An Amazing Woman - One of My Heros!

 In my recent post about my great, great, great grandmother Anna Regina Keller I had written about her humbling experience when inquiring the Lord about the blessing of food. There is so much more to share about this amazing woman. The stories I have about her are quite lengthy so I decided to extract my favorite tidbits and share with you below.

She really had an impact on the town of Manti and reflected the principals and values that I try to emulate in my own life. I am honored to share my favorite of her personal experiences below:

(Anna's adobe house on Main St. in Manti - since has been remodeled)

Anna R. Keller had a thrilling experience a little more than a year after they moved into their own home. One day when the first child was but a few months old and while father was away at work, three big Indian bucks unceremoniously entered the cellar. It had been the custom of the Indians to camp on the adjoining lot where every night they held war dances and contests around a great camp fire purposely kindling the spirit of hate for the white man who had come into their territory. After carefully looking everything over they asked for a pair of father’s boots and for a blanket. Mother shook her head saying “No” they then pretended to want the baby. Again inwardly frozen with terror she calmly shook her head and with a prayer in her heart waited motionless while they sat on the floor and held a consultation occasionally pointing with arrows at her indicating that they might use them. After some minutes of fear and suspense they rose and walked out without a word. They never molested her again although they continued to hold their war like ceremonies only a block away. 

Anna R Keller also served her Relief Society as secretary for 12 years. During these years she made every effort to change the routine testimony meetings, they were never anything else. She advocated the preparation of a subject to be presented by someone in order to add interest to the meetings. And to prove her point she would prepare subjects and confine herself to them when speaking instead of merely giving her testimony as was customary. She lived to see her ideals fulfilled in the splendid outlines of study now in use. 

Anna R Keller was peculiarly gifted in the case of the sick and was usually called by neighbors and friends when there was sickness in their homes. Many a sick child was restored to health under her wise ministrations.

She was a woman of great sympathy and charity especially for the poor and obscure and to make them feel welcome and at ease. This characteristic is best exemplified by the fact that although she had a large family of her own, she took into her home and cared for two poor older persons whose death had left them friendless and alone as well as a 15 month old abandoned negro child, George, who was reared as her own. In these acts of kindness and sympathy she had the whole hearted cooperation of her husband and children. One of her favorite expressions was “In as much as ye do it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me.” 

Mother in her religious zeal frequently begged father to embrace and practice the doctrine of polygamy. He quietly told her that he would not be able to endure it and that he was willing to take the consequences for the omission. Once when the ward teacher called and began to discuss polygamy, telling him he was falling in his duty as he was well able to afford it. One of his daughters took them on in a debate. He listened with a merry twinkle in his eye as she defended his position but he did not participate in the discussion.

 When the Manti temple was dedicated in May 1888, Anna R Keller was called as a missionary with the first company of workers to officiate in the Manti temple ordinances. For 26 years thereafter she gladly gave her services to the church she loved and was an untiring, devout temple worker. At the time of the dedication of the Manti temple she bears testimony that it was her wonderful experience to hear heavenly music, a privilege not granted to many.  

On December 15, 1897 when five of the temple sisters or ordinance workers were conversing upon spiritual and temporal blessings, one of the ladies arose and addressed Anna R Keller in tongues. Of course she could not understand the words. But another sister arose and gave the interpretation which was that her work and integrity were accepted by the Lord and that her departed husband was watching her with great interest as well as pleased with her and that all her affairs should turn to her spiritual and temporal welfare. 

These were indeed uplifting words to her. This manifestation certainly came to pass. For although she spent a great deal of money to obtain her genealogy, her farm produced well and her sheep brought her a nice income so that she lived on the interest of her holdings. 

During 1914 when failing health forced her to retire from her temple work she often remarked that since there was nothing more that she could do here she was anxious to pass on to a new experience and to new activities and to join her loved ones who had gone before. 

About this time she became blind and remained so very for several months. However it was her firm belief that she would again see. Through faith, prayer, and the administrations by the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints she again received her sight and was able to read and write until the time of her death on May 17^th at the age of 79 and was laid to rest in the Manti cemetery. 

Her great, granddaughter (my grandmother) also became blind toward the end of her life. When discovering this story about Anna Regina Keller I pointed it out to my grandmother and asked her if she had ever asked for a priesthood blessing in regards to her blindness. She told me no and said she just figured that the Lord probably wanted her to be blind for a reason and there was no point in asking Him about it. She also said she didn't have the faith required for a blessing of healing.

