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

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.

Hasten the Work of Salvation

We have been commanded to hasten the work. What is the work; to progress the cause of God. Moses 1:39 says that His work and His glory is us! So how do we help in that? We build the Kingdom, which is to strengthen one another and to help people find Christ.

When we think about that we pretty much think of missionary work and helping in that area but it also means to help those who have passed on. We do this through family history work. We are running out of time and now is the time to get this work done.

I have just recently been called by our Stake at church to be a Family History Director, there are two of us. The other one focuses on the Family History Center, and I focus on getting people into the Family History Center to do their work.

I love this calling because I love this work. But I have come to realize that with that love and helping other to get busy in it, I have not done as much in mine as I should have by now. Genealogy has been a part of life for over 30 years. But I am still just barely getting it organized.And that is the key, getting organized. There are many ways to keep your records but you have to choose one or it can be time consuming just trying to...well organize.

Some ways to organize your records are by keeping a hard copy in binders, or filing cabinets. But what if you have a fire, flood, or storm that destroys those records? Keeping a soft copy is good, too.
You can store it on a SD card, a CD, or just on the computer in organized files, and even on an external hard drive.

But what if your computer gets fried or stolen? What if you lose those SD cards or CD's? The way modern technology keeps changing, those SD cards might not be able to be used in the near future.

Hmmm, what else can you do to save your records? I think one of the safest ways is to record this information on websites that specialize in family trees. This is one way people learn about their ancestors is by sharing information on the websites. Ancestry.com would be a great place a to share that info but it has a price attached. It's worth it if you use it a lot, but if you do it only once in a while, well it may not be advised.

Ancestry.com

Familysearch.org is an excellent place to store your information, its free!!!

Familysearch.org

They believe that we are all one big family and if we all submit our trees then we can see how we are related to one another. I thought that was pretty cool. There was a team of 150 people who submitted as many names in their tree as possible and they found that 148 of them were related within 9 generation, that is way cool.

Your ancestors are calling you, it's time to answer and find them. Time is short and technology has made easier than ever. Hasten the Work now!!!

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.

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.

Ye are the Light of the World!!!

Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

Last Saturday, early morning, I made a short 1 hour trip to Orlando to attend the temple. On my trip to and from I spent time talking to my Heavenly Father about my trials and goals. I enjoyed my session, and cried through most of it; I was spiritual moved by my time there. I took a little extra time in the Celestial Room to clear my mind from all the difficult issues that have entered into my life recently. All in all it was a good start to my day and I was ready to meet my challenges when I left.

Later that day the sister missionaries called and asked me to meet them at the home of an investigator who was interested in family history. I did and I walked away feeling real good about the opportunity I had to share my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That evening my youngest son and I needed to run to the store to pick up a couple of items that was needed for the Sabbath Day. As we were walking into the store a very nice gentleman greeted us with this comment;
"The Holy Ghost just told me that you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ."

I smiled and exclaimed, "Yes, I am." He kept walking and then yelled over his shoulder saying, "And that nice young man with you is, too."

I agreed that my son was, too. I felt great that someone recognized my love of the Savior Jesus Christ through my countenance.

When we do the thing the Lord expects of us, through obedience, we can shine the Light of Christ in our lives. We won't be able to hide that light that radiates from our souls. We can be that beacon that others will look to for guidance in troubling times.

We do live in a very troubled world, and we as righteous women need to be that beacon. So fill your day with good things and watch how others react to you. Smile when you pass someone, say hello to someone who looks sad, and help when someone can use a hand. It's up to us to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, so shine the light and hold it high for all to see.

I'm a Mormon and I love Jesus Christ

Well, last night I watched the World Wide Training for Mission Presidents and Missionaries. Everyone was invited to attend and since I have a missionary in training at home, possibly 2 in training, we decided we should attend.

Hastening the Work of Salvation

After it was over I thought for a few minutes about what was said and realized that this is an open door to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the whole world. I started to get excited and my mind began to race with ideas about how I can do my part and be a better missionary.

One way is through this blog. I have tried many directions to make it successful but now I know what I really want to do with it. I am going to share my testimony by sharing my life events with those who read it,even if I have only one reader who can benefits from it. But hopefully, that will include people who don't know Jesus personally but have been thinking about it.

I will pray that it reaches those who need to hear the Word but don't know how to go about finding it. I promise, even though my life is in an upheaval at this time, that I will publish once a week. I will share the things that I discover through my studies in the scriptures because I have been blessed with finding countless treasures in them.

This is an exciting time in this world. We can either look for good and do much good or we can look for bad and do much bad. There is no in between any longer. The time is fast coming for our Lord and Savior to return to this earth. We have to decide long before that which side we are on.

