In the midst of my battle with pornography, a sacred hymn let me know that I was loved. You wouldn’t have recognized me that Sunday in Los Angeles. I was 19. I had tangled, unkempt hair that came down past my shoulders and a bushy beard that hid most of… Continue reading
A general conference talk gave me hope for my wandering son’s future. My husband and I have six children. They all bring us joy, but parenting them has also provided us with trials and learning experiences. In 2003, our fourth child was fourteen and was struggling with many issues. Although I never learned… Continue reading
When we ask ourselves “What lack I yet?” most of us (if we are being honest) would have to respond with a long list of faults and failings. Is there any reason to hope for anything better? In the world that many of us imagine for ourselves, each of us… Continue reading
Out of small things—even “honeybees”—great things can come to pass. Though I lacked the funds, the feeling that I should do something to help a missionary’s struggling family in Tonga persisted. This elder had served long and faithfully in our stake; now his mother’s diagnosis of cancer and mounting medical… Continue reading
I didn’t have depression, but it still left me broken and in need of Christ’s healing power. The first time I heard the conference talk “Like a Broken Vessel” by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in 2013, I was touched. I felt empowered by the usual general conference “afterglow,” but I didn’t give… Continue reading
We all have a story worth sharing because God is part of each of our lives. He is our Father whether we are Christian or not. I believe that everyone has a story. By that, I mean that all people—even those self-proclaimed as “insignificant”—have something in their past that is worth… Continue reading
Gratitude has the power to heal desperation, shame, sadness, and more. As I wrote down the ways I’d seen God’s hand in my life every day, my burdens lifted. I have a little black journal I write in every night. It has a tight red elastic band that has left an indent… Continue reading
God can seem like an impersonal, unknowable being in the sky. But we can find peace during our hardest times as we seek to understand him as our Father, who loves us individually. My pre-teenage concept of God was perhaps a little irreverent, but it nonetheless sculpted my dutiful, strained relationship with… Continue reading
We must have faith that things will work out—but if they don’t work out according to our desires, we need to trust in God and in his timing. During the April 2004 general conference, I listened to a talk by Elder Dennis E. Simmons that literally made me stop in my… Continue reading
Do you sometimes forget the miracle of repentance and forgiveness? Through the Savior, you don’t just have your sins washed away. You become as if you had never sinned. “And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we… Continue reading
