Personal Revelation (Part 2)

And what does God want to reveal to us?

That you are a child of God, that He loves you and knows you by name.

• Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Enos, Joseph Smith, all addressed by name.
• "I am the Lord God Almighty ... and, behold, thou art my son..." (Moses 1:3-4)
• "Enoch, my son ..." (Moses 6:27)
• "Behold, thou art Hyrum, my son..." (D&C 11:23)
• "And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth." (1 Samuel 3:10)
• "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
• "Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands.. Unto [them] have I said that they should love one another and that they should choose me, their Father." (Moses 7:32-33)

God knows your name and mine and one of the ways you can know you are receiving personal revelation is when you feel His love and know that He knows you by name.

KT in Japan (?)

I installed gears on my PC so that it would automatically communicate my location to Google Latitude.

Today, when I logged on to Google Latitude, instead of San Mateo, my location was:



Nagoya, Aichi
Japan

(awesome!)

a day in the life

Personal Revelation (Part 1)

This weekend I taught a workshop on Personal Revelation in my stake Relief Society's Women's Conference. Since I am not an expert on personal revelation, I spent quite a bit of time studying to prepare. What follows are my notes:

1) What is Personal Revelation?
"Communication from God to the individual"

2) What is the purpose of Personal Revelation? Or, in other words, why should God communicate to the individual?
Personal revelation allows us to not be overcome and to not be deceived - it gives us light, truth, and unshakeable faith.

• All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith. - D&C 103:36
• Put your trust in that Spirit, which leadeth to do good -- yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously: and this is my spirit. ...I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind. Which shall fill your soul with joy; and then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive. - D&C 11:12-14

Rather than thinking of what you want God to reveal, consider what God wants to reveal to you.

• He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God. - D&C 46:30
• Desiring to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to posses a greater knowledge ... and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God. - Abraham 1:2
• Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands - Mosiah 23:10
• Why has your moral agency been given to you? Only to live a pleasurable life and to make choices to do the things you want to do? Or is there a more fundamental reason—to be able to make the choices that will lead you to fully implement your purpose for being here on earth and to establish priorities in your life that will assure the development and happiness the Lord wants you to receive. - Richard G. Scott
  
• Wherefore, enter ye in at the gate, as I have commanded, and seek not to counsel your God - D&C 22:4

3) And what does God want to reveal to us?
Stay tuned and I'll address each of these in separate posts.

KT loves the Temple

For those of you who don't know, I work / volunteer at my church's temple in Oakland on Wednesdays (4pm-10pm shift). You can learn more about why we build and worship at temples here (and why I love to work there!):

Starlight by Philip Levine

My father stands in the warm evening
on the porch of my first house.
I am four years old and growing tired.
I see his head among the stars,
the glow of his cigarette, redder
than the summer moon riding
low over the old neighborhood. We
are alone, and he asks me if I am happy.
"Are you happy?" I cannot answer
I do not really understand the word,
and the voice, my father's voice, is not
his voice, but somehow thick and choked,
a voice I have not heard before, but
heard often since. He bends and passes
a thumb beneath each of my eyes.
The cigarette is gone, but I can smell
the tiredness that hangs on his breath.
He has found nothing, and he smiles
and holds my head with both his hands.
Then he lifts me to his shoulder,
and now I too am there among the stars,
as tall as he. Are you happy? I say.
He nods in answer, Yes! oh yes! oh yes!
And in that new voice he says nothing,
holding my head tight against his head,
his eyes closed up against the starlight,
as though those tiny blinking eyes
of light might find a tall, gaunt child
holding his child against the promises
of autumn, until the boy slept
never to waken in that world again.

Isaiah 49:22

They shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

How to Love the Dead by Jack Gilbert

She lives, the bird says, and means nothing

silly. She is dead and available,

the fox says, knowing about the spirits.

Not the picture at the funeral,

not the object of grieving. She is dead

and you can have that, he says. If you can

love without politeness or delicacy,

the fox says, love her with your wolf heart.

As the dead are to be desired.

Not the way long marriages are,

nothing happening again and again.

Not in the woods or in the fields.

Not in the cities. The painful love of being

permanently unhoused. Not color, but the stain.