Love with all your Heart: Plain and Simple

Dear Sisters,

We are seeing every day more and more hate among our fellow Americans. At one point, I was worried about terrorists harming us, but they don't have to do anything, because we are destroying each other with violent acts of hate.

I have asked myself so many times, "What can I do to help build the kingdom of God among people that are filled with anger and frustration, so much so that they think the only way to deal with things is to take the lives of others".

Here is the problem, as I see it, righteous women are not doing enough, plain and simple. I hear the voices of those who feel offended, and those who think they are have every right to say, do and take what ever they want. I don't hear Christian women standing up for what they know is right. An example; it is not hateful to fight for our privacy from the other sex in public bathrooms. We have to protect our children and ourselves. What is is more important protecting our children or giving anyone the option of using any bathroom they feel they want to use? There has to be another way, but it's not going to happen unless we stand up for what we know is right. Our side needs to be heard, but we have to do it in a way that is not hateful.

I have no issue with any person in this world, as long as they don't harm others. They can live whatever way they want, but if they ask me or include me in a conversation, I will stand for God's way and tell them their choices are not right in the sight of God and his people. But I will never make them feel like they are less than a child of God.

I have been praying lately to be more loving, of all people. It's not easy because I have lived a life time of certain ideals and beliefs. But I have found my lifetime has made me judgemental, and that is not right.  So, I need to make some changes through devoted prayer, and trying to not look at people with thoughts in my mind about the choices that others make. We can accomplish anything we set our minds to but it won't always be easy.

However, if we show God that we are trying then we will get the help we need to make things right. Now, I am not saying we condone the wrong that is being done, and just sit back while this great nation falls apart. No, we need to be heard and let the world know that we don't want certain things that are harmful to our families.

We have sat back for way too long, and not enough of us are willing to fight for righteousness. If we stand together we can make a mighty change, but we must stand together in love and unity. Don't be afraid that you will be labeled as a prud, or a bigot. Stand firm and strong in all that is good. We will have the angels to stand with us.

I get pretty frustrated with people who don't communicate, like at work, I send emails to people about issues and they don't respond. I don't know if they read my email, or are working on the issue, or even just ignoring me. How hard is it to email me back and say something like, "We are currently working on the issue and will get back to you by the end of the day", or something like that. It's a common courtesy.

I think the same thing is happening in the hate that we are feeling in today's world. We don't listen to each other. People are quick to blame another, and not even know the person they are mad at. More than half the people who die or get hurt by an angry person are innocent. If you have a beef with someone, go to the person, not someone else. How hard is that?

And, you don't have to go with malice in your heart. We all have good and bad days, if someone offends you, take a moment to see the whole picture. Do an act of kindness for that person, to see if they are just having a bad day. We can't walk in someone else's shoes, there are so many factors in a person's life that make them act the way they do. We never know what tragedy they have experienced, or what underlying problems that exist in their lives. 

All we can do is stop taking things personally, stop being selfish and see if we can help make someone's day better, in hopes of saving the lives of others.

Sister, if we are going to protect our families and friends, we need to start showing more love to all those we meet on a daily basis. A simple smile or hello, can make all the difference in the life of someone hurting; just a small moment can do miracles in a hard world.

The scriptures tell us the hearts of many will be cold, and we do see that today, especially in the lives of our young people. What can you do to help them feel love again? Many of them have been given a stinky life, and they know no other way. We are all given the Light of Christ in our heart to know right from wrong but without someone to lead and guide, that light can quickly be burned out. Stop judging and start finding a way to help.

Think about it but remember to never put yourself or anyone else in harms way. Lets talk more, share a Coke and smile, (teeheehee, I work for Coke). Recognize that we are all different and lets take a moment to see what another might be feeling. Find a way to show the love and blessing we have in our lives. Blessing don't have to be monetary, but can be a sincere listening ear.

Jesus showed us how to love all people, we don't have to agree with their life style but we don't have to hate them for it either. That goes for anyone who is living a life style that is not Christian, don't hate us either. We are not here to judge but to help. If you don't want religion or our help then that is your choice but don't take my religion from me. If I want to mention God or pray then let me because that is my safe place, that is how I feel.  If it is offensive to you simple tell me and I will see what I can do to still maintain my freedom of religion and allow you to maintain your freedom to not have to endure it.

