Part of our mission at Magnify is to help each other be a force for good in our own spheres of influence. Sometimes that happens in ways we least expect it to. Celeste Mergens, the founder of Days for Girls, grew up in poverty. It was her understanding of what children going hungry felt like that led her first to her knees, and then to fill a need. She believes that the things you go through don't define you, but they can always bless you. Her superpower? Gratitude, and that's how she has learned to ask the right questions, listen when others are speaking, and lead with assuredness.

Did you know we have a bookclub? This month’s pick was Rock of Our Redeemer by Elder David A. Bednar. Our community also does a public Zoom where you—yes you!—can join in and participate. This month it was hosted by Tammy Uzelac Hall. We decided to post the recording as a bonus episode where you can hear the host and members of our community jump in and share their thoughts on the book.

Whitney Archibald has been rock climbing for more than 30 years. She felt experienced and always followed safety precautions. But in the summer of 2023, she had an accident that changed her entire life. Through a series of small, seemingly insignificant mistakes, Whitney fell 30 feet to the ground. Miraculously, Whitney survived and was not paralyzed. This experience doesn’t seem like the most obvious time to see miracles, but that’s just what happened. Even through our most difficult and painful moments, and our most damaging mistakes, we can witness the miracles happening all around us if we open our hearts and let God prevail. 

In our lives, there are many scenarios we run into that feel polarizing or tricky to navigate. You might have someone in your ward that you feel strongly about because you disagree with their political viewpoints in the upcoming election, even though they hold a trusted calling. Or with general conference just last week, perhaps you’re running into conversations at the dinner table that get heated because of how some messages are being interpreted. Or as you’re heading into the holiday season, you’re gearing up for a snarky comment to be made at the extended family party about your parenting styles.  However, at Magnify, we strive to be a force for good, and a powerful way to do that is by being peacemakers, especially in these polarizing situations.

We’re just coming off a spiritual high from General Conference weekend. And sometimes, despite our best efforts, this weekend isn’t always the relaxing, sit-in-front-of-the-TV and let-the-rays-from-heaven-pour-upon-you kind of weekend. There’s fitting in Saturday’s errands and activities, getting family members together, learning to bake rolls as good as Grandma's once were, and trying to take notes and ponder on all the words of wisdom you receive. In short, it's sometimes exhausting! But here at Magnify, we’re focusing on the joyful messages we heard and reflecting on the glimmers that came through.

We’re diving in deep into a topic about how the temple is a place for healing. When we learn about and serve in the temple, many of us may assume that most people are serving in the temple for these three reasons: to feel peace, to serve, and to get answers. But have you ever thought about the temple as a hospital where people come to be healed? So when we were presented with this idea from today’s guest, we were immediately intrigued. Today we’re discussing how to make the temple a more intentional, meaningful, healing experience in your life.

We launched our latest book club last week and we are inviting you to be a part of it! We’re reading The Rock of our Redeemer by Elder David A. Bednar. For this episode, podcast producer Sarah Collins is joined by Mindy Brown and Maria Eckersley. They are doing a little kick-off for the month to get you excited about the themes of the book! Then, next month, you can join in a Zoom meeting to discuss the talking points of the book with like-minded women in our community. That will be on October 24 and hosted by Tammy Uzelac Hall. You can head to our website for more in formation. Today, our main hope is for you to feel the power of what we learned from this book: how to build stronger connections with Christ and what it really means to build upon Him as our rock.

In April 2024 general conference, Elder Uchtdorf said something poignant, “Life is not an endless sequence of emotional highs.” However, he went on to say that joy can be found every day. There are joys that God has given all around us that we can enjoy temporally. He wants that for us! But there is also a higher joy that can only come through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This joy is an eternal joy! In today’s episode, Kathryn Davis and Kalo Latu discuss tapping into that higher, eternal joy.

