Do you wish you had greater access to the spirit? Do you wish to have more guidance from the spirit to improve your life and keep you focused on what’s most important?

I know I do. That’s why I was so excited to receive this new book by Richard G. Scott “21 Principles: Divine Truths to Help You Live by the Spirit.” Not only do I love the subject matter, but I love the format of the book. The layout is ideal for use as a study guide.

I tend to be topical student of the gospel. Rather than read and study the scriptures chapter by chapter and verse by verse, I jump around a lot, focusing on whatever subject matter has piqued my interest at any given time. I might hear something in a Sunday talk, or have a thought jump out at me while I am reading a church magazine or preparing a lesson. Or someone might bring something up in a conversation or blog post that has me wanting to know more. Elder Scott’s book fits perfectly into my study style.

The book contains 21 short chapters (imagine that!), each focusing on one principle. The entire book is just over 100 pages long. The first time I read this book, I read it through cover to cover, just to see what it was about—and so I could write about it. As I’ve started reading it again, I’ve chosen selected principles that I feel like I need to improve upon in my life and re-read those as a starting point for my study of those principles.

Each principle is illustrated by personal experiences from Elder Scott’s life, as well as scriptural reference, examples from the Savior’s teachings and from the lives of our prophets. The language is clear, straightforward and simple. He concludes each chapter with simple counsel and instruction on how we might better incorporate these principles personally.

One that caught my attention was Principle #4: “I have learned that our mind can strengthen an impression of the Holy Ghost or sadly, can totally destroy it by casting it out as something unimportant or the product of our own imagination.”

I am a champion second-guesser.  I have often talked myself out of really good ideas and, I am sure, important impressions of the Holy Ghost because I doubted myself. This will be the first principle I will be working on.  Perhaps I will even blog about my progress from time to time.

I don’t plan to make my journey through the 21 Principles on my own, though. Deseret Book was kind enough to supply me with an extra copy of Elder Scott’s book, which I am excited to share with one of my readers. This giveaway will be open through the end of May 31 and you can enter by following the instructions below.

If you don’t want to wait, though, you can order it from Deseret Book by clicking here. It’s available in hardcover, ebook and hardcover/ebook combo editions.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Incorporating freeze-dried food into your emergency plan is a good idea, and though it might seem expensive at first, in the long run it could actually save you more money—because you’ll also have the peace of mind to go with it.

Why Freeze-Dried Food?

Many food storage companies studied preserving foods without lessening flavor. Freeze-dried food has longer life than any other food and can stay up to 30 years in storage. Freeze-drying is a process that involves decreasing the food’s water content to keep it from spoiling.

It is convenient since the process makes the food lighter and more compact, which means you can bring it with you anywhere. Its size saves more space in your storage room and even in your bag when you traveling. These kinds of food can be rehydrated by just pouring water—even a child could do this easily.

Is it safe for your children? Yes, since it is in a state where bacteria cannot live or grow. Also, the difference between freeze-dried food with other preserved items is the rapid freeze-drying with rehydration that maintains its texture, flavor, color, and its nutritional content, which make it delicious still.

Food Planning

Building up your food storage is something that is done over time, and can be accomplished by gradually adding freeze-dried items into your regular acquisition of food supplies. Say, I have a list of my monthly grocery items such as coffee, powdered juice, fruits, ingredients for desserts, bread, eggs, chicken, and cereals. Adding a few freeze-dried food items like breakfast bars, dried fruit, and almond coconut granola in the list will not affect much of my budget. I can store them in my cabinet until I have enough to last my family for a month.

Listing down the emergency food items, especially freeze-dried ones, also help me to stay away from junk food—instead of buying a bag of potato chips, I save up my money so I can buy some freeze-dried breakfast bars which are not only healthier but also more useful in times of emergency.

Other than the items on my list, there are a lot of freeze-dried choices in the market but since these have a higher price tag than other types of emergency food, you don’t have to buy them all at once. Freeze-dried items can be stored longer than usual; you can build up your stock as the weeks or months pass. You can also set aside some money from your monthly or weekly budget for freeze-dried items. With your accumulated savings you can buy a package that contains different kinds of freeze-dried food from selected stores.

