August 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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34 BY KIM CRENSHAW SORENSEN I felt overwhelmed with responsibilities, yet I felt prompted to do family history. Why now? Afew years ago, I found myself frequently in fervent prayer, pleading for blessings for myself and my family, blessings I knew we needed. I knew the blessings I sought were righteous desires, yet they did not come. Each time Blessings for My Ancestors, Blessings for Me I prayed, the only impressions that came were urging me to do family history and temple work for my ancestors. The great irony AUTHOR was that one of the things THE OF I was seeking so fervently was more time. COURTESY I felt overwhelmed with my life. I was the MEMENTOS mother of four young FAMILY children, I worked at CASEY; least six hours a day ROBERT on a home busi- BY ness, I had a demanding Church calling, and PHOTOGRAPHS my husband traveled OTHER a lot on business and SLADE; served in a student ward bishopric. BRADLEY BY Now the Lord was asking me to dedicate time and energy PHOTOGRAPHS I didn’t think I had to family history work! BACKGROUND
It had never even crossed my mind that I should be doing my family history. I had felt that it was “not my season,” that it was something I would do later in life. But in kind persistence, the answer to every prayer was the same—to seek my ancestors and do their temple work. While family history work might not be expected of everyone in my circumstances, I felt sure the Lord wanted me to become involved in it. Deciding to Obey I am thankful that I was also at a point in my life where I was learning to better understand and live by the guidance of the Spirit. I knew one of the fundamental laws of revelation was obedience. President David O. McKay (1873–1970) once said, “I want to tell you one thing: When the Lord tells you what to do, you’ve got to have the courage to do it or you had better not ask him again.” 1 If I didn’t obey the direction the Lord was giving me now, I knew I could not expect further direction. One afternoon the demands of my life hit an all-time crescendo. I went to the Lord in prayer, and again the prompting came to seek out my ancestors and do their temple work. But this time I was willing to follow those promptings. As impossible as it seemed, I decided to make a promise that I would spend an average of an hour a day doing family history work. I felt peace in my heart as I made the commitment, but logically I could not see how I was ever going to do it. I decided I would give the Lord my best hour of each day. I set aside the precious hour when my three-year-old was at preschool and my baby was napping. At first this was a trial of my faith. It was difficult for me to shut out all the other pressing demands in my life, but each day I diligently put in my hour, trusting that the Lord would bless me. I knew nothing about family history, so my first hours were spent doing simple things like calling family members to gather records, sitting at the computer trying to learn the family history software, and entering my family data onto the computer. Even though my daily strides were small, I knew that the Lord recognized the sacrifice I was making because I began to feel His Spirit in my life more than ever before. Blessed Are the Merciful Still, I felt like Adam, offering sacrifices unto the Lord but not fully understanding why (see Moses 5:6). Why was I prompted to do family history? Later I was reminded of a scripture, “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all ENSIGN AUGUST 2006 35
Page 1 and 2: T H E C H U R C H O F J E S U S C H
Page 3: 16 Noteworthy Service My Husband’
Page 6 and 7: 4 “Where thou diest, will I die,
Page 8 and 9: Jairus came to the Master, saying,
Page 10 and 11: 8 took [her] by the hand, and said
Page 12 and 13: 10 The pioneers could not have imag
Page 14 and 15: 12 In theService of theLord BY ELDE
Page 16 and 17: In the secular world there are no d
Page 18 and 19: 16 NOTEWORTHY SERVICE
Page 20 and 21: Above: Many displaced Kosovars, inc
Page 22 and 23: 20 MY HUSBAND’S ADDICTION When my
Page 24 and 25: 22 strength, and release from the d
Page 26 and 27: 24 Resisting The Book of Mormon and
Page 28 and 29: PHOTOGRAPH BY CRAIG DIMOND 26 ask t
Page 30 and 31: 28 President Gordon B. Hinckley des
Page 32 and 33: 30 I am not referring to those who
Page 34 and 35: 32 The Ugliest Kite Ever! BY RICHAR
Page 38 and 39: 36 blessings are predicated— And
Page 40 and 41: 38 King Benjamin’s teaching, “[
Page 42 and 43: 40 • A R T • C O M P E T I T I
Page 44 and 45: 42 God Speed the Right, by Kazuko K
Page 46 and 47: 44 Did Not Our Hearts Burn within U
Page 48 and 49: 46 THEGIFTOF THE HOLY GHOST What Ev
Page 50 and 51: 48 I repeat, to be baptized and to
Page 52 and 53: 50 Missionaries (and parents as wel
Page 54 and 55: 52 when you say: “You will know a
Page 56 and 57: ILLUSTRATED BY GREGG THORKELSON 54
Page 58 and 59: 56 Hearing with theHeart Despite co
Page 60 and 61: Above: Deaf Church members in India
Page 62 and 63: Deaf Church members can participate
Page 64 and 65: 62 BENDING MY WILL TO I realized th
Page 66 and 67: 64 A series examining doctrines uni
Page 68 and 69: Until I Found the Truth By Triny Jo
Page 70 and 71: that appeared almost inoperable, bu
Page 72 and 73: 70 Three Hours of Good, Clean Fun W
Page 74 and 75: 72 The Helsinki Finland Temple will
Page 76 and 77: New Area Leadership Assignments The
Page 78 and 79: PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CASEY 76 Churc
Page 80 and 81: PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM C. OLSON 78 Gary
Page 82 and 83: T H E C H U R C H O F J E S U S C H
Page 84: 4 02269 08000 5 26908 Aug 06 Home T

August 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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