Bright Future

I recently re-read the book "Visions of Glory". It is about a man who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had several near-death experiences and God gave him permission to share them with others, so he did. He doesn't reveal his name, though. He told his story to John Pontius who wrote the book. I can't retell here all of the marvelous things this man experienced, but he was able to see the Lord and learn many things from Him. He was allowed to see his life in the future - what things are going to be like in the Last Days and into the Millennium.  Such amazing things he experienced and shared with his readers.

One night, after reading the book, I was praying to my Heavenly Father. I don't remember exactly what I said to him, but it had to do with my desire to live during the time when the marvelous events mentioned in the book will take place and I want to help establish Zion whether its in Utah, Missouri, Canada, or anywhere else I may be assigned to serve if I'm still alive when that takes place. It is my opinion that we are within 10-15 years of these things happening - the time that will be a great & dreadful day of the Lord. It will be great for the righteous and dreadful for the wicked.

After asking whether I will be alive at that time and able to help build Zion, the Lord spoke to my spirit and said "I can't tell you whether you will be in the city of Zion or not, but no matter what happens, you will be filled with joy. You will be surprised at what lies ahead for you." Wow! What a statement. I immediately wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it.

As the world progressively gets more wicked with corrupt governments around the globe and wars taking place, I believe that life can still be good. I believe that righteousness and a return to Jesus Christ is taking place right now. People are waking up to what the powerful, wicked, and conspiring men are trying to do to humanity. They want to rule the world and there is an evil plan to reduce the population of the world through pandemics, wars, and other means. They won't win. Jesus Christ will be the winner. It has been foretold and promised. This is one of my favorite quotes from Jeffrey R. Holland:

The team I have always been on and plan to remain on is the Lord's team. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15) With all of the wickedness in the world today, we need the Holy Ghost to be with us now more than ever. 

So many wonderful things lie ahead for the righteous of the world. President Russell M. Nelson said this:

Those are the type of things I read about in "Visions of Glory." Miraculous things are on the horizon for those living on the earth today. President Nelson said this:

I'm getting pretty old (71 at this writing), so I don't know whether I will be around to see the coming of the Lord, but I think it might be possible. I don't know what the future holds for me or my family members, but I certainly hope that every member of my family will remember the covenants they have made with the Lord and return to Him with a desire to serve Him and become the person He knows they can be. Repentance is real. Staying on the covenant path is real. God is real. A future kingdom of glory is a real possibility. Pick your jersey. I pick God's Team!

Joyful Day

 I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm trying to recognize the joy I have in my life. I didn't have any trouble finding the joy in my life yesterday. Alan and I decided to drive to downtown Salt Lake City to go to the Church History Museum. We had been there years before, but everything has changed. It's even in a new building so nothing was the same. As we neared the end of the first floor, there was a display that showed a video of the time just after Joseph Smith was martyred and the leadership of the church didn't know who should be the one to replace Joseph. Alan and I went to a movie last week about that very topic. It is called "Six Days In August". Anyway, Sidney Rigdon, who was the last standing member of the First Presidency felt like he should be the prophet. He even said he received a vision about it. A meeting was called so he could talk to the saints. However, Brigham Young interrupted the meeting and began to speak. As he was speaking, a likeness of Joseph Smith came over him and some heard the voice of Joseph Smith coming through Brigham's mouth.

During the video mentioned above, there were actors portraying members of the church who were in the congregation who testified of that event. They testified that because of what they saw and heard when Brigham Young was speaking, they knew that he was supposed to be the new prophet. Among those who testified was my Great-Grandfather Robert Taylor Burton. Until I saw this video, I didn't know that he was there in attendance and witnessed it himself. That knowledge brought me a lot of joy.

This is a picture of my great-grandfather at the display. It's not very good quality, but was the best I could do. The actor from the video is in the background and R. T. Burton is pictured in the lower left corner.

After leaving the Church History Museum, we wanted to go see the State Capitol Building. We were unable to find parking within a good walking distance for me so we went to the Pioneer Museum not far from there. We had never been there before. There were so many displays and artifacts from when the saints settled Salt Lake City.

As I was browsing a display of bed spreads, I saw one that had belonged to my Great-Grandmother Sarah Anna Garr Burton, one of the four wives of Robert Taylor Burton. It was made by her mother and given to her as a gift. It is the black and white one on the top left.

Seeing that bedspread brought me a great deal of joy and brought the life of an ancestor I have never met to light. I hope to meet her one day.

Alan and I then left the main floor display and went downstairs. Eureka! I found my great-grandfather Robert Taylor Burton again. He was spotlighted in a display about the Nauvoo Legion. The sign begins with the words "Robert T. Burton was a major figure in the Nauvoo Legion during its reconstitution in Utah, including the Utah War (1857-1858) which was a confrontation between Utah settlers and the forces of the United States government (Johnston's Army)."

There was a picture of him in his uniform and his actual sword and uniform were inside the display case. This uniform is not his, but is in the next picture.

