Category: God’s Hand

“Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.” (D&C 84:20)

I feel like I got a little more insight into why covenants are so critical. I’ve also believed covenants were important to salvation, but that belief seems to only have a long term application. What I mean is, I’ve alway believed that my covenants were necessary at the final judgement, but struggled to understand the immediate benefit.

Today in speaking with Cindy Jones, she mentioned that she had read a book about a non-member that spoke about only 29 angels available to help people. Cindy thought that was weird, but confirmation from the Spirit that those that haven’t made covenants are limited to receive help from a small number of angels. Those that have made covenants are entitled to receive help from deceased family member angels that have also made covenants; that includes those that have accepted covenants made for them vicariously in the temple.

When Cindy shared that with Paula and me, the light bulb turned on in my mind and the Spirit witnessed to me that this benefit is why missionary work is so important. Not having this blessing must make life so much more difficult.

As a result of my new learning, I published the talk I gave in church today and sent it to Michael Dabriel. My hope is he’ll watch something and the Spirit will touch him such that he’ll want to learn more.

Cindy also shared with us a book about diet and health. She told us the story of the author and explained why what he’s learned will help our family. I felt the Spirit testify while she spoke that it was true. I was a little surprised to have a spiritual experience regarding a health book, but it did. I’m excited to buy and read and implement it.

Shelby was working on some math this evening and it wasn’t going well. She was especially stressed because she needed to take a quiz that she wasn’t yet prepared for. After about 30 minute of working on the same problem, Shelby broke down and started to get angry. After some needed venting, I asked if she was open to help from Troy Jones, our math teacher neighbor. She agreed. I reached out to Troy and he agreed to help. I’m not sure what happened, but within the hour, Shelby was back at the table working on her math. When I walked by, she happily shared that she had got 100% on her quiz.

Walker turned 14 today. I believe he had a good day. Paula had Shelby and Chloe buy him a Costa Vida meal for lunch. Paula also made two amazing brownie cheesecake desserts; one with cherry pie filling and the other with strawberry. Walker received a Nike hoodie and sweats, and a Westlake thread wallet and lanyard. He seemed happy and grateful.

Work was good. I learned how to better create and manipulate surveys in our Legacy platform and got Explore and Data Exploration apps to work in the XI platform for our Andy’s BBQ Pit development account. I also poked around the GraphQL queries for Data Exploration and borrowed some credentials to make service calls. Some ideas have started to come to mind how we might be able to create more native integrations using some of the existing internal services and APIs.

I scheduled a meeting with the India Cybage team tomorrow at 7:30a. I think the last time we met I was a little out of it due to Covid. I hope to make a better impression tomorrow and get the team rolling on Workato work.

Abby tested for Covid this morning after being required to quarantine from the USU team. The result of the test was a negative; what a blessing! That means she gets to travel to her indoor meet in Seatle this weekend.

Chloe’s varsity team won tonight and she played a lot. Her defense was quite amazing. She hesitated on offense and didn’t score much. I’m not sure why. We’re trying to help her be more aggressive on offense. I think she’s scare of making a mistake and the coach benching her.

Willy’s team lost to AF by 9. They played pretty selfishly and, as a result, didn’t shoot well. Willy is pretty concerned about the direction the team is going. He personally called each starter after the game to try to motivate them. When I learned of that action, I thought it was really mature. Way to go Willy. I’m not really that worried about this team; they have great skill and will be successful once they figure out the team game. They’ll get it together. I just hope it doesn’t take too much longer.

I broadcast church every week. I feel like it’s a good service I can provide, but it takes me away from sitting with my family. That separation bothers Paula too. I’m so grateful… I found a mobile software that lets me control my OBS app on my laptop from my phone. I tried it today and it works brilliantly at the church. Now I can provide the service with some control while sitting with my family.

Willy’s bball team lost to PG tonight. It was a pretty good battle, but our team made too many mistakes and couldn’t get it together. Willy had a great game. He was high scorer. After the game, Willy drove to Ashton’s house in Bluffdale to use his recovery compression boots. His legs have been really sore lately; he isn’t used to playing an entire game. Along the way, Willy got pulled over for speeding. He got a speeding ticket a few weeks ago. Fortunately, he was let go with only a warning. God is good.

Yesterday, I was asked to make a change on an integration. Well, today I found out I made a mistake and the integration sent out 64 emails to clients that shouldn’t have been sent. I felt so bad and thought I’m better than to make a mistake like that. I fixed the issue and then had to confess the mistake to the internal sales group I’ve been working with. The guy in charge was very cool about the whole thing and was merciful on me. He could have blown up; I’m grateful he didn’t.

Chloe and Willy had high school basketball games today. Chloe hit 5 three point shots between her JV and varsity games, and Willy hit 5 in his varsity game. Both won their games. It was fun to watch.

Paula also provided cinnamon rolls, apples, and apple dip as part of the girls team meals. Everyone loved them… after their games of course.

How did the Lord touch our family’s life today? He blessed the kids to play the sports they love and allows the rest of us to enjoy cheering them on. It’s brings me a lot of joy to watch the kids work hard, do their best, and have fun. It’s a bonus when they win.

Today was a nice relaxing day. Willy, Chloe, Walker, Brody, and Jimmer all had Bball practices. I cleaned the master shower. We had a puzzle completion for FHE and ate Scotchies.

I also got a chance to study the Book of Mormon and various talks about discernment and receiving personal revelation. These are my two focus areas right now.