Why I’m so grateful someone pushed through awkwardness to serve

A dead body was found on the lawn of an LDS meetinghouse in Phoenix, Arizona, Tuesday. Police are investigating the death as a homicide and are asking for the public's help.

A family tragedy would lead this LDS housewife down an unexpected path—one that would bring hope and healing to thousands of people half a world away.

Thanks to Utah Valley 360 for making us aware of this story.

I am seventeen weeks pregnant when the complications begin. This is our fourth baby, so I recognize the contractions immediately when they start. For three days and three nights I time the constant rhythm and I worry. There have been complications with every pregnancy—with each of the three babies we held on to before this pregnancy, and with each of the pregnancies we lost. I know what these contractions mean. The chance of loss, the months of bed rest ahead. We have been through this before.

Have you ever wondered why we inscribe "Holiness to the Lord" on modern LDS temples? Read on to find out the incredible meaning behind this phrase.

Latter-day Saints often wonder how we can clearly stand for our faith in our modern world. While it may be tricky to navigate differences we experience in politics, in faith, at work, in our families, and at church, it is important for us to recognize other's agency is just as sacred as our own and to put first and foremost the two great commandments: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30–31).

The following is an excerpt from President James E. Faust's April 2002 general conference talk, "The Lifeline of Prayer" during which he quotes from Elder Andre K. Anastasiou's October 1946 general conference address. We are grateful to Meridian Magazine for making us aware of this story. To read selections of the 1946 talk, you can read it on their site here.

“We hope that this LDS Foundation grant to Affirmation will aid in suicide prevention amongst LGBTQ+ Mormons throughout the world and also be an encouragement to LDS members, bishops, Young Men and Young Women presidencies, and others working with Mormon youth to take advantage of these training opportunities with us,” Affirmation President Carson Tueller said in a news release.

For more uplifting quotes and daily inspiration, be sure to follow @ctr.life on Instagram.