Study Recap: Finding Forgiveness by Elder Richard G. Scott

Title: Finding Forgiveness
Author: Elder Richard G. Scott
Source: May 1995 Ensign
Link: http://www.lds.org/ensign/1995/05/finding-forgiveness?lang=eng

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Points

• Each one of us encounters unique challenges meant for growth.
• Every incorrect choice we make, every sin we commit is a violation of eternal law. That violation brings negative results we generally soon recognize. There are also other consequences of our acts of which we may not be conscious. They are nonetheless real. They can have a tremendous effect on the quality of our life here and most certainly will powerfully affect it hereafter.
• Which of us is not in need of the miracle of repentance? Whether your life is lightly blemished or heavily disfigured from mistakes, the principles of recovery are the same. The length and severity of the treatments are conditioned to fit the circumstances.
•  Obedience and faith in the Savior give you power to resist temptation. 
• Study and ponder to determine how serious the Lord defines your transgression to be. That will bring healing sorrow and remorse. It will also bring a sincere desire for change and a willingness to submit to every requirement for forgiveness.
• Abandonment of sin. This is an unyielding, permanent resolve to not repeat the transgression. By keeping this commitment, the bitter aftertaste of that sin need not be experienced again. Remember: “But unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return.”  Joseph Smith declared: “Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not … pleasing in the sight of God.”
• Please understand that confession is not repentance. It is an essential step, but is not of itself adequate. Partial confession by mentioning lesser mistakes will not help you resolve a more serious, undisclosed transgression. Essential to forgiveness is a willingness to fully disclose to the Lord and, where necessary, His priesthood judge all that you have done.
• Remember, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
• Full obedience brings the complete power of the gospel into your life with strength to focus on the abandonment of specific sins. It includes things you might not initially consider part of repentance, such as attending meetings, paying tithing, giving service, and forgiving others.
•  The Lord said: “He that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven.”
• Satan would have you believe that serious transgression cannot be entirely overcome. The Savior gave His life so that the effects of all transgression can be put behind us...
• Do not take comfort in the fact that your transgressions are not known by others. That is like an ostrich with his head buried in the sand. He sees only darkness and feels comfortably hidden. In reality he is ridiculously conspicuous. Likewise our every act is seen by our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son. They know everything about us.
• resident Kimball taught: “To every forgiveness there is a condition. The plaster must be as wide as the sore. The fasting, the prayers, the humility must be equal to or greater than the sin.”
• “It is unthinkable that God absolves serious sins upon a few requests. He is likely to wait until there has been long, sustained repentance.”
• In closing, with all the tenderness and sincerity of heart I invite each one of you to thoughtfully review your life. Have you deviated from the standards that you know will bring happiness? Is there a dark corner that needs to be cleaned out? Are you now doing things that you know are wrong? Do you fill your mind with unclean thoughts? When it is quiet and you can think clearly, does your conscience tell you to repent?
• For your peace now and for everlasting happiness, please repent. Open your heart to the Lord and ask Him to help you. You will earn the blessing of forgiveness, peace, and the knowledge you have been purified and made whole. Find the courage to ask the Lord for strength to repent, now. I solemnly witness that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. I know that He lives. I testify that He loves you personally and will help you.

Study Recap: “Awake My Soul!”: Dealing Firmly with Depression by Steve Gilliland

Title: “Awake My Soul!”: Dealing Firmly with Depression
Author: Steve Gilliland
Source: August 1978 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1978/08/awake-my-soul-dealing-firmly-with-depression?lang=eng

