Becoming like Jesus Christ - Obedience, the First Law of Heaven

My Dear Sisters,

Today, I would like to begin a series of posts that will help us to learn how to become more Christ like. If we can become more like Him, who was perfect, then we can be strengthened in faith and endurance. We will have the promised blessings that come only through obedience to that law. Each month we can learn a new attribute and work to apply it in our lives so that we can be on a path to becoming Christ like.

"When we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
D&C 130:21

First, we must learn what we are to obey. What are the laws of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We will learn that through scripture study. However; we all know some laws already like the 10 Commandments so we could start there. Choose a commandment and start applying it to your life.

More than likely you are not murderers so choose one you are having problems with, like lying. Most people have issues of lying so this could be a place to start learning how to become obedient to that commandment. When you fall short in this law don't give up but remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ and and pray for forgiveness then continue working on it. It won't happen over night and you will be tested from time to time but work hard to overcome the weakness and live a more perfect life.

"As we walk in obedience to the principles and commandments of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we enjoy a continual flow of blessings promised by God in His covenants with us. Those blessings provide the resources we need to act rather than simply be acted upon as we go through life...obedience gives us greater control over our lives, greater capacity to come and go, to work and create."
Elder D. Todd Christofferson




By following the laws of the Gospel and commandments we have promised blessings in our lives. As Elder Christofferson said, as we are obedient we will always have blessings and guidance in our lives.  Wow, that is good to know. I can testify that it is true. I have experienced continued blessings in my life so many times. And now I know that it is because of my persistence in trying to be obedient.

Let me share one example with you. I am from the East, but I had an opportunity to live in the West. I love the West. It is where I belong, or so I thought, well it's where my heart is. Anyway, for a few years I kept feeling like I should consider moving back East to Florida but I would always resist and stayed there. One year I finally asked myself why I wanted to stay so badly and I realized that I loved my life there. I wanted to live the rest of my life there, I was so happy.

But that year I felt very strongly that I should move my family back East. I prayed a lot and struggled a lot with the decision to move back. My heart was broken and cried as I left the home and my life that I came to know and love. But I began to focus on my new life. I wasn't a pleasant person to be around for a little while because I was not happy to be back. But I knew I was being obedient to the prompting I received so I tried to find some happiness in being there. That year we were welcomed back with 4 hurricanes, I left Florida after experiencing Andrew in South Florida, so needless to say, I was very unhappy.



I began to pray about my life and why I was there. I chose to follow the prompting and as I began to live my life there I came to see several reasons why we needed to be there. One reason is my children really didn't know their family well because we only visited every other year. So this gave them the experience of cousins, grandparents, etc. They have come to love those people they call family.

Another reason has to do with my bio-dad. I never got to have a real good relationship with him because he remarried and had a new family. But after I moved back we had a small falling out because I never went to see him, and he lived about 45 mins away from me but I drove 4 hours to see his grandmother, his mom. So he was mad at me but I felt like he could come see me too.

After a few months I got a message that he was in the hospital and it wasn't good. I vowed at that time that I would go see him as often as I could and I was blessed with another year and a half with him before he passed away. I was also blessed with the peace in knowing I had done my part in the relationship. I couldn't have done that living far away.

There are so many other reasons why it was good for us to be in Florida at this time of our lives. I have prayed recently about moving back west again, and I received an answer that I should wait another 3 years. I don't know why but I believe that if I am obedient I will be blessed with the knowledge and peace of mind that I need to make these changes again. I will be blessed in ways I can't see at this time. I know and trust Him with my life.

I will never forget that obedience is the first law of Heaven. If Jesus is my example then I have to make obedience my priority forever. I pray you will seek to perfect yourself in this area in becoming more like Jesus.

All my love

Family Search for Family History

Family Search is a LDS Church owned web site. Family Search has made leaps and bounds recently to create a better webpage and collection of data. Everyday they are progressing to create tools to help with your family history search. Here is the link, take a look and see all the new stuff. It's open to everyone throughout the world.

Familysearch.org

It was just announced that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have free access in the near future to some paid websites like Ancestry.com and Myheritage.com. This is awesome. Family Search has also made deals with many places to give us access to important documents and even obituaries. That's even more awesome.

I can see God's hand in this work because of technology is rapidly changing for good, and it is making the search for ancestors more possible and easier. I love that and it should inspire many to want to seek for those who has gone before us.

