the restoration: a young womens lesson

the lord still speaks to us in these latter days. we are still receiving revelation and that is the main difference between us and other christian religions. when people have asked me what makes our church different, i always respond that we receive modern day revelation through the leaders of our church and that you will never find a cross in our church as we focus on the living christ, not his crucifixion like so many churches do.

it was my turn to teach young womens this sunday and i had chosen to speak about the restoration of the gospel.

we started by watching this mormon message: a piano's purpose, about the restoration of a seond hand piano. then we spoke about what it means to restore something. restoration is to lovingly repair something to its former glory.

when joseph smith was a boy, he said he was “overly concerned with the welfare of his soul” and after a time, and reading a scripture in james, he took it upon himself to pray.

"if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of god, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." james 1:5

we then watched a recount of the first vision, one of the best ones i have seen, called "ask of god" which is apparently played in the visitors centre at temple square.

joseph smith was chosen to lovingly restore the gospel in these days to its former glory.

we spoke about the apostasy and restoration as covered in preach my gospel, including an emphasis on the fact that as the book of mormon was translated joseph discovered things he didn't know and has he took his questions to the lord, the church was restored bit by bit. line upon line, precept on precept.

we can know for ourselves by taking the time to go and pray and ask. if we truly want to know, heavenly father will reveal the truth to us as he promised in the scriptures. we read moroni's promise together in moroni 10:4-5

i ended the lesson by briefly speaking about emma smith. it is my hope that our girls will all will do amazing and wonderful things. i hope they head companies and invent new technology and lead groups with love. but as women in the gospel, sometimes the greatest thing we can do is to support our husband and assist him in his tasks, within the gospel and otherwise. emma smith stood by her husbands side and held him up through the most awful of trials and darkest moments in his life. when you choose to love and marry, please be ready to be all your husband needs you to be. think of emma and her grace in times of hardship especially throughout the restoration of the gospel and determine to be a woman of faith, for the world needs much more of them.

lying, crazy... or telling the truth

i have often tried to put myself in the shoes of an outsider, someone who happens to not be a member of my church. i wonder who it would feel to hear the story of the first vision for the first time, to hear that god and jesus christ themselves appeared to a fourteen year old boy - simply because he'd had enough faith to ask them which church to join. 

every time, i know it must sound crazy! why would someone listen to what i have to say to them about my religion once they know that? but the thing is - i know for sure it's true. that it really happened. and that anyone can know it's true if they want to.

every time it makes me think of the book the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by the great c.s. lewis. lucy, upon returning from narnia is shattered to know that her brother edmund (who accompanied her there!!) then tells everyone that it's just a joke, just a game they've been playing. in the end, her insistence is so great, that her other siblings approach the professor whose house they are staying in to ask his opinion... and here's what went down:

“Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” (- an excerpt taken from the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by c.s. lewis.)

and to me, that's how the story of the first vision is too! any one who met joseph smith would have know that he was not a liar, and was clearly not crazy - so one can only assume he was telling the truth. man, c.s. lewis knew his stuff. 

how else could you possibly explain the 14782473 yes that's 14 million and some) members of our church - and the near on 75000 missionaries out in the world sharing this very message? simple. it's true, i know it - and you can too... so if you want to see what i'm talking about click here and order yourself a free copy of my favourite book. i'm either lying, crazy or telling the truth... so why don't you find out?

joseph smith fireside

"joseph smith, the prophet and seer of the lord, has done more, save jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it"

last night i had the privelege of singing in the australia perth mission missionary fireside at dianella about joseph smith: the prophet of the restoration. it was such a beautiful program with lovely readings and a missionary choir; there is nothing more awesome than hearing the elders singing "armies of helaman" - it gets me every time.

i sang "how great thou art" as a solo, and a duet of "i stand all amazed" with miriam... and it went so well. it's the first time ever that i have managed without terrible stage fright - which was such a wonderful feeling!!

i feel so blessed to be a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints and for the sacrifices of those who went before me, so that i can have the freedom i have, and the blessings i have. it truly is a wonderful gospel and i know that there is no where else i would rather be.