Today's article consists of Blessing Bits from the June and July/August 2020 issues of The Gospel News.

He Brings Peace and Love

During the quarantine, most of us were missing our friends, family, and Church. I personally have missed all your hugs most. I have suffered with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) all my life. I love to socialize, but in large groups can take in only so much before I get a headache and need quiet time alone. When I say alone, I mean alone with the Lord. After our first Campout event last year, the headache came. I went to my room and rested in communion with the Lord, without a nap, He quickly relieved the headache and brought me peace and much love. I was so grateful for this; I said to the Lord, "I love you so much, I wish I could hug and kiss you." The Lord quickly spoke to me... "When you hug and kiss a Saint you are hugging & kissing me." Looking forward to those hugs and kisses again! –Sister Christina DiCenzo, McKees Rocks Branch, Pennsylvania

Today's article appeared in the April 2020 issue of The Gospel News in the Children's Corner, a column written specifically for kids. There is always a fun activity that accompanies the story, such as a puzzle or picture to color. Be sure to share it each month with the youngsters in your life!

When I first moved to Michigan many years ago, I met and loved the saints up in Canada on the Muncey Native American Reservation. Brother Mario Coppa, his wife Sister Mary, and their young children drove over two and a half hours every Sunday to hold Church with the Brothers and Sisters. I got to go up in The Church van to teach the children.

Every Sunday at 6:30 a.m. we would meet Brother Mario and different drivers at the tunnel to cross the river to Canada. It was a long drive, so "don't be late" or the van would leave without you. We went no matter what—rain, sun, snowstorms, and ice. And we were greatly blessed. Every week we stopped in a town called Chatham to pick up Doris, a sister from England. We would pray, often sing, and carefully drive.

One grey and sleety winter day, as we exited the highway to pick up Sister Doris, we crossed over the icy bridge overpass. Right in the middle of the bridge our car hit ice, swirling around in a huge circle from side to side. Once, then twice, we could see the highway below us. Then the car just stopped! Our driver straightened the wheel and we carefully continued on with grateful hearts.

This article is the last installment of Brother Jerry Valenti's series on the original 12 Apostles of Christ. Check below for links to all the articles in this series!

Judas Iscariot is the most infamous of all the Apostles. He is described as "the traitor," the one who betrayed Christ. After spending three years with Jesus and His other Apostles, how could Judas have done this, assisting the local authorities to arrest Jesus and eventually put Him to death?

It's possible that Judas did it for the money. He was greedy enough to take advantage of his position as the Apostle Treasurer to steal money from their fund (John 12:6), which is noted after Judas complains about Jesus allowing costly ointment to be "wasted" on Him, rather than selling it to generate more money for their fund (which Judas would have taken a share of). It's even possible that missing out on this additional money that would have come from selling the ointment may have pushed Judas to follow through on the betrayal, as these are the very next verses (in Matthew 26):

"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him." (Matthew 26:14-16)

Today's article appeared in the June 2020 issue of The Gospel News in the Blast from the Past column, where you can learn fascinating facts about Church history.

June 1939, eighty-one years ago this month, it was revealed to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles at a June conference in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, to recommend Brother Joseph Lovalvo to be ordained an apostle.

When he was ordained, the gift of tongues was spoken and the interpretation given that God had called him as one of the apostles of old. Being only 29 years old, Brother Joe wondered how he could carry the weight of this calling. One day he had the following experience:

Today's article appeared in the September 2020 issue of The Gospel News in the Editorial Viewpoint column.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

What a wonderful promise! What comfort! But let's go a little deeper into these words. The word tribulation comes from the Latin tribulo, to thrash, to beat; severe affliction; distresses of life; vexations.

Webster's 1828 version of the American English dictionary included a comment that references the Scripture. (That reference is not found in today's modern version of the dictionary.) Based on the number of occurrences of spiritual tribulations in the Scriptures, tribulations can come from two places: troubling conditions or persecutions.

In the last 150 years we have not had much persecution (when compared to the Saints in other ages), but we have been sorely troubled, especially with sicknesses and afflictions.

Today's article consists of Blessing Bits from the March and May 2020 issues of The Gospel News.

He Always Provides

I was getting ready to pay my bills and knew I had no money to pay them. I cried out to the Lord to help me. I knew it would have to be a miracle, because a few months before, I had gone through every drawer in my room and every old purse that I had, not finding anything. After praying, I went through every drawer again. In the front of one of my drawers was $100. I cried out to the Lord in praise! I still needed more and continued to look. While looking for a receipt, I opened my wallet and found another $100. At first, I didn't want to tell anyone because then they would know I didn't have money and I would be embarrassed. Praise God for his mercy to me! – Sister Mary Duncan, Mesa Branch, Arizona

Today's article originally appeared in the May 2020 issue of The Gospel News in the General Ladies Uplift Circle column.

I love puzzles of every kind. This picture shows a giant sudoku, a little more challenging than just a single-block Sudoku. You might think that the number you write in the square all the way up in the left top corner couldn't affect the furthest square down to the right. But it does. Each square matters. Each number has an impact on the entire grid.

So, what does all this matter to us? We are each an individual number, but we are able to affect not only those we touch daily but also the squares way up in the corner and the ones on the other side.

