In God's Hands

As we conclude our study of Queen Esther I reflect on my own life and what it is like to be married to a man that does his best to honor me and live a life that is good without the Light of Christ leading him. Queen Esther not only saved her people but I believe she saved her husband by her example of humility and mercy. I also think of the hymn by Phillip P, Bliss "Let the Lower Lights be Burning". Just recently I was so focused on living my life in accordance to the first and greatest commandment that I lost sight of the second commandment. I started judging the love of my life by how he wasn't living the first that I was breaking the second commandment. I was no longer being a beaming light of love and mercy that I left my husband in total darkness. "DARK THE NIGHT OF SIN HAS SETTLED. LOUD THE ANGRY BILLOWS ROAR; EAGER EYES ARE WATCHING, LONGING, FOR THE LIGHTS ALONG THE SHORE." My hope is that I will always remember the example that Our Savior gave us and ho...

Whenever I thought of my pioneer ancestors crossing the plains I was always focused on the Adults for some reason. It wasn't until Family Search sent and email " Colleen, discover your 10-year-old pioneer!" that I started to realize that I did have pioneer children in my family tree.     My great-grandfather, James Newton, on my father's line started the journey as a 4 month old infant. His family, who had been living in St. Louis, Missouri for almost 15 years, decided to take the trek west in 1864. The oldest two siblings were  14-years-old  Mary and Samuel Jr. who was 11 years old. Along with them on the trek that started in Nebraska was James' Grandmother on his mother's side that was 68 years old. By August 13, west of Ft. Laramie they experienced some cattle deaths which slowed the company.   On August 24 the Salt Lake  Deseret News  appealed to relatives and friends to go out and meet the company with a dozen or more yoke of cattle. They arrived ...

Worldwide Sisterhood Today it was my joy and pleasure to visit the Swahili Branch Relief Society. The lesson was about Elder David A. Bednar's "But We Heeded Them Not" and the main focus of the lesson was teaching these new converts about the Tree of Life.  I marveled as a senior Sister missionary shared the story in snippets pausing for the story to be translated into Swahili. Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life is so simple but profound in what it teaches all of us about holding onto the Gospel and not letting anything take us away from it. These women refugees have gone through so much in life, but they are so joyful and appreciative of the blessings they are getting from so many people assisting them. If you ever find yourself getting "bored" with the same scriptures over and over again, I invite you to visit one of the Refugee branches in the area and see the scriptures with NEW eyes. May we all remember to take no heed to the world and cling tightly to t...

Today I ran across a man that wanted to share truths that he had learned and invited me to look at his website. To my surprise it was advertising his book for just under $20. Yes, the website had snippets of what I would learn if purchasing the book, but I could see no place that someone could read the book online or get it for free using Kindle.  Our Heavenly Father wants His truth shouted from the rooftop and not for sale at a price. As far as I know there is only one God that requires payment for knowledge and I wouldn't trust any truth from him. It reminds me of something we learn in the Temple when Apostles of the Lord ask Adam if he has any tokens. I am hopefully this man was only led astray about asking for knowledge at a price and not sharing knowledge that was given him by that same source. Let us always remember that Gospel knowledge is priceless.