*Closed* Giveaway - Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez

UPDATE: The winner is Janet. Congratulations! I'll send you an email so I can get your information to send you your prize. I hope you enjoy the book.

Years ago I was following Yamile Saied Méndez's blog. She was a writer but hadn't published yet. She also did sensitivity readings, so read other people's manuscripts and make comments on any stereotypes, biases, or inaccuracies of culture. 

Then a few years ago, I invited Yamile to speak at a library where I worked and she graciously accepted. She is an Argentine-American and spoke about her culture and the importance of diversity in literature. She read fun books, but they weren't her own since she still hadn't published yet. And she is as sweet and cute in person as she seemed on her blog.

Fast-forward just a little bit to present-day. She has has published several books, 3 of which were published by Scholastic and sold at book fairs in elementary and middle schools near you. I gave away a copy of her book Where Are You From? on my Facebook page after it came out. 

As the release date neared for her latest book, Furia, I knew I wanted to have a giveaway for it. All I knew was that the protagonist was a young woman in Argentina who wanted to be a professional fútbol (soccer) player despite the cultural norms and family expectations. The book is in English with some Spanish words and phrases here and there so you can learn a little if you don't already speak Spanish. 

Before I could do a giveaway, Furia was chosen as the Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine YA Book Club's September book. Reese chooses a book each month with a female in the center of the story.

• It was also on New York Library's Best Books of the Year 2020 list for teens. 
• As if that wasn't cool enough, I happened to see it on BuzzFeed's 30 YA Books By Latinx Authors We Can't Wait To Read In 2020.
• It was on Cosmopolitan magazine's Best Young Adult Books You'll Read All Year list. 
• It was chosen for A Mighty Girl's 60 Empowering Books Starring Latina Mighty Girls. And I'm sure I don't know about some other honors.

So, now that you're all hyped to read this book with a strong, determined young woman that everyone is talking about, enter my giveaway for one hardcover copy of Furia! The giveaway is open to anyone living in the U.S. 

To enter, just post a comment (with an email address if I don't know you personally or come back on Saturday to see if you won) and tell me at least one book you've read that I should be sure to read. Enter by Friday, January 22 at midnight MST. 

In the meantime, you can print your own Furia bookmarks from Reese's Hello Sunshine . 

During Times of Rejection

I'm so behind. I have a long list of books to blog about and recipes to post, but rarely take the time to blog anymore. Friday I re-read a book that I read several months ago and intended to post about. I decided that since so much time had passed, I needed to read it again to I could refresh my memory. It turns out that this was a good time to read it again for new situations that have arisen in life, and I took even more notes this time around.

It's called Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely by Lysa TerKeurst. She's the President of a Christian ministry called Proverbs 31 Ministries and has written several books and has a blog. The book talks about times she was rejected or not wanted by a boyfriend, friend, colleagues and in other situations. To learn more about her, I went to her blog. In the book she talks about her husband. In recent blog posts, she explains that her husband was unfaithful and they were getting a divorce, and also that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Like many of us, she has many heavy burdens placed upon her all at one.

While some of Lysa's experiences that she shares in the book are not events that happened to me and almost seemed light compared to my own, the perspective we need to have during any rejection is the same. I have felt all the feelings that she has felt, being hurt and rejected in different ways. Lysa helps us change how we think and act when in those situations, feeling filled with God's love and knowing it is enough.

I won't share all of my notes with you, even though it's really hard not to. I'm sure things that touched me because of my experiences would not necessarily be what affects you the most. You should read the book. It's a quick read. I read it in one day. Many libraries have a copy. I'd love for you to come back and comment what you thought about it after you do.

Lysa talks about how much the rejection hurts in the moment, but also about how it affects us in our lives and in new relationships. "Today's rejections, big or subtle, are like stealth bombs that zing straight to my core, locating hurts from my past and making them agonizingly present all over again."

We let the words others say and the words we think they're thinking about us become our own negative self-talk. I know there are messages that I struggle to get out of my head. "Rejection isn't just an emotion we feel. It's a message that's sent to the core of who we are, causing us to believe lies about ourselves, others, and God. We connect an event from today to something harsh someone once said. That person's line becomes a label. The label becomes a lie. And the lie becomes a liability in how we think about ourselves and interact in every future relationship."

Stability is one thing that I have wanted in my life and want to give to my children. In many ways, that stability has eluded me, but my Father in Heaven is always there, wherever I am, in whatever circumstance. I know His expectations and promises do not change. "We're all desperate to anchor our souls to something we can trust won't change.

"...When my identity is tied to circumstances I become extremely insecure because circumstances are unpredictable and ever-changing.

"I was created by God, who formed me because He so much loved the very thought of me. When I was nothing, He saw something and declared it good. Very good. And very loved.

"Therefore, I can bring the atmosphere of love into every situation I face. I don't have to wait for it, hope for it, or try to earn it. I simply bring the love I want. Then I'm not so tempted to flirt with the world, hoping for approval, because I have the real thing with God."

Sometimes we feel like we have to earn love by our actions, and sometimes we are told that straight out. Either way, it is wrong. That is not love and will not turn into love.  We must learn to feel God's love and to love ourselves.

Lysa shares the story of a time that she was left at a table alone in a crowded room and she felt very alone. Then she said a thought popped into her head, "You aren't set aside, Lysa. You are set apart... To be set aside is to be rejected... To be set apart is to be given an assignment that requires preparation." We can all take a look and see how our Heavenly Father can use our trials, even those rejections by people, to make us better people and to prepare us for a future where we will need to be strong and have a sure faith.

"The enemy loves to take our rejection and twist it into a raw, irrational fear that God really doesn't have a good plan for us...Satan knows what consumes us controls us. Therefore the more consumed we are with rejection, the more he can control our emotions, our thinking, and our actions....That's the exact place where panic starts to replace peace."

Speaking of the disciples' fear when they see Jesus walking on water, Lysa says that the word terrified comes from the Greek word tarasso, which means, "to set in motion what needs to remain still". I know when I am feeling scared, I panic and do not remain still. I am getting better, sometimes, but I still need to improve at remaining still and letting what needs to be still, be still.

I am having a really hard time not sharing so much more, but I will end with one more thought from the book.

"The pain isn't the enemy. Pain is the indicator that brokenness exists. Pain is the reminder that the real enemy is trying to take us out and bring us down by keeping us stuck in broken places. Pain is the gift that motivates us to fight with brave tenacity and fierce determination knowing there's healing on the other side.

"And in the in-between? Pain is the invitation for God to move in and replace our faltering strength with His.

