I am with thee

Fear thou not;
for I am with thee:
be not dismayed;
for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness.
 - Isaiah 41:10

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He Shall Gather the Lambs

There is always hope in Jesus.  He will find and gather us and those we love.

"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."
Isaiah 40:11

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The Desert Shall Rejoice

Jesus is the great hope of Isaiah.  The Lord gathers and restores.  I love the imagery of Isaiah 35:1, that a desert will rejoice and blossom.  Yes, this prophecy may be fulfilled in the Saints' populating the Intermountain West, but I have also seen it fulfilled in the desert of my heart and the hearts of so many others who now rejoice and blossom because of Jesus Christ.

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose."
Isaiah 35:1

Image: Adapted from https://www.templesquare.org/eng/buildings/salt-lake-temple

Therefore Will the Lord Wait

"And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him."

Isaiah 30:18

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The Potter’s Clay

We are so often like little children who have no idea how much their parents do for them, but complain about the smallest things like having to take a bath, eat their dinner, do their chores, share with a sibling, etc.  May we strive to remember that we are the potter's clay, and not the Potter.

"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"
Isaiah 29:16

But I love the hope in this promise...

"But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.  They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."
Isaiah 29:23-24

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A Sure Foundation

Jesus Christ is our foundation, a sure foundation that will not fail us.  If we build on anything else, it will crumble.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."
Isaiah 28:16

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He will swallow up death in victory

As I get older and face more physical challenges as well as lose family and friends whose mortal journeys have ended, I take great comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ has overcome death.

"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces"
 - Isaiah 25:8

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The Lord shall give thee rest

Rest in Jesus will come.

"The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve"
Isaiah 14:13

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For unto us a child is born

For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.
 - Isaiah 9:6

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Thine iniquity is taken away

 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

 - Isaiah 6

Hank Smith shared that these verses remind us of the sacrament.  We are unclean, but as we covenant with the Lord by taking the sacrament, the bread taken from the sacrament table and placed in our mouths, Jesus can purify us.  And the smoke mentioned in verse 4 represents the Lord's presence, which we can feel in our sacrament meetings.

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And he will lift up an ensign

It's interesting to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading through the earth, and how the Lord is accomplishing this through many means including the coming Salt Lake Temple celebration.

"And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly"
 - Isaiah 5:26

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Image: Enhanced version of a photo I took

The Mountain of the Lord’s House

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."
 - Isaiah 2:2

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Image: Enhanced version of a photo I took of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

"Thou knowest not the works of God"

"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all."

 - Ecclesiastes 11:5

One of the greatest lessons I've learned in my life is that my knowledge compared to God's like that of a toddler's compared to his parents.  That comparison has helped me to trust God, even when I don't understand a commandment or why things are happening to me.  He knows.  He has the infinite knowledge and wisdom and love of a perfect parent.

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Image: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/youth/childrenandyouth/parenting/giving-kids-a-growth-mindset?lang=eng

A Sense of Eternity

"It is beautiful how God has done everything at the right time. He has put a sense of eternity in people's minds. Yet, mortals still can't grasp what God is doing from the beginning to the end [of time]."

- Ecclesiastes 3:11 (GOD'S WORD® Translation)

When I see the works of Creation, I am reminded of a Heavenly Father who sees all eternity before Him and uses that knowledge to bless me. I trust Him.

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Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

"History merely repeats itself"

The thing that hath been, 
it is that which shall be; 
and that which is done 
is that which shall be done: 
and there is no new thing under the sun.
 - Ecclesiastes 1:9

I love this verse.

The New Living Translation says it this way:  "History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new."

As I pondered this, a couple of thoughts came to mind:

1. This is why we are encouraged in the Book of Mormon to remember the captivity of our fathers.  Just as our fathers needed Jesus Christ to deliver them, so do we today find ourselves in spiritual and sometimes physical bondage, but Jesus can deliver us too.

2. We can look back to our pre-earth life for insight and wisdom that guides us today.  What we experience here is a pattern of what was experienced before.  We see that our great heavenly family is a pattern of our families on earth.  There is always a fight between good and evil.  We can always count on the Savior to be true to His promises, and we can also assume that Satan will promise the world and then break those promises once we are captive to him.

And in the U.S., it seems appropriate that I read these verses today, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

#comefollowme #911Remembrance

Avoid anger

The anonymity of social media invites anger, outrage, judgment, and unkindness.  Beware these.  They are tools of the Adversary.

"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul."
 - Proverbs 22:24-25

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Pleasant Words

 If I have learned anything in life, it's that treating others with kindness improves my own attitude and raises everyone.

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."
 - Proverbs 16:24

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