Mama's talk in church that references our soon to be missionary

 Talk that references our soon to be missionary the Sunday before she leaves given by Mama in the Verona Ward in her capacity as part of the presidency of the stake young women.

Privilege to be in your ward and speak with Brother Gammett

My calling in Stake YW lets me love each of the youth in your ward—first witnessed that watching them practice COME UNTO CHRIST right after I was called- powerful.  I know the Lord has so much trust and so much in store for them.

I also want to bear witness that I know that the Lord looks at each of us with that kind of love and hope.  The greatest way we can access the gifts that He is offering is with the atonement

Start with this week’s CFM… I love the how God’s purpose is defined- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. 

The immortality part is done—it has been earned, bought and paid for.

The eternal life part is a progression word,,, on going,

The question to ponder together is how does the atonement make us more—how do we let it change us

Now to get personal. The hands down best thing that happened to our family in 2025 was the birth of our very first grandson.  My phone that used to have recipe pictures, my kids’ basketball pictures, puppy pictures  has now been totally overrun with newborn photos.  I looked- I have 841 pictures of my new grandson—and he was just born in Sept.

  If you do the math, at this rate I should have 3364 by his first birthday—I cannot explain the love I feel for him.  I didn’t know it would feel that way with a grandchild.  Have you ever seen a baby that is so cute you just want to squeeze them- I mean like you can hardly contain yourself?  That kind of love that makes you want to burst? That’s where my heart is right now.

Elder Klebingat, in a talk given in 2024, creates a comparison to that kind of love like this:

let’s imagine a little five-year-old girl whom you love more than life itself. From where you are sitting, you are observing this beautiful child in the corner by a little table totally engrossed in drawing a picture for you—as children love to do. Imagine her little tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates intently. She’s really working hard.

Now imagine her walking toward you, hesitantly pausing and wondering whether her offering will make the cut. You notice immediately that this is neither a perfect horse nor a house. Yet her big, expectant eyes meet yours. What do you say?

Well, you are not going to express disappointment. You are not going to point out every flaw, are you? You are not going to remind her that her older brother did a better job at her age, are you? Instead you will praise and hug that little girl, and then you will laminate her picture and put it on the fridge. Right? Why? Because even in your flawed, mortal condition, you instinctively know that what that little sweetheart did for you at this stage in her life today represents the best she could do, and you are good with that.

So why would we ever even imagine our loving and perfect Heavenly Father, upon receiving our daily and by default flawed offerings, putting them straight into a celestial shredder, whacking us over the head with a disappointed look, and sending us off to do better? Let’s not do that. That’s hurtful and offensive to Him.

There is a quote that says : it is better to be ten miles from hell heading away from it than to be a hundred miles from hell heading toward it.

It’s all about trajectory—about our desires and our real intent.

Elder Klingbat reminds us not forget that the sacred nature of these covenants doesn’t provide for time-outs or day passes to the great and spacious building; nor does it provide for sitting at the table of the Lord and the table of the devil.⁵⁴ Instead, our covenants with the Lord imply that Zion and Babylon cannot mix in any degree. They signify that we have left neutral ground forever—if there ever was such a thing—and that we have now placed our integrity, good name, and honor on the altar of sacrifice and consecration before mortal and immortal witnesses.

That’s hard! It’s so hard that without the Savior’s help, without drawing upon the redeeming and enabling power of His Atonement, it’s not possible

What does it look like in action.

If we think about  Nephi Let’s think about Nephi and his brothers in the midst of a storm at sea

In 1 Nephi 7 we read that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem to enlist Ishmael and his household in their cause. Laman and others in the party traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled, and Nephi exhorted his brethren to have faith in the Lord. It was at this point in their trip that Nephi’s brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction.

in verse 17 Nephi prays: “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound”

 

 

 

In a talk given in 2001. Elder Bednar He shares these insights: Brothers and sisters, do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up by my brothers? My prayer would have included a request for something bad to happen to my brothers and ended with the phrase “wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren” or, in other words, “Please get me out of this mess, now!” It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray, as I probably would have prayed, to have his circumstances changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And may I suggest that he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew and understood and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement of the Savior.

And then Edler Bednar teaches us Something important when he observes - I personally do not believe the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect that he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17) worked and twisted and tugged on the cords and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands. CLOSE QUOTE

Examples of the enabling power are not found only in the scriptures~~~I thought I would share a Pioneer example

Daniel W. Jones was born in 1830 in Missouri, and he joined the Church in California in 1851. In 1856 he participated in the rescue of handcart companies that were stranded in Wyoming by severe storms.

After the rescue party found the suffering Saints, provided what immediate comfort they could, and made arrangements for the sick and the feeble to be transported to Salt Lake City, Daniel and several other young men volunteered to remain with and safeguard the company’s possessions. The food and supplies left with Daniel and his colleagues were, to say the least, meager and were rapidly expended.