Of course, it may be easier to have an impact on the squares next to us, on those we encounter daily or weekly. That would include our coworkers, our brothers and sisters in Church, our family and friends. But can we impact those who live across the country, strangers, or those
missionaries in the field? Yes, we absolutely can!

This article is part of Brother Jerry Valenti's series on the original 12 Apostles of Christ.

The Apostle for this blog is James, the son of Zebedee. Described below are four attributes (some good, some not so good) that James exhibits in the scriptural accounts that describe him. As you read these, I encourage you to compare these attributes to your own character and consider what you would do in similar circumstances.

Prosperous

James was a fisherman by trade. But he didn't just fish alone. He saw the value from a business perspective of partnering with others. He worked with his brother, John, and his father, Zebedee, (Matthew 4:21) and they also partnered with Simon Peter and Andrew (Luke 5:10). It can be assumed that their business was doing well. Yet, when Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," James (along with the others) was willing to leave it all behind to follow Jesus.

Today's article originally appeared in the November 2020 issue of The Gospel News in the Word Up column.

"He sendeth rain on the just and the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)

As often happens in tropical regions, an ominous rainstorm rolled in unannounced. Still 15 minutes from home, her broken passenger-side window created serious concern. Moments later she saw the swirling rain just a block or so ahead of her and immediately knew the duct-taped cardboard was no match for the storm. She prayed desperately. And God stayed the storm until my mother arrived home.

Fifty years later, when dark clouds appear while driving, I immediately recount Mom's testimony. I grew up expecting God to quiet every storm as He did for her. Sometimes innocence and faith coexist within a young heart. Early in my walk with the Lord, I carried myself with a certain naïveté, which protectively guarded my heart; but spiritual maturity brings a different level of faith.

Today's article appeared in the April 2020 issue of The Gospel News. This January, we are going to feature many of the excellent articles published in The Gospel News over the course of the past year, and we hope you enjoy revisiting them or reading them for the first time.

Jesus died for all of us. Not one of us or some of us, He died for all of us. For the vilest sinner and the most righteous saint. He died for the strong and prominent, and the weakest among us. No one is more worthy of His love than you. No one is less worthy, either.

If we have worked every waking moment of our lives trying to prove our worthiness, it is no more or no less than those who are learning of His Mercy just moments before their passing.

Christ's Love is the great human equalizer.

It's January 1, 2021.

Now things are supposed to go back to normal, right?

2020 is over, so the bad stuff has to stop.

We all know this isn't true. Pandemics know nothing of calendars. Disasters don't care about dates. The times and seasons of Almighty God are known to Him alone.

Here are some things we do know about God's timing.

Did you read yesterday's blog by Brother Jerry Valenti? He ended his article with these words:

"One last note as the year 2020 draws to a close. We will likely remember this as a year in which many terrible things happened and all of our lives were upended in various ways. However, don't allow all of these events which got all of the "press" to overshadow the fact that God was also at work in the past year.

In 2020, souls were called to repentance and baptism, the lame walked, the sick were healed, the unemployed got jobs, people who gathered together to worship the Lord experienced God's peace and protection, our collective faith grew. And that was just within one small congregation — I'm sure many of you can add to this list of God's accomplishments in 2020."

This article is part of Brother Jerry Valenti's series on the original 12 Apostles of Christ.

The Apostle for this blog is named James. No, not James the son of Zebedee — this is the other one, the one you don't hear much about. Here's what we know about this James:

• His father is named Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3). This may make him the brother of the Apostle Matthew, whose father is also named Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). On the other hand, there may be two men named Alphaeus. It's not clear from what we can see in the Bible.
• His mother may be named Mary (Mark 15:40) although this leads to a possible contradiction since the same Mary is later said to be the wife of Cleophas (John 19:25). Perhaps Alphaeus and Cleophas are the same person. Perhaps Cleophas is Mary's second husband. Who knows?

So, what do we actually know about this James? Not a whole lot. We do know that he was called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we know that he went on a mission trip with the other Apostles (Matthew 10), he was at the Last Supper and had his feet washed by Jesus (John 13), and he was present when Jesus appeared after His resurrection (John 20).

Isn’t it wonderful to know that, no matter what, God shows up. It doesn’t matter when, how, or where it happens. It falls into place at the right time. His perfect timing, and not a minute too late. He shows up when He knows it's time.

We have people in our lives who we know we can depend on, as well as those who we know will either cancel on us or be late to things. That happens because we are only human. But, God ... He will never cancel or be late, and we can always depend on Him. He always shows up!

Just like friend who show up when we need them the most, God does the same thing. He’s there when we need Him. He's a man of His word!

I know we can all remember a time when God showed up for us. He has for me many, many times in my life. A few years ago, there was something important that I was really praying about. I was at a point when I just wanted God to tell me exactly what to do. Haven’t we all felt like that?

I ate a lot of chicken soup in 2020. In fact, due to some whacky health complications, it’s the only meal I ate all year.

As you might imagine, a lot my recent prayers have gone something like this:

God, I’m so hungry for other foods. Surely, if You would just heal my body my hunger would be satisfied!

But the answer keeps coming back the same over and over again:

“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger.” ¹

Admittedly, this is never the response I’m going for. The way I see it, my hunger could be instantly and permanently abated if only my circumstances would align.