I recently read a friend’s blog post that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. She was quoting her missionary son about how missionary work works. Essentially, he noted that his companion often tells people that anyone can lie to them — a pastor, a parent, a friend, a missionary. But God doesn’t lie. He then teaches them that one of the things that is so central to our message is that people can get answers from God. People don’t have to rely on anything a Mormon says. They can get answers from God directly through the Holy Ghost.

For example, Mormon missionaries invite people to ask God about the Book of Mormon, whether Joseph Smith was called as a prophet, whether the Church is true.

This personal connection with God also extends beyond asking Him what is True in terms of Mormon teachings, but can reach into every facet of our lives. God cares about us. God knows each of us personally. God wants to help us and give us guidance, direction, and assurance about His love through the channel of personal revelation.

This seeking for personal revelation, personal answers, personal connection with God really is central to Mormon faith and doctrine.

Bruce R. McConkie and Loren C. Dunn both spoke about the importance of personal revelation and experiences with the Holy Ghost in their 1971 General Conference talks.

In his talk, “The Lord’s People Receive Revelation,” Elder McConkie said:

Joseph Smith said that a man could learn more about the things of God by looking into heaven for five minutes than by reading all the books ever written upon the subject of religion. Religion is something which must be experienced.

I know people who can talk endlessly about religion but who have never had a religious experience. I know people who have written books about religion but who have about as much spirituality as a cedar post. Their interest in gospel doctrine is to defend their own speculative views rather than to find out what the Lord thinks about whatever is involved. Their conversations and their writings are in the realm of reason and the intellect; the Spirit of God has not touched their souls; they have not been born again and become new creatures of the Holy Ghost; they have not received revelation….

Religion comes from God by revelation and deals with spiritual things; and unless and until a man has received revelation, he has not received religion, and he is not on the path leading to salvation in our Father’s kingdom.

In Loren C. Dunn’s talk, “Drink of the Pure Water,” he shares a powerful quote from Brigham Young about what experiences with the Holy Ghost (the vehicle for personal revelation, sometimes called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, the Lord’s Spirit) can be like:

“There is no other experience known to mortal man that can be compared with the testimony or witness of the Holy Ghost. It is as powerful as a two-edged sword and burns in the breast of man like a consuming fire. It destroys fear and doubt, leaving in their stead absolute unqualified, and incontrovertible knowledge that a principle or thing is true. …

“This same testimony has sustained faithful saints to the present day and will be a lamp to their path forever. The effect of this testimony reaches above and beyond all physical or earthly things and makes relationship with God the Father a literal, pulsing fact. Every fiber of both body and spirit respond to the witness of that testimony and the soul knows and lives the truth.”

I’m reminded of a quote from Elder Richard G. Scott:

I witness that as you gain experience and success in being guided by the Spirit, your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear.

I love this reminder that personal connection with God is central to religion. It seems so obvious, and yet how often is the spiritual crowded out in our busy lives, even sometimes by busyness in religious service?

As we start a new year, I desire to keep this principle about personal revelation front and center in my mind and make sure to make room for spiritual connection with God every day…not in some checklisty way, but to give God space in my heart to speak to me and let me know of His love and His truths — both the general ones that are given for the world, and the personal ones that are just for me.

I’m so grateful to know God is real and that personal revelation really can and does happen.

– – – –

Following are my friends’ posts from this week’s readings:

Comforting the Afflicted and Afflicting the Comfortable – Nathaniel Givens
A Rebuke from President Harold B. Lee and Debunking the Iron Rod vs Liahona Taxonomy – J. Max Wilson
The Eternally Durable Iron Rod – John Hancock
Harold B. Lee on The Millstone of “Liberal” Religion – Ralph Hancock
“And If It Be In You It Shall Abound” – Walker Wright

The post Religion, Revelation, and Resolutions (#ldsconf Odyssey) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

At the end of both days of general conference, for our scripture study time, I asked each of my children (all teens) what stood out to them. Two of the three mentioned Devin Durrant’s talk where he invited us to “ponderize.” It’s great when talks have simple memory tools that make the principles stick, especially for children and youth! (Dear Brother Durrant: It worked. So I’m going to jump on the bandwagon and use the word, too.) [As an edit to the original post, I want to reiterate that Brother Durrant himself notes that this shouldn’t be a replacement for regular scripture study. It is a supplement to it, and an example of an exercise that can build mental and spiritual well-being.]

