My hand is out stretched still

His hand is out stretched still

And the Lord brought us forth
out of Egypt
with a mighty hand,
with outstretched arm,
and with great terribleness,
and with signs, and with wonders:
His hand is out stretched still

He hath smitten them:
the hills did tremble
and their carcases
were torn in the midst
of the streets. For all this his
anger is not turned away
His hand is stretched out still.

I have made the earth,
the man and the beast
that are upon ground,
by my great power
and by my outstretched arm
the universe was formed.
My hand is out stretched still.

my Father sent me
that I might be lifted
up upon the cross,
my arms out stretched
Behold, I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hands.
My hand is out stretched still

Isaiah

How do we know Isaiah truely was a prophet?
He named his son "^dMaher-shalal-hash-baz." which means destruction in imminent"

Mike said he could have just called him "Galen"

Lessons in Nursery

Sometimes you get a calling that seems more like a sentence then a calling.

My last calling was the primary music leader- a calling I felt I was born to do. We had lots of fun and all the kids got their wiggles out. And then I was called from that to Nursery. I cornered the Primary President and asked her why she out me in there. She explained that she didn't want to move me from music, but that the nursery needed a strong leader who would be dependable. (ie, I actually show up, and often am prepared too).

So I have now served a year in nursery (I served many years in nursery before. I was called to nursery when I was 18, and kept getting that calling until my oldest was 4 years old and out of nursery himself.)

As much as I loved organizing the nursery, getting a good consistent program running and teaching to gospel to 6 open, innocent minds every week, I began to wonder why the Lord would put me there again. What am I to learn from this?

Well, when I got pregnant and began being bigger then normal earlier then normal, we began to wonder if we might be having more then 1 baby. Then I began to watch nursery and realize that the lesson I was looking for might be that I can handle an awful lot of little ones. How many babies could I be pregnant with? well, the 6 kids in nursery already counted 2 of my own. Is the Lord showing me that I could handle quadruplets?

That scared the pants off of us. 4 toddlers is a little different then 4 preemie newborns. (quads are almost always premature). Then I had a weird dream where a doctor told me that I had conceived 4, but only had 6 legs kicking me. So then we were wondering if there is any credence to this dream, and triplets had a chance of full term birth. Still scary, but I have known people who have had triplets and survived to be proud of them as young adults.

So, we were really looking forward, with some in trepidation, to our ultrasound last week. What would it show? What are we in for?

We were slightly shocked and pleasantly surprised to find out that instead of 2, 3, or 4. That my belly just had 1 big baby boy in it. He is so big that it could have easily been 2.

So besides a big sigh of relief, then I was still left wondering about what am I to learn from nursery?

Sometimes I wonder if it is the same lesson, but to be viewed over a longer time frame. Maybe it is the lesson that just showing up is 90% of the service. Show up and let the Lord work through you.

Vital role of women

I know that each of us has a vital and essential role as a daughter of God. He has bestowed upon His daughters divine attributes for the purpose of forwarding His work. God has entrusted women with the sacred work of bearing and rearing children. No other work is more important. It is a holy calling. The noblest office for a woman is the sacred work of building eternal families, ideally in partnership with her husband.

—Sister Silvia H. Allred

Football on Sundays

At church this Sunday, my little angles were not being too reverent. So I explained to them that we are not to run in the hallways at church. That worked about as well as always, only I guess Clay was listening (5 year old), because the next time Shanny (2 year old) went running down the hallways he ran faster and tackled her flat on her face. She ended up with an extensive bloody nose, all over her (thank goodness) red dress.

So I asked Clay what did he think he was doing? He said he was trying to keep Shannon from running in the hallway. I told him I was so mad at him that he wasn't allowed to come and have snack in nursery before going off to Sunday school today.

Suffering-why?

Job, while he did not understand why God permitted his affliction, would not judge the Lord nor lose his faith in Him. “Let me alone,” he said to his friends, “let come on me what will” ( v. 13 ). God was his salvation, and Job trusted in Him alone. Job saw his afflictions in perspective. As President Spencer W. Kimball said: “If we looked at mortality as the whole of existence, then pain, sorrow, failure, and short life would be calamity. But if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the premortal past and on into the eternal post-death future, then all happenings may be put in proper perspective.” ( Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 97.)

Job’s friends challenged God’s wisdom, and they saw Job’s suffering as a punishment sent from God. But Job had a greater understanding. He knew that God was there, although his prayers for relief were not answered as he might wish. Should his suffering really have been the result of personal sin, he begged the Lord to cause him to know so that he could repent ( v. 23 ).

But suffering is not always the result of sin. Suffering has a larger purpose, part of which is educative. President Kimball said:

“Is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

“If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

“If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

“Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and godhood.” ( Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 97.)

“‘It is not the function of religion to answer all questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give courage (through faith) to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status. Therefore, take heed of yourselves, and as a wise world thinker once said, “If the time comes when you feel you can no longer hold to your faith, then hold to it anyway. You cannot go into tomorrow’s uncertainty and dangers without faith”‘ ( Church News, source not quoted).” (Keith H. Meservy, “Job: ‘Yet Will I Trust in Him,’” pp. 139–53.)

Where are the men?

