Solihull Ward - Updates & