All In

Brooke Romney is a strong believer that we are wired for connection. Connection with those around us, connection with our families, connection with God—"Humans are hard and friendship takes work," Romney says, but she also believes the effort is worthwhile, "His intent was never for us to walk any of these paths alone." "We're craving what God really intended us to be. He never intended us to sit behind screens. He never intended even for us to just write articles about good things. He created us to do good things, to touch people, to connect with people. That's what this is all about. And I think, because life has gotten so easy and so removed, sometimes we forget that and it's what our soul wants so badly." Show Notes: 3:08- A hunger for human connection 7:07- Breaking down barriers to friendship 11:46- A need for vulnerability 17:50- 3 ways to be a true friend 22:00- Getting out of your comfort zone 28:03- Connecting with your children 33:00- Modeling true confidence 34:51- I am _____________ 36:52- Loving your children 39:17- God's desire to connect with you 44:42- What does it mean to be "all in" the gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After nearly 40 years of teaching religion, Robert Millet still had some questions regarding the Holy Ghost. For example, how does our doctrine regarding the Holy Ghost differentiate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from other religions? Or what does the right to constant companionship of the Spirit really look like? It was this curiosity that led him to begin researching and eventually writing his latest book, "The Holy Spirit." On today's episode, he shares the unique insights he found along the way. "Something as fundamental as God and Christ and the Holy Ghost really just cannot remain a mystery. 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent' (John 17:3). If it's life eternal to know God, heaven help us if we don't even have the means of coming to know God because God is in some ways pushed off the stage, because Jesus takes center stage." Show Notes: 2:15- "Like fish who discover water last" 9:20- The Holy Ghost or the Light of Christ 11:24- Avenues of the Spirit 16:29- My own voice or the voice of the Spirit? 23:27- Still learning, more than 40 years later 29:37- Inextricably linked to every facet of the gospel 33:36- How is His influence felt everywhere? 36:11- Baptism of fire 38:08- The differentiator 39:47- Why three separate and distinct Beings matters 45:32- Inability to feel the Spirit amidst depression 46:16- How understanding the Spirit can change our lives 48:51- What does it mean to be "all in" the gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She competed on two of the most popular dance television shows of all time. She taught a rodeo cowboy, a rapper, a "Bachelor," and Michael Bolton how to dance with millions watching. But on this week's episode of "All In," Chelsie Hightower discusses the anxiety she faced when the cameras stopped rolling. "I think that I'd felt like, whether I could articulate it at that time or not, I felt like I'd lost God's trust in me and His love for me...I learned that His love is far different than I thought it was." 1:06- The Story of Morgan and Chelsie's Friendship 6:38- Guided to Dance 15:02- "So You Think You Can Dance" 16:45- Anxiety Resurfaces 23:00- Losing Footing on the Foundation of God 36:12- "Dancing With The Stars" 42:28- Running on Empty 44:14- A Prayer in New York 47:59- The Love of God 51:52- What does it mean to be "all in" the gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President David O. McKay once referred to meditation as "one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord." On today's episode, we explore the many ways meditation and mindfulness already play an important role in the gospel of Jesus Christ. "One of the things I've wondered is if people are not walking away from the Gospel as much as (having) an impoverished experience of the gospel, where the gospel has become sort of like this devices that's not working anymore. And rather than going for an upgrade and getting rid of the device, our hope is that if people could approach the gospel with fresh eyes and experience it as full of opportunities to stop, to pause, to interrupt the busyness, to interrupt the activity, that it might awaken something that has become dead because anything...can die." -Jacob Hess Show Notes 3:00- What is mindfulness? 6:12- Personal background with mindfulness and meditation? 