Peter once asked Jesus an honest question: How many times should I forgive someone who trespasses against me? He knew to expect the unexpected from Jesus, and since the Rabbis of his time taught that you should forgive 3 times then stop, Peter estimated that the perfect number might be 7 times. That still feels …
Author Archives: benmortenson
Stretch
“Jesus entered into a synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.And he said unto him Stand forth.And he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”Mark 3:1–5 Like so many of His miracles, here Jesus asked …
When You Come to a Locked Door
As you make your way though the halls and rooms of life, you may come to doors that are closed and won’t seem to budge. You may feel held back or unable to move forward in the direction you intended. I feel this way at times when there is something inside of me that I’ve …
He Sent Me to Heal
Jesus summed up His mission– what He was sent to do– with a scripture from Isaiah, which he read on a Sabbath in the synagogue in His hometown: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the …
Eliza’s Poem
In 1845, Eliza R. Snow wrote the words of this poem, which she titled My Father in Heaven. — O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place, When shall I regain thy presence And again behold thy face? In thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside? In my first primeval …
Easter: Sunday will Come
I would like to share with you the words of Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin, shortly after losing his wife Elisa. They had been married 65 years. He described of the pain of losing a loved one: “It gnaws at your soul.” Then he said, “I think of how dark that Friday was when Jesus Christ …
The Struggle and the Promise
The personal struggle to face questions and doubts and to gain real spiritual momentum is often a desperate battle. The personal cost is high and at times it feels the mountain looms too steep before you. Our Savior invites us to take our next few steps. If we do, we will soon notice that the …
Offroad
I was in the backseat when the wheel came off. It was spring of 2009 on a dirt road in eastern Mongolia. The problem was partly that a dozen people were packed in this minivan-sized “Mikro-bus”. But the main problem was the road from Choibalsan to Ulaanbaatar had long stretches of unpaved dirt roads, and …
His promises
For the past six months we have been studying the scriptures with a specific question: “What has God promised to do for his covenant people?” President Nelson defined the people of covenant Israel as those who are willing to let God prevail in their lives. They are “the house of Israel, even as many as …
The Stash of Chocolate
As part of my parents’ efforts to teach us kids emergency preparedness and food storage, my dad sometimes bought large boxes of food. He said that if the prediction was true that one day a bushel of wheat would be worth its weight in gold, then imagine how much a box of chocolate bars will …
On the Path of Life... 