Life's Journey To Perfection: Come, Follow Me 2021 Doctrine and Covenants 49

Come, Follow Me 2021 Doctrine and Covenants 49–50 Resources and Insights,

Last week, our focus was on spiritual gifts. I love thinking about and discussing spiritual gifts. We also talked about the roles of the Holy ghost, aligning our will with our Heavenly Fathers, expressing gratitude for our blessings and praying to our Heavenly Father in faith.

This week, we learn of the grace and mercy of the Lord. That as we receive light and continue in God we will receive more light. Doctrines are marriage are also outlined, as well as the ability to recognize false teachings and deceptions.

Throughout this blog post you will find images I create daily, which I am offering as free printables. As well as insights and links to resources to help with individual, family and even class room study. Remember to check back throughout the week as more printables and resources are added daily.

Day 1:

I love when I find talks that go so well with what we are studying in the scriptures!! This one by Brent A. Barlow is great! It even mentions some things about the shakers and Joseph Smith’s revelation on marriage.

As we were discussing D&C 49, as a family, my kids couldn’t understand how a religion could not believe in marriage & would believe in celibacy. If they converted the world, the human race would cease to exist, one of them said.

I think it is so mind boggling, because our doctrine is clear, that families are essential to our Heavenly Father’s plan and that marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God. We know that the marriage covenant is the new and everlasting covenant

When I was little it was on my list of highest priorities when I grew up. I wanted to get married and I wanted to be a mom.

Gratefully, I was blessed with both of those things. I have those close to me who have not had this opportunity. I know that one day they will be blessed with such opportunities.

One thing I’ve learned since my youth is that while being a great blessing, neither marriage or being a mom is something you would call easy. For some reason in my mind, I had the “happily ever after” ideal in my mind. But marriage takes work, being a mom can be exhausting. Both have brought me to grow spiritually and turn to my Heavenly Father and rely on my Savior. I am grateful for my marriage and my husband, I love him so much and the life we’ve created together. I’m grateful for my boys!! I love them and want the very best for them! I want them to one day marry for eternity and have families of their own.

In this talk, Brother Barlow, talks about the effects of marriage, & lack of marriage on countries around the world. It is of most importance that we commit to our marriages and to teach the rising generations to hold marriage & family as their highest priorities

Here’s the link:

Marriage Is Ordained of God

Day 2:

For family study tonight, we read the header/summary for this week’s Come, Follow Me. My younger kiddos & the dogs were just way too distracted to do anything else. There wasn’t much discussion & to be honest they were all kinda getting on my nerves. (Which doesn’t happen very often) After we said family prayer. I read through the header again and these words stood out to me, “The Good Shepherd was patient”.

How grateful I am that the Savior, our Good Shepherd, is full of patience! He’s a great example to me of how I should be towards my own family. I’m grateful that He is patient with me in all my shortcomings.

As I studied a little bit more about the Good Shepherd, I found the article and quote. Why is the Savior a good shepherd? Because His love for us is perfect, He knows us and understands us. He desires our success and our eternal happiness and He leads us to eternal life with our Father. We can help Him as He shepherds God’s children. We too can learn to love deeply, to know others and remember that each is a son or daughter of God. We too can see their potential and be invested in them! I was thinking today about ministering, about reaching out to our neighbors and being mindful of who else the Lord needs us to reach out to.

I watched the movie that was on BYUtv called the “Letter Writer”. It was so good and so inspiring!! It’s about an older man in a rest home, who randomly writes letters and has them delivered to people, he also writes little notes and gives them to whoever he feels inspired to give them to. Somehow, these letters & notes, say just what the recipients need to hear! I want to be like the letter writer, being the helper of our Good Shepherd, listening to the promptings of the spirit and inspire and bless the lives of others! If we could each reach out and lift others each day, think of how wonderful that would be and how much light and goodness it would bring into the world & into our own lives 😊♥️

Here’s a great talk:

Shepherding Souls

Day 3:

There is so much information swirling around in the world! We can access information 24/7. How do we know what information is truth?!? Well, we are told in Moroni 10:5, that, “by power of the Holy Ghost ye may know truth of all things”. We are also told in this week’s Come, Follow Me study that, gospel truths can help you guard against false teachings.

