I began peeling.  The first swipe on the potato revealed some dark bruises.

I hadn’t seen any indication that the potato was bruised at all.  As I continue peeling around the potato, bruises peppered that little russet.

Potatoes are large, medium, or small and in a variety of colors. Some potatoes are peeled without any damage and are whole. Some potatoes have deep gashes and obvious bruises that need to be cut out.  Some don’t have any wounds, but still have green skin to be removed. Some potatoes have eyes growing like crazy that need to be knocked off. Some have mushy spots to cut off and discard.  And sometimes, you find the potatoes that seem to be whole but have a bruise or two or are covered in unseen wounds.

Nobody Rides for Free

How like people is this?

Except do people remain unscathed, unbruised, or unwounded?

I read these words from Brené Brown that rang so true to me.

Every single person has a story that will break your heart … And if you’re paying attention, many people … have a story that will bring you to your knees. Nobody rides for free.

“Nobody rides for free!”

This life is a beautiful opportunity to become more Christlike — like Christ who suffered all things.

Wounded

Elder Neil L. Andersen’s talk Wounded eloquently sums up the thoughts I had while peeling potatoes. Here’s a glimpse of his wonderful talk.

Our wounds may come from a natural disaster or an unfortunate accident. They may come from an unfaithful husband or wife, turning life upside down for a righteous spouse and children. The wounds may come from the darkness and gloom of depression, from an unanticipated illness, from the suffering or premature death of someone we love, from the sadness of a family member dismissing his or her faith, from the loneliness when circumstances do not bring an eternal companion, or from a hundred other heart-wrenching, painful “[sorrows] that the eye can’t see.”

We each understand that difficulties are part of life, but when they come to us personally, they can take our breath away. Without being alarmed, we need to be ready. The Apostle Peter said, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” Along with the bright colors of happiness and joy, the darker-colored threads of trial and tragedy are woven deeply into the fabric of our Father’s plan. These struggles, although difficult, often become our greatest teachers.

When telling the miraculous story of Helaman’s 2,060 young soldiers, we love this scripture: “According to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish.”

But the sentence continues: “And neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.” Each one of the 2,060 received many wounds, and each one of us will be wounded in the battle of life, whether physically, spiritually, or both.

Never give up—however deep the wounds of your soul, whatever their source, wherever or whenever they happen, and however short or long they persist, you are not meant to perish spiritually. You are meant to survive spiritually and blossom in your faith and trust in God.

God did not create our spirits to be independent of Him. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through the incalculable gift of His Atonement, not only saves us from death and offers us, through repentance, forgiveness for our sins, but He also stands ready to save us from the sorrows and pains of our wounded souls.

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

The Potato Is Still Useable

The cool about potatoes is to realize is that each potato is usable!  After removing the damages or growths, what remains is perfectly edible.

Despite our gashes, wounds, and bruises, we are useful and valued, too! And the miraculous thing about Jesus Christ’s atonement is that when we seek and apply His grace, the gashes, wounds, and bruises are forever healed.  Through Him, we are made whole and complete.

I’ve seen bruises, gaping wounds, and gashes disappear from my mind and heart.  I’m still seeking for Christ’s grace to make me whole completely,  but I know that He can if I will.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Here’s the scripture in context:

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

I know change is difficult and I’ve always trusted Amulek’s words, but I hadn’t had any real, tangible way to relate to this doctrine.

Moving Revealed the “Same Me”

This week while the words flitted through my mind, a “vision” of myself moving flashed to mind. I’ve moved 64 times in my life.

In moving from one place to another, my old identity has died and a new identity emerged. I kept my name, but parts of my identity shifted. I attended new schools. I became a wife.  My job identities changed. Anthony’s job identities changed, which shifted mine to a degree. Church calling identities changed. My address identity always changed. My apparel identity changed. My who-I-get-to-hang-out-with identity changed.

But do you know what never really changed? Me. The spirit I was in the old location was that same spirit I was in the new location. Now, experiences in those locations changed me.  I shriveled and grew in different locations. Sometimes experiences shifted my ideas and beliefs. However, as I moved from one location to the next, the move in and of itself did not dramatically change me.

Trying to Change but Haven’t

There are things I’ve being trying to change for years but haven’t. I know the benefits of, say, eating healthier. I’ve told myself many times, okay, on this move, I’m going to try eating more and varied vegetables. I have the knowledge. I even have a moderate desire. I’ve moved 64 times and I haven’t ever eaten more and varied vegetables. I stick with the ones I know I like. It’s easy. It’s comfortable. It’s safe.

Every new day offers possibilities of being someone completely new. Again, I have goals I’m shooting for one small step at a time.  But if I just changed my mind, I’d jump forward and accomplish those goals. Why don’t I?  Because who I am is easy, comfortable, and safe. That same spirit I went to sleep as awakens as me in the new day. Every morning I refer to all the things that remind me who I am and I continue to be that person.

Changing That Same Spirit

This time is the time to prepare to meet God. One way we prepare is to change ourselves so “that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life” is the one prepared for eternal life in Heavenly Father’s presence. There is a Way to change.

Through a process I can’t quantify, the grace of Jesus Christ changes one spirit into another kind of spirit. An angry, bitter spirit can become loving and compassionate. A sinful or discouraged spirit can become clean and hopeful.

Being Reborn

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

Jesus Christ turns even defunct hearts into new creatures. He invites all to be reborn.

And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Through Christ, I can be changed here and now, reborn to the spirit which will inherit glory in the eternal world. And when I die, that same spirit will eagerly anticipate new eternal identities: a new address, new apparel, and a new name—the names of God the Father and the Savior Jesus Christ.

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

That is the spirit I want to die with—one who knows the Lord and has become like Him.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

He said that even though a contract to not add graffiti to any part of the temple is signed by construction workers sometimes the workers will still leave graffiti. Any graffiti has to be removed before beginning the next building phase.

Once, someone spray-painted profane words on a section of the Lubbock Temple’s foundation. During his inspection, the building coordinator spotted the graffiti as it was about to be covered by the next stage of construction. He stopped work immediately and required the graffiti to be completely removed before proceeding further.

Workers had to sandblast the words off of the concrete. It was time-consuming and delayed forward progress. After all trace of the profanity was removed, construction continued.

Learning to Repent

That story about the foundations of the temple being squeaky clean, without spot or blemish, really impacted me.  I knew I had some spots and blemishes—whether self-imposed or splashed on my foundation by others—that needed to be sandblasted away.

But how?

As a child, I learned to repent by recognizing I’d done something wrong, asking forgiveness, and not doing it again.  In some cases, I’d stopped doing whatever it was, but I hadn’t really taken it to the Lord and asked for His forgiveness and cleansing love. As I started approaching Him, I felt invisible weights lifting off my heart.

Taking Full Advantage of the Redeeming Power of Repentance

Richard G. Scott described how to repent.

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

Are you taking full advantage of the redeeming power of repentance in your life so that you can have greater peace and joy? Feelings of turmoil and despondency often signal a need for repentance. Also the lack of the spiritual direction you seek in your life could result from broken laws. If needed, full repentance will put your life together. It will solve all of the complex spiritual pains that come from transgression. But in this life it cannot remedy some of the physical consequences that can occur from serious sin. Be wise and consistently live well within the boundaries of righteousness defined by the Lord.

