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[00:00:00] What makes your heart sing? Is it a song? Is it the way that you're treated? Or how about when you're serving others, maybe the Lord? This week's study of Doctrine and Covenants, sections 23 through 26 are filled with moments that made hearts sing. And one specific section actually encourages us to sing a song of the heart.
And we may have created the best song of the heart playlist of all time. We can't wait to show you what it is. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the come follow me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together.
I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. If you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come follow me study just like long time listening friend. Lorianne from Price, Utah. Okay. Now, another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends.
So it's always a little bit different each week, but this week, Oh, have we got a powerhouse? I have three friends, these women. Oh boy. Here they are. Diane Gerdy. I'm in Kristen Gerdy, Kyle and Cheryl Gerdy. Maybe you noticed a connection. Hi ladies. Oh, how do you three know each other? Well, you probably figured it out.
We're sisters. There you go. We have similar voices as well. Oh, yeah. We do. Okay. This is going to be such a fun discussion. So as a reminder, if you guys say, Oh, I've heard that voice before and I know that name, Diane Gerdy Iman. A good friend of mine. We've been friends for over 20 years. We taught seminary together back in the day when we were single.
And here we are. And then she, I'm going to share this later about how her sisters are here. But really quickly, ladies, just give us a quick brief bio about you. What do you want people to know? We'll start with Diane. All right. As Tammy said, we have been friends for ever. I was a seminary teacher. Then I I stayed home with our kids, we have three awesome kids, and they are amazing, and I have an incredible husband, and, um, I live in Utah.
And she loves a raspberry dream. Ugh. Seriously. It's heaven. Christmas in a cup. Christmas in a cup. Ah, so fun. Okay, uh, wait, I want to know, we should have gone by age though. What's the age? Who's oldest, youngest? You guessed, Tammy. No, don't tell her, Cheryl. Tammy, who do you think? I don't, don't, don't make me do that because you all look the same.
You guess. All look young. Okay, I'm just going to guess Kristen because she's got more kids. Okay. Uh, I would say Kristen, Kristen, Cheryl, and then Diane. And now we got it. I think I knew Diane was the baby, actually. Maybe, I think I already knew that. Same baby. Yeah. Oh, I cheated. Okay, well, then we're just gonna jump to the oldest.
Kristen! Okay. Tell us about you. Um, yeah, I'm the oldest. I do have the most kids, but They are all my bonus children. Um, I am a bonus mom and, uh, I have seven bonus kids. Now I leave six grandchildren, um, but I've only been married for Just under seven years. So I became a wife, a mother, and a grandmother all on the same day.
Holy cow. Tip of the hat. So there we go. Um, I live with my husband and our 14 year old son who is with us half of the time in St. George. And I teach at BYU law school, but I've also have the privilege of teaching religion at BYU. Um, Off and on for about 17 years, which I have absolutely loved. And these two women, besides my, my husband and my kids, these two women are my best friends in the entire world.
And you did hear that right. She lives in St. George, and she commutes to BYU. That's about a four hour drive. On Mondays, she commutes Sunday night, teaches Monday through Thursday or Friday, and then goes back to St. George. And while she's up during the week teaching, she lives with her sister Cheryl. Hi, Cheryl.
Hey there, how are you? Tell us about you. So I'm Cheryl. I'm the middle sister. I am still single, which is okay because I've got my nieces and nephews that I love so much and get to spend a lot of time with. And Diane has let us borrow her kids from the time that they were little. So I kind of count them as mine too.
But then I also have a fur baby at home to a little dog that I love. And that's it. Adore. Um, I'm a nurse. I've worked as a nurse for almost 29 years. So a really long time and love it and love serving in the church and, um, have been in my same stake for like 25 [00:05:00] years. So have had a lot of opportunities to serve and develop a close ward family as well.
So she commutes to primaries. Oh, well, that's a nice hour commute. Right from Orem. Yeah. So both of my sisters have commutes. There you go. Nice. Well, I think we can all agree this is going to be a Gerdy powerhouse. I am so looking forward to our discussion. These women have come prepared and I've prepared them with questions and they're going to help me teach and I just, I can't even wait to tell you why they're here.
We're going to find that out in segment two, which is going to be so fun, but if you want to read more about my guests and see their pictures and their bios, you can find those in our show notes, which are going to be found at ldsliving. com slash Sunday on Monday. So grab your scriptures and something to mark them with, and we're going to dig into Doctrine and Covenants sections 23 through 26.
Okay, you three, tell me, what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you studied these chapters? Well, one of the things that really stuck out to me and one of my favorite verses. This is section 24, verse 8. And in that section, the Lord is speaking to the prophet Joseph, and he says, Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many, but endure them, for lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.
I love that. Tell me why. Well, the Lord is telling us to endure our trials with patience. He's telling us that hard times are going to come, but we're never alone. It reminds me of something that Elder Marion D. Hanks once said when he said, God doesn't deny us the experience we came here to have. He doesn't insulate us from tribulation or guarantee immunity from trouble.
And here, that's what the Lord is telling Joseph. He says, be patient. You're going to have these issues. You're going to have these afflictions, but endure them because I'm going to be with thee. I will never leave thee. I will be with thee all the way to the end. And, and he makes that same promise to us.
In section one, he says, my word to one is my word to all. Um, and that's absolutely true here when he talks to us about our, our tribulations and his, Transcribed Consistency in enduring with us. Through that, if we're patient, Kristen, I'm so glad you picked that verse. I mean, just, I would love to be, be able to see this right now because I would say to everyone listening, raise of hands if your afflictions are many, right?
I mean, that verse is so perfect for everyone. In fact, I just recently read a talk by our prophet that he gave in 2022 and he said to the audience in conference that it might be so hard for many of you right now that you just want to put on your pajamas and curl up in a ball. I loved it when he said that because I'm like, Oh, afflictions are many.
So Kristen, thanks for pointing that out. That is a great verse. And I was thinking, um, with that, how I think that I would be, if I were Joseph, I would think, are you kidding? More afflictions? This has already been pretty terrible. Oh yeah. There's going to be even more. And so I love that the Lord says, you know, there are going to be more.
And, just be patient, I'm, I'm gonna be with you. And I, I just, I love the Scriptures. I was talking to a friend yesterday. We were driving down to a meeting at BYU, and she was telling me about how one of her neighbors used to be really active in the church, and then she stopped going to church because of some anti things that she learned about Joseph Smith.
