Be Still, My Soul

Through many experiences and trials, Jesus Christ has been the center of peace.  Missions can be extremely difficult and about 3 months before recording this song I had hit that low point on my mission where I felt depressed and constantly beat down by Satan as he tried to feed me lies of inadequacy and self-criticism.  I always have liked the song "Be Still, My Soul" but at that point more than ever, I clung to the words to help me get through:

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end. 

 -1st verse

This rendition of the song originally by Kari Jobe struck me.  It truly is in the Lord that we rest, find hope, trust, and know that He will never let us go.  Singing this song often and with a lot of prayer, I found myself stepping towards my Savior's light and away from darkness.  I again became filled with joy one step at a time.  It is true what President Uchtdorf stated, 

"Even after the darkest night, the Savior of the world will lead you to a gradual, sweet, and bright dawn that will assuredly rise within you."

I know that our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love us and knows us each individually.  They know our hearts and love us for who we are.  We each have a unique and divine plan to fulfill and as we follow the Savior, He will lead us on the path that will help us fulfill that plan and bring us describable joy and peace.  When trials come, we can have confidence that the Lord is there and we can say "Be still, my soul." 

-Sister Madison Killen


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He Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself

How could that be? How could anyone know us better than we know ourselves, inside and out?

God is our Heavenly Father. He is the father of our spirits and has known us since long before we were even born. Just like a perfect father would, He loves us unconditionally and wants us to learn, to grow, and to be able to have all that He has - that's why He has sent us here to Earth!

I did some experimental pieces about a year ago about our insides and outsides. At the very front of the pieces are what the world sees: the outside. The world sees only what our faces, clothes, words, or actions are able to get across, and are more often than not, misinterpreted. People of the world have such a limited knowledge, but our Father in Heaven is limitless in His knowledge, and is able to see past it all, for who we really are. Just like we are able to see past the facial expressions of these two photos, and into the beautiful painted colors that hide behind them, our Heavenly Father sees our true colors, and is always shaping us through our experiences, to become the absolute best that we can be. He knows each of our amazing potential. He gives us so many opportunities to learn and to grow stronger throughout our lives, and gives us so many opportunities to help others do so, as well. 

Two months into my mission, I've already been given strengthening opportunities of my own, and to help other people. With the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can do anything. What are some times that you have had the opportunity to go through learning or strengthening experiences, or helped someone else do so?

-Sister Flores

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This is an older gentleman's face :D 

Our bodies are gifts from God.

They are His greatest creation. 

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! 

Our Spirit, which was with Heavenly Father before we came to Earth, is housed in our body.

Because of this, we can have an experience on Earth that will allow us to grow and learn.  

We face challenges, feel happiness, experience trials and tragedy, and we receive many blessings while we are here.

Through all of it, we learn and grow.

Sometimes, one of the trials in this Mortal Journey IS our body. 

We grow OLD, we may get a disease, or cancer, or A MILLION OTHER THINGS. 

This is one of my best friends :)

We sing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs in the car and she takes -five seconds to rip off her socks and demand a pedicure. hahaha, I love her. 

She has Down Syndrome. 

I was taking a Tour once of a family. Their son also had Down Syndrome and he blurted out "I WANT A FAMILY!" Then, his mother said "I tell him that when Jesus Christ comes, he will have a family."

MY HEART. 

I know that all physical ailments will be made right in the end.

Allyson will receive every blessing Heavenly Father has to offer.

Jesus Christ WILL come and we will ALL, every last one, receive perfect, glorified bodies. 

They will be free of sickness, pain, and imperfections.

We will rise :)

I would love to answer questions that you have about what will happen to our bodies or anything else about what I believe! 

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HAVE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE!

•HOW•GREAT•THOU•ART•

Elder Trevor Larsen

The experience of arranging this song was nothing short of inspirational and symbolic with myself. I had been out on my mission for the Church about 9 months and had many difficult times. Trail after trail and temptation after temptation seemed to be crashing against me during this point in my life. I felt a lone, tired and homesick. There really wasn't much that I felt I could do but lean upon what I knew was true.

Prayer stretched in length as I pleaded with my God to help me. Among my frustration and criticism toward myself I finally received a ray of hope. A local Christmas festival was coming up on the calendar and they needed local musicians. Reflecting on my past with music and the gifts that my Heavenly Father had given me I set out to create something that would lift those around me and hopefully spread the spirit of Christ.

