Temple Bound
God's children are searching in greater numbers for answers and hoping for miracles as they look to Jesus Christ for relief. On 'Temple Bound,' hosted by Will Humphreys, explore how temples offer not just solace but also powerful tools for navigating these turbulent times through faith in Jesus Christ.
Tune in every Monday to hear Will Humphreys engage with guests who bring inspiring stories, profound teachings, and insights into accessing divine guidance through temple service.
Each episode promises to enrich your understanding and strengthen your connection to the Savior in unique and transformative ways.
Whether you're seeking answers, yearning for peace, or in need of a miracle, 'Temple Bound' is your weekly spiritual refuge, helping you anchor your soul to the Savior. Join us on this sacred journey to deepen your faith and discover the blessings of temple worship.
Temple Bound
Finding Strength in Covenant Connections with Michelle Bentley
Finding Strength in Covenant Connections with Michelle Bentley
In this episode, Michelle Bentley shares how Anthony Sweat’s BYU devotional talk, "We Need an Endowment," transformed her understanding of the temple endowment and inspired her spiritual growth. Together, we explore the distinction between the endowment ceremony and the endowment itself, highlighting the empowering teachings that redefine self-worth and eternal progression.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how temple teachings anchor self-worth in divine lineage, not societal standards.
- Discover practical ways to incorporate eternal truths into your everyday life for continued spiritual growth.
- Find peace amidst chaos by trusting in Christ’s guidance and the assurance of covenant relationships.
- Reflect on how temple visits inspire charity and deeper connections with others.
Welcome back to Temple Bound. Today we have Michelle Bentley returning to the show to talk about one of our favorite talks ever about the temple. It was a BYU devotional talk by Anthony Sweat, called we Need an Endowment, and this became one of those episodes where, to be really direct with you, I felt this unbelievable resistance before I got to this episode. I just want to say, without putting too much power to it, that it felt like there was a lot of influence in my world to not make this episode happen. We had to reschedule multiple times and a little bit of that, of course, is just life. But it gets to a point where it becomes obvious that there's something special that is being opposed and this show is special. So I don't want to give you too much of a preview, unlike I do in other shows. I just want you to dive right in and enjoy the show. So, michelle, welcome back. I love this talk that you selected for us to review today from Anthony Sweat we need an endowment.
Speaker 2:Why did you pick it? Well, because we even talked before we talked about this. Like I love this talk, I've listened to it multiple times, Right out of the gate. The first time I listened to it, I'm like, yeah, yeah, this is powerful. There's so much here and powerful, but yet it just made so much sense to me.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It just really connected with me. I felt like it motivated me to learn some things, to continue on the path with certain things and to try some new things. So I just loved it overall. I'm kind of an Anthony Sweat fan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Truly and, I think, for for people who haven't read this talk yet, this is a found in the temples and covenants podcast that the church has put out, but it's based on BYU speeches, and so this was a BYU speech that he gave and like. What I would say is that this is probably one of the most foundational talks for anyone to read. So if you get nothing else out of this episode, for people who are listening and watching is to go read this talk and listen to it, because there's a lot. There's kind of a a tendency for members of the church not to want to talk about temple stuff because it's sacred. We don't know where the lines are. He's going deep into the five covenants in this talk and so, um, what did you like about it? What were some of the elements of this talk that you?
Speaker 2:that resonated with you. Oh goodness, where do we start? Um okay, my first takeaway that I loved and he made this very clear when he gave this speech, this talk at BYU that if there was anything for us to take away is that there is a difference in the presentation or the ceremony of the endowment and the actual endowment.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right and so um. Can I tell?
Speaker 1:a funny story Always, okay, always.
Speaker 2:So we'll get back to your question. But the funny story has to go with how much I enjoy the things that Anthony Sweat has taught what he's written and, um, anyways, I snuck into his class at BYU.
Speaker 1:So you were at BYU, not as a student.
Speaker 2:No, not as a parent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as a parent, my daughter was attending BYU. Um, at this point I had already read a lot of Anthony Sweat material, really enjoyed it. Felt like I was learning a lot. He I don't know if everyone knows this he's also an artist Actually it'll come out if you listen to this speech and so I order some of his artwork for our home, like I'm just a big fan, anyway.
Speaker 2:So my daughter signs up for this as a mission prep class. She takes this foundations of the restoration class and she starts loving the class. So she would get out of class. She would call me, kind of give me her notes from class, and this just started to be like a routine. Every week she had this break after Anthony Sweat's class, right, so we go up to go visit her and get some skiing in up in Utah and my husband Blake and I were like, well, let's see if we can get into class. And so we did. And we just walked into class. We found our seats and took my laptop, had my cap on, like trying to like pretend I was a student, and we sat in his class. And that was a Monday. We went back first class on Wednesday.
Speaker 1:Oh, I didn't know you went back. So you went back a couple of times.
Speaker 2:It's fine. Okay, I'm sure it's fine Anyways. So I sat in that class and that was a big takeaway for me and also understanding that the majority of his class were young adults sitting there, those that were maybe recently endowed as a you know a few years, or those that would soon be endowed, and he is telling them understand that the presentation or ceremony of the endowment is different than the actual endowment. So then that opens up this whole idea of like well, do I understand that? And if I understand that, then what does endowment mean?
Speaker 2:If those are two separate things. What does that mean? And I love what he said in classes is actually notes that I took. I was a good student that day, Um, but he said the temple endowment is a gigantic parable.
Speaker 1:A gigantic parable, parable, okay.
Speaker 2:Right. So if we think about parables and how they everything that we're told in the parable represents something else, then we can start going and attending and seeing the presentation of the endowment. There's the story, there's the parable. Now let's take everything that is being represented there and find Christ in that. And then he also said the temple is a dress rehearsal for a very real and personal debut, and he's actually quoting Sister Wendy Ulrich in that quote. So here we are going to the temple, and that really speaks to the ceremony of the temple, the presentation of the endowment. That it is a dress rehearsal, isn't that great.
Speaker 1:You know, my mind is honestly just wrapping itself around what you just said, that it's a dress rehearsal for a very real debut. And what a specific word. Debut, beginning, you know introduction, you know presentation. We use that in the presentation of the endowment, but to the Savior himself, really amazing.