And I said, you know, I, my testimony is strengthened because of Joseph Smith and because of what I have studied in the scriptures. I look at his example, and I look to him, um, and how he was able to deal with his trials. And I've really been able to look at how he was able to, to rely on the Lord. And I'm just so grateful for the Scriptures, because I'm able to put myself then in In the scriptures and say, okay, Diane, be patient in afflictions because you're going to have a lot.
And I have had a lot. And you know what? I'm going to have even more. And the Lord is going to continue to be with me even unto the end of my days. And I think that is the most beautiful promise from our Heavenly Father. JG Was that your verse too that you chose? JG Yeah. Oh, thank you so much for sharing that.
Let's hear from you, Cheryl. CBT So [00:10:00] I chose a different verse, but I think it ties in with what both of my sisters had shared about Heavenly Father helping people through afflictions and other times. But one of the scriptures that I love is in Section 25, Verse 3. 13, which says, Lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.
And recently this year, especially in our stake, we've been talking a lot about covenants and cleaving to our covenants. Um, President Nelson has talked about that so much in the recent conference addresses. And one of the things that I thought is, as we cleave unto our covenants, it binds us closer to the Savior.
Yeah. And as we are bound to him, we have his power and his help and his love in our lives. And that it's from those covenants and cleaving to them that he can be there to help us through those afflictions because it helps us keep things in perspective, but also gives us the Holy Ghost, which gives us the power to be able to lift up our hearts and rejoice regardless of how hard things might be.
Wow. That was beautifully said, Cheryl. I really appreciate that. What a great, uh, great focus for your stake too. And, and I like how you said it connects us to Christ. So, oh my gosh, that's just one segment and already you have chosen such great verses of scripture. So thank you for coming prepared and for sharing those verses with us.
So what we're going to do is in the next segment, then we are going to dive into these verses and I'm going to tell you why these three women are here and what it has to do with scripture. We'll do that next.
Segment 2
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Here is how my guests for this episode came to be. And you guys don't even know this story. The sisters don't. So way back last year in September when Diane recorded with me for episode 42, right after we were done recording, she sent me a text that like right after that. And here's what her text message said.
And I'm going to read it because it's so beautiful and you sisters don't even know that she sent this to me. Here's what she said in her text. This is super random, but for some reason I feel as though I should text you. I don't know if you know my sisters or not, but my oldest sister teaches at BYU Law School and taught religion classes for years, was on the Women's Conference Committee for years, and my other sister is a nurse administrator at Primary Children's Oncology.
She spoke at Women's Conference a few years ago. They are the most Christ like women I've ever met. If you ever need someone, they would be incredible. They are seriously such amazing women. My role models. Now, I know right heart, heart emoji. The reason I wanted to read that is because I wonder and I kind of feel like it is.
But are you three like that for each other where you're just cheering each other on? Absolutely. Absolutely. How did you become like that? I think it's the way our parents raised us. I don't know. I just, I feel like we've always cared about each other and that was really sweet, Diane. We look up to her a lot too.
And I think that it's just our parents, we've always been very close and our parents were such cheerleaders for us that I think we learned to be cheerleaders for each other as well. Oh, I think, I think that's absolutely true. I also think that, um, Just as afflictions bring us close to the Lord, sometimes going through hard things bring people and families close together.
And while we have had a wonderful life, um, we've had challenges, um, as a family. Um, and we've had some challenges recently, um, as a family. And being able to support each other through our hard times and being able to, um, Be there for each other has, has made us incredibly close. I wasn't joking when I said that these two women are, are my best friends in the world besides my husband, um, because they are.
Diane, why are you crying? I can't even talk. Yeah, everybody that knows me knows that my family means everything to me. Um, yeah, my, my sisters. are the most Christ like women I've ever met, and they are such good women. And I am just, I'm so blessed to have them. They have been, they, they've been with me through everything.
And, um, they have been angels in so many times and been answers to my prayers in. In so many different times, and [00:15:00] I'm just, I'm so blessed, and I, I just, I'm just really overwhelmed. Well, I, I love that you are all cheerleaders for each other, and that text message to me is just proof. Just like, oh, she's just cheering on her sisters, and you guys have done that for each other.
I want us to go to Doctrine and Covenants section 23. We're going to mark a word that's repeated often in this section that has to do with this idea of cheering people on. It's so cool. So go to Doctrine and Covenants section 23. This revelation, it's so interesting because there are five revelations in one.
Now what you want to know in this revelation is in the original 1833 Book of Commandments, these revelations were five separate. Sections and then they've now combined them into one which is section 23 and there are five people who are given A revelation from the lord through joseph smith to these people The word that connects what we just talked about we're going to find it in verse three.
So I got pink because pink's The happiest color I have. And I highlighted the word and ladies, you were shaking your head that you knew what the word was. What is the word in verse three, verse four and verse five? Strengthen. Oh, I didn't even see that word. That was what I took. You're totally right. Okay.
Very good. Strengthen is repeated in all three of those verses. Yes. But there's another word repeated that means to cheer and to encourage and to advise. Exhortation. That's it. There you go. Oh my gosh. Ding, ding, ding. Highlight that. Okay. Exhortation. Isn't this fun? Because oftentimes when I hear the word exhort, like in scriptures, I exhort you.
I imagine the Lord like, I am telling you or I'm strongly telling you, but the actual meaning of the word is to cheer and to advise. The primary sense seems to be excited and to then give strength. Isn't that cool? That's awesome. That's rad. That is what you guys for each other. Now what's so neat is in every, in these three revelations, the Lord is telling Hiram in verse three, Samuel in verse four, and then Joseph in verse five, that they are to, their calling is to exhortion and strengthen the church.
I love that. I mean, can you imagine if we all really took that to ourselves? And on Sunday, we went with the sole goal to exhort members of our ward to cheer, to bless, to be excited, to be there with them. I think that is, if that was your only calling, like sign me up. Maybe that's what ministering is supposed to be, right?
We're supposed to cheer with our sisters and the families we're assigned to. So throughout these revelations that were given, I asked my women here to read over and maybe kind of just tell us a little bit about what that revelation was from the Lord. So we're going to start with the first revelation.
Kristen, tell us about verses one and two. Okay, so verses one and two are given to Oliver Cowdery. And Oliver Cowdery, as everyone knows, is right at the heart of the restoration and he is told here, um, by the Lord when he goes to the Lord and asks Joseph Smith to ask the Lord, what is my duty? Um, the answer that I think he was probably expecting was, you're going to do more great things.
