Seeking Happiness and Joy

The story of Saul is found in the book of Acts in the New Testament .  Saul was among those who persecuted the members of the church after Jesus' death and even participated in the stoning of Stephen.  ( Download New Testament timeline here. ) But Jesus, having compassion and recognizing Saul's potential for good, appeared before Saul and questioned his actions.  Saul's response was "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" .  The Lord responded, "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." As we continue to read in the New Testament, we learn that Saul (whose name is changed to Paul) is converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and spends the rest of his years studying and preaching the gospel.  He spends years on missionary journeys and writes epistles (letters) to members of the church in various areas to address concerns and to guide them to a more correct living of the principles of the gospel. This journey toward true ...

I want you to ponder this statement from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and determine in your mind what commandment he is referring to. Elder Holland said, "I submit to you, [this] may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart." 1 With this statement, Elder Holland was referring to a commandment found in John. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. ...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 2 Elder Holland said in that same talk, "The Lord has probably spoken enough such comforting words to supply the whole universe, it would seem, and yet we see all around us unhappy Latter-day Saints, worried Latter-day Saints, and gloomy Latter-day Saints into whose troubled hearts not one of these innumerable consoling words seems to be...

At Institute tonight, we talked briefly about the account of the woman who came in and washed Jesus' feet with her tears drying them with her hair and then annointing His feet which is found in Luke 7:37-50 . In the midst of this washing, Jesus shares a parable of two debtors being forgiven their debts. The one who had the greater debt forgiven loved the master more. The question then is how does the one with the smaller debt become filled with as much love as the one with the greater debt without acruing more debt (sins)? I immediately thought of the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 . The son who remained home with the father and did as he should was jealous of the prodigal son whose return was grandly celebrated. It is easy to be like second son and question the father why our obedience is not celebrated. We don't experience the same amount of joy upon the embrace of the father if we get caught up in the moment, especially in jealousy. In response to the son...

Jesus Christ is the son of God . On this earth, He was born of Mary. He lived among the people and throughout His life He taught the truths of His Father, our Father in Heaven. He suffered for our sins in Gethsemane bringing about the Atonement . Through the Atonement, all mankind can be saved. His everlasting Atonement makes it possible for me, a sinner and imperfect child, to be made whole. By means of His Atonement, I can overcome the spiritual separation from God that comes through sin and can ultimately return to live with God the Father and Jesus Christ as a perfect being. Jesus Christ hung on the cross and gave His life so that we might live. He was resurrected on the third day and manifested Himself to the apostles. In His resurrected state, He visited the people on the American continent. He allowed each to feel of the prints of the nails in His hands and feet and the wounds in His side. He taught these people, as He had done in Israel, the truths of the Father and the princip...

I spoke in church today. My assigned topic was a talk given by Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander in the April 2008 General Conference . I gave my talk immediately after singing "Close Enough to Touch" by Kenneth Cope. This woman, whose story is told briefly in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had an issue of blood for 12 years. She had sought out numerous physicians and used all that she had to seek a cure. None had cured her; her condition was now worse. Her faith brought her to seek out Jesus. “For she said within herself, if I but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” 1 She pressed her way through the crowd that was following Jesus to touch the hem of His garment. Elder Neuenschwander in his recent conference talk described this crowd. “I picture the crowd itself. It must have been fairly large, as people were pressing in on Jesus. It might have even been a noisy crowd, as people pushed and shoved trying to get a better look at Him. I wonder why they were there. Most, I think, cam...

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part ( Matt. 7: 7-11 ). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." I gave the closing prayer in a church meeting not long ago. Since then, I've been thinking a lot about prayer. I know God hears and answers prayers. I testify of that. As I prayed at ...

This is an experience from my vacation in Canada this summer. Growing up in Florida, I spent a lot of time in water. I would swim in the natural spring on my great aunt's property all the time. We didn't live very far from the beach. For girls' camp and mutual activities, we would canoe down the river. I love the river. Moving to St. George was a little disappointing when I saw the size of the rivers which were more like streams or ditches. Nonetheless, I spent a lot of time at the river with my friends. I respect the great power of water--the constant pull of the current and the mystery of what lies below the surface. The river took the life of my dear friend, Jonny. That day took the joy of the river from my life. It was almost a year before I was able to even walk to the shore of the river. One of the planned activities for this trip was tubing down the St. Mary River. I was very anxious. I dreamed about my friend, Jonny, all night. I was incredibly nervous...

I woke up Sunday morning in American Fork. I was spending my last weekend before school started at my friend's house. She and I were living the easy life. She had taken Saturday off of work--her first in months. We watched movies, went shopping, went out to eat, but mostly talked. I didn't have any responsibilities. I had planned to remain in this state of freedom and relaxation one more day. I woke up Sunday morning at eight planning to attend church at nine at any nearby chapel. As I lay on the couch, I felt prompted by the Spirit to get in my car and drive home. I was enjoying my stay. I didn't want to leave. I didn't even know why I should leave. I started gathering my stuff. Within fifteen minutes, I was on my way home. The sky was full of storm clouds and it was still a little dark. I couldn't believe I was leaving. As I approached Payson, it started to snow. When I got to the South Santaquin exit, I was too scared to continue. The snow was comin...