What is my Name?

 Today I crashed a temple sealing session thinking I had an appt today just to get home and find out my appt was for tomorrow.  :)  Thank goodness the temple worker did not have her clip board.  I was in with an extended family who had quite a few French names.  The poor sealer struggled with each and every one of them  and the patron just smoothly shared with the frustrated sealer the pronunciation of his ancestors names.  The beauty of their name just rolled off his tongue. Oh how I love the French language.

As I was sitting there I found myself thinking "I have a really common name but no one not even some of my friends know how to spell my name:  Lori, Lorrie, Laurie,  and Lory."  I then remember my family telling me that my mother wanted to call me Laura, so I spent half my life being called "Laura."  Mom thought that would be to confusing so she named me "Lorie."

I was talking to a couple friend's about it and they shared that they had the same problem,, " my name is Jeana but I  get called Jen, Jenny and Geena."  My other friends name is "Pris" and she gets called "Chris, Paris, Trish  and Pree along with Ruth and Bruce."           I have the misspelling conquered. :)

I am a nurse by trade and I have been called through the years, "Theresa, Linda, Kelly, Mary and my all time favorite Hey you!"

So, today as I was enjoying the Sprit in the Temple I had all the various spellings of my name and all the various names I have been called running through my mind when the Spirit whispered, "There is one that knows your name spelling and all."  I have known from a young age that I had a Father in Heaven that knows my name personally and loves me perfectly.  I  love that feeling that warms your heart during those special communications when you know with every fiber of your being it is true.  I'll continue to stumble along during this mortal journey and I will smile and joke with everyone I meet, "I don't even know my own name let alone how to spell it." :)

I wanted to close with a beautiful Michael McClean song called, "He Knows my Name."  But the lyrics aren't available and I have no idea now to share a you tube video here, so I shared it separately on my personal Facebook page.  I found this conference address by Sister Dalton and since I spent some quality time in the Sacred Grove last year (Which was totally amazing!!!)  I totally related to her words.  So I will close with her words and for those of us who share this common thread of not "knowing our names."  Remember Our Father in Heaven knows our names personally and He loves us perfectly.

He Knows You by Name

Elaine S. Dalton

Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

You may not have heard the Lord call you by name, but He knows each one of you and He knows your name.

It was on “the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty” when 14-year-old Joseph Smith went into the grove, knelt in prayer, and “saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above [him] in the air.” He said: “One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”¹ Can you imagine how 14-year-old Joseph must have felt to see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and to hear Heavenly Father call him by his name?

When I visited the Sacred Grove, I tried to imagine what it must have been like to have been Joseph Smith. In those quiet moments, the Spirit whispered to my beating heart that I was standing on holy ground and that all that the Prophet Joseph Smith had said was true. Then came the powerful realization that we are all the beneficiaries of his faith, courage, and steadfast desire to obey God. He had received an answer to his humble prayer. He had seen the Father and His Beloved Son. There in the Sacred Grove, I knew that Heavenly Father not only knew Joseph Smith by name, but He also knows each of us by name. And just as Joseph Smith had an important part to play in this great and marvelous work, we too have an important part to play in these latter days.

Did you know that Heavenly Father knows you personally—by name? The scriptures teach us that this is true. When Enos went into the woods to pray, he recorded, “There came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.”² Moses not only prayed but also talked to God face-to-face, and God said to Moses, “I have a work for thee, Moses, my son.”³ The Lord knew Jacob’s name and changed it to Israel to more accurately reflect his mission on the earth.⁴ Similarly, He changed the names of Paul and Abraham and Sarah. In Doctrine and Covenants, section 25, Emma Smith is given a blessing for her comfort and guidance in life. The Lord begins this blessing by saying, “Hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter.”⁵

You may not have heard the Lord call you by name, but He knows each one of you and He knows your name. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “I testify to you that God has known you individually … for a long, long time (see D&C 93:23). He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the stars (see Ps. 147:4; Isa. 40:26); He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys!”⁶

How can you know that your name and needs are known by our Heavenly Father? Elder Robert D. Hales counseled: “Turn to the scriptures. Kneel in prayer. Ask in faith. Listen to the Holy Ghost. … Live the gospel with patience and persistence.”⁷

That’s what Joseph did. His testimony helps all of us know that we are known and loved by our Heavenly Father. We are truly daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves us.⁸ Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has told us: “No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. … He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. … He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other.”⁹

Once Joseph Smith received this knowledge, his life didn’t get easier. In fact, he was faced with intense pressure from peers and adults. Joseph Smith’s history provides an important pattern for each of us. We can apply his teachings when we don’t know what to do, when we are faced with peer pressure, when we feel surrounded by temptation, or feel unworthy or alone. We can pray! We can call upon God in the name of His holy Son, Jesus Christ, and seek comfort, guidance, and direction. Have you ever had a problem and not known what to do? Joseph said: “My mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness. … I often said to myself: What is to be done?”¹⁰

How did he receive comfort and guidance? He studied the scriptures, pondered their promises, and then “came to the determination to ‘ask of God.’”¹¹ The answer he received that beautiful spring day changed his life and direction. He knew. He gained a testimony of God and Jesus Christ, and his testimony enabled him to live the gospel with patience and persistence. He was undeterred by peer pressure and persecution, for in his words he said, “I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”¹² He could stand firm because of his testimony. And so can you.

