The Ten Commandments have been a foundation of our moral understanding of right and wrong for more than 3,000 years. Let us cherish these commandments given by the Lord.
Satan hates everything that happened below.
Joseph Smith was called of God to be a prophet and to restore the true church of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is King.
There was a parent who lost a child to the needle. Not lost to death, which at least lets you grieve and one day stop. Lost to the street. To the years of disappearing, the phone that stops being answered, the front door left unlocked every single night for a decade on the chance the child might finally come through it.
And the parent never stopped. Did not move on. Did not decide the child was too far gone. Drove to the worst parts of town to scan the faces under the overpass. Searched for years, going gray with it, burying the hope a hundred times and digging it back up every morning, because a parent does not get to stop loving a child just because the child is lost. And then came the day it finally happened. The child, hollowed out, certain they were beyond all loving, looked up, and there was the parent's face. And neither of them could speak. They just held on, and they wept, the kind of weeping that has years of grief and years of longing pouring out of it at once, the child sobbing the only word they could find, sorry, sorry, and the parent saying the only word that mattered, which was not "where have you been" and not "do you know what you did to me," but only, over and over into their hair, you're home, you're home, you're home.
Now understand. That is not just a real story about a parent and a child.
That is God, and that is humanity.
No one is forgotten by the Father. He did not fold His arms and wait at home for you to crawl back and prove you were worth it. The moment you were lost, He came after you. And the cost He paid to reach the very bottom of your pit was not patience, and it was not effort. It was His Son, sent down below all of it, so there would be no depth where His face was not already waiting for you to find it.
So hear this, wherever it finds you. You were never forgotten, not for one second, not in the worst of it. The door has been unlocked every night since the day you left.
He is still driving the worst parts of town.
He is still scanning the faces under the overpass.
He is still weeping over the ones who are certain they have fallen too far to ever come back.
And the moment you turn around, you will not hear "where have you been." You will only hear, said over and over into your hair, the one thing that has been true since before the foundation of the world: you're home, you're home, you're home. Stop running. Come home.
Cleanse your timeline with the inspired wisdom of a 96-year old President Hinckley.
“In the on-working of this great cause, increased faith is what we most need. Without it, the work would stagnate. With it, no one can stop its progress.”
This man was truly a prophet of God.
So often we feel discouraged. So often we fall short. So often our faith doesn't seem like it is enough.
When faced with rough circumstances, President Jeffrey R. Holland taught that we should "keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing."
He said, "Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
His 2016 message is so needed today, more than 10 years later.
“He who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
We sang I Am Child of God today in church
I paid special attention to the second verse where it says “I am a child of God and so my needs are great”
As children of God our needs really are great. We feel anxious, sad, depressed, scared, tired, and angry.
That is why we NEED our Heavenly Father. He leads us, guides us, walks beside us, helps us find our way. He loves us despite our needs being great and wants us to turn to Him 💕
On this Father’s Day, I express gratitude for fathers everywhere who strive to nurture their families in love, faith, and righteousness. I consider being a father and a grandfather one of my life’s greatest blessings.
The most powerful teaching happens not only through words but through the way we live our lives. As we align our will with the Lord and seek to do those things that please Him, our homes can become places of faith, love, and spiritual strength.
Fathers who lead with humility, devotion, and a desire to follow the Savior help their families draw closer to Him. Their quiet example can inspire faith and shape lives in ways that last for generations.
To all fathers and father figures—thank you for your patience, your sacrifices, and your devotion. Your influence matters more than you know.
“Our relationship to God and the purpose of our mortal life are explained in terms of the family.”
It is vital that we look at God and His plan through a family-centered lens.
There is a reason why President Oaks is putting so much focus on families.
Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God; it occasionally covers us.
God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible.
Our own desires, rather than a feeling of “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10), create the feeling of a pavilion blocking God. God is not unable to see us or communicate with us, but we may be unwilling to listen or submit to His will and His time.
We remove the pavilion when we feel and pray, “Thy will be done” and “in Thine own time.” His time should be soon enough for us since we know that He wants only what is best.
The Lord’s delays often seem long; some last a lifetime. But they are always calculated to bless. They need never be times of loneliness or sorrow or impatience.
Although His time is not always our time, we can be sure that the Lord keeps His promises. For any of you who now feel that He is hard to reach, I testify that the day will come that we all will see Him face to face.
Artwork: "Faith is Holding Both" by Jenna Conlin
It was an absolute delight to join the Bella Voce Women’s Choir at the BYU–Idaho devotional yesterday, as they beautifully performed “On This Day of Joy and Gladness.” Our time is truly a day of joy and gladness. Never before has the gospel been preached so widely. Never have so many missionaries been called. Never have so many people been introduced to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and entered the waters of baptism. Never have so many nations opened their doors to the gospel message, nor so many temples been built across the earth. My message to the 10,000 young adults gathered in the BYU–Idaho Center was simple: “You are the children of the Restoration. Yours is the generation called to help lead this work forward. With your faith, your creativity, and your devotion, you will move this work forward in ways we have never seen before.”
“Living a pattern of life as close as possible to the ideal will provide much happiness, great satisfaction, and impressive growth while here on earth, regardless of your current life circumstances.” - Richard G. Scott
Religious freedom is the cornerstone of peace in a world with many competing philosophies.
We were privileged to represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Canterbury Medal Gala hosted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—a fitting venue for celebrating religious liberty. I was honored to offer the invocation at this event.
Moral agency, the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for ourselves, is essential to God’s plan of salvation. Religious freedom ensures that people can exercise their agency in matters of faith.
We are grateful to be associated with so many wonderful people of faith who we stand with to advocate for religious freedom.
In the gospel workshop I hosted about hearing God’s voice in an age of artificial intelligence, I invited viewers to take specific actions to deepen their relationships with God, self, others, and the natural world and environment around us.
In a world of accelerating technology and artificial intelligence, may we never lose the divine intelligence that matters most—the voice of God.
Learn more about hearing God’s voice in an age of artificial intelligence: https://t.co/m5QnYt8Hqe