Yes. You know, he's already been there. Beside Joseph, when John the Baptist appears and confers the Aaronic Priesthood, he's been there when Peter, James, and John come to restore the Melchizedek Priesthood. He's one of the three witnesses, right? He sees the gold plates. And instead, when he's told
his revelation, I think he was reassured, but he was probably a little sobered and maybe even a little shocked. Give us the line that says that. Because he is told in verse one, Behold, thou art blessed and art under no condemnation, but beware of pride, lest thou should enter into temptation. Whoa. So a blessing, yes, but it's also a warning.
Mm hmm. Oliver had done so much good. And the Lord acknowledges that here in verse one. Yeah. And he says, Make known thine calling unto the church, in verse two, and also before the world. And thy heart shall be opened to preach the truth from henceforth and forever. But flight is a real danger. For Oliver and in the years to come, that warning appears and proves to be prophetic.
In fact, there's a little foreshadowing there. Absolutely. We'll talk about that because next week discussion of Doctrine and Covenants 28, you're going to kind of see it fulfilled. [00:20:00] So go ahead and put section 28 next to the pride and temptation, but we'll talk about that next week. So, Ooh, awesome. Kristen.
I like that perspective. Let's go to the next one. Diane, tell us about the revelation given to Hiram. One verse. So this is verse three for Hiram says, Behold, I speak unto you, Hiram, a few words for thou art also under no condemnation and they heart is opened and they tongue loosed and they calling is to exhortation and to strengthen the church continually, wherefore thy duty is unto the church forever.
And this because of my family. Amen. So once again, we see that awesome exhortation, which I will never forget. Look at that in the same way again. I love that. So we're gonna cheer, but before Hiram was to Seek he was to learn But now he is told that his tongue is loosed. And so now it is time for him to share.
In fact, I'm so glad you brought that up, Diane. Next to that verse. Why don't we cross reference it with the first revelation that Hiram received. Which is clear back in doctrine and covenants. And this is where he's like, what is my will? What should I do? And I love how the Lord is like, because he wanted to just take the revelations and start teaching them.
And the Lord's like, hold, all right, slow your roll there, Hiram. Here's what I want you to do. Let's put section 11 next to that verse. So Oh, I'm so glad you brought that up, Diane. Good job. Okay. Next one. Cheryl, tell us about Samuel's one verse revelation. Next Wonderful. I love Samuel's one verse revelation.
Oh, I can't wait. Tell me why. And part of it is he's Joseph's younger brother, and he probably wondered where he fit in with the things that his dad was doing and his older brothers. And he was also told he wasn't under condemnation and also had the opportunity to exhort others to strengthen the church, which was similar to his brother's, but then it says, as thou art not yet called to preach before the world.
And what I love about this one is it says not as yet, and it didn't say you're never called to speak before the world, but this isn't the right timing for you yet. And later we know that he is called to be a missionary, so his time to preach to the world will come, but for some reason Heavenly Father doesn't want him to do that yet.
And, and I love it, that verse for that reason. Tell me why Not As Yet stands out to Cheryl, personally. I I might get emotional. I think for a number of reasons. There's been so many things that I hope to be able to do someday. Um, if I had had my way, I would have been married by now. I would have had children.
I wouldn't have worked for all of my life. Um, I had different plans in mind. And yet, um, Trusting in the Lord's timing, sometimes it's not a matter of not ever, but not as yet. And I think that's why it touches me is it gives me that reminder that just because blessings don't come in the timing that we want or opportunities don't come in the timing that we want, doesn't mean that they won't come.
Oh, Cheryl, thank you. I appreciate you getting personal. You weren't even planning on that, so thank you. No. Wow. All right, next we have Joseph's revelation. Kristen, hit it. Well, this is Joseph Smith Sr., the prophet's father, and I think of Joseph Smith Sr. as the cheerleader. Um, he is the one that has cheered the prophet and supported him.
And so he is told in verse five again that he is not under condemnation, that his calling is to exhortation, to strengthen the church. And this is the duty from henceforth and forever. Amen. And he's not called to be a missionary like Samuel and Hyrum. His role isn't to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
It's to lift and to encourage and strengthen those who are already in the fold, which is exactly what he comes to do as the first patriarch for the church. Oh, perfectly said. Excellent summation. Thank you. All right. Last we have, Diane. And the last one is Joseph Knight. And this one's interesting. Yes. His is take up your cross, in the which you must pray vocally before the world, as well as in secret, and in your family, and among your friends, and in all places.
And I love, I talked to Cheryl about this verse. And I love what she said. She said, Get all in. Get all in. Oh, that's good. I'm going to put that down. Right? Isn't that great? Get all in. And just, Joseph, you know, you've got to just really embrace the gospel and take up your cross. Okay, Cheryl, why did you say get all in?
What little insight do you know about Joseph Knight? Share that with us. Well, I want to say that I [00:25:00] don't think he was baptized yet at that point. He was a friend of the church and, and probably believed some things but hadn't fully committed. Yep. You're absolutely right. Isn't that interesting that all of these people have already committed and Joseph Knight hasn't.
So you're right. This is the revelation to get all in and actually he will go and he will pray on his own in the woods to get a revelation of his own to know if he should join the church and he does. So that is so cool. Isn't this neat? Look at these five short little revelations. That's the other thing I love about it.
I think sometimes we think like I had my, when we talk about patriarchal blessings and people are like, well, how long is your patriarchal blessing? My mission president's patriarchal blessing was a paragraph long. That was it. And I remember saying to him, don't you feel so bad? That's all the Lord had to say to you.
And he looked at me and he goes, that's, are you kidding me? I'm so glad that's all the Lord had to say to me. And then I felt like a jerk because my patriarchal blessing is so long. I thought I was good. Oh no, the Lord had to spell it out for Tammy Uselak. You bet he did. I wish I had a paragraph, I mean, these one little verses, I think they're so beautiful and the message it teaches to all of us to just this Sunday, go to church and exhort.
If that is the, if that, let that be the only thing you do start cheering on everybody in your ward. I just think that is so awesome, these revelations. So Thank you ladies for coming so well prepared. Well, that is section 23. So I love the messages. And in the next segment, we are going to dive into section 24.
And I'm telling you right now, these are verses that would make my heart sing, or maybe give my heart a little bit of courage.
Segment 3
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Let's go right to the section heading of Doctrine and Covenants, section 24. What we want to do is we're going to mark some things and I'm going to read the background to this section because you have to know the background to fully appreciate what's being said. So in section 24, it's a revelation given to Joseph Smith, the prophet and Oliver Cowdery at Harmony, Pennsylvania in July of 1830.
It says less than four months had elapsed since the church was organized. Just think about that. Four months old, the church and it says persecution had become intense and the leaders had to seek safety, impartial seclusion. Now I want you to think about that for a minute and listen to this information.