With all this new research processes in place, we first need to turn our heart to our families.

The prophet Joesph Smith said,"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead..." HC 6:312

Wow, that made an impact on me. I have thought a lot about this and found that he was talking to me. This is my greatest responsibility. When I started looking for names and putting together my family history, they were just names but when I started studying more about them and the times that they lived in, they started becoming more than just names. AND...when I took those names to the temple the true meaning of it all...God's purpose...began to unfold before me. My heart was turning to my fathers and I couldn't get enough of it.

Family History work is now my passion. I love this work and joy that comes with finding family and developing my tree. One thing that was an eye opener was when I started tracing the female side of the tree. It was easier to find the stuff on the male line but when I started working on the female lines I realized that there were so many more people to see.

I truly can see now how we are all related, as you do one line then the next and on and on.. your story never ends. And we are all connected, Family Search is trying to show us just that, we are all one big family.

I hope you will look in your hearts to see and understand this great work that God has entrusted to us. The work that brings us all together as God's family. Our ancestors need us to do this for them, the work that they can no longer do. And we need them to help us grow in understanding God's plan for us. I love my Heavenly Father for this great plan of happiness because I know the joy I get from doing this work.

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.

Tools for Genealogists

Hello There!

When I blog about genealogy, I write it more for the beginners. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who know about researching your family history better than I do so I think these Sunday posts are more for the new guys but any one can read it and I would love some input that will be helpful to the beginners, and me.

When I go to do family history research whether it be out of town or at the local genealogy library, I like to carry certain tools with me that might be helpful in this process. Here is a list of things I like to take with me.

1) a big bag to carry everything in
2) pencils, pens, highlighters
3) pencil sharpener
4) notebook or folder to hold my papers in
5) camera
6) handheld/wand scanner
7) SD cards
8) batteries for the camera and scanner
9) names of people I am searching for
10) water/quiet snacks
11) small stapler

These are the tools that I like to take with me so if I am somewhere and need these items I don't have to keep asking to borrow them from someone else. It is good to be prepared but as you go along you will find what things are most common for your use in research.

Most everything is low cost (under $20). The only things that might cost a little are the camera and scanner. You don't have to buy an expensive camera, in fact, I would never take anything of great value with me because you don't want someone else picking it up as theirs by mistake.

You can usually find a digital camera for around $100 or less, shop around. Be sure it can hold a SD card so you can store your photos on them.

I have wanted a desktop scanner for quite awhile but I don't want to pay the price they charge for one. I was able to find a handheld/wand scanner for around $100. Someone gave me a gift card for Christmas and that was what I bought with it. It is an awesome tool.

You can find most everything in a n office supply story or Best Buy, Walmart, or some place like this. Anyway, these are a few of my tools. Again, you will find over time what tools you will need that will be  most helpful in your research for your ancestry. Happy Hunting!!!

Worldly Treasures

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

I used to buy things for my kids when they really wanted something, which was all the time. My mom did the best she could in giving us what we wanted but she couldn't afford much. I remembered that there were things I didn't have that I wanted in my life so I wanted my kids to have what I could give them.

One day, I watched a video about children from third world countries who had nothing and were starving. I cried, a lot. But in those tears I realized that my children had a lot of things. So I committed to not buying tons of needless things for my kids. I talked with them about the video and why we needed to make changes. We referred to this scripture and made our changes. We took the money and gave it to programs to help these children have more. It felt good.

When we die we can not take worldly things with us so why do we need to buy so much now?
Through this scripture we can see that the things we can take with us are knowledge, goodness, and everything that we retain in who we are; our character.

Who we become is the most important thing we can take with us. God gave us the gift of this life and now, we in turn, give it back with all we become in hopes of it being returned full of goodness and knowledge. 

We, as righteous women can find great treasures to fill in our hearts through studying the scriptures and doing good deeds. When we return to our heavenly home the Lord will know where our hearts were by all the good that pours out of them. Remember to seek after the true treasures that you should fill your life with.

Simple Knowledge

Genesis 1:26-27
"And God said, Let ^aus ^bmake ^cman in our ^dimage, after our^elikeness: and let them have ^fdominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own ^aimage, in the image of God created he him; male and ^bfemale created he them."

These verses are simply said and quite clear on a few issues that seem to plague mankind. 