Speaker 2:Back to the presence of our Father, and it'll be our Savior, jesus Christ, that is able to make that possible. He did what needed to occur in the garden by performing the atonement that Jesus Christ made that possible for that debut to occur. And as we attend the temple, we practice that we get to role play that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That reunion, that moment that will be ours.
Speaker 1:It's amazing, as the veil starts to thin in the latter days and people are starting to really understand these things at a different level, how this is really practice. It's like anything else done, practice makes perfect. And so why wouldn't our debut back to the Savior's presence be something that we rehearse? Because I don't think it's as much about remembering everything that we say in there, it's a lot more about understanding those things, because as we gain light and knowledge, it actually transforms the nature of our spirit, as we learned with Dennis Deaton a few episodes ago of of the quality of nature, of the actual spirit that we are, so that we can we can withstand the presence of someone so perfect and so loving and so great that it radiates from him.
Speaker 2:Definitely, and I feel like that speaks to, speaks to um.
Speaker 2:I love finding the temple in the scriptures yeah um, it's something that I grew up listening to my dad teach me and as we'd read scriptures he would just kind of hit well, that's temple, there's temple, and it was just a pattern that kind of developed cognitively for me, and so I'm always looking for temple in the scriptures and what you were just saying takes my mind to Moses, and if I can go there for a second, it's in Moses, chapter one, and it's where, you know, in the in the scriptures we learned that the temple is symbolically represented by mountains here upon the earth.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I love this. Moses 1,. We start in verse 1. So think of the mountain of the Lord, representative of the temple, as we read through just these couple of verses, and watch for what Moses is going to learn about Moses in this temple experience. Okay, okay, okay. So the words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain, okay, and he saw God face to face and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses, wherefore Moses could endure his presence. And God spake unto Moses saying so. Now listen to what, what God is going to teach him, what he's going to teach him about who Moses is and who he himself. God is, um, I am the Lord. Almighty and endless is my name.
Speaker 1:Endless is his name.
Speaker 2:Endless is my name, for I am without beginning of days or end of years, and is not this endless? So, of all the things he could say to Moses, that's what he chose to say to him in the temple, a place where we go, that covenants and promises are forever, the everlasting covenant right, and he's wanting him to know that this eternity, this, this scope, this eternal scope, is what exists there in our learning in the temple. But I love this part. And he says, um, and behold, thou art my son.
Speaker 1:Interesting that he talks about his, his power and his endless nature, and then he immediately says and you're mine.
Speaker 2:You're mine, and let me tell you what that relationship is. You're my son, moses, so we can look to this pattern in the scriptures of temple. We go to the temple to understand our identity. We get to understand who our Savior is, who our heavenly father is, and they are going to really reveal to us, through covenant living and through these patterns in the temple, who we are and who we are to them. So he just gave moses identity you're my son, so we go and we learn that we are sons and daughters of the most high god.
Speaker 1:Talking about story of identity with these, with this story of Moses, primary children are told all the time you know you're children of God. That should matter. And then, like talks, reiterate this over and over again. I don't think it really is absorbed until we go to the temple. Because when you hear that story of God is eternal and perfect and endless love and we are his, his he's helping us understand a couple of key concepts. Number one that we have always existed and we will always exist this time on this earth is a short moment compared to where we've been and where we're going and this idea of what our potential could be and and like the, the endless love that he has for us right.
Speaker 1:I think religion, and especially the adversary, has twisted the way that men view God as this fire and brimstone, checklist-oriented, achieve the grade or burn in hell forever type of God, and that's just not even close. It's literally the opposite of this endless mercy and love and we are his. And what would someone with that kind of love, what would he create for us in a probationary period where he knows we'll suffer, where he knows that we must suffer because he suffered right, so that we can become like him?
Speaker 2:Exactly and we know more of the story of Moses. We know what is about to happen in Moses's life and in his story, and it's just so empowering as we talk about endowment and what we're actually endowed with, I think so much of that is is our identity. So we know that before Moses is going to go out and do all of these incredible things with the children of Israel, god wants them to know you're my son, I need you to know that relationship before you go out, and we have that same opportunity in the temple to be reminded and understand our identity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's neat how he says that in the talk. You know, when he was describing and going back to what you said about endowment, about it can. There's two elements of it and we think of it as this religious presentation or ceremony and he's like when we need a endowment, I don't think the Lord was saying that we need a religious ceremony in the talk he's like what we need are the gifts and he talks about what those gifts are. Yes, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know I loved that part as well. Well, I thought that that was so interesting. Um, I'm a word girl. I love to just really feel like I can't move on in my understanding until I dive deep down. So I did just a quick little search of, like, what does it mean to be endowed? What is endow? And here's just like a worldly definition, even it's the definition of endow to provide with a listen to this quality, ability and asset.
Speaker 1:A quality or ability or an asset.
Speaker 2:Yes, To endow is to provide with quality, ability or asset. So pull that into the temple, right? Let's talk about quality. What does that represent? God's power, God's knowledge, the gifts that he's giving us of knowing who we are and whose we are, and everything that is required for us to make it back into his presence.
Speaker 1:Yes, A quality of, because when we understand who we are, he wants to talk about quality. He wants us to know the quality of the nature of our spirit right. Which is that we are his, that you are of the most holy and most divine origin, and so I love that you use the word quality, because that's another word for quality would be nature, essence, and so, yeah, the quality, I love that.
Speaker 2:Right, so let's bring this into a framework of I love always going back and thinking about the youth of the church or the youth of the world, actually, sure.
Speaker 2:I love always going back and thinking about the youth of the church, or the youth of the world, actually, and you know, as they're trying to find out their worth and who they are, helping them prepare for the temple and helping them understand that, as they align their lives and they choose to follow the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ, it's providing them with that quality, with that essence of knowing who they are. Um, talk about self-worth, like the quality of a human being understanding that you are God's son or daughter. Where's that going to take them?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, especially in the world. That is like what you do is what defines you. So if you're not, if you don't sing the best or perform the sport at the highest level level, you can tell I'm not into sports.
Speaker 1:By the way, I said that, but it's one of those things where, at the end of the day, like what God is saying, is that your quality at rest, without any action, decision or choice, regardless of your following on social media, no matter how bad of a parent you might think you are, are, or as a teenager who just does not feel like they fit in anywhere, is irrelevant, because we are his and the quality of the nature is so divine, so celestial, right, that there's more to that, and that doesn't always make it easier in the short term, but the more we go and the more we're reminded, the more we believe that we are, that I am.
