Already Begun

At study group today, we were studying the temptations of Christ. One of the ladies shared a quote that I've heard before, and I just love it. This is from the Follow Him podcast this week with Jan Martin. Start listening at 55:45 with the quote by CS Lewis, about how Satan hopes we think there's not way to get rid of him and his demons except by yielding to them. BUT there is another way. We can grow stronger in Christ and through his power, Satan will lose his power over us and he will be bound! 

So the money quote here is: "When Satan is bound in a single home--when Satan is bound in a single life- the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life". -Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 

(Also see Alma 48:41 and 1Nephi 22:15 and 26)

Corey and I have both noticed that there have been a few times over the past few months when things here at home feel like they are going just really great. That quote describes what I think it going on. We are establishing really good family habits, and we are working on having a heart like Christ's. I think we are learning to bind Satan. We have days here and there that the Millennium has begun here in our home. It's a wonderful feeling and I hope we are able to make it happen more and more often, with God's help. Another quote from a facebook friend (who is actually a distant relative I connected with back in Oct 2020) 

"The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power. The power that strengthens us to withstand trials, temptations, and heartaches. - Pres Russell M. Nelson in his October 2022 message titled "Overcome the World and Find Rest" What a title, so good! I think we are little by little overcoming the world! Life is really good. We enjoy our little crew at home - Abi had a GMS flute thing tonight and got a photo with Emmanuel Pahud, which she said was a big deal. Sorry I've never heard of him. 

So these 8 kids at home are doing well and it's fun seeing what the older kids are up to and helping them where we can. We talk to Hyrum every Tuesday and he's doing well. Sometimes the college kids will come up over the weekend to wash laundry. Corey drove down to Lehi last night to take Ethan out to dinner, to give him counsel over something he's worried about (dating? money? School and career? I'm not sure what it was about, probably a little bit of all of the above.) Overall the college kids are doing really well and we check in with them now and then, but I don't really know much of what is going on in their lives. I told them they need to start their own blogs so I can peek into their lives. Or I guess I could check Instagram more often. Whatsapp & facebook Messenger texts get lost as new texts keep coming through, so I like blogging - it keeps things in order but it's still searchable and you can easily refer back to or find past notes and events. Anyway, yeah, things are really great. Let's keep at it!