Becoming a True Disciple - Converted Unto the Lord

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2012 General Conference.

The talks by Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the Seventy, and Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve, seemed to me to go hand in hand. 

Elder Johnson said, "Making the covenant to be a disciple of Christ is the beginning of a lifelong process, and the path is not always easy."

Elder Bednar said, "True conversion brings a change in one's beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God (see Acts 3:19, 3 Nephi 9:20) and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ."

Elder Johnson - "Becoming like Him and being one with Him is the ultimate goal and objective--and essentially the very definition of true discipleship." He quotes his grandson Benjamin, "Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means being an example. It means being a missionary. It means to serve others. It means you read the scriptures and say your prayers. It means you keep the Sabbath day holy. It means you listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. It means going to church and going to the temple." Then he says, "I agree with Benjamin. Discipleship is all about doing and becoming."

Elder Bednar - "[T]he key characteristics associated with conversion are experiencing a mighty change in our hearts, having a disposition to do good continually, going forward in the path of duty, walking circumspectly before God, keeping the commandments, and serving with unwearied diligence. . . . For many of us conversion is an ongoing process and not a onetime event . . ." 

Having gone through some really hard challenges in recent years, and days, I've been told that I am a strong woman. I don't feel strong most of the time. As I pondered this compliment to me I realized that I'm not strong at all, but I am yoked with my Savior and He is strong! He is my strength. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, as Paul said. (Philippians 4:13) I'm trying to be a faithful disciple. Sometimes I'm just going through the motions, but my mission president taught us that we should always be where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing and our spirit will catch up to where our body is. I know that is true. Sometimes the catch up is quick, sometimes it is long in coming. But I must continue to press forward with steadfastness in Christ, as Nephi said (2 Nephi 31:20), because it is by doing that we become.

It's so hard to look at ourselves and determine our progress and standing, mostly because we tend to be our worst critics. Which is why I don't think of myself as a "strong woman". Until I hear it from someone else, or pray about it (my standing before the Lord) and realize that I'm on the right path and making progress toward the "promised land".

Life is hard! It's meant to be because it is a test of our faith and obedience. In my own mind I liken it to a handcart trek across the plains. When hard things happen what is the alternative to continuing? I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I can't just sit down and wait for things to get better, because they never really do. Oh, there's a pretty sunset, or maybe a wildflower to see once in a while, but the trek is fraught with trials of all kinds and I just have to pass through them to get to the other side of them. The trials won't be taken away, no matter how much I beg (which I've long ago stopped asking for), rather I pray for strength and help to make it through them, often daily! 

In recent months and through the latest trial I've asked myself if I'm becoming more like Jesus. I want to and I try, but I feel so weak and far from being the person I want to be. I'm so grateful for the Savior! He truly is the one who saves me, redeems me and succors me. My love and gratitude for Him is what keeps me going. I trust His words that the greatest gift is eternal life and I want to prove worthy of that gift.

The Basic Habits of Righteousness Never Change

 

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the October 2012 General Conference.

When I, a woman, read the talks given to the priesthood holders I try to think of how what is said applies to me as a member of the church and a member of Relief Society. This week I felt drawn to what Elder Anthony D. Perkins said in his talk Beware Concerning Yourselves.

He told a story of driving over the Rocky Mountains and noticing the guardrails and warning signs, likening them to "deep personal conversion and strong family relations to help keep us on the heavenly highway," what President Nelson called, the covenant path.

Elder Perkins reminded the brethren (and the rest of us) of six fundamental principles that deepen conversion and strengthen family.

1) Praying always opens the door for divine help to "conquer Satan."

2) Studying ancient and modern scripture connects us to God.

3) Worthily participating in ordinances prepares us to take "the Holy Spirit for [our] guide."

4) Showing genuine love is at the heart of personal conversion and family relations.

5) Obeying the law of tithing is an essential element of faith and family unity.

6) Fully living the law of chastity yields confidence to stand "in the presence of God" with the Holy Ghost as our "constant companion".

My marriage is an example of the consequences of not living these six principles. I have a holy envy of couples who do. Their lives seems to be more united, serene in the face of mortal trials, and genuinely more fun, free of the strife that accompanies disobedience and being unequally yoked.

I call those six principles the basic habits of righteousness--if we do those things we are so much further ahead and so much more blessed than if we neglect them and try to keep, as Elder Maxwell said so eloquently, a summer home in Babylon.

I hope that someday I'll be worthy of the blessing of being equally yoked with a priesthood holder who lives those six basic principles.

Trial of Your Faith

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday afternoon session of the October 2012 General Conference.

Thursday morning I got a call from the nurse at the school where my husband teaches asking me to come pick him up. He had passed out in class and wasn't feeling well. A few minutes later, before I had a chance to leave, the nurse called back saying that EMT's were transporting him to a hospital. When I arrived at the hospital he was already in the Catheterization Lab having a procedure done. I was taken into a private room to wait for the doctor to talk to me. A cardiologist came in to explain that they had found he had four major arteries blocked anywhere from 70-90%. They wanted to do open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass. Another doctor, a cardiac surgeon, came in to explain all of that to me. I broke down into tears at the enormity of the situation. 

The surgeon decided to do one more test of his heart function to make sure he would survive the surgery and found that his heart function was less than the 25% threshold. It was decided that they would attempt other means to open the blockages--stents and balloons. The doctor was able to open three arteries and left the fourth for later. Sometime during all this my husband had a mini-stroke that affected only his left leg. He will have to go to Rehab for therapy before he can come home.

