be close to the Lord."

Robert D. Hales

"Without God, life would end at the grave and our mortal experiences would have no purpose. Growth and progress would be temporary, accomplishment without value, challenges without meaning. There would be no ultimate right and wrong and no moral responsibility to care for one another as fellow children of God. Indeed, without God, there would be no mortal or eternal life."

Robert D. Hales

"The temple is a sacred edifice, a holy place, where essential saving ceremonies and ordinances are performed to prepare us for exaltation. It is important that we gain a sure knowledge that our preparation to enter the holy house and that our participation in these ceremonies and covenants are some of the most significant events we will experience in our mortal lives."

Robert D. Hales

 

"We voluntarily came from the presence of God the Father to this mortal probation with agency, knowing we would have "opposition in all things" Our objective is to take upon us the whole armor of God and withstand "the fiery darts of the wicked" with the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, to endure to the end, and to be worthy to stand and live in the presence of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, for all eternity to achieve what is called eternal life."

Robert D. Hales

"Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else which lifts us and strengthens us."

 Robert D. Hales

I promise that the bounteous blessings of the priesthood can be ours through our obedience and that all of the magnificent, eternal blessings that God makes available to men and women and families upon this earth can be ours through the power of the priesthood. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Robert D. Hales

      

http://lds.org

He will make your hearts as gold

The lilies of the field and

even the smallest sparrow bear record of His generous and personal care.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?

and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

Matthew 10:29

Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:31

As we live a pure and virtuous life, we will be refined by our life’s experiences,

and as we “trust in the Lord” and draw closer to Him,

 He will “make your hearts as gold”

Though our path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where we feed. …
He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs of His fold,
And He will heal those who trust Him,
And make our hearts as Gold

Forever refreshed

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest

 have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a

 well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

~ John 4: 9-15

This Samaritan woman was probably searching for something that would help to quench the longings of her heart . . . fill her

loneliness . . . fill the empty cistern of her heart . . . and here was this man, a stranger and an enemy to her people,

offering her a gift which would do just those things .



But it does not stop there . . . this is an offer which stands today, as it did back then. The Saviour's offer of living water is as clear and as pure now as it was way back then as he sat on the wall next to Jacob's well. His offer is not withheld because we are empty, broken…. In fact . . . he thoroughly understands our condition . . . and the offer and promise of healing and forgiveness are still there. We, too, can drink from this well of living water and be forever refreshed.  All we have to do is to accept his offer . . . and drink.

It comes through a lifetime of effort

“Each of us will have our own Fridays those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered

about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again.

We will all have our Fridays.

“But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

“No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin

An Invitation to Know the Savior

“What does it mean to seek the face of the Savior? Surely it means more than just recognizing His picture. Christ’s invitation to seek Him is an invitation to know who He is, what He has done for us, and what He has asked us to do. Coming to Christ, and eventually seeing His face, comes only as we draw close to Him through our faith and our actions. It comes through a lifetime of effort.”

Cheryl C. Lant

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness

 of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."

Gordon B. Hinckley

I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands

When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first founded, you could see persons rise up and ask, “What sign will you show us that we may be made to believe?” I recollect a Campbellite preacher who came to Joseph Smith, I think his name was Hayden. He came in and made himself known to Joseph, and said that he had come a considerable distance to be convinced of the truth. “Why,” said he, “Mr. Smith, I want to know the truth, and when I am convinced, I will spend all my talents and time in defending and spreading the doctrines of your religion, and I will give you to understand that to convince me is equivalent to convincing all my society, amounting to several hundreds.” Well, Joseph commenced laying before him the coming forth of the work, and the first principles of the Gospel, when Mr. Hayden exclaimed, “O this is not the evidence I want, the evidence that I wish to have is a notable miracle; I want to see some powerful manifestation of the power of God, I want to see a notable miracle performed; and if you perform such a one, then I will believe with all my heart and soul, and will exert all my power and all my extensive influence to convince others; and if you will not perform a miracle of this kind, then I am your worst and bitterest enemy.” “Well,” said Joseph, “what will you have done? Will you be struck blind, or dumb? Will you be paralyzed, or will you have one hand withered? Take your choice, choose which you please, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it shall be done.” “That is not the kind of miracle I want,” said the preacher. “Then, sir,” replied Joseph, "I can perform none, I am not going to bring any trouble upon any body else, sir, to convince you.

George Albert Smith

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the ^aprint of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 ¶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and ^athrust it into my side: and be not ^bfaithless, but ^cbelieving.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast ^aseen me, thou hast believed: ^bblessed are they that have not seen, and yet have ^cbelieved.

30 ¶And many other ^asigns truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not ^bwritten in this book:

31 But these are ^awritten, that ye might ^bbelieve that Jesus is the ^cChrist, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have ^dlife through his ^ename.

John 20:25-31

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands

 1 Nephi 21:16

Believe in Christ

"To all who may have doubts, I repeat the words given Thomas as he felt the wounded hands of the Lord: 'Be not faithless, but believing.' Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the greatest figure of time and eternity. Believe that his matchless life reached back before the world was formed. Believe that he was the Creator of the earth on which we live. Believe that he was Jehovah of the Old Testament, that he was the Messiah of the New Testament, that he died and was resurrected, that he visited the western continents and taught the people here, that he ushered in this final gospel dispensation, and that he lives, the living Son of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer."

Gordon B. Hinckley

It is finished

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

Mosiah 2:21

The Three Prayers of Gethsemane

S. Michael Wilcox

There are three recorded prayers from Gethsemane, or at least three versions of the same prayer.  For they are all poignant and beautiful, yet they teach different truths …

but all of them tell us something about that moment in the Savior’s life.

 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Matthew 26:36

 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Mark 14:36

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Luke 22:41-42

So Jesus began to drain the bitter cup. He drinks it all through Gethsemane. It is easy to visualize the shaking that accompanied drinking that extremely bitter cup.  He drank it through his trial before the Sanhedrin as well as the trials before Herod and Pilate.  He drank it through Calvary and the Crucifixion and finally arrived at that moment on the cross near the end when he made one request for himself.  Two Simple words! They are the simplest request a man in pain can make. “I thirst”.  Soldiers mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar. Vinegar is Bitter. David, in the Psalms, looking forward with prophetic vision to that some moment, voiced the Savior’s own feelings at that moment when the vinegar was given.

 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none…..and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

When Jesus tastes the proffered vinegar, he knows that he has drunk the bitter cup to the very last drop. He then says, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” It is finished, and he dies.

"These simple words-"He is not here, but is risen"-have become the most profound in all literature. They are the declaration of the empty tomb. They are the fulfillment of all He had spoken concerning rising again. They are the triumphant response to the query facing every man, woman, and child who was ever born to earth."

Gordon B. Hinckley

Loyalty ~~Precious...