Well, here's what's going on at the time. Immediately after the first conference of the church, which was held on June 9th, 1830, Joseph returned to his own home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. A short time later, together with his wife, Emma, Oliver Cowdery, and John Whitmer and David Whitmer, he again visited Colesville, New York, about 20 miles north of Harmony, to see Joseph and Newell Knight families and to arrange for the baptism of a number of believers in the Colesville area.
Well, opposition to Joseph and the church was increasing rapidly in this area, largely through the efforts of local ministers. And when the brethren put up a dam across a local stream to create a pool for baptisms, mobs came in the middle of the night and tore apart that dam, preventing anyone from being baptized.
So two days later, the brethren quietly rebuilt the dam and 13 people got baptized. Well, this enraged the proceedings and a mob of about 50 people gathered and surrounded the home of Joseph Knight Senior, where the prophet had a confrontation with them. Shortly afterward, Joseph was arrested at the Newell Knight home on the charge of being a disorderly person.
Can you imagine that? Whatever. Disorderly person and causing an uproar in the community by preaching the Book of Mormon. He was tried in Chenango County, but all the evidence turned out to be a rumor and hearsay. So he was acquitted. However, he was arrested again as he came out of the jail, re arrested again, on a warrant from Broome County.
Though he was acquitted again for those same reasons, no one could ever offer actual eyewitness testimony of any wrongdoing on Joseph's part. After the second acquittal, the infuriated mob attempted to tar and feather Joseph and to ride him on a rail, but they were unsuccessful. After all of that happened We then get Doctrine and Covenants section 24.
So you need to know the history and context behind that. So here's the revelation. Now, I asked my friends to just read section 24 and tell me what in this section would be helpful to Joseph Smith and the saints at this time. What stood out to you of all the things the Lord could say to him after getting out of jail?
And I love how Kristen, you already kind of started us on this journey with your verse. Tell me what you guys marked. Oh, there's so many different ones. Um I mean, we could, we could start with verse eight, but let's start back before that. Um, let's start with verses five and six. Great. In verse five and six, the Lord says, And thou shalt continue in calling upon God in my name, and in writing the things which shall be given thee by the Comforter, and [00:30:00] expounding all scriptures unto the church.
And it shall be given thee in the very moment what thou shalt speak and write, and they shall hear it. Or I will send unto them a cursing instead of a blessing. Um, I, I think this verse highlights the importance of continual revelation. Um, the Lord's telling Joseph to keep seeking guidance and to write down the inspiration he receives.
Um, with all the things he's been going through to remember that he's still being guided. Um, we can't just rely on past spiritual experiences. Um, Joseph couldn't, with everything that he'd gone through, couldn't rely on those past spiritual experiences. He needed to be actively seeking new experiences.
And just like Joseph was commanded to record revelation, we can benefit from writing down spiritual impressions and reflecting on them. Let me jump in and share a thought that I had that I think is really applicable to us as well. It is at first Oh, yeah. Six when it says, and it shall be given the, in the very moment, what thou shalt speak and write and they shall hear it.
And I personally love that one because when I have to give talks or teach or things like that, I will study a lot in advance and think a. a lot about what it is that I want to share, but I can't write it down in advance and read it. Um, I, I struggle reading a talk, but what I have found is that if I've put forth my effort and my work in studying, when it's time to share, I'm given those things that I should say.
And the Holy Ghost is able to direct me. in that very moment what I need to speak. And I think that whether that's things actually physically speaking, giving a talk in church or somewhere, or whether it's having a conversation with a niece or a nephew or with a friend about the gospel, you have to have that foundation first, and then it will be given you in that moment what you should say.
And then I think we can, we can take that and go to the next verse, go to seven first. Yeah, because in 7 it says, For thou shalt devote all thy service in Zion, and in this thou shalt have strength. So if you just consecrate yourself and just say, Okay, Heavenly Father, I am going to put all of my time and all of my energy into magnifying the things that thou wants me to do, then we know that we will be blessed and that we will have the strength to do that.
Because that is what Heavenly Father. is asking Joseph to do. He's saying, you know, put aside all of your temporal things, and he says that to Emma, too. Don't worry about the temporal things that you have going on. And just focus on the things that I'm asking you to do. You're not, and I'm going to give you strength.
I'm going to bless you. Just do the things that I'm asking you to do, and it's all going to be okay. And then we jump over to verse 12. And in verse 12, it says, And at all times and in all places, he, meaning the prophet, shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night.
And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men. And I just, I love this, such the sense of urgency in the command. He's saying, declare it boldly, share the truth with confidence and clarity, like the sound of a trumpet cutting through the noise of the world. And I think about, you know, how does that Why did the rest of us that are not the prophet or they're not full time missionaries doing formal teaching for us?
When it comes to declaring the gospel with the voice of the Trump both day and night, it's about the way we live It's about the way we say things. It's about what we post online It's, it's about the conversations that we have with friends and the uplifting messages that we might post on social media, or just simply being a Christ like example in our daily lives.
Um, that's how we can declare the gospel with the voice of a Trump both day and night. So let's go back to verse 12 real quick, because I have a question for you. It says that the Lord will give him strength, such as not known among men. And I'm just wondering, has there ever been a time in your life where you felt like the Lord gave you strength that is not known among women?
Yeah. I mean, I would say that's definitely, definitely true. Um, I mean, without going into, without going into detail, there are times when it is hard to be in a family that is touched by divorce. Mm hmm. And to be a strength to those that are touched by that, whether it is. The children, whether it is my husband and trying [00:35:00] to be able to, to be a comfort in times of struggle.
So, yeah, I definitely and you feel like the Lord has been able to strengthen you. Absolutely. To me, it, it's a very, um,
it's tender. It's, it's not strengthened. Like here's a big, strong, you know, I'm going to bring this big, strong steel girder around you and it's going to hold you up. It's more like,
I don't want to, I'm going to get emotional. It's more like my father's arms being there to hold me up. Sure. It's strong, but it's. It's strong in a loving way that says it's okay that you don't have all of it together right now, but I'm going to be here for you. And I won't forsake you. And I'm sure that's what Joseph wanted to hear, too, because you think of that history of everything that he had been through.
And I'm sure that there was a piece of being excited to keep sharing things, because he knew what the Restoration meant. He had seen Heavenly Father, he had seen Jesus Christ, and yet how scary it must have been at the same time, too, to be told, you need to keep preaching, you need to keep exhorting, you need to keep moving the work forward.
