Logan, Utah
2nd operating temple
Dedicated: 17-19 May 1884
By: John Taylor
Jesus Christ, taking His name
D&C 50:4
Behold, I, the Lord, have looked upon you, and have seen abominations in the church that profess my name.
Book of Mormon
1 Nephi 13:40-14:8
Come Follow Me
John 1:1-5 Jesus Christ was "in the beginning with God."
Jesus's Name this week:
The Word
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OctGenCon
Lifted Up Upon the Cross
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I know people, in and out of the Church, who are following Christ faithfully. I know children with severe physical disabilities, and I know the parents who care for them. I see all of them working sometimes to the point of total exhaustion, seeking strength, safety, and a few moments of joy that come no other way.
100 Favorite Verses
D&C 14:9 The Living God and Creator of the World
Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth, a light which cannot be hid in darkness.
Up at 4:06. I love this early morning time to pray and study the gospel. I call it my "morning walk with Jesus."
It is very cold outside although the sun is shining. James opens the cupboard doors under the sink and turns the heater on during the night when it gets below 20 degrees to keep the pipes from freezing.
James got a call from Dr. Powell's office today. She is the doctor at St. Joe's who assisted with his last procedure. She wants to set up a phone meeting with him and with me on Friday at 2:15. Finally we are going to hear something. Because it has taken so long I am a little worried.
I finally made an appointment with Barnett-Delaney-Perkins today. My appointment is on the 24th at 2:30. The appointment is to go over paperwork, etc. to get the procedure done on my left eye which seems to be cloudy after the cataract surgery.
I talked to my cousin Rita today and she was excited because she finally bought a house in the valley. She said she is ten houses down from her daughter Gina in Queen Creek.
Tonight I was listening to Emily Freeman's fireside on grace when James came in to walk and listen. Emily's fireside coincided with her book, "Grace to Become. I am so glad I bought the workbook because she has a diagram in the workbook that I love.
I wrote in sin and death under saving grace and temple covenants under exalting grace as Emily was talking. I love this chart!
Emily also explained Abraham's covenant with God as found in Genesis 15. This can be found in her book, "Grace to Become" on pages 19-25.
Emily's nonmember, religious friend called and wanted to know the difference between salvation and exaltation. "If the celestial kingdom, ordinances, the covenant path and striving for exaltation are so important," she wondered, her question sincere and honest, "why is that never mentioned in the Bible the way you talk about it?" Emily says she will do some looking and they will talk later.
The next morning Emily turns to the story of God's people found in the book of Genesis. She wants to discover the reason for living a covenant life, the reason she belongs to a faith that teaches about exaltation. There, near the beginning, I come across a Hebrew word I have written in the margin in my messy script: Abram - exalted father. I notice the word exalted, and because of the conversation with her friend, she is instantly drawn in.
She reads a story that weaves together themes of weakness and faith, staggering and hope, unbelief and promise, and wonders how Abraham held fast to a promise that was sure and a God who was able when the conditions of his life suggested otherwise.
Then Jehovah appeared to Abraham, saying, "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1). It was a promise of protection, but also increase - I am your saving and your exaltation. She pauses here for understanding. It is the first time she has ever noticed a scripture that contains the promise of a grace that saves and a grace that exalts. Two promises crucial to Abraham's mortal journey. But instead of immediately grasping hold of the promise, Abraham focused on his lack. there was no future in Abraham's home, no possibility for increase. Sarah was barren.
It seemed Jehovah had offered an impossible promise. In fact, the conditions of mortality ensured that Abraham could not obtain it.
But Jehovah was not hindered by Abraham's mortal inadequacy. He spoke of stars flung across the heavens, of exceeding great reward, "and Abraham believed in the Lord" (Genesis 15:6). But enduring faith did not come immediately. "Whereby shall I know . . . ?" Abraham questioned the Lord (Genesis 15:8).
A few verses down from there, Abraham's story teaches us what it looks like to live in covenant relationship. The Lord instructed Abraham to obtain a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. It was the preparing of a covenant. In those days, it was custom to cut each sacrifice in half and place them all in a line, each half across from the other. Then the two covenanting parties would pass between them, and when both had walked through the carcasses, the promise would be sure. Instead of signing a document, this was covenant ritual. In Hebrew, the phrase "make a covenant" is karath berith - more precisely meaning "to cut a covenant." The walking between the pieces signified the promise, "If I do not keep my covenant, may I become as this animal."
So, Abraham prepared the covenant and then waited on the Lord. All day long he waited. As morning turned to afternoon and then on to evening, Abraham drove the hovering fowls away from what was meant to be the sign of his promise.
Exhausted, Abraham fell asleep.
When it was dark, "behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp . . . passed between those pieces" (Genesis 15:17). In the middle of that dark place, only the Lord walked through. "Then it was that the covenant was made; not, as usually, by both parties passing between the divided sacrifice, but by Jehovah alone doing so, since the covenant was that of grace, in which one party along - God - undertook all the obligations, while the other received all the benefit." In that moment, the Lord placed the penalty of violating the covenant on Himself.
The Lord promised Abraham that He would uphold both sides of the covenant, even if it meant the shedding of His own blood. From the beginning He was willing to offer HIs life for Abraham's. It is one of the first examples of grace recorded in the story of God's people, and there is an important lesson here. Abraham's posterity was ensured salvation through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but there was more. His posterity was promised a path that would exalt them if they chose to enter into the covenant relationship. It was the promise of priesthood ordinances that would lead to exaltation and eternal increase. This was different that just receiving salvation - everyone in Abraham's posterity who received salvation through belief in Christ now became eligible to also receive the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant if they chose - they were entitled to this eternal increase - but they would be required to live a life worthy of obtaining it. Every blessing, through their faithfulness. A life of covenant becoming.
Because we are the children of Abraham, Jehovah offers each of us that same promise filled with impossibility. Your personal conditions of mortality, your inadequacies and weakness might make you question whether you will ever realize that promise.
Jehovah is not now, nor ever has been, hindered by mortal inadequacy.
In your darkest places, look for the burning lamp. In the barren places, watch for His increase.
"I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1). His is the promise of protection and increase - I am your saving and your exaltation.
Here was the answer Emily's friend was seeking. An invitation to pursue exaltation found in the Bible. An invitation for every one of us.
Every so often in a life, a sudden insight into an essential truth will come from an ordinary experience. An epiphany. Our feet may be firmly planted in the dirt we have lighted upon, darkness may surround, but for a time we are given a glimpse of who we are and the potential of who we can become through grace. In those fleeting moments, the earth fills with a burning light and our fingertips trace the promise written in the stars flung wide. Then, trailing clouds of glory and encircled by His grace, we step onto our own path of becoming and begin to write our own story filled with grace, and exalting, and Him . . .
I had difficulty going to sleep tonight and it was 11:30 when I finally dozed off.
I listened to my book "Parables of Jesus" learning about the Olivet Discourse which includes these three parables: The Ten Virgins, Parable of the Talents, and the parable of The Sheep and the Goats. These parables are to prepare us for the Second Coming of the Lord.
I also texted Addy, Rowan, and Ruby and asked them to read the Book of Mormon everyday. Addy sent me a heart. I also told them to ask Lola to read too.
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