It's time to act now before Satan gets into the hearts and steals the lives of our brothers and sisters. He can't ever win, but he can try to take as many lives down with him as he can. We can't let him do that. We are stronger than him, we will win the battle if we stand firm and show love to all people. We just need to communicate and have a loving heart; it's that easy, plain and simple.

All my Love

Hello My Righteous Sisters,

Happy Easter!!! This is such an important day for mankind. I wonder how many people really know that? Today signifies new life, life everlasting, and it was all for us. Do people know what Jesus has done for us? Do we really understand the concept of the Atonement of Jesus Christ for us?

These are things we should be contemplating on a daily basis, not just Easter or Christmas. We should be thinking about how we can become more like Him so that His sacrifice will not be wasted. I look at his examples and see many things we could be doing, but today I would like to talk about showing compassion for those who suffering.

I am currently sitting in the hospital with my youngest daughter who is an unmarried young adult. She has a few health issues, but we came in a little over two weeks ago and are still here with some new issues. We have seen many people come and go, some as roommates with my daughter or some in rooms across the hall from us.

Unfortunately, some have not had anyone to come visit them (unlike my daughter who can't get rid of me). I was saddened by this because I could feel their loneliness. Jesus gave of his time to talk to and heal the sick and lonely. Most of us can't heal but we can certainly share our time with those who are sick and lonely.

For those patients in the hospital who had family visiting and caring for them, it was easy to see the love that was being poured out on their loved ones. But could they give of themselves like that for a stranger? I asked that of myself as well. I have never been in love with the medical field and chose to go a different path than most of my extended family who did choose jobs in the medical field. But having to be here with my daughter and help her through this journey has opened my eyes to things I never thought I would see.

It has also opened my heart to those who are alone in the hospital all day. I wonder if I can put aside my lack of desire to be around anything medical, to visit and share time with those who are sick and lonely, and stuck in the hospital?

Easter Message

I know this is something I can do to become more like Jesus. If being in the hospital environment is too much for me I know there are others that would love for someone to come visit them in their homes. At church, we could ask our clergy who in our congregation, could use a visitor. That could be a good place to start. Or, perhaps we have some neighbors or family that need a visit. There are so many places we could start. We just have to ask for direction and listen to the Spirit for that direction so we know who needs our unique gifts and friendship.

God gave each of talents and gifts for the purpose of sharing with one another to help each other along the path of life and back to our Father in Heaven. Becoming like Jesus requires effort on our part. So I would ask that you look at your life and responsibilities and see what time you have to give to another. Perhaps you don't have time to visit people, another place you could help someone is when you are in a waiting room for an appointment. The Spirit may prompt you to smile and share some kind words to a person sitting next to you. There are always opportunities to help uplift another, mostly by just listening to someone who is lonely.

I pray you will seek those who need to feel loved and know that they are not alone. You never know, but you just might be the answer to someone's prayer.

All my love

Why do you Think Abortion is your Only Option?

Hello my Dear Sisters of this World,

I was out running errands this morning and saw a sign at the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Mango, Florida. It was talking about abortion and remembering the lives of the babies and their mothers. It made me think a little about this issue. I have participated in fasts and lots of prayers for this to stop but it's obvious that abortion is here to stay. I truly doubt it will ever go back to being an illegal practice, doesn't mean I will stop praying that it does, but I just think that it will never change.

However, a thought came to me, I call it inspiration, and it said we need to convince women that there are other options. If we can't make the practice of abortion go away then let's help women see the other choices they can make and why it is the best thing to do. Threats and making someone feel horrible about themselves hasn't worked, so there has to be a better way.

Lets look at this for a moment.  We should ask ourselves the question why does a women decide to do this? I can think of several reasons but I may not say them without it sounding hateful and I certainly do not hate these women who choose to do this. We can't walk in their shoes but we can show them that the other options can bring a sense of happiness in making a choice to let the baby live.

The Lord has commanded us not to take another persons life, it is a sin when we break a commandment and this is a commandment. But we can choose to avoid the sin by looking at the other options that are available when a baby is not the best thing for the mother at that time.