"The only other choice is to run from the pain by using some method of numbing." We all know methods of numbing the pain -- drugs, alcohol, sex, self-harm, over-eating or under-eating, and many more.

"We think we are freeing ourselves from the pain when, in reality, what numbs us imprisons us. If we avoid the hurt, the hurt creates a void in us. It slowly kills the potential for our hearts to fully feel, fully connect, fully love again. It allows the rejection of a person to steal the best potential from every other relationship we desperately want and need.

"It even steals the best in our relationship with God. Because instead of Him being our hope, we misplace our hope in people who can't wholly love a desperately broken version of us. Only God can do that.

I'm always grateful for reminders of the eternal perspective I need when going through trials and feeling alone. It's important to be cognizant of who wants me to feel lonely and rejected, and of the reality that I am loved by my creator. This book left me looking for other books she has written, so I might be reviewing another one in the future.

King Noah Blindness

I first listened to King Noah Blindness and the Vision of Seers more than a year ago and I’m just getting around to writing a post on it. You’ve probably heard of S. Michael Wilcox before. He’s written many books and has talks on CD like this one. I was surprised when I looked at my past posts that the only one I’ve posted about is Trying to Walk on Water. Hopefully I’ll get around to writing about more of them soon and I’m actually reading another of his books right now.

In high school I took AP English and learned to recognize literary techniques like foreshadowing, irony and motifs. Those types of things can add layers to a book and help the reader understand even more about the message. Brother Wilcox talks about how Heavenly Father’s writings (the scriptures) use literary devices too. He mentions how before all the stories in Mosiah, including the story of King Noah and Abinadi, we are given a hint of what to look for in the rest of the book of Mosiah when we read this in Mosiah 8:20.

“…yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men…”

Brother Wilcox says that this signals the reader to look for things with eyes and seeing. Jumping ahead to the story of King Noah starting in Mosiah 11. It explains that Noah was a wicked man who surrounded himself with the wicked priests. Brother Wilcox suggests that we look at “the people” in this history, not just at the main players. In verse 7, it says of the people:

Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.

Even though the king and priests were wicked, the people accepted them because they “justified the people in their iniquity” and are soothsayers, telling the people what they want to hear, that it is okay to commit sin because it isn’t bad. It’s natural. It’s natural to commit adultery, to talk dirty to someone you’re not married to, to be selfish and take care of yourself, to steal from others, to wear immodest clothes…, all of the things that still trouble “the people” in the world today.  

Then along comes Abinadi who loves God and loves the people so he tries to teach them the consequences of their actions if they do not stop and repent. Do the people want to hear that they are wrong? Of course not.

So Brother Wilcox talks about how important it is for all of us to learn to recognize the Noahs and the Abinadis in our lives. I’m sure you’ve noticed how someone who starts to go down the wrong path pushes away his parents, leaders or friends who try to warn him of the dangers and consequences his actions will lead to. He thinks of them as the enemy who is just judging him, when they really have his best interest in their hearts. Instead, he thinks of those people who tell him that his bad decisions and sins are natural and good are his friends.

Brother Wilcox relates a similar type of relationship in the story of Jezebel and Ahab . Jezebel supported Ahab in his wickedness and Ahab thought she was his “best friend” because she told him everything wrong he was doing was good and she gave him everything he wanted. Then when Elijah comes to help him see the consequences of his actions so that he will repent and be able to feel of God’s love and peace, what is Ahab’s response to him in 1 Kings 21?

Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

In the CD, Brother Wilcox asks, “Who really loves Ahab and has his eternal happiness at heart? Who is his worst enemy? The true friend will never try to persuade you to disobey your Father in Heaven. They will always encourage you to walk that straight and narrow path. They will not try to broaden it.”

So back to the story of King Noah… The king and priests (except Alma), seek to kill Abinadi. 

Mosiah 11:29 Now the eyes of the people were blinded… 

They burn Abinadi and the people continue to follow their wicked king, even when the Lamanites are coming to attack and he orders the men to leave behind their women and children and save themselves. (To make a long story short—er) They run into the wilderness, still blind to the truth. They realize they are safe and then the consequences of their selfish actions. They suddenly and finally see King Noah for what he really is and their sight returns. They burn King Noah to his death. 

This is what Brother Wilcox calls a “Noah Moment”. He said that as a bishop and on disciplinary councils he has seen people have a “Noah moment” when they regain sight and suddenly it hits them. They so often say, “Oh, no. What have I done?” He says that so many times he has heard a young woman confess to immorality and suddenly he sees the young man in a different light and often says, “I hate him for what he did to me.” Some people recognize who the Noah and the Abinadi in our lives are too late.

Satan can deceive us and make us think that what we are doing isn’t that bad or blind us of the eternal consequences that do surely follow. Brother Wilcox mentions that one of the dangers of Noah Blindness is that even after our sight returns and we repent, the consequences sometimes show up later. The atonement is real and repentance is a beautiful gift, but some consequences do not disappear when we repent. If someone does something illegal, that may stay on his record. Repentance won’t erase that. If someone takes drugs, she may have health problems later because of it.

Brother Wilcox tells of a story of a young college student he knew who confessed to her problems with immorality. She repented and, as he describes her, was as pure and innocent as any other girl who never had the same problem. She became engaged, but when she told her fiancée of her past, he broke off the engagement. The consequences of her past actions affected her.

When those who love us warn us of the road we are going down, it is because they can see those things down the road that we might be blinded to. I have actually heard some people say that leaders are “threatening” them, when what they are doing is warning them of the outcomes they are building with their choices. We need to be careful to be “cheerfully submissive” and humble enough to listen to those who can help us see because most all of us will have (and have had) some kind of Noah Blindness. Hopefully we can recognize it before it becomes serious and we can take advantage of the atonement sooner rather than later.

When Life Gets Hard...

Today is a "tender day" as one of the general authorities who visited our stake conference said today. (I can’t remember if it was Elder C. Scott Grow or Elder Randy W. Wilkinson, both who spoke.) Remembering 9/11 makes this a somber day, full of emotion. Add on top of that for those in our stake, the fact that they released our beloved stake president after more than ten years of service. I have so much love for President Butler.

I have been able to be in different meetings with him and his counselors when I was in primary and relief society presidencies in my ward and then even more closely when I was a stake primary secretary. Then I was released from that calling and still got to associate with him as a bishop’s wife. And then, he was my leader who helped me through the trauma of being made a single mother. I am so grateful that our Father in Heaven gives us leaders on earth who can guide and advise us and comfort us.

