“COVENANT KEEPERS: Unlocking the Miracles God Wants for You,” by Wendy Watson Nelson, Deseret Book, $15.99, 74 pages (nf)
In her book “Covenant Keepers,” Sister Wendy Watson Nelson suggests a 21-day experiment to spend time each day doing temple and family history work.
It was an experiment she suggested to a student she calls Amy, who was speaking at a Relief Society activity in her student ward, and to women who responded to a survey about their stress and anxiety with balancing school, finances, family and health issues.
In Amy’s ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the results were remarkable,” Sister Nelson wrote. She shares how the experiment resulted in women feeling happier, one woman’s anxiety medication being reduced, and another woman finding help with her pregnancy.
There are power and blessings in keeping covenants, writes Sister Nelson, who was a professor of marriage and family therapy at Brigham Young University before marrying President Russell M. Nelson, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“Sacrifice does indeed bring forth the blessings of heaven because sacrifice is a law of heaven. And when we live according to any law of heaven, heaven responds,” Sister Nelson writes in “Covenant Keepers,” which includes portions of her presentation at BYU Women’s Conference in 2015.
She also shares her journey with getting interested in family history work after she listened to a general conference talk by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 2012 titled “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead.”
“Covenants, and only covenants with their associated ordinances, have the power to unlock the gates behind which our ancestors live,” Sister Nelson writes.
She cites experiences from her life and her ancestors, examples from her friends and others, and quotes from general authorities.
Sister Nelson’s testimony and example is a powerful one as she offers excellent encouragement and reminders of covenants, specifically attending the temple and doing family history.
“As we are covenant keepers, our covenants change everything in our lives — for the better!” Sister Nelson writes.
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