When you've only tasted a tiny bit of the afflictions, a tiny bit of the trials, and he was only four months in, things were going to get worse. And I'm sure that there was a piece of him that that was kind of scary. But knowing that he would be strengthened. in the same way that Kristen was strengthened, or that we all have been strengthened at times, I'm sure gave him some hope as well.
MJ Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Unless you think, everyone listening, that, well, you probably have to be perfect like a prophet. You probably have to be really good to have the Lord help you. And no wonder the Lord's saying this to him, because he's a prophet, and he saw God in Jesus Christ. Let's just mark verse two.
And we'll finish with that because I love Joseph Smith so much for this reason. Verse two says, nevertheless, thou art not excusable in thy transgressions. Nevertheless, go thy way and sin no more. I mean, verse two, right out of the gates. Just this proof of Joseph's honesty for us, because I would have kept that verse out.
I would have skimmed right over it. If that had come to my brain in the middle of the revelation, I would have taken a big old pause. I don't, I, I mean, the fact that he didn't keep that out, but I love that he did because he's saying like, here's a prophet of the Lord who saw God and Jesus Christ, who's being called out for his transgressions.
And then the Lord says, Oh, and by the way, I'm going to help you. And yeah, it's going to get hard. Let me be clear. really difficult, but I will be with you until the end of your days. And so section 24, knowing the history, knowing what's coming. I've never loved this chapter like I do today with the way that you guys have taught me.
You women have just. increased my faith in this chapter, and it is so powerful. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, what I want you to do is briefly mark for seven and nine, maybe connect them with like two little arrows, like a carrot, because seven and nine have something connected. And I think this is pretty cool in the book saints, which I highly recommend, Emma wanted to know, like she had heard this revelation and Saints tells us that she wanted to know what this section and particularly verse seven and verse nine meant for her.
And we read them, but she hears like, devote all thy service to Zion. And here's Emma like, uh, hello, wife, child grieving, all this stuff. And so in the next segment, we're going to find out the answer to her question. What do these mean for Emma Smith? We'll do that next.
Segment 4
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We're going to start this section out by showing you a painting. This picture is so beautiful. It's on the Book of Mormon Art Catalog, which now is cataloging Doctrine and Covenants paintings. So this one is beautiful, and I'm going to post for my guests, and I want you guys to describe what you see. Give me the colors and everything you see.
Oh, I love the, the yellow in the background. It's really brilliant.
It's a beautiful picture of Joseph and Emma, where he's standing a little bit behind her, and it kind of looks like he's there to support her, is what I see in that picture. Just kind of looking at their facial expressions, he just has a [00:40:00] look of love and support. That, that's what I picked up on it, is the, the look of love that he has for, for Emma, um, in that.
And, and having read his letters to Emma and read the things that he has written, had written about her, um, you see that, um, the things that, you know, The love of his life, the, the queen of his heart, um, and you see that tenderness, um, and then what I love about Emma's face, there is so confident. Yeah. All the pictures you see of Emma are, she's very somber.
She's very, and, and here she's just, she looks confident. She's radiant. She, yeah. She's very poised. Okay. A mission, um, to, to fulfill here and you see that elect lady, um, here and not just a, a figure in the background. Um, I love her body language. There's something about the way she's sitting, like she's almost ready to go do something, maybe.
Yes. She looks excited. Yeah. Doesn't she? Yeah. I mean, like, she doesn't want to sit there. Yeah. I think you're right. Um, Rose Datok Dahl painted this, and Rose did an incredible job because I would have expected a period piece of this time would have had his hand on her shoulder. Yes. Right? Yes. Sort of like as the husband overseeing the bride.
Domineering charge. I'm in charge. And that is you do not get the feeling from this painting at all. He's sort of like, I'm going to let her do her thing. Yeah. Right. We're side by side or working together. He's got his hands behind his back, almost restraining himself to let her do her thing. Yes. I think that's exactly it.
We're going to apply this picture to Doctrine and Covenants section 25. So section 25 is the answer. It is the revelation to Emma about her concern for these two verses in the previous section we studied. And here's what the Lord has to say to her, which I think again, the history behind the chapter makes you just go, Oh, okay.
Isn't that interesting? Now she's like, where do I stand? So we're going to look over a couple of these verses and again, I asked my brilliant guests to share what in this revelation would have been comforting to Emma, who had just heard that her husband's supposed to give and devote his time to the church and the building up of the kingdom while she herself is just like we talked about grieving and she's trying to have children and start a family and all these things.
What did you guys mark and give us the verse to mark? We'll start with Diane. Okay, I would say the first verse in verse one where it says hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God and Tammy I had learned from you the word hearken means to obey Correct. Yes. Okay. So hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God while I speak unto you Emma Smith my daughter I love that.
Okay, and he said, For verily I say unto you, All those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom. And I love whenever in the scriptures it uses the word all. I always mark the word all. So, put your name right in there. Hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God while I speak unto you.
Diane, I'm in my daughter. I always love putting my name in there. But, here with Emma. Right there. He's saying, Emma, you are my daughter. You are chosen. You're seen. I love you. I know you and Now I'm gonna talk to you. You have been chosen. You're an elect lady and I am going to teach you the things that you need to do and I'm with you I'm so glad you pointed out that verse.
He starts out with the most loving way. Yeah. Revelation could have been like, get it together, Emma. This isn't about you. Right. And he just starts out with saying, Oh, I love you. You're my daughter. That would immediately put me at ease. Like, yeah, so tender. And okay. All right. And I love you. So tell me what I need to do.
Yes. Oh, great verse, Diane. Thank you. There are so many verses in here that I totally love. One that especially speaks to me is verse seven, when she's, when it says that she will be ordained to expound scriptures, exhort the church according as it shall be given her by the spirit. And I love that part because I'm sure that there was a piece that she was wondering where she fits in.
There have been a lot of revelations for other people. She's heard that her husband is called to preach and to move things forward, and that he doesn't need to worry about the temporal things. And so I'm sure that there was a piece of her thinking, okay, well, if he doesn't need to worry about that, am I going to be the one who has to worry about that?
Or where is my place in the gospel? And so [00:45:00] I think that for her to see that she was called not only to read the Scriptures but to expound them and to exhort or cheer on others in the church as she listened to the Spirit, that was also a promise that she would be given that continuing revelation or that continued direction by herself, not necessarily as a revelation printed in the Doctrine and Covenants, but as revelation for herself that she would be guided and that she had a work that she could do too.
Brilliant. And you know, it's interesting with this chapter, she has been baptized, but she has not yet been confirmed. Yes. Which isn't that so crazy? Yeah. Because there was all that craziness at that time, the day of her baptism, where she wasn't able to receive the holy dose. And so it's been months, right?
