House of Glory: Finding Personal Meaning in the Temple


S. Michael Wilcox - 1995
    Michael Wilcox explains the eternal significanceof temple work, and, more than that, he explains he blessings that temple work brings to our ordinary, everyday lives.He discusses the temple as a house of learning, "the Lord's university, where we can understand the most powerful principles of the gospel and receive inspiration for ourselves and our families. He also explains how to understand the symbolic teaching in the Lord's house and how we can individually hear the voice of the Spirit through those symbols.He discusses the temple as a house of refuge, where we can go to escape the trials and troubles of the world.He discusses the temple as a house of order, where we learn the covenants of the Lord, how to keep them, and how we are blessed as we do so.He discusses the temple as a house of glory, describing the wonderful spiritual experiences that come to those who serve there, and especially to those who labor for their kindred dead.Finally, he discusses the temple as a house of thanksgiving, where we come to appreciate the importance and power of the blessings we receive there.President Howard W. Hunter directed the Saints to "establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants."House of Glory explains how we can make the temple the focus for every aspect of our lives, how we can find greater joy and meaning in the house of the Lord.

Joseph Smith the Prophet


Truman G. Madsen - 1978
    This one the product of Truman Madsen's deep love for the subject and years of research illuminates specific facets of Joseph Smith s greatness. The topics discussed include Joseph Smith's First Vision; his personality and character (including perspectives on his family life); his spiritual gifts and attributes; his varied trials; his Kirtland Temple experience; doctrinal developments in the Nauvoo era; and the last months and martyrdom. The book is filled with fascinating detail about key events in the Prophet's life and his impact on people. The result is a vivid, riveting portrayal of this remarkable prophet. Those who knew Joseph Smith best testified that he lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people. This wonderful book by a beloved scholar will serve to confirm and strengthen that conviction for Latter-day Saints today.

Odds Are, You're Going to Be Exalted: Evidence That the Plan of Salvation Works


Alonzo L. Gaskill - 2008
    Exaltation may be not only possible but probable!

Through His Eyes: Rethinking What You Believe About Yourself


Virginia H. Pearce - 2011
    Why? Our beliefs drive our emotions and actions. They provide a filter through which we see ourselves and our world. But not everything we believe is true. Some of our beliefs were established in childhood and have outlived their usefulness. Others are left over from situations or circumstances that are no longer relevant. Some are rules that we apply only to ourselves. And some of our beliefs are simply based on half-truths or lies. Learning how to identify and challenge those untrue beliefs enables us to replace negative thoughts and emotions and to embrace the life that God intended for us. In her first inspirational book since A Heart Like His, author Virginia Hinckley Pearce helps us: Examine and reevaluate negative beliefs that wreak havoc with our emotions and behavior. Challenge rules that we apply only to ourselves. Discover self- defeating thoughts to toss out of our belief box. Learn to identify and strengthen truths that encourage and uplift.

Toss the Guilt and Catch the Joy: A Woman's Guide to a Better Life


Merrilee Browne Boyack - 2008
    Are you tired of worrying about things you can't control? Do you feel distracted or overwhelmed by the daily demands of living? Do you wonder if it's even possible to make space in your busy life to become the person you really want to be? In her down-to-earth style, popular author and speaker Merrilee Boyack presents eight pairs of contrasting characterisitics, inviting women to consider their own tendencies: Faithful or fearful? Focused or distracted? Peaceful or worried? She then discusses how we can move from where we are to where we want to be without feeling guilty or discouraged.

The Holy Invitation: Understanding Your Sacred Temple Endowment


Anthony Sweat - 2017
    This short book explores the temple experience from three different vantage points: the why, drawing upon a fictional metaphor with parallels to the temple; the what, exploring the history of the endowment; and the how, applying the metaphor, Church history, and the endowment to us. This three-part approach allows readers to learn in a way that relates best to them individually and helps those who are new to the temple have a richer, deeper temple experience with room for continued growth. As illustrated by metaphor, history, and application, the Lord extends to each one of us a holy invitation: an invitation to enter His temple, to learn of Him and His ways, and to prepare to come back into His presence.

Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy


Stephanie Nielson - 2012
    She quickly attracted a loyal following that was captivated by the upbeat mother happily raising her young children, madly in love with her husband, Christian (Mr. Nielson to her readers), and filled with gratitude for her blessed life.However, everything changed in an instant on a sunny day in August 2008, when Stephanie and Christian were in a horrific plane crash. Christian was burned over 40 percent of his body, and Stephanie was on the brink of death, with burns over 80 percent of her body. She would remain in a coma for four months.In the aftermath of this harrowing tragedy, Stephanie maintained a stunning sense of humor, optimism, and resilience. She has since shared this strength of spirit with others through her blog, in magazine features, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, in this moving memoir, Stephanie tells the full, extraordinary story of her unlikely recovery and the incredible love behind it—from a riveting account of the crash to all that followed in its wake. With vivid detail, Stephanie recounts her emotional and physical journey, from her first painful days after awakening from the coma to the first time she saw her face in the mirror, the first kiss she shared with Christian after the accident, and the first time she talked to her children after their long separation. She also reflects back on life before the accident, to her happy childhood as one of nine siblings, her close-knit community and strong Mormon faith, and her fairy-tale love story, all of which became her foundation of strength as she rebuilt her life.What emerges from the wreckage of a tragic accident is a unique perspective on joy, beauty, and overcoming adversity that is as gripping as it is inspirational. Heaven Is Here is a poignant reminder of how faith and family, love and community can bolster us, sustain us, and quite literally, in some cases, save us.