If you have ever felt the tug of peer pressure, pray, ask in faith, and listen to the Holy Ghost. Then live the gospel. Joseph keenly realized his imperfections and weaknesses. Again—he prayed. In response to this prayer, he was visited by the angel Moroni. Joseph recounted: “He called me by name” and said “that God had a work for me to do.”¹³

As we pray, the Lord will guide and prepare us to do our part. One summer, while touring Europe with the BYU International Folk Dancers, I learned an important lesson. I was sick and I became discouraged. I wanted to quit and go home. We were in Scotland to perform our show for the members, investigators, and missionaries. We went to the mission home for a prayer. As I entered, I glanced at a stone in the front garden. Chiseled in the stone were the words “What-e’er thou art act well thy part.” That message went like electricity to my heart. I felt that that stone was speaking to me. It changed me. I knew at that instant that I had a part to play not only on that dancing tour but throughout my life and that it was very important to “act well” my part.¹⁴

What does the Lord expect us to do? He expects us to play our part in the final scenes prior to His coming. He expects us to prove ourselves worthy to return and live with Him. He expects us to become like Him. Follow Joseph’s pattern. I love the words in the hymn the choir just sang: “But undaunted, still he trusted / In his Heav’nly Father’s care.”¹⁵ To be undaunted means unshaken in purpose, resolutely courageous. Joseph described himself as a “disturber” of the adversary’s kingdom. He said, “It seems as though the adversary was aware … that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom.”¹⁶ I have written in the margin of my scriptures, “Be a disturber!” Trust in your Heavenly Father’s care.

Each of us will play an important part if we follow the pattern established by Joseph Smith. The Lord strengthened Joseph Smith for his divine mission. He will strengthen you for yours. He may even send His holy angels to tutor you. Now the challenge is this: Will you be in such a place that angels can enter? Will you be still enough to hear? Will you be undaunted and trust?

We are living at a time when the fulness of the gospel has been restored to the earth through the Lord’s prophet, Joseph Smith. We are living in a time when we have the Book of Mormon to guide us. We are living in a time when we have a living prophet, the priesthood power on the earth, and the sealing power to bind families together for eternity in holy temples. Truly these are days “never to be forgotten”!¹⁷

It is my prayer that each one of us might be firm in our faith, that we might follow the pattern Joseph Smith established for us to gain a testimony. I also pray that each of us will worthily represent the Savior as we take upon ourselves His name. He has promised: “As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, … so shall your … name remain.”¹⁸

My testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has served as a guide and an anchor in my life. I am grateful to stand before you today and say with all the energy of my heart, “We thank thee, O God, for a prophet.”¹⁹ I am so grateful for the integrity of a 14-year-old young man who prayed for an answer to his questions and then remained true to the knowledge he received.

Each of you has a part to play in this great and marvelous work. The Savior will help you. He will lead you by the hand.²⁰ He knows you by name. I so testify, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

You are Never Alone

 

I have been asked to speak this Easter Sunday at our small branch with our Highs Counselman.  Weeks ago I ran across a conference address  given in April of 2009 by Elder Jeffery R Holland entitled:  "None Were With Him."  When I was asked to speak I knew I was going to use Elder Hollands Conference address as a reference.  This years conference he again gave a talk that totally touched me to the core of my soul and left tears in my eyes as I heard his anguished plea.

I have been listening to his address each and every day this past week along with a few others that touched my soul deeply.  His words so tie in with the words he gave in 2009.

I have recently joined a group "Letter Against Depression."  It is a place where you write letters and send encouraging notes and cards to strangers who are battling with depression.  As I have read their stories I am saddened by how many are in the dark room of depression that Elder Holland talked about this conference.  I have an artist friend who creates the most beautiful cards and I have asked her to create for me bright optimistic birthday cards and thinking of you cards which I in return send as "hugs" through this non profit who in return send them to those who most need a ray of sunshine in their day.  I have wrote a few letters to those who spoke to my soul encouraging them and letting them know they are not alone and that they are loved more than they know.  As I was reflecting on my talk these hopeless friends were first and foremost in my mind.  

