Last night, John and I had the opportunity to worship in the temple. I love to go to the temple. I was 23 the first time I went to the temple for my own covenants. I remember walking in and feeling the spirit of the temple. “I’m home!” I was completely comfortable with every part of the process and I immediately saw the connections each step I took made with the Savior. Nothing felt unfamiliar. Throughout the following years my enthusiasm for the temple ebbed and flowed based on what was happening in my life and the difficulty of getting to the temple with family care and distance from the travel. However, once I entered the doors to the temple, the same feeling embraced me. “You are home!”
My study of the Come Follow Me assignment this week has focused on the Abrahamic covenant. I am impressed that God has made covenants with His people, from Adam to Enoch, from Enoch to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to me. God extends His promises to all of His children who choose to walk with Him in righteousness.
Most of my life I have learned that a covenant is a 2-way promise. My testimony of a covenant with God has expanded. In an April 2024 address entitled Covenants and Responsibilities, President Dallin H. Oaks taught, “A covenant is a commitment to fulfill certain responsibilities.” A commitment. Responsibilities with promise. This is my covenant with God.
In September of 2000, President Russell M. Nelson taught that covenants provide us with identity, priority and blessings.
Concerning identity:
And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [3 Nephi 20:25; emphasis added]
He shared the following about covenant priorities:
“Through thick and thin, we have merged our identity and fixed our focus on our highest priority, our eternal marriage… I know He will ask if Sister Nelson and I remained faithful to our covenants to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and always remember Him.”
Covenants become an inward commitment to the Lord.
In Genesis 12, Abraham’s responsibility is to leave his homeland and move his family to a place God would show him. God’s promises to make him a great nation which will bless all families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-4).
In Genesis 13, Abraham’s responsibility is to lift his eyes and to look toward the land where God had led them. God invites him to walk throughout the land. God promises that this land will forever belong to Abraham’s descendants, as numerous as the sand particles (Genesis 13:14-18).
In Genesis 15, Abraham’s responsibility is to look toward heaven, to try to count the stars, and to believe that God will give him children. God promised to give him a son (Genesis 15:1-6).
In Abraham 1 Abraham’s responsibility is to minister. God promises to lead, to take, to give His name and power.
In Abraham 2 Abramham’s responsibility is to receive the Gospel. God promises to bless His people and to bless all of the families of the earth through Abraham’s family (and what a blessing!?! Jesus Christ is a descendant of Abraham. There is no other blessing to all the families of the earth.)
The pattern in covenants comes into focus. God invites His people to take simple actions that demonstrate trust – go, look, believe, receive. He in turn promises blessings beyond measure that are in no way equal to the extended invitation.
“He believed in the Lord; and [the Lord] counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
Covenants signal belonging!
Today, I have the same opportunities offered to Abraham. President Oaks reminded us of the covenants made in the temple, “There persons who were endowed were to be taught God’s plan of salvation and invited to make sacred covenants. Those who lived faithful to those covenants were promised eternal life, wherein “all things are theirs” and they “shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever.”
I love this!
We are asked to wear a reminder of these covenants and responsibilities. It isn’t visible to the whole world because we keep them sacred, close to our hearts. I commit to wearing it as a beautiful reminder of the protection the Atonement of Jesus Christ offers me as I keep my commitments and fulfill the responsibilities God has given to be a blessing to others, to teach and to serve. There is “no magic in the clothing or symbols, only a reminder of the special responsibilities the wearer has assumed,” taught President Oaks.
Today I am so grateful for the temple. I am grateful that I have the courage to choose to work toward worthiness and go to the temple to make covenants, serve and to worship. I renew my commitment to follow God’s invitations to GO, LOOK, BELIEVE, and RECEIVE I will remember who I am as a daughter, a wife, a mom and a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will make my husband, my family and my ministry my priority in life. I will remember that God wants to bless me. I will work to be aware of His presence. I will work to trust in His power and glory and ability to bless. I will work to be in a position to receive the blessings offered by God.
Resigning as the General Manager of the Universe 