But today’s post isn’t about either of those things. It’s a review of a talk on CD that I hope you all get to listen to someday because it is so great. Really and truly you will laugh lots and cry too. I’m so glad that my library likes to buy LDS CDs that I can listen to while driving.

Last month I found When Life Gets Hard… by Meg Johnson at the library and checked it out even though I had never heard of it or her. Meg Johnson  (yep, go to her website !) is a quadriplegic who was paralyzed in an accident while hiking. You may have heard of her since she was on the cover of  Wasatch Woman in 2008.

An adorable couple---Meg and her hubby Whit

She is so chipper and happy and her energy is contagious as you listen to her talk. I won’t tell you her hilarious stories about an old lady helping to throw her in her car or when she got the answer to not marry her boyfriend or any of the other stories that made me laugh out loud because I want you to hear it from her. I’ll share with you a few of the other things that she talks about in a kinda random way.

Our worst disabilities are the ones inside that paralyze us, like spiritual paralysis.

She read this wonderful quote. “He is a loving Father who wants us to have the happiness that results not from mere innocence but from proven righteousness. Therefore, he will, at times, not deflect the harsh learning experiences that may come to each of us—even though he will help us in coping with them."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Talk of the Month,” New Era, May 1971, 28

Meg gave 4 steps to what we can do to find joy when life is hard. And of course she had lots of wonderful things to say about each one.

1. Gratitude (Basic first step when we are too weak to start with anything else)
Meg tells the story of when she awoke in the hospital and was so upset about everything that happened and was crying thinking of so many things. Then she stopped herself, thinking that she had to find a way to feel better so she opened her eyes. She could only see the ceiling tiles so she started to pray to our Father that He would help her love those ceiling tiles and then started praying to love one thing after another.

I first heard this last month, but re-listened to it again last week. This time as I heard this, I had the thought,  "I have prayed to have peace, to be able to press forward, somehow finish this second degree, to even find joy, but I have not prayed to love anything about this. I haven’t prayed to love this house, to love sitting alone when it seems everyone around me is a couple, or to love chemistry." So since then, I have been praying for love for everything. Just the act of praying for it has helped me a little.

2. Eternal attitude
Meg mentions a time when she was laughing and a guys said to her, "Meg, how can you still smile ?" She felt angry because the unspoken part of that questions was "Meg, how can you still smile when clearly your life could hold no joy?" And she talked about how the atonement can bring joy to all of our lives and our knowledge of our Heavenly Father’s plan can make us happy.

This reminded me an experience of my own. Several months after my divorce, I was at the grocery store with my children. We sometimes get kinda silly and laugh loud, like we were this time. I turned around and saw a woman who I knew and who knew of the divorce, but I hadn’t seen since the divorce. I asked how she was and she said, "I’m doing well."  And with a kind of puzzled look she said, "You look happy." Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like she was saying, "I expected you to be walking around sad all the time. How can you be happy?" I definitely have had times when it was hard to do anything but cry, but thankfully, I have been able to feel such peace and love also. Because of the atonement of our Savior, I can have hope for a better future, even if that future is not until the next life. Our eternal perspective can help us see that our trials are temporary, even if they will last the rest of our life on earth.

3. Prayer
Meg mentions how we all know to start our scripture study with a prayer, but do you think of ending your prayer with scripture study? Like the saying goes, "If you want to talk to God pray ; if you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures." We can find answers and comfort by praying, listening, and pondering and reading the scriptures.

4. Service
"You will find that you are your strongest when you reach down to pick up someone else." We need the strength we get from serving others more than those we serve need us.

“To find happiness and joy, no matter what comes, we must make our stand unequivocally with the Lord.” James E. Faust, Where Do I Make My Stand?, Oct. 2004 General Conference

About hard times, Meg says, “The only way you can know how awesome it feels to laugh so hard that you’re not making any noise is to have sobbed so hard that you’re not making any noise.”

Probably every single one of you has also sobbed that hard at one time or many times. We know that there is opposition in this life. Hard times come to all of us and it is sometimes hard to live the saying “Come what may and love it”. How can we love some of the hard, awful things? We can feel the enabling power of our Savior, right there with us. We can know that “all things work together for good to those who love God”.

I really hope you go buy the CD from her site or stop by Deseret Book or Seagull Book…or maybe you’ll get lucky and your library will have it too. Here’s a little video to give you a tiny peek at Meg and her personality. Update: Monserrat at Chocolate on My Cranium just left a comment that Meg also was featured on Episode 9 of Enduring It Well on the Mormon Channel. I had listened to several of the episodes before, but not this one. She's more serious in the episode than on her CD, but it's still good so go listen to her there too.

Trying to Walk on Water

I checked out the talk on CD "Walking on Water: When the Lord Asks the Impossible" by S. Michael Wilcox recently. This is not the first time I’ve listened to it, but I was so grateful to hear it again at this time in my life. I have listened to it 5 times in the last couple of weeks. There are so many gems in here that seemed just for me, but I know that we all could use them. I don’t want to spoil everything so I will leave a lot out, but want to share some of Brother Wilcox’s words with you (even though I’m sharing it out of order).

The very beginning of the CD talks about Peter walking on water  in Matthew 14  .
Brother Wilcox tells this story and then shows how each of us is given our own walk on water moments with our own unique challenges.

Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and Brother Wilcox says he was probably thinking,
“If my master does this, I want to do it too. If my master can do this and he invites me to do it, if he bids or asks me to do it, I can do it. I can walk on water…I can do even the impossible.”

When the Savior bids Peter to come unto him, Peter immediately leaves the boat and enters the water, apparently without hesitation. But then while he is walking, the winds become stronger and he starts to fear and begins to sink. He cries to the Lord to save him.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

I don’t picture the Savior saying this with anger or disappointment, but as encouragement, telling him that he didn’t need to fear because the Lord was there and he has the power to keep him up even when Peter didn’t. In that moment of fear, Peter had cried out. It is the same in my life. I feel like a few months ago, I was walking on water, although not by own power, but doubt started to creep in my mind. I had thought that I will somehow get through these hard classes and get a good job. I will some day have a job good enough to get a good house. I will somehow meet someone worthy to take me to the temple and be my eternal companion. Then I started looking around me and seeing how impossible those things seemed. I started sinking. I cried out, “Father, I cannot do this. Please don’t ask me to walk on water.”

We all have our own trials, and they change from time to time in our lives. Mine isn’t nearly as bad as many others. The beautiful thing for me and for you is that when the Lord bids us to walk on water, we don’t have to do it alone or with our own power. And if he is asking us to do it, he will help us.

