061324, Thursday, Journal Entry

 Vitals:  Weight 227.7, A1C (GMI) 6.6

Book of Mormon Review Reading: Mosiah 3

Journal Entry:

I served my last official assignment in the early shift at the temple yesterday with a 0615 start. I made a lot of friends on that shift and look forward to making new ones when I start my 2nd shift in a few weeks. The temple will be closed next Wednesday for a national holiday and my surgery will be the following day. Hopefully I won't have to miss more than two weeks while recovering.

My pain continues, of course, but I managed 5 and a half hours of sleep last night which is an improvement. Today will be more rest and hopefully walking. The temperature hit 100 degrees yesterday so we went to University Place Mall and walked. This morning we hope to go up to Provo Canyon early and get a walk in. Cathy will serve in the Bishops Storehouse. 

Come Follow Me 

Alma 5: 45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

“If you want to know anything, you will have to do something.

Isn’t that true with anything we want to learn or know? ...[S]tart doing the gospel of Jesus Christ: praying, studying, serving others, and trusting in the Lord. Conversion won’t come while doing nothing. It comes through the power of the Holy Ghost as we intentionally make an effort to know by asking, seeking, and knocking. It comes by doing."

Rebecca L. Craven, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, April 2022

"One of the great truths of the Restoration is that the heavens are open—that we too can receive light and knowledge from on high. I testify that is true.

But we must be wary of a spiritual trap. Sometimes faithful Church members become discouraged and even drift away because they haven’t had overwhelming spiritual experiences—because they haven’t experienced their own pillar of light. President Spencer W. Kimball warned, “Always expecting the spectacular, many will miss entirely the constant flow of revealed communication.”

President Joseph F. Smith likewise recalled, “The Lord withheld marvels from me [when I was young], and showed me the truth, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.”

That is the Lord’s typical pattern, brothers and sisters. Rather than sending us a pillar of light, the Lord sends us a ray of light, and then another, and another.

Those rays of light are continuously being poured down upon us.

That means, brothers and sisters, that in time and through “great diligence,” we too can have our own pillar of light—one ray at a time. And in the midst of that pillar, we too will find a loving Heavenly Father calling us by name, pointing us to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and inviting us to “Hear Him!”

Elder Alexander Dushku Of the Seventy, April 2024

Alma 5: 61 And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. 62 I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: “Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.”