A Return to Virtue


Elaine S. Dalton - 2011
    So she decided to run a marathon.Now, years later, she has taken her experiences and insights related to running and woven them into an analogy for an attribute and value she feels passionate about: virtue."I have embarked on a journey to reinstate the word virtue into our vocabulary and our lives," Sister Dalton writes. "We call for a social reform, but what is really needed is a moral reform—a call for a return to virtue." As we run life's race, it is virtue, meaning purity and power, that will sustain us through the long miles.A Return to Virtue is an invitation and a guide to running well the marathon that we call mortality. "Give it 100 percent," says Sister Dalton, "and one day we will be hugging each other and celebrating—victorious—at the finish line!"

Glorious Truths about Mother Eve


Susan Easton Black - 2018
    She partook of the forbidden fruit, persuading Adam to do likewise. Was she a temptress? Did she introduce evil into the world? When scrutiny regarding Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden takes on a negative tone, we can turn to truths to put Eve in the right light. Glorious Truths about Mother Eve addresses many questions about her and her story by exploring the hidden depths of the Genesis, Moses, and Abraham accounts of the Fall of Adam and the teachings of Latter-day prophets on the role of Eve in the garden and in mortality. Learn how these sacred truths challenge traditional religious scholarship, and rejoice with gospel scholar Susan Easton Black in the revelations that clarify Eve’s noble role as matriarch of the human race in the Lord’s plan.

Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life


Jen Hatmaker - 2017
    Women have been demonstrating resiliency and resolve since forever. They have incredibly strong shoulders to bear loss, hope, grief, and vision. She laughs at the days to come is how the ancient wisdom writings put it.But somehow women have gotten the message that pain and failure mean they must be doing things wrong, that they messed up the rules or tricks for a seamless life. As it turns out, every last woman faces confusion and loss, missteps and catastrophic malfunctions, no matter how much she is doing "right." Struggle doesn't mean they're weak; it means they're alive.Jen Hatmaker, beloved author, Big Sister Emeritus, and Chief BFF, offers another round of hilarious tales, frank honesty, and hope for the woman who has forgotten her moxie. Whether discussing the grapple with change ("Everyone, be into this thing I'm into! Except when I'm not. Then everyone be cool.") or the time she drove to the wrong city for a fourth-grade field trip ("Why are we in San Antonio?"), Jen parlays her own triumphs and tragedies into a sigh of relief for all normal, fierce women everywhere who, like her, sometimes hide in the car eating crackers but also want to get back up and get back out, to live undaunted "in the moment" no matter what the moments hold.

All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience


Neal A. Maxwell - 1979
    Such concepts are not always easy to accept, but, as Elder Maxwell observes, "the hardness is usually not in their complexity, but in the deep demands these doctrines make on us." All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience focuses on some of the "hard doctrines" that members of the Church must grapple with in the latter days. This book will help the Saints prepare for the trials ahead, while assuring them that the power of God's love is constantly available to the faithful.

The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother


Lucy Mack Smith - 1844
    Amidst confusion over several versions of this mother's account of her son, Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, his 5th great grandson for the family foundation reaffirms this version developed in 1996 by Scot & Maurine Proctor, "who restored Lucy's language and feeling through verification with the original notebook."

Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace


Anne Lamott - 2014
    It’s an approach that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott offers a new message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives. Our victories over hardship and pain may seem small, she writes, but they change us—our perceptions, our perspectives, and our lives. Lamott writes of forgiveness, restoration, and transformation, how we can turn toward love even in the most hopeless situations, how we find the joy in getting lost and our amazement in finally being found.Profound and hilarious, honest and unexpected, the stories in Small Victories are proof that the human spirit is irrepressible.

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder


LeGrand Richards - 1950
    Richards, a Presiding Bishop and Ordained One of the Twelve Apostles, offers an outline prepared to assist missionaries in their study and presentation of the gospel in a systematic and logical manner. Contents: The Position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; The Visit of the Father and the Son; Personality of the Father and the Son; False Doctrines and Universal Apostasy; A Marvelous Work and a Wonder to Come Forth; The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon; The Book of Mormon Fulfills Bible Prophecies; Evidences of the Divinity of the Book of Mormon; Restoration of Priesthood Authority; The Ordinance of Baptism; The Mission of the Holy Ghost; Setting up the Kingdom of God Upon the Earth; The Mission of Elijah; Marriage for Time and for All Eternity; The Gathering of Israel; Israel in the Latter Days; The Coming of Elias; The True Church, A Missionary Church; Fundamental Differences Between Salvation and Exaltation; Whence Cometh Man?; Why Is Man Here?; Where Is Man Going?; The Sabbath Day; Predestination and Foreordination; The Word of Wisdom; The Law of Tithing; and By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them.

Better Than You Think You Are


Ardeth Greene Kapp - 2005
    We all have doubts and fears. Drawing on Christ's love for us, we can remove the dark clouds that challenge our confidence, even in adversity. Writes bestselling author Ardeth Kapp, "With the Lord's help we are always far, far better than we can be by ourselves.About the AuthorArdeth Greene Kapp served as Young Women general president in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and later accompanied her husband, Heber, in his assignments as president of the Canada Vancouver Mission and president of the Cardston Alberta Temple. She has also served on the boards of several corporations, including Deseret Book, the Deseret Morning News, and Utah Youth Village. A popular speaker, she is the bestselling author of numerous books, including The Temple, Our Home away from Home.