Isaiah 40
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

We do not have to rely on our own strength, our own stamina, our own ability. The Lord will take what we have and add his power if we believe.

“God will increase what we have, making it sufficient for whatever need we have. We see it again and again and again in the scriptures.”

Brother Wilcox gives the examples of the fishes and loaves, how Christ took the amount of food they had, and gave them what they needed and more. Then in the story of the widow in 2 Kings  who needed money to pay her creditors. The woman was given oil to fill all her vessels and those she had borrowed, so more than she needed. Our Heavenly Father will do the same for us. We may not be removed from our situation, but we can be given the strength we need and more.

“Time and time again we read in the scriptures of people who have needs that are not sufficient. Christ asks them to bring what they have. He’ll bless it. Multiply it and make it sufficient for the need and always beyond. God will strengthen us. He’ll give us eagle’s wings so we can fly, not only run, not only walk, but fly, mount up.”

One last topic that Brother Wilcox talked about that I’ll mention is fleeces. Recall how in Judges 6, an angel appears to Gideon to tell him he is to deliver Israel. Gideon asks the Lord to show him a sign so he is sure he is supposed to deliver Israel.

36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

Brother Wilcox says that often Heavenly Father will give us a fleece, a way to see what Heavenly Father really wants us to do—a scripture we read that speaks to us, a General Conference talk that answers a question or maybe words of a local church leader.

“Our human need to find reassurance or validation or courage to face our walking on water challenges is not an invitation to engage in subtle sign seeking, rater a desire to interpret God’s will correctly, to advance in a manner he wishes, to increase confidence not so much in Him nor in his commands but in ourselves… Neither must we be afraid that our request for a fleece will be seen as a lack of faith or a sign of weakness or that the Lord will perceive it as sign-seeking.
"If I say, ‘Father, it is not a matter of seeing with the eyes before I move forward, nor one of comprehending with the mind though understanding would be helpful, but one of feeling with the heart. I’m not trying to do an end run around faith but there is comfort from feeling the water on my hand when I wring the fleece’.”

I am so grateful for words that uplift and encourage me. I’m grateful to know of the infinite love and patience of my Father and of the enabling power of the atonement. If you come across this CD, I hope you take the time to listen to it so it can uplift you also.

4 Things That Will Wreck Your Life & 4 Truths That Will Save It

I know this blog is public so I have to debate with myself what I should and shouldn’t share here. I’ll just say that last week I was my absolute lowest that I’ve been and it didn’t feel like I could get out of it. I never doubted that my Heavenly Father is there and that He loves me. I just doubt my strength to continue on and my ability to do well enough at school to graduate and get a good job in something that interests me. I fear years and decades of loneliness.

So I “talked” to myself, trying to figure out what I could do to get out of this funk. I had been reading my scriptures, going to church, praying, going to the temple, not doing bad things or going bad places…, but I still felt bad. We know who wants us to feel worthless and alone. Lucifer. So I decided that it was war and I was going to bombard him with missiles. I started listening to church talks and books in the car (like I used to until a few months ago) instead of music. I am watching old conference addresses or devotionals on TV in the morning as I get ready instead of watching a silly show or the news. When my mind starts to wander to things that make me sad, I change my thoughts to what I am grateful for.

It was a combination of things (these changes, talking/emailing with family and friends, and other things, I’m sure), but I woke up one morning and just felt good again. I already know I’m not “all better”. This goes in cycles where I’ll be feeling good and then I’ll be so down again. But I’m glad I didn’t stay down.

One of the talks I listened to that helped me is 4 Things That Will Wreck Your Life & 4 Truths That Will Save It by Sheri Dew. I have listened to it before, but I went to the library determined to get something to listen to, no matter how many times I heard it. It has been a while since I heard it. I love hearing Sister Dew. I put it in and started down the road. I listened for a little while and noticed that she was telling the same stories that I’ve heard her tell in other talks and thought that maybe I wouldn’t get anything new out of it. WRONG! As I listened, I heard things now that touched me in a different way since I am in different circumstances. You can imagine what one of those things was if you know about Sheri Dew. She talked about how very difficult it has been to be single.

She said. “I have come to see the doctrine of the atonement largely as a doctrine of healing. We are healed of our sins when we repent, but we can be healed of our weaknesses. We can be healed of our broken hearts.”

She mentioned this scripture.

Luke 4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised

And continued: “I felt captive in a life I hated, being unmarried. I still hate it. I hate everything about it. I would never have believed at 33 years old that it would have been possible for me to ever feel joy again unless the Lord gave me a husband. That’s a righteous desire. We’re not complete without each other. We just aren’t. Believe me, I’m aware of it, every day that I am not whole.”

Sister Dew talked about how the Lord can heal our broken hearts and the Lord can free us from feeling like our lives are a prison, whatever the circumstance we find ourselves in.

I also appreciated the part of the talk where she asked us to consider:

Who are you influencing and what are you influencing them to do?

Who or what are you allowing to influence you?

From whom do you take your counsel? The Lord or the world?

I love how Sister Dew always talks about how much influence we as women (but men do too, of course) have over their family and friends and that we need to use that influence well. But this time I heard more about the part of being influenced and from whom we are taking counsel. Can we look at the world and say, “So many of them are doing it, so it’s okay if I do. Heavenly Father will understand.” Or even to look at members of the church and say the same thing. “I’m not the only member doing it, so it can’t be that bad.” WRONG! We all know that members are not perfect, but our Father is. He knows what we should do and we need to look to Him for guidance, not to others.

Sister Dew said this about Satan: “What he loves to do is to get us to look to the world to tell us who we are.” You know that if I look to the media and the world (and even some individuals), that the only message I’m going to get is that I’m not pretty enough, skinny enough, young enough, bubbly enough, rich enough… Satan doesn’t want us to be happy. He wants us to feel worthless. He wants me to feel worthless. That would be just the beginning of the road away from the celestial kingdom. How?

“There are certain things you would just never do once you know who you are.”

If I base my worth on how others see me and treat me, if I feel so very alone, I will lower my standards to meet those of others who might give me attention and “love” that I need instead of looking to the Lord.

Sister Dew quoted Elder Holland, speaking to a group of missionaries,

“Why is life so hard? Why is missionary work so hard? Salvation is not a cheap experience and it was never meant to be easy. Let us not worry about why it is so hard. Accept our difficulties. Count it a privilege to suffer and be discomforted, because in some small way you are sharing in our Savior’s experience.”

