Come Listen To A Prophet's Voice

Picture from here:  

http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

Humility has never been one of my strong points.  I take a lot of things for granted.  I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon).  We believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, and through His guidance we are led by living prophets and apostles, just as the Church was led when Christ was on the earth.  As a kid, I used to watch LDS Conference on television (we only received one session on television in those days), and it never occurred to me how blessed I was to be listening to living prophets giving counsel.  The older I get, the more appreciation I have for that counsel.  What a marvelous opportunity it is to live on the earth at a time when we have living prophets!  Technology has advanced to the degree that we can live stream all sessions of conference, and have the videos to replay within hours.  The printed version is available later so that we can painstakingly study, highlight, and ponder the written word.

There is always so much to take into our hearts each conference that it is difficult to pick just one thing from the conference six months ago to share.  However, there is something that I've thought about often over the last six months.  The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson, who we believe to be a prophet of God, said the following:

"We must be vigilant in a world which has moved so far from that which is spiritual.  It is essential that we reject anything that does not conform to our standards, refusing in the process to surrender that which we desire most:  eternal life in the kingdom of God.  The storms will still beat at our doors from time to time, for they are an inescapable part of our existence in mortality.  We, however, will be far better equipped to deal with them, to learn from them, and to overcome them if we have the gospel at our core and the love of the Savior in our hearts."  

President Monson goes on to counsel that if we want to be in the world but not of the world, it is important that we communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer.  This is something that I've given much thought to over the past six months.  I struggle every day with things all around me that are inappropriate at best and outright vulgar at worst.  I recently wrote a blog post about part of this struggle here.  The one thing that I've been able to take comfort in is President Monson's counsel to communicate with my Heavenly Father.  Prayer has indeed been a great comfort to me and has helped me to muddle my way through the mud.

General Conference is coming our way again Saturday, March 31, 2012, and Sunday, April 1, 2012.  Conference can be viewed on cable and satellite systems, as well as live streamed here:  As usual, I'm starved to hear the word of the Lord through our living prophets and apostles, as well as others who sought for inspiration in preparing for this conference. I pray that I'll be in tune with the Spirit and hear the message that my Heavenly Father wishes me to hear.

I hope you will join with me in hearing the counsel of the Lord.