Mormon Bloggers

Three ideas that need a brief mention here before I go on. Debt = Don’t. Sometimes debt comes to us beyond our control or choice, but more often, it was a spending choice. The temptation to live beyond our means is rooted in pride, a sense of entitlement, and from appetites and passions governing our actions. Spending may also be the way we’ve learned to medicate our emotional stress. If getting the credit card bill causes you grief once in a while, or all too often – consider converting to a debit card only. The 1% back is wisdom only if you pay off every month, every time. If you’re not that person, cut the credit card up. If the debt load is already a burden, pay it off as fast as possible, by sacrifice, by self-control, by cutting way back. Whatever it takes. Debt is a heavy weight to lug around. It will tie up your resources and reduce your capacity to increase your income and limit your business opportunities. The short version: It’s blocking... Read the rest of this entry »

This is the question Isaiah asks in his beautiful 58th chapter,  (“beautiful” because A: I actually understood it without help from those BYU professors and B: it is deep). Isaiah starts with a couple of questions that represent the current mindset of the Israelites. “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?”  “Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?” The Lord’s response:  “Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours”. This sounds like the premise for the Savior’s advice in the New Testament, “don’t sound your trump when you fast, or go around with long faces to make SURE everyone knows you are fasting…fast in SECRET”) “…ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as... Read the rest of this entry »

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~ by Janelle My husband and I have a book keeper for our business who is necessarily privy to our salary information. She and I our friends and she recently saw a check that I had written to the Church. Although she is of a different faith, she knew that Mormons pay 10% of their income toward tithing. When she saw the amount of the check she immediately said, “I think you made a mistake, that is more than 10%.” I explained to her that the extra amount was to pay our fast offering. Which of course prompted her next question, the topic of today’s post: “What are fast offerings?” Fast offerings are monies donated by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to help the poor and needy, in their local areas and also worldwide. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints participate in church-wide fasts once a month, usually on the first Sunday of every month. We call these days “Fast Sundays.” Typically, two meals are... Read the rest of this entry »

“Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer. And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance – Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours..” D & C 59:14-16 Rejoicing and prayer with thanksgiving and a cheerful heart. The truth is if I thought of all the activities I do with thanksgiving and a cheerful heart, fasting is probably not on the list very often. I regularly find that I am distracted by my family and their moans and groans. Recently fasting seems like something I have to do, more of a duty or item on a checklist, than a blessing. I have had fasting experiences of deep desire to receive a blessing. My fast differed in those instances for multiple reasons. Usually my fast was not a pre-planned scheduled event, but a desperate need on my part to receive comfort,... Read the rest of this entry »