Speaker 2:Quality, quality, god's quality, god's quality, yeah, yeah. So then we um to endow is also to give ability. Okay, so we see that. I got chills when you said that right, like so much in the, in the temple and and in the initiatory work that we do and the blessings and promises there, the abilities that we receive, the abilities that we are not even aware exist. So it's not just getting abilities, it's the knowledge of the abilities that we have access to. Like that's what we learn about in the temple.
Speaker 1:Right, you know Curtis Keller recently talks on an episode where he mentions that in answering that last temple question, you know, do you feel worthy to enter the house of the Lord? That people struggle, but the answer was because of Christ. The answer is yes. And I think, when it comes to ability, it really struck me hard when you said that, because there's nothing more challenging than being a member of the church and knowing these things and trying to live up to these things and not have the adversary just pull extra hard on those things. And what does he normally tackle? Our capability of doing that. Every, every parent watching this episode at some point today struggled in thinking am I enough for this?
Speaker 1:Am I able to do this? And that's the adversary. That's not, that's not the nature of our spirit to think or question those things, but the challenges are so hard. So to go to the temple and to learn actual abilities through knowledge, like you said, is empowering and it gives hope. It gives real hope because we all get to that point, as a parent, where what do we do? What do we do? And it's not what we do, it's what he did. Yeah, that capability comes from his past tense actions and will bless us If we believe. We read in Mark nine anything is possible for those who believe, and knowing that he's he's, he's enough for all of us, right.
Speaker 2:Right, I love that so much. Well, um, I I love the last one. To endow is to give an asset and then. So then I went further because I'm a word girl. That asset is okay, this is awesome, Something beautiful and useful. So isn't that fun when we break apart these words and we understand the etymology of them.
Speaker 2:So something beautiful and useful. I want to. I'm so grateful for preparing for this, because have I? I haven't asked myself yet, michelle, how are you understanding your temple endowment? How are you seeing it under that umbrella of being useful in your life? How are you using it? We think, okay, we're going to go to the temple, we're going to, whether we set a goal for attending or however often we find ourselves in the temple, and whatever that experience looks like for each of us is very unique and different, as I think it should be. So we're in the temple, but this useful just makes me really curious to think about. What does the temple look like when I'm not in the temple?
Speaker 1:How am?
Speaker 2:I using the temple when I'm not inside the temple, like the asset that it is for us Right.
Speaker 2:How is it beautiful and how is it useful and how am I using it in my daily living in very practical ways? And Anthony Sweat, he spoke to this in this talk and he spoke in a lot of ways, but two stood out to me of this side of how the endowment can be seen as very useful and applicable everyday life. The first one that I liked is that the temple teaches about progression. Progression is eternal and the temple teaches that we increase in light, like you said, in light and truth, and we do that through making priesthood covenants and in the presentation of the endowment. Everything is progressive. You know, we can, we can notice that that there is a progression to the covenants that we make and also a progression in the way that we do them and so in the application and the relevancy side of that, I think about times in my life where maybe I didn't feel like I was progressing, I might have felt a little stagnant.
Speaker 2:Maybe it was because I had a big decision just right around the corner and I was stalling or putting my heels in because I was afraid of the change or I was afraid of what was around the corner.
Speaker 2:Or different times in my life where I just am, I really like contributing Right? Am I giving enough? As a mom, as a community member, as a member of my family in my circle of influence? And I love this side, Like, as we are living in a covenant relationship and we're honoring and aware of the covenants that we make. Living in a covenant relationship and we're honoring and aware of the covenants that we make, we can be assured that we're progressing. We can be sure, even if it's not really obvious to us, if we are living with a true and honest heart, then we can be assured that we're progressing. Even in the trials, even in those hardest times of our life where we're not sleeping or, you know, like the worries just consuming, we can find peace and knowing. That may not feel like it, but you're progressing because that's what this life is about and the temple teaches that.
Speaker 1:So powerful to hear that because so much of the temple presentation ceremoniously, is progression. You know, one of the parts that's the most confusing for people when they first go in is the clothing. But it says it at the very beginning that the clothing is a symbolic representation of being endowed or being clothed. You know, spiritually, in power and glory, in power and glory, and so you know, when we look, when we get away from anything other element of that and anything else in the temple, those are steps that occur and when you think about your participation in the endowment, oftentimes you're just sitting there. You're just you're sitting there, but you're progressing.
Speaker 1:I don't. I think that's something that's inherently powerful that you said, that I've never thought of before, which is that by just being on this earth, by existing, there's progression because something is happening. Now, listen, people can like, tune into TV and video games and all that, but and I don't want to mean that, I don't want to make that wrong either because we all numb in different ways, we all deal with the challenges of existing in different ways, but the pressure in this, the natural environment of this world that we're in, is that there's constantly these gravitational pulls, spiritually, that challenge us simply because we're on the other side of the veil. Being away from the father is a challenge, so much so that he had to make sure we couldn't remember even a glimmer of what that was like, because if we could, it wouldn't be hard.
Speaker 2:Right, right.
Speaker 1:So for us to be here progressing. I'll never forget that, as I'm sitting in the temple, that just showing up that day right is going to result in something that probably so immeasurable that I cannot see it, but it's still progression nonetheless.
Speaker 2:It is. It's still progression. Right, we're learning heaven, and I think we don't give ourself enough like celebrating the good and taking the shame away from our temple worship. I just feel like we can. Our savior gives us so much grace and so much love. It's just puzzling why we don't do that for ourselves. You know, we just get down on ourselves like, oh, I didn't go, or I'm not going as much as somebody else, or whatever. The excuse is Like what, if we just showed up and we're like I'm here, I'm here, I'm progressing. And when I'm not here, if I can tap into the knowledge and what I remember about my covenants and how I'm applying them in my daily life oh, I'm progressing. Then too, yeah, covenants and how I'm applying them in my daily life while I'm progressing, then too, yeah, right, doesn't that feel better than like, oh, I didn't make it today, or whatever that looks like.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think oftentimes we get we get this idea that, like, everything's a choice and it's all. It's all either righteousness or not, but at the end of the day, there is, of course, choices that take us away from our father but that is also the path as well.