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Points

• Feeling discouraged and inadequate happens to all of us, but when these feelings become a way of life, or even frequent visitors, they’re signs of trouble.
• As I remember my own experiences of being trapped in the web of discouragement, the worst part was the feeling that I was helpless to get free. Working on a “positive mental attitude” seemed like only kidding myself. 
• Fasting and prayer brought specific guidance, and over time my struggles produced what may perhaps be the long-term answer to my prayers—some concepts and skills that have helped me pull myself out of these depressions.
• It’s not the Holy Ghost’s problem but ours. Each of us has many voices within, criticizing and praising, encouraging and discouraging, desiring and warning, reasoning and disregarding. We’ve all wondered at some time which voices were from the Lord and which were from Satan, which came with us from premortal life and which we’ve acquired since birth. Fortunately, some good clues to discerning the source of these voices are given in Moro. 7:16: “Every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent … of Christ.”
• For years your personality may have been growing in one direction. Now you must help it grow in another direction. You cannot easily erase those destructive voices from the past, but you can recognize what they do to you and turn them off. You can rid yourself of these voices by replacing them with positive feedback and experiences that will build self-esteem. The Lord has promised that our weaknesses can become strengths and that “all things shall work together for [our] good” if we search and pray. (Ether 12:27, D&C 90:24.)
• Once we can turn off the negative voices, we can see their source. Discouragement is not the Lord’s method—it’s Satan’s. Satan emphasizes your weaknesses; the Lord, your ability to overcome. Satan urges immediate perfection to make you feel inadequate. The Lord leads you toward perfection. Once we recognize the source, we can cry with Nephi, “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.” (2 Ne. 4:28.)
• The Lord seeks to strengthen you, to give you the power to overcome problems. He wants you to recognize your weaknesses and then do something about them, Jesus didn’t condemn the adulteress. He said, “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:1–11.) Alma made it very clear to Corianton that he had committed a terrible sin in being unchaste, but he concluded with: “And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things [Corianton’s doubts about God’s justice] trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.” (Alma 42:29.)
• It’s one thing to face up to our weaknesses and work on them. It’s another thing to dwell on them. The gospel teaches us to take charge of our minds as well as our bodies. Suppose you’re thinking about a mistake you’ve made. Ask yourself: Is this helping me deal with the problems I’m now having or is it making me feel more inadequate? If it’s dragging you down, push it out of your mind or crowd something else in front of it.
• If I immediately start tormenting myself for my weakness when I find myself dwelling on an unworthy thought, I don’t have enough strength or determination to resist the next temptation. If, instead, I thank the Lord for showing me that the thought is unwholesome and helping shift my mind away, I leave the situation closer to the Lord, grateful for the strength I have, and praying for greater strength in the future.

Study Recap: Improving Your Personal Prayers By Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy

Title:Improving Your Personal Prayers
Author: Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy
Source: June 2013 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/improving-your-personal-prayers?lang=eng
Summary: What would listening to your personal prayers reveal about you and your relationship with Heavenly Father?
Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Points

• I am convinced that personal prayer is one of the most significant challenges facing members of the Church, particularly youth and young adults. And because they struggle with prayer, they struggle spiritually.
• Our personal prayers are a barometer of our spiritual strength and an indicator of our spiritual well-being. I have learned as a father, priesthood leader, and mission president that listening carefully to another’s prayers can reveal much about his or her relationship with God.
• What would listening to your personal prayers reveal about you and your relationship with Heavenly Father?
• To pray is to speak with God, the Eternal Father of our spirits—not at Him but with Him.
• He loves each of us perfectly and is full of mercy and understanding. He knows everything about us. He knows what we need, even when we can see only what we want. He has infinite power and capacity to sustain and guide us. He is always willing to forgive us and to help us in all things.
• Personal prayers should be solemn, sacred expressions of praise and gratitude; heartfelt petitions for specific needs and desires; humble, contrite confessions and requests for cleansing forgiveness.
• Prayer is an essential and enabling spiritual link between God and man. Without prayer, there is no possible return to the Father. Without prayer, sufficient faith to understand and keep the commandments is impossible. Without prayer, the necessary spiritual power to avoid temptation and overcome trials and adversity would be unavailable. Without prayer, repentance, forgiveness and the cleansing power of the Atonement are unattainable. With the power of personal prayer, all things are possible.
• Prayer is spiritual work preceded by mental and spiritual preparation. If we don’t take the time to humble ourselves and carefully consider that we are about to call upon God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ, we will miss the very essence of the divine pattern established to bless us.
• Remember, however, Satan will be the only one who tells you that you cannot or should not pray. The Holy Ghost always encourages us to pray, even if we are struggling with obedience and personal worthiness.
• Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart” (Bible Dictionary, “Prayer”). Prayers that follow this pattern represent vain hope, not faith.
• Prayer is not a negotiation process. It is an alignment process. We don’t move God to our point of view. Prayer is less about changing our circumstances and more about changing us.  

