Another word that is important to me is

BECOME

I want to know what I must do to BECOME a daughter of God worthy to return home to His presence.
As I look up the word BECOME in the scriptures I find we must

BECOME

As little children
Truly humble
Mighty
Obedient unto death
Sweet
Great
Strong
New
Sanctified

As we BECOME as a little child - putting our complete trust in the Lord
We will BECOME truly humble - willing to listen and respond to the Spirit
We will BECOME mighty - as we are taught and guided toward the Lord
We will BECOME obedient - in all things receiving strength and courage unto death
We will BECOME sweet – our hearts softened and willing to love unconditionally
We will BECOME great – our example worthy to be followed
We will BECOME strong – receiving power from on high
We will BECOME new – wanting to be like our Savior always doing the will of our Father in Heaven
We will BECOME sanctified- clean and pure before God

Then our greatest desire will be to share what we know and have with others and we will

BECOME

A righteous people
A blessed people
People of the Lord thy God
Servants to God
Daughters of God
Sisters in Zion
Heirs of the kingdom

Accountable before me

REMEMBER Is one of my favorite words. It became important to me when I taught seminary a few years ago. I decided that when the word REMEMBER was in a scripture it must be important.
And when it says REMEMBER, REMEMBER together we should really pay attention. Here are a few scriptures that are important to me.

Helaman 5:12
….. REMEMBER, REMEMBER that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10
REMEMBER the worth of souls is great in the sight of God

"We cannot gauge the worth of another soul any more than we can measure the span of the universe. Every person we meet is a VIP to our Heavenly Father. Once we understand that, we can begin to understand how we should treat our fellowmen. " click here to read more
Dieter F. Uchtdorf


Doctrine and Covenants 3:3
REMEMBER, REMEMBER that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men

How many times do we get upset because of something someone said or did and blame it on the church. Remember, the Gospel is perfect, not the people. We are trying but we have a long way to go to reach perfection

"Where Art Thou"?

“When Adam left Eden, the Lord clothed his body with a garment and his soul with a question. Adam, where art thou?” (More Holiness Give Me, Robert L. Millet)

Adam and Eve lived in this beautiful garden where they were in the presence of God the Father and His Son. I cannot begin to imagine the peace and comfort that was surrounding them and yet Eve knew that there was something missing. Something they needed to do, something they needed to become in order to be complete. Willingly she gave up this beautiful paradise to become a mother.

As Adam and Eve left the garden into the low and dreary world there was a fall. A fall from paradise where life was beautiful, comfortable and peaceful; a fall where the spirit now had to speak with spirit, they no longer were in the presence of the Lord.

We live in this world where Adam and Eve were placed, a world of turmoil and frustration. A world where we are free to choose and knowing the choices we make have consequences. The Lord asks us “Where Art Thou?” Does He not know? Of course He does. He knows us by name He knows us better than we know ourselves; He knows where we are and where we are going. He understands how important it is for us to know where we are. Therefore He asks, “Where Art Thou”?

Aren’t these thoughts on our mind often? Where am I in the eternal scheme of things? What have I done of any good today? What of worth am I going to leave for my children as I leave this mortal existence? “Where Art Thou”, a question that we need to ask ourselves daily. Am I doing what I need to be doing? Am I living the way I need to be living? Am I moving forward or falling behind.

Iwant to know where the Lord knows I am. I want to know what the Lord knows I need to do, to change, to become so I will know where I am.

I want to be His daughter. I want to live as His daughter. I want to return as His daughter worthy to stand in His presence and live with Him someday. Therefore, I am going to ponder this question “Where Art Thou” for a long time to come.

Faith, Hope, and Charity

I wish that I could write as fast as I am taught. The knowledge that flows through my whole being when taught by the Spirit is overwhelming. There is no way that I can express in words the things that I am taught, the things that I feel, the things that I know to be true.

I had a wonderful opportunity to meet with our regions Relief Society Stake Presidencies last night as we were taught by great leaders in the church. We talked about many things one being faith, hope and charity and how they all go together. These are my thoughts as I have pondered on faith, hope and charity.

