Simply Jaimie

 Unexpected Friends There is a verse in Job that I can't stop thinking about. After experiencing tremendous hardship and trying to make sense of everything that has happened to him, Job says, "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!" (Job 19:23). And they were. Thousands of years later, we are still reading Job's words. We know about his faith, his questions, his conversations with friends, and the difficult things he experienced. Most importantly, we have his powerful declaration of faith: "For I know that my redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25). It made me wonder: What if Job's words hadn't been written? If all we had was Job's genealogy, we might know his name, where he lived, that he had children, and that he lived to an old age. We would know that Job lived, but we wouldn't really know Job. More Than Names and Dates This is one of the reasons I love family history. Names, dates, and places are important. They help...

Where is God? There is something unusual about the book of Esther. God is never explicitly mentioned. There is no dramatic appearance from an angel. No prophet delivering a message from the Lord. No voice from heaven telling Esther what she should do next. And yet, when you read Esther's story, it is difficult not to see the hand of the Lord throughout it. Esther just happens to become queen. Mordecai just happens to overhear a plot against the king. His good deed just happens to be recorded. The king just happens to be unable to sleep on the very night he needs to be reminded of what Mordecai had done. Again and again, circumstances come together at exactly the right time. God may not be named in Esther's story, but His hand can be seen throughout it. And I wonder how often the same is true of our own family stories. I think about my Nan. Toward the end of her life, she was able to fly from England to spend Christmas with our family. At the time, we couldn't have known tha...

Imagine spending weeks rebuilding a city wall only to have people constantly try to distract you. That was Nehemiah's reality. As he and the people worked to rebuild Jerusalem, their enemies mocked them, threatened them, and repeatedly tried to lure Nehemiah away from the work. His response has become one of my favorite verses in scripture: "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down." (Nehemiah 6:3) Every time I read those words, I ask myself: What is the great work God has given me? As a wife and mother, it's easy to feel like my days are filled with ordinary things—reading bedtime stories, helping with homework, wiping sticky counters, folding laundry, and making dinner. It's also easy to wonder if preserving family stories, interviewing grandparents, labeling old photographs, or writing in my children's journals can wait until life feels less busy. But Nehemiah reminds me that some work is simply too important to "come down" from. Presid...

An Invitation Home Hezekiah wanted to celebrate the Passover, but first he sent messengers throughout Israel and Judah with an invitation. They were invited to return to the Lord and come to Jerusalem to worship Him. Not everyone accepted. Some laughed. Some ignored the invitation. But others humbled themselves and came (see 2 Chronicles 30:10–11). As I read these verses this week, I couldn't help but think about temple work. When we find an ancestor and perform their temple ordinances, we aren't making the decision for them. We are simply extending an invitation. Through sacred ordinances, they are invited to receive the blessings of the gospel and return to the Lord. Whether they accept that invitation is between them and the Savior. Our responsibility is simply to make sure the invitation reaches them. I love attending the temple, but there is something especially sacred about attending the temple when I am performing ordinances for one of my own ancestors. Elder Ric...

From Scattering to Gathering One of the saddest moments in the Old Testament happens in just a few short verses. "Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.    In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria..." (2 Kings 17:5–6) For generations, the Lord had pleaded with His covenant people to return to Him. Prophets warned them. The Lord showed mercy again and again. Yet they continued to turn away until, at last, the kingdom of Israel was conquered and the people were scattered among the nations. It is a heartbreaking moment in scripture. Families were separated. Homes were abandoned. The covenant people of God were dispersed across the earth. But thankfully, the story doesn't end with scattering. The Lord has always intended to gather His people again. Today, we are living in the long-promised gathering of Israel—a work that prophets have spoken of for...

 "fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." 2 Kings 6:16 Elisha's servant believed they were alone. All he could see was the enemy surrounding the city. But Elisha knew there was another reality that his servant could not yet see. When the Lord opened the servant's eyes, he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire protecting them. I wonder how often we feel the same way. Family history has taught me that our family extends beyond those who are sitting around our dinner table. Because of the Savior, families continue beyond the veil. While we cannot always see them, I believe our ancestors are deeply interested in our lives. They rejoice in our successes, care about our struggles, and desire for us to come unto Christ. President Joseph F. Smith taught: "We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever... They see the temptations and evils that beset us ...

 "And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men... "  1 Kings 12:13-14 One of the saddest moments in 1 Kings 12 isn't simply that Rehoboam made a poor decision. It's that he rejected the wisdom of those who had walked the path before him. When Rehoboam became king, he sought counsel from two groups of people. The older men who had faithfully served his father, Solomon, urged him to lead with kindness and humility. The younger men who had grown up with him encouraged him to be harsh and demanding. Rehoboam chose to ignore the wisdom of experience, and that decision divided the kingdom. As I read these verses, I couldn't help but think about family history. One of the greatest blessings of family history is that it gives us access to the wisdom of those who came before us. We may not always agree with every choice our ancestors made, but they learned lessons th...

HEARTS OF GOLD One of the more difficult parts of David's story is found in 2 Samuel 11–12. David, a man who loved the Lord and had been greatly blessed by Him, made serious mistakes. Through the prophet Nathan, David was called to repentance and forced to confront the consequences of his actions. As I read these chapters, I couldn't help but think about family history. Sometimes we imagine our ancestors as heroes of the faith—and often they are. We celebrate their courage, admire their sacrifices, and cherish the stories they left behind. Yet as we learn more about them, we may also discover mistakes, poor decisions, and painful chapters that are harder to understand. Like David, our ancestors were real people. They experienced moments of great faith as well as moments of weakness. Their stories remind us that discipleship is not about perfection, but about continually turning our hearts toward the Lord. The truth is that every family tree contains stories of both faith and fr...

COME AS YOU ARE AND ALLOW THE LORD TO USE YOU  "... Go, and the Lord be with thee. And Samuel armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine." 1 Samuel 17: 37-40 One of the things I love most about David's story is that he didn't try to become someone else before the Lord could use him. When David arrived at the battlefield, he wasn't a soldier. He wasn't trained in warfare. He wasn't the biggest, strongest, or most experienced man in Israel. In fact, Saul tried to solve that probl...

THE LORD CHANGED MY HEART SO I WAS ABLE TO SEE A CHILD OF GOD "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."    (1 Samuel 16:7) I learned the truth of this principle while working at an after-school program. Each afternoon, children from the local elementary school would come to our program while their parents finished work. Together we completed homework, made crafts, played outside, and on Fridays we watched movies and ate popcorn. Before the start of a new school year, my boss informed me that I would be assigned to Juniper Elementary. This school had a reputation because of one particular student who was constantly getting into trouble. My coworkers hated working there, but my boss assured me that if we documented every infraction and followed the proper procedures, we would eventuall...