12:25- Being still amidst activity in the Church 15:21- Hyper-stimulated culture 19:04- Anxiously engaged 26:59- Rushing through the gospel 34:23- Prayer as a mindfulness practice 39:27- Daily bread and suffering 50:50- What Does It Mean To Be All In The Gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite being born into a family with strong Latter-day Saint roots, Thomas McConkie stopped attending church at the age of 13. However, a spiritual journey, which spanned nearly two decades and included becoming proficient in Buddhist meditation, brought him back to an unlikely destination: The faith of his youth. "I'm really comfortable with the definition of meditation as remembrance. And that feels very much like a gospel principle to me, like when we remember what are we remembering? Well, let me just riff a little bit: We remember that we are sons and daughters, that we're children of a living God. And when we remember that, the quality of our whole life in this very moment changes." Show Notes 3:08- Leaving the Church at 13 years old 4:51- Discovering Meditation 5:46- Redemption in Stillness 12:26- Power to Heal a Generation 16:49- The Meaning of Meditation 19:34- Stillness Among Saints 25:34- Changing a Culture 28:15- Home-centered Church's Opportunity 31:49- Ministering and Meditation 33:05- Creating a Community 35:56- Message to a Teenager Struggling With Faith 37:50- If You Love Someone Struggling With Faith 39:29- A Grandfather's Love 42:36- What Does It Mean To Be All In The Gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is difficult to ignore the similarities between April Giauque's description of an abuser's behavior and Satan's efforts to wear us down: isolation, manipulation, control, despair. Regardless of whether you feel held captive in an abusive situation like April or trapped by sin or discouragement, April's story reminds us that there is always hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. "It is the worth of who your soul is, what your light is, your worth equals your light. And we were all born with the light of Christ within us. Whether you are a member of the Church or not, all have this light and that is the worth." Show Notes: 1:33- The beginning of abuse 4:08- Children with special needs 5:38- Everyday life 6:29- Two different types of abusers 8:59- Relationship with God 11:35- Knowing when it was time to leave 13:53- The voice of the adversary 15:18- The biggest fear of a victim 19:14- Saving a marriage 22:52- Looking for evidence of blessings 26:03- Caring for yourself in order to care for others 27:54- Self-esteem vs. self-worth 29:19- Agency amidst abuse 32:40- Life after abuse 35:32- Advice for victims 37:59- What does it mean to be "All In" the gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do our dreams carry spiritual significance? And if so, how do we know? Ken Alford, a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, looks back at the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the history of the Church to explore the idea of dreams as revelation. Show Notes 2:37- Why Study Dreams? 9:23- Distinguishing a Dream of Significance From Other Dreams 12:36- Are We Entitled To Revelatory Dreams or Are Some People Dreamers 16:18- Nightmares 18:38- Interpreting Our Dreams 20:15- Dreams In Church History 29:16- Receiving Dreams For Other People? 31:10- Advance Notice of Church Callings 34:54- Dreams about the Savior 38:14- Scriptural Dreams 40:48- Dreams as Tender Mercies 44:14- What Does It Mean To Be All In The Gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mint Arrow is a well-known fashion deals blog and brand. Husband and wife duo, Neil and Corrine Stokoe, are the power couple behind the operation. But in a social media world that frequently presents the ideal as day-to-day reality, the couple recently opened up about an underlying struggle that couldn't be seen in their smiling faces: a battle against pornography addiction. "I had to get to know Jesus in a way that I wouldn't know Him if I hadn't gone through the steps and if I didn't feel so desperate that I really was saying, 'I will do anything to overcome this and to feel better and to find peace.'" -Corrine Stokoe Show Notes: 1:40- First Contact With Pornography/Talking With Kids About Pornography 7:21- Telling Corrine 20:10- Intimacy Vs. Lust 25:36- ARP: AA Meets The Gospel 37:18- Why Do You Need A Sponsor? 42:06- Why Do the 12 Steps as the Spouse of an Addict? 46:27- Surrendering to the Savior Through the 12 Steps 49:08- Grateful for Addiction 52:46- A Message to Those Struggling With Addiction Now 54:18- A Message to The Spouse of an Addict 56:55- What Does It Mean To You To Be All In the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Listen to the Mint Arrow Messages episode featuring Kristen Jenson, the author of "Good Pictures, Bad Pictures" by clicking here. Purchase "Good Pictures, Bad Pictures," here. Watch: What Should I Do When I See Pornography? for families Watch: The Church's new series about combating pornography Watch: Videos specifically for parents Watch: Videos specifically for spouses of pornography users Read Neil and Corrine's Real Life Love Story on Mint Arrow. Read Part Two of Neil and Corrine's Real Life Love Story. Listen to their story on Mint Arrow Messages. Listen to Part