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Featured Image Courtesy of Dan Bammes, Alissa Parker On December 14, 2012, Alissa and Robbie Parker lost their six-year-old daughter Emilie in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In a new book, Alissa shares her unforgettable journey to seek faith, hope, and healing. Below is an excerpt from An Unseen Angel: People tell me it was a beautiful service, …

If you pause right now, it’s likely you could name at least one thing you really, really want. It could be something as simple as a taco for lunch or as a complex as a vulnerable relationship. Some of your desires may stem from the hunger of the natural man while others surely come from the deepest eternal longings God …

After publishing two articles, How to Enjoy the Temple If You Have Anxiety and How to Enjoy Church If You Have Anxiety, we received many requests to continue the series and discuss other aspects of Church life. Today, we want to help those who may be struggling to do their visiting teaching because of their mental illness. Visiting teaching is …

There is a thriving shame culture in the world today. The shame culture is cancer and sadly, it has infected in many aspects Mormon culture. Having lived in the South, I experienced persecution for being a member of the Church. However, nowhere have I experienced more shame and persecution than by members of the Church. Like the olive tree overtaken …

Recently, the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” has sparked conversations about mental illness and suicide. For those unfamiliar with the plot of the series, a teenager named Hannah Baker, after taking her own life, leaves behind thirteen cassette tapes detailing why she made that decision. The tapes are delivered into the hands of Clay Jensen, a boy with a flirtatious …

It’s the little things I remember most. The screams when my mother made the wrong kind of spaghetti. The roar of the rain against the windshield as we went too fast on a winding road. The cold burn on my skin the day he punched me in the face with a ball of ice. The expansive hope that someone would …

Whenever you leave home for school, you often leave behind family and loved ones. That is what students at the BYU Jerusalem Center face every time they choose to study abroad. Because of this, often the students bond together into a family unit. That is what happened with the students of the 2016 BYU Jerusalem Center summer program. In the …

According to statistics from RAINN, the United State’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, someone in America is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. One in six women will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape and nearly one in two women will face another form of sexual assault in their lifetime. These horrific statistics affect us all, including members of …

For many members of the Church, General Conference is a much-anticipated time where revelation will be received and warm memories will be made. However, there are many members of the Church who struggle with General Conference. It may be for small reasons, such as the long hours of sitting, or it may be for much larger reasons, such as discontentment …

Far too often Mormons fall into the same trap as the Pharisees. Namely, when we see someone with a trial we think it is a sign of their sinfulness. This idea is false.  In John 9:1-3, when Jesus was asked, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” he replied neither had sinned. Jesus Christ was …