A Student is Not a Container

 A student is not a container to be filled. a student is a fire to be ignited!

Jeffrey R. Holland

The Animal in Us Upon the Alter

 "Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on  the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the alter and letting it be consumed!"

-Neal A. Maxwell

When You Feel You're Drowning

President Nelson has promised: “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives,” Liahona, May 2017, 42.

Let Others Serve Us

 

Relief through Alignment with the Lord

By President Camille N. Johnson

Relief Society General President

Alignment of our heart and mind with the Savior isn’t a free pass to a life of ease. Instead, it is a conduit to His relief...

To be aligned with the Savior, we need to give ourselves over to Him. We must avoid clinging tenaciously to our burdens and trying to carry them alone. Rather, we must make our burdens accessible to the Savior and allow Him to provide His relief...

Letting Others Serve Us

The Savior asks you to serve because in doing so, you align your heart and mind with Him. That alignment brings His relief and the ability to carry your mortal load. Jesus Christ not only asks you to serve but also asks you to be served—to graciously receive the ministering sisters and brothers, friends, and even strangers who are doing their part. Would you deprive them of the blessings associated with their covenant keeping?

I am, admittedly, not very good at this. The “I’ve got this” mentality overtakes me sometimes.

Shortly before general conference last year, when they knew I was extra busy, the sister and brother who minister to our family offered to bring some soup. They sent a kind text to my husband and me. True to form, I quickly responded to say we were good and no soup was needed. My gracious husband, on the other hand, responded with a message that soup would be great, inviting them to minister to us in that way. I should have done better.

In anticipation of Doug’s surgery in St. Louis, I asked for the name of a stake Relief Society president I could call there, just in case I had some extraordinary need for help. That was way out of my comfort zone, but I asked and received the number for Sister Diana Taylor, who is a stake Relief Society president in the area.

I called Sister Taylor and explained why we were coming to St. Louis and assured her I would let her know if and how I needed her help.

The next day, she sent me this text: “Sister Johnson, 10 hours is a long time to be waiting alone while Brother Johnson is in surgery. I would be happy to come to the hospital to be with you if that would help. I could come the whole time or part of the time. We could share the Spirit of Christ as we pray and remember the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven, the blessings of sisterhood, the blessing of families and of service.”

Perhaps you’ve guessed my first reaction: “I’m good. I’ve got this alone. I’ll wallow in my sadness by myself!” And I was just about ready to send a response that declined her invitation—until I remembered what I had preached in the April 2023 general conference and thought that I ought to practice it:

“How does the Savior relieve us of the burdens of living in a fallen world with mortal bodies subject to grief and pain?

“Often, He performs that kind of relief through us! …

“… We are a conduit through which He provides relief.”¹

I responded with this text message: “I don’t want to trouble you at all. Perhaps you and I could have lunch together. That would be a nice break from the talks that I am writing.”

The Lord sent Sister Taylor (right) to minister to me while I was waiting for my husband to come out of surgery.

Sister Taylor and I walked to a restaurant. We sat outside because it was a sunny day and enjoyed lunch together. And in the end, I trust that both of us found needed relief.

I was alone in St. Louis. Doug was in a surgery lasting more than 10 hours. How was the Savior going to help me, to relieve me of loneliness and frustration and worry? He sent someone to minister to me, someone who was magnifying her calling and keeping her baptismal covenant by comforting someone who stood in need of comfort (see Mosiah 18:9–10). If I had failed to receive her, I would have failed to receive Him...

Whenever we do anything to bring relief to others—temporal or spiritual—we are bringing them to Jesus Christ and will be blessed to find our own relief in Him. In doing so, we align our hearts and minds and goals with God’s.

Toxic Relationships

Antidotes to Relationship Toxins

By Eric D. Snider

Church Magazines

Here’s what to use to counteract the things that poison our relationships.

An antidote is a medicine that counteracts a poison or toxin. Figuratively, an antidote is something that “cures” a bad feeling or situation. For example, President Russell M. Nelson said, “Charity is the antidote to contention.”¹

Not all physical poisons have antidotes. But through the Savior, we can find cures for our personal poisons—including the ones in our relationships with others.

Don’t Be Toxic!