Yeah. It's been about four months. And so she's still waiting and she won't receive it until after this revelation is given. Yeah. So now if you're in verse eight, it says, okay, and you're going to be given the Holy Ghost. Yeah. That's why verse eight is so helpful. Oh, that's so cool. Excellent. Keep going. So I love verse two.
I love verse two, where he tells her that he's going to give her a revelation concerning his will. And the first thing that he tells her is that if she is faithful and she walks in the paths of virtue before him, he will preserve her life. And she shall receive an inheritance in Zion. And if you think about everything that she's going through right now, he doesn't specifically say, As he did to, to Joseph, I'm going to support you in your trials, but he says, if you are, if thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me, I will preserve thy life.
And you think about women at that time, um, of history and so many women that would die during childbirth. Um, and she are, she's losing children as they're born, um, or shortly after they're born. She's travailing in her own, um, in her own pregnancies. She's dealing with the, the persecution of her husband.
She's dealing with being displaced from her home. She's dealing with uncertainty at. Every turn. So I can just imagine what it would have meant for her to have God reassure her that he would preserve her life, that he's aware of the things that she's going through. You know, Kristen, what I liked about you choosing that verse is let's just go to the very last verse of this section.
It says, and verily, verily, I saying to you that this is my voice unto all. Amen. So if this section is for all of us, then you go back to verse two and he's saying to every one of us. Walk in the paths of virtue and we want to market the word virtue and we have taught this so many times on this podcast because I'm if if it's going to be the hill I die on is to make sure we know that the word virtue I have a really scripture.
You bet you do. I'm going to ask you what it is because in Hebrew and in Greek and even in Spanish, what does the word virtue mean, Diane? Yeah. I hope I'm right. Power or strength that comes through covenants. That's exactly it. Yes. Because I listen to your stuff, girl, making my heart smile and it falls right in line with our prophets talk spiritual treasures that the moment we enter the house of the Lord, the moment we enter into any covenant with him.
We receive priesthood power, men and women alike. And so right here, walk in the paths. That's a covenant path right there before me. Verse 13, she's told to lift up her heart and rejoice and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made. There it is. At this point, she's only made the baptismal covenant.
One can cleave unto that covenant. She's on the path. I have chills from that keeps going, going to 15. If she keeps her commandment, his commandments continually, a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. Oh, Kristen, that's so cool. She's only made one covenant. Oh, that's so cool. Diane, go ahead. Yes.
Wasn't Emma the first lady to receive the endowment? She indeed was the very first woman to make temple as we look at this. Yes. So cool. Yes. I'm so glad you brought that up. Oh my gosh. Okay. That was such a fun discussion. And now listen, we purposefully kept out verses 11 through 13 because we're going to discuss those in the next segment.
And I cannot wait to say, Oh my gosh, I'm so excited because I mentioned it in the intro. I did say something about a playlist. And so we're going to connect that to what else the Lord had to tell Emma Smith. [00:50:00] We'll do that next.
Segment 5
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Tell me about your family and the role that music plays in it. Oh boy, here we go. Music is, that was the heart of our home growing up. Our mom was. Everything music. She had her master's in music. She was a killer saxophone player. What? She rocked that saxophone. Oh my gosh. Like, it was nobody's business. She was so good.
But she also had a beautiful voice. She had the opportunity to be a vocal performance major in college and turned it down because she knew it wasn't going to provide, um, a good life for a family as a mom. So she decided to go into music education instead. So she was a music educator and we grew up with music.
We played everything. I learned how to read by the time I was four years old and I knew how to, how to read music before I knew how to read books. Wow. All of our memories revolve around music, whether it's our dad singing goodnight my someone from the music man as a go to sleep song, um, at our bedsides after we said prayers at night, or whether it was going to concerts or taking music lessons and learning how to play xylophones and everything else.
Mom's last thing, well, and even it got passed down to my kids. My kids went to BYU music when they were little, the little preschool. On Saturdays at BYU, where they learned different instruments and then, you know, so, and they did those things. My mom taught them. She had instruments at the house to teach them music.
But then the most special thing, um, Kristen was in the Tabernacle Choir for a long time. And my mom's last outing the week before she passed away was to the Christmas concert. The Kirsten Sagan. And my sisters bought a van, just to take my mom, and um, We went to the conference center, and she went to this concert, and then a week later, she passed away.
The music was always so ingrained through. In fact, not only, like Kristen mentioned, we all sang in choirs, my parents did, my mom conducted church choirs and whatnot, but Even in the midst of conversations, I can think of so many times that one parent or the other would just break out into a song and you would say a word and it would just trigger them singing a line of something like from a mall in the night visitors or around the room, the music man or whatever.
And, and music just was so ingrained that it wasn't an event. It was part of who our family was. And, um, You know, my dad grew up not thinking he could sing because a choir teacher had told him that he was a horrible singer and that he should never sing out loud, or maybe it was a music teacher in elementary school.
And he had to pull the curtains instead. There was a music teacher in elementary school who said he could only run, he needed to be in charge of the curtains. Because he couldn't sing. But then mom got him to sing in the church choir. It was amazing. And he actually, the day that our family was, was.
baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Um, the thing my mom wanted more than anyone else in the world, any, more than anything else in the world that day, was to have our entire family sing. Um, and my dad really didn't want to. He's like, no, you and the girls sing, you and the girls sing.
And my mom said, no, we're all going to sing. And so he did. And we did, and we all sang at our, oh my God. Oh my word. And then we sang at my mom's funeral and, and the three of us sing at our dad's funeral. And we used to go to the, um, to the old folks homes, remember, on Sundays. And we would sing and yeah.
Wow. That was, that was our thing. Yep. Still is. Well, I did not know all of that history. So how great is God in having you three on this episode? I had no idea. So these verses must mean so much to you. Let's read them together. We're in section 25 and we're going to read verses 10 through 12. And you each take a verse and we'll go Diane, Kristen, and Cheryl.
All right. Verse 10. And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world. And seek for the things of a better. Verse 11. And it shall be given thee also [00:55:00] to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church. Verse 12. For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart.
Yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. I think, verse 12, for the rest of my life when I read that, I will think of your family, the day your family got baptized, and all of you singing at your own baptism. How old were each of you when you guys got baptized?
Eight? Ten? Twelve. Wow. And you, what song did you sing? The Love of God. What is that song? That song is not part of the hymn tradition of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Um. It is from the church that we, um, belonged to before we left. It's, it's part of the United Church of Christ tradition.