It was a blessing for me to reflect with my children about how ponderizing has helped me in my life. I shared with them about how I will forever be grateful for the Seminary program and the Scripture Mastery scriptures I marked, memorized, and read and re-read as part of my Seminary experiences. I also am so grateful I had the opportunity to serve a mission. Even though I envy the missionaries who now have Preach My Gospel, I do feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to ponderize a set list of scriptures as a missionary in ways that were similar to what I did in Seminary.

(Now, Preach My Gospel has a lot more scriptures to read, which is great. And if I were a parent of young children, I would definitely use that as a guide for scriptures to choose. But I love that I was exposed to a short list of topically-organized scriptures, each that had a pointed purpose.)

Last night, I saw a mom ask in a Facebook group what scriptures others would recommend that she include on her list of scriptures to ponderize with her children. Of course, the best list of scriptures will be selected over time with the Spirit’s help, so ultimately God can guide even children to scriptures to focus on. I have often been amazed at how my children can so quickly and easily resonate with scriptures and speak with the tongue of angels about them. (If you are a parent of young children, don’t underestimate how much your children can learn and do.)

Still, as a starting point, it was easy for me to share my suggestions above with that mom because of the impact memorizing these scriptures as a youth/young adult (or at least being very familiar with them) still has on me 25-30 years later! Learning, marking, and repeatedly teaching and learning scriptures helped me understand and remember where key doctrines of the Plan of Salvation can be found in the scriptures. (e.g., Want to read doctrinally-dense chapters about the Atonement? Read chapters like 2 Nephi 2 and 9, or Alma 40-42.) And I have often reflected on how much ponderizing has impacted my desire and ability to teach my children the gospel from the scriptures.

I also shared with my son about how becoming so familiar with the word of God leaves a repository from which the Lord can draw from. John 14:26 says “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” The Spirit can bring things to our remembrance when we have His word in our memories!

Thanks to Elder Durrant for encouraging my children to ponderize, and for giving me an opportunity to reflect on the blessing this “small effort…sustained over time” as a youth had and continues to have on my life. (I’m grateful for those who love to ponder scriptures and gospel principles with me now that I am an adult.)

p.s. Not that my opinion matters, but given my experience, I will share this thought: My one suggestion to add to what Elder Durrant invited us to do is to invite your children to mark scriptures they want to remember. Even though digital scripture reading is so often the way we read, I think there is still value in the physical action of pulling out a red pencil and a paper copy of the scriptures and marking them. I would have never imagined that such a simple, physical action as a Seminary student and missionary would make a difference in my ability to remember doctrinal threads and remember where to find verses, but it really did. I think marking scriptures can also invite learning about the context and background of the verse, which also helps the mind and spirit make connections that can stick.

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Have you ever packed up the tent, the s’mores, the little ones, and headed out for a restful weekend of camping? Being in the middle of God’s creations, away from all the hustle and the bustle of the week, hearts are lightened, spirits are lifted, and you come back renewed.

Reading about Abraham and Lot (Genesis 13, 19) in Sunday School got me thinking about camping again. It reminded me of one weekend when we spontaneously decided to go camping. It was late in the afternoon when we came up with the idea, so it was dusk when we finally arrived. We ate dinner in the near dark and then hurried everyone to bed.

Around 10:30 p.m. a truck came roaring into the campsite just beyond ours. The noise got our kids’ attention, and they kept peeking out the tent window to see what was going on. I tried everything to distract them with no success. The neighbors stayed loud and raucous, their activities definitely not kid-appropriate. But our kids were more interested in the neighbors’ goings on than anything else.

It was the worst camping experience ever.

It is possible Abraham’s nephew Lot felt the same annoyance when he first set up camp next to Sodom and Gomorrah. Problem was, he set up his tent facing the corrupt city, so it was his front yard view 24/7. I’m sure more than a few enticing “salespeople” stopped by, inviting he and his family to try their wares. It wasn’t long before Lot’s family was way more interested in Sodom and Gomorrah than anything else.

In contrast to Lot’s camping choice, the people of King Benjamin, a Book of Mormon leader and prophet, chose to set up their tents facing the temple. By doing so, they could hear the words of God’s prophet. They wanted to know God’s will for them. They brought their whole families. As a matter of fact, so many people came that they had to have the message written down and passed out.

Which brings me to General Conference – the semi-annual opportunity the world-wide membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to receive instruction from the Prophet, apostles, and other church leaders [coming next week!]. Listening to the talks and music as I seek to know God’s will for myself and my family is spiritually renewing for me.

One General Conference weekend my kids wanted to set up the tent in the family room just like King Benjamin’s people. I realized then how important it was to have our tent facing the right way! If our tent wasn’t facing the TV for the Conference broadcast, it was way too easy for us to get distracted!