Clearing all the blockages didn't completely cure the Ventricular Tachycardia or V-tach, so he'll have to have a defibrillator implanted before he leaves the hospital. Oh yay.

This has been a hard week. It is not exactly a trial of my faith in Jesus Christ, but it is sure a trial of my strength and endurance, so Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk was especially pertinent to me.

How do you remain "steadfast and immovable" during a trial of faith? You immerse yourself in the very things that helped build your core of faith: you exercise faith in Christ, you pray, you ponder the scriptures, you repent, you keep the commandments, and you serve others. . . . It is within the sanctuary of the Church that we protect our faith. Meeting together with others who believe, we pray and find answers to our prayers; we worship through music, share testimony of the Savior, serve one another, and feel the Spirit of the Lord.

I went to church on Sunday because I wanted to thank the Saints for their prayers and to bear testimony of the goodness and tender mercies of God.

In the footnotes of Elder Andersen's talk is a quote from President George Q. Cannon that resonated with me:

No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not in His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we will not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.

I'm doing my best to do so. I must have some fairly rough edges to polish off, or tarnished bits to polish up before I pass my mortal test because the trials just keep coming! But I refuse to give in or give up. I want to prove faithful and endure to the end.

 

 

I Know That My Redeemer Lives!

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday morning session of the October 2012 General Conference.

Reading and listening to Elder Shayne M. Bowen tell about his feelings after the death of their young son brought back all the terrible and tender feelings I've had following the death of our adult son.

I was given to know that I had not been robbed but rather that there was a great blessing awaiting me if I would prove faithful.

At one point I cried out to God, "Why didn't I get a miracle?" of intervention. The Spirit whispered back to me "It was more merciful not to intervene because he was on a road to destruction." At that moment I could feel Our Father's great love for James, as well as for me. God's omniscience allows Him to see the end from the beginning, so when He says He was being merciful I believe Him.

The same feelings of loyalty, love, and family unity don't end as our loved ones pass to the other side; instead, those feelings are intensified.

I've wondered if James, from the other side, will have more influence on his wayward brothers than he ever would have while here. I hope so. He loves his brothers, and they love him!

I have learned that the bitter, almost unbearable pain can become sweet as you turn to your Father in Heaven and plead for His comfort that comes through His plan; His Son, Jesus Christ; and His Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost.

It's true! I still have moments when the pain of loss seems unbearable, when I'm so lonely for my precious son that I feel I can't go on. Then the sweet refrain, learned sixty years ago in Primary echos in my mind, "I know that my Redeemer lives; what comfort this sweet sentence gives!"  My adversity and afflictions will last but a small moment, and if I endure it well, I'll be reunited with our son and have a fullness of joy. 

 

 

Arise and Shine!

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Young Women session of the April 2012 General Conference.

In the second half of 2025 there was a lot of hoopla about the new garment style with long lines at distribution centers, and a crashing website, and overly long waits for any order from the church online store. All social media lit up with everyones opinions. I have an opinion too, but haven't shared it anywhere.

Sister Elaine Dalton, General President of the Young Women, spoke to them about standing up and shining for truth and righteousness. Her hero is Moroni who, "in a very degenerate society, . . . remained pure and true."

She reminded the young women that "These are your days, and now is the time for young women everywhere to 'arise and shine forth, that they light may be a standard for the nations,'" explaining that "A standard is a rule of measure by which one determines exactness or perfection."

My favorite line from Sister Dalton is "If you desire to make a difference in the world, you must be different from the world." When I read that I thought of the new style garments and wrote in the margin of my magazine (I read all the talks in my old conference issues of the Ensign) "Like dressing differently, modestly, recognizably a follower of Jesus." How can we shine as a light to the world when we are indistinguishable from them?

Sister Dalton told of standing in the celestial room of the Reno, Nevada temple looking at the light streaming into the room made even more brilliant by the crystal chandelier. "It took my breath away as I realized that the Savior is 'the light and the life of the world,' that it is His light we must hold up and reflect. We are the tiny crystals that reflect His light, and in order to do that, we must be clean and free from the dust of the world."

One of the things I love about the "plain peoples", the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites (and any other of their kind), is that they are instantly recognizable; just as male missionaries are recognizable in their clean cut appearance wearing plain slacks, white shirts and ties. (Sister missionaries are less so because of their non-uniform style of dress.) 

In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told not to be proud in our hearts; letting all our garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of our own hands, and to let all things be done in cleanliness before the Lord. (D&C 42:40-41) At one time I studied all that God had said about modesty, clothing, and such in all four standard works. I believe that wearing "plain" clothing doesn't mean unadorned, rather it means that because of our clothing it will be obvious (plain) to others that we are a covenant people, disciples of Jesus Christ. And that when the fashions of the world are incompatible with that, that we are called to make our own clothing. 

How will covenant LDS women be distinguishable from the world if we look and dress just like them? The fact that so many women want the ability to wear skimpy sleeveless clothing is so sad to me. Looking different invites questions from others and can initiate conversations about the Gospel and covenants. I want to look different! I want it to be plain that I am a covenant follower of Jesus Christ, endowed in the temple with power and potential blessings.

Sister Dalton always taught truth in direct and loving ways. This was another inspired and inspiring example.