Conference

 "I say again, follow the Brethren.  In a few days [tomorrow] there opens another general conference of the Church.  The servants of the Lord will counsel us.  You may listen with anxious ears and hearts, or you may turn that counsel aside....What you shall gain will depend not so much upon their preparation of the messages as upon your preparation 

for them."

-Boyd K. Packer 

"Our being edified at conference depends on us.  It becomes necessary that we prepare our hearts to receive and profit by the suggestions that may be made by the speakers during the progress of the conference, which may be prompted by the Spirit of the Lord.  I have thought, and still think, that our being edified does not so much depend upon the speaker as upon ourselves."

-Lorenzo Snow

 "Pray for the Brethren at conference time. When the Brethren arise to speak you should ask the Lord to let them say something that you want to know, that they may suggest something to you that will be of some advantage.  If you have any desire to know certain matters that you do not understand, pray that these brethren in their talks may say something that shall enlighten your mind in reference to that which troubles you, and we will have a grand and glorious conference, a better one than we have ever had before.  Strange as it may appear, our last conference always seems the best, and may this be the case; and you brethren and sisters, let your hearts rise up to the Lord and exercise faith while our brethren are talking to you.  We will not be disappointed, and you will not go home, you will not retire from this conference, without feeling you have been greatly and abundantly blessed."

-Lorenzo Snow

Are you noticing a common theme?

Conference is as good as you make it.

We must prepare. We must pray. We must listen with open minds and hearts. 

And if we do...

"[we] will not retire from this conference, without feeling greatly and abundantly blessed."

This is going to be a beautiful weekend. 

I hope you enjoy it! I hope that you will receive answers to your concerns and questions. 

I hope that you will feel the Lord's unending love for you individually.

I hope that it will be a weekend of deliverance. 

2 Nephi 14:6

Guess what.
I learned something beautiful about deliverance today.
[okay, okay - just cuz I learn something beautiful about deliverance everyday doesn't make it any less exciting]
So I was reading in chapter 14 and the very last verse of the chapter reads:

 6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of ^arefuge, and a covert from storm and from rain.

Isn't that a beautiful verse?
Whenever I feel the Lord's hand in my life, when I have been delivered out of the bondage of trials and pain, this is exactly how I feel. I feel this divine relief. I feel as if the Lord is blocking the scorching sunlight of whatever I've been going through, and the shade of His deliverance comes over me. His deliverance is like shade on a hot day, like a refuge from the storm.

What does deliverance feel like to you?

2 Nephi 9:28-29

Conference. Oh how I adore thee! I am so looking forward to this weekend, to participate in the miracle of General Conference. Yes, I said "miracle." Don't you think it is miraculous? We are going to receive guidance from the Lord this weekend. Personalized packages of inspiration directly from our Heavenly Father, specific to our needs. That amazes me! I think sometimes we take that for granted, that knowledge that we have a living Prophet on the earth today, who receives inspiration from the Lord. I love President Monson. I am so excited to hear what he has to say to me this weekend. 

President Holland said, 

"If we speak with the spirit, and you listen with the spirit, prophetic epistles will come."

That was a promise from an apostle. A powerful promise that if we listen with the spirit, with an open heart and a desire to be taught, we will be. Not "maybe." Not "if you're lucky."

No. He said, "prophetic epistles will come." 

Today in Book of Mormon we were analyzing chapters 9 & 10 of 2 Nephi. I had already read those chapters previously, but today in class I found some beautiful verses, verses I had somehow overlooked. One of my favorites is in verse 30.

28 O that cunning ^aplan of the evil one! O the ^bvainness, and the frailties, and the ^cfoolishness of men! When they are ^dlearned they think they are ^ewise, and they ^fhearken not unto the ^gcounsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their ^hwisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. 29 But to be ^alearned is good if they ^bhearken unto the ^ccounsels of God. 31 And wo unto the deaf that will not ^ahear; for they shall perish.

This passage just hit me today in class, especially with Conference just around the corner. We have to hearken unto the counsels of God. It is not enough to "hear" the words, to go through the motions of watching conference. We must hearken and listen with the Spirit.

This weekend God is going to speak to you. Will you listen?  

2 Nephi 13

I was reading in chapter 13 today, and I was getting pretty discouraged just reading about all of the pride that existed among the people. The chapter heading sums it up nicely:

Judah and Jerusalem will be punished for their disobedience—The Lord pleads for and judges his people—The daughters of Zion are cursed and tormented for their worldliness—Compare Isaiah 3. About 559–545 B.C.