I was amazed at her response. I think sometimes we forget that the amazing experiences and miracles that our ancestors had were bestowed by the same priesthood we have today. We are every bit as deserving - but has our faith decreased? Now is the time to increase our faith because we will rely on many miracles in the near future.

I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

In Response to the LDS Feminist Protest 12/16/12

This has been the hot topic on facebook today. There is a protest planned for this Sunday for women to wear pants to church and men to wear purple to support them. The women are protesting to be given more opportunities that the men have in the church. I called the Church Office Building and spoke to the Public Affairs department and they are already aware. The sweet sister that I spoke with thanked me for calling in and said that I am the only phone call they have received about it and she was very touched by my concern. We talked about it for a bit and agreed that it was very sad. Sad that some women feel this way and sad that they would demonstrate a world wide protest in sacrament meetings. It's clear that these women need more love and support - it's not an issue about wearing pants but an issue of feeling worth.

I'm sure the First Presidency is saddened as well and may express their concern in a letter. I hope they address this as it seems to correlate with the growing "feminist" "fairness" movements we are seeing throughout the country each day. Satan is wise in his methods of making people feel worthless, inferior or centering their lives around themselves. This is not the Lord's way.

I found the source of this protest. Here is the link http://www.feministmormonhousewives.org/2012/12/mormon-feminists-in-whoville-and-why-you-should-wear-pants-to-church-this-sunday/

Here is a part of my response to these women:

Because we are His children we have amazing opportunities to be like Him. We are ALL told we can be like Him after we die. Not just men or just women…ALL of us. I have never heard a man complain that he can’t serve in the Young Women’s presidency, Primary Presidency or give birth to children. God knows what He is doing for a reason. Listen to the ordinances in the temple the next time you go, fast and pray, and you will feel the Spirit enlighten your understanding. Never underestimate the power of a righteous woman! Satan is great at feeding lies into our heads that we are inferior or insignificant. That couldn’t be further form the truth! The Lord is all powerful and all knowing…this is His church and these are His laws. I can testify that to trust Him and have faith in Him in all of wise purposes…we can only become more blessed and more happy. Unhappiness and feelings of inferiority do not come from Him. 

Sacrament meeting should always be about the Savior and reverencing Him, not a place for political statements and drawing attention to ourselves. This is very sad. These women and men are really protesting the Lord and His church not their bishops or the First Presidency. When you are against the Lord, His laws and commandments you are serving someone else. It's the slippery slope to apostasy.

As a reminder, I posted a BYU address from Elder Oaks last June. This is in my top three favorite posts that are a must read. Among other dangers he nails this issue on the head when he talks about femenist movements in the church. It's an eye opener. check it out!

http://allstandtall.blogspot.com/2012/07/life-changing-article.html

Some Call it Karma - The Amazing Effect of the Laws of Heaven and Charity

This is what Hallmark movies are made of!

My older sister called me the other day to share with me an amazing experience she had. Before I tell you what happened, let me just set the story up by telling you that I went to the temple twice last week. The first day, I had the feeling to put her name on the temple prayer roll - so I did. I remember thinking, "She's not sick, or suffering from any afflictions that I'm aware of...but it can't hurt, only help." I put her and her husband's name on there and many others.

Saturday was a great day! Not only was I celebrating my 12th anniversary with my husband, it was the day we were shooting my infomercial for hydroheel. What's even funnier is that Mitt Romney happened to be across the street from us the entire day visiting his son, and we didn't even know it.

The home we filmed the infomercial in

Me and my husband Dec 1st 2012

The shoot began early and lasted until 7:00pm. We filmed at a beautiful home in Salt Lake and had 16 testimonials coming and going throughout the day. My sister being one of them, arrived shortly after I did. She later told me that it was the best day of her life -second to her wedding. She had never been pampered like that before with a makeup artist, nor been on camera, or on a production set. It was very exciting for her and the house was full amazing people and lot's of food!

Apparently that week she had promised her husband that she would pay him back some money that she owed him, but she didn't know how. The only money she had left was her tithing money and since she doesn't work, she seldom gets to pay tithing. Though it was tempting to pay her husband back or to use that money for some things she really needed, she decided to pay her tithing. The very next day, I called her to ask her if she'd like to share her testimonial about hydroheel in our infomercial She would get paid $100 for her time and travel. Little did I know this was an answer to her prayer. She had given to God what was His, and by law He was bound to bless her. She was humbled.
 

