A SONG IN MY HEART

Recently a friend posted on her blog about her heart being full of song. She qoted lines of hymns that parallels her life and teaches her and gives her hope and peace.

Today I had a similar experience when emailing another friend about the current state of the world. She has gone through many difficult challenges in her life this last year. She mentioned how she is finding peace in her life through faith, scripture study & prayer. She is valiant & true to her beliefs and is a shining example of being "steadfast, immovable and abounding in good works" as she is a single mother raising her children to love and follow the Savior.

While replying to her my mind was flooded with hymns:
"Do what is right, let the consequence follow, battle for freedom in spirit and might, and with stout heart look ye forth to tomorrow, God will protect you in doing what's right."
Another song that came to mind was one I could only remember the last line of until my girls filled in my empty brain by singing one of their favorite primary songs:
"Keep the commandments, keep the commandments, in this there is safety, in this there is peace. He will send blessings, He will send blessings, words of the prophet, keep the commandments. In this there is safety and peace."

There are tons of other hymns and primary songs that teach us that we can receive great blessings, peace, hope, and safety when we choose to diligently serve and live the teachings of the gospel and follow the Savior. These thoughts were in my mind today as I attended our Stake Regional Conference. We were blessed to receive counsel from SLC and our wonderrful church leaders again after just having had general conference just 2 weeks ago.

As in general conference, there has been a running theme through our meetings in the last 2 days. One of the speakers noted today that he also noticed that 2 themes were spoken of multiple times by church leaders during general conference. These are:

1) Unity - in our marriage, homes, families, communities
2) "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear"-commenting often on the current condition of the world and what we need to be doing to prepare for coming turbulence in the world.

Again in the last 2 days we have been given similar direction by general and local church leaders.
Again the main feeling that I have walked away with is that church leaders know what is coming, the prophet and our stake president love us enough to teach us, are commanded to teach us, the things we must do to prepare for the changes coming in these last days. I am amazed that though we are taught with patience, kindness and love, that there is an urgency to the messages we have been given. At times I think it may even be too late for us to just be starting to think about these things, if we havent been doing them already it is going to be so much more challenging. These are the things that I really loved from conference today and know that we can work even harder at trying to improve every day:

1) We can become better parents when we

a) teach with love
b) teach by positive example
c) teach with humility and by doing so we will learn wisdom to be able to teach more wisely

2) We were strongly admonished,advised and counciled that as we use our right to vote that we be careful and wary and know what individuals believe about

a) the sanctity of life
b) the family is sacred
knowing what candidates believe about these 2 things would show forth what they will choose to do about other standards and values in the future.

3) When we listen to conference and other talks given by leaders and ward members:

a) We need to recognize who we are and what we represent as members of the church
b) Our individual desires to be taught will determine the influence the spirit will be to use to give us guidance and direction
c) We need to keep a prayer in our hearts to know God's plan and will for us in this life
d) We need to be teachable as we learn from general and local leaders and each other.
e) As we learn and are directed by the spirit we need to be ready and determined to apply the direction and personal revelation to ourselves and our families. We need to be ready to heed the things we are given.

4) One speaker specifically focused his talk toward the youth of the church and these are some of the things that he shared -

a) Remember you are not alone - friends, family, church leaders are always there for you
b) Stand in holy places, stand in places of strength and refuge. Put yourself in places where you know you will be safe and secure in the gospel.
c) Learn to control your thoughts - memorize scriptures, hymns, conference talks, good literature for those times that you may be exposed to or bombarded by things of the world. These things will help you to "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly"
d) Learn to do hard things - fill your extra time with things that will keep you challenged, learning, growing. Find things that will stretch your comfort zones and develop new gifts and talents.
By doing these things you will become who you strive to be.

5) We can Strengthen Home and Family when we:

a) focus time and energy on eternal goals
b) set personal and family goals to focus on things you cherish (marriage & family)
c) take time to re-evaluate where you are and where improvement can be made
d) Strive to continue basic gospel principles (tithing, scripture study, prayer, FHE, attend temple)
e) you are not alone, use and access positive helps and resources (he specifically mentioned the amazing resources on the church website)
f) Be not ashamed. When the world will point fingers and mock and persecute, do not be afraid to be steadfast and faithful to the gospel and its truth and light


These are just some of my personal observations. There were so many wonderful things taught in the last 2 days. There will be much to ponder and pray about. There will be much improvement to be made to keep working towards the ideal goals that will allow us to reach our "desired destination safely"

I would love to hear comments of those who also attended conference - or their own stake conference and regional conference here in OR too. Will look forward to sharing more soon!