Today as I was reading the Doctrine and Covenants this scripture jumped out at me. It is D&C 123:17.
"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
Then I read an article in the July 2009 New Era by Octaviano Tenorio with a similar theme. He says "If you want to suceed in anything, you need to concentrate, put forth effort, and be happy with what you are doing. This approach can give you everything. You can learn much and acheive any worthy goal. Enjoy what you are doing even if it is hard."
Today's spiritual message to me is - Put forth the effort. Do what I can, the best that I can, with a cheerful attitude. Don't give up. Let the Lord worry about the stuff that I have no control over. He's got it taken care of.
Today I am thankful
that I knew enough to be able to help a ward family member with a computer challenge.
for a helpful husband that made me look good.
for my washing machine and dryer.
One year ago today - Open House at McClintock High
Showing posts with label church magazines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church magazines. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Friend Magazine
Two years ago when I renewed our church magazines I decided that we probably didn't need to receive the Friend magazine any longer. The Friend is the church magazine published for children. My youngest child was 14 at the time and I felt like we would be fine with just the youth and adult magazines. Every month for the entire year my youngest son would lament each time the church magazines arrived, "Why don't we get the Friend anymore. I really like to read the Friend." So the next time our subscription ran out I added the Friend back on. It has arrived with the others every month and I have placed it in the magazine rack by my chair where I read each morning. I don't think the son even knows it's there most of the time. As I was planning Family Home Evening yesterday I was thinking about the stories my daughter had used in her talk on Sunday from this magazine and how it is a great resource that I often overlook.
I pulled a few of them out and browsed through them. There were so many great stories and even suggestions on how to use them for a Family Home Evening lesson. I actually ended up passing out a Friend to each family member during FHE and we each chose a story from our magazine to share and expound on. If was interesting to see how we all chose a story that focused on love/service. I really like that the majority of the stories included in this publication now are based on experiences that someone really had. There are so many ways the children of the church are making good choices each day and I'm glad they have a platform to share some of these moments with the rest of us. It's once again time to renew my magazine subscriptions and I'll be including my $8.00 for the Friend. I've decided our family still needs it.
Today I am thankful for
Church Magazines.
Day two of the new and improved teenage mouth.
time to spend with my Relief Society sisters.
I pulled a few of them out and browsed through them. There were so many great stories and even suggestions on how to use them for a Family Home Evening lesson. I actually ended up passing out a Friend to each family member during FHE and we each chose a story from our magazine to share and expound on. If was interesting to see how we all chose a story that focused on love/service. I really like that the majority of the stories included in this publication now are based on experiences that someone really had. There are so many ways the children of the church are making good choices each day and I'm glad they have a platform to share some of these moments with the rest of us. It's once again time to renew my magazine subscriptions and I'll be including my $8.00 for the Friend. I've decided our family still needs it.
Today I am thankful for
Church Magazines.
Day two of the new and improved teenage mouth.
time to spend with my Relief Society sisters.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Hope Wins!
Less, you all think I'm sitting at home
paralyzed by my bad feeling
I feel compelled to share
some more of my thoughts and feelings.
I don't think that it was totally by chance
that the November issue
of the Ensign Magazine
arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
I was definitely ready to revisit
some of the amazing and comforting talks
that were given by our leaders
in the recent General Conference
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
One of my favorite talks,
and the one that I quickly turned to this morning,
is entitled The Infinite Power of Hope
and was given by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
I loved this talk the first time I heard it
and I loved it even more as I read it today.
I need to have hope.
I want to have hope.
Our nation needs to have hope.
I think hope is what a lot of Americans
voted for in yesterday's election.
Hope for a better life.
Hope for peace.
Hope for a united country.
Hope for a stronger economy.
Hope that the promises
made by our newly elected leader
will actually come to pass.
Hope.
I was home alone tonight
and started flipping through the TV channels
looking for something to provide a little noise
in my empty house.
There was Oprah,
full of smiles and shouts,
sporting a "Hope Won" t-shirt.
I'm pretty sure that Oprah
thinks that Barack Obama
is going to save our nation
and us along with it
and now she can actually say that
on her syndicated television show.
I began to mentally compare
who and what Oprah has placed her hope in
with who and what Elder Uchtdorf counsels
us to place our hope in.
I quote,
"We hope in Jesus the Christ,
in the goodness of God,
in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit,
in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered."
Then Elder Uchtdorf goes on to promise,
"This type of hope in God,
His goodness, and His power
refreshes us with courage
during difficult challenges
and gives strength
to those who feel threatened
by enclosing walls of fear, doubt and despair."
