Relief Society Sisters - our Relief Society lesson this week will be #17 in the Joseph Fielding Smith Manual - Sealing Power and Temple Blessings and will be given by Sue Graff. (We've switched the schedule a little from your printed schedule - we will have a conference talk next week and the bishop will teach on the fifth Sunday).

https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-joseph-fielding-smith/chapter-17-sealing-power-and-temple-blessings?lang=eng

Faith, Covenants, and Personal Revelation 
based on "Conversations" with Elder and Sister Bednar

Our lesson on Sunday, August 3 was based on excerpts of an episode from an audio program on The Mormon Channel called "Conversations." The episode the lesson was based on is an interview with Elder and Sister Bednar that was conducted by Sheri Dew. The excerpts below are elements of doctrine that Elder Bednar, and in some cases Sister Bednar, talked about during the interview. We shared and discussed these during the lesson. The link to the full audio is above. If you haven't yet listened, it is a great interview!

Joseph Smith taught that faith is a principle of action and of power in all human beings.

When we act in accordance with correct principles, we are then taught by the Holy Ghost. The teacher is never a man or a woman, teacher is the Holy Ghost.

When we act in accordance with truth, we get it for ourselves. 

Acting in accordance with truth > receiving witness from Holy Ghost > Touches our heart 

This is what moves us from intellectual knowledge in our mind to spiritual conviction in our heart.

Not enough to know it in your mind, you need to have a spiritual conviction in the heart to stand in the midst of adversity that we now experience and will yet experience.

"If I thought we had to execute this transition relying on our own experience, then I would be terrified. But we will have help from heaven. No, I'm not scared.

You have to take a step into the darkness, anticipating that the light will move. Most of us would like the light to light the pathway. Take the step and then the light moves. (Elder Bednar's comment to a colleague who asked if he was scared on the evening before Ricks College became BYU-Idaho. Elder Bednar was then President of Ricks College and oversaw the transition from a two-year college to a four-year university)

Sometimes we talk and act like recognizing the Holy Ghost in our lives is the rare and exceptional event. Remember that the covenant promise is that we may always have His spirit to be with us. 

Covenants help us access the power of the Savior's atonement. In covenants we use our agency to accept the terms and conditions of agency as they have been established by God. We give to God the only thing we can give. Not my will, but thine. Only then do we have access to the full power. 

Learning how to receive personal revelation  comes when we are acting and moving, not when we are being acted upon or sitting and waiting. 

D&C - Oliver Cowdery is directed to meet Joseph Smith. Section 6 - intended to help Oliver understand he had been receiving revelation and didn't know it. 

Sometimes we think revelation is before the fact, but Nephi went back to Jerusalem, to obtain the plates of brass, not knowing why. 

Action first - revelation when we go. 

Sacrament meeting. We covenant to Mourn with those that mourn, etc. During Sacrament meeting, Sister Bednar said that she thinks about the Savior, and asks that the spirit help her identify someone who needs help - maybe just a smile or a note, etc. She said the Spirit helps you recognize someone, then she will write down the name and sometimes take it home, etc.

Revelation comes as a conclusion, not as an explanation. We want to attach a reason to an impression. There is rarely a why, there is always a what. 

To the degree that we respond to impressions, the capacity to receive revelation is increased. To the degree that we do not act upon that impression, our capacity is decreased. And if we don't respond to those simple, obvious promptings, then we won't be able to.

Revelation comes most clearly when it moves us to help others. This shows how eager our Father is to help his children.

My Heart is Telling Me by Annaliese Enderle

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." Prov. 23:7

I was visiting my old ward for fast and testimony meeting;
my heart was bursting as I told the following story:

Our house was a mess, and it was time to clean! I
told my five
year old son, James, that he needed to help me clean. He told
me he didn't like to clean. I told him that I didn't like to clean,
either (that's why it was a mess!), but that we all needed to
help out. He started giving me some attitude, so I told him to
go to his room and that he could come out when he was
ready to help. He stomped off, and I started cleaning.

About two minutes later, James returned, looked at me, and
said, "I'm going to help you clean. Do you know why?

I rolled my eyes and asked, "No, why?"

He said, "Well, my brain is telling me that I don't like to clean,
but my heart is telling me I should anyway."

I explained to him that was what choosing the right felt like.
Sometimes in life we have to do what our heart tells us to do
instead of what our brain is telling us to do.

The next Sunday a dear friend pulled me aside and told me
of some unfortunate events that had occurred in their home.
Over the previous week, one of their children had become
suicidal. At one breaking moment, the mother told her
daughter they both needed to pray. Each went to her room
and prayed. The daughter returned a few minutes later and
the mother asked her how she felt. With tears in her eyes,
she told her mother that all she could think about was what I
had said in testimony. She said, "My brain is telling me that I
don't want to live, but my heart is telling me I should
anyway.

I cried at the thought that a simple story could have such
impact on a struggling teenager. I am happy that the Spirit
prompted me to tell that little story, and I'm even happier
that she was listening.

(Story from Chicken Soup for the Latter Day Saint Soul)

Pumpkin Dump Cake (Hazel's Pioneer Day winning Cake)

Ingredients

15 ounce can pumpkin puree
10 ounces evaporated milk
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 cup graham crackers (crushed)
1/2 cup toffee pieces (I used Heath Bar Pieces)
1 yellow cake mix

Directions:

Preheat to 350
Spray 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray.
Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs and pumpkin spice. Stir to combine.
Pour into prepared pan, and sprinkle with cake mix, followed by the graham crackers and toffee.
Pour melted butter evenly on top.
Bake 45-50 mins until center is set and edges are browned.

Serve with ice cream of whipping cream.

(The original recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, but Hazel only used 1/2)

Here is a video if you need a visual

Quotes

Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse
to raise theirs.
-Mandy Hale

What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters
compared to what lies within us. And when you bring what
is within out into the world, Miracles happen.
-Henry David Thoreau

I don't care what you think about me, I don't think about you
at all.
-Coco Chanel

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable
because God had forgiven the inexcusable in you.
-C.S. Lewis

Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem,
smarter than you think, and twice as beautiful as you ever imagined.