Speaker 1:Sin isn't a correction to the path, it is the path. We repent, not sin, repentance, repentance is the path, it's the nature of us. So, as we make those decisions, sometimes with, like I guess it's a checklist thing, sometimes I'm going to go to the temple, whatever, celebrate it, like you know. I think Heavenly Father, like you said, wants to celebrate every micro effort, and they do. I think there's angels just celebrating. You did it, you did it. You know you didn't go this time, but you thought about the temple. Good for you. You were thinking about the temple, right, can't we do that? You know, and I think obviously there's, every blessing is predicated upon the commandment upon which we obey Right. Blessing is predicated upon the commandment upon which we obey Right. So there, there is more, and I think if we saw it from that angle, we might sprint down there and we might be more and we might be more open to the fact that, like, if all of it is good, but I can get so much more. Endowment of quality, you know, assets, um, ability, ability.
Speaker 2:And I've had some powerful experiences where I haven't been sitting in the temple or actively engaged in temple worship, in the temple, where I have remembered and relied upon the things that I learned there to bring me peace and to bring me comfort, and so I do.
Speaker 2:I have a testimony that inside, outside of the temple, the blessings are accessible. The second thing that Anthony Sweat said that I really loved was one thing the temple teaches us is that fallen people are taken from a place in that fallen state and watch what happens when they're given knowledge. And that's another great takeaway from the temple that I feel is very useful in our everyday. That when we feel less than or kind of, it kind of comes on the on the heels of that first comment. But maybe if we feel like we aren't progressing or we're trying to find solutions or we're trying to build a relationship with heaven, um, knowledge is the answer. So we see that in the temple, we see Adam and Eve in this presentation of them being in fallen state. Well, what takes them from them from that fallen state and allows them to progress?
Speaker 1:Knowledge.
Speaker 2:It's knowledge, it's knowledge and it's specific to's specific to understanding the laws and love of God. So that's where we start on. This pattern of living is the knowledge that we receive from understanding God's plan and being willing to exercise the faith to walk that plan and to follow that plan. So I love that too, that it's just like a really great motivator If we ever feel fallen, if we're really kind of maybe like overcome with the conditions of the world or discouraged in any sense, then knowledge so knowledge in the temple, knowledge that we find in our scriptures, knowledge that we find in studying the gospel of Jesus Christ has been, it's been, a blessing in my life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. When you were talking about that right now, it was kind of a throwback to what you were just were talking about how you can receive the blessings of the temple by not being there, by simply remembering them, and that's we're endowed or given knowledge, and that radiates knowledge like the savior's love radiates. I have this image of like a lighthouse. You know, the savior's love is a lighthouse and knowing his love, experiencing it and also understanding it as we walk through that, you know living celestial, as you put it, where we can go and go through those steps Learning heaven is how you put it. So we can learn heaven, we can learn those patterns, we can see those, those elements, be reminded of our quality, nature, that we are his, so that when we're not there, we can still have the temple.
Speaker 1:I mean right now, as we're talking about it, you and I I feel like I'm in the temple. I do. I feel that same essence. It's not that it is, but it's the reflection of the radiance of the knowledge that we learn in the temple, the source of those things, the closest we can get to heaven. And that's why we talk about our homes being temples. Our homes can be centers that radiate love and knowledge, because we teach the gospel of Christ and we practice heaven in our own way there in a very applicable sense, like real worldly, you know, rubber meets the road kind of way.
Speaker 2:Right, we I feel like this has come up on your podcast before, but the proximity to the temple from where we live it's so close. Like how many times do you drive by the temple daily?
Speaker 1:Multiple times.
Speaker 2:Multiple times and I love the thought of looking to the temple and I I don't want to drive by it and not look at it. I mean, you can't not look at it.
Speaker 1:It's very big, it's very big, it's right there.
Speaker 2:But I had an experience in my life where the temple, being outside of the temple, was very powerful to me and you know, being close to the temple and seeing it and driving by and I kept thinking, wow, like this is such a blessing that I get to see it on the daily.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I know there's people that don't live that close to the temple and that doesn't take away or diminish in any way the blessings of the temple, but when I was a young mom and so this was before social media and I remember just trying to figure out I had been in a professional setting before we started having our family, so I was used to that and like engaging on the daily, and then I'm with home with these kids and I just loved it. But it was hard at the same time and I remember thinking what in the world are like all the other moms doing? Like, am I, am I doing this right? Like what, what's happening in every house around 1130? Cause I was like, I don't know, I wish I could see what other moms like, what their days look like, you know. So that was before social media and now we have social media. I didn't know what I was asking for.
Speaker 1:Because you're getting a very perfected version of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now we have this glimpse into you know, and so much of it is good, right, okay, and that's actually where I'm going to speak to is the good part, and so much of it is good, right, okay, and that's actually where I'm going to speak to is the good part, okay.
Speaker 2:But I remember, you know, and then I was, you know, the older, as a mother, and I remember when social media started being a thing and there's all these great ideas of how to parent like this, and how to discipline like this, and how to cook like this and how to you name it. It's out there, right, we know that, sure, that there's so much information, and I found myself spinning. And so I was spinning because I was like, oh, that's a good idea, and that's a good idea, and that's a good idea, and I was just kind of like trying to encapsulate like everything because, innately, like I really wanted to be the best you could be and do all the things.
Speaker 2:Well, I started spinning and I didn't like how that felt at all. I was like wait, like I don't feel super grounded, even though I'm like trying to do all these good things. And I was reading in the Book of Mormon, I was reading in the first Nephi, where it's Lehi's dream, and it just hit me and I was taught from on high that the people that were walking on the path trying to get to the tree.
Speaker 1:What were they looking?
Speaker 2:at. They were looking at the tree and they were specifically looking at father Lehi that is standing there with the fruit the love of God, right, and they were looking and they were progressing down that path. Okay, and I feel like you feel like we're aware of the dark and spacious building that's not actually what I'm talking to, but I found myself that I was spinning and looking at all the other people walking on the path too.
Speaker 1:I see they were walking the way they held the rod the way they didn't. Whatever, you were just learning and trying to do all the things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I was spinning and it's awesome to look sideways. I love, but I was spinning and it's awesome to look sideways and, like we, I love the idea and the concept and the truth that exists that we help each we bring people to Christ, like we will do this together. This is a little bit different. I wasn't looking at the tree, I was looking at other people getting to the tree and it was too much.
