Quotes
Please read the following quote from President Nelson:
"Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God's heart. He has high hopes for us."
In what ways can we express gratitude toward Heavenly Father for the covenants and blessings we've received?
This is a video of the Teton Dam collapse in 1976. President Eyring explains how he was at the temple on this day with his wife when he heard the news. They couldn't get home due to blocked roads and were worried about their kids who were being babysat. His wife asked him, "Hal, how can you sleep at a time like this?" He responded, "Kathy, whatever the outcome, all will be well because of the temple. We have made covenants with God and have been sealed as an eternal family."
How can we cultivate a greater reliance on our covenants during moments of anxiety or distress? What practices can help strengthen that reliance?
Please read John 14:27.
27 - Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
How does the peace that comes from temple covenants differ from the peace the world offers?
Please read this quote from President Eyring:
"I humbly testify that as we attend the temple, we can be reminded of the eternal nature of our spirits, our relationship with the Father and His divine Son, and our ultimate desire to return to our heavenly home."
How does knowing your divine nature help you endure to the end and maintain a celestial perspective?
Please read the following from President Eyring:
"When Kathy and I were married and sealed in the Logan Utah Temple, then-Elder Spencer W. Kimball performed our sealing. In the few words he spoke, he gave this counsel: “Hal and Kathy, live so that when the call comes, you can walk away easily.”
Initially, we did not understand what that counsel meant for us, but we did our best to live our lives in such a way that we would be prepared to leave to serve the Lord when the call came. After we had been married nearly 10 years, an unanticipated call did come from the Commissioner of Church Education, Neal A. Maxwell.
The loving counsel given by President Kimball in the temple to be able to “walk away easily” became a reality. Kathy and I received a call to leave what seemed an idyllic family situation in California to serve in an assignment and in a place that I knew nothing about. However, our family was ready to leave because a prophet, in a holy temple, a place of revelation, saw a future event for which we were then prepared."
Can you describe a time when you had to rely on your faith during an uncertain or unexpected situation? What did you learn from that experience?
Please read D&C 59:5.
5 - Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.
How does attending the temple help us keep the commandment to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength?
Please read this quote from President Eyring:
"Consistent care of brothers and sisters for each other will come only with persistent efforts to lead your family in the Lord’s way. Give children opportunities to pray for each other. Discern quickly the beginnings of discord, and positively recognize acts of unselfish service, especially to one another. When siblings pray for each other and serve each other, hearts will be softened and turned to each other and to their parents."
What other ways can we create more unity within our families?
Have you ever felt uplifted by someone’s ministering? What did they do that helped you?
Thank you for sharing.
Please read Joseph Smith - History 1:39.
39 - And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
How has learning about your family history or participating in temple work strengthened your testimony?
Please read this quote from President Eyring:
"My dear brothers and sisters, I bear witness that there is nothing more important than honoring the covenants you have made or may make in the temple. No matter where you are on the covenant path, I urge you to qualify and become eligible to attend the temple. Visit as frequently as circumstances will allow. Make and keep sacred covenants with God. I can assure you of the same truth I shared with Kathy in the middle of the night nearly five decades ago in an Idaho Falls motel room: 'No matter the outcome, all will be well because of temple covenants.'"
How can frequent temple attendance help keep us progressing toward eternal goals?
Excerpt from "What Do You Do With a Chance?"
"The second I let go of my fears, I was full of excitement! It wasn't that I was no longer afraid, but now my excitement was bigger than my fear."
I'd like to change just one word in this powerful idea- "The second I let go of my fears, I was full of faith! It wasn't that I was no longer afraid, but now my faith was bigger than my fear."
Can you share a time when your faith helped you overcome a fear?
Please read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
7 - And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 - For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 - Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
When have you felt Jesus Christ help you through a difficult time?
Please read this quote from President Nelson:
“The safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!”
Why do you think he chose to use the word 'inside'?
Please read the following from President Eyring:
"I have been blessed to feel that peace every time I enter the sacred temple. I recall the first day I walked into the Salt Lake Temple. I was a young man.
I looked up at a high white ceiling that made the room so light it seemed almost as if it were open to the sky. And in that moment, the thought came into my mind in clear words: 'I have been in this lighted place before.' But then immediately there came into my mind, not in my own voice, these words: 'No, you have never been here before. You are remembering a moment before you were born. You were in a sacred place like this where the Lord could come.'"
Have you ever had an experience where you felt connected to the premortal life?
Please read Mosiah 2:41.
41 - And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
What temporal and spiritual blessings have you seen in your life from following the Lord's commandments?