General Conference last April gave me fresh eyes for Isaiah. Many of the talks seemed to echo and elaborate upon Isaiah’s words. His writings are a book of poetry like Psalms or Proverbs pointing us to Jesus Christ and in many places, Isaiah wrote to women specifically, Isaiah prophesied of the great things that latter-day women will do. Isaiah 4 says “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by a spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion…

This week’s devotional comes from Kate Holbrook, a beloved historian of Latter-day Saint women who passed away last week. It is a sermon she gave when she was moving away from Boston to Utah. I love her reminder that the fallenness of the world, our imperfection and fragility, are not only cause for sorrow, but also occasions for grace. “Our fragility is not a reason for us to despise each other, but it is the reason we must love each other, forgive each other, cling to each other. In this world of injustice, inadequacy and impermanence, I testify that Jesus lives, that He heals us, that He visits us in…

I live by a lake. Like many bodies of water, its appearance is connected to the weather. On a sunny day, the lake is deep turquoise blue and very stunning. On cloudy days, it is faded blue or gray. And when it’s stormy, the movement of the lake makes it difficult to determine its color. As I drove home one winter day, I noticed the reflection — or image — of the nearby hills in the still water. I thought that it seems we only see the image of the hills when the water is especially still. Two scriptures immediately came to mind: “Be still, and know that I am…

Lately it feels like everything in my life is on fire. Simultaneously. Not a small brush fire here or there that needs a bit of quick attention and management, but frightening conflagrations that threaten to consume and destroy. There is a lot of fight and flight and not enough peace and quiet. And for me it means that feeling tired and unsettled is the default. In my more objective moments, I realize that some of this is just a feature of my personal phase of life, but there is also something else at play. So many others seem to feel the same, as if we are all being pushed to…

Many of us recently read the story where the Israelites build a golden calf. Moses is up on the mountain talking with God and receiving God’s words for the people, and the Israelites are at the bottom of the mountain waiting for him to come back down. Or rather, they are sick and tired of waiting for him to come back: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’” (NIV,…