Connie

And that's exactly why i chose that word. It has that kind of double meaning, neither of which i can find any disagreement with.

The scripture that comes to mind for me (and that I was initially too lazy to look up) is D&C 130:20-21 that talks about how we obtain blessings from God “by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” I’ve come across a couple of scripture verses that promise mercy to “them that love him and keep his commandments.” (Ex. 20:6 and Dan. 9:4) So that's a cool one.

Probably any of these can be seen as fantastical to someone who is struggling with said thing (testimony, contention in the home, temptation, whatever). I guess i was personally thinking that the last three can be seen as fantastical to people who struggle with those types of trials in their life. Number 11 could certain seem fantastical to someone who has a rebellious teenager.

I’m really loving just the sheer detail. To get this kind of detail on my own I would have to, as the author has done, delve into the thousands of journal entries and newspaper articles and documents and revelations and etc., etc. I mean I’ve read the Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt and The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother. And while those both have an extremely valuable inside perspective on the subject, they are really only a small piece of the whole. I think this book probably comes the closest to the whole that one can get without a time machine and mind reading powers.

Great way to put it. That's exactly how i've been feeling, too.

There are lots of gospel promises or blessings we can obtain. I have a list of 23 possible blessings that come from studying the scriptures. I compiled the list for a talk i gave a couple of years ago based off some quotes from modern-day prophets i found in my studies. So it is by no means a comprehensive list. I think it was Elder Scott who said that we would receive a "wealth of blessings [as a] result of scripture study." I don't know if you would consider some of these as promises. Many of them are fairly basic but some are kind of fantastical sounding. If you're interested in the quotes, let me know. I still have them. Here's the list: 1. Learn how to live in times of war. 2. Learn how to deal with persecution and apostasy. 3. Learn how to do missionary work. 4. Learn how to respond to the dangers of materialism. 5. Help us keep our thoughts clean and pure. 6. Increase the Spirit in our homes. 7. Increase reverence. 8. Increase mutual respect and consideration for others. 9. Decrease contention. 10. Parents will counsel with their children in greater love and wisdom. 11. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. 12. Increase righteousness. 13. Increase faith, hope and charity. 14. Increase peace, joy and happiness. 15. Strengthened resolve to obey commandments. 16. Strengthen our testimony of Christ. 17. Increased power to avoid temptation. 18. Increased ability to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost and receive revelation. 19. Increased confidence in ability to overcome the challenges of life. 20. Give direction to our life. 21. Calm an agitated soul. 22. Heal emotional challenges. 23. Accelerate physical healing.

This thread is for discussion of the book Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard L. Bushman. I am only about half-way through this excellent book. I am loving everything I am learning about Joseph Smith. I’m not really learning anything that I didn’t already know to a certain extent, but it goes into much more detail than what I’ve learned before. I love that it takes this man in his historical and cultural context. It is wonderful. I thought this book needed it's own discussion thread. I've been pretty fascinated by some of the authors commentary on the Book of Mormon and church government, and it has generated some questions and thoughts that i would love to discuss. But i thought i'd just start out with this and see what sort of interest level there is in some discussion. What did you love/hate about this book? Any favorite quotes? Do you think this book is good for testimony building... or not good? What did you think of it all?

Now, Palerider. You can't just throw out Mansfield Park like that with me. You must tell me which version it was and what you thought. Come on, spill it.

Vort. So funny! Have you seen a cartoon show called Young Justice? Your comment reminds me so much of Robin on that show. He was always doing funny things with words like that. One of them: "You're overwhelmed. Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone every just whelmed."

Hello, 4th Cousin! :)

I have a Scottish line on my mother's side.

Have you considered that this feeling of "like I'm on a path to freedom" is from God? (rhetorical question) It sounds to me like you are feeling something; that He is there and that you are right where you need to be. Keep up the good work. Things will only continue to get better.

There is nothing wrong with you per se. Obviously, I don’t know why you are not feeling anything, but it is completely normal. Probably everyone on this forum has had the experience of not being able to feel the Spirit. I know I have. The older I get, the faster time seems to go. One month is very short. Please don’t give up. “…that great morning of forgiveness may not come all at once. If at first you stumble, do not give up. Overcoming discouragement is part of the test. Do not give up. And as I have counseled before, once you have confessed and forsaken your sins, do not look back.” -Pres. Boyd K. Packer (link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/04/the-saviors-selfless-and-sacred-sacrifice?lang=eng) Some links from current General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/latter-day-saints-keep-on-trying?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/stay-by-the-tree?lang=eng

That's awesome, Pam. :) I have a very rich pioneer heritage. Newel Knight is my 3rd great grandfather, and anyone familiar with church history probably is familiar with who he is. I am also related to the Leavitts who helped settle southern Utah. You may or may not have stopped in Santa Clara where there is a monument to Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. She is a 4th great grandmother of mine. The Leavitts also helped settle Mesquite and Bunkerville, Nevada. There is a small Leavitt museum in Mesquite, and i'm probably related to nearly everyone buried in the Bunkerville cemetery. There are several monuments to my ancestors there.

