When you look back at scripture, it rarely feels unexpected. We know how it all turns out. But imagine if you were the people living it—if you didn't know He was coming back. If you were Mary and Martha after Lazarus dies, you would have thought He came too late. If you were Peter, you would have been appalled that the Master would lower Himself into your mess to wash your feet. If you stood at the foot of the cross and heard it was finished, you would have believed it was.

The following article has been republished with permission.

September 24, 2019, is now the best day of my life. That afternoon, I was married and sealed to my smart, fun, and beautiful wife, Madison. In the months prior to our wedding, we worked on planning the entire day out, making sure not to miss a single detail. One of these details was choosing who the witnesses at our sealing would be. Knowing that our witnesses had to be men, I asked my dad and my wife asked her dad. They both agreed, and our sealing was as amazing as we could have ever hoped.

Brigham Young was lying in the bed of a wagon, having been severely ill for the last twelve days, when he saw the valley for the first time.1 He was forty-six years old, short and quite stocky, a carpenter by trade and physically robust; but “mountain fever” could put even the strongest men flat on their backs. Several diseases fell under that generic name because they all produced high fever, severe head and body aches, deep pain behind the eyes, chills, nausea, and vomiting. Colorado tick fever was one of the least severe of these illnesses, usually passing in a few days after the onset of the symptoms, but Brigham had been down for almost two weeks, suggesting that he may have contracted the more serious Rocky Mountain spotted fever. If so, it was remarkable that he was still alive. That strain persisted for weeks, and the fatality rate was high owing to the inflammation of the heart, lungs, and brain or the kidney failure it produced. The only known treatments were home-brewed remedies and rest, but sleep was hard to come by in a wagon on the plains. Summer days were bright and hot, and Brigham would have felt every bump in the road as the wooden wheels rolled over the uneven land. And he wasn’t alone in his suffering. Thirty-seven other Latter-day Saints traveling with him had also contracted the fever—a full quarter of the company. But they did not have the luxury of time to grant the sick much rest.2

As I listen to ‘Love Your Lineage,’ it feels as though someone has finally opened a bolted door and welcomed me into a space that I never knew I could inhabit.

Meaningful family traditions, like making tamales, can add light and love to your holiday celebrations in unexpected ways.

Even a serious fire won’t stop Jim and Sherry Andelin from using their zoo to share the light of Christ this Christmas.

The light of clear direction didn’t come all at once, but Morgan Choi found comfort by studying the Book of Mormon.

The complete history of the pioneers turns out to be far richer and far more interesting than we may realize.

“I wondered why such bad things happened to the very people restoring the gospel. And then I stepped outside the jail.”