 “Thou shalt not … kill, nor do anything like unto it”  (D&C 59:6)

What are the options? Of course the best option is for the birth mom to keep her baby but sometimes that is not possible. So we have to think of other options with her. One choice is to have the child and give it up for adoption. Adoption is not a horrible thing. Have you ever seen a woman who is unable to have a child of her own. Her heart is so broken every time she see's a new baby. She knows that she may never hold a child of her own. Do you know that by making a choice to give her the baby will bring joy to so many people. It will bring happiness to the new mom, the baby, and giver of the life! That's a lot of good that is being done.

There are programs available where the birth mother can choose who she wants her baby to go to. That is awesome to be able to choose the home the baby will be raised. Some people are even good about letting the birth mother be involved in the child's life as well, now that is amazing. What a good heart on both sides.

 Life doesn't have to be filled with hatred and ill feelings towards one another, make any situation a good thing. The birth mom goes on with her life and still get's to see her child grow and the adoptive mom gets to raise a baby as her own. Peace (long sigh) of heart and mind. To me that is the only option. But there are other options, the key is to not make abortion an option.

We have to show love and not judgement to the birth mom, she needs moral support and sometimes financial support. What are we willing to do to avoid the decision of abortion? That is something that is between you, the birth mom and Heavenly Father. When we include Him in our decision we always choose the right one, doesn't mean life will be all wonderful and perfect, but it does mean it will be the right one and everyone will be blessed for it.

Now perhaps you are thinking about a very young girl, or a victim of rape, or even a mother who's life is on the line. Those are good examples of the fight today. People use those instances as a valid reason to have legal abortion options. But as I always say when we give in to something for the benefit of good, it gets abused and turned around so itis used for bad.

But even with those situations I would think the baby is worth fighting for as well. No, I have never been in that situation, nor have I known anyone that was ever in that situation but I would try to help the mom to see that the baby is a victim as well. We all experience challenges and trials in our lives but it's what we do with them that makes or breaks us. So if a person is raped, no matter the age, the mom can get help to get her through the tough times she will have in carrying the child. It will not be easy and it is a hard choice to make, but in the long run it can give the personal healing power to her soul.

As for the health of the mother, that is a tough one too. I think one of the saddest things in life is when a mother dies and leaves her young family. I'm sure it is one of the most unfair things in life. But God'd plan is one that we do not always undersand. The choice in all these situations is between the mother and God; we can not judge. We can only try to help no matter the choice.

I had a young friend who was pregnant and she did not want to be. I remember her calling me and asking for advice. I tried and tried to talk her out of the thoughts of abortion. She was a Christian but she was just so overwhelmed with grief. She had  broke up with the young man for a good reason but she did not want to raise a child alone. I was so heartbroken when she told me she had the abortion, but I couldn't let her see my disappointment in her decision.  I had made a lot of wrong choices in my life so I was not in a situation to judge her decision, all I could do is let her cry on my shoulder and be her friend.

I know she has her regrets but all we can do it try to help them make a good choice and if they don't , be as supportive as we can. I will not back down on my fight against abortion and the taking of a life. I believe woman should choice to save the life of the baby and then if she can not raise it , give it to a home where it can be raised in a good environment. Prayer and reflection on the situation will only aid in the decision. May God direct our lives for the good of everyone. And may He be allowed to direct your decision in the matter of abortion whether you are the birth mother or someone who cares enough to help someone make the best choice, and that is for all life.

Would Jesus have condemned the mother? No, he would have showed her love and support. He would have done everything He could to show her the best choices. And yes, he would have been disappointed if she chose to have the abortion. But we are given the gift of freedom of choice, and with that comes consequences of our choices. Not ones that are decided by people but ones that go with choices that are made.

We have to stand as righteous women and fight against evil. The person is not normally evil but the act of abortion is. I pray that God will direct your path to doing good in this fight for life. Love as Jesus loves and help build up His Kingdom.

All my love!!!

Stand as Light to the World

Dear Sisters,

Wow, what a mess this world is becoming. This wonderful country that we live in is supposed to be a place of righteousness and protection, but our own country is so filled with evil and hatred. My blog today is for you, as righteous women, to take a stand for God; become that beacon of Light for all to see. The world needs us now more than ever.

