livinglds-blog

[livinglds-blog]

From “His Grace is Sufficient” by Brad Wilcox

It just dawned on me from this talk. Judgement Day won’t be the unrepentant sinner begging Christ to let him stay in Heaven…it would most likely be the other way around. Christ would be begging the unrepentant sinner to, “Please choose to stay. Please use my Atonement..not just to be cleansed but so that you will WANT to stay.” 

Then, it hit me. Christ. My savior. My redeemer. My rock. My Everlasting. My Rod. King of Kings… Would beg…for Me. 

Brothers and Sisters, I implore you to consider the following question:

Are you using the Atonement in your life just to be saved by grace, or also to be CHANGED  by grace?

[livinglds-blog]

I seriously think I just lol’d so hard with this. oh my goodness. Seriously. I love how they poke fun at the stereotypes, too. It’s absolutely phenomenal. 

LOL this totally made my day! ——> Watch it guys!! Mormon Style (Gangnam Style Parody) (by LoganDBeck)

[livinglds-blog]

Something we should all be praying for.

prayer of soulforjesus

[livinglds-blog]

Are you giving away ALL your sins to know God? Or just the “bad” ones?

“…and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee.”

— Book of Mormon, Alma 22:18 (via little-white-daisy)

[livinglds-blog]

Christmas Is . . .

Click on mormon.org/christmas to learn more about the true meaning of Christmas. The site also offers music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir—free downloads to put on a disk and play during the holidays for your family—and free Christmas cards to send to those you love. Learn more about Christmas this year, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[livinglds-blog]

Taped in front of a live studio audience.

Why can’t life be like a sitcom TV show?

I realize that’s one of the most cliche questions to ask, but just think about it. Don’t you ever catch yourself watching a really great TV show and then wishing—when the rolling credits scroll—your life could be something like that?

Don’t you sometimes wish you had a group of friends that you grew up with and share a lifetime of inside jokes and stories with like the cast of “Friends” do? Or that you were part of a special group of intellectuals with that one friend that’s “not like the others” like in “Big Bang Theory”? Or, don’t you wish you could go to work and have your thoughts be a wonderfully scripted monologue, like in “Emily Owens, M.D.”? Or, that every day could be a special yet strange adventure with friends and a weird twisted romantic involvement like in “Whitney”? 

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m daydreaming too much with all this new free time I have on my hands from the semester dying down. 

Truth is, when I sit down to think about it… my life kind of is its own sitcom. It’s not, of course, broadcasted for the nation’s enjoyment. However, every day is a new adventure. I have made friends with some of the best people with whom I can officially and resolutely say I confide in. I look back on those tests of friendship and see just how we pulled right out of it and I smile and think oh, how wonderful life is; how wonderful Christ is.

My life is a studio sitcom, with all the random, funny, unexpected things that occur; and, it is taped in front of a live audience. My friends and family who watch me grow, and our dear Heavenly Father, who takes care to help me each step of the way.

[livinglds-blog]

Most motivation to make every day count and to make every day your best, because it truly does matter, in the eternal perspective.

[livinglds-blog]

None were with Him, but He is with you.

Have you ever felt alone? Have you ever felt solitude amid the human existence?

Surely you have. Surely, I am not the only one. Surely, someone is reading this right now, thinking, “Yes! I feel that way right this second!” It’s easy to get enveloped in this emotion. It’s simple to let oneself get lost in the feeling of being lost, misdirected, and alone. It’s easy. What takes work, is calling upon the Lord and leaning on the Atonement. What takes effort is knowing that praying when it’s hard to pray is one of the most important things we must learn to do! 

You are not alone.

It takes faith and it takes trust to believe in the unseen. It takes a great deal of courage to say, “The Lord is with me and He is guiding me every step of the way. He hears my prayers and He hears my frustrations. He is listening, and He always answers.” 

Sometimes, I get caught in a temporal habit; I often get impatient. When I don’t immediately see the results I desire, I get impatient and frustrated. I don’t always catch myself when this happens, but when I do, I roll my eyes and am able to say, “Classic Me.”