Study Recap: “My Ways Are Not Your Ways” By Elder Clayton M. Christensen

Title: “My Ways Are Not Your Ways”
Author: Elder Clayton M. Christensen
Source: February 2007 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/02/my-ways-are-not-your-ways?lang=eng
Rating: 5/5

Favorite Points

• Many of the Savior’s most profound teachings are counterintuitive. “Love your enemies” is an example. The solutions that our minds are prone to develop are often different from those the Lord would have us pursue. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8).
•  When we encounter roadblocks in our efforts to build the kingdom, the reason often is that our solutions are grounded in the wisdom of men—which is foolishness to God (see 1 Corinthians 3:19).
• The Savior taught that good shepherds go after individual sheep that don’t return to the fold. Yet we frequently focus on the ninety and nine, leaving those who are lost to continue wandering from the Church. In every sacrament meeting, for example, our clerks count the number of sheep who returned to the fold. They store this number in a safe place for the quarterly report, and then we go home. If we conformed our ways to God’s ways, we’d list the names of the individual members who could have returned to the fold on that Sunday but didn’t come. Then we’d go find them.
•  We should be careful not to offend members who deliberately do not want to attend. But helping each member who only occasionally returns to the fold on Sunday to feel needed and feel our love is a simple practice that every ward and branch can begin. Many less-active members got that way because they didn’t return to the fold one Sunday and nobody seemed to notice.
• Some wards and branches suffer from inadequate leadership. The reason is often that we rely on the same qualified people to fill key callings, denying others experiences in which personal growth can occur. When a branch is just emerging and there are no alternatives, leaders extend callings to people who don’t fit the traditional mold of talented, capable leaders and invite them to assume important responsibility. During such periods, the branch and its members often grow in exciting ways. Many times, however, there comes a point when a group of talented, experienced leaders and teachers has coalesced. When there are capable people available to ensure that Church programs run efficiently, we often stop drafting people from the periphery of capability into the positions of responsibility in which they can grow. Because they seem less qualified than those in the experienced core, we leave them on the periphery. The experienced leaders and teachers play musical chairs, exchanging positions of responsibility. This is not the Lord’s way.
• Building His Church on the backs of the simple and weak (see D&C 1:19) was not a temporary, stop-gap staffing plan to tide the Church over during its early years until enough experienced, committed, qualified leaders had arrived on the scene.
• The Lord deliberately weakened Gideon’s army so that Israel wouldn’t get confused about whose power had led them to victory (see Judges 6; 7). None of Jesus’s original Twelve Apostles had evidenced adequate experience or commitment when He called them. Enoch, Moses, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Amos, and Joseph Smith were unqualified by the world’s standards when the Lord put them to work. But God transformed them.
•  ...the focus of many parents and youth leaders is to help our youth find their lives. Too often we define strong youth programs as those with a large “critical mass” of youth, well-planned activities, and opportunities for Latter-day Saint friendships. These are good things to have. But while we work so hard to provide enriching experiences for our youth, we sometimes deny them the most important opportunity of all—the chance to lose their lives for the sake of the gospel.
• The Savior’s formula for converting our hearts to His cause is unambiguous. He instructs us to lose our lives in His service.
• A strong youth program is not defined by the numbers of youth. Nor is it defined by the charisma of youth leaders. Rather, it is one that gives every young person the opportunity to lose his or her life for the sake of the Savior.
• The youth whose lives leaders need most urgently to influence are those whose parents do not regularly enroll them in the Savior’s service. A strong youth program isn’t one that coddles these at-risk youth. Rather, it will give them opportunities to sacrifice in the service of God, to feel needed in the Church and feel the Spirit as they serve.
• If the reason for attending church between ages 12 and 18 is fellowship and fun, then Relief Society and elders quorum can be a shock: they aren’t very fun.
• The burden of adult discipleship looms heavy if young people have never shouldered the Savior’s yoke.
• Long ago I had concluded that it was quite simple to administer the mechanics of missionary meetings, but I could not lead that work with passion and credibility unless I could speak in present-tense verbs and first-person pronouns about finding people for the missionaries to teach.
• When Moroni foresaw that many in the last days would believe God had ceased to be a God of miracles (Mormon 9:15–20), perhaps he had in his view not just those of other faiths but some of us as well. When we are doing all we can and our leaders ask us to do even more, miracles are the only option. That is why the Savior asked us to forsake the rational limits of our adult minds and employ the faith of little children instead.
• I once felt passed over when another man was called to a leadership position I had felt I might receive. In the crisis of self-confidence that ensued, I realized that because our minds are finite, we create hierarchies and statistically aggregate people. We perceive stake presidents to be higher than bishops and Primary presidents higher than Primary teachers because they preside over more people. But God has an infinite mind. He needs no statistics above the level of the individual in order to have a perfect understanding of what is happening. This means, I realized, that the way God will measure my life is not by the numbers of people over whom I have presided but by the individual people whose lives I have touched with His love and with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
•  There is a calling far higher than that of stake president, bishop, or Relief Society president. It is to be a doer of good, a disciple of Christ, an intermediary through whom God answers others’ prayers.

