This morning's talk is Protection From Pornography--A Christ-Focussed Home, by Sister Linda S. Reeves. As I rewatched the talk this morning, I tried to look for something I could share here on my blog, knowing that it's not likely that many of the people that I know read my blog struggle with pornography. (Incidentally, if you do struggle with pornography, you may want to read the full talk. There's a link to it above.) Fortunately, I found a paragraph containing wise counsel that pertains not only to pornography, but to other challenges as well. Sister Reeves testified:
Brothers and sisters, because I know from my own experiences, and those of my husband, I must testify of the blessings of daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening. These are the very practices that help take away stress, give direction to our lives, and add protection to our homes. Then, if pornography or other challenges do strike our families, we can petition the Lord for help and expect great guidance from the Spirit, knowing that we have done what our Father has asked us to do.
Daily prayer and scripture study is, thankfully, a practice that has been in place in my home as long as I can remember. Family home evening is a little harder, since we're not always all home on the same evenings. But it has always been somewhat strengthening to me to walk passed Mom's room in the evening, and see her kneeling in prayer or hear her listening to the scriptures on her computer. It's good to know where she gets her spiritual power, and it serves as an example to me of how I can gain spiritual power as well. Our prayers aren't always spectacular, and we don't always understand everything we read in the scriptures, but just by having that daily routine, I think we gain some of the spiritual blessings that Sister Reeves listed.
Prayer, scripture study, and family home evening help families increase their spirituality and unity. They build a foundation of faith that can be a strength to us when trials and temptations come. Tomorrow morning, I'll be blogging from Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk, Spiritual Whirlwinds, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about the importance and benefits of strong foundations then, but for now, what I want to teach is how to build one, and that it's not too late to start.
With Sister Reeves, "I cannot [fully] explain the power of this great book [the Book of Mormon]. I only know that, coupled with prayer, the Book of Mormon carries the power to protect families, strengthen relationships, and give personal confidence before the Lord." I want to develop the habit of reading it more frequently and studying it more deeply. I want to learn more from it and absorb more of its spiritual power. I know that, by doing so, I can gain the strength to overcome my personal challenges, and so can you. Daily prayer and scripture study isn't always easy. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice sleep or recreational activities for it. But as you give your time to the Lord, He will give His promised blessings to you, and those are blessings that are worth spending the time it'll take to get them.
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