I dreaded Sundays. I wanted to enjoy them, but I didn’t until I learned to focus on my relationship with God. In his talk “The Sabbath Is a Delight,” President Russell M. Nelson uses the word delight sixteen times. To me, delight meant eating ice cream or watching a romantic comedy; it did not… Continue reading
Hard times are now a reminder to me that God loves me. Through these difficulties, he is giving me opportunities to develop and express my faith. Life is hard. But I have learned that life is hard because God loves me. On my mission in Malaysia, my companion and I… Continue reading
During a two-month internship in Brazil, I had difficulty developing feelings of gratitude for the very things that made my experience so amazing. As I stood under the pathetic, lukewarm trickle of the shower, struggling to rid my hair of the last of the fruity shampoo suds, I was struck… Continue reading
As an atheist, I knew nothing about prayer. But when I learned about Joseph Smith and the First Vision, I learned how to get answers from God. I asked God every night for eight years if he was real, and I never got an answer. Growing up as an atheist,… Continue reading
Fact: life can be tough. However, as we look toward Christ, we can find the joy we need to endure even the most difficult trials. We never think that we will be the ones who will have to suffer through a particular challenge or trial—until it is staring us in… Continue reading
Taking time away from computer, phone, and television screens gives us the stillness we need to find refinement and come to know our Heavenly Parents. Many missionaries have a hard time giving up Facebook, phones, and computer time for eighteen months to two years. For my friend, the difficult sacrifice was books.… Continue reading
The things I thought were failures in my life were actually my best opportunities to grow—and God didn’t love me any less for them. We all have those moments when something we have heard our entire lives finally clicks, really sinking into our minds and hearts. I had that… Continue reading
Family history isn’t just for the salvation of our ancestors. As we learn about our ancestors, their example strengthens us. I always felt like family history was for old people, so when Elder David A. Bednar gave his talk “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn” in October 2011, I immediately… Continue reading
We often selfishly ask ourselves if the commandments to love and serve others really apply to us. The Savior lovingly reminds us that they do. Two very different people each asked an unassuming and easily justifiable question. One asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Another asked, “And who is my… Continue reading
I realized that I had been so focused on working to take the gospel to other people that I had forgotten to let the gospel work in me. Early in my mission to Tennessee, my companion shared with me part of Sister Linda K. Burton’s address from the October 2012 General… Continue reading
