Never Forget These Five Things

The five petals of the forget-me-not flower symbolize five things to remember that will help us find joy as we live the gospel and face the trials of life and the challenges that come. Instead of getting caught up in life’s challenges, we can choose to find joy in them… Continue reading

You Can Write, Right?

Find a way to recognize and remember God’s kindness through journaling.  The counsel to write in a journal daily tends to invoke groans and grimaces. The excuses for not writing range from the practical (I don’t have time; I have bad handwriting; I can’t type) to the emotional (I don’t want others… Continue reading

Who Are You?

The only way to peace in this life is to turn to God and understand who we are as his children. Sometimes the weight of the world is overwhelming. There are many voices telling us who we are and who we should be. In the midst of our most painful… Continue reading

Marking the Way Back Home

person walking on a log in the forest.

Our spiritual experiences can become the monuments we raise to mark God’s hand in our lives. If you’ve ever been on a hike, you’ve probably seen stones stacked on top of each other. These manmade trail markers, called cairns, have been used to point out a hiker’s course along the trail, ensuring that hikers know which way… Continue reading

Living Happy, Living Now

Woman with blue shirt flapping in the wind

I was working toward worthy goals. But a gentle reminder of the blessings that I currently had showed me that I didn’t have to wait for joy. I needed to finish two papers, study for a math test, call some of the girls in my Young Women class, and figure… Continue reading

Contest Winner: A Girl, Her Journal, and the Memories that Saved Her

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

Your Car Can Be a Mask

Though car horns are a seemingly indirect form of expression, we should remember to treat people on the road the same way we would treat them face to face. I was driving to work and the usual happened. I don’t remember the specifics, just that someone else’s driving irritated me.… Continue reading

Remember to Remember

dad and little boy in his arm

The principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot change us if we do not remember them. Almost everyone has lost something important—car keys, a cell phone, that thing you just know you saw five minutes ago. The search becomes frantic as memory fades. Then finally, it clicks.… Continue reading

Applying the Savior’s Atonement to My Own Life

Hand in the dark.

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