Speaker 1:I see.
Speaker 2:And so the minute I like absorbed that truth and decided like, okay, there's a lot of really great ideas out here, and decided like, okay, there's a lot of really great ideas out here, but I'm not being an effective mother because I took my eyes off the tree, I took my eyes off Christ and once I started to realize that, okay, if I can just focus on him, that is enough. He will provide the ideas and he will provide the solutions and he will provide the means and the methods and the ideas and the creativity that I need. Not to say that I didn't gather ideas and I love friends and I love resources, but I found a shift and a change when my focus now was on looking to Christ, and that, to me, is synonymous with looking to the temple. If I can look at the temple and I can look at the promises that I make there and the promises that are told are mine by keeping covenants, I have found that to be enough in a world that is just saturated with everything else.
Speaker 1:You know that's so powerful, and I just immediately think about how. I have a question for you. Like you know, when you look to Christ and you're looking to the temple, and he provides those things that were putting you into a spin, what did that look like, like? How did the Savior do that for you? How did he provide? You know?
Speaker 2:To stop spinning yeah.
Speaker 1:Because you're focused on him and you stopped thinking of it as you. This is something I struggle with. If you can't see why I'm so passionate about this, there's this idea that I oftentimes blur the line between my responsibility as a son of God to do my part and I get spinning in my efforts to do all the things, To be that guy who's doing all those different things and to make the biggest difference in all the different way. But those, those efforts become the focus, not the savior, and so when you say that, I resonate with that. So how has that shown up for you in terms of clarity, in terms of like? How has the savior helped you in those moments when you were trying to be the best mom you could like? What did that look like for him to provide that for you?
Speaker 2:like what did that look like for him to provide that for you? Definitely, um, it came in the answer.
Speaker 2:So at that same time, I was seeking truth, and it came from something I heard from sister Julie B Beck, who I don't know the years, but she served as the general relief society president for the church and she gave a talk that was so influential in my life and she talked about her era as a young mom and she said that it was a time when she was trying to work all the shifts of the day right like I think, if you go back and you can say there's like, technically, four shifts in a day, like I don't know, like something, and she was working all four shifts and a day, like I don't know like something, and she was working all four shifts and she had some great advice given to her that if she's working all four shifts of the day, then she was not going to be effective in her most important shift of the day, which at that time in her life she defined as the time that she was with her children.
Speaker 2:Got it being a mom, and so she decided that she was going to kind of like reorganize her time, and she came up with a tier of way to do that, and that's to answer your question. I adopted that, and so in our, in my day, essential was the number one, so essential, sister Beck taught. Those are the things that I'm going to do and I'm going to help my family do that. We'll get us back to heaven. First and foremost, just the essentials. What's it going to take and what's it going to be those things that will allow us to get back to our heavenly home. And then the second is the necessary, so essential than necessary, and necessary. Like someone's got to do the dishes right, like someone's gotta do all the things yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's very easy, I think, for any of us to get really caught up in that area.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:A lot of things can feel necessary and they need to get done. There are certain things that just have to get done and they're important and they add to the essential, they allow the essential to happen. And then the third category are the nice to do's right, those things that we just that bring us joy, our hobbies, our interests, like just all the fun stuff. And I'll never forget, she said as she started focusing on the savior, meaning putting essentials first, those things that would help her and her family get back home. She was amazed at the energy she had for the necessary and the more time she had for the nice to do's. She's like I had more nice to do time than I had ever before. So here's my answer yeah, no, I love that answer.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of the good, better, best talk. I had an experience last week where I was committed to going to keep my temple appointment and I didn't want to go. I rarely like want to go. It's so funny. I have a podcast Like it's like you think that I'm like, oh, temple time and I don't it's I.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm a typical person in our day and age where I book myself pretty, so I keep my, I have the appointment. I didn't want to. It wasn't like, it wasn't resistant, I'm like let's just do this. But I had such a crazy day that day and it was filled with really hard conversations, with firings and things at work and just really stressful things and it made so much sense not to go. But I went and I had a pretty average time like just being there, progressing in my chair, sitting, sitting, sitting in the room, progressing, as we'll think of it from now on. I was sitting there, progressing in my chair, but I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I can see that for me, where I, at the end of that, I was able to go back through my day and everything felt. I went home at a reasonable hour with everything done, which is rare, and had time to connect with my kids, and the energy and, um, yeah, I didn't really think about that until you just said that, because I think, at the end of the day, when you talk about putting Christ first in the temple first, it's those gifts of knowledge that enable us to be powerful and do things. It reminds me of the savior and the fish. You know, we have all this limited time and all these things we want to accomplish, but he, he blessed the fish and it was enough for the thousands. He can make our time in the same way. He can make that time spread if we just put him first and let him bless, bless us in that way.
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely, and it also allows us to um exercise greater faith that he's going to take care of some of the things that, like you were saying, we want to be all for all sometimes. But we're not going to be all for all, and that's okay, because if we're doing it with the attitude of oh, I am going to do the essentials, necessary, nice to do's and I'm going to do the best I can, and I'm going to do that with the Savior, then we can have faith and assurance that he is going to be the all for the people that we just love the most.
Speaker 1:And it gives me so much hope to think about that idea of, and that's the gift of the knowledge, right? It's like a reminder he's got you, he's got your kid, he's got you, he's got your, your kid, he's got your anyone that you're concerned about, he's got them, he has them, it's going to be okay, right, and so remembering that is everything.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what else in the talk spoke to you?
Speaker 2:Okay so many things. So good, so everybody listening go listen to the talk. Um, I guess one other thought that I had.
Speaker 1:he does go through and he talks about just how powerful each of the covenants that we make and how relevant they are that was the coolest thing how he just went through covenant by covenant and made it relative to today's world and for really for youth right, which was so cool and that's what I'm doing right now.
Speaker 2:Like I mean I'm doing that in my own home, but that's what I'm doing right now. Like I mean I'm doing that in my own home, but that's what I'm doing for my profession. Right now I'm spending time with the youth, and so relevancy is always like forefront, like how can we take this scripture, how can we take this truth, this conference talk, like whatever it is, and just like boom, insert it into like what's today, a Friday, friday afternoon, like how is that relevant now? And so he does that, really, really great. I really enjoyed as he was talking about understanding each of the covenants that we make. He talked about the law of obedience and how really that can help us overcome this was probably my favorite how he's helping that overcome a world of self-centeredness.