Study Recap: Overcoming Addiction through the Atonement by Benjamin R. Erwin

Title: Overcoming Addiction through the Atonement
Author: Benjamin R. Erwin, LDS Family Services
Source: September 2012 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/09/overcoming-addiction-through-the-atonement?lang=eng
Summary: To those who despair of healing and peace, there is hope in Christ.
Rating: 3/5

Favorite Points

• Most of us are aware of the sad consequences of addictive behavior, so instead of focusing on the dangers of pornography and the pain associated with addiction, I would like to share a message of hope.
• Consider the details Alma shared as he recounted this story. He focused his comments on the Savior and the healing power of His Atonement. He did not even mention the fiery serpents!
• What Alma chose to tell—and what he chose to leave out—teaches one key to overcoming pornography addiction (or any challenge we may have in this life): to “cast about [our] eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (verse 22).
• ...when we spend so much time describing the attacking “serpent” that we fail to see the source of healing, we’re not much different than the Israelites. The children of Israel did not have to focus on the serpents or the pain of their venomous bites or their fear of death in order to be healed. They simply had to look to the source of healing: their Savior, Jesus Christ.
• Those who struggle with sin sometimes lie and rationalize in an attempt to minimize the consequences of their behavior. But somewhere inside themselves, they are aware of what they have done and know they are accountable for it.
• Usually I find that those who struggle with addictions are warriors with tenacity, courage, and a strong desire to be clean. They win far more battles than they lose as they march toward recovery.
• This may be hard for some to comprehend—if people are so strong, why is overcoming addiction so difficult? Addiction is often misunderstood, and some believe that if a person would simply choose to recover or work harder at stopping, he or she would be able to. But the nature of addiction—and all sin, for that matter—is such that we cannot heal ourselves from it. The children of Israel could not heal themselves from the bites of the fiery serpents, and we cannot simply wish or even work addiction away. We must find our hope of healing in Christ.
• Addiction brings heavy burdens of secrets and pain. It usually doesn’t take people long to want to stop. They tell themselves “never again,” yet time after time, they fall. Such succumbing can bring with it a “hardness of heart,” a refusal to believe that anything can help them.
• Repentance may involve an emotional and physical process. … Both repentance and recovery may take time. … Even though a person may have some initial success, further emotional healing may be necessary to completely repent and recover.