I am glad that so many people
have cast their vote for hope this week.
I think that it is a positive sign
that a lot of Americans realize that
our country has some major problems.
However, I question if their hope
is perhaps in the wrong person.
I strongly believe that "Hope Wins"
in this world every day
when it is placed in our Heavenly Father
and His son, Jesus Christ,
our only true source of hope.
That is the message I think
will really save our nation.
paralyzed by my bad feeling
I feel compelled to share
some more of my thoughts and feelings.
I don't think that it was totally by chance
that the November issue
of the Ensign Magazine
arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
I was definitely ready to revisit
some of the amazing and comforting talks
that were given by our leaders
in the recent General Conference
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
One of my favorite talks,
and the one that I quickly turned to this morning,
is entitled The Infinite Power of Hope
and was given by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
I loved this talk the first time I heard it
and I loved it even more as I read it today.
I need to have hope.
I want to have hope.
Our nation needs to have hope.
I think hope is what a lot of Americans
voted for in yesterday's election.
Hope for a better life.
Hope for peace.
Hope for a united country.
Hope for a stronger economy.
Hope that the promises
made by our newly elected leader
will actually come to pass.
Hope.
I was home alone tonight
and started flipping through the TV channels
looking for something to provide a little noise
in my empty house.
There was Oprah,
full of smiles and shouts,
sporting a "Hope Won" t-shirt.
I'm pretty sure that Oprah
thinks that Barack Obama
is going to save our nation
and us along with it
and now she can actually say that
on her syndicated television show.
I began to mentally compare
who and what Oprah has placed her hope in
with who and what Elder Uchtdorf counsels
us to place our hope in.
I quote,
"We hope in Jesus the Christ,
in the goodness of God,
in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit,
in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered."
Then Elder Uchtdorf goes on to promise,
"This type of hope in God,
His goodness, and His power
refreshes us with courage
during difficult challenges
and gives strength
to those who feel threatened
by enclosing walls of fear, doubt and despair."
I am glad that so many people
have cast their vote for hope this week.
I think that it is a positive sign
that a lot of Americans realize that
our country has some major problems.
However, I question if their hope
is perhaps in the wrong person.
I strongly believe that "Hope Wins"
in this world every day
when it is placed in our Heavenly Father
and His son, Jesus Christ,
our only true source of hope.
That is the message I think
will really save our nation.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sunday Sermons
Today we went to listen to the daughter and the son in law speak in their sacrament meeting. They are actually in the same stake as we are, but the demographics of their ward is a little different than ours. I think almost every family there had a baby under a year old and I bet their nursery is LOTS bigger than ours. It was fun to see so many new families and remember going to the BYU Lamanite Married Ward when we were in that phase of our lives. The nice thing about that ward was that we met in an old church building in Provo that came complete with a cry room at the back of the chapel, where you could sit with your loud infant or toddler and still see and hear what was going on in Sacrament meeting without them hearing you. Evergreen Ward could use one of those. There was a dad who got up to take his toddler daughter out of the chapel. He got about 10 steps from his seat when his son (who looked about 3) started screaming "DADDY! DADDY!" and burst into tears. The dad motioned for him to come with him, but he just stood there screaming while the other son, about 4, mowed him over and took off down the aisle to the dad. By this time the dad had started back for the screaming son and the older son passed him by and then started crying too because his dad was going the wrong way. Dad grabbed the 3 year old and the 4 year old and finally made it out the door with the toddler who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying all the attention. The entire congregation was momentarily distracted from the son in law's amazing talk, but just momentarily. I think I am glad that I am past that phase of my life.
They both gave very good talks. She talked about Sharing the Gospel by doing good and focused on service and standing up for what you believe is right. He spoke about testimony and what a testimony is and how we can share testimony through music. I enjoyed both messages a lot. Unfortunately this daughter inherited the Cheever women tear ducts and got a little emotional when she was talking about one of her friends from college. Of course there were no tissues on the pulpit. She is going to have to start carrying her own or checking and requesting them ahead of time. That is what I always do now. I have learned my lesson. I firmly believe there is nothing wrong with being tender-hearted though, as long as you are equipped with lots of Kleenex. It's just the way some of us are made.