There are times, when I get so impatient and frustrated because I feel so alone. Most of the time, I am alone! The members of my family are not part of the Church; my friends have decided to part away from me—mostly due to my Church membership, some due to conflict of interest—and my co-workers are big partiers. A good portion of my time is spent in my car driving to each destination: work, school, Institute, or the mountain where I hike on the weekends…alone.

Knowing the Spirit is with me to comfort and guide me is promising, but easy to forget since “classic me” gets impatient at not having a physical being to talk to. Classic Me gets frustrated by the fact that humans are social beings, yet I feel my social nature is stifled by my lack of human interaction.

During these times, I call on the Lord the most. I think the Lord knows my prayers to be consisting of one of three things. If I’m not asking for one, I’m asking for the other or the third. That’s just the way it is. But, that’s the thing, Heavenly Father knows me. He knows what to expect from me; He knows my prayers; He knows what’s going on when I get frustrated and need to cry and vent to Him. I don’t need to explain the whole story because He’s been watching me; He’s been with me; He’s been waiting for me to call on Him. 

This brings to mind Elder Holland’s April General Conference talk on Jesus Christ titled, “None Were With Him”. Elder Holland has exquisite talks that either make me cry or give me goosebumps, or both. This talk reminds me that, “Classic Me” does not have to get frustrated because I feel alone. I do not have to get overwhelmed by a feeling of solitude. I do not have to lament my lack of temporal friendships, because there is greater work to be done. There are greater things to be concerned over. 

And I am never truly alone.

[livinglds-blog]

Worldwide Facts and Statistics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Looking on the LDS website, I had a pretty thoughtful idea: why not share some of the statistics in the report from the First Presidency of the Church regarding the growth and status of the Church?

For those who have no idea about the Church, or are in the fog about the status of the Church, or for those who simply wish to expand your knowledge, this is for you! Parenthetical commentaries are for non-members who may not know what everything means. 

Total Church Membership — 14,441,346 (and growing!) Missions — 340 (available locations for missionaries to go) Missionaries — 55,410 (and growing with the new announcement!) MTC’s — 15 (missionary training centers. They aren’t born knowing) TEMPLES — 140 Universities and Colleges — 4 Seminary Students Enrollment — 375,388 (high school students in special lessons) Institute Student Enrollment — 352,441 (same as seminary, but for adults) Family History Centers — 4,676 (database centers to do important work) Church Materials Languages — 176!  

One great big discussion regarding the Church is about our Temples. “What you guys do there must be secret since none of you talk about it.” Not quite. What we do in temples is more sacred than secret. It is very special to us and we would not want to share it with someone who would not entirely appreciate or understand the work we do. In fact, some members have such sacred experiences within the temple, they don’t tell other members about it because—in most instances—it’s between you and Heavenly Father. Here is an “info-Graphic” to detail the differences between a temple and a chapel.

WHY Mormons build temples can be answered by searching the scriptures, looking on LDS.org, The Mormon Channel on Youtube. Simply, “throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred promises with God”—the Mormon Channel on Youtube. Anyone may enter our chapels, but only those members who are in good standing are permitted to enter the sacred temples. There is a wealth of information on Mormon temples. A good starting place is on the Mormon Newsroom website which talks a great deal about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, background on the Church, News releases, and so much more! 

Always, there is the option to visit my site and click the “ask me anything!” link at the top. Send me questions or comments, anonymous or not, the choice is yours. I will do my best to get your queries answered. Happy Wednesday, and remember to ask yourself, “Have I do not any good in the world, today?” 

[livinglds-blog]

A supplemental video to go with the last post.

[livinglds-blog]

“I wish I had spent more time with the people I love.”

(For further reading, visit this article on Keeping Your Life Balanced, at the youth LDS website.)

President Uchtdorf, in this last General Conference, said the following quote in his talk, ‘Of Regrets and Resolutions’: "When we are young, it seems that we will live forever. We think there is a limitless supply of sunrises waiting just beyond the horizon, and the future looks to us like an unbroken road stretching endlessly before us.

