Sheri Dew Quotes

If you're serious about sanctification, you can expect to experience heart-wrenching moments that try your faith, your endurance, and your patience.

On those days when we're not ready to stop being offended, not ready to forgive, still determined to dish out the silent treatment, what we're actually saying is, "Thanks, but I don't want to become more like the Savior today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today." Perhaps those are the times when we need to pray the hardest, the times it becomes clear that a change in behavior is not enough
that we must have a change in nature.

We're not alone
at least, we're alone only if we choose to be alone. We're alone only if we choose to go through life relying solely on our own strength rather than learning to draw upon the power of God.

When we put ourselves in a position to feel the Spirit and receive repeated confirmations from heaven, we also put ourselves in a position to counteract deception, distortion, and untruths.

Satan is a "roaring lion, [who] walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." And he will devour us unless we "put on the whole armour [or power] of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (See 1 Peter 5 and Ephesians 6)

Why can't we resist the urge to second-guess and evaluate each other? ... Sometimes I wonder if the final judgment will be a breeze compared with what we've put each other through here on earth. p 225

Thus, when we plead for the gift of charity, we aren't asking for lovely feelings toward someone who bugs us or someone who has injured or wounded us. We are actually pleading for our very natures to be changed, for our character and disposition to become more and more like the Savior's, so that we literally feel as He would feel and thus do what He would do.

Am I the woman I think I am, the woman I want to be? More importantly, am I the woman the Savior needs me to be?

Faith is a principle of action. It is our willingness to believe in the Savior that unleashes His power in our lives. Faith is not a bulwark against tribulation, but an assurance that the Lord is overseeing all.

I invite you to consider anew what you know and what you have; what you are here for and where you are going; and how you are going to do what you have come here to do. p 13

Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are and who you have always been. And understanding it can change your life, because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way.

After explainging that the Relief Society is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world, he said: People wonder what we do for our women. I will tell you what we do; we get out of their way and look with wonder at what they are accomplishing.

The last days are not for the faint of heart or the spiritually out of shape.

We don't really know what we believe in or care about until what we believe in or care about is threatened, challenged, or measured.

If Life were easy, it would not be hard

I fear that some of us understand just enough about the gospel to feel guilty
guilty that we are not measuring up to some undefinable standard
but not enough about the Atonement to feel the peace and strength, the power and mercy it affords us.

Let's face it: Today silly women mired in the sophistries and seductions of the world, and haughty women obsessed with themselves, abound. Regrettably, many women succumb to the temptation to judge, gossip, and undermine one another.

The women of the Church are the hope of the world precisely because it is not possible to limit the influence of a woman of God who is filled with the pure love of Christ. For that matter, the same is true of men. It is not possible to limit the influence of a man of God who bears the holy priesthood and who is filled with the pure love of Christ.
Satan knows this, and he hates followers of Christ for it. We are among his greatest nightmares because he knows he cannot limit our influence unless he can neutralize our respective natures. So, if he can get us to break the law of chastity, or develop an addiction, or become consumed with or blinded by the world, he laughs. When he seduces a man or a woman of God, he not only neutralizes those individuals but is poised to infiltrate their families.

None of us are entitled to revelation without effort on our part. Answers from God don't just magically appear. If we want to grow spiritually, the Lord expects us to ask questions and seek answers.

It is possible to be clean in a dirty world.

The Lord needs men and women who can talk with confidence about what they believe. Men and women who aren't afraid to wrestle with tough questions. Men and women who can talk to children, youth, and each other about everything from the Church's teachings about marriage to other issues that can cause confusion and threaten faith.

We of all people should be comfortable discussing any topic, any issue, any doctrine with anyone, because we can draw from a deep reservoir of revealed truth. We have so many places to turn for answers - to the Lord, to the scriptures, to prophets, seers, and revelators, and to a host of other inspired resources.

There is a direct relationship between our personal experience with the Lord and how we see ourselves. The closer we grow to him, the more clear and complete becomes our vision of who we are, who we have always been, and who we may become.

President George Q. Cannon encouraged us to pray for gifts of the Spirit that would countermand and eradicate our weaknesses: "If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. Have I imperfections? I am full of them. What is my duty? To pray to God to give me the gifts that will correct these imperfections. If I am an angry man, it is my duty to pray for charity, which suffereth long and is kind. Am I an envious man? It is my duty to seek for charity, which envieth not. So with all the gifts of the Gospel. They are intended for this purpose."37 Spiritual gifts are given to those who seek after them, and they are given to those whom the Lord can trust to use them to bless others.

We no longer have the luxury of spending our energy on anything that does not lead us and our families to Christ.

We must each walk through life on our own, but we don't have to do it alone. God wants a powerful people. He gives His power to those who are faithful. We have a sacred obligation to seek after the power of God and then to use that power as He directs. And when we have the power of God with us, nothing is impossible.

Learning and receiving revelation must necessarily include both the heart and the mind, or thoughts, and feelings. Intellect alone cannot produce a testimony. You cannot think your way to conversion, because you cannot convince your mind of something your heart does not feel.

...the Lord is eager to communicate with us through the manifestations and promptings of the Holy Ghost. And the cumulative effect of repeated witnesses of the Spirit becomes something of an inoculation against the ups and downs, the confusion and bewilderment, and the plain old agonies of life.

I told her, "Bring your scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and every question you have. Questions are good. Let's see what the Lord will teach us together."

...During one of our study sessions together, as she threw a steady stream of questions at me, I asked her if she was asking questions against a backdrop of faith or one of doubt. "In other words, are you saying, 'Here's something I don't understand, so the gospel must not be true.' or are you willing to say, 'Here's something I don't understand, but I wonder what the Lord or His prophets will teach us about this?'

Are your questions asked with the assumption that there are answers? Are you will to trust the Lord and give Him the benefit of the doubt?

None of us come to this earth to gain our worth; we brought it with us.

Growing spiritually and receiving answers to our questions depends upon our ability to feel, hear, and understand the whisperings of the Spirit. It is worth engaging in a spiritual wrestle to learn to receive personal revelation, because we can know what is true only when the Spirit bears witness to both our hearts and minds in the way only the Holy Ghost can.

Challenges that tax our faith are usually opportunities to stretch and strengthen our faith by finding out if we really believe the Lord will help us.

The more we sense...our ultimate potential, the more determined we become to achieve it. It's the difference between your mother hounding you to practice the piano and reaching the point where you want to do it yourself. You simply will not be denied the ultimate reward and the joy of the Big Finish. p 90

The healing power of charity, bestowed by our Father and made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, can make it virtually impossible for us even to feel emotions common to the natural man.

The Lord needs men and women who know how to get answers. Men and women who aren't easily deceived and whose testimonies aren't shaken by someone with carefully crafted talking points. Men and women whose faith isn't threatened when they don't have all the answers and can't always effectively respond to alternate points of view. Men and women who have had witness after witness that Jesus is the Christ and that the gospel has been restored - so that when circumstances confuse or discourage them, they turn toward the Savior rather than away from Him. And men and women who are secure enough in their own testimonies that they can help others who are struggling to find their way.

He needs men and women who are willing to engage in the wrestle.

Life is a test. It is only a test
meaning that's all it is. Nothing more, but nothing less. It is a test of our convictions and priorities, our faith and faithfulness, our patience and resilience, and in the end, our ultimate desires. It is a test to determine if we want to be part of the kingdom of God more than we want anything else.