In my talk I share an insight I had many years ago as my husband and I were sight seeing in Alaska.  We ran into a couple who were travelling and we hit it off, so we journeyed together for a day.  As we were parting I was heartbroken when this sweet sweet wife took my hand and said, "You can be in a roomful of people and still be alone."  My heart still aches as I think about her and wonder if she is still in that crowd and feeling alone.

Elder Holland made this comment in his 2009 address, "...to all such I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family.  I speak of our Savior's solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation.  Rightly He would say, 'I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me...I looked and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold me."

I have been in that dark place where there no was "none with me, none to help and none to uphold me."  During that time I had no relationship with my Heavenly Father and I was looking for "the arm of man to support me."   I found myself in the darkest pit with no way out.  I remember looking out my apt window and wanting to just put an end to it all but in that dark moment the Spirit whispered, 'Hold on, help will come soon."  I managed to find my way out of that dark pit but still had no relationship with my Heavenly Father when I was hit with the loss of out babies and then my brother ending his life.  Once again, there were none there to support, comfort of uphold me.  I went right over the edge.  But again the tender mercies of the Lord put me on a path who introduced to me a trusted friend and mentor who was there to uphold, support and most of all each and every one of my broken pieces.  He then in return re introduced me to my Heavenly Father and reminded me of His great love for me.  It took me years to place myself on what President Nelson calls the "Covenant path."  But my feet are firmly planted on that path and I learned that during all those dark moments when people let me down and were not there to support me I had never been truly alone because my Savior had been there by my side loving me and encouraging me to keep going.  All because He is truly walked the loneliest path.  

Elder Holland in his 2009 address shared the Savior's journey, "...He was betrayed by one of His own for thirty pieces of silver, He was condemned by the people, who wanted a "Godless, son of the father set free while a truly divine Son is His Heavenly Father moved on to be crucified."

His disciples let him down.  While He was in Gethsemane "Sorrowful onto death. With great drops of blood as he pled with the Father to let this cup pass..."  He went to his trusted disciples for support and found them sleeping.  I can only imagine His sorrowful plea as He asked, "Could you not watch with me one hour?"  He returned to the Garden and twice approached His sleeping disciples and on his third return He compassionately said, "sleep on now and take your rest."  And as Elder Holland noted, "There would be no rest for Him."  During HIs trial his Chief disciple denied knowing him three times.  His circle of support and friends became smaller and smaller.  Elder Holland then stated, "Peter stayed close enough to be recognized and confronted.  John stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus's mother.  Especially and always the women in the Savior's life stayed close to Him as they could.  But essentially his lonely journey back to HIs father continued without comfort or companionship."

As I have read the comments with these young and older people from all over the world, I am taken back to my dark days when I did not have a relationship with my Savior.  Many of them profess to be Christian and some are no faith.  My heartbreaks that they are feeling alone and forsaken.   I shared a copy of my talk with those who claim Christian and offered words of encouragement to the others.

Each week I try and send a envelope filled with hugs, another week birthday cards, and another week hand written letter.  I am hoping to share Elder Hollands talk from our most recent conference address with them.

Like Elder Holland I would like to close my words with the Prophet Joseph Smith's cry:  "Go forward [my beloved young friends]. Courage, … and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad.”

Below is Elder Hollands word's may it speak hope to those of you who are feeling lost and may you read his words from April 2009, "None were with Him."

You are never alone!!  The Lord has promised that He will never forsake us.

Fear Not: Believe Only!

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Begin your search for happiness by embracing the bounty we have already received from the giver of every good gift.

I direct my remarks today to the young people of the Church, meaning anyone President Russell M. Nelson’s age or younger. I seldom use visuals, but I can’t resist sharing this one.

This cri de coeur comes from my eight-year-old friend Marin Arnold, written when she was seven. I will translate for you her early reformed Egyptian:

Dear Bishop

generle confrins

was Boring why

Do we half to

Do it? tell me why

Sinserlie, Marin

Arnold.¹

Well, Marin, the talk I am about to give will undoubtedly disappoint you again. But when you write your bishop to complain, it is important that you tell him my name is “Kearon. Elder Patrick Kearon.”

For nearly two years a pandemic of biblical proportions has enveloped our planet, and while that plague brought a halt to almost everything socially, obviously it did not bring a halt to brutality, violence, and cruel aggression politically—nationally or internationally. As if that were not enough, we are still facing long-standing social and cultural challenges, ranging from economic deprivation to environmental desecration to racial inequity and more.

Such stiff winds and dark days can be discouraging to the youth among us, those to whom we look for optimism and enthusiasm regarding the tomorrows of our lives. It has been said that “the power of youth is the common wealth for the entire world. The … young … are the faces of our … future.”² Furthermore, our children are the trustees into whose hands the destiny of this Church will be placed.