However, the older we get, the more we tend to look back and marvel at how short that road really is. We wonder how the years could have passed so quickly. And we begin to think about the choices we made and the things we have done. In the process, we remember many sweet moments that give warmth to our souls and joy to our hearts. But we also remember the regrets—the things we wish we could go back and change.”

During his talk, President Uchtdorf describes how being busy is often worn “as a badge of honor.” In this society, it truly is. Consider it for just one moment: you’re at the airport ready to catch a flight. A man in a suit comes zipping by, briefcase in one hand down at his left, right arm bent upward to keep his tie from flying over his shoulder—keep him looking professional—and his shiny, brown loafers without a single scuff on them. He looks determined. Purposeful. You wonder to yourself, “Where could he be going in such a rush? He must be very busy, or very important, or very late for something very important.” We associate being busy with being important, in this world.

But, is it?

President Uchtdorf describes an imaginary thought of our Savior as being “very busy” and bustling about to get tasks done, but then he says he can’t see it. Can you picture Jesus Christ in a  suit and tie, running and weaving between people exclaiming He has no time or will “pencil someone in” for Friday? No way! Jesus Christ had great knowledge of Heavenly Father’s Plan. He understood the plan so much that he chose to be sent down to earth to get the ball rolling.

He stopped everything He did, every day of his brief life, to assist those in need. He loved the little children of Heavenly Father. He loved, even, the grown children of Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ saw the great worth in each individual soul on earth that he had no need to “pencil” someone in for next week. Yet, today, we see that as a standard in society.

In his talk, President Uchtdorf mentions “cultivating treasured memories.” 

This past month—these past few months, in fact, but I’ll begin with mid-October—has been a great challenge. I have been struggling finding a balance between work, school, social life, personal time, and church activities, that I have been pushing my family to the back burner and pushing important friends to the back as well. It came to the point where I had to push myself—almost to a drag—to spend time with my family and not by myself. When I began spending more time with my family members, the mood in the house just lightened quite a bit! I noticed a significant change in the way we all interacted. I noticed the love that was exchanged between each member of the family, myself included. While these changes were not immediate, I was able to spot them as they became more apparent.

Heavenly Father knows what He’s doing. It’s sometimes hard to see what He sees, since our perception is much more narrow, but once we open ourselves up to the Bigger Picture, we then open ourselves up to see great change and great blessings! 

We need to stop dragging our feet, and staring at our watches. President Uchtdorf put it so beautifully: "Doesn’t it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end?

Do we listen to beautiful music waiting for the final note to fade before we allow ourselves to truly enjoy it? No. We listen and connect to the variations of melody, rhythm, and harmony throughout the composition.

Do we say our prayers with only the “amen” or the end in mind? Of course not. We pray to be close to our Heavenly Father, to receive His Spirit and feel His love.”

We don’t listen to music waiting for the ending. We don’t pop in our favorite CD staring at the time saying “When is it going to end?” So, why do we do this during Sacrament meetings and Sunday school? Why do we look at our watches, counting down the minutes? Why are our prayers brief and superficial rather than deep and meaningful? 

Are we giving our time to what truly matters in this world, or are we more focused on speeding through this life and getting on to the next?

I challenge you all, this week, to spend more time with your family members. Get to know them. Do at least one activity with them a day, this week. Help a sibling with homework, or a project. Help a parent clean the house, buy groceries, or balance the budget. Whatever it is, but do something meaningful with your family this week. Visit the temple with them, do vicarious work for the dead, anything! But, don’t live a life where you spend your last moments wishing you had spent more time with the people you love.

[livinglds-blog]

Have You Prayed About Your Own Ancestors?

During this last General Conference, Elder Scott gave a powerful and meaningful talk on Family History. He related the work of Family History to receiving blessings of protection. Some of the most powerful blessings of protection can come from just researching our own genealogy! How simple, right? That’s because it is. Heavenly Father does not give us any commandments without a promised blessing, and Heavenly Father does not give us anything we cannot accomplish. There are no tricks nor smoke to His work. It is all straightforward. Along with the promise of protection for doing Family History, Elder Scott and Elder Bednar list a few promised blessings from doing Family History work:

Your conversion to the Savior will become deeper.

