“Even though we were put here on this earth in different circumstances, we should not blame or ridicule one another because of that.”

In our busy lives, how do we make planning and participating in church activities a joy rather than a burden?

Mark Twain famously quipped that if Joseph Smith would have left out the phrase “it came to pass,” the Book of Mormon would have only been a short pamphlet (Roughing It, Hartford, CT: American Publishing Co., 1901, p. 133).

Even in the midst of suffering we can turn to the Savior and let Him heal us spiritually and emotionally. Here are two powerful examples:

The year 1940 might have been a banner year for our family. The health and financial hardships that followed my father’s 1930 graduation from medical school in Philadelphia were past. The family was happily located in Twin Falls, Idaho, where my father’s medical practice (eye, ear, nose, and throat) was thriving and where he served on the high council of the Twin Falls Stake. In January 1938, he and my mother had returned from his four months of valuable postdoctoral training in ophthalmology in Vienna, Austria, and Cairo, Egypt. After years of sacrifice since their marriage in 1929, my mother could at last contemplate a life of security as the wife of a prosperous physician. In January 1940, son Merrill would be four, and in March, daughter Evelyn would be one. In August 1940, I, their eldest, would be baptized following my eighth birthday.

The children of Israel were well aware that the hand of the Lord was with Moses and He had sanctioned their exodus. Gratefully, the Lord did not leave them comfortless.

At three o’clock in the morning, 38-year-old Theresa Marie Pitts awakes with her 5-month-old baby. As a mother of eight children, she’s become accustomed to early-morning wakeups and feedings, but on the morning of July 9, 2017, her early rise was for a different reason. That was the day she would finally conquer what her kids had named “The Big Race.”

Recently, the Church announced a new approach to worship, with an emphasis on making gospel learning more self-reliant and family-focused. As with any change, we can become overwhelmed at first. So to help make this change just a little easier, here are a few techniques on how to be a self-reliant learner.

Imagine this: You’re sitting at home, discouraged, with your phone in one hand and a consoling carton of ice cream in the other when a video headline on your newsfeed catches your attention. It says, “Watch This: Amputee Defeats All Odds and Rock Climbs Again!” Fascinated, you press play, and a story of strength, loss, and victory flashes before your eyes as this person overcomes all odds to reach his goal.

We love these 5 "killer" recipes from Josi Kilpack's culinary mystery novels--they're simply "to die for!"