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About the Author

Chett Wright is an avid fan of the outdoors, where he practices his survival skills and tries out different freeze-dried foods from Food Insurance.

References:

“Tips Healthy, Quick & Nutritious: Why Choose Freeze Dried Food Storage”

“Why Buy Freeze Dried Food?”

“Family Survival Planning”

“The Advantages of Freeze Dried Food Eleanor Jewell”

“The benefits of Freeze-drying”

Need a little lift this Mother’s Day? Want to give mom a great gift but you have no budget? LDS Living is offering this wonderful ebook full of the best articles on Motherhood from LDS Living.

And the best part?

It’s absolutely free until Mother’s Day.

With a great selection of articles ranging from humor to inspiration to pieces on some of motherhood’s contemporary issues, this book is a great way to show mom you care and how much you appreciate all she’s done for you.  And it will give her something to do while you are cooking her a lovely Mother’s Day dinner.

You can download this book by clicking here. If mom has a Kindle or  other e-reader, you can have it delivered right to her. If she’s like me and hasn’t been lucky enough to have her kids gift her with a Kindle (hint, hint), Deseret Book also has free e-reader apps for both Android and iPhone.

So now you have no excuse. I don’t want to hear from your mom telling me how you forgot her on Mother’s Day. This is way better than burnt breakfast. She’ll certainly enjoy it longer and there will be no mess for either of you to clean up.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get this for your mom now. Just click here. Yes, it really is that easy.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Eliza R. Snow is one of the most prominent women in LDS history. Most of us have grown up singing hymns penned by this talented poetess and hearing stories of her life and faith. But for all the stories I have heard, I did not feel that I really knew her until I read this beautiful book.

I love books about people. Biographies and autobiographies are my favorite genre. I love to know how people think, what motivates them and what their lives are or were like. I am inspired by reading about the lives of good people. Eliza definitely lands on my list of favorites.

In addition to the story of her amazing life, Eliza includes dozens of her poems, including many that have never before been published. Eliza R. Snow was a prolific poet, often choosing to express her feelings about important events both in her community and in the lives of her friends with poetry. She penned poems to celebrate historic events, honor births and deaths and even to express gratitude and appreciation for the kindness of friends.

I learned much about the depth and breadth of her accomplishments, of her tireless work in the building up of the kingdom of God and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even in her later years, when no one would have faulted her for taking on a more relaxed pace and enjoying a “retirement” of sorts, Eliza continued to press on, especially in supporting the Primary, the recently formed Young Women’s organization and the Relief Society. I can only aspire to have half the drive, energy and passion when I reach that stage of life.

In addition to being a well-written narrative of Eliza’s life and accomplishments, the book itself is a beautiful presentation. With thick glossy pages edged with a subtle antique lace pattern, the book is illustrated liberally with paintings and photographs of places and events significant to the life of Eliza R. Snow. In addition there are reproductions of newspapers and programs featuring her poems, and even pages from her journals, giving the book a personal and intimate feel.

Eliza—The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow will make an ideal addition to any library, and is a must-read for any woman who wants to be inspired by an amazing role model.

Eliza–The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow is available in both hardcover and ebook editions at Deseret Book.

I’m pleased to have been invited to contribute to this blog. I write doctrinal books on Gospel Doctrine topics, and will be sharing with you from time to time.

This week, I thought you might be interested to know the difference between sacrifice and consecration. They are related, but not the same.

In February 1831, soon after the Saints began to gather in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord revealed that they should begin to live the law of consecration. He said: “And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken” (D&C 42:30).

This is consistent with what the Lord has done in every dispensation where He has gathered together a group of chosen people. He immediately offers to them the opportunity to become a Zion people. He did this with Enoch’s people, and they accepted His offer and were translated. He did it again with Melchizedek’s people with the same result—they were translated. He tried it with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, but they rejected His offer and brought upon themselves the restrictive society of the Mosaic law. He tried it among the Nephites after His visit to them, and it worked for about 200 years (four generations), then fell apart. Now, here in February 1831, He will try it again with His Latter-day Saints.