1) God said let us make man in our image. Here we see that there was more than one person involved in the creation of man, meaning the Godhead, which consists of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ,and the Holy Ghost. The information about who is part of the Godhead is found later in the scriptures. The point here is there is more than one was involved.

2) This verse also says that we were created in God's image and likeness, not an ape's or anything else's image. They created us to be like them. That makes us special.

3) This verse says that we, mankind, are to have dominion over everything on the earth and the earth included. What does dominion mean? It means responsibility, not dominance over things. We are to take care of the earth and it's inhabitants the best we can. 

4) God created male and female for a purpose, to be together as man and wife; to help one another through life. That's how our obedience to procreate works, it takes a man and a woman. That's simple.

God's wisdom is so much greater than ours. When we try to make sense of things from our point of view, we find  it hard to see things from His. 

As righteous women we need to stand up for what we know if truth and good. This world has too much man's wisdom and not enough of God's. When we listen to man we get confused, when we listen to the Spirit of God it becomes clear again, simple knowledge.

Well Done my Good an Faithful Servant

Doctrine and Covenants 14:7
"And, if you ^akeep my commandments and ^bendure to the end you shall have ^ceternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

Some days I wake up and wonder if I really want to live forever. My body aches and I feel tired a lot more as I get older. But in the end I usually realize that I do want to live forever because I know that if I can endure and keep God's commandments then I can live forever with a stronger body and spirit.

God gives us commandments to test us and see if we will choose to keep them or not. If we do then we can receive eternal life. One thing we have to remember is that eternal life is a gift from God.

I never really thought much about that. I just knew I needed to keep the commandments of God and I would be happy but what does that mean?

I have found over the years that enduring our trials meant that if we could learn from our these experiences then we grew stronger and had gained the things we needed to become better people. And, that is was possible to endure challenges by keeping the commandments.
If we put God first in our thoughts then when we experience life we can follow a path that helps us to become stronger and happier. 

Over my many years of life I have experienced many challenges and trials that have made me stronger. When I was younger I suffered over these things by thinking only of the trial. I came to realize that trials weren't punishment for something I did wrong but were things to help create the best me I can be. 

As I grew and studied God's words I began to put God first in my thoughts. So when the trails came I was able to think of what God wanted me to learn from it and it helped me to get through it easier and happier. God's gift to me is eternal life but my gift to Him is what I do with my life.

Jesus suffered more than  any one person has ever suffered. He did not lose his faith, he endured it to the end. Righteous women can follow His example so that we can strengthen ourselves and then others to become the people we need to become, as God's people. Then when we it is all done we will hear the words, "Well done my good and faithful servant."

Can we Understand God's Ways?

Isaiah 55:8-9

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I have no faith in politics yet they consume my life some days. I don't believe in political parties; they have too many selfish ways. Politicians tend to get so caught up in staying up with the what the party stands for rather than what is good for the people.

Some people have questions religious beliefs because they can't understand why things have to be a certain way. We shouldn't question God's way so much because He is able to see the whole picture and we can not. We have to trust in Him and His wisdom. He has a plan and we nay never be able to understand it all.

One example of this is self reliance. Many politicians think the best way to help people is to give hand outs to the poor. But what does that do for them in the long run? It makes them more needy and not able to do for themselves.

When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden God did not hand them everything; He expected them to work and learn how to do for themselves. That plan is still in place, God expects us to continue to work and learn how to take care of ourselves and our families.

We may not be able to see His plan in this but we must know that it is for our happiness and growth. He will always know more than us but as we study and ponder the things in our lives we will find wisdom and begin to see His ways better.

Self reliance is good; it helps to create responsible and loving citizens. We all feel good when we know we have done good things. We are happy when we know we have taken care of our own needs. And we feel successful when we know we can help others. 

I remember many times in my life when I received help from people, I felt loved. But the greatest feelings was when it was my turn and I was able to help others. 

Righteous women need to be about God's work, we don't have to understand everything we just have to do something to help ourselves and our families and eventually others. We need to focus on God's plan and then we will see a good world.

Becoming His People

Moses 7:18 
"And the Lord called his people ^aZion, because they were of ^bone heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."

What does it mean to be "His People"? When Jesus returns to the earth He will rule as our King; we will live in His Kingdom. Jesus has rules for us now, commandments, that we are to follow while He is not here, so when He comes again He will still have rules for His Kingdom that we will continue to follow making us one with Him.

