080226, Sunday

Weight: 233.9

BP and Pulse: 102/65, 72

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 171

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:24

Yesterday's Steps: 9,704

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Nehemiah 6:3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

"We are not authorized to negotiate the conditions of [God's] eternal plan...Nehemiah...was charged with building a wall to protect Jerusalem. Some wanted him to come down and compromise his position, but Nehemiah refused. He was not intolerant of others; he simply explained, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease…?”

Sometimes we become the lightning rod, and we must “take the heat” for holding fast to God’s standards and doing His work...[W]e need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine. We may experience misunderstanding, criticism, and even false accusation, but we are never alone. Our Savior was “despised and rejected of men.” It is our sacred privilege to stand with Him!

...[S]tanding strong sometimes means avoiding and even fleeing from the world."

Elder Robert D.Hales, Apostle 

080126, Saturday

Weight: 232.1

BP and Pulse: 111/67, 73

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 169

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:49

Yesterday's Steps: 6,659

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Nehemiah 1:9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

"God’s promise for the gathering of scattered Israel was...emphatic. Isaiah, for example, foresaw that in the latter days the Lord would send “swift messengers” to these people who were so “scattered and peeled.”

This promise of the gathering, woven all through the fabric of the scriptures, will be fulfilled just as surely as were the prophecies of the scattering of Israel...

This doctrine of the gathering is one of the important teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Lord has declared: “I give unto you a sign … that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.” The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We not only teach this doctrine, but we participate in it. We do so as we help to gather the elect of the Lord on both sides of the veil."

Elder Russell M. Nelson, Apostle 

073126, Friday

Weight: 233.0

BP and Pulse: 

GMI: 7.2, Glucose level Three day Average: 166

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:05

Yesterday's Steps: 8,821

Journal Entry:

Serving in the temple this morning 

073026, Thursday

Weight: 230.8

BP and Pulse: 109/73, 77

GMI: 7.2, Glucose level Three day Average: 162

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 7:14

Yesterday's Steps: 7,747

Journal Entry:

Daily scripture study is very important. This especially includes current prophets and Apostles and other general authorities.

Come Follow Me:

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught that if we “are acquainted with the revelations, there is no question—personal or social or political or occupational—that need go unanswered. … Therein we find principles of truth that will resolve every confusion and every problem and every dilemma that will face the human family or any individual in it.”

A regular and consistent pattern of scripture study is what will be most helpful. Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “A few little flowers will spring up briefly in the dry gully through which torrents of water pass occasionally. But it is steady streams that bring thick and needed crops. In the agriculture of the soul that has to do with nurturing attributes, flash floods are no substitute for regular irrigation.”

Ezra and the Jews of his day provide a worthy model showing why and how we should study and teach the scriptures. May we in reverence come to spiritual attention each time we open their pages. May we rely on the words of living apostles and prophets to help us understand their true meanings. May we celebrate with “very great gladness” that the study of the scriptures is our privilege. And may we make and keep our sacred covenants with great diligence and faith, using the scriptures as our guide.

Ensign, December 2002, Ezra Unfolds the Scriptures

By Brian D. Garner

072926, Wednesday

Weight: 232.8

BP and Pulse: 112/71, 84

GMI: 7.2, Glucose level Three day Average: 162

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:45

Yesterday's Steps: 10,053

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Music is extremely important in worshipping our Heavenly Father.

"Last spring I made my first visit to Brasília, Brazil. Over three thousand Saints gathered for a regional conference. The printed program listed the musical numbers, but the Portuguese words meant nothing to me. But when their beautiful choir began to sing, the music crossed all barriers of language and spoke to my soul:

The morning breaks, the shadows flee;

Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled! …

The dawning of a brighter day

Majestic rises on the world.

[“The Morning Breaks,” Hymns, 1985, no. 1]

Through the miracle of sacred music, the Spirit of the Lord descended upon us, and we were made ready for gospel instruction and worship."

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Apostle, October 1994

072826, Tuesday

Weight: 230.1

BP and Pulse: 107/62, 79

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 164

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:16

Yesterday's Steps: 2,340

Journal Entry:

We have been pretty sick for the last two weeks. Mainly severe coughing and gagging and feeling tired. I think we are both finally feeling better and will be able to serve in the Bishops Storehouse this afternoon. I'm not sure about Cathy because she has some additional ailments. We went to three doctors yesterday and she got prescriptions that we hope will help.

I'm not going into details but she is a little more frail than I and as she age more and more problems arise for her. When she's healthy she's amazing and serves others probably more than she should. But overall she is just wonderful and a great blessing to me and our family.

Come Follow Me:

Ezra 1:5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

"[T]he Lord repeatedly says in the scriptures, “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Let me tell you what that phrase “bear the vessels of the Lord” means. Anciently it had at least two meanings...

The first refers to the recovery and return to Jerusalem of various temple implements...[T]he Lord reminded those early brethren of the sanctity of anything related to the temple. Therefore as they carried back to their homeland these various bowls, basins, cups, and other vessels, they themselves were to be as clean as the ceremonial instruments they bore.

The second meaning is related to the first. Similar bowls and implements were used for ritual purification in the home. The Apostle Paul [wrote]: “If a man … purge himself [of unworthiness], he shall be a vessel … sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”...

In both of these biblical accounts the message is that...we are also to be a sanctified instrument...Partly because of what we are to do but more importantly because of what we are to be, the prophets and apostles tell us to “flee … youthful lusts” and “call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” They tell us to be clean."

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Apostle 

072726, Monday

Weight: 229.9

BP and Pulse: 126/85, 76

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 165

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 7:54

Yesterday's Steps: 2,355

Journal Entry:

Ezra 1: 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

"[T]rust in God can bless nations...

God does not rule in nations, but He is mindful of them. He can and does place people in positions of influence who want what is best for the people and who trust in the Lord...

You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you."

President Henry B.Eyring  

The message here today is that God will work using anyone he wants. There is a lot of good being done in the world by good people of  different backgrounds. We are all Gods children whether or not we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.