Years ago I brought a friend with me to a Relief Society activity at church, and when she asked me why we had a painting of Mary and Martha hanging in the room, I really didn’t know how to answer. Of all the possible depictions of scripture stories of women that the Church might choose from, why that one? Although the scene was painted by old masters like Vermeer and Velazquez, it has never been especially popular among other Christian groups. Yet, it is a subject painted by many artists in the Church and these images are common in meetinghouses and lesson manuals.

With 2016 coming to a close, it's time to look back on some of the big changes, announcements, and news from the Church throughout the year and reflect on the progress, miracles, and changes that continue to bless the lives of members worldwide.

How did Motown legend and Grammy Award–winner Gladys Knight become a Latter-day Saint? And how has joining the Church affected her fame? Here's the inside scoop.

Though they may be rich, influential, and glamorous, these famous Latter-day Saints have the same troubles we all face when it comes to love. Awkward dating moments, insecurity, and embarrassing failures all mingle with the sweet to make these real-life romances something far more fascinating than what you'd find in a fairytale.

"In both my personal and professional opinion, my dad got this fatherhood thing pretty much figured out. Allow me to share seven fatherhood lessons that I learned from him (along with a few of my own thoughts)."

In 2020, the Hill Cumorah Pageant will celebrate its 83rd and final year. This iconic religious event has attracted the attention of media outlets across the nation, from the New York Times to USA Today.

An understanding of scripture can help us see why this phrase is not longer used in the Church.

The following excerpt from The Infinite Atonement originally ran on LDS Living in March 2018.

Editor's note: This article is part of a series on what the Church has actually taught about various topics. To read more about the Church’s teachings on cremation, garments, beards, and more, click here.

If I were teaching this lesson, I might begin by pouring water into several different shaped containers and asking class members to comment on what we can learn from that activity about the qualities of water. Someone will probably say that water takes the shape of its environment. If you then ask for words that describe water, you might get words like these: flimsy, unsound, mercurial, capricious, changeable, wobbly, fickle, erratic, unreliable, undependable, vacillating, untrustworthy, variable, mutable, impermanent, unsteady, uncertain, transitory, ephemeral, inconsistent, precarious, and unstable. I am amazed at how many words the English language has to describe this rather undesirable characteristic. But this lesson will require us to think about them because we are going to talk about three people who were much like water (one was even compared to water), and one young man who was as unlike water as it is possible to be.