Those rules will be the ones that are found in His Gospel contained in the scriptures. If we all live those rules we will become His people. We all have to be of one heart and one mind. So what makes us of one heart and mind? The story of Enoch in the book of Genesis is a good example. They lived in such a way that there were no poor among them, they all looked out for each other and became known as Zion.

I have thought about today's schools. Everyone has to be and think the same or there is something wrong with them. It seems that if your child is not like the norm then he is labeled as having a problem, or is abnormal. That's not true, what ever happened to creativity and freedom to be who you want to be? 

I remember years ago I went into a parent/teacher conference for my oldest son; this was for kindergarten. The teacher commented that my son was a little different than the rest. She said he liked to talked to himself. When I asked for an example she told me that one day while every one else was coloring quietly he was playing with his pencil and made it look like it was a rocket ship, noises included. I told her that was imagination which I encouraged in my children. She just stared at me.

But using this as an example, being one heart and one mind does not mean we are all doing and thinking the same things, like some schools want us to do. Being righteous means doing good things. If we are all doing good things then we have the same goal of making sure our brother and this world is taken care of. God doesn't tell us what to do, he wants us to have an imagination and do what we can to help our brother, not in our way, but in God's way.

God's way is to help others gain the tools they need to take care of their own self and family, then help others to do the same. No poor among them means we all work together, as one, to do the will of Jesus Christ, and love one another by doing so much good that no one is left behind. 

We can be a Zion people now by opening our minds and hearts to finding ways of helping others along the path of life. If people don't have to worry about everyday living things then they will be  better able to focus on serving God and doing a lot of good. Let's all put God first in our lives and become a Zion people, His people.

For I am not Ashamed

Romans 1: 16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Years ago, I discovered that whenever I was in a public place I would always speak of God or things of spiritual nature in a low voice. I justified it as speaking in a humble manner of spiritual things but truly it was because I didn't want any confrontation from those who might believe differently.

After reading this scripture I realized that it seemed I was ashamed of my faith. I wasn't really but I wasn't acting as if I wasn't certain of who I was and what I stood for. I didn't proclaim the righteous values that I tried to live daily; I knew that had to change.

Now, whenever I speak of Jesus Christ or anything spiritual I don't lower my voice. I want people to know that I am a true believer of my Savior and His gospel. I know that Jesus is the Christ and He paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could return home and live forever in the most wonderful place ever, home with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

To be a righteous woman it requires us to make stands and proclaim our beliefs, not in a way that turn people off but through our example and not having fear to speak up for things of truth and light. The day will come when troubled people of the world will look to those of faith for guidance. We are the Lord's ambassadors, we need not be ashamed of what we believe.

It's Time for General Conference!!!

 I love General Conference!!!

Twice a year, we Mormons, get together and listen to our beloved leaders teach us about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how we can live our lives in a closer alignment with His. Well it's time for our second one in the year 2013.

Fall is a beautiful time for me and as General Conference approaches next weekend, I grow even more excited to hear the Word. It's time for a spiritual feast like no other. We, as adults, love this time but our families may not be as excited about sitting through several two hour sessions all weekend. Now is the time to prepare your family to enjoy and learn from these wonderful words of wisdom.

Here are some wonderful ideas to help with young children and teens have better experiences with General Conference.

Conference Squares

General Conference Bingo

General Conference Journal

General Conference Games

General Conference Activity Bags

General Authority Ties

General Conference crosswords

These are only a few ideas that can provide some good fun while your children learn. Maybe for family home evening you could discuss some fun things your family might like to do. You can plan breakfast menus and snack ideas, too, that might help your family find more joy in this time of spiritual training. There are so many different things that can be done so you can walk away with uplifting lessons from General Conference to change your heart for good.

For Adults;

I remember once, when my kids were young, that we went to visit some friends and we watched conference with them. It was so awesome to sit after a session was over and discuss the lessons we learned as adults. I was spiritually lifted through these conversations with other adults. This might be helpful to young single adults to help them gain more out of conference, too.

I hope what ever you decide to do that it will be uplifting and fulfilling in your life, and the lives of your families. I love General Conference and I hope you do, too!!!

Feel free to add other ideas to the list to share with other families that might be struggling with this time. Happy General Conference Weekend to all!!!