There are several vital steps to repentance. Each is essential for complete forgiveness. President Joseph F. Smith identified some of these steps this way: “True repentance is not only sorrow for sins, and humble penitence and contrition before God, but it involves the necessity of turning away from them, a discontinuance of all evil practices … a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good … to make restitution, so far as … possible, for all the wrongs we have done. … This is true repentance, and the exercise of the will and all the powers of [the] body and mind is demanded, to complete this glorious work of repentance.”

To the vital steps of recognition, sorrow, abandonment, confession, and restitution where possible, it is also essential to add the requirement to diligently keep all of the commandments of God.  …

Formulas have been crafted to help remember some of the essential actions required for full repentance. While these can be helpful, generally they ignore the most fundamental aspect of repentance—that it is centered in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, that it has efficacy because He willingly paid the full price through His redeeming sacrifice, motivated by a perfect love of His Father and of each of us. …

I testify that Jesus Christ paid the price and will satisfy the demands of justice for all who are obedient to His teachings. Thus, full forgiveness is granted, and the distressing effects of sin need no longer persist in one’s life. Indeed, they cannot persist if one truly understands the meaning of Christ’s Atonement.

To repent means to turn from sin and turn to Christ. He can remove the graffiti on our soul!  And while we may feel like we’re sandblasting ourselves during the process, to stand clean and spotless before God, graffiti-free, is an incomparable gift the Savior gives to us.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Russell M. Nelson 1924-

“A strong human spirit with control over appetites of the flesh is master over emotions and passions and not a slave to them. That kind of freedom is as vital to the spirit as oxygen is to the body! Freedom from self-slavery is true liberation!” (“Accomplishing the Impossible: What God Does, What We Can Do,” Conference Report October 2013)

“One’s religion is not imposed by others. It is not predetermined. It is a very personal and sacred choice, nestled at the very core of human dignity. Therefore, care must be exercised to assure that government remains truly neutral in matters of religion, not only in lip-service and constitutional guarantees, but also in impartial application of the law. Individuals and institutions are naturally inclined to seek preference over others, but the state must not yield to those inclinations. To discriminate in favor of one religion, using non-religious labels such as ‘culture’ or ‘history,’ is to discriminate against others. If the state allows dominance of any one religious institution over another, discrimination results, allowing unequal treatment and regrettable restriction of other religious societies.” (from the International Scientific and Practical Conference, March 16, 2005)

“Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow without constraint. He will bless His obedient children with freedom from bondage and misery. And He will bless them with more light.” (“Face the Future with Faith,” Conference Report April 2017)

“Principles of agency pertain on both sides of the veil. There, in postmortal realms, personal choice and accountability will be of paramount importance.” (“The Spirit of Elijah,” Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 84).

Thomas S. Monson 1927-2018

“When we safeguard (the heavenly virtue of freedom), when we honor it, when we protect it, we will walk with Washington, we will pray with patriots, and we shall have peace on earth, good will to men.” (“Choir Honored for Love of God, Country.” LDS Church News, 26 November 1988)

“We forget how the Greeks and Romans prevailed magnificently in a barbaric world and how that triumph ended—how a slackness and softness finally overcame them to their ruin. In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security and a comfortable life; and they lost all—comfort and security and freedom.” (“The World Needs Pioneers Today“, Ensign 2013)

“President Monson told of having gone to eastern Germany in August. He said he was reminded of tense scenes during his first visit 27 years earlier. “Back then, the flame of freedom had flickered and burned low,” he related. “A wall of shame sprang up, and a curtain of iron came down. Hope was all but snuffed out. Life . . . continued on in faith, nothing wavering. Patient waiting was required. An abiding trust in God marked the life of each Latter-day Saint.”

“When I made my initial visit beyond the wall, it was a time of fear on the part of our members as they struggled in the performance of their duties. I found the dullness of despair on the faces of many passersby but a bright and beautiful expression of love emanating from our members.”

President Monson said that he was touched by the members’ sincerity, and humbled by their poverty. “They had so little,” he said. “My heart filled with sorrow because they had no patriarch. They had no wards or stakes-just branches. They could not receive temple blessings-neither endowment nor sealing. No official visitor had come from Church headquarters in a long time. The members were forbidden to leave the country. Yet, they trusted in the Lord with all their hearts, and they leaned not to their own understanding. In all their ways they acknowledged Him, and He directed their paths. I stood at the pulpit, and with tear-filled eyes and a voice choked with emotion, I made a promise to the people: ‘If you will remain true and faithful to the commandments of God, every blessing any member of the Church enjoys in any other country will be yours.’ ”

President Monson said that the heavenly virtue of patience was required. “Little by little the promise was fulfilled,” he said. “First, patriarchs were ordained, then lesson manuals produced. Wards were formed and stakes created. Chapels and stake centers were begun, completed and dedicated. Then miracle of miracles, a holy temple of God was permitted, . . . Finally, after an absence of 50 years, approval was granted for full-time missionaries to enter the nation and for local youth to serve elsewhere in the world. Then, like the wall of Jericho, the Berlin Wall crumbled and freedom, with its attendant responsibilities, returned.”

The final part of the promise was fulfilled when President Monson and his wife, Frances, and Elder Dieter Uchtdorf and his wife, Harriet, went to Goerlitz, the very city where the promise was given 27 years earlier, and dedicated a beautiful meetinghouse there Aug. 27. The precious promise was thus fulfilled.” (“Seek Heavenly Virtue of Patience,” LDS Church News, 7 October 1995.)

Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

“[The Constitution] is the keystone of our nation. It is the guarantee of our liberty. That original document, with the Bill of Rights, constitutes the charter of our freedom. Through all of the years that have followed we have had some ambitious men who have sought to subvert the great principles of the Constitution, but somehow we have endured one crisis after another. We have been involved in terrible wars during this, the bloodiest of all centuries in the history of man. All of this is part of the miracle that is America, the struggle, the travail, the bitterness, the jealousies, the cynicism, and the criticism. But beyond and above it all is the wonder of a nation that for more than two centuries has remained free and independent and strong, the envy of the world, the hope of the world, the protection of free men everywhere, the manifestation of the power of the Almighty.” (“Keep Faith with America”, commencement address at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah on 6 May 1999)

“As I have stood before the cross that marks [my brother’s] grave, I have thanked God for the cause for which he died, for the great and eternal concepts” of human dignity, liberty, and freedom to worship, speak and assemble. Those concepts were handed down by God to the framers of the U.S. Constitution…I pray that America may always be worthy of [God’s] blessing. There is no place for arrogance among us. There is no place for conceit or egotism. As we look to God, we will grow in strength.” (Salt Lake LDS Tabernacle, American Legion’s 78th National Convention, Sunday, September 1, 1996)

Ezra Taft Benson 1899-1994

“The greatest right humans possess is the right of free choice, free will, free agency.” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], p.691)

“The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine—all of their doctrine, including the more weighty principles such as the principle of freedom. Opposition to this weighty principle of freedom caused many of our brothers and sisters in the pre-existence to lose their first estate in the war in heaven.” (Conference Report, April 1963)

