August 2019 Bookmark and Thoughts ~Angels Among Us~

God sends angels from heaven to help us.

 He also sends people on earth to act as angels to us.  

We too can be angels for others. 

I hope you have experienced loving angels in your life and are acting as an angel as you minister to those in your home, neighborhood and community. 

GO OUT AND DO GOOD!

Watch: Angels Among Us by Brett Cook; BYU Idaho devotional
Listen: Angels Among Us
Jeffery R. Holland: Angels Round About You

 

Short summary:
Brett Cook, auxiliary services managing director at BYU-Idaho, spoke to the students on the topic, angels among us.

He shared different scriptural accounts where prophets were visited by angels such as, Adam when he was in the Garden of Eden, Daniel when he was in the lion’s den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego when they were thrown into a furnace and Joseph Smith during the days of the restoration of the gospel.

While many people associate angels with heavenly angels, there are many angels who assist us on Earth. Cook wanted to focus his talk on the angels we have in our midst.

“I’m not talking about heavenly angels, but mortal angels,” he said in an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio.

He had the students ponder about how they can be angels to other people.

In his devotional talk he asked the students to raise their hands if they had ever been helped by someone in a time of need or had acted on a prompting to help someone. Many people raised their hands. He then extended three challenges to the students.

Will you commit to live your life so you can have the Holy Ghost as your constant companion?
Will you commit to listen to the promptings of the spirit?
As you listen to the spirit will you commit to act upon those promptings?

“You can accomplish these three challenges; we each have what it takes,” he said.

“God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face,” Holland said.

We can be an answer to other’s prayers by attending to the promptings of the Spirit. Learning to put away distractions is an important aspect to recognizing the spirit so we can be on the Lord’s errand when He calls.

“The more you create opportunities to listen, you’ll learn how to hear it better and better as you go on,” he said. “As you get kind of tuned in, you’ll feel and you’ll hear those impressions in your mind more often.”

Angels Among Us music video by Firefly
Angel Among Us  music video by Alabama

July 2019- Bookmark & Talk -Arnold Thiebaud " Know you are loved"

Arnold Thiebaud " Know you are loved"   

video, radio & transcript

Story from talk:
Our young men’s group had planned an outing to go to a ranch and ride horses on a day trail ride. I was excited to go and fortunate my father was able to accompany me on my adventure with our ward. As they saddled up the horses and gave me mine, I wasn’t as thrilled as I noticed my horse was extremely spirited and stubborn. We went on a ride for several hours, where I constantly had to work to keep the horse with the group. We took a break and then started down the trail again. Not too long after, a nearby horse, that wasn’t part of the ride and was feeding in the pasture, took off in a gallop and ran in front of my horse. Immediately, my horse bolted and ran after that horse. With my limited experience and everyone behind me yelling commands, I tried pulling several times on the reigns to stop the horse, but to no avail. We were headed for thick brush I probably wouldn’t clear. At that time, I did what most people recommend you don’t: I closed my eyes. But then I proceeded to pray, saying, “Heavenly Father, help me.” I kept my eyes closed and felt the impression to put my hands together as if I was going to dive into a swimming pool. Later, I would learn from my dad that this helped me do a rolling somersault off the horse. A few seconds later, I was laying on the ground face down. As I got up, I noticed several rocks and a tree trunk near me. Miraculously, I had only a few small scrapes on my face, a small bruise under my chin, and my glasses had been thrown quite a distance.

They then brought my horse back, which I wasn’t too excited to get back on but had to so we could get back to the ranch. I was still surprised by what had happened as someone handed me my glasses. I put them on and couldn’t see very well out of one eye. I kept asking the riders near me if my eye was okay and they said it was. Finally, I reached up to move my glasses and poked myself in the eye. To my relief, I realized the rim had had broken and the lens had fallen out. My eye was completely fine.

That day, I could have easily had my feet stuck in the stirrups, or any number of other outcomes, but I came to a profound knowledge that my Heavenly Father heard and answered my prayer and He loved me.

Additional counsel: