Because prayer is such a sacred gift, we should treat it as such by praying often and sincerely. Here are a few ways you can make your prayers more meaningful in your everyday life. 

I received a letter from a Church member who posed an unusual question: “Do I have a right to bear testimony of the Savior? Or is that the sole prerogative of the Twelve?” In response, I share some thoughts on why every member of this Church should bear witness and testimony of Jesus Christ.

When I was very young, my parents planted a magnolia tree in our yard, in hopes of my having magnolias at my wedding. Plans for my future wedding also came up when I was 16 years old. Daddy arrived home from a church meeting with a rolled-up drawing of the soon-to-be Methodist church building. He unrolled the plans and pointed with pleasure to the chapel, saying, “Look, Neill, the new church will have a center aisle, instead of the side aisle of our church now, so at your wedding, I can walk you down the center of the sanctuary!” That anticipation held a particular poignancy since I was the only daughter in a family with six sons. I expected that trip down the church aisle and planned on it. Those expectations vanished like the dew of a Louisiana morning when I took an eternal step and entered the waters of baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sadly, reconstruction efforts in Haiti have inched forward at a painfully sluggish pace due in large part to a nearly nonexistent government. That, compounded by a cholera outbreak that has killed 3,600 people and hospitalized 50,000 since mid-October, has paralyzed the country.

Sister Linda K. Burton studied elementary education at the University of Utah, served as a seminary teacher, and raised six children before being called as the 16th Relief Society General President. After her release last year, she shared with us some beautiful insights into her life and her powerful testimony of the Savior.

We could discuss many other qualities that God possesses, along with scriptural or prophetic verification. But one attribute of God seems to undergird and overarch all the rest: God is love (1 John4:8). He is the complete embodiment of that quality. To me, this means that God’s attribute of perfect love influences, shapes, and mediates all of his other qualities and characteristics.

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.

The concept of priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is unique and perhaps confusing for those who are unfamiliar with it. Even many members of the Church who accept, love, and appreciate the priesthood may find themselves “fuzzy” on the doctrine and principles. Perhaps that is because the term priesthood is used in at least two ways. First, priesthood is the term used to describe the total power and authority of God. Second, priesthood is also the term used to describe the power and authority that God gives to ordained priesthood holders on earth to act in all things necessary for the salvation of God’s children. 1 This second usage is the widely accepted definition of the priesthood. For example, Preach My Gospel defines priesthood as the authority and power that God gives to man to act in the name of Jesus Christ in all things for the salvation of mankind. 2 Thus, the same word, priesthood, refers both to God’s total power and authority and to that portion of His power and authority that He delegates to man on earth.

Visiting teaching. In years past, these two words spoken in any Relief Society gathering a evoked a myriad of conflicting emotions. Joy. Guilt. Gratitude. Annoyance. Peace. Guilt. Excitement. Frustration. Love. Guilt. Some loved the watchcare program set forth nearly two hundred years ago. Others, not so much. And most, whether you love it or not, have carried some guilt associated with it. Because that’s what we women do. When we don’t live up to the expectations of ourselves or others, we feel guilty. But now no more. No more guilt, and as of April 1st, 2018, no more visiting teaching.

It was early on a Sunday morning in January and the fifth-floor cancer wing of the East Texas Medical Center was uncharacteristically quiet.