So many souls are lost and don't know where to go for help. As God's beacon we can illuminate the way back to God. As Christian women we shouldn't be fighting against one another saying who's religion is right or wrong, but we should take the good part of all of us and reach out to the poor of spirit, or those who are struggling with life or, those who are blind to the ways of God.

We have been blessed with much good in our lives and now we are to take that good and share it with others. Most will not want to see God's ways, and will turn away from us but even one soul in need can make a difference in the joy of our hearts and the glory of God.

I was reading the other day in the scriptures about what God's whole purpose is for us. It says, "This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)" That means His whole purpose is to help us gain eternal life, to live forever in joy with Him. That is awesome! It woke me up as I realized that God's plan is all about me, and everyone else, but it's all about me!!!

So, if that is God's plan, and I am in a good place right now, then aren't I supposed to take the blessings that God has given me and share them with others? And as I do, I realize that I am helping to build His kingdom by bringing souls unto Christ. What a concept, my goals in life changed at that moment of understanding.

So where do we begin? Look at this world, our own countries and towns. Instead of loving people we are learning to hate and kill them. What's wrong with that picture? It's not Gods way, it's Satan's way. He is laughing at us as we are destroying our brothers and sisters. Where is the peace on earth, goodwill to all men? Well, it has to start with us.

Righteous women we can no longer stand on the fence, it's time to choose a side and take a stand. We can all join together to fight against the evil one. So we start by committing ourselves to God and his plan, not mans. We have to say that we are willing to be instruments in His hands, then go and do.

There are a lot of battles going on over family, marriage bonds, and issues of race. There are issues of immigration, and child protection. There are so many places to take a stand and fight. The battle for God is not necessarily a physical one but a battle of the mind , heart, and soul. There are homeless people in our country, and those in abusive situation. There are those lost to alcohol and drugs. There are so many who are lost and can not find their way. They need us now.

We don't have to preach at them, but love them by helping them. Words are probably not going to make a difference with most people but our actions will. If we will stop and help our neighbor, or a person standing in line at the store, or volunteer to help at a hospital - we will see a big difference in the way people feel about the world around them; we can give them hope. And that is what we all need, hope mingled with faith will bring souls to the right place.

Never give up on a person, keep being a friend. Don't put yourself in a dangerous position but help where you can. Pray for guidance and listen for the answer, it will come. God loves you and will bless your life as you bless those for good.

There is a story where a man was walking on the beach and saw someone pick up a starfish and throw it back into the ocean, The man remarked that this person couldn't possible save all the starfish that washed up on the shore. The person smiled and said no, maybe not, and bent down picked up a starfish then threw it in the sea, and said but I just saved that one.

We won't be able to lead everyone back to God but maybe we can help with this one, or that one. All we have to do is try, and God will do the rest. Let's fix what we can, or at least stand firm in God's plan. He needs us to do our part now, before it's too late. Never give up, keep fighting for what we know is right and pleasing to God. We may find it exhausting but that's why we are here; to
continue the fight until our Savior returns.

All my love

Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

Proverbs 31:10-31

"Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies." Let's find out why virtue is of great value yesterday and today. What is virtue?

Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior that shows the highest of spiritual standards. For instance, its what you do when you think no is looking. It is your innermost thoughts and your actions from them.

Virtuous women focus on being righteous, doing a lot of good in the world around them. They try to be obedient to the commandments of God and help others to do the same.

I remember once, when my young sister-in-law was visiting my house, that we began talking about what makes a woman truly beautiful.  I told her that true beauty was inside her. She loved the Disney Princess's so I used that as my point of view.

We discussed the inner beauty of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" and Snow White. They were sweet and did good things that helped other people. They had positive attitudes that helped people to like them, etc.

I tried to show her the inner beauty that makes a woman beautiful. Then I asked her if she wanted to be known as the Queen who needed a mirror to tell her she was beautiful only on the outside or did she want to be the  princess who radiated beauty from the inside.

