The Music of the Gospel

It takes diligent practice to perform beautiful music.

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More information: http://www.mormon.org

Eternal Life - to Know Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ

Seeking for personal revelation is a key.

“And when ye shall receive these things”—including what I have shared today—“I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know [with a surety] the truth of all things.”²⁷

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More information: http://www.mormon.org

Trifle Not with Sacred Things

Are my decisions firmly planted in the 

rich soil of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

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More information: http://www.mormon.org

My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures

Discerning Light

Patterns of Light, Part II

     As a teenager, I loved winter.  My time was spent in downhill skiing.  Friends and I would always search for the drop-off or mogul where we could catch the most air.  We thrilled to be up in the air.

      I was hit by a car while riding my bike home from work last October.  The impact broke several ribs and ruptured vertebral discs.  As I was catapulting over the speeding car, the old familiar sense of “catching air” came to me and I marveled, “I caught a lot of air!” 

     I feel this was the comfort given to me from on high so I could bear what was happening.  The recollection of a happy time helped me survive the moment.  I bear testimony that God loves us and watches over us.  He communicates with us as appropriate.

     My wife was listening to the following song the other night:

"You Raise Me Up"

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up... To more than I can be.

Who’s on the Lord’s Side, Who?

Sharing Your Beliefs

     As I begin my second year of this blog, I bear my testimony that God lives and loves us.  His beloved son is Jesus the Christ, Jehovah of olden time, our Savior who saves us with his grace.  The Holy Ghost will guide all those earnestly striving to know and live truth.

     President Thomas S. Monson said, “This great cause in which we are engaged will continue to go forth, changing and blessing lives as it does so. No cause, no force in the entire world can stop the work of God. Despite what comes, this great cause will go forward. You recall the prophetic words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: ‘No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.’

     There is much that is difficult and challenging in the world today, my brothers and sisters, but there is also much that is good and uplifting. As we declare in our thirteenth article of faith, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” May we ever continue to do so.”

   

Thankful for Mortality

     I am grateful for a Father who ceases not to be God.
I am grateful for His Son who gives us the atonement and the opportunity for Eternal happiness.
I am grateful for the Holy Ghost who acts as our guide while in mortality.
I am grateful for this opportunity, mortality, to work out my salvation, to prepare to meet God.

Waiting upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done

Excerpt from a talk by Robert D. Hales

To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.”¹⁷

It means praying as the Savior did—to God, our Heavenly Father—saying: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”¹⁸ It is a prayer we offer with our whole souls in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Waiting upon the Lord means pondering in our hearts and “receiv[ing] the Holy Ghost” so that we can know “all things what [we] should do.”¹⁹

As we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we discover that “tribulation worketh patience”²⁰ and we learn to “continue in patience until [we] are perfected.”²¹

Waiting upon the Lord means to “stand fast”²² and “press forward” in faith, “having a perfect brightness of hope.”²³

It means “relying alone upon the merits of Christ”²⁴ and “with [His] grace assisting [us, saying]: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.”²⁵

As we wait upon the Lord, we are “immovable in keeping the commandments,”²⁶ knowing that we will “one day rest from all [our] afflictions.”²⁷

And we “cast not away … [our] confidence”²⁸ that “all things wherewith [we] have been afflicted shall work together for [our] good.”²⁹

17.  Alma 32:41.

18.  Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2.

19.  2 Nephi 32:5.

20.  Romans 5:3.

21.  Doctrine and Covenants 67:13.

22.  Alma 45:17.

23.  2 Nephi 31:20.

24.  Moroni 6:4.

25.  Doctrine and Covenants 109:44.

26.  Alma 1:25.

27.  Alma 34:41.

28.  Hebrews 10:35.

29.  Doctrine and Covenants 98:3.

Jesus is the Christ

     Each of us can gain a personal testimony that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.  If any man will do his will he will know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:16-17)  I have sought truth, and I have found it.  I have asked to know the truth, and I have received it.  I have knocked on the door of salvation, and it has been opened unto me.  Each of us can know the truth for ourselves.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)  

     In the final chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni writes:  “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.  And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.  And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.  And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.”

Comfort in Trials: Power of the Holy Spirit