Did you catch that? The Lord pleads for His people. How beautiful is that? Despite all of the wickedness and the pride in their hearts, the Lord still pleads for their deliverance, for their salvation. His love for us is immeasurable, it is infinite. There is nothing we can do that will change His feelings for us. Yet we must understand that every time we sin, every time we become prideful, that causes the Lord pain.   

If we truly understood the Atonement, understood the pain and agony that Christ went through for us, we would never willfully sin again. 

He loves us, He is rooting for us, He is pleading for us. 

So let's do our part, let's make it back. 

2 Nephi 11:5

As you may well know, I love lists and I love words.
In fact, I have a list of words that I love (as well as a list of words which I loathe).
Today, I added two words to my "lovely word" list.
            1. Delight
            2. Deliver
My soul delights in deliverance.
Doesn't yours?

 5 And also my soul delighteth in the ^acovenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his^bgrace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of ^cdeliverance from death.

2 Nephi 9:19

Today in my old scripture bag I found a picture that I had drawn when I was nine. I don't know why I still have it, definitely not sentimental reasons...Anyway, it was a picture of Satan - a very scary picture of Satan. He had horns and awful teeth, really they were so creepy, and instead of legs he had this red tornado torso, like some demonic mermaid. When I saw this, I was a bit disturbed, wondering what could have possibly have compelled me to draw such a frightening image as a young, innocent primary goer. And then I was thinking, Satan is terrifying. Granted, he doesn't look like a demonic mermaid, but that just makes him more ominous and dreadful; to think that he is probably devishly handsome and incredibly charismatic. I mean he wouldn't be tempting if he was a rabid looking mermaid, right? He knows us so well. He understands our weaknesses and takes advantage of them, ultimately seeking our destruction. What a poor, unfortunate soul he must be. Then, I began my daily reading in chapter nine. 

19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he ^adelivereth his saints from that ^bawful monster the devil, and death, and ^chell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

True, Satan is a very wicked and scary man. However, in this verse we are promised deliverance from him, deliverance from his power over us. What a beautiful promise. I know I will sleep better tonight, knowing that the devil in my picture has no power over me, and knowing that I will not be forced to lead a life of "endless torment."

speechless.

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. 

I am so grateful for His hand in my life. 

I am so grateful for His tender mercies, for His grace.

Today, I was a witness to all of these things. He is so wonderful : I am just speechless. 

There are no words to express my gratitude to Him.

He answers prayers.

Always.

Today He answered the fervent prayer of three fearful siblings, kneeling on the floor of their mud-room.

If He answered our prayer, He will answer yours.  

His offer of deliverance is real.

2 Nephi 6:17

7 For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ^aashamed. 8 And the Lord is near, and he ^ajustifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will ^bsmite him with the strength of my mouth. 9 For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall^acondemn me, behold, all they shall ^bwax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.

Isaiah. Mmmm mmm good. Isaiah is my very favorite. 
Granted, it is often tricky to understand, but you know how I go crazy for poetry and figurative speech. He just speaks to me. I really encourage any of you who are afraid of Isaiah to jump in and approach his writing with the same perspective as you would Shakespeare or any other beautiful, deep piece of literature, being mindful of his use of figurative language. I also like to read Isaiah out loud, that always helps emphasize the fluidity and cadence of his style. So give it a try!  
I really think you might just learn to adore Isaiah. 

2 Nephi 4:30-33

It is 12:15 in the AM and I am still awake...

Why?

I am blogging.

[sigh]

However, that's because I had a beautiful, busy day today, and I hope you did too. 

Life just seems to look much better when I am able to see my beautiful family two days in a row and have incredible experiences in the Book of Mormon every day!

Today's studies took me to the fourth chapter of 2 Nephi, which is truly an incredible chapter.

There is such a sense of urgency, of imploring as he is literally begging the Lord for deliverance, for aid on his journey to perfection. I find his words so powerful.

 30 Rejoice, O my ^aheart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the ^brock of my salvation.

 31 O Lord, wilt thou ^aredeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of ^bsin?

 32 May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my ^aheart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may ^bwalk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!

 33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy ^arighteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine ^benemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! 

I love the use of exclamation points! I feel like this section of scripture has such a different feeling. It is a petition to the Lord, a strong, passionate plea. These last few days have been really rough, and I am constantly finding myself pleading with the Lord. Praying for understanding and guidance. Praying for deliverance: that he will show me the way, or make sense of my trials. And when I read this today I had an epiphany, "I'm not using enough exclamation points in my prayers!" 

By that, I simply mean that we have to have a sense of drive and true, sincere desire. There is nothing passive about praying. Praying and pleading for the Lord's help must be active and with strong, pure intent. 

What are your favorite verses in this chapter? [that's your cue to read this epic, life altering chapter and leave your thoughts below :)]

[I apologize for the font trauma...i'm still learning]