Every Day Follower of Jesus Christ

The concept of breaking the bands of death comes from the Book of Mormon, a sacred text for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the book, it describes how Jesus Christ, after his crucifixion and death, descended into the spirit world and preached to those who had passed on before him. He offered them the opportunity to accept his gospel and be saved, which they eagerly a...

Engage with the virtues which are the foundation of truth and strengths. The is your first step to finding your yes to a spiritually driven life is to connect with your strength virtues, your gifted virtues, your guiding virtues, our challenge virtues. To learn more about how to connect with virtues, contact me and I will send you an invitation to a virtues companioning session that will aid you i...

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Think about what a life without introspection, reflection, and self-awareness yields.  According to Socrates, it is important to reflect on one's actions, beliefs, and values to understand oneself better and to live a more fulfilling life. Without such examination, one is likely to live a life driven by societal norms and external pressures...

" Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch.  Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.” - Brad Wilcox Jesus paid our debt in full. He didn’t pay it all except for a few coins. He paid it all. It is finished. There is nothing for us to pay, this is not a part-way salvation, it...

There are things that each of us can do to reduce things to their proper size, and laughing at ourselves helps. If you are taking yourself too seriously, quit. Today is the day you can choose to embrace laughter and joy, facing the world and its challenges with a positive attitude and a light-hearted spirit. Refuse to allow adversity to bring you down, nor let the difficulties of life steal your h...

That is the one thing, who is the one person, what is the one attitude...that makes all the difference?

Reflect for a moment, How many times in life have you and I asked the question: “Am I worth it?"

When engaged in character slamming, ask yourself, "am I perfect?"  None of us are, all of us are flawed and most more beautiful for having risked, been broken and getting up again for the next day. 

Sacrifice is the willingness to give up something important for something more important. When we sacrifice for those we care about, it is not a deprivation but a love offering.

Whatever the cause, it is human nature: without reliable landmarks, we drift off course. So it is with our spiritual lives, when we are off the path, we tend to go in circles. No matter how far we are off the path Christ leads, we can return to His path and as we restore ourselves to His heavenly light it brightens in us. His light illuminates our soul chasing away doubts, fears, and thoughts of u...

We have doubts and we have confidence. We experience fear and we experience courage. No one is born into circumstances that are 100% negative. Because of these opposites to which we knew mortality would bring, we also bring with us fire in the belly, a deep sense of purpose and potential. Remember we live in a world of opposites. Life is about experiencing the negative that shapes and sharpens us...

When attraction develops into love, it requires more care. The only way we can keep it alive and healthy is through consistent care and attention. An unknown orator has been tributes with saying that the greatest pursuit of human life is to be loved and to be loved. As human beings, we crave love, we believe in the power of love, we are all drawn to love stories that leave us happy with our own or...

It is the love of others that shapes our beliefs, molds our character and builds our sense of belonging. It is this love that continually reminds us we are more important than our mistakes. It is this love that corrects and then increases in love.

When the unlikely connect and commit, others may find it odd, at that moment. It is only when we can witness and observe their journey together through mortality that we can sense what pure love means. What two unlikely saw in each other includes: love, loyalty, peace, faith, and the future. Some call it chemistry if you will; maybe there is a little of that, but there is always much more, when lo...

Being in the mindset that God loves you helps in the day-to-day outreach to others with civility, respect, and gentleness of the spoken word. The Apostle Paul writes in the book of Philippians, “But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” [NKJV, Phillipians 2:3]. When we hold others in high esteem, looking with eyes of love and speaking with temerity, our peacefulness and...

When we look up, we are able to see how God uses passion. Everything God does is done with a purpose and passion. God acts with His whole heart. In the first great commandment, we are to love God with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength. When we love, really love with all of our heart, there is nothing withheld. Dream big, think big, and love big! Too often we find ourselves and others settl...

“How can we survive if we do not love . . . if we do not love our country, if we do not love one another, if we do not strive upwardly and pay whatever price it may cost to advance our society, our family, our religion?” - Hal Visick

Imagine if your self-talk was only supportive and loving. Imagine if your self-talk focused on your successes of the day. Since the control over self, your time and your thoughts belongs to you, what might shift if there was quiet moments in which you paid attention to and captured your thoughts, tossing away any that missing the loving and cherishing of you.

Did I spend the time I wanted to with those I love most. Did I treat them with unconditional love and acts that made them know they were cherished and loved? Did I take the time to call and express love and gratitude for their influence? Did I?

Agape is the Greek root of a more familiar word to each of us, "charity", that selfless concern for others not evoked by any love on the part of the other. It is a type of love different from eros (erotic love), and phileo (spontaneous, unreasoned, familial love). It is the kind of love manifested on the cross. It is the consistency of a will to be in harmony with God. Charity is the pure love of...

In the words of our friend, Og Mandino, "greet this day with love in your heart, laud your enemies, do good to them which use you, despise you and treat you with contempt." Look upon others with love in our heart, and where disdain may be creeping in your mind and heart, silently say over and over, "I love you, I love you." Repeat as many times as necessary until your mind lets go of the criticism...

Humans live in continuous fear of being hurt. This often creates big drama wherever we go. The emotional wounds of jealousy, betrayal, hurt, and anger often drive fear. The fear of not being accepted by others. The fear of not being good enough for someone else leads to pretending to be what we are not. We practice this to try to be good enough for someone else. All of this is driven by fear of re...

A prayer was offered to a congregation of people gathered, here is a line from that prayer: “Dear Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast loved us." While we may not be able to fully comprehend the love of our Heavenly parents, we can continue to strive to learn more.

Love is a fragile thing. Life has many elements in it that test the strength of love. Much damage occurs if we are not in tender, caring and loyal hands. The need for pure love in relationships is reflected in our partner's future that is placed in our hands for safekeeping. In showing how we love others, we would never allow someone to rain on their parade, be critical of ones we love, cast gloom...

Love is the remedy for ailing families, ill communities, and sick nations. Love is a smile, a wave, a kind comment, and a compliment. Love is sacrifice, service, and selflessness.