Faith is the beginning step; we must have faith that what we believe to be true is truth. Faith is the easiest of these three things for me. I have always had faith in Jesus Christ believing with all my being that He is my Savior, my Redeemer. His love for me gives me the opportunity of success because of the atonement that he went through for me. We gain our faith as we humbly pray, study and ponder upon the sacred words of our prophets both latter days and those of today that teach the words of Christ. The Spirit bears witness to us of these sacred truths.
As our faith grows we begin to hope for the blessings of the Lord, for His help and His strength in all of our daily tasks. Through this hope our knowledge and testimony grows. Soon it begins to burst within us and we want to share what we know and feel with those around us, with those we care about and those we love. Thus comes charity, the true love of God. We are filled with it, we see it in others and our love grows for all of Gods children.

Faith is the desire to know that what we have been taught is truth.

Hope is what we hang onto until we gain the knowledge of truth from the Holy Ghost as it bears witness to us of all truth.

Charity comes after we gain knowledge of the love that Christ has for us and as we begin to understand all that He did for us in Gethsemane. As we begin to feel, understand and know His love for us our heart begins to open up to those around us with that same love that He so freely gives.

The Tender Love of Jesus

I have so enjoyed reading and learning from the gospel of John in the New Testament.His writings are for us. They are written with a very tender love for Jesus.

John 10 talks about the good Shepherd. I have heard this being taught all of my life but I have never felt the overwhelming love that the Savior has for each of us as I did when I prayed and studied this chapter.

He knows each of us by name.
He knows our needs and our desires.
He is our Shepherd and wants us to follow Him.
He cannot help us if we do not follow Him.
He cannot help us if we do not ask.

Verse 14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Verse 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Verse 17-18. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again, This commandment have I received of my Father.

V. 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

V28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Chapter 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

v.15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

V16 And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

If He is willing to lay down His life for us what else is He willing to do for us? He did this so we will live again, what a wonderful gift. More than that, He endured the atonement. He did all that was needed for us to return home to our loving Heavenly Parents. All we need to do is learn of Him and become like our Savior Jesus Christ. Through the atonement we have been given the opportunity to make the changes in our own self to become as he is, to become like Him who made it all possible. Through Him, who knows us all by name, we are given the blessing of eternal life and exaltation.

I Lived In Heaven

There is a song that the children sing in Primary, this is our youth church group that meets on Sunday for two hours, the words are:

I lived in Heaven a long time ago it is true
Lived there and loved there with people I know so did you
Then Heavenly Father presented a beautiful plan
All about earth and eternal salvation for man.

Father said he needed someone who had enough love
To give his life so we all could return there above
There was another who sought for the honor divine
Jesus said “Father send me and the glory be thine”.

Jesus was chosen and as the Messiah he came,
Conquering evil and death through his glorious name
Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be
Home in that Heaven where Father is waiting for me.

I love this song, I love the message of hope that it gives to each of us for a happier more glorious life after our mortal existence. It also teaches us that there was a war in heaven and that war with Satin is still raging here on the earth and will be until the Savior comes again. My daughter in law shared an experience with me that really touched my heart. She is a teacher for autistic children and has some amazing experiences because of this. She was talking to one of the mothers of one of her highly autistic students, the mother related a remarkable story. When her 8 year old daughter was younger she had a dream about her autistic brother. In her dream, her brother was in a war in Heaven. He was on the front line of the war and he was injured in the war. He was sent to earth with his injury and with angels to protect him while he was here.
She also told me that she has a nephew with hydrocephalus and is mentally disabled. He will tell his mom he wants to go home and she will say, "we are home." and he will look up into the sky and say, "I am not home yet, there is my home." He also talks about playing with the boy in my class who is his cousin, even though they have only met a couple of times. He talks about playing with him as though they have tons of memories together and he also says, "me and (boy in my class) are the princes of the family"

This is just a story to this mother but it is truth to me. These wonderful children are sent here on earth with a protection from the tempting of Satin, they proved themselves worthy in heaven to receive eternal life. They will return to Heavenly Father clean and pure, they only had to come to the earth to receive their body. How blessed we are to have these choice spirits in our lives, to love them and to protect them. We gain so much more from them because of the great love that they have within.