The final topic I’ll bring up is that nothing in the world that is taking place has taken our Father by surprise. Sister Dew was talking about what is happening in the world in these latter days. But I immediately thought of it on a personal level. Nothing that happens in my life is a surprise to my Father, even when it is a surprise to me. He has helped prepare me to live through it. He is here with me and will not abandon me. He can help me strengthen my many weaknesses. He can help me feel His love and my worth that I struggle to feel at times.

Think You Can Make It Through This Long Post?

If you read my past post HERE where I shared the news of my divorce (which is official and finalized, by the way—no 90 day wait after all), then you read that I listened to Jack Marshall’s talk on CD called Calming Storms - Overcoming Hurt, Injustice and Anguish the week before receiving the news myself. I have been wanting to do a review on it for weeks, but have been unsure about how to explain how much it helped me without sounding like I was tooting my own horn. More about that at the end of the post. Can you make it that far? My mom and (I’m pretty sure) my sister Sheri both had Brother Marshall as an institute teacher and told me how much he loves to tell jokes. I was in one of his BYU Education Week classes before and he definitely did! He starts this talk on CD with several jokes. I’m sharing this one just for my several Idaho blogging friends.

The first man had married a woman from Iowa and had told her that she was going to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Illinois. He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a beautiful girl from Idaho. He told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, enough to fix himself a bite to eat and load the dishwasher.

After the jokes, Brother Marshall starts talking about the importance of forgiving the person who has caused us hurt or anguish. Of course, it is a commandment to forgive others. He quotes Terry Warner from Scapegoating and the Atonement (Side note--That sounded like an interesting book so I looked it up, but couldn’t find anything with that name. I found a talk on CD called Why We Forgive by C. Terry Warner. Now that’s on my list to listen to! And I saw another book he wrote called Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves that I would like to read someday too.) Back to Brother Warner’s quote. “The sin of refusing to forgive involves us in the sin of refusing to accept Christ’s forgiveness.” This reminded me of something I learned when I read The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers Heal Our Hearts and Homes by James L. Ferrell. (Although I have to say the book was not one of my favorites, I did learn something about forgiveness from it which I will never forget. Someday I’ll have to post about that.)

He also quotes Wayne Muller’s book Legacy of the Heart: The Spiritual Advantages of a Painful Childhood (another one that looked interesting and I found the book you can read a little of online).
“For to let go of the ones who hurt us is to let go of our identity as the one who was hurt, the one who was violated, the one who was broken. It often feels like the bad guys are getting off scot-free while we are left holding the bag of pain.”

While I don’t think I have had a problem with forgiveness in my case, I have felt exactly like this quote. It’s hard to explain without going into details, but I’m sure that most of you have felt similarly at one time in your life to varying degrees.

Brother Marshall uses many scriptures of how Jesus handled injustice and betrayal and uses the examples to teach us how we can be like him. The one part of this whole CD that stood out the most to me when I listened to this just days before my life was changed was the story behind the two short verses about Simon of Cyrene in the Bible. “Who?” you may be asking.

When our dear Savior was forced to carry the crossbeam to his crucifixion, he became weak and tired and the soldiers pulled a stranger out of the crowd that had gathered on the street.

Mark 15: 21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

The Bible doesn’t tell us anything that happened while the two walked along together so we don’t know what was said, but apparently even in the midst of this overwhelmingly painful physical suffering, Jesus thought of others. How do we know?

Romans 16: 13 Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his talk A More Determined Discipleship in 1978 gave his apostolic view that this Rufus spoken of so briefly years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, is Simon the Cyrenian’s son Rufus. Paul even used the words, “chosen of the Lord” to describe him. So apparently, whatever Jesus said to Simon on that day changed Simon’s life and made him and his family become Christians.

Brother Marshall says that when he read Elder Maxwell’s words on this, he thought to himself, “Marshall, do you think there could have been other things on Jesus’ mind that day as he marched to Golgotha to have nails driven through him then to reach out and minister to another person in his hurt, in his betrayal?”

After I listened to this CD, the only thing I could remember from it to blog about was this story. After I was in the middle of my own pain and suffering, days of feeling like I was in a bubble where nothing else seemed to matter, I remembered this. How could I follow Christ’s example? Reach out to others during my own suffering. Forget myself in service. Please do not think I am boasting of myself here. I would just like to testify of what I learned to be true through practice. I still wish I did more.

But while I could barely find the energy to get out of bed, to cook (and you know I love to cook) for my family, to clean, in the middle of that, I decided that I needed to find ways to serve others. I did not do anything dramatic. As a matter of fact, I only did things that I often do—take dinner to a family, mail cards to a few people to thank them for things they’ve done, take balloons to a friend on her birthday, listen to a friend going through a divorce herself (without being able to tell her about mine yet), things like that. But it helped me. It helped me see how much others are going through and it helped me see how others overcome their trials and I could too.

I bet you’d find it hard to believe, but during this time, a friend of mine moved to a new city, a little girl in our ward died, a wonderful woman in our stake (used to be in our ward) died, two friends were going through their own divorces, a woman in our ward had a mini-stroke and almost died, several family members found out they’ll have to move due to an increase in rent, another friend lost her house due to foreclosure, and lots of other trials all around me. Thinking of them and serving them, even in the little, insignificant ways that I did, helped me to see outside of my bubble and was like therapy to me.

I am so grateful for Jesus’ example to us. I’m grateful that I was able to listen to this CD and apply a part of it when I needed it most.

When Times Are Tough by John Bytheway

My son, Alexander, LOVES John Bytheway and memorizes most of his CD’s word for word. He started watching The Andy Griffith Show because John talks about it often. He owns both of the John Bytheway collections, but wants more. I think I only own one of his CD’s. I attended one of his classes at BYU Women’s Conference before too. I enjoy his insights and his humor. One of his books we don’t own is When Times Are Tough: 5 Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything. My brother Jared lent me this book a while ago and I finally finished reading it about a month ago. It isn’t full of humor like many of his talks, but it is inspirational and helpful. Thanks for the timely help, Jared.

Even though it’s called “5 Scriptures That Will Help You”, it actually has more, along with many quotes from general authorities. Each of the 5 chapters has 5 different scriptures to help with various topics—

*5 Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything
*5 Scriptures That Will Strengthen Your Marriage
*5 Scriptures That Will Improve Your Family Relationships
*5 Scriptures That Will Strengthen Your Faith
*5 Scriptures That Will Motivate You to Action.

Here are few quotes from the book that I copied into my quote file.

