I don’t know how to put into words a commentary on this powerful video the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just released, so I’ll let the video speak for itself. It is definitely a good reminder of what we are here for and what this life is about. We all struggle at times, but there is hope in the love of our Savior and his comforting influence in our times of need. Sometimes He will come immediately; other times He will come later. Just know that He will be there exactly when we need Him most.
Some powerful words that hit me while watching were, “I’m here to keep trying” “It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon.” and “It’s your choices that show what you truly are far more than your abilities. Even if I failed, I could choose not to give up.”
It’s time for General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
General Conference is a biannual conference where members of the Church listen to the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders speak to the world about Jesus Christ and His gospel.
I wrote about General Conference before and you can read more about it here.
To read, listen to, or watch General Conference you can visit the Church’s website.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t have one person who gives talks or sermons to us each week during our sacrament meeting. The speakers are selected from the members of the congregation who are asked to prepare a talk. I was recently asked to speak. The subject of the talk was to be based upon a recent speech given at General Conference. The speech was Spiritually Defining Memories s by Elder Neil L. Anderson. I thought I would also share it here.
My Talk on Spiritually Defining Moments
During General Conference this year we celebrated 200 years since Joseph Smith’s First Vision.The vision was so powerful that amidst attacks from others, this 14 years old boy would testify of the experience again and again throughout his life stating, “I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did, in reality, speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true. … I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”
Joseph Smith continued to testify of Jesus Christ and God the Father till his untimely death. Joseph wrote he as turned himself over to his captors at Carthage Jail, knowing that he would not return, “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men.”.
Elder Neil L. Anderson called this our “spiritually defining experiences”. He says,“There is a lesson for us in the Prophet Joseph’s example. Along with the peaceful direction we receive from the Holy Ghost, from time to time, God powerfully and very personally assures each of us that He knows us and loves us and that He is blessing us specifically and openly. Then, in our moments of difficulty, the Savior brings these experiences back into our mind.”
My Experience
One experience stands above others that I think back to when times are tough and I’m doubting.
I was in my room reading several years when I suddenly felt the desire to pray. I knelt down and started to pray. I don’t remember if I got much further than addressing God when I felt the most overwhelming sense of love from my Heavenly Father. As I basked in the heavenly love, there was little more that I needed to say. I simply said “Thank you” and closed my prayer.
With this experience I can completely identify with Elder Anderson when he said, “When personal difficulty, doubt, or discouragement darken our path, or when world conditions beyond our control lead us to wonder about the future, the spiritually defining memories from our book of life are like luminous stones that help brighten the road ahead, assuring us that God knows us, loves us, and has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to help us return home. And when someone sets their defining memories aside and is lost or confused, we turn them toward the Savior as we share our faith and memories with them, helping them rediscover those precious spiritual moments they once treasured.”
Though my experience was such a spiritually defining moment, it is still several years old. We are entitled to personal revelation and companionship from the Holy Ghost on a daily basis. We just need to make sure we are positioning ourselves to be receptive when the Lord sees fit to bless us. Elder Anderson says, “We hear Him in our prayers, in our homes, in the scriptures, in our hymns, as we worthily partake of the sacrament, as we declare our faith, as we serve others, and as we attend the temple with fellow believers. Spiritually defining moments come as we prayerfully listen to general conference and as we better keep the commandments.”
An Invitation
We have recently heard President Russell M. Nelson say: “I invite you to think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him? I also invite you to take steps to hear Him better and more often.”
Embrace your sacred memories. Believe them. Write them down. Share them with your family. Trust that they come to you from your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. Let them bring patience to your doubts and understanding to your difficulties. I promise you that as you willingly acknowledge and carefully treasure the spiritually defining events in your life, more and more will come to you. Heavenly Father knows you and loves you!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a short video yesterday featuring Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder Bednar shares how he is able to hear the voice of the Lord in his own life. I feel it is universal to all who are trying to learn how to feel the Spirit in their life. We could all use a spiritual boost from the Spirit every day.
I like how he says that “the scriptures are the prerecorded voice of the Lord” and then describes the spirit as a non audible voice and a feeling in the mind and heart. I can attest to that as I’ve felt that feeling in my mind and in my heart at times when I have felt the Holy Ghost giving me guidance in my life.
I asked my daughter what the Book of Mormon is and she said, “Some people talking about Jesus and their lives and some stuff like that.” That is the answer of a 10-year-old who has grown up in a home where she has grown up learning different stories and memorizing passages from the Book of Mormon.
She’s not wrong.
The Book of Mormon is scripture that originated here on the American continent. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has published a brief video about what the Book of Mormon is.
Unfortunately, a one-minute video isn’t long enough to understand what the Book of Mormon is. I probably won’t do it justice, but I’ll give it a try.
The History
The Book of Mormon is a compilation of the writing of prophets much like the prophets of the Bible.
The first prophet in the Book of Mormon is Lehi. Lehi and his family lived in Jerusalem at around 600 B.C. which was in the time of Jeremiah in the Bible.
The Lord warns Lehi of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and tells him to take his family and flee. The family traveled to the seashore where Lehi’s son Nephi (the narrator of the first part of the Book of Mormon), was instructed by the Lord how to build a ship in which the family would sail to what we now call the American continent.
Establishing a Nation
Not all was well in Lehi’s family. The two eldest sons were real complainers and fought the trip at pretty much every point.
Once the family arrived on the new continent, those two brothers and their families separated from the rest and they would eventually become two civilizations called the Nephites for those who followed Nephi and the rest of the family, and Lamanites for those who followed the brothers Laman and Lemuel.
Over time God continued to call prophets. One such prophet was Enos. You can watch a video my family made about Enos Here.
Also over time, the peoples’ righteousness fluctuated and there were conflicts between the Nephites and the Lamanites.
A large portion of the book named after the principal author Alma, describes numerous wars between groups of Nephites and Lamanites.
Why the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ
The crowning part of the Book of Mormon is Christ’s visit to the inhabitants of the continent.
During Christ’s ministry, He said, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” — John 10:16.
Following Christ’s resurrection, He came here to the American continent and ministered to the people for a short while. This account can be found in 3 Nephi 11-27 in the Book of Mormon.
For many years following Christ’s visit, there was peace in the land, but that was not to last. Eventually, contention crept back into their lives and the Book of Mormon was finalized with bloodshed and complete destruction of the Nephite civilization.
One of the last Nephites was Mormon, a prophet and historian. Mormon was the one who compiled all of the available historical records and that is why the book is named after him.
Mormon had a son named Moroni to whom he passed the plates of the Book of Mormon. Moroni was the last to record in the book. He took the plates and buried them in what would one day become New York.
How We Got the Book of Mormon
In 1823 Moroni visited Joseph Smith and instructed Joseph in the translation of the plates into what we know as the Book of Mormon.
I encourage you to read the several posts I’ve written about Joseph Smith regarding his life, the personal visit of God the Father and Jesus Christ, the translation of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The story begins with Getting to Know Joseph Part 1
In Conclusion
I’m going to simply let you read the second half of the Introduction Page in the Book of Mormon. It puts it best.
Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”
We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)
Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Are you reading my Getting to Know Joseph articles? And are you getting impatient for me to finish? Or maybe you aren’t even wanting to read them because you stumbled upon this site during a lunch break.
I would, of course, like you to read them because I went through all that work to research and to write them! But if not…(Read them anyway)…The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published a video about Joseph Smith that does a great job of summing up Joseph Smith in 5 minutes. Give it a watch! Then you can go and read the longer articles!