“The fight for freedom is God’s fight. Freedom is a law of God, a permanent law. Men cannot break it with impunity. They can only break themselves upon it. When a man stands for freedom, he stands for God. As long as he stands for freedom, he stands with God. And were he to stand alone, he would still stand with God. Any man will be eternally vindicated and rewarded for his stand for freedom. The Lord has so endowed this matter of freedom with such everlasting repercussions that it sifted the spirits of men before this world in the Great War in heaven, and it seems today to be THE CENTRAL ISSUE that is sifting those who are left in the world. Life’s failures arise when men neither take the time nor find the season to perform their eternal duties.” (An Enemy Hath Done This, pp. 54-55)

“I don’t know how you feel, my brethren and sisters, but I’d rather be dead than to lose my liberty. I have no fear we’ll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside. But I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence, as citizens of this land. And so I plead with you this morning that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country.” (“The LDS Church and Politics”, BYU Devotional, December 1, 1952)

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that life is eternal, that it has purpose…[God has a] plan…for the benefit and blessing of us, His children. … Basic to [that] all-important plan is our free agency. … The right of choice … runs like a golden thread throughout the gospel … for the blessing of His
children.: (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], pp. 80-81.)

Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985)

“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27.) All men have been given special powers and within certain limitations should develop those powers, give vent to their own imaginations, and not become rubber stamps. They should develop their own talents and abilities and capacities to their limit and use them to build up the kingdom. (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], p.257)

“You probably think you have found a new freedom: to think wholly for yourself, to make wholly your own determinations, to criticize and decide for yourself what is right and wrong. That was decided eternities ago. Right and wrong are not to be determined by you or me. Those elements were decided for us before our birth. We have the free agency to do the right or do the wrong, but who are we to alter those changeless things? W e can scoff at sacred things, express our own little opinions, but remember that millions of men and women with keener minds than ours, with more erudite training than yours and mine, have said things and done things more startling, more ugly, more skeptical than you or I could think of. Millions have gone down the path you are entering. They have all come to grief or will ultimately. Shall the violin say to Tony Stradivarius, “You did not make me”? Shall the created thing question the creator?” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], p.160)

“Of course we can choose; the free agency is ours, but we cannot escape the consequences of our choice.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], p.195)

“Men have free agency, as the Lord has made clear. They may do right or wrong but they cannot escape the responsibility of answering for their errors if they are normal individuals.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], p.159)

Harold B. Lee (1899-1973)

“Now there is another important understanding that we have from the scriptures. W e are all free agents, which means to some people who manifest a spirit of rebellion that they are free to do anything they please, but that is not the correct meaning of free agency as the prophets have declared in the scriptures where free agency has been defined: “they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:27.) (Stand Ye In Holy Places [1974], p.11)

“As an essential to the obtaining of a fulness of [the] attributes and qualities [of godhood], man has been given his free agency, that he should act for himself and choose his course according to his own pleasure. As mortals, we have this priceless heritage; but like reckless spendthrifts that we are, we often squander our precious treasure in riotous living and return to eat the husks with our Father’s swine.” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [1996], p.75)

“But, you ask, why does God, if He truly loves his children, permit Satan to tempt us and thereby jeopardize our chances to gain the best experiences in mortality and return to enjoy eternal life in His presence? The answer is given by a great prophet-teacher: “Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one [which is evil] or the other [which is good].” (2 Nephi 2:16.) Think about that for a moment. If there were no opposition to good, would there be any chance to exercise your agency or right to choose? To deny you that privilege would be to deny you the opportunity to grow in knowledge, experience, and power. God has given laws with penalties affixed so that man might be made afraid of sin and be guided into paths of truth and duty.  (Stand Ye In Holy Places, p.219)

Joseph Fielding Smith (1876-1972)

“The Lord does not delight in the punishment of men. He is kind enough to grant to each his freedom to merit blessings or punishment according to his free will or pleasure. It never was the intention of the Lord to destroy, in the sense of annihilation, any of the souls of his children. His great object is to save them all, if they will freely partake of the blessings of salvation.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 3 Vols. [1954-56], 2:227)

“This great gift of agency, that is the privilege given to man to make his own choice, has never been revoked, and it never will be. It is an eternal principle giving freedom of thought and action to every soul. No person, by any decree of the Father, has ever been compelled to do good; no person has ever been forced to do evil. Each may act for himself. It was Satan’s plan to destroy this agency and force men to do his will. There could be no satisfactory existence without this great gift. Men must have the privilege to choose even to the extent that they may rebel against the divine decrees. Of course, salvation and exaltation must come through the free will without coercion and by individual merit in order that righteous rewards may be given and proper punishment be meted out to the transgressor. Therefore, when the great day of the Lord shall come, the wicked who have merited banishment from a righteous government will be consumed, or the privilege of continuance on the earth will be denied.” (Answers to Gospel Questions 5 vols. [1957-66], 2:20)

“What of our own country? The Lord raised up honorable men to make it a land of freedom, and he declared: “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:79–80). (Doctrines of Salvation 3:273)

“I have heard people say, and members of the Church too, “I have a right to do as I please.” My answer is: No, you do not. You haven’t any right at all to do just as you please. There is only one right that you have, and that is to do just what I read to you: keep the commandments of Jesus Christ. He has a perfect right to tell us so. We have
no right to refuse. I do not care who the man is; I do not care where he lives, or what he is–when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to him, he has no right to refuse to receive it. He has the privilege. He is not compelled to receive it, because our Father in heaven has given to every one of us in the Church and out, the gift of free agency. That free agency gives us the privilege to accept and be loyal to our Lord’s commandments, but it has never given us the right to reject them. Every man who rejects the commandments of our Father in heaven is rebellious.” (Conference Report, April 1967, pp.120-121)

David O. McKay (1873-1970)

“Men may choose the right or they may choose the wrong; they may walk in darkness or they may walk in the light; and, mind you, God has not left his children without the light. He has given them in the various dispensations of the world the light of the gospel wherein they could walk and not stumble, wherein they could find that peace and happiness which he desires, as a loving Father, his children should enjoy, but the Lord does not take from them their free agency.” (Gospel Ideals [1953], p.301)

“The Magna Carta… was an expression of freedom-loving men against a usurping king. It was a guarantee of civil and personal liberty. These guarantees later found fuller and complete expression in the Constitution of the United States.” (Stepping Stones to an Abundant Life, p.88)

Close up of the Constitution of the United States of America

We should feel grateful that we are not hampered nor hindered in any way by a government that would presume to tell us how to worship, what to worship, or how to build. I wonder how many of us kneel down and thank the Lord for that freedom vouchsafed to us by the Constitution of the United States, a step towards the liberty, the freedom mentioned by the Savior when he said, “If ye continue in my word . . . ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” [John 8:32].

Very seldom do we think of our God-given privileges to exercise the freedom which dates back to the Constitution, even to the Declaration of Independence.