Speaker 2:We live in this world. And the phrase is you, do you? And some of the phrases are you know, follow your own path, don't let anyone tell you what to do. Be independent, have it your way. And he even says like, in a small degree, like, there's some good in that Like we get to develop as our you know individuals, and that's so fun, that we're all so unique. But then this was such a powerful line In a world that says you do you. Christ's covenant call is be like me. Isn't that great.
Speaker 1:So cool yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean talk about relevancy, and so we can just use that as like the most perfect and exciting benchmark to be like hey, I'm feeling this Like how does that gauge? You know, if the savior standing by me like, how would that conversation look? Like, cause I make this choice or decide to act this way? You know, it's just so beautiful.
Speaker 1:Well, it kind of goes back to that analogy that you gave earlier about the tree of life. Where was everyone looking? They were looking to the tree and the Savior saying you know, instead of you, do you and be spinning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, stop spinning because it's not a matter of like you're not enough, it's like no, no, you're mine, you're meant to be me, yeah and so, yeah. I just think that it's such a powerful concept that people have that reality that, like, selfishness never was happiness. You know, wickedness never was happiness, selfishness never was happiness. And the quote that I liked going on that part of the talk he used, from president Gordon B Hinckley. He said I would hope that we might go to the house of the Lord a little bit more frequently. I encourage you to take greater advantage of this blessed privilege. It will refine your natures. It will peel off the selfish shell and I love that selfish shell because it's, I think, of social media. It's like a shell. It's like this projected, intentional shell that's not really who we are if we're not the Savior in which most of us live. It will literally bring a sanctifying element into our lives and make us better men and women.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so good. Yeah, that's so good. Men and women oh that's so good. Yeah, that's so good, um, when he talks about the law of the gospel. Another great takeaway, um, is that understanding the law of the gospel is going to help us have the faith that we can interact with people that have different views than us.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And yet still act in a way that is Christ-like, and that's how we can handle this. He quoted the prophet Joseph Smith and said that even the prophet Joseph Smith said he didn't want to be in this echo chamber. He didn't want to be surrounded by a set of dough heads D-O-U-G-H. Okay, right, like it's great to have ideas, it's great to have opinions, like we need that. We need that in the kingdom.
Speaker 1:We do. You know, at DNC we're studying this year. One of my favorite sections talks about how we should be anxiously engaged in a good work. It's like a good cause. We get to pick those causes into some degree. Sure, you know, vocationally you chose to become a seminary teacher. You chose a vocation. That that's your cause, that's your mission. So the Lord wants us to have control of. There's that element of us wanting, as long as we're focused on being like Christ, but there is degree of freedom of choice that allows us that ability to find what makes us passionate and to drive in that and then use that, because we're focused on Christ, to bring his children back home.
Speaker 2:Right he going back to abilities, Like I just?
Speaker 2:really think, right, that we are endowed with that. The savior part of that is our personality. It's that creative side of us that is going to gather certain people, and then your personality is going to grab, gravitate and gather other people. Right, like, let's not buy into this conversation that the temple and covenants are binding and suffocating, and no, that's a lie. That is a lie. Covenants are freeing and enabling and educating and give us knowledge about who we are and who we're becoming. Like. Talk about progression. Um, something that stood out to me, that's really like made me think the last couple of weeks studying this talk, is that the prophet Joseph said, as we're studying the law of the gospel and we're interacting with people that have different mindsets and ideas, Sure.
Speaker 2:Um. Do not watch for iniquity in each other, right? If you do, you will not get an endowment, for God will not bestow it on such.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of mic drop there yeah.
Speaker 1:Because uh yeah, I don't even know what to say to that I think it hit me so hard because of the judgmental nature of human beings. It's just, it's like an organic thing.
Speaker 1:I went to a coaching seminar once and he's like you guys all judge me the second I walked out here I'm wearing. You know, some of you had probably a negative experience with a man, my background, age, whatever, we all do it nonstop. But I love. I love how open the gospel is. It's just this thing about and that's what we're reminded in the temple. It's like if here's another bit of light and knowledge, if I'm his and you're there, you're his too.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Anyone is his, like we are all his. None of us need the savior any less, so we can't. We can't receive the endowment of power if we're too busy. Wrapped up in what my sister did last night which is a great example because she's perfect, like, like. It was one of those things where, as we get irritated, I think there's there's a difference. I don't want to make that, too, line in the sandy, but we do. We cannot have that spirit with us if we are minimizing his other children that are equally divine and internal in nature.
Speaker 2:Right. So can we make that shift? Like, I agree, it's almost seems like it's just, all you know, automatic sometimes, like our brains are just wired to, like protect ourselves and look for danger and sometimes that crosses over and we see that in other people um in ways that are just judgy.
Speaker 1:It is, you know, my greatest, my favorite quote ever on charity. By the way, the pure love of Christ, as it's called, is to look at another human being and to just give them the benefit of the doubt. And what I love about that phrase is that there's an immediate, there's an almost like a inherent understanding that we are going to judge. So like because when you give the other person the benefit of the doubt means we're already to judge. So like because when you give the other person the benefit of the doubt means we're already judging them. So let's just immediately recognize that's the natural man. I'm going to give that person the benefit of the doubt. They cut me off, you know. And there's that famous story from Stephen Covey who talks about being on a bus. Have you heard that?
Speaker 2:I don't know if I have.
Speaker 1:He's on a bus and he's got four kids and they're running around and they're being super loud and they're just like running amok if, if people still use that phrase we're gonna use it today.
Speaker 2:We're gonna use it today.
Speaker 1:People still use it, yeah, and people on the bus are like dude, this dad is such a bad dad. He's like these kids running around like crazy. This is horrible. And steven covey was getting irritated and he had the thought I'm gonna go tell this dad, be dad, be a better dad, pick up your kids that kind of attitude. But then he thought about empathy, or charity as we call it, and just said well, I have no idea what's going on. Maybe I can offer to help him.