Me giving my testimonial on camera

She then went on to tell me that her husband surprised her with her favorite candy bar and she was so happy! They live so far away from the city and grocery stores that he does all the grocery shopping when he is coming back from work. My sister said that he usually surprises her once a year with a candy bar. So to her this was a big deal.

A little later, her friend called her with a question. My sister just started selling Doterra oils and her friend wanted to buy the essential oil dictionary which is about $40.00 or free with a $200 purchase. Her friend also being low on money expressed that she really wished she could somehow get that book. My sister jokingly told her that she could get it by putting in a $200 order. Later when she got off the phone she felt guilty about it. It was then she felt prompted to give her friend the book for free.

She said that she had been reading my new book Successful Failures and it really changed her perspective on life and her relationships. She felt that she hadn't been the friend or sister that she would have liked to have been all these years. She hadn't talked to her friend in about 7 years until last month when she called her up to sell her some oils. My book helped to open her eyes and soften her heart and she knew what she needed to do. She called her friend back and asked if she could take her out to lunch for her birthday that Saturday. Her friend agreed.

My sister said that up until now, she had always looked at everything in life as "What's in it for me?" For once she was giving with nothing in it for her. She was going to buy her friend lunch with the money she had just been given from the shoot. She also used that money to pay for the expensive book her friend couldn't afford. Realizing that she now wouldn't have any extra money for Christmas because she was also having to pay her husband back, she decided that was okay.

She showed up at the restaurant and saw that they were running a special that day. Free deserts with all meals. She was so happy! Then they told her they were having a drawing. Every 20 minutes they were giving away prizes. She had the feeling right then that if she entered the drawing she would win. She and her friend entered and minutes later in the crowded restaurant they called her name! She won $25 towards her $18 meal. This meant she had money left over. She would now have money for Christmas shopping! She felt so blessed she wanted to cry. Not to mention the employees told her that she was so pretty. She hadn't heard that in a long time and attributes it to the makeup artists from earlier.

During lunch she and her friend got on the topic of angels and how they bless us. Her friend was not having a good day and seemed very down. She then surprised her friend with the gift. My sister had taken the time to wrap it in pretty paper, with a fancy bow. She also had decided to make it extra nice by sacrificing that chocolate bar she wanted to eat so bad, and putting it on top of the gift. Her friend was very surprised. She opened it up and began to cry. My sister said, "Why is the book so important to you? Someone on the other side really wanted you to have it because I have never had such a strong prompting before as I have to give you this book."

Her friend replied, "There is a little girl on our street that my daughter plays with and she has severe bi-polar. This book will help me know how I can help her."

In awe my sister couldn't believe that she wanted this book, not for herself but to help someone else. It was very unselfish and very touching. She felt the Spirit very strong.

Later that day when she got home, to her surprise there was a King size candy bar waiting for her. It was the same chocolate bar she had sacrificed but even bigger. Her husband had bought it for her.



To sum it all up she said, "You know Lindsey, I learned a big lesson that day. When you give all you have out of love, expecting nothing in return, you always get back more. I had never done this before. I have never sacrificed so much out of love expecting nothing in return. After I gave all my money, I got back more, I gave up my chocolate, I got back more. The Lord blessed me for giving to others."

She then went on to say that the next day at church her husband got up to bear his testimony which he seldom does. He became very emotional and said that he had really felt the Lord that week blessing he and his family's life. It was a testimony to me that when you call on heaven, heaven responds. I believe I was inspired to put their names on the temple prayer roll for a reason. Someone on the other side wanted permission to evoke some amazing powers and once that request was made, it had the most profound effect on so many people. 

After hearing this story, all of these scriptures below popped into my mind. How they ring true!

Doctrine and Covenants 84:3, 10 


For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Mark 12:42-44

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

  

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

  

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Matthew 25:40 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Malachi 3:8-10

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

The Lord wants us to learn true charity in this life. Once we learn it and experience it for ourselves, we are forever changed. In fact Mormon tells us in the book of Moroni what I think is some of the most powerful scripture in existence:

Moroni 7:42-47

42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

 43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

 44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confess by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

We are in that last day, and I have felt charity more in these last couple of months than during any other time in my life. I know that we are all having these experiences and changes of heart for a reason. I can tell you, that nothing seems to scare me anymore. I have so much faith and hope in God that I can't find any reasons to not be happy and rejoice. Life feels so wonderful!

Joseph B. Wirthlin once said;

"Nothing you do makes much of a difference if you do not have charity. You can speak with tongues, have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries, and possess all knowledge; even if you have the faith to move mountains, without charity it won't profit you at all....

"Without charity—or the pure love of Christ—whatever else we accomplish matters little. With it, all else becomes vibrant and alive.

"When we inspire and teach others to fill their hearts with love, obedience flows from the inside out in voluntary acts of self-sacrifice and service" (Ensign, Nov 2007, 28–31). 

Life is so sweet and enjoyable when we finally fill our hearts with the pure love of Christ. I have prayed these last few months to be able to love everyone the way Christ does, by being able to see them the way He does. My prayer was answered and it has been the sweetest joy to my soul! I know that if you pray for this very thing, and give it some time, the Lord will answer your prayer. He wants us to know this feeling and if we ask for it He will be more than willing to fulfill our desire. Remember that we must do our part. When we keep the commandments and our covenants we make with Him, He is bound to keep His end of the bargain.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ - amen.

Why Do We Bless Our Food?

I've had the feeling over the past couple of weeks to share some of the amazing experiences and miracles that my ancestors experienced during the early history of the church. I love reading about their lives and when I do it solidifies my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. Knowing that they sacrificed so much, some their very lives to be able to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints - is a strong witness to me that this gospel is true. When you know something is true, you will sacrifice all you have for it.

Their journeys were long and challenging, but they did it for something they believed in. They did it so that their children could have freedom to live the gospel, safety and promised eternal blessings. I feel so blessed that they paved the way so that I could also have the gospel in my life 160 years later. I could never take something so precious for granted and make their sacrifices and sufferings in vain. To show my gratitude and love for their legacies, I have decided to share with you some very precious miracles they experienced along their journeys. Each week I'll post a story and relate it to our lives today.

This first experience I would like to share is about my great, great, great grandmother Anna Regina Hemman Keller, an immigrant from Switzerland. She was baptized at age 16 on April 21 1859. My husband is German and before he was baptized he never blessed his food, prayed for that matter or even attended church. In fact for most Europeans, daily personal prayer is a foreign concept all together.

I'll never forget the first year we visited his family and how awkward it was to initiate blessings on every meal. His family would gather around the table and watch us with their eyes open (some already eating) while we would bow our heads, fold our arms and pray in English. Most of the time my husband would ask me to say the prayer because I think he felt more awkward than I did.

When I first read this story about my great, great, great grandmother it was an experience I was familiar with and I felt so happy to hear her perspective on the matter as well as her concern, her questioning and what happened as a result.

At church one day, she heard the elders talk about blessing the food at the table before eating but she did not quite understand what they meant. She decided to go out into the yard under cover of darkness and although she had never prayed except from the prayer book she felt an urge to inquire of the Lord just what the elders wanted her to know. At first she seemed overcome by the power of darkness but soon she seemed carried away into a lighted room where a table was laid with bread for repast.  A beautiful heavenly personage with soft blue eyes, wavy chestnut hair which fell to his shoulders picked up a loaf of bread from the table broke it in two and raising his eyes to heaven blessed it and then gave it those at the table to eat. The vision closed and she found herself prone on the ground again struggling against the powers of darkness but her prayer had been answered and from that day to her death she gave thanks to her maker for good before eating. 

I love that she inquired of the Lord and he answered quickly and in a powerful manner. To me, this shows that the blessing of food is very important to the Lord. He wanted to convey that to her in a way that she could not deny or question. I find it interesting that Satan tried to intervene as he did with Joseph Smith in the sacred grove. Even Satan knew this was an important issue or he would not have bothered.

To bless something means to consecrate or sanctify it. Our bodies are sacred tabernacles or temples, so it would make sense that we would sanctify something that was entering our temple. I found a comment in a chat forum that I thought explained this well:

When we pray for God to bless this meal, we are not asking him to convert matter or sanitize the food against germs and spoilage, we are asking for him to consecrate it, make it holy; make it spiritually clean. For what purpose? Is it important at all?

Under Mosaic Law, several foods were prohibited as being unclean. Belief was not that these foods would somehow kill you or were not nutritious; it was given upon the idea that eating unclean foods would make your body unclean. We are talking once again about a spiritual un-cleanliness, not a physical un-cleanliness. We are told that our bodies are to be temples; that is, clean vessels for the Spirit to dwell within. We are no longer commanded to observe the Law of Moses, but we are commanded to be clean. We have been given a Word of Wisdom – not a “Word of Knowledge”. We do not follow the WOW in order to be physically healthy; we follow it to be spiritually clean. The health is returned to us as part of the covenant. We promise to follow the WOW and God promises to bless us with strength and health.