Given our current times, it is understandable if the idealism of the young is waning a little. Dr. Laurie Santos, a professor at Yale University, recently created a class titled Psychology and the Good Life. “The first year the class was offered, nearly [one-quarter] of the [entire] undergraduate student body enrolled.”³ Over 64 million people then visited her podcast. Writing about this phenomenon, one journalist noted how painful it is to see so many bright, young students—and adults—desperately “looking for something they’ve lost” or, worse yet, longing for something they never had.⁴

My plea today to our youth, and to you parents and adults who advise them, is to begin your search for happiness by embracing the bounty we have already received from the giver of every good gift.⁵ At precisely the moment many in the world are asking deep questions of the soul, we ought to be answering with the “good news”⁶ of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which holds aloft the mission and message of the Savior of the world, offers the most eternally significant way to both find good and do good at such a needful time.

President Russell M. Nelson has said that this generation of young people has the capacity to have “more impact [for good] on the world than any previous generation.”⁷ We, of all people, should be “sing[ing] the song of redeeming love,”⁸ but that takes discipline—“discipleship,” if you will—the kind that guards against negative attitudes and destructive habits that would pull us off-key as we try to sing that song of eternal salvation.

Even as we stay “on the sunny side of the street,”⁹ we do run into that fellow from time to time who is determined to find something bleak and dismal about everything. You know his motto: “It is always darkest just before it goes pitch-black.” What a malignant vision, and what a miserable existence! Yes, we might sometimes want to run away from where we are, but we certainly should never run away from who we are—children of the living God who loves us, who is always ready to forgive us, and who will never, ever forsake us. You are His most precious possession. You are His child, to whom He has given prophets and promises, spiritual gifts and revelations, miracles and messages, and angels on both sides of the veil.¹⁰

He has also given you a church that strengthens families for mortality and binds them together for eternity. It provides more than 31,000 wards and branches where people gather and sing and fast and pray for each other and give of their means to the poor. This is where every person is named, accounted for, and ministered to and where lay friends and neighbors voluntarily serve each other in callings that range from clerical work to custodial duty. Young adults—and senior couples as well—serve missions by the thousands at their own expense with no say whatsoever as to where they will labor, and members young and old trundle off to temples to perform sacred ordinances necessary to bind the human family together—a bold activity in such a divided world but one which declares that such divisiveness is only temporary. These are a few of the reasons we give for “the hope that is in [us].”¹¹

Of course, in our present day, tremendously difficult issues face any disciple of Jesus Christ. The leaders of this Church are giving their lives to seeking the Lord’s guidance in the resolution of these challenges. If some are not resolved to the satisfaction of everyone, perhaps they constitute part of the cross Jesus said we would have to take up in order to follow Him.¹² It is precisely because there would be dark days and difficult issues that God promised He would, out of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guide prophets, give an iron rod, open a narrow gate leading to a strait path, and above all grant us the power to finish the course.¹³

So please, please, stay for the whole feast even if you are not sure about the broccoli. Bask in His light and lend your candle to the cause.¹⁴ They have it right in Primary: Jesus really does “[want you] for a sunbeam.”¹⁵

When the Jewish leader Jairus pled for Jesus to heal his 12-year-old daughter, who lay dying at home, the surrounding crowd waylaid the Savior so long that a servant soon came saying to this anxious father, “Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.”

“But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”¹⁶

And she was. And so will you. “Fear not: believe only.”

Because each of you in this audience is precious to God and to this Church, I close with this special apostolic declaration. Before you ever received the gift of the Holy Ghost, you had the Light of Christ planted in your soul,¹⁷ that “light which is in all things, … giveth life to all things,”¹⁸ and is the influence for good in the hearts of all people who have ever lived or ever will live. That light was given to protect you and teach you. One of its central messages is that life is the most precious of all gifts, a gift which is obtained eternally only through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Light and Life of the World,¹⁹ the Only Begotten Son of God came to give us life by conquering death.

We must commit ourselves fully to that gift of life and run to the aid of those who are at risk of giving up this sacred gift. Leaders, advisers, friends, family—watch for signs of depression, despair, or anything hinting of self-harm. Offer your help. Listen. Make some kind of intervention as appropriate.

To any of our youth out there who are struggling, whatever your concerns or difficulties, death by suicide is manifestly not the answer. It will not relieve the pain you are feeling or that you think you are causing. In a world that so desperately needs all the light it can get, please do not minimize the eternal light God put in your soul before this world was. Talk to someone. Ask for help. Do not destroy a life that Christ gave His life to preserve. You can bear the struggles of this mortal life because we will help you bear them. You are stronger than you think. Help is available, from others and especially from God. You are loved and valued and needed. We need you! “Fear not: believe only.”

Someone who faced circumstances far more desperate than you and I ever will once cried: “Go forward [my beloved young friends]. Courage, … and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad.”²⁰ We have so much to be glad about. We have each other, and we have Him. Don’t deny us the chance to have you, I plead, in the sacred and holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Master, amen.