“I can’t think of any more powerful weapons than faith and knowledge of the scriptures in the which are contained the Word of God. One so armored and one so prepared with those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy that is more to be feared than the enemies of the light . . . More to be feared than the enemies that come in the daylight that we can see are the enemies that strike in the darkness of the night that we can’t see with our eyes”
President Harold B. Lee, BYU Speeches of the Year, 9 Nov. 1954, pp. 307, as quoted in Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 56

“Do not suppose that God willfully causes that, which for His own purposes, he permits.” “THE PLAY AND THE PLAN” President Boyd K. Packer, CES Fireside, 7 May 1995

“The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear!”
Jeffrey R. Holland, Email correspondence from Elder Holland to John Bytheway, 1 June 2004

“We can add to each other’s storehouse of self-esteem by giving deserved, specific commendation more often, remembering, too, that those who are breathless from going the second mile need deserved praise just as the fallen need to be lifted up.”
Elder Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981), 10

“If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are pulling for us—friends in heaven that we cannot now remember who yearn for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do—what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly make for God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the greatest of all.”
Ezra Taft Benson, “Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” Ensign, Dec 1988, 2

“We can show them the joy that living the gospel brings. I’ve learned from personal experience that it’s easy for my children to see my frustration, my impatience, and my stress, but I have to make a conscious and deliberate effort to let them see the joy that comes from striving to live what I know to be true.”
John Bytheway, When Times Are Tough, p. 63

Why?

Quite a while ago I bought the book Why?: Powerful Answers and Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards by John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat for my children and they have enjoyed reading it. It addresses 29 broad questions, broken down into more specific questions in the 200 pages of answers. The great thing about it is that each question has very short articles or facts with lots of photos and graphics. The answers are doctrinal, funny or statistical.
The format is easy for kids because they can just pick up the book and start reading wherever, even if it's only for a few minutes, and they can still get something out of it. I'm sure we'll be using this book for years to come.

Examples of some of the questions are:
*Why shouldn't I date until I'm 16?
*Why can't I listen to a song that only has a couple of swear words if I hear worse than that every day at school?
*Why do some people who pay tithing still not have a lot of money?
*Why should I listen to my parents even if I think they're wrong?
*Why should I repent now and not later?

They answer questions youth might have about standards found in the LDS For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. What youth doesn't have at least a few questions about them?

He Can Mend It

I have been so busy that I haven't been able to post as much recenty as I'd like. Then two of my children and I got a bad cough from a virus. I have been working on a special post, but I don't know enough about Blogger to get it to come out right yet. Soooo I wanted to share a couple of quotes with you. After wanting to read Broken Things to Mend for so long, I finally got it from the library and just started reading it. I didn't realize that it was a compilation of Elder Holland's talks from various years. Most of them are General Conference addresses, but some are talks at universities or conferences. The first chapter is his General Conference address from April 2006 called "Broken Things to Mend". You will probably remember him reading this poem. I just think it's such a beautiful poem with a message that we can all relate to and understand.

"If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended."
In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench, beside Him, lay
Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,
Said, "Can you mend it, Carpenter?"

And each received the thing he sought,
In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;
The broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:

"O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This heart, that's broken past repair,
This life, that's shattered nigh to death,
Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?"

And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives, until they stand
A New Creation—"all things new."

"The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,
Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,
Mould Thou into the perfect part,
O, Carpenter of Nazareth!"

George Blair, "The Carpenter of Nazareth," in Obert C. Tanner, Christ's Ideals for Living (Sunday School manual, 1955), 22.
The second quote that I'd like to share is from Chapter 2, "A Prayer for the Chidren", Elder Holland's April 2003 General Conference talk.

"Carl Sandburg once said, 'A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.' For that baby’s future as well as your own, be strong. Be believing. Keep loving and keep testifying. Keep praying. Those prayers will be heard and answered in the most unexpected hour. God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child—and to the parent of a child."

I know a few friends who are having different struggles with their children and this made me think of them. It is so true that Heavenly Father loves the children so much (even the teenagers) that He will try to touch the hearts of that child who is in need as well as those around him or her to come to the child's aid. We have the right to such special blessings as parents. I'm very grateful for that since raising children is not easy, no matter how much you love your dear ones.

I'm sure I will find a lot more inspiration from this book and I already have pondered about the cover and will share my thoughts with you about that some time soon.

Sleeping Through Gethsemane by Diana Hoelscher

When I started looking through my books and talk on CD to see which one I should review next, I saw “Sleeping Through Gethsemane” by Diana Hoelscher. I couldn’t believe that in all the posts I have never mentioned her or any of her CDs. She is my favorite speaker. She is humorous and interesting and has such a passion for the gospel. She speaks to an audience like I wish I could.

The first time I ever heard of her was on a flyer for a multi-stake Relief Society fireside featuring her as the guest speaker. I didn’t know who she was, but I went to the fireside.
I think that the talk she gave was at least mostly the same as this CD. I actually didn’t find the CD until years later and was so excited that I bought it immediately. I feel like this CD is so amazing that there is NO way for me to describe this well enough for you to feel how I feel when I hear it.
Her talk was so inspiring and made me think for weeks about the atonement and about my Savior. I had heard the things she spoke of all my life, but still it touched me. Sometimes you need to hear things at just the right time for them to click. It was years ago at a time when I was feeling kind of stressed and depressed about some things. I especially remember her saying that the word “succor” comes from the Latin succurrere, “to run to the aid of”. (Is that true, Mom?) The Lord suffered all of our sins, physical pains, mental anguish, and everything we could possible suffer while He was in Gethsemane so that he could “run to us” and help ease our pain. I could just imagine Jesus as soon as He knew something was wrong with me, running to me, being there whether I knew it or not, trying to comfort me and guide me.

Another thing I remember hearing her say at the fireside that is also on the CD is about the sacrament. Have any of you ever seen someone be baptized who had been living a life very contrary to the gospel, but changed and came unto Christ? Have any of you who was baptized at 8 years old or another young age and seen this and thought, “Well, that’s not fair! I wish I could be baptized again”? Once we are baptized, no matter how converted we are and how hard we try, we mess up. And then we mess up again. And then again. Even if we don’t do anything ”big”, those sins pile up and keep up from being clean unless we repent.

