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Jesus is The Healer
When I was young, I had an incomplete understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance. I believed that repentance was for big sins and the Atonement of Jesus Christ was for people who were stealing, robbing banks, committing murder, and other things that I was not doing. When leaders suggested daily repentance, I couldn’t wrap my head around that concept. Were people actually doing that much lying, stealing, and killing? What about people like me? I believed that Jesus had suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and then hung on the cross where He died. And I absolutely believed He rose on the third day. That all made…
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Jesus is The Light of The World
Light dispels darkness. In a dark room, if you flip on the light, it chases all the darkness away. Light illuminates a path and shows us where to go. Light is warm and inviting. Similarly, Jesus is The Light. He chases all the darkness away and shows us what path to follow back to our Heavenly Father. Through Him, we can see truth and right and overcome darkness. We can feel His warmth when we feel His Light. Satan is dark. He is cold. He lives in the shadows and encourages us to stay in the dark. The only way to combat Satan and his influence is to shine a…
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Jesus is The Good Shepherd
A shepherd watches over, protects, and guides his herd. He stays with them, even when there might be danger. He knows each sheep and when one wanders, he is willing to go out and call that one back to the flock. Modern-day shepherds camp with the sheep. They move them to better grazing and watch over them constantly. If a coyote, wolf, or a bear threaten the herd, the shepherd is there to protect the sheep, especially the lambs. Shepherds care about each sheep and will make sure all are fed and nourished appropriately. If any are sick or injured, the shepherd will take extra care to help the sheep…
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What Does It Mean To Worship God?
In Alma, chapter 32, Alma begins teaching a group of poor Zoramites who’d been cast out from the synagogues because of “the coarseness of their apparel.” These people were distraught, believing they had nowhere to worship, so they appealed to Alma. “. .. Behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men because of their poverty, yea, and more especially by our priests: for they have cast us out of our synagogues . . .because of our exceeding poverty; and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do? (verse 5).” The people believed that they could only worship in…
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Modesty: A Mindset
Recently, we had a relief society lesson on “Reverence for Sacred Things,” by Elder Ulisses Soares from the April 2025 general conference. The teacher asked if how we dressed influenced the reverence we felt in the temple or at church. I was reminded of a story that happened with a temple president who spoke in our stake conference. He stood at our pulpit during the Sunday morning session and said, “I have been surprised to see how many young women come to the temple wearing thongs. Please don’t wear thongs to the temple.” You could hear an audible gasp in the audience. He went on to talk about thongs and…
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Doctrines and Principles for Our Lives
There is so much to learn in section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Doctrines and principles contained in this section are of great importance to our salvation. It was specifically for Martin Harris but we can apply much of it to ourselves. An important message contained in this revelation is that God is in the details of our lives. He knows us and He loves us. Jesus is All We Need Doctrine and Covenants 19:1, reads, “I am Alpha and Omega, Christ the Lord; yea, even I am he, the beginning and the end, the Redeemer of the world.” Jesus is the beginning and the end. We start with Him and we end…
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Be of Good Cheer and Do Not Fear
In Doctrine and Covenants 68:6, it reads, “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I, the Lord, am with you, and will stand by you . . .” I’ve spent a lot of my life in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of getting a disease, fear of having a car accident, fear of one of my kids getting hurt, fear of things happening in the world, fear of losing people I love to death. My fear began when I was a child. I lost my father when I was four years old. It was December 19 and I’d been Christmas shopping with my mom and grandma.…