Speaker 1:And he went up to the dad and this is a true story. He went up to the dad and said hey, listen, I know you probably have a lot in your mind. Is there anything I can do to help your kids? They're, they're needing some attention? And the dad looked up and like, kind of like he was coming out of a coma, like he'd been glazed over staring at the floor. He looked up, he went oh, I'm so sorry, I had no idea he goes. We're coming back from the hospital. Their mother just died, my wife and I don't know I don't even know how I'm going to make dinner tonight.
Speaker 1:And so I, I, I, I give that to the audience as kind of just a tip, because I am just like everybody else. I get. I have a snap judgment on people, but the temple reminds me if, if I am special, so is that person who cut me off in traffic? So is that that person who I can't forgive for suing me for what you know, like all those things that happen in life that people do maliciously, that we don't know what we don't know, and that we can have that charity by just giving them the benefit of the doubt. And the temple teaches us that in its essence.
Speaker 2:I love that story so much, it's so powerful, because it makes me think again. My mind is just sitting here in this room with you, but also in the temple, and I love the feeling that I have when you're doing temple work and you're doing it alongside other people. And after listening to this talk with Anthony Sweat, it's I don't know, am I safe to say it's kind of an anthem, like it's a call right To really understand. We need an endowment, let's understand what it is and then let's really enjoy. And and also, along with that is the opportunity to cheer other people on in this process. Right, and so where do we see that experience? Where do we see us cheering other people on, other people cheering us on? Where do we see us cheering other people on, other people cheering us on? Where do we see the temple itself cheering us on?
Speaker 2:And I think we find it everywhere. Yeah, I think we can find it absolutely everywhere. I had this thought you know we talk about the temple that it's a house of learning, and this thought came to me um, being a teacher, and that's my background is how is the temple like going to school? And think about it like going to school, you're actually the student. You're going there to learn and study, but then be on the side too of, like, the parents sending the student out the door to go to class yeah right, like we typically don't send our kids unequipped or ill-equipped to go to school.
Speaker 2:We're not sending them out the door in their jammies. For the most part we decided what do we send them with? They've got a backpack. They've got books. Hopefully we helped them with their homework the night before, or at least checked that mark that they did it. They've got lunch. They've got you know. They're dressed for the day. Hopefully they're getting some encouragement like a you've got this. You know, as they leave. I love you. Remember who you are.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And then they're going to get a. I'll see you later, like I'm going to see you after school, right?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I'll be here or I'll. I'll see you here, I'll pick you up there after all of this. And so I have this mindset and it seems to just like, as we talk about the temple being a parable, this seemed to be kind of like my own little parable for the learning that exists in the temple and this opportunity to cheer them on. So we send our kids, like our heavenly father sent us here to earth, and I know well that he's cheering us on. I love the scripture and in my notes. I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it super quick, but I love the scripture and in my notes.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it super quick, but I love the scripture okay, that says the heavens will shake for our good, yeah, that the heavens will shake for our good, and I believe that is our heavenly father and our savior cheering us on. When I think about happy in sign language, isn't it this? Yeah, like the shake for our good, like I just believe that that is what they're doing as we are here going to school, and so part of that is like what's in our backpack? What are we going to and where are we going to go to learn? It's the temple.
Speaker 2:They're saying come to the temple and let things feel familiar here. So you're not in my presence right now, you're at school, you're on this mortal journey. So come to a place that feels as close to home as it can Home with a capital H home, heaven. Come somewhere where it feels the close to heavenly home as it can while you're there. And so that's another question I want to ask myself, as I'm worshiping the temple, what here feels familiar to me? You know, I think about the times when I've held our three kiddos. When they were born the very first time they were placed in my arms and I was so caught off guard that the only word sometimes it's hard to put earthly language to heavenly and sacred experiences, but I guess the word I would attach to it is, as they were placed in my arms, was you're familiar, right?
Speaker 2:And so where do we see familiarity showing up in our lives, specifically in relation to the temple? And, and I feel like that's exactly what the Lord's house is, come, feel familiar with me and, um, I know that my kids are going to laugh if they ever listened to this. So I am that mom that likes to put the napkin in with the note on it. Okay, like always, like I love like it's hidden sometimes's hidden.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, like you know some of my kids I'm not going to call any amount, but I have to make it really little in the corner so like nobody else sees it, just them right. And it's not a daily thing. But I love that note and so I thought well, what are the notes in our, in our lunches, in our backpacks that are that heaven is sending to us? And we're taught in the temple that we will be sent heavenly messengers in the form of heavenly messengers. And so here's some.
Speaker 1:I want to just punch that real quick.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:We are taught heavenly messengers will send us heavenly messages. Yeah, that's, that's part of that parable that we see in the, in the movie, and what we experience in life is that there's, I will send them messengers for further light and knowledge. Yeah, they're all around us and they're sometimes physical, right. Each other You've been that to our family and sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're ancestors, but keep going.
Speaker 2:Right and to me, I feel like those messengers are cheering us on. It's like they're just going to check in with us. They're going to check on us and they're going to just keep providing that light and knowledge along the way. It's like those notes on our napkin in our lunch Wow, in our backpack right Now that my kids are older, it's a text during the day Like, hey, how'd that test go? Or you know you look great today, or you're killing it, or can't wait to see you later.
Speaker 2:Um, this came to mind when I thought about the napkin. The symbolism of the napkin it's prophets. It's prophets are one of the messengers cheering us on. And here's a few cheers. See if they. This sounds cheerful and cheering you on.
Speaker 2:Okay, president Nelson, these are all from president nelson, because jesus christ is at the center of everything we do in the temple. As you think more about the temple, you will be thinking more about him. Or president nelson saying expect to receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge and increased power. That sounds like cheering you on. President Nelson has said I should be giving the dates. This is in 2018, october, after we receive our own temple ordinances and make sacred covenants with God.
Speaker 2:Each one of us needs the ongoing spiritual strengthening and tutoring that is only possible in the house of the Lord. Cheering you on, um president nelson said in may 2022 heavenly father has sent his children to earth for more than six millennia. Most of those people have not yet received the ordinances that would qualify them for eternal life. That is why temples are so significant. That is why the gathering of israel on both sides of the veil is the most important cause on the earth today. That's an anthem, that's a call, and I love this one. Whenever any kind of upheaval occurs in your life, the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants.
Speaker 1:So powerful.
Speaker 2:Napkins, there we go.