Um, but we sang that and then didn't we also sing where love is? Yes. Yes. So we sang the love of God and the words to that are, um, the love of God is broad like beach and meadow. Wide is the wind and an eternal home. Oh, how sweet. And then we sang where love is. Um, Oh, that is beautiful. Well, we did something kind of fun, the four of us.
And we've spent the last couple of weeks doing this together. We created a Song of the Heart playlist. And I reached out to the women and I said, Okay, give me some of your favorite songs of all time. That are church songs, songs of the heart. And we created, it is a pretty cool list. I gotta be honest. Like I only added three songs, but you guys, you really did an awesome job because I wanted it to be songs that you felt were songs of the heart.
So I'm just going to ask each one of you to share what the song was you chose and why it is to you a song of the heart. So my song is Love Divine All Loves It song. How did you know that song? Well, I'm sure you've heard it because it's been sung in general conference, um, and it is actually to the tune as in humility, our savior, the sacrament hymn.
Oh wow. And I first encountered the song as kind of an experience as a member of the Tabernacle Choir. I had the privilege of, of singing this song. In some of the most renowned concert halls around the world, including Carnegie hall and historic venues across Europe. But each time we sang it, it was as if angels were singing with us.
The harmonies were full, the voices were strong, and it didn't matter that out of the 360 of us, probably 360 of us were completely. Full of tears. The spirit in those moments were unmistakable. Um, palpable, even it would often come at the end of the concert. So two hour long concert, and it's the almost the very last song and we would be exhausted.
Um, the music had already stirred the hearts and the emotions of the audience. Um, but there was something always about love divine that seemed to transcend even everything that had gone before. I remember especially during concerts in Berlin and in Vienna, how the audiences would be just visibly moved to tears when we would sing this and some of them didn't.
They didn't even understand every word of the English, but it didn't seem to matter. They felt the message. The music carried something deeper than language, that pure, unbounded love of Christ. The final verse of the hymn in particular has a way of, of lifting us to something greater and just to share a few of those words.
Speaking of the Savior and his love and speaking of. His eventual second coming, it says, come almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive suddenly return and never, never more thy temples leave thee, we would be always blessing serve thee as thy hosts above, pray and praise thee without ceasing glory in thy perfect love.
And. It stayed with me for so many years, even past that. Um, I remember a really dear friend of mine who lost his young wife to cancer, leaving him with two preteen sons to raise on his own. And of all the music in the world that could have touched him and supported him, Love Divine, All Love's Excelling was what brought him comfort.
The words, the melody, the spirit, um, reminded him that he wasn't alone and that divine love was, was helping him through. And this past [01:00:00] summer when we unexpectedly lost our father, um, I found myself turning to this hymn again. Um, I would listen to it or even catch myself singing parts of it when I needed comfort and reassurance of my Savior's loving spirit and his promised rest.
Um, so these words have taken on a real personal meaning for me. Um, They remind me that Christ's love is not distant or abstract. It's here, it's now, it abides with us in our sorrow, it lifts us towards peace. It reminds me that the same love that has carried me through moments of triumph is the same love that meets me in my quiet moments of grief or tribulation when I need reassurance.
And that's one of the things that I just absolutely love about music, and particularly this song. Um, That just reminds me that we're never beyond the reach of God's perfect love. Wow. Thank you, Kristen. So let's do this. Let's end this segment with Kristen's song of the heart. And in the next segment, we're going to hear Cheryl and Diane's song.
Segment 6
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Let's begin with Cheryl's story. Cheryl, tell us your song of the heart. So one of the songs of my heart that I love is My Redeemer Lives, and often when I'll bring this one up, people think that I'm talking about the other song, I know that My Redeemer Lives, but this one is different. It's the one written by President Hinckley, and it starts with, I know that My Redeemer Lives, Triumphant Savior, Son of God, victorious over pain and death, my King, my Leader, and my Lord.
And I love that song because it is such a song of testimony to me. And when I think of music, and when I think of songs that touch me, they're able to speak things so much more eloquently than what I could say. This one about our Savior and the role that He plays and the victorious over pain and death.
So, um It just means so much. I think we've talked a lot about our parents and how much they mean to us and, and how, um, it was hard to lose them, but yet knowing that Christ is victorious over pain and death. And I think I especially love this one because I remember before we had joined the church at a young age, I was wondering what happened after we die.
And had a lot of questions about that. And even though we had learned about Christ and we knew things about him and we knew that he was resurrected, I still didn't understand what that meant for me. And as we were taught by the missionaries, learning what happens. After this life was such an answer to question and put such peace to my soul at the time, and has so many times since then.
And so I love this song because it is such a happy and triumphant song. It isn't Well, I guess it could be sung reverently, but I don't sing it reverently. When I think of that song, I sing it with full force in my heart because it is such a strong testimony that he puts so eloquently towards what I would want to say if I could speak as well as he does.
Oh, wonderful, Cheryl. Thank you. Let's hear Cheryl's song of the heart. Here is My Redeemer Lives.
All right, the next song we have is Diane. So, Diane, tell us, what is your song of the heart? All right, so, this, why I am last is because it is so hard for me to narrow one down. Um, because I just can't pick one. I really fell in love with the, the hymns and church music when I was on my mission. I had one particular time in my mission that was really hard, and I had a companion who was not from America, she was not from the Czech Republic, she was from somewhere else, she didn't really speak Czech, she didn't really speak English, and it was a very hard, hard, lonely time for me.
And, um, at that time my mission president challenged me to always have a prayer in my heart and to constantly have a conversation with Heavenly Father. And back when I was a missionary, same with you guys, um, we knocked doors for 12 hours a day and it was a lonely time because the checks did not open the doors.
And so I was knocking doors for 12 hours a day [01:05:00] with a companion that did not speak to me. And so I talked a lot to my Heavenly Father, and a big way that I learned to talk to him was um, through the hymns. And so I would write out on a note card a different hymn, and I ended up memorizing almost every hymn in the hymn book.
And it really served me well as I became a seminary teacher, because I knew almost every hymn. Wow. And um, I found so much comfort. In that, and I ended up having an amazing, amazing few months with that girl, even though it was one of the hardest times of my life. Um, and I'm so grateful for those hymns because they brought me such a sense of peace in such a dark time.
But the song of my heart that I wanted to share is Peace in Christ. And this was one of the youth songs, one of the young men, young women songs a few years ago. And this was actually the year that my mom passed away. And one of my friends said this to me the day that she passed away. And it brought me such comfort.
