Sometimes we treat scripture and revelation as if they were simplified scientific explanations of things, but I think that is a mistake, and sometimes a serious one. For it assumes that science is the measure of all discourse. Though religious discourse may offer us explanations, its purpose is not explanatory, but soteriological: it is concerned, not with telling us how the world and the things in the world are (at least not in the way that science does), but with telling us about God’s power to save and how we can be saved.

Yes, life can be fast-paced for parents and is becoming so for children. It would be easy to say there is not enough time to fit everything in. Looking back at a time that passed all too quickly, I can now see that each day was filled with precious little moments full of opportunity to help our children hear the “voice of gladness” in the gospel. Children are always learning from us. They are learning what is important by what we choose to do as well as what we choose not to do. Casual, infrequent family prayers, scripture study, and family home evenings will not be enough to fortify our children. Where will children learn the gospel and standards such as chastity, integrity, and honesty if not at home? These values can be reinforced at church, but parents are the most capable and most effective in teaching them to their children.

Having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

And I know that the record which i make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.

There is something eternal in the very nature of writing, as is so graphically illustrated by the scriptures themselves. In a very real sense, our properly written histories are a very important part of our family scripture and become a great source of spiritual strength to us and to our posterity.

My dear brothers and sisters, when pain, tests, and trials come in life, draw near to the Savior. “Wait upon the Lord, … look for him” (Isa. 8:17; 2 Ne. 18:17). “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31). Healing comes in the Lord’s time and the Lord’s way; be patient.

Our Savior waits for us to come to Him through our scripture study, pondering, and prayer to our Heavenly Father. Great blessings and lessons come from overcoming adversity. As we are strengthened and healed, we can then lift and strengthen others with our faith. May we be instruments in the Lord’s hands in blessing the lives of those in pain. I give you my testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and that He waits for us to come to Him to give us counsel and compassionate caring.

The greater and more intense suffering of the Lord was not physical—not the trial nor the mocking, not the beating or being spat upon; it was not even being betrayed by a beloved associate or rejected by those whom He loved, nor was it the physical act of crucifixion. Although all of these things happened and each action was very painful, the Savior’s greatest pain during the Atonement was endured to help the transgressor to be healed:

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit” (D&C 19:16–18).

It is interesting to note that, other than in the book of Job and a few other places, there are very few scriptural references to physical or mortal pain. The pain most frequently spoken of in the scriptures is the pain and anguish of the Lord and His prophets for the disobedient souls.

Have you ever felt a particular scripture speak directly to your heart and help answer a current problem or question? Have you ever felt the Spirit as you learned a precious truth from the scriptures or a Church leader? Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said that “the scriptures not only witness the truth about Christ and his relevance for mankind, but are, in a sense, like a songbook. There are many melodies that need to be sung and heard. … Only through personal involvement with the scriptures can we find the particular scriptural songs to meet our needs. … We must—ourselves—open the songbook and hear the music” (A Time to Choose [1972], 52).

As we share our feelings and insights about the counsel found in the Visiting Teaching Messages, we will find ways to apply in our lives the words of latter-day prophets and Church leaders and prophets of old. The scriptures are constant and eternal. The same is true of teachings from our modern prophets, for as the Lord declared, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).

I have discovered that many times you don't fully understand a scripture until you memorize it.

The prophet himself through the Lord, by revelation, gave certain great principles that would save the world if the world would but listen. We do not lack a prophet; what we lack is a listening ear by the people and a determination to live as God has commanded.

"In April 1982, Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke to the regional representatives about the priority the scriptures should take in our labors. He said: “We are so wound up in programs and statistics and trends, in properties, lands and mammon, and in achieving goals that will highlight the excellence of our work, that we have ‘omitted the weightier matters of the law.’ … However talented men may be in administrative matters; however eloquent they may be in expressing their views; however learned they may be in the worldly things—they will be denied the sweet whisperings of the Spirit that might have been theirs unless they pay the price of studying, pondering, and praying about the scriptures.”