Diana talks about how once she was in the MTC she felt an enormous need to repent of everything she’d ever done wrong and to be clean. She took a very long time praying and remembering all the things she did wrong. None of them made her unworthy to serve a mission, but without repentance (like all of us), she could not be clean. After repenting, she anxiously awaited taking the sacrament—our re-baptism. She said that for that moment, she felt “pure” and she became addicted to that feeling of being pure and loved to repent each week so that she could have that same feeling again. Do you know what she is talking about? How wonderful it feels when we do repent and take the sacrament and feel that our Heavenly Father really has forgiven us and we really do get to start all over, just like if we were just baptized. As Diana says, there is no difference between baptism and the sacrament as far as our ability to become clean. I just love how she described the feeling she has of craving that feeling of being pure every single week. Since then, I have thought of that often. I desire and need the sacrament because of that same reason.

Diana describes a thought she had when she was a teenager listening to a lady share her testimony at church. “Oh please be quiet. You are so buggin’ me. What is the big deal anyway? We are giving this guy (Jesus) too much credit.” But as you can see, Diana has changed her thinking. She wasn’t a bad kid. As a matter of fact, as she describes herself, she was good, but didn’t have a testimony of Jesus. I think that many of us, even those of us who were born in the church and learned about the atonement all of our lives, do not understand how the atonement really is the absolute most important part of the plan of happiness and have a strong testimony of it. At different times in our lives, many of us “sleep through Gethsemane”.
Diana read this quote from Stephen E. Robinson’s book "Believing Christ". (Because of this quote, I put the book on my wish list and got it from my family. I loved so much of this book-even though I didn’t love the repetition. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to!)

“All the negative aspects of human existence brought about by the Fall, Jesus Christ absorbed into himself. He experienced vicariously in Gethsemane all the private griefs and heartaches, all the physical pains and handicaps, all the emotional burdens and depressions of the human family. He Knows the loneliness of those who don't fit in, or who aren't handsome or pretty. He knows what it's like to choose up teams and be the last one chosen. He knows the anguish of parents whose children go wrong. He knows these things personally and intimately because he lived them in the Gethsemane experience. Having personally lived a perfect life, he then chose to experience our imperfect lives. In that infinite Gethsemane experience in the meridian of time, the center of eternity, he lived a billion billion lifetimes of sin, pain, disease, and sorrow.

God has no magic wand with which to simply wave bad things into non-existence. The sins that he remits, he remits by making them his own and suffering them. The pain and heartache that he relieves, he relieves by suffering them himself. These things can be transferred, but they cannot be simply wished or waved away. They must be suffered. Thus we owe him not only for our spiritual cleansing from sin, but for our physical, mental, and emotional healing as well, for he has borne these infirmities for us also. All that the Fall put wrong, the Savior in his atonement puts right. It is all part of his infinite sacrifice-of his infinite gift.”

I have thought many times about that "magic wand" that doesn't exist as I go to convert baptims and it reminds me of my own baptism and re-baptisms. It is important for us to remember that this suffering already happened in Gethsemane. I have heard some people say that they don’t want to repent because they don’t want Jesus to suffer because of them. But He has already suffered so if we do not repent, it only makes him sad and He suffered for nothing because we must repent for it to mean anything.

I wish I could give everyone a copy of this CD. There is no way to cover everything Diana says and in the way she does. She has such a powerful testimony and is so funny and down to earth. I’ve heard a lot of people say that she is a great youth speaker (she speaks at EFY), but I think her messages are great for people of any age. I have all of her CDs minus one (which I’m in search of) and I LOVE them all. If you ever get the chance to hear her speak, GO!!! (And invite me.)

"How to Survive Your Greatest Blessings" by Emily Watts

I don't collect many things, but one thing I can't seem to get enough of is LDS books or talks on CD. I love books too, but I have less time to read than I do to listen. I can listen while I'm cleaning, cooking or driving around in the car. While listening to one recently, I realized that I have hardly reviewed any of them on my blog. So I'll try to remember to post about them every week or so.

This is the CD I've been re-listening to this week- How to Survive Your Greatest Blessings by Emily Watts. She has been an editor at Deseret Book for over 25 years. She has written other BOOKS, but the only other one of hers I've listened to, thanks to the library, is Women Are That They Might Have Joy Too that she co-authored with John Bytheway. (Gotta review that one too someday.)

In this one, Emily uses her own personal experiences and humor to remind us how important it is to look at our trials in a different way than we natually tend to. Toward the beginning, she talks about how excited we all were in heaven to come to earth and get a body. Then she asks, "Be honest. Did you get the one you wanted?" (Or something very similar) Of course, many of us often wish we could exchange ours for a different model or an upgrade. It made me think of when I was young.

I was diagnosed with asthma in the first grade (if I remember right). It definitely isn't one of the worst things to have in the long list of illnesses, but it was bad enough for me. I'd spend so many nights throughout my childhood unable to sleep, wheezing a painful, gasping breath. I had to take gross medicine that wasn't even made for children back then. It made my heart race and my hands shake, and it still didn't prevent many attacks. I missed days of school, had to avoid cats and dogs and just about any kind of exercise. I remember when I was maybe 11 or 12 wondering how I could have agreed to come down to this body before I came down to earth. What was I thinking?

Over the years, I have mostly outgrown the asthma. Breathing well is still wonderful to me. But I have grown in faith and understand that the weaknesses our bodies suffer are just part of the trials while we are on earth. Of course it was better to come down to an imperfect body (that I will keep eternally) than not to get one at all.

Emily Watts also talks about pride and how it prevents us from enjoying our our talents and other people's. She talks about a time when one of her children was in kindergarten and she was room mother. She spent a long time and much effort making cute drum cookies and then the children just gobbled them up. She realized that they are children and just want to eat. It wasn't the children she was making them for. It was to impress the other mothers. (Although I don't see anything wrong with making super-cute or yummy treats to make people happy, just for the record.) She figured out that the kids would have been happier with a Ding Dong and 2 twizzlers as their drum treat and she wouldn't have had such a crazy day preparing them.

Sometimes when we see someone else's talent, it makes us feel bad about not having that same talent. Emily reminds us that we need to rejoice in their talent. I like that she says we should be glad that THEY have that talent and not us because that means they have a work to do with it that WE don't. It's not our responsiblity. Of course, we are responsible for our own talents, so we're not off the hook.

Emily mentions the story of a young girl in the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies who was walking along, exhausted. A man in the rescue party asked if she would like a ride. She, of course, said she did. He grabbed her hand, but instead of pulling her in, he started the wagon, with the girl on the side. He continued on, going faster and faster, with the confused girl now running, thinking there was no way that she would be able to go on. Then the man picked her up and put her in some warm blankets. She then realized that the man had saved her feet by helping to restore her circulation by having her run.