You will receive light and knowledge through the Holy Ghost.

Your testimony will be strengthened.

Your patriarchal blessing will become more meaningful.

Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will grow.

You will have greater opportunities to serve.

Your service in the temple will become more sacred.

Don’t we want a deeper conversion and testimony? Isn’t knowledge and meaning what we constantly seek in our lives? And wouldn’t it be a powerful change within our youth to see them wanting to go to the temple each week (or even several times a week!) to perform the sacred services?

When I started Family History work, I felt overwhelmed and unwilling to secure these blessings. Knowing, now, the many blessings that come from doing Family History, I cannot afford to NOT do Family History work! And it is so easy. With the Family History center at the temple, and with so many resources within my family that are available to me, Family History can be a pleasurable and pain-free experience! Praying also allows Heavenly Father to send my ancestors to assist me and guide me through the process of helping them get their temple work done. 

Using Elder Scott’s words, I implore each and every one of you to “Set aside those things in your life that don’t really matter. Decide to do something that will have eternal consequences” (Richard G. Scott, “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2012, 95).

[livinglds-blog]

[livinglds-blog]

“Dare To Stand Alone” — An inspiring video take on President Thomas S. Monson’s talk. This brought tears to my eyes and restored faith in my heart. I hope to one day be in President Monson’s shoes where I get to stand for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proudly state to my MIT or commanding officer, “Sir, I’m Mormon, Sir!” 

[livinglds-blog]

Google Search: “Temple”… I’m sorry, I should have specified. I meant the, “Salt Lake Temple.”

I Google-searched “temple” and came up with a host of…random results. I guess specificity is needed when the word “temple” is the identifier of so many objects and places! Not being specific can be a bit discouraging and can quickly lead to overwhelming results leaving us to try and sift through the mess and find the ‘gem’ of information that we seek.

Family history can feel just like that, when so little work has been done before. Sometimes discouragement leads to contention toward ones own family members, and this contention causes a great divide between you and the Spirit. 

I remember a great quote I heard from my Institute Leader. He said, “Let’s not do anything that would cause the Spirit to leave.” This, he said in relation to young single adults who are more prone to temptations and pushing the envelope with sin. However, I find his words are appropriate for members of all age groups and wards. 

This needs to be brought up because we are in a time where the Adversary is attacking us directly and, sometimes, immediately. He is hitting home and hitting where it hurts and hitting while we’re down. He isn’t always waiting 12 or more years to let things fester. The master of evil and deceit is causing things to fester more quickly within us! Or, working off of age-old wounds we keep running around and licking, not letting them heal with the mighty saving hands of our Savior.

The Atonement wasn’t just to save us from sin and the adversary, but is also to save us from falling into a rut or from falling into doubt —a tool used by the adversary— or from falling into struggles that lead to contentions. 

I know I need to call upon the Lord to pull me along this rickety, discouraging, overgrown path toward making some sort of dent in my family history. The journey for me is discouraging at best. I am the only person in my entire lineage (that I am absolutely aware of) who has to do this work. One can imagine the horror I am feeling and the level of procrastination that has worn a hole in my time. The work is big. The time is few. The resources, fortunately, are many! But, I must start the path. I must not let anger and resentment fester in my heart. I must not let discouragement lead the way.

Precision is difficult when one does not know where to begin nor how to conceptualize the idea they have in their hearts and in their minds. However, with great help from the Lord and with the resources available, one may find that by simply typing in the word “Temple” into a bottomless search database, one may find—even on the first page!—just what one has been looking for all this time.

[livinglds-blog]

Let’s start here. :)

Not every Mormon is a bad Mormon. Just like not every mother abuses her children; just like not every car is a yellow car; just like not every Christian goes to church. Variability exists everywhere. 

Click on the picture if you cannot see it.