And it says, there is peace in Christ when we learn of him, feel the love he felt for us when he bore our sins. Listen to his words. Let them come alive if we know him as he is, there is peace in Christ. Um, he gives us hope when hope is gone. He gives us strength when we can't go on. He gives us shelter in the storms of life.
When there's no peace on earth, there is peace in Christ. There is peace in Christ when we walk with him through the streets of Galilee to Jerusalem. Men with broken hearts, dry, the tear filled eyes, when we live the way he lives, there's peace in Christ. And I did find that peace in Christ. And I continue to find peace in Christ, especially when I sing hymns or listen to hymns.
Um, I turn on hymns. Instead of the radio most of the time. I don't listen to the radio anymore. Maybe I'm just too old. But, um, I find such peace through them and I really feel close to my Heavenly Father through them. And I'm just so grateful for Emma. What a beautiful work. that she was called to do. And I'm just, I'm so grateful for her and that this is the way that Heavenly Father wants us to come to Him and express our love to Him.
Absolutely. Oh, Diane, thank you. What a great story about the role that hymns have played in your life. I feel like your mom and dad are up there, your dad's arms around her and he's going, Our girls, look at that. So let's listen to Diane's song of the heart. We are going to now hear peace in Christ. I'm going to share mine really quick because I'm super excited.
When we decided to do this song of the heart playlist, this is the first song that came to my mind. It's called I am not my own. I heard this for the very first time in a Methodist cathedral about eight years ago. I attended Palm Sunday in Indiana, and I walked into this chapel and there's this beautiful choir and everybody's wearing red robes.
And they begin this song, and I'd never heard it before in my life. And as the lyrics started to play, and they're starting to sing, I am not my own. The Spirit touched my heart. I was weeping, sobbing like a baby, that I couldn't believe that I was feeling the Spirit so strong in this cathedral with a song that I'd never heard.
And then I'm like, why are we not singing this? This should be in our hymn books. And so, I actually got called to the Young Women's about a year later, back when we were doing the Young Women's program with the medallion. And I wanted all of my beehives, because that's who I was in charge of at the time, the beehives.
I wanted all of them to get one of their medallions. And the big project was to be in the award choir for six months and to learn a song and perform with the choir. And I went to the choir director and I begged her, can we sing I Am Not My Own? And she said, as long as the lyrics support and sustain the doctrine.
We can sing it. So I got a copy of the music and we read over all the lyrics and sure enough that everything matches what we believe in our church. And so we learned it with the choir and all my beehives were there and I stood in the middle. And when we sang it, I cried again like a baby [01:10:00] because I had all my sweet little 12 and 13 year old girls singing.
I am not my own. And this is my song of the heart and I just love it. Ooh, I love that we are not going to include my favorite Song of the Heart song, but it is on our playlist. So go to the show notes and click on the link and it's going to have all of our beautiful songs of the heart choices. And then you can view mine, which is on YouTube, and we wanna make sure that enough views go to their YouTube channel because it's such a good version of this song.
So go check that out. Well, those are our songs of the heart. And we are going to invite all of you listening to join and add to our playlist. So at the end of the week, when we ask a question on a Saturday, we're going to ask the question, what is your song of the heart? Add it to the playlist and let's just create like the biggest song of the heart playlist of all time.
And let's just get a playlist going. Cause I would love to know what some of the songs are that you love that you turn that is a prayer unto you. The Lord. I think that is such a cool idea. So join us for our Song of the Heart. And that is the end of our episode. Ladies, thank you for joining me today. It was so fun.
Thank you. Boy, you were not wrong, Diane. Good call on the sisters. That was, that's another bomb. I'll tell you what. Okay, so just gather your thoughts. Think of all the things we've studied and talked about today and what is an eternal truth. What is something you learned or relearned I love in. Section 25, verse 10, And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.
Um, for me, that is what I need to read right now. And I need to stop worrying about the, the petty little things right now, the worldly things. And I need to seek for, for those important things, the things that Heavenly Father really wants me to focus on. Mm hmm. Um, There's so much that I don't need to be concerned about, and I need to be focusing more on those spiritual things, the things that really matter most.
Thank you. I know we've talked about this verse more than once, and I've actually read this verse. Already before, but for me, it's section 25 verse 13. Wherefore lift up thy heart and rejoice and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made. Um, focusing on our covenants, cleaving unto the covenants that we've made and lifting up our hearts and rejoicing in those covenants.
Thank you, Kristen. I think another truth, in addition to the ones that my sisters shared, that I took away isn't a specific verse, um, but just the overarching lesson from all of these chapters or sections that we looked at today of how much our Heavenly Father knows each of us. You think of the personal answers to prayer that Each person got, whether it was just a short little paragraph or whether it was a longer bit of instruction and support and love shared with them, just the fact that our Heavenly Father knows us all individually and will answer those questions that we have and love and support us through whatever trials we're going through and in those times of rejoicing that it isn't, you know, good It isn't just about sadness.
It isn't just about the hard times, but it's recognizing his hand in our lives and being able to lift up our hearts and rejoice, no matter those circumstances. Excellent, Cheryl. Thank you. I would say for me, this entire hour and a half discussion that we've had today has truly been a song of the heart.
And a prayer unto the Lord, as we have sat here as four friends, just talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing truly thoughts from our heart and our own experiences. I just feel like the heavens are smiling on us. And every word that we studied was something that I needed to hear. And I appreciate that we started with verse eight and we kept coming back to verse eight in section 24, just to be patient in our afflictions because we're going to have many.
I love that the Lord, if we endure them, He is with us even into the end of our days. So that's been a great sort of umbrella of our discussion. And I've just appreciated the synergy and what you guys brought. This was beautiful. We have, I felt like we've perfectly modeled how Come Follow Me should work.
It's a, that is the song of the heart right there when we speak scripture and share stories. So thank you ladies. I love you guys. Thank you, Tam. Thank you. I love you all. Thank you for the chance. Well, what was your takeaway or what eternal truth did you learn? Go on, join our Facebook and follow us on Instagram and share what it was that you guys learned or ask questions that we [01:15:00] love to answer.
But at the end of the week on Saturday of this week, we're going to post a question on our Instagram and Facebook asking for your song of the heart. Let's make the coolest, biggest song of the heart playlist ever. Comment on that post that relates to this specific lesson and share your song because I want to know and I'm going to add it to my playlist.
You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday and it's not a bad idea to go there anyway because it's where we're going to have links to all the references and a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out.
The Sunday on Monday study group is a Deseret Bookshelf+ original brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and today our incredible study group participants were Diane Gerdy Iman, Kristin Gerdy Kyle, and Cheryl Gerdy. And you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And please remember that you are God's favorite.