Two of Neil and Corinne's podcast episode about their experience. An introduction to Mandi and Court Gubler's story from the Deseret News. Listen to Corrine's recent interview with Mandi Gubler on Mint Arrow Messages. "We don't have to take things so personally. We take things to heart that we have no business taking to heart. For instance, saying "If you loved me you wouldn't drink" to an alcoholic makes as much sense as saying "If you loved me, you wouldn't cough" to someone who has pneumonia. Pneumonia victims will cough until they get appropriate treatment for their illness. Alcoholics will drink until they get the same. When people with a compulsive disorder do whatever it is they are compelled to do, they are not saying they don't love you—they are saying they don't love themselves."-Melody Beattie in "Codependent No More" Visit the Church's "Addressing Pornography" website. "We need to be more patient with the process. We need to worry less about the speed at which we are moving and more about the direction we are going. We will not fully realize our divine potential in this life. And while we need to make wise use of our time in our mortal existence, we should remember that God does not deal with time in the same way we do. In fact, time as we understand it may not bind Him at all. As Alma noted, 'Time only is measured unto men.' Because speed is a measure of distance over time, if time becomes less relevant, so does speed. Thus, in eternal things, such as our ongoing progress in becoming like God, direction is more important than speed. In the long run, the direction we are headed matters much more than the rate at which we are moving." Kevin Worthen, "Knowing Who You Are." Read Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." Of all the illustrations of faith in the Lord, few stories are more powerful than that told of the pioneer who years later stood to defend the decision of the Martin Handcart Company to start for the Salt Lake Valley late in the year of 1856. He had been one of the nearly 3,000 Saints who walked from Iowa and Nebraska to Utah between 1856 and 1860 in one of 10 companies pushing and pulling handcarts loaded with their belongings. In a Sunday School class there was sharp criticism of the ill-fated Martin and Willie Handcart Companies, which met with tragedy because of their late start on the trek to the Salt Lake Valley. An elderly man arose and said: "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts … give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife … too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but … we became acquainted with [God] in our extrem[i]ties. "I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. … I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there. "Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company" (as quoted in David O. McKay, "Pioneer Women," The Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, 8). Shared in the January 1997 Ensign. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Identity, creating understanding, covenants, a worldwide Church, faith crises, change in the Church—these are topics Melissa Inouye, a scholar, addresses in an effort to explain how she has "found the fruits of this life (the life of a Latter-day Saint) to be worthwhile—costly, to be sure, but also rich and nourishing, a source of deep joy." "I believe that Christ is here in the Church and I've felt the power of God. And so, having had those experiences, I am absolutely committed to being where I am." Show Notes: 1:51- A Latter-day Saint Seven Days a Week 2:56- The Church Influencing Worldview 6:38- Lessons Learned From Being a Missionary 12:14- Belonging and Identity 18:44- Wins and Losses 20:57- Creating Unity in the Church 23:41- Helping Amidst Faith Crises 29:56- An Evolving Church 34:48- Cancer 36:47- What Does It Mean to Be All In The Gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Dean Hughes began writing his latest book, he didn't plan on writing about polygamy but the topic became impossible to ignore. At times, there are things (both past and present) that may affect our beliefs and be impossible to ignore. Dean describes these things as "muddy," but explains that there are faithful ways to approach seemingly messy aspects of our faith or our Church's history. "There's never a time when the questions end but if you've had certain experiences in your life that verify your faith, then you rely on those." Show Notes: 3:47-Polygamy—Not an isolated challenge 5:57-Getting historical figures right 10:26- Balancing obedience and agency 11:33-Facing opposition 17:14-Looking at history through a 2019 lens 23:29- Honoring uncomfortable aspects of our heritage 24:21- Putting historical characters on a pedestal 30:20-An international Church 34:54- Approaching muddy topics today 38:12- What does it mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.