To sum it up to my kids, I told them that gospel truths come from our scriptures and from the prophets! The Holy Ghost witnesses to us, that what they say is truth.

I personally am so grateful for this guidance! Especially in a word full of conflicting information. I know with all of my heart that the prophet is the mouth piece of the Lord! I know that there is safety in his instructions and guidance!! I can feel that witness of the Holy Ghost, each time our prophet talks!! I feel an urgency to cling onto the gospel truths and to instruct my kiddos to as well! I know that they will guard us against the adversary, help us press forward & and bring joy and blessings into our life!

Here’s a link to Elder Bednar’s talk:

“The Principles of My Gospel”

Day 4:

We talked marriage tonight with the boys! The importance of it

I wish that I would have found this amazing talk before our family discussion, it has so many great quotes I had a hard time deciding on just one!

In it, Elder Clayton says, “Marriage is a gift from God to us; the quality of our marriages is a gift from us to Him.” This made me stop and think for a bit. Marriage is a gift from God, that we can enter into a partnership and make covenants with each other and God. In the Garden of Eden, God said it was not good that man (Adam) was alone, so He created Eve. From the very beginning marriage was an essential part of our Father’s plan.

The second part of that quote says, “the quality of our marriages is a gift from us to Him.” I have never really thought of it that way. But it makes perfect sense. If marriage is a gift, what we put into it, how we take care of it and nurture it, would show our appreciation for it.

I have found that something that is very important is to remember that your spouse is a child of God! That our Heavenly Father loves them perfectly, that He knows them & understands their potential. This way of thinking, helps us to give our spouses more grace, to treat them with love and respect and to focus on the best in them.

I really loved this talk by Elder Clayton & I plan on studying and pondering over it again, to work on better nourishing my marriage and to make sure I’m putting my spouse first.

Take a moment to read through it or listen to it, it’s not long, let me know what stood out to you?

Here’s the link:

Marriage: Watch and Learn

Day 5:

I love this scripture so much!! When we invite the spirit into our life, we are inviting light. When we study the scriptures we invite light into our life. Light increases as we continue to do those things that invite light into our lives.

Christ is light, for me my knowledge of Him, brings a brightness of hope, he is the light in the darkness of my trials, he shines the light of example for me. I love that the light in our life can continue to increase!! But it requires action on our part, we have to let the light in.

One thing I think of has to do with the light the Holy Ghost brings into our life. As we act upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we receive more and more. I want that constant light of the Holy Ghost in my life. I feel it so important to recognize and act promptly when we feel the spirit, so we can continue to receive more guidance and promptings.

The thing with light, is it spreads warmth and happiness into our life ♥️♥️

Day 6:

I can not learn enough about the Holy Ghost!! I love learning of him, learning from him and speaking of him! For me, He is an essential part of my gospel learning! He is a witness to me of truth and enlightens my mind, so I have greater understanding. Sometimes, in our busy lives we might forget to pray for the spirit in our learning and teaching.

When we were discussing tonight as a family, that was one thing that came to my mind. That if we desire to learn by the spirit, we need to pray for his presence and companionship. We need to pray that we may listen to the spirit. Same is true, with when we teach. I’m good at doing that when I need to teach a church lesson or speak, but as I have pondered on this. I’ve thought about how important it is that I pray for the spirit in our family discussions &! in my teaching my own kids. The best lessons are taught by the spirit!

When have you been particularly taught by the spirit? When have you felt of the guidance of the spirit as you have taught?

Here’s a great talk:

Teaching and Learning by the Spirit

Remember to check back throughout the week. You could also follow along on Facebook and Instagram.

Here are some activities and lessons that could go with this week's study: