Is that a Prompting?

I was finding some resources on the Church Gospel Media, preparation for Issac’s and Annabelle’s testimony videos. I came across an invitation from President Nelson.

On New Year’s Day 1/1/2020, President Russell M. Nelson shared the following message on social media:

“When I spoke during last October’s general conference, I designated 2020 as a bicentennial period commemorating 200 years since God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith in a vision. That singular event in human history initiated the Restoration of the Lord’s gospel—an unfolding Restoration that continues today. How blessed we are to live in the light of that vision. With that vision came new understanding about the nature of God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

God loves all of His children and has a vision for each of us. Just as He listened to Joseph’s prayer in 1820, He listens to you and yearns to speak with you through the Spirit. Heavenly Father wants you. We want you. This is going to be an important year. We invite you to be a major part in sharing the message of the ongoing Restoration of the Savior’s gospel. We will share more about this soon, but you can start today by acting on the invitations I extended to you at last general conference to immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.

What does that look like? You may wish to begin your preparation by reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price. Or ponder important questions such as “How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?” or “How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?”

Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Act on any of these invitations to prepare yourself for sharing the important messages of the ongoing Restoration. As you seek Jesus Christ in these efforts, God will prepare you to receive further light. It is your personal preparation that will help April’s general conference become for you not only memorable but unforgettable. The time to act is now. This is a hinge point in the history of the Church, and your part is vital.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. He leads this Church today. God is trusting us, all of us, to play an important role in the Restoration of His gospel.”

Our Kuala Lumpur District Relief Society President, Sister Min Lian did asked every branch Relief Society Presidents of the Kuala Lumpur District to post at their own branch Relief Society group chat to invite sisters in the branch to share their testimony of restored gospel in their own group chat.

It was as so much things to do and I just posted on our Puchong Relief Society group chat and did not put much attentions into it. There was not much response from the sisters either in the group chat.

After I did some editing on some videos of sisters’ testimonies for the branch Zoom open house, I kind of an idea that if we could share the testimonies on Puchong Branch Facebook page. Then, I came to this invitation that President Nelson shared early of the year.

I am thinking of, if, if we could ask sisters to participate in sharing their testimony on the restored gospel in video form. Then, we can edit and add some music and post it to the Puchong Branch Facebook page, may be a video a week.

May be we can make it more specific, pray for some questions such as the questions posted by President Nelson, and more… then assign to the sisters… then they could email their testimony videos to us.

Half of year 2020 had passed, we still have another 2nd half year of 2020… left about 30+ weeks… my heart and mind is thinking of at least we do what our Prophet asked us to do.

I do not know why my mind had been thinking about this lately during I was editing the Zoom open house video for Relief Society. And this thought keep on banging on my mind that I have to, and I need to do this.

Is that a prompting from the Spirit?

Bukit Melawati Kuala Selangor

After almost 3 months of solid quarantine at home due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), finally after it was lifted up and we finally able to travel beyond own district.

We drive out and bring both Issac and Annabelle for a break from staying in the house for such a long time. We decided to go to Sekinchan during this Hari Raya Puasa holiday.

On our way to Sekinchan, we had decided to visit Bukit Malawati at Kuala Selangor. Bukit Malawati is one of the tourist attraction in Kuala Selangor besides the fireflies.

This hill is also known as Monkey Hill due the population of Silver Leaf and Long Tail Macaques monkey species here. We spent around 1 – 2 hours here before driving towards to Sekinchan.

The cannons at Bukit Malawati, Kuala Selangor. In the late 18th and early 19th century, Bukit Malawati is a stronghold of the Selangor Sultanate. In order to fight against the Dutch, Sultan Ibrahim built this heavily fortified fort.

The famous white light house on Bukit Malawati, Kuala Selangor which is more than 100 years old. It is still being used to guide the ships on the Straits of Malacca. Unfortunately, the light house is not open for tourists. The view should be very nice from up there.

After Bukit Melawati, we headed to Sekinchan. We have been to Sekinchan for few times, thus we did not take much photos.

Due to the MCO too, the beach is still not fully opened, and we saw the police patrol car passed by the area. Anyhow, it is a great day out for us after few months of quarantine at home!

We can feel Joy and Gratitude for the Goodness of God

I am on Mosiah 25 today. As recorded in Mosiah 25, as Limhi’s people and Alma’s people united with the people in Zarahemla, King Mosiah had their records read to all of the people.

How did Mosiah’s people feel after he read to them the records of Zeniff’s people and Alma’s people?

Mosiah’s people were ‘struck with wonder and amazement’, they were filled with exceedingly great joy, but at the same time they felt sorrow for the deaths of so many. They indeed recognized the ‘goodness of God’, they felt the need to ‘give thanks to God’ and they feel pain and anguish for the sins of others.