I read a lot about the economic challenges ahead and how people will riot when they are forced to cut back on their standard of living... but I think as long as we have several varieties on multiple player online games like the World of Warcraft,,, and the electricity to play them with that we simply will be too busy to notice. And all of anger will be worked out slaying some computer graphics.

We will not riot. We will not fight, we will not even notice the walls crumbling around us. Give us our alternative universe and we will do only what we must in this one to spend time in that one.

There is often a scripture referred to in Isaiah where it talks about 7 women will get a hold of 1 man. Sometimes I wonder if it is not because the men are not there physically, but because they are not there emotionally, intellectually or even spiritually.

We are now on our second generation of young men being sucked into computer/video games. Most of these men spend every spare minute in dark rooms fighting and working in a world that doesn't even exist, and unless you are online in their game, you might as well not exist.

Will it drop the birthrate to have a whole generation of video game addicts? Or is sex as important enough to them as the money they need to play their games?

I am serious... how many men do you know under 40 in the community?
Do they date enough to woo a wife? and if so how long can their wives handle the daily disappearances into the video game abyss?

Are our boys growing up thinking that this is what men do? Will they catch wives? and keep them?

It might be time to reclaim our men. Turn off the computers and hand them saws and axes and hammers - then after they work long, hard and sweaty- they can pull out their screw drivers and realize that the real life isn't all that bad.

And then is the men lost to video games any worse for us then the men lost to social status games (keeping up with Jones)? or to games of acquisition of wealth and money?

I had a dream last night that several people insisted that I was pregnant with my number 6. I tried to tell them that I wasn't. They wouldn't believe me - even though I am having my period. The kind of period where you rain down blood and terror upon the toliet several times per day.....

Maybe the dream is a reaction to my mom introducing me to my aunt as having 5.some children. Today it is 5.0 and we have at least 2 weeks before we can increase that.
Sent from my iPhone

The previous post is from LDS church News.... This talk fascinates me. I wish I would have been there. I just wrote a treatise on the roles on men and women (I have been trying to better comprehend them and their eternalness for months now) and have most come these these conclusions. I still would like to know more.

Women have a sacred role in the sanctification and purification of men, Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy told students and faculty during the campus devotional in the Marriott Center at BYU on Tuesday, March 9.

Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

Elder Glen L. Pace of the Seventy speaks at a BYU Devotional.

Reflecting on the love he felt from his mother, sister, wife and daughters, Elder Pace spoke of the positive influence women have had on his life.

Speaking specifically about a time when his daughter fell asleep in his arms, Elder Pace noted the comfort it must have brought his daughter to be held by her father. He realized afterward that even greater was the peace and comfort she brought to him.

Looking to the Savior as an example, Elder Pace spoke of the love and respect He bestowed upon women.

"As we read about these associations, our focus is generally on what He teaches them and the love and understanding He gives them," Elder Pace said. "Have you ever considered the possibility that these women provided immense comfort to His burdened soul? It is my belief that He needed them as He journeyed toward living a perfect life in order that He could provide the ultimate sacrifice."

Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

Elder Glen L. Pace of the Seventy sitting by his wife Jolene, smile at members of the audience prior to Elder Pace speaking at a BYU Devotional.

Just as the Savior needed righteous women, so do men today in purifying and sanctification in their lives.

Sharing excerpts from the story of the creation found in the book of Abraham, Elder Pace told of how the earth was created — before Eve — where Adam had been placed in the Garden of Eden. In the garden, Adam was enjoying a utopia in physical surroundings as well as open communication with God. Still, it was not complete without Eve.

Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

BYU students listen to Elder Glen L. Pace of the Seventy speak at a BYU Devotional.

"I believe the Father's statement 'It is not good that the man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18) had a much more profound meaning than the obvious biological implications," he said. "It also went further than providing Adam with company. Adam's ability to obtain the purification necessary to get back into the presence of God was dependent upon his continuous association with Eve."

In order for men and women to obtain the highest degree of celestial glory, there is need to be married, Elder Pace said.

"There is a limit to our spiritual development as long as we are single. There is a spiritual development which can only be obtained when a man and a woman join their incomplete selves into a complete couple," he said. "Just as conception requires the physical union of male and female, perfection requires the union of the very souls of male and female."

Although single men and women can accomplish great things on their own, they are incomplete until united intellectually, emotionally, physically and most important, spiritually, he said.

"The world we live in has gone awry with its focus on the physical part of the male and female relationship. If there is too much focus on the physical, the vital areas of intellectual, emotional and spiritual union are not being placed in an environment where they can flourish and grow."

Elder Pace spoke of the obsession the current society has on "making love," rather than developing a complete relationship that enables "expressing love." Because melding divine natures is a necessary element in bringing about perfection, Elder Pace said, individuals must guard against any deterioration of those natures.

"If the world keeps chipping away at the divine nature of women, it is probable that our relationships in marriage will not bring about the sanctification necessary for exaltation or, at a minimum, the process will be delayed," he said.

Referring to the phrase, "men have the priesthood and women have been given the blessing of procreation," Elder Pace spoke of the importance of each role in a relationship, and the ability couples have to complement one another in their eternal roles.

"It is the marriage ceremony in the temple where husband and wife receive the power to perfect their relationship and, thereby, obtain their exaltation."

As individuals work together to become a whole, as the Lord has commanded, they work together to become a combination of complementary capacities and characteristics.

"Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and you look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny."