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Sabbath Devotional :: Broken
Jesus Christ invites us to “come unto [him] with a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 12:19). What does it mean to have a “broken heart”? I once heard a teacher point out that we use the word “broken” to describe the process of taming a horse and training it to be ridden. Knowing that the Lord would like us to be someone who “putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Perfect Brightness — Light of the World
I have been thinking a lot about light. This is probably because I have been experiencing a lot of darkness. During this time when the world feels so strange and unsettled, when there are so many uncertainties, I often feel a heavy weight on my chest. The landscape of our current situation appears bleak and dreary. Dark. And so I think about light. I visualize light. I ponder light. I look for light. I seek after a “perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20). That phrase is in my thoughts, my prayers, my meditations, my heart — every day. I can’t say that I fully comprehend that “perfect brightness.” But…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Love One Another — But How?
Last Sunday, I was re-reading the April 2020 General Conference talks. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has always been one of my favorite speakers. His talk: A Perfect Brightness of Hope was special. This section stood out to me: “We pray for those who have lost loved ones in this modern plague, as well as for those who are currently infected or at risk. We certainly pray for those who are giving such magnificent health care. When we have conquered this — and we will — may we be equally committed to freeing the world from the virus of hunger, freeing neighborhoods and nations from the virus of poverty. May we…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Light on the Path
Everybody has a superpower. Mine is pretty straightforward, and it can best be described as an ability to see around corners. So the last few months have been incredibly disorienting for me, because not only am I unable to see around corners, I cannot even seem to see five feet in front of me. And frankly, I’ve been struggling with this. During those same months, I, like many of you, have also been experiencing a very unusual degree of isolation. Some of that isolation is straightforward — my abundant and complex life narrowed overnight. But there is another layer. I am discovering that many more people than I had previously…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Choose Love
MWEG’s fifth Principle of Peacemaking says, “Peacemaking chooses love instead of hate.” This seems like a fairly easy one in the abstract, the theoretical. I don’t think many people consider themselves hateful or relish or seek out feelings of hatred. Most people want to love and be loved. But it gets more complicated in the concrete, the specific, the up-close-and-personal and daily. So how do we choose love? Chapter 4 in 1 John is a master class on love, and I want to highlight a few verses here: 7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.8. He that loveth…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Learn, Love, Act
During this time of COVID, our empty nest has expanded with four other people in the house since March — a baby and a three-year-old and their parents who both have full time jobs in DC. Our son and daughter-in-law manage their careers remotely from our place in the West, and we all spend segments of the day with the littles. We are all healthy. All things considered, for the worst of times, this is the best of times. Despite the lovely landmarks like first teeth, learning to count to 100, and Sunday home church when we share the sacrament, I admit that I still feel unsettled, unfocused, subpar, and…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Accepting the Wilderness
Several weeks ago, I found unexpected comfort in the words of Amulek. They came at the end of his sermon on prayer, the one where he tells the people to pray everywhere — in their fields and houses, over their crops and flocks, for protection from their enemies and Satan. And then he says: ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness (Alma 34:26). It’s that last phrase that caught me: your wilderness. He uses it so casually that I hadn’t noticed it before. Wilderness, whatever. But this time it stopped me cold. Wilderness. That is the word that I started following in…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Gift of Discernment
There have been many times in my life when I have been wrong about things. But there was one time in particular when I was really wrong about something, and it resulted in a lot of pain and personal anguish. I was deceived. I put my trust in the wrong person and listened to the wrong voices. I did eventually arrive at a place of clarity and truth, but damage had already been done and it was not an easy thing for me to recover from. Although it was painful, this experience taught me many valuable lessons that have continued to help me as I have moved forward. Many of…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Traveling Along the Path
My husband and I love road trips. I think back to just a year ago when I traveled with my husband and some of our family members freely about the country. This, after three years of serving a mission. We had been set apart working with the missionaries in the Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, and lower South Carolina area. We traveled at least two weeks out of the month, working with our missionaries. We spoke in wards and branches and at conferences across the mission. Every six weeks we drove 1.5 hours transporting departing missionaries and picking up incoming ones. You would think we would have felt traveled out! But there…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Good Inspiration is Based upon Good Information
For a few months I have wanted to share a particular story with all of you, but wasn’t quite sure why. It is deeply personal so I wanted to be very careful in my telling. Then this week, I have felt pulled to write a devotional about personal revelation and things started to come together. As you will see, my story is an example of what NOT to do, but I also hope to share some of the wisdom that was granted to me as I worked through my weakness. In this talk from the April 2018 General Conference, President Nelson said: “…good inspiration is based upon good information.” He…
