Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:22-23)

This passage is often read as part of a Christmas sermon celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The prophet referred to in the passage is Isaiah, and the quote comes from Isaiah 7:14, which is reproduced in 2 Nephi 17:14.

The recognition that the birth of Christ created a condition of “God with us” is an important concept in understanding why Jesus took on flesh and lived as a man among us.

For her next few articles, Sister Stefanie is going to focus on fitness and how it can relate to faith. Believe it or not, there are many parallels between physical health and spiritual health, and that’s what Sister Stefanie is going to explore in the coming weeks.

I am a personal trainer. My job, passion, and hobbies revolve around fitness and living a healthy life. Here's a common verse that shows being healthy is pleasing to God:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Today, we're kicking off our month of scripture-reading themed Miracle Mondays with a testimony from Sister Juliette Coppa.

The same week the ministry approached me about the office of a deaconess, my husband and I received an eviction notice. Our apartment complex would be doing a complete renovation of our building and gave us 60 days to be out. The complex told us that we could move into another building, so we spent the next day in fasting and prayer before seeing the available units. The Lord had directed us to this apartment a year ago, and we were confident God would take care of the situation.

On the last day of September, it's safe to say that it's officially fall, and a new season always feels like a small new beginning. Maybe you're setting some goals to accomplish before the end of 2016. If that's the case, then keep today's Good Word in mind — whatever our plans, they should fall in line with God's commandments, and we should trust Him to keep His promises. We look forward to hearing your testimonies of how God "brought it to pass" in your life.

“For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:26

When I look up the word “confidence” in the dictionary, it means “faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way.” A big part of society sends the message that confidence is found only in ourselves. I know that is not true. My confidence should be found in the Lord.

Proverbs 3:26 says that the Lord will be our confidence. How powerful! I know that I shouldn't have more confidence in myself than the Lord. That’s when pride can sneak in — and sin is right behind it.

2 Nephi 16 includes the account of Isaiah’s calling as a prophet. In a famous scene, a heavenly being takes a hot coal and touches Isaiah’s tongue with it, purging him of his sins and preparing him to do the Lord’s work. Then the Lord speaks to him: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me” (2 Nephi 16:8).

In the work of the Lord today, we often hear the equivalent of the question, “Who will go for us?” The actual question could be any of the following:

We often throw a phrase around in our Church that a large part of our population can identify with: “born and raised.” You’ve heard it dozens of times and probably have even said it a few times during your testimony. So many of us have had the opportunity to be under the sound of the Gospel since birth or a very young age. Our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles — someone brought us to church each week, and it’s all we’ve ever known.

But what about those Saints who had the opposite experience? What about those who met our precious pearl years later? Perhaps they were introduced by their girlfriend, their classmate, a flier hanging in the local library. Are their conversion stories any less great because they met The Church of Jesus Christ later in life?

Absolutely not.

Today should be our last school-themed Miracle Monday, but we didn't have enough submissions to fill the month. So, instead of a story, we're bringing you a request.

Wanted: Your Testimony

As today's post exemplifies, we can't share stories that we don't receive. That's where you come in. Tell us about the things that God has done for you. Recent. Long past. Big. Small. We love testimonies of all kinds. We try to spark your memory by providing a monthly theme, but we're happy to accept whatever you have to share whenever you feel to share it. 

Here's a question to think about this weekend: In what direction is the Lord drawing you? He always draws us closer to Him, but for you specifically, what is He drawing you toward? What is He drawing you away from? No matter the answer, God's motivation is always love for you. How comforting!

Like me, you’ve probably been there before — kneeling before God at a crossroads in life asking whether or not you should make a move. It could be any type of move: a new house, a new town, a new state, a new job, or all the above. Regardless, I want God to be the centerpiece of the move. I don’t want to do something that’s against His will because I know His will is what's best for me.

At the same time, my own thoughts and feelings are creating a bias in one direction or another. Maybe I’m really excited about a new job opportunity and can’t see any negatives at all about moving. Or, maybe I’m fearful of moving out on my own for the first time and would rather keep the status quo. When I go to God in prayer about the situation, I need to try and stay levelheaded, as that’s when I’ll hear the Holy Ghost speak to me.

The prophecy in 2 Nephi 15 relies heavily on the metaphor of the vineyard. It mentions planting in the vineyard, fencing it, pruning it, digging in it, putting in a wine-press for the grapes that would grow, etc. An actual vineyard is typically a collection of grape vines used to grow grapes to make wine with, but when the term is used in prophecy, it of course means something else.

In this particular prophecy, the vineyard is used to represent the House of Israel (2 Nephi 15:7) so everything that is done to the vineyard in this chapter is something that was being prophesied would be done to the House of Israel.

This article is part of Sister Michelle Watson's deep dive into the concept of "deny yourself" (Mt. 16:24, Mk. 8:34, Lu. 9:23, 3 Ne. 12:30). Today's sub-theme is "me first."

As a kid, I loved my copy of "A Light in the Attic," a collection of hilarious poems by the wonderful Shel Silverstein. One of them is called "Ladies First," in which a bossy little girl named Pamela Purse pushes her way to the front of the ice cream line, shoves herself onto the school bus before the other kids, and guzzles every last drop of canteen water on a jungle safari, leaving none for her friends.

On that same jungle safari, Ms. Purse meets Fry-'Em-Up Dan, a cannibal who isn't sure which of the school children he should eat first until Pamela insists that she be — you guessed it — first.

Today we've got another school-themed Miracle Monday for you. This story is submitted by Lucky to Graduate.

I was baptized when I was a senior in high school, so I was still a relatively new member of The Church when I began college. This had obvious benefits, as I was able to approach the whole experience in a prayerful manner.

However, it also created some challenges. I resolved to read the entire Book of Mormon that year, so I carried it with me to school, reading it in between classes. I also was so enjoying attending church that I not only attended my own branch and MBA meetings but I also regularly visited the MBA meetings of another nearby branch. Studying? I’d be fitting that in when the exams came around.

We hope that you can say amen to today's Good Word, especially after reading this week's worth of articles taken from the church history books.

Do you have your own history of miracles? Are there certain testimonies and stories that your family knows by heart and retells often around the dinner table? We'd love to hear them!

It's History Week on the Gospel Blog! We asked General Church Historian Brother Larry Watson to select some memorable testimonies and miracles from The Church history books. Hopefully reading them here will inspire you to read the hard copies for even more blessings.

The following experience was received by Sister Anna Frances Colangelo in 1925, shortly after she was baptized into The Church and is related by her daughter, Sister Fannie Colangelo Casasanta.