William E. Gladstone, having read the Constitution one hundred years after it had been in force, said:

The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of men. It has had a century of trial, under the pressure of exigencies caused by an expansion unexampled in point of rapidity and range; and its exemption from formal change, though not entire, has certainly proved the sagacity of the constructors and the stubborn strength of the fabric…

Do we feel to thank God for the freedom we have here in this country?” (Man May Know for Himself, pp.388-89)

George Albert Smith (1870-1951)

“We should be deeply concerned in the welfare of the nation, and sustain good and great men, as the Lord has commanded us, in order that we may continue to enjoy freedom.” (Conference Report, Apr 1914, 11)

“Since the God of this choice land is Jesus Christ, we know that his philosophy of free agency should prevail here. Thou didst amply demonstrate this great principle to us by raising up wise men for the very purpose of giving us our constitutional form of government, concerning which thou hast said:

. . . I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose. . . (D&C 101:77–80.)

There are those, our Heavenly Father, both within and without our borders, who would destroy the constitutional form of government which thou hast so magnanimously given us, and would replace it with a form that would curtail, if not altogether deprive, man of his free agency. We pray thee, therefore, that in all these matters thou wilt help us to conform our lives to thy desires, and that thou wilt sustain us in our resolve so to do. We pray thee that thou wilt inspire good and just men everywhere to be willing to sacrifice for, support, and uphold the Constitution and the government set up under it and thereby preserve for man his agency.

We thank thee that thou hast revealed to us that those who gave us our constitutional form of government were men wise in thy sight and that thou didst raise them up for the very purpose of putting forth that sacred document.

Wilt thou, O our Father, bless the Chief Executive of this land that his heart and will may be to preserve to us and our posterity the free institutions thy Constitution has provided. Wilt thou, too, bless the legislative and judicial branches of our government as well as the executive, that all may function fully and courageously in their respective branches completely independent of each other to the preservation of our constitutional form of government forever.

We pray that kings and rulers and the peoples of all nations under heaven may be persuaded of the blessings enjoyed by the people of this land by reason of their freedom under thy guidance and be constrained to adopt similar governmental systems, thus to fulfill the ancient prophecy of Isaiah that “. . . out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Dedicatory Prayer of the Idaho Falls Temple)

Heber J. Grant (1856-1945)

“We are told in this same Doctrine and Covenants that we should be anxiously engaged in laboring and bringing to pass many good works, of our own free will and accord. The power is in us wherein we are agents unto ourselves. We should not wait to be commanded in all things. He that is compelled in all things is a slothful and not a wise servant. We should have the ambition, we should have the desire, we should make up our minds that, so far as the Lord Almighty has given to us talent, we will do our full share in the battle of life. It should be a matter of pride that no man shall do more than you will do, in proportion to your ability, in forwarding the work of God here upon the earth. That has been my ambition all my life—to do my full share.” (Gospel Standards [1981], p. 39)

“We are trusted by the Lord. We are agents. We have our free will. And when the battle of life is over, we have had the ability and the power and the capacity to have done those things which the Lord required us to do and we cannot blame anybody else.” (Gospel Standards [1981], p.63)

Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918)

“The free agency of man is a fundamental principle which, according to the tenets of the Church, even God Himself does not suppress.” (Teachings Of Presidents Of The Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], p.283)

“There are many blessings, however, which are common to the human family, which all enjoy, without regard to their moral status or religious convictions. God has given to all men an agency, and has granted to us the privilege to serve Him or serve Him not, to do that which is right or that which is wrong, and this privilege is given to all men irrespective of creed, color or condition. The wealthy have this agency, the poor have this agency, and no man is deprived by any power of God from exercising it in the fullest and in the freest manner. This agency has been given to all. This is a blessing that God has bestowed upon the world of mankind, upon all His children alike. But He will hold us strictly to an account for the use that we make of this agency.” (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [1967], 24:176)

Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901)

“We cannot be forced into living a celestial law; we must do this ourselves, of our own free will.” (Teachings of Lorenzo Snow [1984], p.166)

“Now, I believe in the independence of men and women. I believe that men and women have the image of God-given them-are formed after the image of God, and possess deity in their nature and character, and that their spiritual organization possesses the qualities and properties of God, and that there is the principle of God in every individual. It is designed that man should act as God, and not be constrained and controlled in everything, but have an independency, an agency and the power to spread abroad and act according to the principle of godliness that is in him, act according to the power and intelligence and enlightenment of God, that he possesses, and not that he should be watched continually, and be controlled, and act as a slave in these matters.” (The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, ed. by Clyde J. Williams [1984], p.4.)

Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898)

“For God has given to every man individual agency, and He will hold him accountable for the use of this agency.” (Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, at the General Conference, Sunday afternoon, October 6, 1889. Collected Discourses, 5 vols. Ed. Brian H. Stuy, Vol. 1)

“The Lord Almighty never created a world like this and peopled it for six thousand years, as He has done, without having some motive in view. That motive was, that we might come here and exercise our agency. The probation we are called upon to pass through is intended to elevate us so that we can dwell in the presence of God our Father. And that eternal variety of character which existed in the heavens among the spirits–from God upon his throne down to Lucifer the son of the morning–exists here upon the earth. That variety will remain upon the earth in the creations of God, and for what I know, throughout the endless ages of eternity. Men will occupy different glories and positions according to their lives–according to the law they keep the flesh.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff [1946], p.8)

“God has given unto all of his children of this dispensation, as he gave unto all of his children of previous dispensations, individual agency. This agency has always been the heritage of man under the rule and government of God. [We] possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer and those that took sides with him, to the overthrow of Lucifer and one-third part of the heavenly hosts [see Revelation 12:1-9; D&C 29:36-37; Moses 4:1-4]. By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body. “(Teachings Of Presidents Of The Church: Wilford Woodruff [2004], p.205)

John Taylor (1808-1887)

“We talk sometimes about free will. Is that a correct principle? Yes. And it is a principle that has always existed, and proceeded from God, our Heavenly Father. When God revealed himself to Joseph Smith, it was optional whether he obeyed his counsel or not. I suppose, however, looking at things as they exist, and as they are in truth, God understood that he would do it, he having been selected for that purpose a long, long time ago. And [I suppose] that the Lord knew that he would adhere to those principles and would carry out the designs of heaven as they should be communicated unto and required of him.” (The Gospel Kingdom [1943], p.59)

“Besides the preaching of the gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man. There are certain principles that belong to humanity outside of the Constitution, outside of the laws outside of all the enactments and plans of man, among which is the right to live. God gave us the right and no man: No government gave it to us, and no government has a right to take it away from us. We have a right to liberty–that was a right that God gave to all men; and if there has been oppression, fraud, or tyranny in the earth, it has been the result of the wickedness and corruptions of men and has always been opposed to God and the principles of truth, righteousness, virtue, and all principles that are calculated to elevate mankind.” (The Gospel Kingdom [1944], p.222)

“What is it that will enable one man to govern his fellows aright? It is just as Joseph Smith said to a certain man who asked him,”How do you govern such a vast people as this?” “Oh,” says Joseph, “it is very easy.”“Why,” says the man “but we find it very difficult.” “But,” said Joseph, “it is very easy, for I teach the people correct principles, and they govern themselves.” (The Gospel Kingdom [1987], p.323)

Brigham Young (1801-1877)

“What is the foundation of the rights of man? The Lord Almighty has organized man for the express purpose of becoming an independent being like unto Himself, and has given him his individual agency. Man is made in the likeness of his Creator, the great archetype of the human species, who bestowed upon him the principles of eternity, planting immortality within him, and leaving him at liberty to act in the way that seemeth good unto him, to choose or refuse for himself …. As I have just stated, the Lord Almighty has organized every human creature for the express purpose of becoming independent, and has designed that they should be capable of receiving the
principles of eternity to a fulness; and when they have received them unto a fulness, they are made perfect, like unto the Son of Man, and become Gods, even the Sons of God.” (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols [1967], 2:314)

“The volition of the creature is free; this is a law of their existence and the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be God. He has placed life and death before his children, and it is for them to choose. If they choose life, they receive the blessing of life; if they choose death, they must abide the penalty. This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice, and God brings forth the results of the acts of his creatures to promote his Kingdom and subserve his purposes in the salvation and exaltation of his children.” (Discourses of Brigham Young [1954], p.62)

“My independence is sacred to me – it is a portion of that same Deity that rules in the heavens. There is not a being upon the face of the earth who is made in the image of God, who stands erect and is organized as God is, that would be deprived of the free exercise of his agency so far as he does not infringe upon other’s rights, save by good advice and a good example.” (Discourses of Brigham Young [1954], p.62)

Joseph Smith (1805-1944)

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

“Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor’s rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign punishment all those who trample underfoot the glorious Constitution and the people’s rights.” (History of the Church 6:499)

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Brynlee Ashton on Conversion

Answering the Missionary Questions

I’m so excited to be here today and I’m glad all of you are here as well. I want to start by saying I opened my mission call about five months ago. Five months is a long time! And within those five months, many people have asked me the same questions and said the same comments. I will now answer them so you don’t have to take time out of the day to ask me!

• Where are you going?
  • England Leeds Mission
• When are you going?
  • I’m leaving the 28th to be there on the 29th
• Which MTC are you attending?
  • The England MTC
• Are you excited?
  • Yes
• Are you nervous?
  • Yes
• Are you [insert any emotion]
  • I have probably felt that emotion sometime within these 5 months
• Are you ready?
  • I have never felt more ready and not ready in my whole life
• What are you excited for?
  • Just about everything
• What are you nervous about
  • Bad companions and blood pudding
• I know someone who has served, is serving, or will serve in England 
  • Wow, that’s really cool
• I’m excited for you (or anything of the sort)
  • Thanks

Conversion is Our Goal

When I asked the bishop what my topic would be, I was a little scared he would say something like “Christ’s Atonement” and I’d have to teach the entire gospel in 15 minutes, but then he told me it was “Conversion is Our Goal.” I don’t know if this is special treatment, but I felt like this a really easy topic, especially for someone who is going out to help people convert to the gospel. Then I got to work and realized that there is a lot more to conversion than I had previously realized.

I also realized that I’m probably not the prime example of conversion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a terrible person — but at the same time, I’m not expecting to be the next prophet (my gender to the side). From the time I got the topic to now, I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon with this topic in mind and I realize almost every chapter has a guide or a step to becoming more converted.

When I first heard about conversion, I was 11 or 12 in Brother Capua’s class. He was teaching us the story of the man who didn’t understand why he wasn’t feeling the Spirit and Christ told him that he needed to be born again. Brother Capua told us that being born again is being converted fully to the gospel, and then proceeded to tell us his conversion story.

At that moment, conversion didn’t scare me. I was going to church, although sometimes forced. I was baptized. My dad was paying my tithing. I read a chapter of scripture about once every three months. I felt like I was in. I didn’t feel the need to convert more than I already had.

Then I got older and started to understand more fully the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the need for change and improvement, not only in the Church but in life as well. Reading the Book of Mormon these past couple of weeks, I realized it gives you a recipe to becoming converted. The Book of Mormon teaches you how to convert and why.

The Book of Mormon is like a guidebook. If you have a question that needs to be answered and you read with that question in mind, the Book of Mormon will help you find the answers. While I was asking about conversion, I realized that Christ gives us principles to become more converted.

Alma 32:13 basically tells us exactly what those principles are. 

And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

Alma says all you need to do to be saved, or converted, is follow these four simple principles:

1. Humble yourself
2. Seek repentance
3. Obtain mercy from repentance
4. Endure to the end

Sounds a lot easier than it is. I know from personal—and secondary—experiences that those four actions can be some of the hardest things we’ll do in this lifetime. That’s why it’s so important to follow them: because doing good, difficult things leads us to become our best selves.

Humility

So let’s break these four principles down. The first step is humility. The Gospel Topic on humility defines humility as the ability to… 

…recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies.

Once again, it seems like such an easy concept, and yet it’s difficult. The natural man makes being dependent upon the Lord seem unwanted, unneeded, and unattainable. 

However, King Benjamin, a prophet of God, lets us know that when we humble ourselves, we will “be filled with the love of God…” Talk about an amazing promise.

Have you ever had days where you just feel worthless, unwanted, hated by others or even yourself? King Benjamin gave us the solution—to forget our stresses and realize that we are awesome because we are created by a remarkable being. To have better days is to realize all our gifts, talents, and abilities are from God. 

King Benjamin also promises a few more things, including that we will “grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.” I find it interesting that he says you will grow in knowledge of God or of things that are just and true.

And I think it’s because King Benjamin understands that we are given knowledge piece by piece. We don’t get perfect knowledge when we ask, but rather we get imperfect knowledge to give us the urge to grow towards perfect knowledge. You won’t understand everything about God and everything that is just and true by being humble once — you understand it by becoming humble over and over and over again.

Jesus Christ’s Atonement

The last thing that King Benjamin promises is that you will “always retain a remission of your sins,” which leads perfectly into the second principle towards conversion—to seek repentance. When you’re humble, you “understand that [you] have constant need for [God’s] support.” After realizing that, you begin to want His help and He gives you the perfect source of support—Christ’s Atonement.

Now, like I said in the beginning, I don’t have time to change my talk into a talk about the Atonement, so I hope it’s okay if I summarize it. God sent His firstborn Son to sacrifice Himself for our sins. Jesus lived through every one one of our lives, individually, and felt every single one of our pains and afflictions in a couple of miraculous hours. Because of that, He can plead our case and take our sins upon Him, if we let Him, by repenting. Once that happens, God has no memory of them.

I find King Benjamin’s diction interesting in this verse. The word retain is defined as “continue to have; keep possession of.” And remission is defined as “the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.” The phrase “retain a remission of your sins” can be translated to “continue to have the cancellation of your sins.”

However, Alma makes a promise that comes with different language. He says that if we SEEK for repentance, then we will achieve it. King Benjamin’s “always will receive remission” and Alma’s “you have to seek remission” seem to contradict themselves. However, if you look at the context they aren’t so different. 

King Benjamin, in the verse before the one we’ve talked about, is talking about humility. So combining the Gospel Topic’s definition of humility, King Benjamin is saying that if you understand that you need constant help from the Savior and put that into action, then you will retain a remission of your sins — because once you realize you need help, you tend to go get help if you have humbled yourself.