I heard from a woman once that said her mother told her to make herself as attractive as she could before she left home then once she left her house she was not to think of herself any more but to think of others that day and how she could help them. I agree with that thought. We should make ourselves look the best we can before we go out the door but then we need to focus on the Savior and what He would be doing if He was here among us. Then follow those steps throughout the day.

If we do that then the inner beauty will continue to grow. You can be the most beautiful woman in the world to the eye but age happens, and accidents happens, and then you become miserable because you can never gain back that beauty. But if you focus on the beauty where it really counts you will only grow more beautiful every day. This is where virtue begins, think not of yourself but of doing good for others.

More Service Project Ideas

The Young Men in our ward at church has dedicated the month of November by showing gratitude by doing service for others. They made a list of people who they were aware of that could use some acts of charity.

They planned the things that they would be doing and have been doing service on every meeting night so far this month. Doing service helps the heart to feel true joy. Its been proven to be very healthy for your mind and body. I can't think of one time that I have not felt so good after helping someone. Even a smile and good morning salutation to someone has given me a sense of doing good. I knew I was choosing to follow Jesus and do much good in this world.

Even small acts of service can bring happiness to both the giver and receiver. I have provided a link to a website that lists 30 different projects that can be done by you and your family, or friends. Take a look.

30 Service Project Ideas

Feel free to share some of your experiences with us. I know I would love to hear your stories.

Act in Charity

1 Corinthians 16:14
"Let all your things be done with ^acharity."

I told my son to not worry about doing any school work today, he is home schooled, and I told him to focus on his Eagle Scout Project that was coming due soon. When I got home from work I asked how much he got done, he told me nothing.

Then he proceeded to tell me why he got nothing done. He decided to sleep in some, then when he got up he spent time hanging out with his sister. He told her several times that he needed to get this assignment started. When he was finished hanging out with her, he started looking at some stuff and got distracted, so nothing got done. Needless to say I wasn't very happy with him.

I told him this reminded me of when we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to do things but we choose to ignore the prompting. He knew he needed to being working on his project but he did not act upon  that constant reminder in his head. When the Spirit tells us we should do something we need to act upon it.

But I can't say too much about my son, there have been many times when I have not acted in service when I really could have. It's easy to make excuses and move on. The sad thing is that once I justified why I couldn't do it,  I didn't think about it again until something happened and it was too late. Then I felt bad.

I heard a story by President Thomas S. Monson when he didn't act upon a prompting to serve and well...his heart was broken because he was too late (see the link for the story). But he vowed to never disobey  a prompting again. That is a goal for me, to try and never miss an opportunity to serve when prompted.


Acting upon Promptings

As righteous women we need to put our minds in a place where we can always hear the Spirit talking to us and act upon those promptings to do good. We are the answers to prayers; people plead for help and Lord whispers to us to do something so that we can be that answer to another s prayers. If we fail then we have not shown much charity in our hearts.

We need to serve with all our hearts. We need to be like our Savior and learn to love all people and do much good in this world. This is how we help build the Kingdom of God on this earth. Act in Charity. Act in Love.

How Can We Have Charity?

Mosiah 2:17
"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

The key to charity is serving one another. There are so many ways to serve our brothers and sisters. There are charitable organizations that need volunteers. This is something that is needed all year long.

Forbes - Top 200 Charitable Organizations

There are things we can do for the elderly, or orphans, or the sick. There are things we can do for the lonely, or handicapped, or the poor of heart. There are so many things we can do if we just look around for opportunities and ask God for help.

If you want charity in your life you have to ask God to help you attain this attribute of Christ. When we live righteous lives and focus on God good things happen and we are given that gift.

Last year my youngest son started thinking of ways that he can serve. He wasn't sure what he should do so he took his question to God in prayer, asking Him what God would have him do. The very next day he received an answer in General Conference when the Prophet announced that the age to become a missionary was dropped to 18 years old. He knew this was his answer and has now been preparing for that act of service.

18 Year old missionary announcement

The missionaries call him quite often to go out on visits with them. He is really enjoying and loving what he is doing. He has begun his journey in gaining this attribute of Jesus Christ by understanding charity.

"Christlike attributes are gifts from God. They come as you use your agency righteously. Ask your Heavenly Father to bless you with these attributes; you cannot develop them without His help. With a desire to please God, recognize your weaknesses and be willing and anxious to improve." 
Preach my Gospel Manual

We as righteous women can do the same, all we have to do is ask God what He would have us do and the answer will come. If you don't receive an answer right away, then open your eyes and heart to see what good needs to be done, and act upon it, then you will see the Light of Christ shine through your example a hope and faith for everyone you serve. You will have the gift of charity.

What Does Charity Mean to Jesus?

1 Corinthians 13

I always thought of charity as showing love to people by giving to organizations that helped people, then I started reading the scriptures and found charity to show love for people by helping them in many ways and praying for them. But then when I began to really study the scriptures I found that charity is really something a lot more than showing love and helping where I could.

I love Paul and the things he taught. Reading this scripture has taught me what charity really means.

He says that charity is everything. He says that if you do everything you are supposed to do but you don't have charity then you are nothing. I thought about that for a moment, how do you do all the right things but not have charity?

I know that there were times when I would do things because I knew I was supposed to but I didn't really want to do it; like when I was learning about tithing. I wanted to take the money and use it on something else but I knew I was supposed to pay 10% of my increase. I had to learn that the blessings don't come if you do it with the wrong attitude. I knew if I paid an honest tithe and did it with a loving attitude that I was showing my love for my Father in this commandment. So this part of the scripture did make more sense to me; give it with my heart.

But charity means more than just loving through obedience; some of these were real eye openers to me.

Charity is long suffering: That means we are to be patient with others and with God, as long as it takes. We should forgive time and time again, for as long as it takes. We should continue to help people for as long as it takes. These things are not always easy but if we do this we will know charity in our hearts.

Charity envieth not: This means we are to be happy with what we have and not want what others have. There were times in my life that I wished I was blessed with certain things in my life, mostly material things, but then I realized that even though some people had materials things I had spiritual blessings which others did not, and spiritual blessings last longer than material ones. I found that I was happy with my blessings. It seemed that the more material things they had the more they wanted, they were never happy or satisfied.

Charity never vaunteth itself, was not puffed up: This means we don't go around bragging and feeling mightier than the people we serve. When we serve we have to do it with God in mind, that we are doing these things to help but not make anyone feel less of themselves for receiving. Christians are often accused of being mightier than, if we have charity in our hearts we will disprove that theory by helping people to realize that we act upon these things because we want to be more like our Savior, we want to do it because we love them. Jesus was not prideful in service to others.

Seeketh not her own: We are not to pick and choose who we give service and love to, we should be doing this every day as we go through our lives. If we see a need we help, we don't say well today I am going to do one act of service to help someone. We should be saying I will do what the Holy Spirit prompts me to do and serve where I am needed today.

Charity bearth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endueth all things: We should testify that we are followers of Jesus Christ and try to do as He did, we should testify of the truth we hold in our hearts, we should help others to hope for good things to happen, and we should help others to hold on and continue fighting the battle against evil. When we do these things, and help
others to to these things, we are showing true charity in our hearts. We are showing that we have the true love of Christ.

As righteous women we should seek for good things in our lives and find love in  our hearts for all people for they are our brothers and sisters, children of God. They are not more or less than we are. They are strong in some areas of life that we are not and we are strong in some areas of life that they are not, we can serve each other with the strengths we are blessed with: this is charity.

Paul concludes that charity never faileth, and that we should have faith, hope and charity, but the most important of all is charity.

With Faith and Hope Comes Charity

Moroni 7:47
"But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

What is Charity? The scriptures say it is the pure love of Christ. We can find so much information in the scriptures regarding charity, as we are diligent in our study of that topic.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts, soul and mind. So lets think about that. We are to love Him with all our hearts. How do we love with all our hearts?

Have you ever looked at someone and your emotion just overwhelms you because you can feel the love for that person? For instance, looking at your new born child. Man, the love that pours out of your heart for that baby, you would do everything in your power to protect and provide for the child. I think that is an example of the love we should feel for God. 

That is how we love with all our heart. We have to open our hearts and pray for that love to come in. I remember once a long time ago, that I prayed for love in my heart for all people. Shortly thereafter, I saw a homeless person walking down the street and I began to cry for that person, I prayed for that person and asked how I could help that person. That was a start to how I could love with all my heart.

