Mormon Musings

"As I have contemplated the foundation laid by the early Saints, I have reviewed with reverence the sacrifice and devotion which they showed for the cause of truth. The pillars of their faith are still resident with us as a people today. We, like the early Saints, believe and testify, as the first pillar of our faith, that the Prophet Joseph Smith did indeed see the Father and the Son in the grove of trees in the spring of 1820. Said he, 'I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me' (JS—H 1:25). To those who questioned his experience, Joseph wrote, 'Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and . . . why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it' (ibid.)." Howard W. Hunter ,  "The Pillars of Our Faith," Ensign, Sept. 1994, 54

"The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing. If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? The same is true with the second coming and with all those matters wherein our faith needs to include faith in the Lord’s timing for us personally, not just in His overall plans and purposes."  Neal A. Maxwell , “Even As I Am” (1982), 93

yet another masterful discourse by President Uchtdorf: http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/waiting-on-the-road-to-damascus?lang=eng

"That prayer of consecration [dedicating the Salt Lake Temple] is filled with thanksgiving for the blessings of the Lord upon His people. The occasion was the greatest and most significant event in the history of the Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley. "It is a thing of note that Wilford Woodruff had been the one to drive the stake marking the site of the temple four days after the 1847 arrival of the pioneers. On that occasion President Brigham Young had declared, 'Here we will build a temple to our God.' "Brother Woodruff saw with his own eyes the forty-year pageant of the construction of this magnificent house of the Lord. At the time of the temple dedication he was eighty-six years of age. He had been sustained President of the Church four years earlier. He had known all of the latter-day temples that had been built before this—Kirtland, Nauvoo, St. George, Logan, and Manti. He had presided in the St. George Temple from the time of its dedication in

When we do not do what is right or when our outlook is dominated by skepticism, cynicism, criticism, and irreverence toward others and their beliefs, the Spirit cannot be with us. We then act in a way that the prophets describe as the natural man. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2:14)." This "natural man is an enemy to God, . . . and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, . . . and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, [and] full of love’ (Mosiah 3:19).” Robert D. Hales ,  “Seeking to Know God, Our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 31

Those that have the Gospel, who enjoy the Spirit of their religion, lie down in peace, and wake up full of rejoicing, full of peace, of glory, of faith and thanksgiving; this is the case with all who are full of good works. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 4:52

It has always been the case that the Lord has raised up men as His prophets who have just the cluster of talents needed for a particular time.  It is no different in the culminating days of the dispensation of the fullness of time.  The Lord measured and ordained these men before they came here.  Knowing perfectly the conditions that would obtain, He has sent, and will send, men to match the mountains of challenges that are just ahead of us. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, " All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience " p. 122