080526, Wednesday

Weight: 233.2

BP and Pulse: 115/74, 85

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 161

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 4:14

Yesterday's Steps: 4,216

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Esther 4:13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.

14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

"You will probably not be called upon to put your life on the line, as did Esther, for that which you believe. You will, however, most likely find yourself in situations where great courage will be required as you stand firm for truth and righteousness."

Elder Thomas S. Monson, Apostle 

080426, Tuesday

Weight: 233.4

BP and Pulse: 

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 165

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:26

Yesterday's Steps: 8,898

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

080326, Monday

Weight: 232.3

BP and Pulse: 106/67, 78

GMI: 7.3, Glucose level Three day Average: 167

Finger Prick:

Reported Sleep: 6:39

Yesterday's Steps: 2,570 (Sunday)

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Esther 2:15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

"It is because of our spiritual preparation that we can find answers to our everyday challenges. It is because of our spiritual preparation that we can find joy in enduring and overcoming our trials. It is because of our spiritual preparation that we can feel the greatest joy of all, a nearness and closeness to our Savior and Father in Heaven."

Sister Barbara W. Winder, Relief Society General President, October 1988

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