- Doug & Laurel

The point is to look to Him, know Him, and allow His enabling grace to turn us into the people He wants us to be. He has provided a way. He is the way. The law and the requirements are in His hands. And as the purchaser of our souls, He has made it possible for us to overcome sin, become like Him, and partake of every blessing He desires us to have.

He has not paid the price of death and hell for us only to lose us to our own imperfections. The matter hinges on our choice to accept Him as our Savior and trust that if we do what He has asked of us, He will enable us to become all that He wants us to be.

I’m glad the information helped. I can’t wait to see these incredible things happen. People often focus so much on the scary things coming that they forget what a wonderful time it will be for the faithful.

Good to here from you!

- Chas

Isn’t agency amazing?

Very beautifully written, Ria!

Thanks for commenting. Those are very interesting points you made. They reminded me of a quote by Spencer W. Kimball:

President Spencer W. Kimball:

“Humility is not weakness, but strength.
Armed only with a chord whip, he drove moneychangers from the temple. Confronted by reprobates, who presented an adulterous for stoning, he put them all to flight. He upbraided the thousands of inhabitants of Capernaum without a guard to protect him. Almost alone among His accusers, he chided and condemned them. One can be bold and meek at the same time. One can be courageous and humble. If the Lord was meek and lowly and humble, then to become humble, one must do what Christ did, in boldly denouncing evil, bravely advancing righteous works, courageously meeting every problem, becoming the master of Himself and the situations around him, and being near oblivious to personal credit. Humble and meek properly suggest virtues, not weakness… They suggest a consistent mildness of temper and the absence of wrath and passion. Humility suggests no affection, no bombastic actions. It is not turbid nor grandiloquent. It is not servile submissiveness. It is not coward nor frightened. No shadow or shaking of the leaf terrorizes.
“Humility is not pretentious, presumptuous or proud. It is not weak, vacillatingly or servile. Humility is gracious, quiet, serene – not pompous, spectacular. It is subdued, kindly and understanding – not crude, blatant, loud or ugly. Humility… never struts nor swaggers. Its faithful, quiet works will be the badge of its own accomplishments. It never sets itself in the center of the stage, leaving all others supporting roles. Humility is never accusing or contentious. It’s not boastful. How does one get humble? To me, one must constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom dependent? On the Lord. How remind ones-self? By real, constant, worshipful, grateful prayer.”

SWK, Improvement Era, Aug. 1936 p. 656

Anyway, thanks again for your comments!

Christ called people names, “you brood of vipers” “white washed tombs”, spoke harshly in general, overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple and in general, was bold. What I see lacking in that quote is any exemplification of boldness. That is what I find disturbing, the woman described there is a whisper or a shadow, not an active participant confidently standing up for her position.

THanks for letting me share my comments.

I suppose the attributes of tenderness, kindness, faith, virtue, and goodness never really have been popular in the world – after all, wasn’t it those attributes in Christ that drove the people in His day to crucify Him? Without the refined character that He possessed, He could have led His followers into rebellions against the government. He could have used His power to gain the highest seat in the synagogue. But He never even once used His influence to gain those things.

I don’t doubt that some of His followers thought He was being passive and lacking ambition, so of course when He was killed, they thought He’d failed in His life.

But those who knew Him best learned quickly that His real ambitions were much higher than what the government or synagogue had to offer. He was trying to become like His Father. He was working for a Heavenly Kingdom, which the world could not see. Is there anything more ambitious than that? He was not being passive. In every sense of the word, He was being proactive.

So now they just change it to things like, “oh, well, this is just what we’re doing to ourselves by causing global warming.” If it is global warming, then the way I see it, we better get ready even faster than we’ve been doing, because now scientists are projecting major natural calamities to come out of this problem. The prophets never said global warming wouldn’t be the cause of some of these disasters.

If science is now backing up what the prophets have been saying, then I think it’s time the world starts paying attention to the prophets.

“Many problems may require only one or two of these solutions.”

I’m going to have to keep this handy, so when I’m having a problem, I can consult the list and decide which one or two would work the best. One of the hardest things for me is figuring out what to do.

Pres. Monson’s talk is the topic of my RS lesson this coming Sunday. I am sooooo glad you posted your talk. I am rather nervous about teaching, but after reading your talk and how you approached the counsel, quote, examples, and questions given in his talk, I feel much more comfortable. I’m not good with the abstract, so it’s good to see an example of exactly how I could segue from one thought to another, as well as how to use the examples. Thank you, thank you! Teaching is not my forte, but I sure would like it to be. Thanks again, Cheri

Thanks for the comment and the complement. I’m glad you liked my talk. And I’m glad that I was able to help you with yours. It sounds like your talk is going to be a great one! That’s awesome that you have some pioneers in your family and you can share their stories. Hope all goes well with your talk and have a happy 24th!