Repentance

In the case of conversion, the help you need is to gain mercy from God. Principle number three to conversion is to obtain mercy. Obtaining mercy is easy once you repent with full purpose of heart. However, repenting can be very difficult. 

I use to think that repentance was a punishment — that if I fell into temptation and had to repent, I was in big trouble. Sometimes I still think that. Sometimes I feel that even to pray to God, I have to be perfect.

But that puts me in a tricky situation, doesn’t it? How am I supposed to repent if I’m too scared to talk to God? How do I become more perfected if I don’t repent? How do I heal my wounds if I don’t humble myself and realize that God doesn’t need me to be perfect to talk to Him? To repent?

If that were the case, none of us would get anywhere. God sent His Son not to make us feel afraid to go to Him, but to feel confident enough in our Savior to go to God and admit our imperfections.

That right there is the basis of why we’re here. It’s the path of our conversion. We need to humble ourselves enough to go to God on our knees, spill out our hearts, repent, and receive mercy from our perfect Father.

Enjoy to the End

You’ve probably realized that I still have one more principle to talk about. Alma told us that there are four principles to conversion, and I’ve only mentioned three of them. The four principle is endure to the end.

I’d like to change it, though. When my brother Liam came home from his mission, he taught our family something that has resonated with me since. When you say “endure” to the end, it makes this life, this plan, seem like it’s going to be us scratching tooth and nail to get to the finish line. Some days it may feel like that.

Liam taught us to say “enjoy” to the end. Despite the hard days, trials, pains, and temptations, life can be pretty awesome. We have these bodies that continue to amaze me day after day. God created this earth with flowers, trees, and mountains. He gave us delicious food, beautiful animals, and stars to gaze at. He gave us incredible brains, fantastic oceans, and most importantly—He gave us a choice.

Why Would You Choose Conversion?

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

God created us and this world so that we have agency, the power to choose. Just because a cute, awesome girl up here on the pulpit told you these principles to conversion doesn’t mean you have to follow them. So why would you?

In 3 Nephi 7 after Jesus came and worked many miracles among the Lamanites, verse 21 says

And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed.

The few who decided to choose conversion and come to the Lord were blessed with the Spirit of God. 

Being Blessed With the Spirit of God

I’m just gonna list a few things the Holy Ghost does for us. 

• 3 Nephi 16:6 claims the Holy Ghost witnesses of the Father and His Son
• Alma 21:16 claims the Holy Ghost will lead you or enlighten your path
• Alma 17:10 claims the Lord can visit you through the Holy Ghost
• Alma 12:7 claims the Holy Ghost gives you the ability to prophesy
• Moroni 7:16 claims the Holy Ghost helps you know good from evil
• Mormon 2:26 claims the Holy Ghost strengthens you physically
• Galatians 5:22-26, Alma 13:28, Philippians 4:7, and Moroni 8:26 claim the Holy Ghost brings perfect love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, hope, and so much more good.

And those don’t even scratch the surface. I mean, based on those, who doesn’t want the Holy Ghost with them at all times? Everyone says that Casper is the friendly ghost, but, honestly, he doesn’t even come close to the Spirit of God. 

I know that I already said joy comes with the Spirit, but joy also comes with conversion. Helaman 6:3 proclaims that the people of the Church were full of joy with the Lamanites’ conversion. Joy comes from your conversion and when people you know and love convert.

That’s why missionary work is so fulfilling. You get to see others come closer to God and gain greater joy and happiness, and that rocks—especially if you were a part of their conversion. Remember, you don’t have to be a full-time missionary to be a missionary. 

The Holy Ghost and joy are pretty great reasons to convert, but the best reason of all is eternal life. God promises to us over and over that if we turn away the natural man and convert to His gospel with full purpose of heart, then we will be able to get the chance to go back home and live with Him again. Oh, how glorious that day will be when we get to see Heavenly Father again and live happily in His presence. 

I’m also excited for that day because I’ll be able to see my family again. My beautifully imperfect family that has supported me through my whole life. I hope it’s okay that I take a few minutes to thank them. Thank you, Malac and Layla, for teaching me one of the greatest lessons: patience. You guys haven’t always been the easiest to get along with, but despite that, I hope you guys know how much I love you and how much I’ll miss you. Malac, keep going with your basketball — you have so much talent. Layla, keep making good friends day by day. 

David, thank you for helping me understand more fully the plan of salvation. I’m so excited to meet you.

Liam and Hadley, thank you for being the best older siblings I could ask for. Thank you for always being such good examples for me. Liam, stop being so smart and making me look bad. (I’m just kidding!) Thank you for always being there for me even if I permanently scarred your arms from my nails. Hadley, thank you for being the best older sister. I’m so happy Liam chose you for his eternal companion.

Mom and Dad, thank you for being my constant support in everything I do. I must’ve done something really good in the premortal life to have gotten you as parents. Thank you for putting up with my bad days and celebrating with me on my good days. Mom, thank you for being one of my best friends and a perfect example of a mother. Dad, I’ve been told that you only get through this life laughing or crying. But you’ve proven them wrong. You have made me laugh so hard that I cry with every single one of your dumb dad jokes and weird dance moves. Thank you for never giving up on me.

I love you guys so much.

I’m so excited to be able to go out and teach the people of England Leeds the lessons and promises of conversion and family. I’m excited to feel the joy of watching the people I’ve been teaching come to Jesus and change their lives for the better by following the four simple, but hard, principles with full purpose of heart and mind. 

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

The flaw doesn’t bring any happiness—momentary or long-term. The flaw doesn’t strengthen my relationship with anyone. In fact, because of it, I feel more isolated. The flaw doesn’t cause any positive long-lasting effects. The flaw doesn’t edify my life.

So why do I persist in experiencing the flaw over and over and over again?

This week, I took that flaw to the temple at the forefront of my mind to ask the Lord why the struggle with this issue persists.

Moses’ Creation Account

As the endowment session commenced, I pondered my flaw.  And suddenly, I saw myself in the throes of creation.

[I]n the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.

And the earth was without form, and void; and I caused darkness to come up upon the face of the deep; and my Spirit moved upon the face of the water; for I am God.

Matter was unorganized and chaotic. The Creator organized the matter and water. His Spirit moved upon the face of this newly organized creation.

I often feel chaotic and unorganized when I live unintentionally. And when I do face the world that way, this character flaw most often surfaces.

His Spirit has moved across my face. I’ve felt it. I’ve seen the influence in my life. I know He is God.

God Divided the Light from the Darkness

And I, God, said: Let there be light; and there was light.

And I, God, saw the light; and that light was good. And I, God, divided the light from the darkness.

There was light. There was light!! That’s what I was seeking! I needed His light to enter into this flaw that increased personal darkness.

Then God divided the light from the darkness. That’s often sounded so nonchalant to me. But this phrase has always been the standout phrase in the creation story for me. I’ve battled darkness. I’ve basked in light.

This phrase acknowledges both light and darkness. Darkness isn’t obliterated per se, but is acknowledged and divided.

The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary defines divided as “parted, disunited, distributed.” It defines “divide” as:

1. To part or separate an entire thing; to part a thing into two or more pieces.

2. To cause to be separate; to keep apart by a partition or by an imaginary line or limit. A wall divides two houses. The equator divides the earth into two hemispheres.