Study Recap: The Power of the Word of God by Elder Michael John U. Teh

Title: The Power of the Word of God
Author: Elder Michael John U. Teh of the Seventy
Source: March 2013 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/03/the-power-of-the-word-of-god?lang=eng
Summary: Few other activities will bring us greater spiritual benefit than the daily, consistent study of the scriptures.
Rating: 3.5/5
Favorite Parts

• I later concluded that perhaps for most of them, hopelessness allowed them to believe they were consigned to this fate.
• I believe that few other activities will bring us greater spiritual benefit than the daily, consistent study of the scriptures.
• The Book of Mormon tells us, “The preaching of the word … had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them” (Alma 31:5).
• President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has taught: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”
• President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) said: “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”
• ...we live in an age when access to the scriptures is unprecedented. Never in the history of the world have God’s children had the opportunity to enjoy these sacred materials as they do now. Written copies of the scriptures can be readily purchased in bookstores or online. Electronic copies can be accessed instantaneously through the World Wide Web and downloaded to numerous devices. Preparing talks, writing articles, and searching for information has never been easier.
• I believe that neglecting to study the scriptures on a regular basis is a form of hardening our hearts. I fear that if we persist in that course, we will be given a lesser portion of the word and eventually know nothing of God’s mysteries. Drinking daily from the scriptures, on the other hand, will help us build spiritual strength and knowledge, unmask the deceptions of the devil, and discover the snares he has laid to catch us.
• As you ask yourselves the following questions, I invite you to allow the Holy Ghost to speak to your mind and heart: 
  Do I take time to study the scriptures every day?
  If not, what excuse do I have for not doing so?
  Will my excuse be acceptable to the Lord?
• God has given us this new technology for a wise purpose. The adversary, however, has stepped up his offensive and uses technological advancements—intended by God to help us—to further his purpose of making us “miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27). Hence, we have a responsibility to learn to use what our Heavenly Father has given us in an effective, consistent, and proper manner
  
  
   

Study Recap: Raising Resilient Children by Lyle J. Burrup

Title: Raising Resilient Children
Author: Lyle J. Burrup, LDS Family Services
Source: March 2013 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/03/raising-resilient-children?lang=eng
Summary: How well children respond to setbacks depends largely on how well their parents helped them develop the attitudes and the skills of resilience.
Rating: 4.5/5


Favorite Points

• The original definition of the word resilience had to do with a material’s ability to resume its shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed. Today we commonly use the word to describe our ability to bounce back from adversity.
• We know two things about adversity and resilience: First, there is “an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). Second, obtaining anything of great worth often requires great sacrifice.
• As children become resilient, they understand and accept these two facts. They see life as challenging and ever changing, but they believe they can cope with those challenges and changes. They view mistakes and weaknesses as opportunities to learn, and they accept that losing may precede winning.
• As children develop resilience, they believe they can influence and even control outcomes in their lives through effort, imagination, knowledge, and skill. With this attitude, they focus on what they can do rather than on what is outside their control.
• Another mark of resilience is to see great purpose and meaning in life and people. A sense of purpose will help our children avoid giving up, in spite of setbacks and pressure to do so.  
• One thing that hinders the development of resilience is a misunderstanding of the commandment to be perfect (see Matthew 5:48). This misunderstanding is the most common factor I’ve seen undermining resilience in new missionaries. They want to be perfect in everything because they love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and do not want to disappoint Them. But they do not understand that the Lord works through weak, simple servants (see D&C 1:19–23) and that striving to be perfect does not mean we never make mistakes but rather that we become fully developed or complete through the Atonement of Christ as we strive to follow Him (see Matthew 5:48, footnote b).
• So how do we help our children develop resilience? Our Father in Heaven provides the model. He treats us with great love and respect, even when we make mistakes. He reminds us of our potential (see Moses 1:39) and our great worth (see D&C 18:10), which are based on our identity as His sons and daughters. He gives us laws so we know what He expects (see D&C 107:84), allows us to make choices (see 2 Nephi 2:15–16), and honors our choices (see D&C 130:20). He allows for learning and instruction to correct mistakes (see D&C 1:25–26) and for repentance and restitution to correct sin (see D&C 1:27–28).
• Allow natural, logical consequences to serve as the disciplinarian.
• Respect children’s decisions, even if their poor choices lead to lost privileges.