Experiment upon the Words of God

As we implement the commandments in our lives, we can understand the blessings God promises to the obedient. As a chemist, my dad tests hypotheses about compounds to better understand how they react with one another. He doesn’t know the outcome of an experiment until he completes the procedures. Just...

Witnessing the Power of Community Care

The Lord has blessed us with friends and neighbors to strengthen us when the floods of life—literal or metaphorical—threaten to overwhelm us. I’d never truly understood the destructive power of water until I witnessed it submerge my hometown under seven feet of water. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey overtook many homes...

Building Healthy Community through a Gospel of Beauty

Building a healthy community may mean asking for help—Minerva Teichert did just that, helping her paint a gospel of beauty through her art. Building a healthy community means supporting one another, but it begins by having the courage to ask for help. In Laura Paulsen Howe’s article “I Have Dreamed...

How to Slow Down and Savor the Scriptures

Is speed-reading the scriptures a regular habit? This principle for appreciating art may aid in slowing down and savoring the word of God once again. I dreamed of seeing the painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for almost ten years. When I finally stood in the main room of the...

Hear, Hearken, Obey: A Pattern to Overcome Adversity

When it feels like our life is cracking under pressure, how do we continue? Sometimes the answer is to submit to the will of God. I was 12 years old when I lost all my friends—for the second year in a row. Another move, another state. With burgeoning depression, I...
You Are Deserving

You Are Deserving

Though sometimes it may feel impossible to continue on, we can never be so broken that the Lord can’t make us whole again. In times of trial and affliction, it can feel as if there is no end in sight. For those who suffer from mental illness, the struggles can...
How to Come Up for Air Among the Waves of Mental Illness

How to Come Up for Air Among the Waves of Mental Illness

Even though we may be drowning in the waves of mental illness, our reliance on Christ will help us make it to shore. Around when I started high school, I began to experience anxiety on a level that wasn’t just nervousness or anxiousness. My struggles with anxiety have always made...
Believing in the Power of Belief

Believing in the Power of Belief

My husband doesn’t know the Church is true, and that’s completely fine with me. When I first watched Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s April 2013 general conference talk, “Lord, I Believe,” I loved Elder Holland’s solemn assurance that I didn’t have to know every gospel teaching all at once. I could just believe....
While Waiting for Heaven’s Response

While Waiting for Heaven’s Response

If you trust Heavenly Father and move forward in faith, you will be able to look back and recognize the Lord’s guiding hand in your life. These days, everything around us is instantaneous: instant messaging, instant music, instant Google results, and even instant oatmeal. But heaven doesn’t always work that...
Can Christ Really Heal ME?

Can Christ Really Heal ME?

Jesus Christ has the power to provide healing and relief regardless of the trials we face. Life can be hard for many reasons. Some people suffer from mental illness, addiction, financial burdens, death, or even familial burdens. Everyone struggles and needs help to persevere through life. Sister Carole M. Stephens, then...
Six Hows of Scripture Study

Six Hows of Scripture Study

People at church always say that we need to study our scriptures. But how can we actually have meaningful experiences with scripture study? For a long time, I struggled with studying the scriptures. I was always jealous of how other people had meaningful experiences with the scriptures, and I felt guilty...