What is a soul and how do I love with all my soul? The scriptures say that a soul is your body and spirit combined (Abraham 5:7). We can show love with our souls by being obedient to the commandments of God. We show Him that we love Him when we are obedient. Didn't we as children want to please our parents so we would do as we were asked. The same with our Father, we show we love Him by pleasing Him in our daily actions.

How do we love Him with all our mind? This has to do with our thoughts. He needs to be foremost in our daily thoughts. When we put Him first we tend to see where there are needs in this world and find ways to act upon them. We are more aware of the direction our lives should be going. 

By doing these things, opening our hearts, being obedient, and making God our most important thoughts daily, we are beginning to understand and be able to show love to our Heavenly Father. Once we do this we will also be able to obey the second greatest commandment which is to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

We will be showing that we possess the Christ attribute of Charity. By serving God and helping our brother, we will know the pure love of Christ and as the scripture says whosoever is found with charity in the last days will be blessed and received by our Father in heaven. This is a attribute that we can take with us when we die and will find it to be a great treasure of joy.

Christmas Shoebox Project

When we lived in Utah I had the great opportunity to work on Hill AFB, at the chapel, where I learned a lot about different religions. I loved participating in a few of their activities like the one I am going to tell you about today. This program is called Operation Christmas Child.

My family loved this one. As I was searching today for good ideas for family service projects this came up as an option, then I remembered how much we enjoyed doing this and asked my family if they wanted to do it again, they did.

So for family home evening, Monday night, we will be going shopping and filling shoe boxes with gift items for these children, who otherwise might not have a Christmas. It's a fun project and easy to do, especially for younger children, but your teenagers will love it too.

The only catch is the collection date runs from Nov 18th - Nov 25th so it has to be done like now. Here is the link to show you where the closest drop off place is and some great ideas to fill the boxes:

Operation Christmas Child

Do You Have Patience to Wait for Hope

Romans 8:24-25
"For we are saved by ^ahope: but hope that is ^bseen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

My oldest grandson is at the age when he wants to know if it's time yet. For example, he is going to Sea World this month, he wants to know if it's time yet. He wants to know how many days until Thanksgiving, and Christmas, etc. 

My daughter made a chain for Halloween, you know the one like the Christmas countdown chain. This helped him to know when it was time for Halloween. It save my daughter from a lot of days of him asking how many more days until Halloween. But, he learned to have hope that when that chain got to the end that it would be time, like promised.

I thought of this story when I read this scripture about having hope but are we patient enough to wait for it?

Hope requires patience, the Lord does things on His time. If we are patient we will receive the answer to a prayer, or gain knowledge of His ways, or receive blessings.  He does this to teach us more about having faith and hope. He teaches us to be patient and wait for the promised blessings. 

We can find strength in hope, we can strengthen others through hope. We can change the world with hope. With hope comes faith and charity, which is love. Hope is a powerful word that we need to use in our lives to become more like Jesus Christ. He taught us to have hope because He knows the good that can come from it. 

As righteous women we can shine the light of hope for all to see. We can be an example of being positive and having patience that good things will come our way as we move toward the Light daily and guide others to do the same. We can have hope in a troubled world, waiting patiently for the return of our Savior to rescue us from the evil that seems to get stronger each day. Hope will see us through, we just need to endure to the end, we were made to do this.

Prayer and Hope

Alma 58:10-11
"Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people.

Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our ^adeliverance in him."

Have you ever felt like you were in the grasp of evil? Or that you felt so hopeless that you couldn't see the light ahead? I have, I remember a time in my life where I felt Satan around me. I was married to a man, my first marriage, who invited evil in his life. So I tried to please him best I could and that meant doing somethings I wasn't comfortable with. I could feel Satan laughing at me.

But I remember times being alone in my home, and feeling like I was being watched. I would walk past a darkened bedroom door and could feel a presence that scared the life out of me. I knew what I needed to do, so I knelt in prayer and begged for help, from the Right Source.

That peace came right away and I knew I had my answer. I needed to make changes in my life and invite the Spirit of Hope to be with me always. I couldn't change what my husband was doing but I could change what I was doing. My marriage eventually ended but I had hope that I was on the right track.

