10 Axioms to Guide Your Life

1. It's not the obstacle that counts, but how you overcome it.

2. Pursue your goals with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. You are doomed to failure if you pursue them in a vacillating manner.

3. From a tiny spark can come a large fire.

4. Our greatest strengths can become our greatest weaknesses.

5. Failure is one of the greatest teachers if we have the faith to learn from it.

6. It is not how you start the race or where you are during the race. It is how you cross the finish line that matters.

7. If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.

8. You cannot learn the Lord's will without exercising your agency and becoming accountable for you decisions.

9. The more things change the more they stay the same.

10. The temple of God is the greatest university.

Elder Robert D. Hales

A Sanctuary of Service

"Inside the temple...the world is left behind with its clamor and rush. In the house of the Lord there is tranquility. Those who serve here know that they are dealing with matters of eternity. All are dressed in white. Speech is subdued. Thoughts are elevated. This is a sanctuary of service. Most of the work done in this sacred house is performed vicariously in behalf of those who have passed beond the veil of death. I know of no other work to compare with it. It more nearly approaches the vicarious sacrigice of the Son of God in behalf of all mankind than any other work of which I am aware. Thanks is not expected from those who in the world beyond become the beneficiaries of this consecrated service. It it a service of the living in behalf of the dead. It is a service which is of the very essence of selflessness."

Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Salt Lake Temple" Ensign March 1993, 5-6

The Book of Mormon Will Change Your Life

...I had a feeling for Nephi, who somehow knew about the change you and I want so much to make in our lives...

Mosiah 27:25-26

"And the Lord said unto me; Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and falledn stae, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

"And thus they became new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."

Now, that is the change. It is not to be a little better. It is not to know a little more. It is to be born again, to be changed by the power of the Atonement.

I believe what Nephi meant by "liken all scriptures unto us' was that they could be directly applied....Nephi said to liken Isaiah directly unto you....I read Isaiah's words again assuming Nephi picked the parts of Isaiah that I could take directly to my heart as if the Lord were speaking to me....

I began to read in 2 Nephi 12 [2 Ne. 12] and thought: “The Lord is speaking to me. What is it He wants to tell me directly?” Then I came to a verse in the Isaiah passages that jumped out as if it were already underlined: “And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (2 Ne. 12:11).

This is describing a day when the Savior will come, a day we all look for and want our students to prepare for. This scripture says that in that day, all of us who thought we were special and wonderful will seem smaller, and the Lord will be exalted. We will see better who He is, how much we love Him, and how humble we should be.

I understood why Isaiah told me it would be helpful to foresee the day when the Lord would be exalted and to know how much I depend upon Him. We need Him, and the faith we have in Him makes us see Him as great and exalted and ourselves as small and dependent. As great as the brother of Jared was, he saw himself as we need to see ourselves if we are to have the Atonement work in our lives.

As you prove the Book of Mormon to your students, you will realize you do not prove it through arguments. You do not even prove it through great examples or stories. Those will help, but your students will prove the Book of Mormon by saying, “I believe it is true; I will try it.” Once they have proved themselves to God, then the proof will come to them because they will see the spiritual fruit.

The Book of Mormon is about people proving their belief to God little by little. And then He confirms their belief and gives them more.

One of the most wonderful confirmations I know is found in the book of Ether. The Lord asked the brother of Jared if he saw more than the Lord’s finger.

“And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me.

“And the Lord said unto him: Believest thou the words which I shall speak?

“And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.

“And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him” (Ether 3:10–13).

The brother of Jared did not come to that moment in a sudden jump but over a lifetime. He was given a little light, he had faith, and he exercised it. When the Lord saw that he believed, He gave him a little more light, until finally the Lord said essentially, “Will you believe anything I say?” And the Lord knew that the brother of Jared told the truth when he answered, “Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie” (Ether 3:12).

The Book of Mormon is written in such a way that students will feel it contains principles they should try. You need to be cautious that you do not set up applications or challenges that are not suited to that student, because God will be speaking to that individual. As you read the Book of Mormon, you and your students will know some things you should do. As you do them, you will have greater light given to you because you will have proved that you believe. I bear testimony that however much you have learned from the Book of Mormon before, you should read it again and prove it. Prove it by proving yourself. Do the things you feel impressed to do, and you will find things in it that you have never seen before.

If you forget yourself, remember Him..God will bless you...to come unto Christ and feel that mighty change in your life.

Elder Henry B. Eyring

Trials

We of the First Presidency are constantly dealing with a great variety of problems. They come before us every day.

At the close of one particularly difficult day, I looked up at a portrait of Brigham Young that hangs on my wall. I asked, “Brother Brigham, what should we do?” I thought I saw him smile a little, and then he seemed to say: “In my day, I had problems enough of my own. Don’t ask me what to do. This is your watch. Ask the Lord, whose work this really is.” And this, I assure you, is what we do and must always do.

As I reflected on these matters that recent difficult day, I opened my Bibleto the first chapter of Joshua and read these words:

“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee” (Josh. 1:9).

I said to myself: “There is never reason to despair. This is the work of God. Notwithstanding the efforts of all who oppose it, it will go forward as the God of heaven has designed it should do.”

Gordon B. Hinckley

Soon after President Hinckley was called to serve as a counselor to President Spencer W. Kimball, the health of the prophet and his two other counselors failed, leaving President Hinckley to shoulder the burdens of the presidency alone. At one point he recorded:

"The responsibility I carry frightens me. . . . Sometimes I could weep with concern. But there comes the assurance that the Lord put me here for His purpose, and if I will be humble and seek the direction of the Holy Spirit, He will use me . . . to accomplish His purposes." [In Sheri Dew, Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 393]

Throughout his life, President Hinckley's practice has been to simply go forward with faith.

Challenges that tax our faith are usually opportunities to stretch and strengthen our faith by finding out if we really believe the Lord will help us.

If your faith is wobbly, if you're not sure the Lord will come to your aid, experiment, put Him to the test: "Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you" (Alma 32:27). A great place to start is in the scriptures. As Jacob wrote: "We search the prophets, and we have many revelations . . . ; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken" (Jacob 4:6).

Unshaken faith activates the power of God in our lives, "for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men" (Moroni 10:7).

Sheri Dew

Part of a Speech delivered by Gordon B. Hinckley in 1997

George Washington’s first inaugural speech he voiced the hope “that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality” He went onto say “there is no truth more thoroughly established in that there exists an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness between duty and advantage between genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity. Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules or order and right which heaven it’s self has ordained.”

The psalmist of old wrote “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. “

Paul the Apostle declared “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Jefferson “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of the nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are a gift of God”

Lincoln declared: “What constituted the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere.”

Alexis de Tocqueville who came here from France in the early 1800’s. After traveling widely he said “I sought for the key to the greatness and ingenious of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich minds and vast comerence, in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and in her matchless constitution but not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand her secret of her genious impower. America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.”

"I am convinced that if we are to have the freedoms which came of the inspiration of the almighty to our founding fathers, we must return to the God who is their true author. We need to worship him in Spirit and in truth. We need to acknowledge his all-powerful hand. We need to humble ourselves before him. And seek his guidance in all that concerns all matters of state. Do we believe in the separation of church and state Of course we do but that belief does not preclude a petition to the Almighty for wisdom and guidance as we walk through these perilous times”

http://awakeandarise.org/article/Hinckley.htm

Speeches

Prepare Yourselves for the Great Day of the Lord Ezra Taft Benson

You Were Born to Lead You Were Born For Glory Sheri Dew