Our trials are often like that. We might be confused. Why is Heavenly Father letting me suffer through this? Or we may even be upset. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Why does so-and-so have such an easy life compared to me?... But in reality, our trials are our greatest blessings. How can that be? I'm sure that you all have had enough experience to know already. We often grow and learn the most during those difficult trials in our lives.

Emily points out that the harder something seems, the faster we should complete the task Heavenly Father gave us so that we can claim those blessings Heavenly Father has ready for us and Satan wants us to be unworthy of. We sometimes give up when we are so close to the blessings, but we don't realize it. We need to keep our eternal perspective.

I appreciate Emily Watt's inspiring use of quotes, scriptures and humor and hope to read (or listen to) her other books soon. I'll end with the primary song that Emily mentions in the CD that I haven't heard in so long. (Do they have it in the Spanish songbook? I don't know.) What do you think about the line "Other men’s failures can never save you"? It won't do us any good to think that we are better than someone else because Heavenly Father doesn't judge us by comparing us. My two favorite lines are "You have a work that no other can do" and "Angels will hasten the story to tell." What stories are the angels telling about you? 

Dare to Do Right
1. Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

You have a work that no other can do;
Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well,
Angels will hasten the story to tell.

Chorus
Dare, dare, dare to do right;
Dare, dare, dare to be true,
Dare to be true, dare to be true.

2. Dare to do right! Dare to be true!
Other men’s failures can never save you.
Stand by your conscience, your honor, your faith;
Stand like a hero and battle till death.
Words: George L. Taylor, b. 1835
Music: Arr. by A. C. Smyth, 1840–1909

The Original

Have you heard of William Steig? He was a famous cartoonist for the New Yorker starting in 1930 and had won many awards for his children's books. He passed away in 2003. I had read his book Doctor De Soto about a mouse dentist who has different animals for his patients, but I didn't know that was the same author until I looked it up online after I spotted this book at the library and just had to check it out. It is pretty similar to the DreamWorks' Shrek movie in some ways and very different in others. There's an ugly green ogre named Shrek who is mean. He meets a donkey and they go together to rescue an ugly princess from a castle where he sees a dragon protecting the gate.
The dragon ends up being nice and he gets to rescue his princess with no name. She is very ugly, not like the more likeable Fiona. There were no funny fairy tale characters and no Lord Farquaad to laugh at. Sabrina said that the story was confusing. It did use some unusal vocabulary for small children. Although we probably won't be checking it out again, I thought it was fun to see the original Shrek.

What's Cooking?

We checked this cookbook out at the library and I asked the kids to tell me what they thought about the book. The pros are that each recipe has a big color photo and there is a hidden spiral spine so the book lies flat. But they didn't see many recipes in it that they wanted to try. Elisa says the recipes are kind of boring (French toast, French fries) or not food she'd want to try (ratatouille, vichyssoise). There were a few cute recipes like chocolate rats made out of dried apricots dipped in chocolate with licorice whiskers and rolled Starburst for tails that we didn't try yet. We did try these two.
This is called Eiffel Tower Cookie Sundae, but it's not really a recipe. It just tells you to use sugar wafers like building blocks and make this shape without other instructions. It wasn't as easy as it looked and the girls got frustrated that they couldn't make it look like the photo in the book. It says to serve it with ice cream and chocolate syrup to make it a sundae, but the girls didn't want to.

This was the one Thomas Keller (chef and cookbook writer) recipe in the cookbook. It has LOTS of butter and more cocoa than flour so it's very chocolatey! Robin and Sabrina loved them. Elisa, Alex and I thought they were good, but nothing special. I made them in my muffin pan with removeable bottoms to make it easier.

Chocolate Bouchons

3/4 c. flour

1 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 t. kosher salt

3 large eggs

3/4 c. plus 2 T. sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

3 sticks unsalted butter, melted and just slightly warm

6 oz. (3/4 c.) semisweet chocolate chips

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350º. Place muffin liners in a 12-cup muffin pan. Set aside.

Sift the flour, cocoa, and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar with handheld mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until very pale in color. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the butter, and continue alternating with the remaining flour and butter. Add the chocolate and mix to combine. The batter can be refrigerated for up to a day.

Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Place in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When the tops look shiny and set (like a brownie), test one cake with a toothpick: it should come out clean but not dry.

Transfer bouchons in their liners to a cooling rack. After a couple of minutes, invert the bouchons and let them cool upside down in their liner; then lift off the liners. Invert the bouchons and dust them with powdered sugar. Serve with ice cream, if desired. (The recipe says they’re best eaten the day they are baked. We ate some the day after and they tasted fine.)

NOW Is a Good Time

I was listening to a talk on CD that I recently got called No Time Like Now by Troy Dunn. ($3.99 at Seagull Book, you guys!) Troy was reading the beginning of John chapter 20. He emphasized part of it that I hadn’t though about before.

John 20
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

Usually when we read this chapter, we talk about Jesus and the resurrection, but Troy talked about how when Mary saw that Jesus was not in the sepulchre, she didn’t say, “I’ll have to tell the apostles about this next time I see them.” She ran. And Peter and John, as soon as they heard, ran to see—so fast that it even mentions how John outran Peter. Troy asks if we respond with the same urgency when we are called to do something, whether called by the Spirit or by a leader. Do we run to visit the families each month? Do we run to do our callings?

It made me think about those questions, but also “Do I run to find Jesus?” When I am tempted, do I run away from temptation and run to Jesus or do I walk or even stay a while before reluctantly dragging my feet? When I feel discouraged or down, do I run to Jesus (prayer, scriptures…) or do I wallow in my pity? I will keep in my mind that when I am doing my calling, I am not just completing a task, I am running to Jesus. When I run to someone’s aid, I am running to Jesus.

I happened to see these great handouts/bookmarks at Emma's Place a week or so before I listened to the talk. (Check out her blog for GREAT lesson and visiting teaching handouts!)

Both the CD and the bookmarks remind me that when I am calling children’s parents to remind them of a talk, printing agendas, taking care of attendance or any other primary secretary duty, I am doing what Heavenly Father needs me to be doing. Those things that He wants me to do are really more urgent and important than many other things that occupy my time.

"Brethren and sisters, we are living in a time of urgency. We are living in a time of spiritual crisis. We are living in a time close to midnight. There is an urgency to meet the worldwide spiritual crisis through action now. It can only be accomplished by performance. Procrastination is a deadly weapon of human progress. Thank God there is no need of a shortage in the oil of preparedness. It is accumulated at will, drop by drop, in righteous living."
Marvin J. Ashton, “A Time of Urgency,” Ensign, May 1974, 35