This was my answer!

Divide the Light From the Darkness Through the Savior’s Atonement

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

I acknowledge my character flaw. I recognize the triggers. I logically know when I’m reacting through its lens. I consider it darkness.

Through the Creator’s help and example, I can divide the light in me from the darkness in me. As the darkness divides and separates from the light, the light will shine persistently. The light in my life will increase. I will spend more time in light and less time in darkness.

This is possible through the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through His Grace, Jesus Christ overcomes my weaknesses as well as redeems me from my sins. Character flaw darknesses become light as He teaches me how to divide them from the innate Light of Christ within.

And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you;

As I learn truth about myself, I choose to chase the darkness away. The Creator gives light to any willing to receive it. “Let there be light; and there was light.”

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Sick

I’ve been feeling increasingly tired and sick over the last few years. I figured it was just stress. But recently, doctors finally gave me answers. I have celiac disease. It’s an autoimmune disease where the body attacks itself when it sees gluten. I laugh thinking of a tiny cell freaking out and jumping on a chair like I do when I see a spider, but it’s for gluten.

Gluten is found in wheat and in several other grains, so avoiding it has been really hard for me. I’ve found it in a lot of foods, but also in my lip balm, hair spray, and shampoo. I’m lucky though because they caught mine early. The doctor thinks I’ve only had it for 5-10 years or so. Can you imagine? This disease is so hard to pinpoint that some people have it all their lives, only to figure out in their 50’s why they are ever-increasingly sick.

Grief

Last night it finally hit me all the changes I’ve been through. I was setting out an Easter egg hunt for my family and realized the Milky Way candies I love are no longer an option. (They have gluten.) And the Honey Baked Ham we serve for Easter dinner is off the list too. (There is gluten in the honey glaze that makes it so good.) I have been working with this for about a month and have found a lot of alternatives for things I love. But those two seemed to be the last straw. I started grieving.

It didn’t help that the day before I found out that my favorite restaurant was largely off limits now too. And thanks to an accidental ingestion, I was feeling awful. As I laid down to rest, a beautiful feeling came over me. I was reminded that this isn’t my new forever, this is just my new ‘right now’—that one day my body will be well and whole because my Savior sacrificed for me.

We Are Healed

The resurrected Jesus Christ finds Mary at the tomb.

When I was a teenager, I went to an unforgettable youth conference. The theme was the Savior’s life, and we spent the three or so days there learning about Him. We were divided into groups called “families,” like youth conference often is. But we were also assigned an ailment. Then, the rest of the group was responsible for helping those too infirm to get around. I think my ailment was blindness, so I wore a blindfold. It made eating and getting around difficult. But another girl in our group couldn’t walk, so she had to be carried. I was grateful that wasn’t me.

At one point in the experience, we were told that Jesus had come, and that He had healed our sicknesses. We were all allowed to take off our blindfolds, oven mitts, etc., and to stop being carried around. It was wonderful! Everything looked so beautiful after being stuck a day or so in darkness. Then they led us through the final days of the Savior’s life, His suffering in the Garden, and Crucifixion on the cross.

He Suffered to Free Us

To read more of Abby’s work, click here.

Nobody has ever suffered as much as the Savior. The scriptures say that He suffered so much that blood came out of every pore, and that He suffered more than man could suffer. I looked it up, and bleeding from your pores is called Hematidrosis. Wikipedia tells us that it’s “a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress” (emphasis added).  There have been few cases of people going through this in history, but none live long afterward. Our Savior suffered that and more. He suffered both physical and emotional agony.

In direct contrast, we are told of the glory of our Risen Lord. After the darkness, pain, and living hell that must have been Gethsemane and Golgotha, our Savior rose from the dead. He overcame everything for everyone who has and will ever live. Because of Him, I know that we will all live again, perfect and whole. It’s that comfort that is getting me through this Easter.

As I search for a way to live a healthy life without so much of what I grew up with, I know that it’s not going to last forever. Because of Him, this trial will end someday—and He will support me every step of the way. I’m so grateful for Him and for all He has done for me.

Abby Christianson

Abby is capable and caring. She is learning more about Autism and parenthood every day. Having completed training to be an RBT (Registered Behavior Technician) for ABA therapy she is beginning to understand her son. And even though she is the first to admit she makes a lot of mistakes, she is so grateful to be on this journey. She comes from a family with many autistic members. She invites us to join her, as she shares her adventures. She wishes to emphasize that Autism is a difference not a defect. If you or a family member have autism, Abby wants you to know that the challenges can be overcome, and there are blessings in autism. You or your loved one are not sick or broken. Together we will teach the world this new language.

Part of the experience is retelling the story of Israel in Egypt. Not only should the story be retold, but it should be retold from our present tense perspective! First person, in the now.

Basic Rules of telling the story:

 

Tell it in first person, in the now. Don’t say, “Long ago, the ancient Hebrews…” Say, “When we were slaves in Egypt, the perverse socio-bureaucratic system thoroughly crushed every individual’s sense of self-worth!” Everything that happened there parallels something in each of our lives. We are truly living it now. We are simply examining our own lives in the dress of ancient Egypt.

 

It’s all about miracles. Moses and his signs and wonders. The Ten Plagues. The splitting of the sea. All those miracles happened so that we would look at the events of our daily life and recognize that these too are miracles. Tell it like it is: We are a people born of miracles. We endured by miracles. The very fact that we are here now telling this same story to our children in an unbroken chain of 3,316 years is an abrogation of natural law.

 

The exodus was not simply an event that happened to us. It is an event that we became. It is who we are. It is the life of each one of us, occurring again and again, in our wrestling match with the world, in our struggle with our own selves. We embody freedom in a constant mode of escape. Perhaps that is why Jews have always been the rebels of society, the ones who think out of the box. The experience of leaving Egypt left such an indelible mark on our souls, we never stopped doing it. A Jew who has stopped exiting Egypt has ceased to allow his soul to breathe.

 

To tell the story is to bring that essential self into the open, to come face to face with who we really are and resuscitate it back to life.

This went beyond likening the scriptures to myself and catapulted me into the realm of remembering and experiencing.

So we tried it with our class. Because of time constraints, I asked everyone to share one statement about the Exodus in the first-person present tense. It took a few moments to get going but then we had awesome responses.  “I am scared because of people dying around me.” “I think the locust plague is excessive.” “I’m amazed that the water is standing up around us and we’re running on dry land.” “I am tired of plagues.” “I am happy that we’re free!”

The whole story took on a new meaning. And even though we laughed about everyone’s comments, I felt amazed, too. We hadn’t really reviewed the Exodus. I just asked them to participate on the fly with a general overview. I really liked the results.

Present Tense Easter

The Savior’s last Passover lingered in my mind as I continued my day. I’d never really put myself in the first-person present tense at the Last Supper.

What would be my present tense tale?

I hear Him speaking amazing things, but I don’t quite understand what He means. I’ll ask Him tomorrow. I wonder why Judas left right now! I love spring nights in Jerusalem. I am so tired. I’ll rest my eyes for just a minute.

