It was time to celebrate. After a difficult time with my health, my family, and other issues, I felt spiritually famished and had a difficult time feeling grateful for much. Then I faced a major project that took every ounce of strength to finish.

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By Ken Craig
When I’m at work I spend a good amount of time networking. Meaning that I am constantly trying to meet new people, even if it is only over lunch or chatting a few minutes at a social gathering. And inevitably, the subject of family will come up.

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by Krista Ralston Oakes
For many years I lived a relatively easy life. I was born in the covenant and raised in a loving home by parents who taught me the gospel. I had a good education. I had good friends. I had talents and abilities and many opportunities to use them. I married my high school sweetheart in the Salt Lake Temple after he served an honorable mission. We easily enjoyed married life and looked forward to a bright future.

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By Tammy Schneider
Completely submerged and frantically trying to swim my way through the regular ocean of laundry the other day, I began rehearsing my usual “this family can’t possibly go through this many clothes in two days” lecture. I felt helpless, harassed and more than a little put out. With a house full of boys, the myriad of assorted sports clothing, from soccer shorts and baseball socks to swim trunks and football jerseys come custom designed each day with chlorine scented, grass stained, dirt grimed patterns. These along with Dad’s dress shirts and baby’s milk stained rompers, the task seemed endless and I seemed doomed to the dark dredges of washroom depression for the remainder of my harried life!

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By Lu Ann Staheli
Several years ago I had a very special opportunity—I was called by my bishop to serve a Temple Mission by attending the temple once each week for a session of my choosing. This seemed like a perfect way for me to have the blessings of a mission when I was unable to commit to serving fulltime.

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by Annette Lyon
I went through the temple doors for my own endowment feeling ready and excited to make sacred covenants and learn more about the gospel in a new setting. I wasn’t sure what to expect, although I’d had friends who’d come out with their heads spinning because the temple had seemed so foreign to them. I hoped my first time through wouldn’t be like that, instead crossing my fingers that it would be beautiful and wonderful.

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By Ken Craig
For me, one of the greatest blessings of the temple is the promised personal revelation that comes with regular attendance. We have been counseled:

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By Ann J. Kearns
Last year as I served in the Washington DC North mission, I became acquainted with sweet Katie Mincey and her husband, Will. The first time I saw Katie, she lightly held her husband’s right arm while they made their way to the front row of the chapel.
His red-tipped, white cane rested lightly over his left arm. Will didn’t need it at church because he was always helped by a friend who lovingly led them to the spot the members of the College Park, Maryland Ward had reserved for them.

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by Annette Lyon
When the nurses first handed me the bundle that was my son, it never once occurred to me that one of my biggest jobs in raising him would be in how I personally honored the priesthood, first as an example to him and later as I honored his priesthood.

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by Lin Vernon Floyd
No matter our age, we all have questions about our life’s mission like Why am I here on earth? and What special talents do I have? One of the greatest opportunities to find answers as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is to receive (or reread, study and pray about) our patriarchal blessing.

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By Ken Craig
In July of 2004 I had taken a new job at a public relations firm. The job came with an increase in pay, a chance to focus on something I enjoyed, and the promise of not having to wear a tie every day, like I did at the bank where I previously worked. (Plus at my new job, there was a bottomless bucket of Red Vines in the break room at all times. It was like a “loaves and fishes” kind of a thing. They just kept multiplying!)

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By Lu Ann Staheli
It often seems the more ways we invent to simplify our lives, the more complicated our lives become.

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by Annette Lyon
At the beginning of each month, we as a Relief Society presidency looked over the list of sisters who hadn’t attended during the last month. Every month the list of names was pretty much identical. Many of the sisters on it hadn’t been there for months, others for twenty years or more.

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By Krista Ralston Oakes
Mom, does Brian have a God?”
That was the beginning of my son Jacob’s interest in missionary work. He was talking about a friend in his kindergarten class.

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By Lin Vernon Floyd
Wouldn’t you love to read the missionary journals of those who labored in the early days of the Church, especially if that person was your family member or someone who converted your ancestor? Is it any different with our young Elders and Sisters or missionary couples serving in our day? Their unique spiritual experiences are important and should be compiled into some kind of record to pass down to their descendents to strengthen their faith and preserve those special never-to-be-forgotten days of serving the Lord full-time.

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