Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I got this ready almost 2 months ago, and didn't print it.  I'm doing that today! When I Thought the Church Had Failed Me By  Kim White  · August 25, 2022 The first time The Church let me down, I was just a youth. I had a longstanding difficult relationship that had advanced from “difficult” to abusive. It was severely damaging my happiness and self-esteem; I had recurrent nightmares and fantasies of self-harm, but I was too young to know what to do. So, at different times I tried to explain my situation to my bishop and youth leaders. Each time, I was dismissed or put off with platitudes and reassurances like “Sometimes people don’t get along when they’re young, but when you get older, I bet it will change.” To be fair to those leaders, in retrospect I can see that I didn’t know how to articulate the reality of my situation, and I’m not sure I gave them what they needed to know to help me. But the point is, I went to leaders in the Church for help and I didn’t get it. In...

  This is a very inspirational article!  It helps you recognize things like this in your own life! When You Wonder if God is in the Details of Your Life By  Maurine Proctor  · November 13, 2020 Whenever I wonder if God is in the details of my life, I think back to a nearly unused telephone on the wall of a dark hall in a church building in Chicago. We are assured in scripture and by modern prophets that our lives themselves are a divine conversation with Him, and that far from being a distant God who lets our lives play out randomly, He is personal, aware and in the details more than we see or understand. Elder Ronald A. Rasband said, “Our lives are like a chessboard, and the Lord moves us from one place to another—if we are responsive to spiritual promptings. Looking back, we can see His hand in our lives.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell, for whom this was a theme said, “So it is, amid the vastness of His creations, God’s personal shaping influence is felt in the details of...