We Are Not Alone in Our Battles
We are engaged in a fierce battle. Does that surprise you? It’s true. No, I am not talking about national security or the COVID-19 virus. Even with all the uproar in the homeland, it is much more serious than that. This clash is not just a life or death situation....
Remembering the Goodness of God
While studying the recent general conference talks, I was struck by something Elder Dale G. Renlund said about remembering the gifts of God. I love studying the talks after the fact, because I often learn things that I missed while listening to them live. Elder...
Word of Honor in Action
"What e'er thou art, act well thy part" is the motto of the Scotland Edinburgh Mission. The fabled stone discovered on an apartment building wall by President David O. McKay as a missionary in Stirling, Scotland stood proudly in the mission home's garden after the...
The Bioluminescent Parable: An Otherworldly Glow
This weekend I was able to cross something amazing off of my bucket list. In Southern California this time of year, there can be seen occasional occurrences of bioluminescent waves that occur due to the microscopic phytoplankton that, when put in motion, create a...
Investments in Time
This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down. What is it? For those of you who know Tolkein’s story The Hobbit, you’d recognize...
God Is Not Dead, nor Doth He Sleep
The other day I woke up at 2:45 and couldn't sleep. So, I got up and left my room so I wouldn't disturb my wife. I turned my phone on and checked my LinkedIn app and came across a beautiful post shared by my wonderful friend Lorena Acosta. Her post carried such...
I Was a Stranger
The news was like a punch in the gut. For a moment, I could not breathe. How could everything I cherish—everything I stand for—be marginalized, questioned, demeaned, overlooked, and disregarded? Those old familiar pains one feels in high school returned: “I’m...
Hosanna
Standing in my living room all by myself, I rose my hand in the air to shout Hosanna. It was a very uplifting and inspiring moment in my life. Though I was standing alone, I felt completely unified with the entire church. A quiet calm filled the room and my spirits...
Chocolate Cake vs. Pig Slop
My therapist is an actual angel. I mean it. Like, step aside, Mother Teresa and Mr. Rogers — Charlotte’s* here. (*Name changed.) As I wrote about back in February, I’ve been going through some traumatic events the last few months, so finding a good...
Shifting from Our Truth to Real Truth
After driving the same route to seminary for months, I started noticing a specific charcoal-gray, lifted Toyota Tundra. It had red shocks and a hitch insert that caught my eye. That hitch insert became the truck's identifying characteristic to me. It took me...
Fight for Your Children
Motherhood is not a popularity contest. Sometimes it is just plain hard. I'm sort of a "win at all costs, take no prisoners" type of mom. What I mean by that is I don't care if you like me, my job is to be Mom. That is one of God's ultimate callings for me in life,...
How a Caterpillar Becomes a Butterfly
“Tell me, sir, what is a butterfly?” “It’s what you are meant to become. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only nectar from the flowers and carries the seeds of love from one flower to another. Without butterflies, the world...
Small Stuff?
Of course you have heard the comment “Don’t sweat the small stuff” before. I am trying to apply that exhortation, but it is hard. COVID-19 has affected millions. At this point, thousands are infected and the pandemic is causing death and suffering...
Sacrifice
People watching has always been a passion of mine. Human behavior is always interesting. Good powers of observation allow one to see how humans react in certain situations. For instance, it has been interesting to watch how people have reacted to the recent pandemic....
Why We Have The Veil
Have you ever wondered why we have a veil of forgetting placed over our minds when we come to earth? I have a few new ideas to present to you. But first I have to start with a story. When I was growing up, my family moved around a lot. We followed my dad’s job...
Women, He Is In Our Midst!
It's Mother's Day. Mother's Day evokes such diverse reaction from women I know. As I considered the women I know, I imagined them in their homes, doing the things women do. I wondered how the Lord views our homes and families. Does He maintain a birdseye view? ...
Tender Mercies
I’ve had a bird feeder in my yard for years. I like seeing birds flock to it and listening to their happy chirping as they peck through the black oil sunflower seeds. But honestly, I never paid close attention to what kinds of birds visited. I paid just enough to...
Actively Waiting
I want to discuss a 4-letter word today. It is a word that we are all too familiar with during this time of our lives. It is a word with great power but also much anxiety. The word is… WAIT. See what I mean? It contains much power, but also much...
A Beacon in the Night
Almost a year ago, I was called as the Young Women’s camp director for our ward. I had worked with the young women as the first counselor in the Young Women’s presidency several years before and was excited to get the opportunity to work with the young women once...
Don’t Miss This
Certain lessons are only learned one way, and that is through difficulty. None of us expect greater payoffs before we expend effort. We accept that principle and apply it every day when we go to school, save for a rainy day, work to improve our skills, and...
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