Or…. As Jesus talks about love, I feel His love surrounding me! He said He was the Bread of LIfe. Now I’m eating bread that He said represents His flesh. I watch His face. I see sorrow in His eyes. I hear Him speak of peace—that He will give me peace—but He must overcome. I can’t quite comprehend what that means. As we walk to Gethsemane, I see the stars and feel the dust envelope freshly-washed feet. I watch Jesus, Peter, James, and John walk further into the garden. I see Jesus is troubled. Tired from the stresses of the day, I fall asleep.

I felt such emotion as I wrote that I watched His face. That is divine remembering.

What would you say in your first-person present tense account of that momentous Easter weekend?

Elder Orson F. Whitney’s Present Tense Dream, Told in the Past Tense

As I thought about first-person accounts of Gethsemane, another memory stirred. As a young missionary, Elder Orson F. Whitney experienced a first-person Gethsemane moment.

Here are Elder Whitney’s words as he addressed a Mutual Improvement Association Conference in 1925 in a talk called “The Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

And it shall come to pass, saith the Lord of Hosts, yea, our great and true God, that whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them again no more, because of the great curse of the land, save he be a righteous man and shall hide it up unto the Lord.

It stood out to me more than usual because I’d been thinking about a friend’s patriarchal blessing promise (one that she felt comfortable sharing with me) that she would uncover treasure upon treasure, volume upon volume of heretofore hidden information—family history work. I’ve been thinking about her blessing’s promise in relation to my own desire to find Anthony’s great-great-grandfather, John Reed Mitchell’s parents.

I want to find that treasure hidden in the earth.

Samuel the Lamanite continued on:

For I will, saith the Lord, that they shall hide up their treasures unto me; and cursed be they who hide not up their treasures unto me; for none hideth up their treasures unto me save it be the righteous; and he that hideth not up his treasures unto me, cursed is he, and also the treasure, and none shall redeem it because of the curse of the land.

 

And the day shall come that they shall hide up their treasures, because they have set their hearts upon riches; and because they have set their hearts upon their riches, and will hide up their treasures when they shall flee before their enemies; because they will not hide them up unto me, cursed be they and also their treasures; and in that day shall they be smitten, saith the Lord.

 

Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the words which the Lord saith; for behold, he saith that ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you.

 

Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.

So we have riches. The righteous hide their riches unto the Lord. The wicked don’t. What about a person trying to be righteous that forgets to hide up her riches unto the Lord?

Yikes.

Also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you.

This sentence really stood out to me because of the word “redeem.”

[H]e that hideth not up his treasures unto me, cursed is he, and also the treasure, and none shall redeem it because of the curse of the land.

Redeem immediately calls to mind a redeemer—the Redeemer.

Hidden Treasures

In accordance with my culture, the most important treasure I’ve ever put in the ground or have seen put in the ground are the bodies of my loved ones. They are my treasure laid to rest with a dedicatory prayer. They are hidden up unto the Lord. And if they’ve accessed Jesus Christ’s Atonement (or choose to do so in the spirit world), He shall redeem them from the curse of the land. He’ll redeem them from the Fall.

Have I hidden other kinds of treasures in the earth?

The scriptural passage speaks of riches hidden in the earth. I’ve never hidden riches in the earth. But in this modern day and age, I have hidden up my riches in vaults via a deposit box and digital transactions. My riches are 1s and 0s and hidden under usernames and passwords. But to the Lord? I need to consider this.

Along with swords and treasures becoming slippery and lost, the Book of Mormon discusses two other items that were hidden: plates and swords.

Hidden Plates—Sealed and Revealed

Moroni talked about hiding up the sacred records unto the Lord and knowing the records would one day be found. In the same chapter, he spoke of hiding up the great revelations the Brother of Jared received. These treasures are hidden up physically, sealed, on the golden plates. But, they’re also hidden up by unbelief.

And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are.

Hidden Swords—Slippery and Stained or Bright

The wicked Nephites discovered that their swords became slippery. They even slept on their swords and couldn’t find the swords in the morning. When they hid things, they couldn’t find them again.

Another group of swords hidden in the earth belonged to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They knew exactly where they hid their swords. They refused to uncover them.

And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved.

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

That imagery of something buried so that it can remain bright reinforces the Lord’s command to do perform everything we do in His name. As we persist in keeping that commandment, our brightness increases.

And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.

 

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

 

And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you.

I learned to be buried and bright in the water of baptism. Then as I continue through life and bury my sins through Christ’s Atonement, with less stains, my soul becomes brighter and brighter. Then as I am one day buried in the earth, I will not be buried in darkness, but brightness. I will be a treasure that can be found. And I trust that I will be ultimately redeemed from the cursed earth, the prison of the Fall, and find that the earth, now blessed, became a glorified celestial home.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Elder James E. Talmage, via byu.edu

As I’ve repeatedly listened to the story Elder Gay shared about Elder James E. Talmage, I began to process the experience differently—from amazement at Elder Talmage’s love and compassion to a personal realization.

Here’s the story from Elder Gay’s talk:

I recently learned about an experience in the life of Elder James E. Talmage that caused me to pause and consider how I love and serve those around me. As a young professor, before he became an Apostle, in the height of the deadly diphtheria epidemic of 1892, Elder Talmage discovered a family of strangers, not members of the Church, who lived near him and who were stricken by the disease. No one wanted to put themselves at risk by going inside the infected home. Elder Talmage, however, immediately proceeded to the home. He found four children: a two-and-a-half-year-old dead on the bed, a five-year-old and ten-year-old in great pain, and a weakened thirteen-year-old. The parents were suffering with grief and fatigue.

 

Elder Talmage dressed the dead and the living, swept the rooms, carried out the soiled clothing, and burned filthy rags covered with the disease. He worked all day and then returned the next morning. The ten-year-old died during the night. He lifted and held the five-year-old. She coughed bloody mucus all over his face and clothes. He wrote, “I could not put her from me,” and he held her until she died in his arms. He helped bury all three children and arranged for food and clean clothing for the grieving family. Upon returning home, Brother Talmage disposed of his clothes, bathed in a zinc solution, quarantined himself from his family, and suffered through a mild attack of the disease.

Elder Gay shared this experience as an example of someone willing to take Jesus Christ’s name upon him. Internalizing this message has made this stranger’s experience my own and Elder Talmage the Savior.

Jesus Christ comes to our homes and hearts—when we’re a stranger or forsaken or forgotten. He opens the doors we’ve locked to everyone’s views. He assesses the need when we can’t function. And with great care, the Risen Lord dresses the dead.

He lifted and held the five-year-old. She coughed bloody mucus all over his face and clothes. He wrote, “I could not put her from me,” and he held her until she died in his arms.

When I listened to this again yesterday, I suddenly saw myself as that diseased and broken little girl, afflicted with a spiritual disease because of willful or neglectful choices. And I saw myself afflicted by the destructive influences of the Fall, the mortal condition, and the impact of living on a planet with others and crashing into them.

He held her as she suffered through her agonies. He bore her bloody mucus on His flesh. He could not put her from Him.

Held

Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It’s unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

If hope is born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

“Held” by Christa Nichole Wells

“I could not put her from me,” and he held her until she died in his arms.

That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;

And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.