Although they are often mentioned together, consecration and sacrifice are not the same thing. They are closely related and involve similar devotion, but they are fundamentally different in their nature and duration.

• To “consecrate” means to set apart or dedicate something to the service of the Lord. In doing so, I do not give anything up—I share what I have (and will continue to have) to the kingdom. For example, if I can play the piano and I agree to share that talent with my ward members by accepting a call from my bishop, I am consecrating that talent to the service of others. Thus, the law of consecration is an organized way in which individuals consecrate their time, talents, and possessions to the Church to build up the Lord’s kingdom and serve others.

• To “sacrifice” means to give something up or give it away as an act of service or devotion. Thus we sacrifice our tithes and offerings, we sacrifice (give away) our sins (Alma 22:18), and we sacrifice (give up) our will to God because we trust in His greater wisdom (Luke 22:42).

If we understand this distinction, then we will understand more fully what the law of consecration was like and how it was administered. People did not “give up” their possessions to some common central organization, as some have supposed. They maintained personal ownership of their stewardships. But they operated them under a covenant of responsibility to make the very best of them and to sacrifice their surplus for the benefit of those who had less. This is not so different from what we do today when we pay tithing and make offerings of various kinds to help others.

I have provided a more detailed description of this process in a handout that I share with my CES students. If you would like a free copy of this handout, you can visit my blog at Making Precious Things Plain.

May God bless you always as you seek to sacrifice and consecrate to help build up His kingdom on the earth. As we do this, we can become the Zion people that our Lord requires us to be before He can come again.

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Randal S. Chase grew up in Nephi, Utah, where his father was a dry land wheat farmer and businessman. In 1959 their family moved to Salt Lake City and settled in the Holladay area. Randal served a full-time mission in the Central British (England Central) Mission from 1968 to 1970. He returned home and married Deborah Johnsen in 1971. They are the parents of six children and the grandparents of 17 grandchildren.

Having a great desire to teach young people of college age, in the late 1980s he pursued his doctorate, which he received in Communication from the University of Utah in 1997. He has taught in higher education for 28 years, and is currently a tenured full-time faculty member at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah.

Concurrently with his academic career, Dr. Chase has served as a volunteer LDS Institute and Adult Education instructor in the Latter-day Saint CES system since 1994, both in Salt Lake City and St. George, where he currently teaches a weekly gospel Adult Education class. He has also conducted multiple Church history tours and seminars. Over the years, he has developed an extensive library of lesson materials. Randal has just finished writing a 12-book series of scripture study guides called Making Precious Things Plain for each of the standard works. You can learn more at Randal’s website, Making Precious Things Plain.

I find myself being negative this time of the year. The snow is still hanging around—black and dirty. The grass is dead and there’s a definite chill in the air.

What I need is a good shot of positive energy. I look around me again. This time I see crocuses and tulips beginning to push up through the rich brown earth. The sun is shining warmer and longer each day. Spring is coming. I change my attitude and appreciate the renewal of the earth.

I look for other thing to be thankful for, and I find myself humming a little tune. Gratitude can turn my negative mental state around faster than anything else.

When my outlook gets pessimistic, I check myself to see how I’m well I’m serving others. My little sweet neighbor down the street just turned 100. Her daughter invited everyone to a birthday bash in her home, but a week before the celebration my neighbor had to go to an assisted living facility. Her party was great, but she told me, “It wasn’t home.”

It was fun to see her family and friends. But now she will be lonely. I must visit more often—once a week to help keep her spirits up.

I am grateful this opportunity presented itself. Service helps me get outside my negative attitude. I do love to serve for selfish reasons—it makes me feel better.

So I’ve had my first shake-down to get rid of the winter doldrums. I’ll probably have to do it again before too long, but I have my plan:

1. Gratitude
2. Service
3. Introspection

I’m good to go—at least for now.

Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny. ~Mahatma Gandhi

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Christy loves writing for children. Pioneer history has always had a special place in her heart—particularly stories of the prophets. She has published articles in The Ensign, Friend and other children’s periodicals. She and her husband, Robert, have lived all over the United States, enjoying the company of Seminary and Institute youth for over 36 years. During their stay in Las Vegas, Christy received a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and established a counseling business. She and her husband live in Ogden, Utah.

