Today's thought:

Doctrine and Covenants 52:4 And inasmuch as they are faithful unto me, it shall be made known unto them what they shall do;

D & C 12:5  Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you.
 8 And no one can assist in this work except he shall be ^ahumble and full of ^blove, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be ^centrusted to his care.
D&C 14:5 Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will^aknock it shall be opened unto you.

Teaching my Children

Recently I was searching on LDS.org for ways to help my children speak to each other with more kindness and love and I found this article that I hadn't read before.

Families Under Covenant: by Henry B Eyring“In an eternal sense, salvation is a family affair. …

“Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best.”¹⁰

But another crucial source for that feeling of being loved is love from other children in the family. Consistent care of brothers and sisters for each other will come only with persistent effort by parents and the help of God. You know that is true from experience in your own families. And it is confirmed each time you read of the family conflicts faced by righteous Lehi and his wife, Sariah, in the Book of Mormon record.

The successes they won provide a guide for us. They taught the gospel of Jesus Christ so well and so persistently that children and even some descendants over generations had hearts softened toward God and toward each other. For instance, Nephi and others wrote and reached out to family members who had been their enemies. The Spirit at times softened the hearts of thousands and replaced hatred with love.

One way for you to reproduce the successes of Father Lehi is by the way you lead family prayers and family time, such as family home evenings. Give children opportunities to pray, when they can pray, for each other in the circle who need blessings. Discern quickly the beginnings of discord and recognize acts of unselfish service, especially to each other. When they pray for each other and serve each other, hearts will be softened and turned to each other and to their parents.

I also read another quote in church yesterday that applied. It was in the Lorenzo Snow Manual, Chapter 5: The Grand Destiny of the Faithful:

We have divinity within ourselves; we have immortality within ourselves; our spiritual organism is immortal; it cannot be destroyed; it cannot be annihilated. We will live from all eternity to all eternity.

I find so much power in these words. So many times people say they are trying to find themselves. I want to teach my daughters that they are divine and that they are daughters of God. That they will not need to one day try to find themselves but they will know now who they are as an eternal spirit that can conquer any trial that the adversary may try to place in their way.

How do we know when we have received revelation?

My goal this year has been to study the Doctrine and Covenants to help me better learn about Revelation.  I have been studying from the free BYU Inpendent Study class on the Doctrine and Covenants.  This is a great supplement for me since all my church classes are in Spanish and my comprehension is probably only around 20%.  I now really appreciate doctrine. I feel the spirit in classes sometimes, but hearing of the doctrine is what opens the mind and then the Holy Ghost confirms or testifies of the doctrine we have come to understand.  I have found myself craving doctrine and this online class has been a great source of spiritual nourishment.

I just read a quote that I think has been the best description of how the Holy Ghost works in regards to personal revelation.

"We often question how to know when we have received revelation. President Harold B. Lee described this very well: "When there come to you things that your mind does not know, when you have a sudden thought that comes to your mind, if you will learn to give heed to these things that come from the Lord, you will learn to walk by the spirit of revelation" (Harold B. Lee, in Conference Report, Mexico City Area Conference 1972, p. 49)."  

Learning Revelation

Elder Marion G. Romney discussed the importance of revelation as discussed in D&C 9:6–9: "This is the kind of revelation we can all live by. One need not make serious mistakes in life. Such can be avoided by following this formula. It will guide us in all our activities, if we will become sensitive to it" (Ensign, May 1964, pp. 506–507; or Conference Report, Apr. 1964, p. 125).

6 Do not ^amurmur, my son, for it is wisdom in me that I have dealt with you after this manner.

 7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must ^astudy it out in your^bmind; then you must ^cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your ^dbosom shall ^eburn within you; therefore, you shall ^ffeel that it is right.

 Before Joseph began translating again after losing the 116 page manuscript, the Lord gave him the counsel which is recorded in D&C 10:3–5, the latter part of which could apply to any of us as we set our feet on the right path after repenting.

3 Nevertheless, it is now ^arestored unto you again; therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of ^btranslation as you have begun.

 4 Do not run ^afaster or labor more than you have ^bstrength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be ^cdiligent unto the end.

 5 ^aPray always, that you may come off ^bconqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may ^cescape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.

Doctrine & Covenants 3:4

For although a man may have many ^arevelations, and have^bpower to do many mighty works, yet if he ^cboasts in his own^dstrength, and sets at naught the ^ecounsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and ^fcarnal desires, he must fall and incur the ^gvengeance of a ^hjust God upon him.

D & C 3:19-20 

And for this very ^apurpose are these ^bplates ^cpreserved, which contain these records—that the ^dpromises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his ^epeople;

 20 And that the ^aLamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the ^bpromises of the Lord, and that they may ^cbelieve the gospel and ^drely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be ^eglorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen.

I think that it is interesting that D &C 2 speaks of Elijah and turning the hearts of the children toward their fathers.  And then the Lord in D & C 3 states that a reason for the Book of Mormon is teach the descendents of the Nephites and Lamanites the promises made to their fathers, thus turning their hearts to their fathers. 

Learning the language of the Spirit

My main goal this year with studying the book of Doctrine and Covenants is to learn how to be guided by the Spirit on a regular basis in my life.  This weekend I realized one way that the Spirit speaks to me.  Just a thought.  Yep that's it, just a thought.  Sunday morning a thought popped into my head.  It was something that would be nice if I did, but wouldn't be noticeable at all if I didn't.   I thought, yeah maybe I should do that.  And then before I knew it I was getting the kids dressed for church, packing snacks, getting myself ready for church and the opportunity to do what I had thought of had passed.  I recognize now that that is how the Spirit speaks to me, but once again I had allowed distractions, excuses, and busyness to take the place of following the Spirit.

I remember that in one of the recent conference addresses President Monson had taught us that when a prompting comes don't wait, act immediately.  These promptings are fleeting moments and if we don't act immediately more frequently, we have lost the opportunity.    Unfortunately sometimes I learn things the hard way.

I