Mormon Bloggers

~by Jeanette Green You can read a bit more about Jeanette, the mother of a daughter with microcephaly and another daughter who is adopted, here. Now that it’s February, perhaps many of us are, sadly, done talking about our resolutions. Perhaps our ideas and plans for the year, our goals for self-improvement and personal progression, have faded — or are beginning to, anyway. I have always been goal-oriented, so for me, I enjoy the New Year’s tradition of setting resolutions for the year. I like the tradition, but I don’t necessarily join in. I usually find that I have ongoing goals and so I use the New Year to remind and recommit myself to some of those goals I’ve already made. But, even though I’ve never been a New Year Resolution Die-Hard, surprisingly I have always been a bit sad when others have declared their feelings that New Year’s Resolutions are a silly idea. This last Christmas, after the gifts had been torn open and we were lounging about, I decided... Read the rest of this entry »

I did it again in our last high priest group meeting. I made a comment that drew odd looks from my fellow group members. We were reading in the Gospel Principles manual, Chapter 22 in which some of the gifts of the spirit are enumerated and discussed. I had taught this lesson earlier this year in the Gospel Essentials class and had appreciated the simple discussion of the gifts in that forum. But I was just a little bothered in our high priest group that we were rarely stepping beyond the words on the page as we read. Finally when we read, “Every person can have a testimony through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit,” under the heading The Gift of Knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I decided to speak. I’ve written here repeatedly about my understanding that we don’t all have each gift of the spirit, and I believe that in my own experience I have sometimes felt one gift when I needed and then another at a different time. I suggested that while it’s... Read the rest of this entry »

The concept of “testimony” and “personal revelation” are not common practices in the Christian world.  However, it is a very natural concept among LDS Christians who seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and view Him as an accessible and a personal Savior. The Holy Ghost testifies of the Father and the Son.  God also communicates to us through the Holy Spirit.  Gospel truths are learned and verified with the help and witness of the same Holy Spirit also known as the Holy Ghost. So what does it feel like when the Holy Ghost communicates with us? Julian asked a few questions which I answered in an email earlier this week.  One of them was how did I know the Book of Mormon was true?  This is what I wrote him back…“…This is how I got my testimony.  But to be more specific to your questions as they relate to you.  I feel to explain certain principles.First, the Spirit works by testifying to truths, to that... Read the rest of this entry »

Consider Alma 26:12:  “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” What do you suppose Alma meant when he describes himself as “nothing”?  Although our eternal potential is great, our current mortal state is especially humble in comparison.  We need the Savior’s power and His gospel teachings to strengthen us and make us better individuals than we could be on our own.  The Savior is an inspirational example of the strength and vigor that comes from honorable and honest humility.  Christ is all-powerful, all-knowing, and made worlds without number even before He was born into this world (Hebrews 1:2).  The Savior was also the God of the Old Testament, yet He describes Himself as meek♦ and lowly... Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago our Young Women’s teacher was out of town so I taught the lesson on the Sacrament. As usual the lesson came at the right time for me. One of the scriptures in the lesson referred to our baptismal convents in Mosiah 18. The last line in Mosiah 18:10 really stood out to me: “that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you.” I love the imagery here of the Lord POURING his Spirit – so much of the spirit pouring over us that we can’t take it all in. And the wording “that he may” to me means that he is ready and willing to pour that spirit upon us. I’ve recently found this same line in D&C 95:4 and Isaiah 32:15. So the Lord has been promising this same blessing for a long time, and repeating it often. So how do we get the Spirit to be poured upon us? The beginning of Mosiah 18:10 says that we need serve the Lord and keep his commandments. Easier said than done sometimes… Luckily the Lord knows that we... Read the rest of this entry »

This is something we could all benefit from:  Read More →

Yesterday our bishop conducted a joint priesthood / Relief Society lesson. At the end he indicated that anyone who had come fasting and was in tune felt the spirit in our meeting. I’m not one to take the words of my bishop lightly, but as he said that, I was slightly taken aback and thought, “I did?” I had come to the meeting fasting. And I was with him every step of the way in his presentation. But I hadn’t (until he said it) really recognized the “burning” witness that I often identify as feeling the spirit. In that instant, I had some choices: I could have assumed my bishop was wrong. I could have assumed that I was not as in tune as I had thought. Or I could have thought that maybe I felt the Spirit in a way that I hadn’t previously identified. All three raced through my mind, and I settled on the third and began to think about the idea that maybe I had felt the spirit in a different way. I’ve known for a long time that the... Read the rest of this entry »

Light, Truth, Spirit, Life. What do they mean for us? See D&C 93 and my Co-Eternal Man series.  Read More →

~by Amber Part of being a Mormon is having the gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift has guided my life in many profound ways. I would like to share one particular example. There have been times in my existence when I felt confused about where I should be going. I have received spiritual promptings hinting in a certain direction. Like when I was deciding what college I should attend after high school. “Apply for Brigham Young University (BYU),” the voice whispered. “I can’t. My grades are nowhere near good enough. I can’t afford to live on my own,” I stubbornly answered back. After a week of indecision, I once again heard that voice. “Apply for BYU,” the voice said, a little louder this time. “Fine!” I snapped back. I applied for BYU. In Hawaii. I thought I had my best chances in that direction. I received the rejection letter a couple months later. “Hah!” I scornfully replied to that voice. “I told you I would not... Read the rest of this entry »

From the first lesson: Our consciousness and personality was not created (especially out of nothing), but has always existed; neither can it be destroyed, so there is escape from consciousness; read about the ideas of Eternal Man. Almost managed to stay under 1,000 words, but there’s a long quotation…  Read More →

From Mormon Messages comes this touching video. A young girl with true Christmas spirit quietly teaches her preoccupied family the true meaning of Christmas. President Thomas S. Monson, Prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ, shares his testimony of how to put Christ back into Christmas at www.lds.org. And from Deseret Book comes another inspiring video. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed for every nation on Earth.  Read More →

When I look around me and everything I see- the sky, trees, birds–my loving mother -it’s hard to suppress the love that fills my heart. I am so filled with gratitude for God, even my loving, eternal Father in Heaven, and that He has sent me here on Earth for a reason and a purpose- a divine purpose -to spread His true and everlasting Gospel to all of His beloved children. He has given me so much knowledge of the Truth- the truth of all of it. Every single question- and I exaggerate not -has been answered by His Holy Spirit, who dwells in me even now. And I know with out a doubt, and I could never deny, that all things shall be known unto me by the Spirit, as long as I am righteous. I am so happy. It is incredible- all of it. To know that I am loved so much- to an infinite and eternal degree -by my Heavenly Father, that He has entrusted the knowledge of His gospel to me. And I want every single person to have what I have. Because He loves them just as much. I want this more than... Read the rest of this entry »