This is from Daniel Jones’ personal journal and his description of the events that followed:

“Game soon became so scarce that we could kill nothing. We ate all the poor meat; one would get hungry eating it. Finally that was all gone, nothing now but hides were left. We made a trial of them. A lot was cooked and eaten without any seasoning and it made the whole company sick. Many were so turned against the stuff that it made them sick to think of it. . . .

“Things looked dark, for nothing remained but the poor raw hides taken from starved cattle. We asked the Lord to direct us what to do. The brethren did not murmur, but felt to trust in God. We had cooked the hide, after soaking and scraping the hair off until it was soft and then ate it, glue and all. This made it rather inclined to stay with us longer than we desired. Finally I was impressed how to fix the stuff and gave the company advice, telling them how to cook it; for them to scorch and scrape the hair off; this had a tendency to kill and purify the bad taste that scalding gave it. After scraping, boil one hour in plenty of water, throwing the water away which had extracted all the glue, then wash and scrape the hide thoroughly, washing in cold water, then boil to a jelly and let it get cold, and then eat with a little sugar sprinkled on it. This was considerable trouble, but we had little else to do and it was better than starving” close quote

This illustrates how those pioneer Saints may have known something about the enabling power of the Atonement that we, in our prosperity and ease, are not as quick to understand:

 

He continues “We asked the Lord to bless our stomachs and adapt them to this food” (Jones, Forty Years, 81; emphasis added). My dear brothers and sisters, I know what I would have prayed for in those circumstances. I would have prayed for something else to eat. “Heavenly Father, please send me a quail or a buffalo.”

I don’t know that it would have occurred to me  to pray that my stomach would be strengthened and adapted to what we already had. What did Daniel W. Jones know? He knew about the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He did not pray that his circumstances would be changed. He prayed that he would be strengthened to deal with his circumstances.

Just as Nephi was strengthened, Daniel W. Jones had the spiritual insight to know what to ask for in that prayer.

He finishes in journal entry with this line: “We hadn’t the faith to ask him to bless the raw-hide, for it was ‘hard stock.’ On eating now all seemed to relish the feast. We were three days without eating before this second attempt was made. We enjoyed this sumptuous fare for about six weeks” (Jones, Forty Years, 81–82). Close quote

The enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own.

in our latter-day world of ease—where we can ask Ai how to do anything or find anything, & of microwave ovens and cell phones and self driving cars and comfortable homes—Do we ever learn to acknowledge our daily dependence upon the enabling power of the Atonement.

The Atonement is not only for people who have done bad things and are trying to be good. It is for good people who are trying to become better and serve faithfully and who yearn for an ongoing and mighty change of heart. Indeed, “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17) we can do and overcome all things.

I wanted to share one more experience that I have witnessed as a miracle that has strengthened my testimony- it has to do with my daughter—this ray of sunshine of mine that has almost finished her home MTC and will leave for her mission in three short days.  Any missionary MOM/Dad/ sibling you know how these last precious days feel and how raw emotions are- so bear with me—This is our fourth missionary and I’m here to tell you it doesn’t get easier, but it is just as sweet.

This missionary of ours has always strived to align herself with God’s will and God’s path, but like each of us, she struggled here and there, in little ways.  After graduation, like a day after, she entered the temple to receive her endownment—and then was called to be a temple worker.  This past 6 monts working  in the temple made a literal difference in her journey…Things that were a struggle didn’t challenge her after that.  Not because it wasn’t there- but because she knew how to access the atonement and the enobling power of grace we are promised through covenants.

 

 She became softer happier, and more focused.  Her scripture study changed, her countenance changed, her patience changed, it was like light was pouring out of her- and it was a blessing to our whole family.  She was wonderful before, but through that progress along the path and her covenantal relationships, and her ability to draw the Savior, I have been watching her become—and it’s been inspiring.

isn’t that purpose—to become? IT’s what the Lord wants for each of us, He sees it- He knows- He has given us a Savior that offers an atonement that we can access over and over again.  It’s not a punch card with limited punches, or a skip card we get to use once- it never expires—it’s a 24/7 access -that’s it’s real and it’s empowering, ennobling and healing—and it’s in His outstretched palms that are marked with his sacrifice….

Little part of Avery’s email” to her mission President who is President Tripple until she gets to the MTC:

President Tripple,

Leaving this next week will be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I truly believe that I will not be left comfortless or alone. I really loved studying in John 14 this week and especially these three verses:

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter⁠, that he may abide with you for ever;

18 I will not leave you comfortless⁠: I will come to you.

Sœur Miller

To that I add my own witness that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, the Savior of all mankind. And remarkably he knows my name and your name. Our Father in Heaven’s capacity to love us includes a redeemer who is both mighty and willing to Save.  I trust him with my whole heart.

ITNOFCA