Listening to Children

 “One of our urgent opportunities is to respond to a child when he earnestly asks, remembering that they don’t always ask, that they aren’t always teachable, that they won’t always listen. And often we have to take them in their terms, at their times, and not always on our terms, and our times. . . . If they find they can trust us with their trivial questions, they may later trust us with the more weighty ones.”

Richard L. Evans, “The Spoken Word,” Ensign, May 1971, 12. 

Heavenly Help

“Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance. I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in the details of our lives.”

President Thomas S. Monson, “Consider the Blessings,” Ensign, Nov 2012, 88.

True Conversion

“True conversion . . . includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”

David A. Bednar, “Converted unto the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 2012, 107.

Testimony to Share

“The Lord . . . entrusts a testimony of the truth to those who will share it with others,”
 said President Dieter R. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. “Even more, the Lord expects, the members of His Church to ‘open [their mouths] at all times, declaring [His] gospel with the sound of rejoicing’ (D&C 28:16). . . . Sometimes a single phrase of testimony can set events in motion that affect someone’s life for eternity.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Waiting on the Road to Damascus,” Ensign, May 2011, 76-77.

Humility Before Help

 “Over and over in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord requires faith and humility before He gives His help. One reason for this is that His answers may not come in the way we expect. Neither will they always be easy to accept.”

President Henry B. Eyring, “The Voice of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan 2013, 4. 

Your Reaction to Adversity

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Your Happily Ever After,” Ensign orLiahona, May 2010, 124–27

Your Favorite Fairy Tale: Adversity

For a moment, think back about your favorite fairy tale. In that story the main character may be a princess or a peasant; she might be a mermaid or a milkmaid, a ruler or a servant. You will find one thing all have in common: they must overcome adversity.

Cinderella has to endure her wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters. She is compelled to suffer long hours of servitude and ridicule.

In “Beauty and the Beast,” Belle becomes a captive to a frightful-looking beast in order to save her father. She sacrifices her home and family, all she holds dear, to spend several months in the beast’s castle.

In the tale “Rumpelstiltskin,” a poor miller promises the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king immediately sends for her and locks her in a room with a mound of straw and a spinning wheel. Later in the story she faces the danger of losing her firstborn child unless she can guess the name of the magical creature who helped her in this impossible task.

In each of these stories, Cinderella, Belle, and the miller’s daughter have to experience sadness and trial before they can reach their “happily ever after.” Think about it. Has there ever been a person who did not have to go through his or her own dark valley of temptation, trial, and sorrow?

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Your Happily Ever After,” Ensign orLiahona, May 2010, 124–27