Day Nine: Ancient Keys

"When Christ was on the earth, He held the keys of the priesthood. He promised these keys to Peter, saying, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19. These same keys were given to Joseph Smith by Peter, James, and John and have been conferred on every prophet who has served since that time. These keys allow our prophet to exercise "the same divine priesthood power and authority that was held anciently" (David B. Haight, "The Keys of the Kingdom," Ensign, Nov. 1980, 73).

If we want to know the Savior, we can look to the prophet who holds the keys who will lead us closer to Christ. These last two days we watched General Conference, broadcast from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City from Temple Square. The Holy Ghost bore witness to me that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet on earth. I am grateful for the guidance that we heard these last two days and look forward to studying the talks that were given more fully and apply their direction in my life.

Today is Palm Sunday. There was much taught about the Savior. I loved Pres. Monson's quote, "The future is as bright as your faith." There is much fear about the global economy, so many people losing their jobs. The world needs to know that Jesus Christ is the source for peace and answers to finding joy and happiness in life. I love his gospel - I am so grateful for my blessings. I love my family so much, my husband, Gayle, and each child, each grandchild are so precious. I miss you so very much.

Day Five: Who is this Jesus? - Discover

"If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, and [it would] draw to itself the almost invisible particles, by the mere power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings; only the iron in God's sand is gold." (Life Thoughts Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, 116)

• What heavenly blessings can we discover in every hour? I will begin my day today with a thankful heart, and search. I invite you to do the same, and share what "gold" we have found.

Day Three: A Common Thread

The keeper at the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there. - 2nd Nephi 9:41.

The goal for this day (and going forward) is to keep a journal of my relationship with Jesus Christ. To write about the attributes that I admire in Him, lessons He has taught me, or moments when I have felt His love. Nephi recorded a promise the Lord gave to him in this regard, "that these things which I write shall be kept and preserved, and handed down unto my seed, from generation to generation, that the promise may be fulfilled...For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ." (2nd Ne. 25:21, 23)

Oh my, this is big. I am flooded with the memories of times when the Savior has blessed me with his love. I'll just write about one today. When I was in active labor, laying in a hospital bed, pregnant with one of our last children, it was Jennie, I think, I decided that everytime I had a contraction, I would focus on the Savior. I wanted Him to be with me through the pains of this birth. Gayle and I had gone to Lamaze classes and learned the breathing techniques, and so all our seven children were born naturally, with no pain meds. Such was the case now, as I focused on a spot on the ceiling, and breathed, and thought about the Savior with every contraction. Birth was beautiful, and it was afterward that I had a truly spiritual experience. After Gayle had left, and I was alone in my room, I had to continue with a pitossin drip (yes, I had been induced), and it was awful. The drip made my uterus contract, so it felt like I was still in labor, and they get stronger with each pregnancy, so, after 7, you can imagine how painful it was, and at this point, I just wanted to sleep. Plus, the delivery staff was extrememly busy with other deliveries, so I was given the assignment to "ring" the nurse when my IV bag ran out of it's fluid. What? Were they kidding? It was the middle of the night, and I wanted to go to sleep. I prayed to my Heavenly Father about my dilemma, and of course, thanked him for our new beautiful baby He had just sent to us. Feeling very calm, I fell asleep, and awakened just as the last drips of fluid were flowing through the tube. I called the nurse. She came, took the IV bag, and hung up a new one. What! Another! I prayed. I fell asleep, and the entire scene was repeated again. I woke up as the last drips were flowing through the bag. I was overcome with gratitude. I called the nurse. She came with a third bag and replaced the 2nd. Again! Again I prayed, and fell asleep. And a third time, I woke up just as bag was emptying. I know that it was nothing short of a miracle that I could have been awakened just as the last drips were going. I knew that I was not alone. I prayed with gratitude for this experience, and I heard someone say my name. "Nancy." My spiritual ears and heart heard this. Do Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us personally? Yes, I know they do, and they love us so much...more than we can comprehend. So much, that Jesus gave his life for us in Gethsemane and Calvary. Do I have a personal relationship with my Savior? Yes, I do.