Speaker 1:I'm reminded every time I go, this idea that Heavenly Father's eternal right, that I'm his. If Heavenly Father has all power, all time, all capability, he's got it Like, he's got us. He, you have it right. Like that's what I, that's the, that's the cheering on that I hear sometimes and every time I see the temple it doesn't. And again, it is a very sacred privilege to live as so close as we do, but that's why we put pictures of temples in our homes and we love going to the mountains as individuals and being on the mountain, you know, symbolic mountains of the Lord, so to speak, because we can feel in our core that we've got this, because he has this.
Speaker 1:So, whatever we're going through, one of my favorite names of Christ is a man of sorrows, and I love that name because, even though he has this eternal perspective right, he knows for us what it's like. He knows firsthand. He suffered all things, he descended below all things. So as we struggle independently with whatever it is that we are struggling with, that an adversary would say is our fault. Shame on us. We could have done better. Why can't you be like so-and-so? Christ is saying you've got this. And I'm so sorry that you feel that way because I know what that's like to feel that and I love those reminders. But just like everything else in the temple, it's it's symbolically represented.
Speaker 2:Right and it makes me think, with this school analogy and napkin and backpack and all of this, I think for the most part, most of the times, my kids come home from school and be like how was your day Right? Let's go back to where we started about this, that the temple is this rehearsal for a very real and personal debut, um, that we will have this homecoming, this reunion that we'll have with the father and his son, jesus Christ. So think about when your kids come home Okay, how was your day?
Speaker 1:Oh it's, it's always amazing, right, like, as a parent, it's weird to communicate that because, like you're, it's so like oh my gosh, you're home, yeah, every time it's like okay, so my energy and my excitement for seeing them.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like probably sometimes a little intense a little intense or not quite matched you right. They're tired, they've worked hard, they're hungry they're teenagers sometimes they're teenagers a lot of the times and they are like they walk through the door. It's good, it's normal, it's fine, it's fine, it was fine. And yet the joy that you have of a parent, it's like oh, they're safe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're here Right.
Speaker 2:Right, like we're going to work through it, like you have to unpack that backpack with them and be like they say the day was hard. Right, you're gonna pack that and you're gonna work that through with them. But then you have those days when they walk in and like something really great happened right now. That joy just like levels up even more. Yeah, and I think that is true with our experience of the temple. Like sometimes we're gonna go and even though we're gonna name this now, we're gonna sit in the chair and progress. Sometimes we go and it might be like that was good, that's fine, I was there, right. Yeah. And other times we're going to have our experience in the temple and it's going to be like oh my goodness amazing amazing.
Speaker 2:I can't believe what was revealed to me. But we're going to have that whole spectrum of experiences, but each time the joy is there on the end of the parent Like you're here, you came home.
Speaker 1:Right, Even when we don't think we get anything out of it. The father is so happy that we came home.
Speaker 2:That you're here, whether it's a yeah, that was a good day, or fine, or normal, or blew it out of the park.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Regardless of that, the excitement that we are there connecting with heaven, the heaven shake for our good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel inspired as we, as we start to, you know, wind down a little bit this idea that, um, as we go to the temple, no matter what's going on, no matter what we get or don't get, just want to challenge the audience, to have a quiet time in the celestial room and just ask you know, are you proud of me, are you happy with my effort? Just listen and hear what, how, your father has to tell you in your heart and your mind, and you may need to start the process a little bit with some faith by just imagining what a perfect father might say to a child, and then you might actually hear that those are actually his words, right, whatever that might be.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So, michelle, I feel like this talk. You know, I feel like we could go on for another couple of hours. I think I think this is a good pausing point, what? I'm finishing my podcast now with a question I'd like to ask you what would you like? Cause, part of this is family history for me. You know, I love the fact that your kids, grandkids, are going to see Michelle at this stage in her life experiencing these things. What would you like your kids or grandkids to know about this topic? This stage in her life experiencing these things, what would you like your kids or grandkids to know about this topic? What would you like?
Speaker 2:to tell them the topic of we need an endowment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and really anything that comes to mind.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, that is a beautiful question. What I would want my children and my grandchildren I would want my children and my grandchildren, my posterity, to know is that temple learning takes time and temple learning is a process. The temple itself teaches progression, like we've talked about. It talks about process, and I want them to know that attending the temple will unlock for them knowledge, mysteries, light, truth, relationship, but, most importantly, they will find and see their Savior, jesus Christ, in the temple, and I feel like the temple and the presentation of the endowment now, currently this day lends itself even more clearly and making it more obvious that we are there to connect with our Savior Jesus Christ, that he is in the covenants, that he is in the rituals, that he is in the covenants, that he is in the rituals, that he is in the promises that we make.
Speaker 2:Nothing we do in the temple, nothing that we learn about or experience is ever without greater understanding and knowledge of our savior Jesus Christ. I want them to know me being their family and them being a part of my family that when I go to the temple, it's a family experience for me. I am there worshiping and connecting with my older brother, jesus Christ, and I'm learning about what he did for me and for each one of Heavenly Father's children to make it possible that we could return to the Father. I have only sisters here.
Speaker 2:In my mortal experience there were only girls in my house growing up and that was pretty special, but I always wanted a brother and I've always had a brother and that's my savior, jesus Christ. And as I've come to grow in my temple, understanding and it's taken a long time and I want my posterity to know that that's been my experience that it's taken a long time for me to grow in wanting to be there, to grow into having the desire, in growing and feeling confident that I will go and receive further light and knowledge. It's happened by practicing it and putting faith in the process of going and attending, but it's been going there that I have come to know my brother, my savior Jesus Christ, and it is my brother who is leading me back to my father in heaven. It is a family experience. I want my family to know that, that it is all about families, and they will come to know their savior and their heavenly father as they attend the temple I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm sure, as you do, that, as they remember this episode, they'll be looking for those napkin experiences as well, you know.
Speaker 2:I hope so.
Speaker 1:Michelle, thank you. This was such a great episode. I sure appreciate you being on the show today. Thanks for taking time to be with me.
Speaker 2:Thanks, thanks. Well, thanks for asking.
Speaker 1:Thanks again for listening to today's episode of Temple Bound. If you enjoyed today's show, make sure to join us over on Instagram at Temple Bound Podcast, to receive additional information as well as previews of our upcoming episodes. See you over there.