The glare from the glass made it difficult to get a good picture of the uniform.

 

In a different display case, I saw his military issued scriptures.

I didn't see any artifacts from any of my other pioneer ancestors, although there might be some there since all 16 of my great-grandparents were early members of the church.

I love my pioneer heritage. It is because of them joining the church that I was able to be born in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a great blessing that has been in my life. It has filled my life with joy for the past 71 years.

My New Crown

 A couple of weeks ago while chewing on a piece of salt water taffy, the crown on my lower left tooth came off. This crown was very old so it's probably a good thing that it came off. Although inconvenient to go to the dentist to get a new crown, I did it. I called and they got me in that very day to begin the process of procuring a new crown. The prep was made and a temporary crown was placed on my tooth. I was told that my new crown would arrive in two weeks so I scheduled an appointment on a Monday to seat the crown.

On the Thursday before my Monday appointment, my temporary crown came off while I was at Costco. Yes, I was told not to eat anything chewy or sticky, including gum, but I had stuck a piece of gum in my mouth without really thinking about it before going into the store. Oops! I called the dental office after returning home, and again they were able to see me that very afternoon.

When I got to the dental office to get my temporary crown glued back into place, I was told that my permanent crown had been delivered so they were just going to seat that crown instead. I was very happy about that. I didn't like the temporary crown much.

The new crown went in beautifully. Dr. Kersjes did a great job, and I like the looks and feel of it.

As I was thinking about this crown, my thoughts turned to the crown of glory that everyone has a potential of receiving from our Heavenly Father one day. No, it won't be a crown like the royals wear.

 A crown of glory is for those who live the gospel and follow Christ - he who wore a crown of thorns because his accusers wanted to mock him as the King of Kings.

James E. Faust said: By removing the slivers of sin and the thorns of worldly temptation in our lives and by denying ourselves and taking up our own cross to follow the Savior, we can change a crown of thorns to a crown of glory.

By accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, by doing good works, by obeying the principles of the gospel, by keeping the commandments, by enduring to the end, and by making and keeping sacred covenants with the Lord, one can qualify to receive a crown of glory - or eternal life with our Heavenly Father. 

It can only be through the grace of God that anyone can receive a crown of glory because all of us fall short. We live in a fallen world so temptations are great and we all make poor choices. Because of the atonement, we can be forgiven of all of our sins and shortcomings. Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins. We must willingly let the atonement work in our lives in order to become clean and receive that crown one day in the far distance.

What's In A Name?

 After Alan and I got married and started having children, we discovered that it's not easy to find names for our babies that we both loved. For our first four children, we didn't even know what the sex would be so we had to choose a name for each sex just in case.

 Many people give their children names of ancestors, but I guess we didn't think of that - I just don't recall what our thinking process was back then. When Ryan was on the way, we decided that we would give each of our sons a middle name of a righteous man in the scriptures. We thought that this might incentivize them to be an upstanding individual like these scripture heroes were.

We liked the name of Ryan, so we knew what the first name would be...but what should the middle name be? We felt that Matthew went well with it so we named him Ryan Matthew Stott. Matthew was one of the twelve apostles that Christ chose to serve with him when He first started his ministry, so we felt comfortable giving Ryan that middle name.

When Eric was born, we decided to go with Michael as a middle name for him. In the scriptures, Michael helped Jehovah create the earth whereon the spirit sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father would dwell. Michael was the first of God's sons to be placed on the earth and he was known as Adam while living here. I guess we could have given Eric the middle name of Adam, but we went with Michael. Those two names, Eric & Michael, just felt right together.

Jared, our third son, has the middle name of Benjamin. It just seemed to go well with his first name. Benjamin was the name of a King in the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. He was a very righteous King who served and taught his people in righteousness. Jared and Catherine are expecting a boy and are considering naming him Benjamin. That makes me happy. Jared's first name is also a name found in the Book of Mormon. He and his family came to the Promised Land (America) long before Lehi's family did. He was another righteous man that I'm happy Jared could be named after. 

Cheryl, our only daughter, doesn't have a middle name. We didn't give her a middle name because I didn't have one either. I wish I could turn back the clock, however, and give her the middle name of Lois, which is my mother's name and it is also a woman's name from the scriptures. She is mentioned in the book of Timothy. Evidently, she is a righteous woman, Timothy's grandmother, who converted to Christ's church. Oh how I wish Cheryl bore that name!

Our last son, Kyle, has the middle name of Andrew. Andrew is the name of another of Christ's original twelve apostles. He is the brother of Simon Peter. He is the first apostle that Jesus called and the first apostle who claimed that Jesus was the Christ. 

There are many people in the scriptures that I look up to - male and female. There are many other names we could have chosen for our kids, but these names seem to fit them perfectly and they seem happy with their names.

I'm not entirely sure that our sons remember that their middle names were chosen from righteous men in the scriptures. I hope they remember that. I may have to remind them of that some day.