Huzzah!

One of the favorite mantras of a former bishop of mine was that that was one question you could take to God and always get an answer to. I know for me, and several others who have testified of that, that it is really true. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve done it before—when I ask “Father, do you love me?” I always get the same wonderful feeling in my heart. It saddens me to think that there are people who wouldn’t feel that answer. And I don’t know why that would be the case. I obviously don’t know you, John, except from what you have posted here. I don’t know your circumstances or your troubles. But I hope, in addition to seeking the Lord, that you are seeking some professional help of whatever kind you may need. For me—I think I get the love, but what I don’t quite understand, and probably never will in this life, is that He would care about what is going on in my life or want to help me with any of my little problems. I am only one of billions upon billions of God’s children, and not a very remarkable one at that. That’s the understanding I struggle with—that with so many other people to assist and care for that he would be mindful of me.

I love this idea of being defenders of the Family Proclamation. This was my favorite talk during this session. I loved her words on teaching our children. At one point she said something like "teach the ideal but to also plan for contingencies." That struck me particularly. I must need to teach that to my kids. I loved the example she gave of the mother who was inspired to become a presenter for career day at her kids school and presented the career of mother. That woman has the chutzpah i wish i had. What a great example of being a defender of the Family Proclamation.

"First seek to understand, then to be understood." -Stephen R. Covey Good principle to remember when it comes to contention.

Idumea? D&C 1:36 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/1.36?lang=eng#35

I've always found the scriptures in the Book of Mormon that talk about a group of people being spared because of the righteous or the "prayers of the righteous" (see Alma 10:22-23) very interesting. There's also the instance where the angel visits Alma the younger because of the prayers of his father and perhaps others (Mosiah 27:14). It's obvious that there is some very real power in prayer in these instances, but i don't know if one could argue that it altered God's plans.

Hello again. I thought this talk from the last General Conference of our church might be of interest to you, particularly if you do wind up moving to Utah. It was specifically given to non-members and answers the question, "Why are Latter-day Saints so eager to tell me about what they believe and to invite me to learn about their church?" Here's the link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng

If by "southern Utah" you mean anywhere below Black Ridge, then i might let this slide. But even then, not entirely true. The St. George Temple has plenty of lawn. And i love all the exotic looking plants in St. George that don't grow anywhere else in Utah. I'm not even sure what some of those trees are that grow down there, but they look like palm trees to me. I love just driving around and looking at the houses that are around the temple area. So many awesome plants. Southern Utah is way more diverse than just rock.

http://www.allfreesewing.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwrPqnBRD56dGe1o_WlZsBEiQAb5ugt0efQqSWrPQAH98fN8ElV-0Q7DbYXu95h4lD4wJP5mIaAsze8P8HAQ http://sewingpatterns.com/

Southern Utah has had quite a lot of people moving in from Southern California over the past several years. Particularly St. George as the weather is closer to what they were used to in Cali. St. George's elevation is just under 3000 feet above sea level, whereas Cedar City is just under 6000. So St. George is usually 10 degrees warmer than Cedar, and Cedar is usually about 10 degrees warmer than Northern Utah. And there are a lot of smaller towns around the area, too. So you wouldn't necessarily have to live in city. For example, Veyo and Enterprise are both quite close to St. George but are very small towns. There is some really pretty area between those two little towns. That's were the Mountain Meadows area is. Even Hurricane isn't all that big, though it keeps growing. But if you go a ways beyond Hurricane, you hit places like Toquerville and La Verkin which are both very small and quite pretty. I always like driving through that area. Beaver is pretty small, but there are even smaller places like Greenville and Adamsville just to the west toward Minersville (which is tiny). That's some pretty area to drive through, too. I'm not familiar with Torrey but it looks like it's in the middle of Utah. That is some pretty area, too. Sorry. I keep going on about how pretty it all is. You probably already know that. Your job opportunities will be greatest in the St. George area. The farther north you go the sparser the population gets until you hit about Payson. Then it's wall to wall people clear until Ogden, in the opinion of this yokel. We love Southern Utah. I have lived here nearly 20 years. Let me know if you have any more questions.

My sister believes that, too. It's a matter of not believing in priesthood authority, at least in her case. In her mind, God loves her so much that He would never keep her apart from her family. I don't know if this is how your friend sees it. Perhaps he simply doesn't understand priesthood authority rather than not actually believing in it at all. In which case i would give him resources on learning about the priesthood. One conference talk that comes to mind, if his thinking is anything like my sister's, is one from several years back called Love and Law by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Here's a link if your interested: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/love-and-law?lang=eng