Twenty-five years ago, without really knowing it, I had my first experience with religious freedom. Looking back, this shouldn’t surprise me, given the religious uniqueness of my hometown: mostly Catholic, a strong contingent of atheists, and a smattering of other faiths. But as a senior in high school, when I began to explore my own spirituality in an overt way, exposing myself to both ridicule and opposition, religious liberty was a friend and constant companion for which I am only now beginning to show proper gratitude and reverence.

Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurrasic World star Chris Pratt shared with AP that "nothing fills my soul more" than sharing messages about God with his fans.

Claudia faces one of the darkest nights of her life—both literally and figuratively—when she is taken hostage and held for ransom. Her only comfort comes in the form of a radiant sign from God that He loves her and is aware of her situation. When she is finally let go, she embarks on a journey to seek for more light and develops a relationship with God that she never would have imagined was possible.

What is it about the heart? Phrases like, “bless your heart,” “cross my heart,” “young at heart,” and more pepper our everyday speech. But other than the obvious fact that a beating heart is essential for life, what compels us to so often speak figuratively about it? In this week’s lesson, we’ll dive into that question as we study Pharaoh’s response to the ten plagues of Egypt in Exodus 7–13. And we’ll learn what actually softened his heart enough to let the Israelites go.

When you were young, did you ever get so excited when someone knocked on your door completely out of the blue? And wasn’t it even better when this unexpected guest brought something for you? In this week’s lesson, we’ll be studying in Doctrine and Covenants 2 and Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65 and what happened when Joseph Smith received an unexpected guest and the special message this visitor had for the future prophet.

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.

President George Q. Cannon once said, “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us.” But sometimes it’s only in hindsight that we can see how God was with us all the way. Take the lives of the enslaved Israelites, for example. For generations, the Israelites suffered at the hands of the Egyptians without deliverance. But as we study Exodus 1–6, we’ll see how God never once abandoned them. In fact, we’ll even discover how God worked in the lives of His servants to bring to pass deliverance for the Israelites through His servant, Moses.

One of the best things about winter is curling up with a blanket and cup of hot chocolate while reading. These novels are the perfect stories to get you in the spirit of Christmas. From authors like Michael McLean and Richard Paul Evans, you won't want to miss these 10 sweet holiday stories.

A recently married couple shared everything they had, even their passwords to their emails. While this was initially a sign of trust, over time they gave into the fear most couples have and began asking themselves “Is my spouse faithful?” Instead of trusting their partner, they began checking each other’s emails and phones when the other was not looking for indications of unfaithfulness. Yes, there are times, when prompted to do this. Yet is this done because of lacking trust in self or in the other. And inevitably you find what you are looking for. When you only dwell on one idea, you become that idea. In this case, one partner cheated and the other found out and cheated too, just to get even. Their trust diminished and replaced with fear.

On April 17, 2018, August Carlson made his way down the escalator of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville, Arkansas.