Nobody’s perfect. We all have our moments (or hours, or days … ) when we’re not as Christlike as we know we should be. We need to keep tabs on ourselves and make sure we’re not poisoning the people around us.

Here are some antidotes to some common toxins:

Toxin: Jealousy

Why do other people seem happier/have more possessions/receive more blessings than I do?

Illustrations by Corey Egbert

An antidote: Gratitude.

Be thankful for what the Lord has given you. Try following the advice of a favorite old hymn: literally count your blessings! Name them, one by one. You’ll be surprised at how much the Lord has done for you.²

Toxin: Anger.

Deliberately or not, someone has made me mad.

An antidote: Forgiveness.

Forgiving one another is actually a commandment (see Doctrine and Covenants 64:10). The bonus is that when we forgive others, God forgives us (see Doctrine and Covenants 82:1). Plus, we often feel less anger after we’ve forgiven others.

Toxin: Pride.

I don’t want to admit I was wrong. I don’t want to fulfill an assignment because I think it’s beneath me. I don’t want to hang out with those kids because they’re not in my social group.

An antidote: Humility.

Basically: get over yourself. We are children of God, and He loves us—but at the same time, we’re all flawed mortals who aren’t “even as much as the dust of the earth” (Mosiah 2:25). The Lord gives us—all of us—weakness so that we will be humble (see Ether 12:27). And it’s always better to choose humility on your own than to wait until God compels you to be humble (see Alma 32:15–16).

What If Someone Else Is Toxic?

Charity is the antidote to a lot of things, not just contention. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (Moroni 7:45). We should pray for charity (see Moroni 7:48) to help us forgive other people’s weaknesses—just as we hope they will pray for charity so they can put up with ours. We should also not be afraid to set boundaries. Forgiveness doesn’t mean staying in a toxic relationship or a harmful situation.

Blessing of Paying Tithing

 

Tithing: Opening the Windows of Heaven

By Elder Neil L. Andersen

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

General Conference Oct 2023

While I was in South America recently, Brother Roger Parra from Venezuela shared the following experience with me:

“In 2019 Venezuela was shaken by problems that caused a power blackout for five days.

“Chaos and anarchy reigned in the streets, and many desperate people did not have sufficient food.

“Some began looting food businesses, destroying everything in their path.

“As the owner of a small bakery, I was very worried about our business. As a family, we decided to give away all the food in our bakery to people in need.

“Through one very dark night riots were everywhere. My only concern was for the safety of my beloved wife and children.

“At dawn I went to our bakery. Sadly, every nearby food business had been destroyed by looters, but to my great astonishment, our bakery was intact. Nothing had been destroyed. I humbly thanked my Heavenly Father.

“Arriving home, I told my family of God’s blessing and protection.

“They were all so grateful.

“My oldest son, Rogelio, only 12 years old, said, ‘Papa! I know why our store was protected. You and Mama always pay your tithes.’”

Brother Parra concluded: “The words of Malachi came into my mind. ‘I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground’ [Malachi 3:11]. We knelt down and gratefully thanked our Heavenly Father for His miracle.”...

The windows of heaven open in many ways. Some are temporal, but many are spiritual. Some are subtle and easy to overlook. Trust in the Lord’s timing; the blessings always come...

The blessings of tithing come in many ways. In 1998 I accompanied then-Elder Henry B. Eyring to a large Church meeting in the Utah area now known as Silicon Slopes, a community of great innovation in technology. It was a time of growing prosperity, and Elder Eyring cautioned the Saints about comparing what they had with others and wanting more. I will always remember his promise that as they paid an honest tithe, their desire for more material possessions would diminish. Within two years, the technology bubble burst. Many lost their jobs, and companies struggled during this time of financial adjustment. Those who followed the counsel of Elder Eyring were blessed.

Now is the Time to Bury Your Weapons of War

 President Russell M. Nelson taught: “If you are serious about helping to gather Israel and about building relationships that will last throughout the eternities, now is the time to lay aside bitterness. Now is the time to cease insisting that it is your way or no way. Now is the time to stop doing things that make others walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting you. Now is the time to bury your weapons of war. If your verbal arsenal is filled with insults and accusations, now is the time to put them away. You will arise as a spiritually strong man or woman of Christ.”