After borrowing a guitar from a local member and feeling swayed by an impression about the song I decided to create an arrangement of the famous church hymn "How Great Thou Art." I took time during lunches and after nightly planning to throw what I could together. The whole time I felt support and my talents being consecrated by the Lord.

Soon my two weeks of writing and practicing were up and I was to perform it for the local concert in Greece, NY. During my final practices the lyrics of the song began to pierce my soul.

"And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,

Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin."

 -3rd verse

All of a sudden all the trials and weakness that I had seen as so obvious in myself seemed to become minuscule when compared to all the Savior Jesus Christ did for me. He literally took away my sins and knew what I specifically was going through.

With renewed hope I performed the song at the festival and felt the grace of my Lord uplift me as I exercised my months out of practice vocal chords and aching fingers. Upon singing the the last verse I felt completely resolute, imagining myself standing before the Lord and proclaiming,"My God, how great thou art!"

- Elder Trevor Larsen-

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Other LDS Artist of the Week: James C. Christensen

This is a beautiful piece by my absolute favorite LDS artist, James C. Christensen, which depicts symbolically, how we are often blessed through our trials and weaknesses. The bench on which this tired man rests says "post nubila phoebus," for all of you scholars of the beautiful language of Latin. Translated into a more common language, it says "after clouds, sun." Christensen does a marvelous job of symbolically portraying this man's current situation with the checkered floors, representing the opposing forces of life, and a doorway to the unknown. This is a feeling I'd be willing to say we can all relate to at some point in our lives: everything is pointing us in completely different directions, and we have no idea what the future may hold. Indeed, it can cause us to want to stop moving forward and be weighed down by our troubles, which troubles are represented by the hump on his back. "...we all have them," says Christensen, "but there is a little light at the place where the angel spirit's finger touches the hump. I wanted to show how we grow from coping with adversity. Humbled by our weaknesses, we can be more open to things divine."

This truth is supported by the words of the Lord to the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In Ether 12:27, he says:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them."

This is so true. God allows for us to go through hardships and to have weaknesses so that we can grow, and so that we can strengthen our relationship with Him. He wants so badly, to help us through the trials of life, but he can't really do much until we come to Him and are receptive to His council and willing to follow it. 

He loves each and every one of you, that are reading this right now. He wants to help you through life, and help you find the greatest happiness - more than you ever knew was possible.

This is me, Sister Flores! I would absolutely LOVE to talk to you about Christ and His gospel, and answer any questions you may have. He has a plan for us, and loves us all infinitely.

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I'd love to hear about your thoughts and feelings!

Have a wonderful day!! :)

It was December 14th. The next day was the 15th, you following me? IT WAS ALSO THE DAY OF THE CHRISTMAS ART EXHIBIT IN BUFFALO! And considering I am the worst procrastinator on planet Earth, I hadn't done my pieces. Whoops. 

I was in my galaxy pant jammies, hovering over a blank piece of paper, and praying to God to help me finish this little picture of a Shepherd. I'm not the kind of artist who is all like symbolic and cool like that. I do it, then never talk about it again, and then I get a snack (preferably burritos). But Shepherds are quality people. They tend their flocks, they dress in nice attire, and on the first Christmas IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND they were on a hillside where an angel visited them and told them of their Savior :) 

The greatest shepherd of all is Jesus Christ. 

"The depth of His love, His willingness to give freely of Himself, His undeviating loyalty and devotion to the cause shared so completely with His father, and his constant attention to the needs of the one stand as hallmarks of the true Shepherd's calling."

He knows us by name and goes to ALL ENDS to find us when we are lost. 

"The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know. 

I feed in green pastures, safe folded I rest." HYMN#108

Brother Naughton, thanks for finally giving in to letting me put a sheet on your head and a lamp in your face while everyone laughed at you, I mean WITH YOU!!!! Anyways, you are a really great Shepherd over your family, and I love you guys to kibbles and bits. 

This is me, Sister Tran. I would love to answer any questions you have 

about Jesus Christ, or even have a friendly conversation about Him with you!

He IS my Shepherd. I love Him and know He loves you infinitely. 

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And have a beautiful, wonderful day :)