Our home teachers came to visit today and shared with us a story from this month's Ensign that really touched me. It was called something like "Lessons Learned From a Milk Jug". The woman in the story had found out that her husband was involved in Pornography and she just couldn't seem to forgive him and deal with all the emotions she had. She was embarrassed to ask for help and just kept trudging along but was not sure she could keep it up much longer. One day she and her 3 year old went to the store and when they got home the little girl was helping carry the groceries inside an item at a time. She did OK with the bread and the eggs but when she tried to move the gallon of milk,once she got it out of the car, it was just too heavy. The mom offered to help, but the typical toddler insisted on doing it herself. Finally she gave up and told her mom it was just too hard. She couldn't do it alone. When she said that, the mom thought how much she was like her stubborn little girl. Unwilling to ask her Heavenly Father for help when her burdens became to heavy to carry alone. The daughter asked the mom to carry her while she carried the milk.
So often I stubbornly refuse to accept Jesus Christ's atonement in my life and just try to struggle along, dragging my heavy, heavy burden behind me instead of admitting I need help and accepting what he has already done for me. We can all learn a lot from these noisy, stubborn little children in our lives if we just take the time to look for the lessons.
Today I am thankful for
A daughter and son in law who have testimonies and are able to share them with others.
Dedicated Home Teachers - who come every month even though they don't always get the warmest welcome from out youngest.
Kleenex - for the obvious reasons.
A funny Kleenex story - today one of the little girls in nursery needed a tissue, so I gave her one and then went back to picking up the toys. All of the sudden, something came flying at me. It was the dirty tissue delivered by the little girl who then turned her back and walked across the room. I called her name. She ignored me. I called her name again. She ignored me again. This is the same little girl who recently can't be more than 3 inches away from me without calling for me to sit by her. She continued to ignore me a few more times until finally she looked up and I asked her to come and throw the tissue away. She looked at me and at it and then went right back to ignoring me. I called her one more time and she stomped over and took the offensive item between the tips of her fingers and threw it away before running back to sit in my lap. What a stinker! Speaking of stinkers, we had 3 dirty diapers in nursery today. We haven't even had one before today. What's with that?
They both gave very good talks. She talked about Sharing the Gospel by doing good and focused on service and standing up for what you believe is right. He spoke about testimony and what a testimony is and how we can share testimony through music. I enjoyed both messages a lot. Unfortunately this daughter inherited the Cheever women tear ducts and got a little emotional when she was talking about one of her friends from college. Of course there were no tissues on the pulpit. She is going to have to start carrying her own or checking and requesting them ahead of time. That is what I always do now. I have learned my lesson. I firmly believe there is nothing wrong with being tender-hearted though, as long as you are equipped with lots of Kleenex. It's just the way some of us are made.
Our home teachers came to visit today and shared with us a story from this month's Ensign that really touched me. It was called something like "Lessons Learned From a Milk Jug". The woman in the story had found out that her husband was involved in Pornography and she just couldn't seem to forgive him and deal with all the emotions she had. She was embarrassed to ask for help and just kept trudging along but was not sure she could keep it up much longer. One day she and her 3 year old went to the store and when they got home the little girl was helping carry the groceries inside an item at a time. She did OK with the bread and the eggs but when she tried to move the gallon of milk,once she got it out of the car, it was just too heavy. The mom offered to help, but the typical toddler insisted on doing it herself. Finally she gave up and told her mom it was just too hard. She couldn't do it alone. When she said that, the mom thought how much she was like her stubborn little girl. Unwilling to ask her Heavenly Father for help when her burdens became to heavy to carry alone. The daughter asked the mom to carry her while she carried the milk.
So often I stubbornly refuse to accept Jesus Christ's atonement in my life and just try to struggle along, dragging my heavy, heavy burden behind me instead of admitting I need help and accepting what he has already done for me. We can all learn a lot from these noisy, stubborn little children in our lives if we just take the time to look for the lessons.
Today I am thankful for
A daughter and son in law who have testimonies and are able to share them with others.
Dedicated Home Teachers - who come every month even though they don't always get the warmest welcome from out youngest.
Kleenex - for the obvious reasons.
A funny Kleenex story - today one of the little girls in nursery needed a tissue, so I gave her one and then went back to picking up the toys. All of the sudden, something came flying at me. It was the dirty tissue delivered by the little girl who then turned her back and walked across the room. I called her name. She ignored me. I called her name again. She ignored me again. This is the same little girl who recently can't be more than 3 inches away from me without calling for me to sit by her. She continued to ignore me a few more times until finally she looked up and I asked her to come and throw the tissue away. She looked at me and at it and then went right back to ignoring me. I called her one more time and she stomped over and took the offensive item between the tips of her fingers and threw it away before running back to sit in my lap. What a stinker! Speaking of stinkers, we had 3 dirty diapers in nursery today. We haven't even had one before today. What's with that?
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