Sisters in Zion and Sunday Thoughts

My mom and her good friend Debbie were in town this week. The majority of their time was spent in Alberta, Utah. They froze in the Mountains while learning fantastic preparedness skills, sleeping in army tents, cooking on wood stoves, etc.

They showed up to my apartment Saturday all aglow with nature, smelling smoky and in desperate need of a hot shower. After they removed the "mountain man" smell from their hair and put on fresh clothes, I tucked them up on the sofa with a relaxing movie and ran off to the store... I had been commissioned to retrieve "chocolate ice cream... with nuts...Ben and Jerry's."

Those girls. My apartment was quickly invaded by the best group of college kids that I know. And I had the opportunity to introduce my favorite woman on the planet (aka Queen Mother) to all my friends. I love introducing my mom to friends. I am so proud of her. She's an amazing woman with an incredible spirit.


After meeting the gang, Mom and Debbie quickly jetted off to Eagle Mountain to visit with an old family friend of ours, Aunt Jane. She isn't really my aunt, but I feel as though she is a member of my family. We've known her since I was just nine or ten, and she's what Anne Shirley would call a kindred-spirit.

Now, here is where I get to my point... I'm sure you were wondering where all this babbling was going. After wrapping up pizza night at my house, I jumped in the car to join these amazing women in Eagle Mountain--it was the first time I had seen Jane in 9 years.

As I sat on the couch, cuddled up between my mom and Debbie, and Jane and covered in blankets, I learned what kind of home I want to establish for myself, what kind of woman I want to develop into over the next year.

The spirit whispered quietly to me as I listened to these 'Sisters in Zion' discuss health, food storage, conference addresses, personal revelation, and life experience. There is nothing more beautiful than the expression of faith these women show in their daily lives. Each has had their challenges, some of them heart-breaking. Yet they have persevered through their knowledge of their divine importance, their relationship with Heavenly Father, and their knowledge of our Savior. Often their stories would start out, "I was asking Heavenly Father about..."

As I listened the spirit bore testimony to me, that now is the time to become a true sister or brother in Zion. Now is the time to bid Babylon farewell. I realized that I have become overly focused on the approval of man, and that now is the time for me to remember my Lord. To develop an unshakable faith in the gospel. Words don't do justice the fire in my bones.

1. Ye elders of Israel, come join now with me
And seek out the righteous, where’er they may be—
In desert, on mountain, on land, or on sea—
And bring them to Zion, the pure and the free.

O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell;
We’re going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.

2. The harvest is great, and the lab’rers are few;
But if we’re united, we all things can do.
We’ll gather the wheat from the midst of the tares
And bring them from bondage, from sorrows and snares.

3. We’ll go to the poor, like our Captain of old,
And visit the weary, the hungry, and cold;
We’ll cheer up their hearts with the news that he bore

And point them to Zion and life evermore.

As each of us prepares for the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, we must establish Zion in our hearts. Heavenly Father is calling, at least I know He is calling me, to establish the spirit of Zion in my apartment, in my schooling, in my relationships, and in my heart.

John 15:4 reads, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

It's time--for me--to live what I truly know, and put off the things of the world; to be strong.

I hope each of you had a blessed Sunday and pray that each of you will have a fulfilling week.

Song of the day is Child of Light sung by Mindy Gledhill. Please take a moment to listen. It's been a favorite of mine for a long time.