Her books, Texting Through Time, A Trek With Brigham Young and Texting Through Time, John Taylor and the Mystery Puzzle are available in book stores now.

http://www.christymonson.com/index.html

http://www.textingthroughtime.com/index.html

http://christymonson.blogspot.com/

The best thing about The Continuous Conversion by Brad Wilcox is that it made me feel hopeful. As a recovering perfectionist, I am always battling the feeling that I will NEVER be good enough, that I can NEVER do enough and that I will NEVER get it quite right.

This book reminded me that it may be true, but that it’s ok, because what really matters is that I continue to try. It is filled with words of encouragement, with wonderful analogies and stories that teach important gospel principles in easy-to-understand language.

After reading this book, I came away with the comforting feeling that I really am good enough and I can keep improving forever.

He says, “Growth and development take time. Learning takes practice. Discipleship is a journey and true conversion is a continuous process.”

When I stop to examine my own live, I can see how this is true. Even in my own journey, I am farther ahead in some places than in others.

The other thing I really loved about this book (and now I need to go and get his previous book The Continuous Atonement) is that it was one of the clearest explanations of how to apply the atonement in my life and how it really could help me on a continuous basis. That’s something I have always struggled with, not because I didn’t believe it, but because I really didn’t understand how to use it in my life. I didn’t understand how striving to keep my covenants and how TRYING to improve is applying the atonement in my life.

As I read much of this I was reminded of a favorite quote: It matters not how many times we fall; what matters is only that we rise again one time more than we fall.

Too often we take the admonition “be ye therefore perfect” far too literally. When we make mistakes or fall short of our own standard, which is often impossibly high, we beat ourselves up or quit in discouragement.

The atonement gives us permission to stop doing that to ourselves.

As I have come to learn, the translation of that particular passage of scripture doesn’t really mean flawless or exact, but rather completed or finished, which isn’t going to happen until after this life.

When we combine our efforts with the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can eventually “be ye therefore perfect” because the atonement will make up the difference for us.

Instead of feeling discouraged or guilty because I need the Savior to make up the difference, because I need his atonement, I feel hopeful, I feel encouraged and I feel motivated to keep striving, to keep trying and to continuously work on my conversion.

As it says on the cover, God isn’t just proving us, he’s improving us. And after reading The Continuous Conversion, I feel like that’s really possible.

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I was not compensated in any way for this review. I did receive a copy of The Continuous Conversion from Deseret Book. You can order your copy here.

With sisters being allowed to serve two years earlier, there are now thousands of young women preparing to serve full-time missions.  In addition, lowering the age from 19 to 18 for young men to enter the mission field has also created an increase in new missionaries and added interest in preparation.

The other day I was talking with John Livingston, a Missionary Preparation professor at Brigham Young University. He told me BYU made extra room to for twice as many Mission Prep students as previously offered. Despite the huge expansion of Mission Prep courses, BYU still had to deny many students who wanted to add the class. The students they denied were just as many as those they had in Mission Prep classes before the age change announcement. In one of his classes Brother Livingston has about 100 female students and only about five male students.

With this influx of sisters preparing to serve LDS missions, my wife and I have felt inspired to create a new resource to help missionaries be better prepared.

The project we are working on is called Prepare to Serve.

Prepare to Serve offers two new resource.  One of the resources is access to hundreds of YouTube videos about each state and country’s history, food, language, attractions, cities, traditions, etc.  The other resource (perhaps of even more interest to you) is access to micro video interviews with returned missionaries and converts from each country and state.

So if you are called to serve a mission in Mexico for example, you can watch about 200 clean cultural videos about Mexico, or ask questions to three returned missionaries who served in Mexico or a to Mexican family of converts and view their immediate video answers here.

My wife and I have worked on Prepare to Serve for the past few months. About two weeks before the missionary age announcement, my wife and I felt impressed to make the website.  I quit my job, and despite going to school full-time I’ve tried to work on Prepare to Serve as much as I can.

Because we just started a few months ago, we don’t have videos up about every country and state yet.  So far we have about 5,000 YouTube travel videos you can browse, about 240 mission prep videos (on the main page) and about 20 interactive interviews you can browse featuring returned missionaries and convert families.

Within two years we hope to add over 20,000 indexed YouTube videos and several hundred video interviews with returned missionaries and converts.

If you are interested, we would love your help. One simple way to help is to subscribe to the Prepare to Serve YouTube channel  and to “like” interview clips we upload.

If you have any loved ones who receive a mission call, feel free to email me at AlexBalinski@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to put up videos about wherever your loved one is called to serve.

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*This article was written by Alex Balinski, author of Scripture News  and Prepare to Serve.

I like reference books. Yes, I was the weird kid who actually read the dictionary for fun. In second grade, I went through the school library’s entire collection of biographies.

So, when Deseret Book offered me the opportunity to review the new Doctrine and Covenants Reference Companion, I jumped at the chance.

And it is even cooler than I imagined.

While the hefty, 862-page encyclopedic work isn’t likely to take up residence in my scripture bag or be toted along to Sunday School this year, it will definitely improve my study of church history. The Doctrine and Covenants has long been my favorite book of scripture and I have always wanted to know more about much of what I’ve read, like the history and context of many of the revelations. This book promises to answer many of my questions.

Topics in the Reference Companion are arranged alphabetically. In addition to doctrinal topics, there are entries for every person mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, as well as for every place mentioned–biographies of important people in church history–yay! The articles are well-written and well-researched, with primary sources noted. The ones I read have an objective, scholarly feel, allowing readers to come to their own conclusions about historical events and settings. And that is as it should be, as contributions have been made by more than 100 LDS scholars, including such familiar names as Susan Easton Black, Brent L. Top and Robert L.Millet.

In addition to the clearly written articles laid out in a familiar two-column format (reminding me of the Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary), beautiful illustrations, photographs and graphics, many of which were new to me, enhance the entries.

The appendices are also helpful with definitions from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary to help explain words and phrases that are either no longer in common usage or that have definitions not quite the same today as they were then. For a logophile (word nerd, to the rest of you) like me, this is a totally cool feature. I will admit that I do stop and research words from time to time because I have thought they did not mean then what I think they mean now.

It also contains a list of every prophecy and promise given in the Doctrine and Covenants and a wonderful poetic version of Section 76 penned by Joseph Smith, Jr. I had not seen this before, and apparently it is something rarely seen in print by most of us, but it is a beautiful version of one of the most beloved sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Just browsing through this book and reading randomly has already made me more eager to sit down with it and my scriptures and really get to studying.

I think I’m going to be learning more about church history and the Doctrine and Covenants this year than I have since seminary.

And if you’re the electronic type, The Doctrine and Covenants Reference Companion is also available in an eBook version. This is definitely a book worth adding to your personal gospel study library.

Have you ever wondered if there is any benefit to using freeze-dried food in your emergency storage?

Well, the answer is yes! Here’s is a handy infographic that shows the benefits of freeze-dried food and why you should consider it.

Some of the benefits of freeze-dried food are:

Longer Shelf Life

Freeze dried food has a longer shelf life, so it is great for emergency reasons. It is easy to store at room temperature. There is no freezing or refrigeration needed.

Easier Preparation

You can easily rehydrate the freeze dried food by using hot water in 8 to 10 minutes.

Convenient Storage

After the drying process, about two percent of the water remains. This makes lightweight food that is compact and portable.

Nutritious

Freeze dried foods taste better then processed foods. The natural flavors, colors, and textures stay with the freezing process for up to 25 years.

Gourmet Quality

Meals are professionally made with gourmet skills. Therefore, they have a homemade taste to enjoy. 

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About our Guest Author

Agnes Jimenez is a professional blogger and writer. She writes for many online establishments and supports those ones that offer alternative lifestyles to consumers.  As a frugal living and self-sufficiency advocate, she recommends FoodInsurance.com for those budget conscious moms who want to get big savings in shopping for food storage.