Conclusions...

Family: The Lord has put so much emphasis on the importance of Family. I am very passionate about my family and intend to do whatever I can to help them and keep my family intact. I know that if I put the Lord first he will bless my family and me with the things that we need. I know that through Him we can find hope and solace through anything that we are facing. I intend to head the council of the Prophets and rely on Heavenly Father to help and support me in my efforts to care for my family.

Atonement: Words have no power to describe the way I feel about the atonement. Christ’s sacrifice was the ultimate gift that our loving Father in Heaven gave to us, His children.  Because of that gift we can be reunited with Him, we can live our lives free of past guilt’s; we can continue to strive to be better in all ways. No matter what happens to us we can have the comfort knowing that Christ has suffered what we are suffering, and on top of that he has suffered for the sins that we have committed. I will live my life striving to be worthy of this great gift.

Agency: Agency is another one of God’s great gifts to us. Agency is what this whole plan is all about, without agency there would be no plan, no purpose, and no life. I am so grateful for this gift and that I was able to fight for it in the pre-mortal life. Agency is sacred to Heavenly Father and he trusts us enough to let us have it, we should regard it with the same sanctity. I learned from the talks that I read that the only way that we can feel true happiness and joy is through agency and the atonement. We are responsible for our lives and the choices we make and thus can only be happy by using our agency to do good.

Pornography: Reading talks about pornography and the power it can have over us just made me feel so extremely grateful that I have not fallen into its trap and that I married a man who similarly has been untainted by pornography’s satanic influence. The talks that I read made me have a stronger conviction to keep this filth out of my family. They all had very good advice on how to protect our families and I will be implementing all of those ideas. The damaging effect that pornography has on the spirit is unmatched and I will do all that I can to keep my family and those I love away from it.

Temple Attendance: I chose this topic as my personal application topic because I have been very blessed lately to live in areas that have nearby temples. I attend the temple fairly often but not as often as I know I should. I wanted to be inspired more to go to the temple and receive those blessings. The talks that I read and the quotes that I gathered did just that. Going to the temple really has such a great healing effect on the spirit. Even if we are ‘sick’ in spirit, simply living in this world can and will taint our spirits. Going to the temple cleanses us and we are blessed for our sacrifices.

Setting Goals: I chose this topic because it is something that I am not very good at. My husband is a goal setter and he is very motivated to achieve his goals, while I am of the mindset of ‘if I don’t set a goal I cannot fail’. Reading that talks that I did made me realize that if I do not push myself and strive to achieve things that may not even be possible, I will grow in spirit and knowledge. A lot of the quotes I found on this topic were centered around missionary work (not surprisingly). The emphasis that I got was that we as members should always set and have goals to become better and to spread the gospel to everyone that we know. Even if we cannot succeed in many or most of our goals, at least we are trying and that in itself is noteworthy.

Charity: I love this topic mainly because it is something that I am striving to do better in. Sometimes I can be very selfish and prideful, but I am trying to be more like Christ and have more love for my fellow man. What I learned from that apostles was that really, it is our responsibility to be charitable and care for our brothers and sisters who need it. As members of this church, we are constantly representing Christ and our Heavenly Father, and because of that, we are obligated to care for others. Something that I previously had not pondered is my responsibility. Knowing this now will inspire me to be more charitable.

Scripture Study: I loved all the correlations between scripture study and personal revelation and getting answers to questions. That is something that is said all the time but it is something that I have not experienced a lot personally. I read my scriptures but I could do better at studying them. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to take religion classes in college because I have learned so much and have had to study the scriptures. It is amazing what you can learn from other people’s insights! From the talks I read I have learned more of the importance of personal scripture study and I think that I will start studying by topic.

Patience: This is another Christ-like attribute that I have been trying to get better at in my life. Through the apostles addresses I have noticed that they emphasized being patient with ourselves and our human frailty as well as being patient with others because they are human. Sometimes I feel like learning should be so simple and easy, so then I get frustrated when I don’t or can’t learn something as fast or as easy as I thought it should be. We need to have patience with ourselves and remember that we are on the Lord’s errand in this life, and everything will come to pass in the Lord’s time.

Revelation: Revelation is such an important attribute to our testimonies. From the apostles I learned how to gain revelation and the importance of acting upon it. This is something that I struggled with as a teenager and came to the knowledge through trials and diligence. Something that is very important to me and that I have read the apostles say is that we need to trust in the faith that we already have and the moments of insight and revelation that have already occurred before we doubt. This is something that has kept me going through almost every trial in my life and I am so grateful for that knowledge!

Seeking Riches:  This topic is simply just an interesting one and I wanted to see how many of the apostles had spoken on a topic such as this one. As I had thought, not many apostles have, but the quotes that I did find I liked a lot! The apostles connected riches with being charitable, relying on the Lord, being wise, and being happy.