Ponder the Path

The Fruits of Faith: Hebrews 11 What is faith? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen...” The gospel of Jesus Christ begins with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Having faith in Christ includes having a firm belief that He is the Only Begotten Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. It is to believe there is no “salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Those who have Faith in Christ recognize that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father only by relying on His Son’s grace and mercy. When we have faith in Christ, we accept and apply His Atonement and His teachings. We trust Him and what He says. We know that He has the power to keep His promises. In Hebrews chapter 11, Paul gives us a more complete understanding of the relationship between faith and grace that makes it clear how we are saved through grace as we exercise Faith in Jesus Chris...

Today I had an experience that once again reaffirmed how much my Father in Heaven loves me, despite my weaknesses and failings. I was struck today by the ways that He finds to let me know that he knows my heart and cares about my struggles. This past week was a very tough parenting week... just tough overall... for me. By Tuesday night I just couldn't bear to be around anyone because I was on the edge of tears at every thought. I took a needed break and went to visit my best friend for the weekend. Today in church, in Kansas, my friend's stake president (the Salina Kansas Stake) was visiting her ward and his talk helped me with my feelings of being overwhelmed by my personal weaknesses and the sins that do so easily beset me. Despite my best efforts, at times my struggle with self leaves me feeling like an utter failure in the most important roles of my life, wife and mother. This discouragement is because of the difference between what I know I should be and what I am ...

This is very personal, and I hesitated to share it because of how personal it is, but as I pondered whether to or not I should share this, I felt that it was important because it may be that I am not the only person who loves the Lord, desires to follow Christ, who strives to apply the principles of the gospel in my life and still struggles to feel that it is enough. I believe everyone struggles in some way. I’m certainly no exception. Struggling is part of life, an important part of life. The struggle with self (personal weakness) is my greatest struggle. I don’t see myself as “amazing.” I see myself as persevering in good works. For this reason I want to share the thoughts of my heart from this week. This week while I pondered how the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to feel the tender love of our Father in Heaven even when we don’t feel deserving, and even when we feel that what we really deserve is his wrath. During one of my personal prayers this week I experienced such a ...

Yesterday I finished a scripture poster that represents a concept that I've been pondering for many months now. It is a concept I've been trying to solidify in my mind because it relates to the principle of trust that I've been trying to help my son understand. My son wants so badly for his parents to trust him, but he frequently does things that are destructive to trust. After his mistake he is sorry and he asks for forgiveness and desires to change but it is a struggle he has not conquered yet. He is in the process of learning and repenting but he has not achieved the status of being "trustworthy." Sound familiar? I think if we are honest with ourselves we are all this child and in need of help to overcome our weakness. I've taught him throughout his life that trust is like a tower you build block by block, and sadly, it is a tower that can fall verily easily when you do something untrustworthy. This is of course is a hard reality of life, and a painful ...

Today I was the teacher in Relief Society, the women's class at church, and the lesson topic was Elder Uchtdorf's talk from general conference, " Believe, Love, Do ." I prepared a study sheet for each woman in the class, to help them be introspective and apply his teachings to them personally and make action goals to help them tackle their own personal challenges. On one side of the sheet there were four boxes with labels: 1) My Deepest Heartache & Struggle 2) My Struggle to Believe 3) My Struggle to Love and Serve 4) The Spiritual Work I neglect.  I asked the sisters to begin by being thoughtful and introspective in filling out these boxes. I read to them from 2 Nephi 4:18 : "I am encompassed about, because of the temptation and sins which do so easily beset me," And asked them to think of those things in their lives that they continually struggle against, and with, whether they are sins, weaknesses, or circumstances, and to write down the...

As some of you know I am the mother of a missionary who is serving in Hungary. He has been serving 18 months and will be coming home late this summer. He will come home and one week later will begin school at Brigham Young University in Provo. He is beginning to feel the trepidation that many missionaries feel at the thought of coming home from their missions to begin "real life," as he calls it. He has the normal fears about being successful in college and career and even more nervousness about the prospect of marriage and family. Today at church one of the Elder's (young male missionaries) in our ward (congregation) was expressing his fears of going home. I was in the foyer talking to this elder, his companion and a member of the Omaha mission presidency (an old family friend of ours), he asked the President if he could get a life long extension of his mission. After the President has laughed that off, reassured him and moved on to his other duties, the young Elder ...

Clarify means to make less confused, more clearly comprehensible; to illuminate, shed light on, make plain, and simplify. One of the great blessings of the Book of Mormon is the way that it sheds light on the teachings of the Bible and how beautifully it compliments Bible study. The Holy Bible is a miracle. It is a miracle that we have scriptural records from ancient times preserved over millennia that we can read today in our own languages. Many faithful saints have sacrificed, even to death, to protect this record. I can't imagine my life without the Bible! But I also cannot imagine studying the Bible without the light that the Book of Mormon gives to the teachings of Christ. The Book of Mormon is truly "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." As miraculous as the Bible is it is also a challenge. The simple truth is that is is not possible for us to the read the words of the prophets as they came straight form their mouths. The writings of the Bible are the result of...