I’ve found it’s the same in my everyday life. I need to consider which way I am facing spiritually each day. As I keep myself facing the temple, or focused on the things Heavenly Father wants me to do, I am less easily distracted from those good things. But when my focus is turned toward the worldly things, it is hard to pull myself away from them.

How can I keep my tent facing the right way? Really simple things can help to stake me in place! Things like daily prayer and scripture study, listening to and following the Prophet, trying to live as Jesus lived, and repenting when I make mistakes. Each of those things can help me to “stand in holy places and be not moved” (Doctrine & Covenants 87:8).

So when life gets intense, I want to remember to turn my tent toward the Lord and be renewed!

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Poem by: Dianne Billstrom

This poem was written as I contemplated the Parable of the Ten Virgins and how those with filled vessels felt when their sisters came up short.

“The Bridegroom cometh”,  is the watchword.
My lamp is lit, at times its flame wanes then continues.
We ten keep vigil for His arrival.
I lift my lamp for a better view of the path.

He nears on His stately approach.
My sister pleads, “My light is gone.
Lend me oil, just a drop.”
Can I spare that drop and stay her grief?

I want to share, anguish overwhelms me.
I remember the instruction, the preparation,
As drop by drop I tediously filled my vessel,
Line upon line, precept by precept.

I love her, but I cannot share the precious contents.
Her cries of sorrow slice through the darkness.
I lift my light, I can but share this bit of illumination
Bursting from my filled vessel.

I must hold my place,
Even as the flame flickers in the night breeze.
When He reaches me
I will light His path, as He lit mine.

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Inside are our family scripture study materials. Every night at the dinner table we study the scriptures while we eat. It was hard to find another time when everyone was home and awake so during dinner time I pull down the treasure box from atop the fridge and we discuss one scripture a night. My kids are still very small, so I found that focusing on one scripture a night allows us to keep their attention and have time to start a lively discussion about gospel principles. My oldest daughter is seven, so we have her try to find the highlighted verse in the actual scriptures so she can get a feel for how to use the scriptures. I placed our scripture study materials into a treasure box to reflect the truths in the following scriptures:

Treasure up in your minds the words of life. D&C 84:85

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matt 6:21

Treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love. D&C 6:20

Right now we are studying in the Book of Mormon. I use the Scripture Mastery scriptures from the Seminary program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for our study material. I printed each scripture on a different piece of colored paper to pull from each night. This is what our study print outs look like, but the picture below is from the New Testament scripture mastery program.

Since my children are still small, they are very receptive to my husband and me teaching them the scriptures. After reading the scripture aloud, and putting the meaning into our own words, we ask them to think of real-life examples that apply to the principle taught in the scripture. I have been astonished by the wisdom and understanding of my children.

Dinner time is still crazy. Milk gets spilled all over the floor regularly. Somebody always complains about the menu and our baby is always climbing on top of the table to grab food off of a sibling’s plate. But adding family scripture study to our family dinner has helped us “feast upon the words of Christ” and has brought us closer together as a family.

Modern-day prophets and apostles have stressed the importance and benefits of family scripture study. Here are some quotes that helped me decide that family scripture study was worth introducing into my home.

Scripture study as individuals and as a family is most fundamental to learning the gospel. Daily reading of the scriptures and discussing them together is a powerful tool against the temptations of Satan. This practice will produce great happiness and will help family members love the Lord and his goodness. Home is where we become experts and scholars in gospel righteousness. President Spencer W. Kimball

Do you understand that we emphasize the teaching of the scriptures because they are the constant? From them we learn the purposes of life, the gifts of the Spirit. From them we learn about personal revelation, how to discern good from evil, truth from error. The scriptures provide the pattern and the basis for correct doctrine. From doctrine, we learn principles of conduct, how to respond to problems of everyday living, even to failures, for they, too, are provided for in the doctrines. Elder Boyd K. Packer

Never let a day go by without holding family prayer and family scripture study. Put this, the Lord’s program, to the test; and see if it does not bless your home with greater peace, hope, love, and faith. I promise you that daily family prayer and scripture study will build within the walls of your home a security and bonding that will enrich your lives and prepare your families to meet the challenges of today and the eternities to come. Elder L. Tom Perry

If you would like to read more about our beliefs about the benefits of family scripture study, please follow the following links.

Family Scripture Study

How to Make Family Scripture Study Fun, Interesting

A Discussion on Scripture Study – Elder Henry B. Eyring

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