This episode is one of deeper learning and understanding of a gospel topic you may have wrestled with before. In this episode, Deseret Book President Laurel Day is joined by Camille Fronk Olson, author, teacher, and scriptorian, as they discuss the question, “How do I know if messages from the prophet are revelation for the church or just good wisdom?” They discuss scriptural occurrences, modern examples, and the tension of knowing what is revelation from God and what is counsel and if that difference matters.

This conversation is so special because it’s a reminder that the things that you’re going through that often feel so heavy might just mean you’re on the brink of something wonderful! That good things are around the corner. It’s a message to not give up. And we’re confident about this promise because of a scripture in James 1:2 to “count it all for joy.”

In our community, we believe women can be a force for good in their circles of influence. One way they can do that is by being seekers of truth. In this episode, Laurel Day, President of Deseret Book Company, sits down with Sheri Dew, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer of Deseret Management Corporation, and she opens up about the life lessons she has learned through continually asking questions.

We all want to make good things happen in our life, our hearts are full of the question, “Are we on the right track?” And perhaps in pursuit of this righteous desire, we might be trying too hard. There’s a saying “Let go and let God ...” Is that something we could do more of?

We’re talking about how to get on an upward spiritual spiral, using an out-of-the-box suggestion from President Nelson—to seek and expect miracles. And sometimes we don’t realize that the miracles working in us are miracles of joy, peace, courage, hope and faith! And this is what we want you to spend a day with us thinking about. You’re invited to Lift Up Your Heart, a Magnify Gathering. And for today’s episode, we've gathered a few of our speakers from this event.

There are so many things coming at us! In the hustle and hard of daily life, it can be easy to lose sight of the peace, relief, comfort, and joy that are available through Christ right now. So that’s why we’re inviting you to Lift Up Your Heart, A Magnify Gathering. It’s a day-long gathering of Latter-day Saint women, meant to remind us of what we know—that Jesus Christ is our answer, and that we’re not alone! One of our keynote speakers is Lisa Valentine Clark, and in this episode, you’ll hear how she shares about how she is striving to be a force for good, what miracles look like in her every day, and how to focus on the lighter side of life! Brooke Walker hosts this exciting episode.

Last month, President Nelson extended an invitation as he reflected his approaching 100th birthday. He shared about the significance of the number 100, and how it was used in the scriptures by the Savior in the parable of the lost sheep. “Though 99 of his flock were safely by his side, the shepherd went in search of the one who was lost.” The invitation then, is to go after the one.

We are inundated with so much content everyday—both good and bad—and sometimes it’s hard for something to breakthrough the noise. This conversation with Laurel Day, president of Deseret Book Company, and Sharon Eubank is one of those that we hope breaks through for you. Sharon redefined big concepts in this conversation like what it means to be a humanitarian, what a miracle really is, and the power and purpose of our covenants.

Sometimes it feels like you’re running so hard that it’s impossible to make time for spirituality. This buzzword of mindfulness that we hear about seems impossible. But in today’s discussion, Brooke Walker sits down with author Carrie Skarda who helps us understand that we can transform my relationship with God through stillness without adding anymore to the spiritual to-do list.

This recent General Conference, we heard Elder Kearon share a phrase that has resonated with us for a while now: “God is in relentless pursuit of us.” That felt like one of those soul-piercing truths. It felt like coming home.

This month on Magnify, our team has put our heads together to share different episodes from our past nearly 100 episodes to bring you some of our favorite moments. This week, we are featuring some thoughts from Kalo Latu’s episode, “No Entry Level Requirements.” Kalo stated that we often get in our own way of creating a relationship with the Savior because we think there is an entry level to starting that relationship. But this reminder that we can all do it, no matter where we are on the path, was a great one to reflect on.

As we continue to share some of the Magnify team’s favorites this month, this week's will help remind us about what it truly means to be meek. We did a series on peacemakers last year, where we picked the many attributes of a peacemaker, including meekness. And some thoughts might come to your mind like church mouse, or pushover, but on this episode, Shima Baughman explained that meekness is strength! In fact, that was the title of this episode.