Joy of Forgiveness

Spring Will Come

The Lord prepared me to accept my mom’s passing, and I had moments of exquisite peace, but sometimes my grief threatened to overwhelm me. On the afternoon of my mother’s funeral, I walked with my companion in the Sacred Grove. Snow covered the ground and crunched beneath our feet; everything was shades of white and brown and gray. Looking around in light of what had happened, it was hard to remember what spring felt like. The cold wind shook bare branches. My heart ached. Like the outside world, this season in my life felt like winter.

To learn more: Spring Will Come

General Women's Session Choir

This year’s general women’s session choir is a microcosm of the worldwide Church. Since 1830, the Church has grown from six members in Fayette, New York, to 15 million members found in countries across the globe. There are now more members outside the United States than inside, and the Church publishes materials in 188 languages.

Many of the sisters have endured unspeakable hardships—witnessing genocide and experiencing displacement and deprivation. “The Savior has suffered for their pains. There is such a sacred spirit about this choir because there are little children that have been rescued from death multiple times who are now singing about the Savior. It’s very, very powerful, and it is sacred,” Sister Severinsen said.

To learn more: General Women's Session Choir

Making the Sabbath a Delight

Accept the challenge to be more deliberate in what you DO on the Sabbath. Keep yourself on track by printing out the Sabbath Day Bucket List. Choose one activity to do each week with your family, and check it off once you've completed it. It is as simple as that.

To learn more: Making the Sabbath a Delight

Family Friendly Ideas for Centering Easter on Christ

Kids love Easter. And why wouldn’t they? It’s the latest in the line of commercialized holidays focused on chocolates, treats, and trinkets.

Knowing that Easter is not about bunnies, baskets, and egg hunts, and wanting my kids to understand the same, I looked online for ideas to focus the holiday more on Jesus Christ. A few years ago we started making these resurrection rolls on Easter Sunday. I found that it was a fun way to teach my kids about the significance of the Savior’s sacrifice and the miracle of His Resurrection. And the kids look forward to it every year.

To learn more: Family Friendly Ideas for Centering Easter on Christ

Parenting

To learn more: The Family - A Proclamation to the World

Notes from Women's Conference

Did you miss Women's Conference? Sister Jackie Riley has shared her notes from Sister Elaine Dalton's comments on What Would a Holy Woman Do?

• Ask HARD Questions
• Ask questions with the intent to ACT!
• Think of yourself as a HOLY WOMAN already….You are one
• If you feel you are not HOLY then utilize the Atonement and YOU WILL BE A HOLY WOMAN again
• Each of us are ELECT – not ordinary
• We had exceeding faith – that is why we came on earth to live
• Each of us are here in this day to change the world
• We must PRESS FORWARD
• We’re all going to experience resistance
• We have an EDGE – it is the constant companionship of the HOLY GHOST
• The Lord is absolutely in the details of our lives
• From the Hymn…..More fit for the kingdom  -- we must strive to be
• FAITH is a POWER!
• TESTIMONY is a POWER!
• VIRTUE is a POWER….
• The HOLINESS is a POWER!
• Stand ye in holy places and be not moved
• D&C 88 – establish a house of order, faith, fasting, prayer, a HOUSE OF GOD
• The Spirit cannot dwell in unholy places
• Covenants are the vehicle that makes us holy
• There are angels round about you as you attend the temple
• The TEMPLE is in the center of our lives
• Doctrine & Covenants 46 – we have the ability to receive Spiritual Gifts
• We have the gift of DISCERNMENT
• We have the gift of UNDERSTANDING
• Your purity and light shines from within you
• We are living below our privileges –Eliza R. Snow
• Your Patriarchal Blessing tells you of individual gifts
• If you keep your covenants – parents your children who have gone astray will one day come back to the fold
Referenced Elder Nelson’s talk “A Plea to My Sisters” – Oct 2015 General Conference
• We need your strength, conversion, conviction, your voice
• Women in the church must be distinct and different
• We need women who are organized and who can organize
• We need women who receive revelation
• We need women who are covenant keepers
• Awake and arise as is explained in Moroni
• Lay hold on every good gift
• Covet the BEST GIFTS!  The scriptures teach us we should
• HAPPY WAYS are HOLY WAYS

• Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and he will direct thy path