Reading the scriptures can bring us joy and gladness, they can also make us aware of the sorrow that comes from poor choices. This awareness can be a blessing because we are able to see the negative effects of sinful behaviour without personally committing sin.

Has your family kept any records you could read from? Maybe you could add to your records or start keeping your own.

My family do not kept any records. I started writing journal to keep a records of the growing ups of the children after few years that I gave birth. And it continues throughout the years till now. I do not write everyday but I hope and make it a goal that I will continue to write everyday even a little just to recap things happened in a day and try to recognised the hand of the Redeemer in my life daily.

What would you include that might help your family (including future generations) be “filled with exceedingly great joy” and learn about “the immediate goodness of God”? (Mosiah 25:8, 10).

I would write about my daily life because I do not know what would lies ahead of me: challenges, trials, or things which would make me grows. It is always a process or a journey to perfection.

I would include all the spiritual experiences that I have including the feelings that I have whenever I read the scriptures, general conference addresses, Church magazines, biographies of Church leaders and others, and family histories. Stories such as our family conversion story, temple sealing day and so on.

Why was it important for Limhi’s people to remember that the Lord had delivered them out of captivity?

It was important for Limhi’s people to remember that the Lord had delivered them out of captivity because that remind them of the goodness and power of God in their lives.

What has the Lord done for us that we should remember?

The Lord has done so much for us that our family should remember! Starting from our small little broken family, bring us back together again, lead us to His true Church, getting to know the restored gospel, baptized into His Church, we sealed as family for all time and eternity in the temple, and so much experiences that He allowed to happen in our life to strengthen us as individuals and as family.

All of those I would want my family and future generations be “filled with exceedingly great joy” and learn about “the immediate goodness of God” as those experiences strengthen my testimony and gave me a greater love for the Lord.

Breakfast by Annabelle

These 2 days Annabelle in charged of our morning breakfast. All these photos were taken during she was on work.

Here are some photographs of the breakfast she prepared for us whole family!

She improves her skills a lot from her first try on her new developed cooking skills.

I can avoid Spiritual Blindness by Focusing on the Savior

The prophet Jacob taught that the Jew’ spiritual blindness came from “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14). What is the Mark? What does it mean to look beyond the Mark?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926 – 2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that in this verse, “the mark is Christ” in his talk, “Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King”.

To look beyond the Mark means that to centre our lives on anything other than the Savior and His gospel. If we center our lives on anything other than the Savior and His gospel, then we will become blind to the truth and we will stumble and fall spiritually.

According to Jacob 4:8-18, what can we do to focus on the Savior and avoid spiritual blindness?

We can focus on the Savior and avoid spiritual blindness by choosing to believe in Him and by worshipping the Father in His name. We can choose to search the words of the prophets. We can choose to take counsel from His hand. We can choose to be reconciled to God through the Atonement of Christ.

“Today there is a tendency among some of us to “look beyond the mark” rather than to maintain a testimony of gospel basics. We do this when we substitute the philosophies of men for gospel truths, engage in gospel extremism, seek heroic gestures at the expense of daily consecration, or elevate rules over doctrine. Avoiding these behaviors will help us avoid the theological blindness and stumbling that Jacob described.

Substituting the Philosophies of Men for Gospel Truths

Some in their spiritual immaturity attempt to appear sophisticated and intellectual. Instead of accepting revelation, they want to dissect it and add dimensions and variations of meaning that distort its beautiful truths.

We look beyond the mark when we refuse to accept simple gospel truths for what they are.

Gospel Extremism

Another sign of spiritual immaturity and sometimes apostasy is when one focuses on certain gospel principles or pursues “gospel hobbies” with excess zeal. Almost any virtue taken to excess can become a vice.

The Lord said regarding important doctrine, “Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me” (D&C 10:68) and “That which is more or less than this cometh of evil” (D&C 124:120).

We are looking beyond the mark when we elevate any one principle, no matter how worthwhile it may be, to a prominence that lessens our commitment to other equally important principles or when we take a position that is contrary to the teachings of the Brethren.

Heroic Gestures as a Substitute for Daily Consecration

Some members profess that they would commit themselves with enthusiasm if given some great calling, but they do not find home teaching or visiting teaching worthy of or sufficiently heroic for their sustained effort.

God uses us “not according to our works, but according to his own purpose” (2 Tim. 1:9). We are looking beyond the mark if our consecration is conditional or does not involve daily devotion.

Elevating Rules over Doctrine

Doctrine usually answers the question “why?” Principles usually answer the question “what?” Whenever we emphasize how to do something without reference to why we do it or what we do, we risk looking beyond the mark.

In many areas we are guided only by doctrines and principles rather than rules. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.” We are responsible to the Lord for how we respond in such situations.