Some of the things that the Lord commands us to do, we may never understand but we do it because He asks us to. I know that if we pray to understand things, the Lord can bless us with that understanding.


This story is a testimony to me of the importance and power of prayer. When you ask, God will answer. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Beautiful Inspiration

I have been inspired by Nick Vujicic over the last year and would absolutely love to meet him someday. I place him #1 at the top of my list of most admired people. If you haven't seen his latest work; Butterfly Circus - then you must watch!

If you've read my recent posts, I've talked about how I have been striving for and praying to to be able to see all of God's children the way He does and to love them the way He does. This has transformed my life in ways I couldn't have imagined. Every stranger I bump into, I feel this deep love and happiness for them. I want to know if they are happy, if there is anything I can help them with or if I can somehow let them know that I care about them by a kind gesture. It's been amazing!

Nick is one of the best examples of Christlike love towards all of God's children that I have ever seen. With the challenges he has been given it's beautiful to see that he is happy, happily married and soon to be a father. I hope this video inspires you!

How the Holy Spirit Needs Us

This month for visiting teaching I chose the conference talk Anxiously Engaged by Elder M. Russell Ballard to share with my ladies. As I reflected on it's message I realized my visiting teachers had also shared this same talk with me earlier in the month. It must be a message that the Lord wants to press on my mind.

Elder Ballard talks about natural disasters and many and instances where church members around the world provide humanitarian service and share the love of Christ. He says, "But what about our everyday lives? What would be the cumulative effect of millions of small, compassionate acts performed daily by us because of our heartfelt Christian love for others? Our troubled world needs this love of Christ today more than ever, and it will need it even more in the years ahead."

He brings up the point that we don't always have to wait for a disaster to happen to give this love. Instead we should be praying each morning for the Lord to guide us to those people who are in need of it, whom we can personally help.

He quotes President Spencer W. Kimball: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 82).

Upon reading this I was reminded of a time about 7 months ago when we had just moved into our new home. My realtor had delivered a vase of flowers as a house warming gift. I had set it out on the patio to get some sunlight and  had forgotten all about it. Five days later, I saw it out there and thought how sad it was that no one had been enjoying these flowers but amazed at how great they still looked. Just then a friend from my old neighborhood came to mind and I thought that she might enjoy these flowers.

On my way to run errands that morning I stopped by her home and rang her doorbell. There was no answer so I left them on the porch with a note. An hour later she called me and apologized for not coming to the door. She said she was in the middle of praying to the Lord that somehow He would extend His love to her because she needed it more than ever that day. Just then she heard the doorbell ring but because she had been crying she was afraid to answer it.  Later when she came down she found the flowers and knew that the Lord was showing His love.

I had no idea that this simple act of kindness was the Lord using me to answer one of His children's prayers. It was profound and I was so humbled. Since that day I often ask the Lord to direct me to people whom I can help or to guide them to me. It's amazing how He utilizes me when I ask.

Whether or not we remember to pray for this in our morning prayers, it's important that we always be in a position where we can feel the promptings of the Spirit and recognize them so that we can be prepared for the Lord to use us when others need to feel His love.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

The Third of Heaven vs. The "47%"

I had an interesting thought today. As I was reflecting on the way America is going and the many Americans who have the attitude that they don't need to work hard, don't mind being told what to do by the government in exchange for being taken care of - and not wanting to glorify the Lord in any way, I couldn't help but notice how much it parallels Lucifer's plan in the great counsel in heaven. 

Moses 41:1-2

And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

A third of the entire hosts of heaven followed him and rebelled against God. They were cast out of heaven. 

It's clear how Satan is very much a part of the attitudes and philosophies we see going on today. Looking for the easy way though life. Not having to work or achieve but being guaranteed stability and security. The one providing the stability (the government) and security requires that those dependent on him (it), should give him all praise and credit him as the only source of their salvation. Thus, not giving glory to God for all they have.

They are stirred up in anger against those who glorify God and desire to work hard. They create wars and attempt to destroy those who follow the way of the Lord.

Satan is behind this idea. Continuously seeking revenge for being cast out. Full of anger and hatred he will do all he can to destroy the souls of men. Those who follow him will be led to captivity. His plan is to enslave and to destroy.

It's amazing to see this happening in our day.