The Lord Comforted Us

Hello Family:

Friday, as I was reading the Book of Mormon on my flight home from San Diego, I was impressed with this scripture:

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. (Alma 26:27)

May I share a few thoughts I jotted down in my journal?

So many times I have felt depressed and inadequate as I'm sure all people do.

Just as the brothers were about to give up and go home, just when they were depressed to the brink of despair, the Lord comforted them. They endured much. When all seemed hopeless, light shined through the darkness ad comfort came.

The Lord didn't remove the burdens. He asked them to proceed, bearing their burdens with patience.

Their faith was tried. They persevered. Comfort and strength came. They achieved success.

We must always press forward. We must always have faith that He will bring success and comfort.

As we know, the sons of Mosiah went on to have great success in their work to serve the Lamanite people. They did endure in faith, even though they suffered terrible opposition and privation. They did receive power to bear their burdens. The Lord sustained them. They had wonderful experiences as they participated in the miraculous conversion and transformation of thousands of people.

Ammon described the great joy they experienced while in the Lord's service this way:

Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began ... (Alma 26:35)

I pray that each of us, as we struggle through our everyday lives, even though we feel depressed and lonely and fearful, will remember the sons of Mosiah and follow their example. As we turn to the Lord, he will comfort us. He will sustain us. He will enable our success. He will bring us great joy.

Love,

Dad/Mark

PS. All of the Zion Family quotations can be found here.

Honoring our Father in Heaven

Dear Family:

Happy Father's Day! I am grateful for my father and Claudia's father and the righteous fathers before them who set an example of commitment to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful to be a father and grandfather and am grateful for our three sons who are fathers now and our four more who will become so. (Garry, David, Myron + Eric, Ryan, Holly's future husband, and Luke).

I find the role of fatherhood to be an honor beyond the ability of words to describe. However, in my scripture study this morning, I received a new glimpse into the grandeur of the fatherhood of God and his hope for us, his children. I feel prompted to share it with you.

Consider Paul's challenge to the Hebrews: "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Hebrews 12:9)

It is fitting and proper that we honor our fathers on this special day, but let's also focus our attention on Him who is Father of us all. Of all titles Elohim could ask us to call him, he chose "Father." Jesus loved and respected his Father. Acting under the his Father's direction, Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." (Matthew 6:9)

Jesus also invited us, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Please focus with me for a moment on the word, "Father," rather than the word "perfect" as we usually do. Jesus is extending an invitation for us to return home with him to the presence of our Father and become as our Father is, to experience the fullness of joy that he is experiencing.

It is as if our Father is saying,

"I am your father. You are my children. Your heavenly mother and I have given spiritual birth to each of you. We live in a state of infinite happiness and want more than anything else to have you join us here. We love you and want you to experience the eternal joy we have.

"Therefore, I have provided a way for you to learn how to overcome the world, gain eternal life and experience infinite joy with us. I have set the perfect example of how to live so you might come home. I invite you to follow this example.

"Please learn how to become good fathers and mothers yourselves. That will give you an understanding of my relationship with you. You will come to know the depth of our love for you and how much we want you to come back home.

"I have offered my only begotten son to you as a Savior. He has taught you how to become good fathers and mothers. He provided a way for you to be cleansed, sanctified and exalted. Please follow him home. He has shown you the way to become like me. Then, we can experience infinite joy, a state of perfectness and peace, together."

Later, after he had wrought the atonement and was resurrected, Jesus slightly changed his invitation: "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (3 Nephi 12:48)

Having completed his journey home, Jesus was saying "Come follow me back to Father. I have provided the way. I have set the example. Let's go back home."

May we forever strive to become, step by step, experience by experience, like our Father in Heaven. I know he lives. I know that he knows each of us by name. He knows our hearts. He knows what we must do to come home to him.

I pray that we might all become like him, and walk together into his presence for eternity.

Love,

Dad/Mark

Guidance of the Spirit

Dear Family:

As I was reading this week in Elder Eyring's book "To Draw Closer to God," that I received for my birthday, I was impressed to share this quotation from Marion G. Romney which Elder Eyring referenced:

"If you want to obtain and keep the guidance of the Spirit, you can do so by following this simple four-point program.

"One, pray. Pray diligently. Pray with each other. Pray in public in the proper places ...

"Learn to talk to the Lord; call upon his name in great faith and confidence.

"Second, study and learn the gospel.

"Third, live righteously; repent of your sins by confessing them and forsaking them. Then conform to the teachings of the gospel.

"Fourth, give service in the Church.

"If you will do these things, you will get the guidance of the Holy Spirit and you will go through this world successfully, regardless of what the people of the world say or do."

Marion G. Romney, "Guidance of the Holy Spirit," Ensign, January 1980, p.5

I pray that we may all be able to follow Elder Romney's counsel and receive guidance from the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Love,

Dad/Mark

Seeds of Divinity

Hello family:

The following quotation from President Faust is short in words but long in meaning:

"If we are constantly aware of the seeds of divinity in us, it will help us rise above earthly challenges and difficulties."

James E. Faust, Liahona, July 2001, 53-56

May we always remember that we are indeed divine offspring of God, inherently divine in origin and potentially divine in destiny if we choose to accept the gift of eternal life our Father offers to us.

Love,

Dad/Mark

Gratitude Brings Happiness

Hello Family:

I really enjoyed this quotation from Bonnie D. Parker, former General Relief Society President, that dropped into my email box this week:

Mercies and blessings come in different forms--sometimes as hard things. Yet the Lord said, 'Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things' (D&C 59:7). All things means just that: good things, difficult things--not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy. This is another evidence of His love."

(Bonnie D. Parkin, "Gratitude: A Path to Happiness," Ensign, May 2007, 35)

Most of all, I am grateful for all of you, the family to which we all belong. You bring me great joy. (That doesn't mean I classify you in the category of "hard things"). :)

Love,

Dad/Mark