This week's message from Sister Theresa Roth, counselor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency
My dear Sisters,
I’m grateful to share a few thoughts with you about our reading. Two of the words I’m highlighting in my new Book of Mormon are “heart” and “remember.”
HEART
I’m drawing a red heart in the margin next to every verse that mentions the heart, whether it’s being softened or hardened. Hard hearts are still hearts, so they’re red, too. I just put a little black line above and below to show it’s a heart that needs encouragement.
Before we get to King Benjamin’s address about “a mighty change of heart,” I’m relishing the examples of loving hearts in Lehi’s extended family and constantly thinking of what choices I can make to allow the Lord to soften my own heart to be more like His.
Lehi prayed with all his heart, in behalf of his people. Nephi was bound by his older brothers for four days, and when loosed, praised God. His heart was soft, with no bitterness toward Laman and Lemuel. Imagine!
Overwhelmed in the middle of my son Christian’s diagnosis of brain cancer in August 2010 (he died 2½ years later), I wondered how I could possibly translate the devastating experience into a heart-softening one. The Lord did it for me time and again. I could see His hand in our family’s life. For instance, our married son in California was offered a job transfer to Seattle out of the clear blue 3 days after Christian’s diagnosis! Our daughter, who had just moved out of her Seattle apartment to go to school in Cleveland, was able to delay her studies a year. Our family spent 9 months together in our Seattle house--our children and a brand new California-born grandbaby, loving and supporting our Christian during his rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. (Our 4th child lives in Seattle a few miles away.) Our family is grateful the Lord heard the cries of a reeling family. He didn’t take away Christian’s cancer, but He assured us in miracles, big and small, that He had engraven us on the palms of His hands.
REMEMBER
I’m drawing a box with green ink around “remember.” Time and again, we are told to remember that it is the Lord our God who led us out of Egypt. Nephi reminds Laman and Lemuel about the Lord’s saving miracles by recounting the Exodus. The Lord is one eternal round and will likewise lead us out of our own brand of Egypt if we’re willing. The cloud by day and the fire by night may perhaps appear as a job transfer, or just the right health insurance policy.
When my faith wavers, I remember how the Lord carried us during Christian’s illness, and I love my Savior even more. He softened my heart for which I am most thankful.
May we choose to “Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel” and allow Him to make our experiences (the highs, the lows and the in-betweens) heart-softening, that we may develop a heart like His.
With love,
Theresa Roth
2nd Counselor in our Stake Relief Society Presidency
This week's readings:
Day 15 (10.10.15)
Read:
2 Nephi 14-18
Mark: 2 Nephi 15:20-21
“Today’s popular entertainment
often makes what is evil and wrong look enjoyable and right. Let us remember
the Lord’s counsel: ‘Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.’
Pornography, though billed by Satan as entertainment, is a deeply poisonous,
deceptive snake that lies coiled up in magazines, the Internet, and the
television.” ~ Elder David E. Sorensen
What
helps you to see things for what they really are?
Day 16 (10.11.15)
Read: 2 Nephi 19-23
Mark:
2 Nephi 21:12
“The Standard of Truth has been
erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions
may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the
truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has
penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and
sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the
Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” ~ Joseph Smith
What
part do you play in these prophecies?
Day 17 (10.12.15)
Read: 2 Nephi 24-25
Mark:
2 Nephi 25:23, 26
“Literally, the Atonement means
to be ‘at one’ with Him. The nature of the Atonement and its effects is so
infinite, so unfathomable, and so profound that it lies beyond the knowledge
and comprehension of mortal man. I am profoundly grateful for the principle of
saving grace… The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the
Savior has for each and all of us. It is a love which is full of mercy,
patience, grace, equity, long-suffering, and, above all, forgiving.” ~President
James E. Faust
How
do you experience the Savior’s love?
Day 18 (10.13.15)
Read: 2 Nephi 26-27
Mark:
2 Nephi 26:8
Looking for the path to safety in
the counsel of prophets makes sense to those with strong faith…the choice not
to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground upon which we stand. It
becomes more dangerous. The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power
to take inspired counsel in the future. The best time to have decided to help
Noah build the ark was the first time he asked. Each time he asked after that,
each failure to respond would have lessened sensitivity to the Spirit. And so
each time his request would have seemed more foolish, until the rain came. And
then it was too late. ~ Elder Henry B. Eyring
How
does following the prophet keep you safe?
Day 19 (10.14.15)
Read: 2 Nephi 28-30
Mark:
2 Nephi 28:15
“ There are at least three
dangers that threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to
the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see
these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational
ideas, and sexual impurity.” ~ President Joseph F. Smith
What
are you doing to avoid being deceived?
Day 20 (10.15.15)
Read: 2 Nephi 31 – Jacob
1
Mark:
2 Nephi 31:10-13, 20
“When we understand our baptismal
covenant and the gift of the Holy Ghost, it will change our lives and will
establish our total allegiance to the kingdom of God. When temptations come our
way, if we will listen, the Holy Ghost will remind us that we have promised to
remember our Savior and obey the commandments of God.” ~ Elder Robert D. Hales
Sometimes
we take our baptism for granted. What do you do to remember and increase your
appreciation for your baptism?
Day 21 (10.16.15)
Read:
Jacob 2-4
Mark: Jacob 2:18-19
“If you have not chosen the
kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have
chosen instead.” ~ William Law
Are
your decisions based on how your choices will help to build the Lord’s kingdom?
If needed, how can you change?
Day 22 – Catch Up or
Extra Study (10.17.15)
Use your reading chart to find the
chapters you still need to read to be caught up through: Jacob 4
or
If you’re up to date with your
reading, take time to study: Nephi 31-33
What
is the doctrine of Christ? What are some things the Holy Ghost can do for us?
As Nephi finishes his record what are the things it seems like he most wants us
to know?
Day 23-(10.18.15)
Read: Jacob 5
Mark: Jacob 5:61-62
"Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned the Duty to God award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man, and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life." President Ezra Taft Benson
How can you prepare now to labor diligently in the Lord's vineyard?
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