As righteous women we need to constantly have a prayer in our hearts for our families and ourselves so we can be protected against the evil that confronts us daily. We cannot shine the Light of Christ for others to see if it is hidden by darkness. The Lord will deliver us from the evil that surrounds us if we show that we have faith and hope that is so needed in a troubled world. He loves us and wants us to invite Him into our lives. So shine that Light high for all to see and have hope as you follow the path of righteousness!!!

Hope, the Next Attribute of Christ

 2 Nephi 31:20

What is hope?

Hope is a trust that something you believe in will be so. For example, you have hope, or trust, that when you die you will go to heaven. You have hope and trust that when you go to bed at night that the sun will arise and you will get up to greet a new day. We hope for this to be true, we expect this happen. Hope and faith go together, which you will see this week in the scriptures I plan to blog about.

When we hope in things of God we are showing faith that we trust in Him to lead and guide our lives in a way that will help us gain eternal life. With hope we can endure trials and hardships. With hope we can endure to the end.

When we go through tough times it is hope that gets us through, hope to see a better day. It helps us endure to the end which is something we must do. I have found at times that I just wanted to give up and climb in bed and forget everything but, I know that I have to stand strong in Christ and endure what I must so I make sure that hope and faith are strong in my life and help others to do the same.

We are living in a time when there is so much evil surrounding us and some people don't even see it. They see it as part of life, but we are surrounded and we have to stand firm in Christ and His plan in order to fight for the good to shine through all of this darkness. And when we do, we have the hope of a promise from out Father in Heaven that we will have peace and joy in this life and the life to come in eternity.

As righteous women, we need to shine the light of Christ for others to see and hang on to their hope of a better life. Our example is so important to sustaining our families and helping others to endure to the end. Jesus needs us to do our part by helping our brothers and sisters in this world find Him and learn to do the same. It's time to become part of God's Army and shine the Light high for all to see.

Digitalize your Photos Now Before it's too Late!

Last weekend I went to the Central Florida Family History Conference in Orlando, Florida; second year for me, 17th year for them. It was just as good this year as it was last year.

Family Search

We learned a lot about the Family Search website and all the new tools that have been added since last year. I was amazed. Family Search is a free website hosted my The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Family Search you can create your family tree, do research for your ancestry, they even have free online classes to help you build research skills.

At the conference last week the one thing that really caught my attention was being able to add your photos and stories of your ancestry online. This interested me a lot because I have tons of photos that I don't want to get rid of but are just stored in a container. So I took the class about digitalizing your photos.

The instructor told a story about some photos his father had left him, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here with you.

He was gone for the weekend with his wife and while he was gone his house caught on fire due to a bathroom light over the shower being left on. His bishop, who happened to live across the street, called him to tell him that his house was on fire. So he raced home.

On the way, all he could think about was the photos that his father had left him, 5 boxes full. His father had just passed away the year before so he felt like his father was dying all over again. When he got there he found several fire trucks and police cars all along his street. As he approached his house a fire man asked if he was the owner, at that time he saw all five boxes in the street. The fireman had told him he saw that it said dad's photos on the box so he saved them for him. What a hero.

Man, what a story, but it made me think of all the treasures I have in my home with photos. I new this needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. I work a lot so I don't have a lot of time right now to do this but I do have a daughter who has some time. We talked about making this her project. It was suggested in the class to get your kids involved because they seem to love all the new electronics.

He said if you have a smart phone or android that these were perfect for scanning pictures. Wow, I never thought about that. So there doesn't seem to be a need to go out and buy scanners to do this, no excuses. All you have to do is take the picture and lay it on a clean solid color, like white, and take the picture again with your phone then have your phone send it to your email address then save the photo in a file or a thumb drive, stored forever.

I loved it, I have two different kids of scanners at home so we will use that for awhile. One scanner is my printer and the other is a small photo scanner, both work good. I can use the printer for the larger pictures and the small scanner for the small photos. I kinda want to put everything else on hold and make this a family project.

That's my post this week, if you value those family memories you better start to think about how best to save them because you never know what disasters await you and then its too late.