So I shout from my housetop, I am a true follower of Jesus Christ. I trust Him and love Him with all my heart. I will commit to do everything I can to become like Him and serve my fellow beings. It doesn't mean I won't make mistakes or make errors in my life but it does mean I will quickly repent and make things right and get back on track again.

We can all do this if we just make that commitment to put our Heavenly Father first in our lives. So catch the vision and yell from your housetops, that you are committed to and love the Savior of this world.

I am a Mormon!!! I know it, I live it and I love it because Mormons are followers of Jesus Christ, always have been and always will be.

Need to Stay Awake

I have a young friend at work who sends me an email every day called "Daily Bread". This is a Christian post that sends uplifting messages to those who need to hear the Word of God. I love that she sends these to me because they really do make me think. This past week I reflected upon one that touched my heart some, so I would like to share my thoughts on this one today.

Our Daily Bread

The post was called 'Heart Attitude' and was about having passion to do the Lords work. He said that after a football team is no longer able to win the championship the players just go through the motions but have no heart in the game any more.

This made me think about us as Christians and how we profess to be followers of Christ but are only giving lip service and not acting as He would have us act. I am guilty of this from time to time. Its like I fall asleep and forget what I am supposed to be doing. He needs me to do my part in building his kingdom here on the earth.

There have been times in my life that I realized that I have been functioning daily while being mentally asleep, meaning I live each day but I just go through the motions. Its all routine and I can do this in my sleep. Even at work when my brain wants to sleep I realize that I got through my assigned work but question if I did it correctly because I didn't remember doing it. Because I can do most of it in my sleep but my brain gains nothing. If I don't use my brain and make it work then I will get no where in my career. So I have to stay focused.

When I realize that I am standing still in my spiritual self, feeling lost and distanced from God,  I usually figure out that its my own fault that I have not been growing in knowledge of the Gospel and my relationship with Him. My prayers become weak and my thoughts are not focused on the Gospel and my responsibilities. I have to make a heart attitude adjustment. When I start doing the things that are required of me then I feel alive and awake and I want to shout out to all telling them what I have learned!

We live in the last days and have been warned to be prepared for the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. We can not fall asleep at this time, we have to constantly stand and watch for His return so that we can be ready to follow Him home to live in peace. Hopefully, as we do this each and every day, our example and our desire for others to know and be ready too, will become stronger so that we can be contributing to the strength that will be needed from each of us to make this Kingdom stand firm and immovable.

I do love my Savior and our Father in Heaven. I want to return home to them and share my life with all those I love and worked hard with to receive the glories that will be given to us through the Grace of our Savior. I love when my testimony grows and some days I do have to share it with others.


Usually when my young friend at work and I go for a morning walk we are able to share our thoughts about the Gospel and I get the opportunity to share what I know with her. This is my way of doing the Lords work and keeping myself awake each day.

Sisters, stay awake and shine the Gospel of Jesus Christ each and every day so we can live in that wonderful place that is being prepared for us in Heaven.

When Opportunities Arise

So back a couple of years ago my daughter and my son-in-law gave me a surprise visit; they lived out of state in Utah. While we were visiting in the lobby of my work place another employee came by. I introduced my family to her and she said she lived in Utah once, so my return missionary son-in-law asks her if she is a Mormon. She replied only when she was little. After she left he turned to me and said there is your missionary opportunity.

A few months ago I received a quick phone call from her saying that I was the only person she could think of to share this exciting find that she had gotten involved in...Genealogy. She started sharing her stories of what she found and how far back she had gone, I informed her that I was the Family History Consultant at church so I could be of some help to her.

Just this week she called me again and shared some more news about a distant family member that she did not know, who she was able to contact her regarding a great-great grandparent. I was so excited for her. So we made plans to have lunch this month and see what all she has discovered since we last talked.

I am not a good missionary. I don't start conversations with people about the gospel but I have no problem discussing the gospel with people who ask questions and really want to know what we believe. I know a lot about the gospel and can probably answer just about any question. I have a strong testimony of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ but I have a hard time starting the discussions.

Now I have this opportunity to share the gospel through this love of genealogy that we both have, to help this wonderful daughter of God restore what she once had as a child. But I don't know how to make it happen. She has been placed in my path and I can't walk away without giving her something to think about.

As a righteous woman it is my responsibility to share what I know with people. The first thing I think I have to do is take this in prayer to my Heavenly Father and ask for direction because He knows her and what curiosities she might have. Next, I will probably try to share as much information as I can while we talk about the importance of family history. Perhaps this will be a start, all I know is here is an opportunity and I will have to answer for it if I don't act upon it.

She may not want to hear anything I have to say except for the genealogy tips and I will honor her wishes if that is the case but I will never know if I don't try.