Those who are committed to following rules without reference to doctrine and principle are particularly susceptible to looking beyond the mark. Equally dangerous are those who get mired in rules and are thus less willing to accept change resulting from continuous revelation.”

I found there is an article by Elder Quentin L. Cook, “Looking beyond the Mark” Ensign March 2003, is very useful and he had provided some guidelines to me to ‘not looking beyond the mark’.

I can be reconciled to God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ

I continue to read on Jacob 4 today. it contains words that Jacob was inspired to write for us that would read his records.

Jacob pleaded with his people to “be reconciled into [God] through the atonement of Christ” (Jacob 4:11). What do you think that means? Would it help to look up reconcile in a dictionary?

It is interesting to look up in the dictionary on the word “reconcile”. It stated as “to restore, to friendship or harmony”.

Another meaning of it is “to make consistent with another”. It indeed inspired me for the brand new meaning of “reconcile”!

It means we are brought into harmony with God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And most importantly, it require consistent effort on my part!

Perhaps you can find words or phrases in this chapter that suggest to you how you can come unto Christ so that you can be reconciled to God.

I can come unto Christ by exercise faith Jesus Christ, repent of my sins, receive the ordinances of the gospel, and keep my covenants with Him, so that I can be reconciled to God.

What has God provided to point you to Christ? How are you using these things to draw closer to God?

God has provided commandments and covenants that I should always observe and keep; God has provided the Holy Ghost as my companion in whatever I do with the guidance from the Spirit; God has provided living prophets and apostles to lead us in this latter-days through counsels, warnings and admonitions; God has provided the Book of Mormon, the Holy Bible, Doctrines and Covenants and Pearls of Great Price and later-days revelations through His prophets and apostles. When I observe and obey to these things, and put into action to do it, I know that I can draw closer to God.

The Lord Delights in Chastity

I was reading Jacob chapter 2 and 3 today. Jacob taught about the dangers and consequences of the sins of pride and sexual immorality.

I do not know why, every time when it came to chastity, I would become more alert in reading and studying the related scriptures.

“For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abominsation before me; thus saith the lord of Hosts.” ~ Jacob 2:28

When you read Jacob 2:32-35 and 3:10, look for ways immorality was affecting the Nephites as a people and as individuals. How are these ways similar to the consequences of immorality you see in today’s world?

“Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbing of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds. ~ Jacob 2:35

“Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.” ~ Jacob 3:10

My heart grieve as I read these 2 verses. May be it is because I have been through all these sufferings and pains before. It give me an insight that the consequences of immorality are the same at Jacob’s days (about 544 B.C.) and in today’s world. It is an eternal truth.

What do you find in Jacob’s words that could help you teach a loved one about the important of chastity?

The consequences of the immorality indeed hurts and affects one family deeply. It is just like a deep scare in the heart that you would feel pain and hurt, the feeling of being betrayed of your trust.

I know that my children are taught about the important of chastity through our own family experience, because they were all the time seeing, hearing and feeling how I have been through as a woman and themselves as children. They knows how pain and hurt it can be.

Sometimes on the other hand, I am worry if this had changed their perception towards marriage. One thing for sure, if they fall in love with someone, they would be very committed as what they had been through in the childhood.

How have you been blessed by your efforts to be chaste?

I have been blessed with guidance of the Spirit and the knowledge that see the Lord’s hand in my life even though sometimes I would have miss.

I think I have been blessed with the capacity to love and to forgive, even though I have been hurt many times. My capacity to be patience, perseverance have been stretched until the extend I do not realized it.

What do you find in Jacob 2:23-30 that helps you understand why the Lord has, in limitations, commanded His people to practice plural marriage? How does He feel about those who do so without His authorization?

Plural marriage is authorized only when the Lord commands it through His prophets. One reason is to raise up seed unto Lord or increase the number of children born in the gospel covenant.

The Lord delights in chastity, and sexual sin is an abomination before the Lord. The Lord condemned those who entering into specific plural marriages that He had not authorized. Unless the Lord commands otherwise, He has ordained marriage is to be between one man and one woman.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a single, undeviating standard of sexual morality: intimate relations are proper only between a man and a woman in the marriage relationship prescribed in God’s plan. Such relations are not merely a curiosity to be explored, an appetite to be satisfied, or a type of recreation or entertainment to be pursued selfishly. They are not a conquest to be achieved or simply an act to be performed. Rather, they are in mortality one of the ultimate expressions of our divine nature and potential and a way of strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife. We are agents blessed with moral agency and are defined by our divine heritage as children of God—and not by sexual behaviors, contemporary attitudes, or secular philosophies.”

We Believe in Being Chaste

Elder David A. Bednar

March 2013 General Conference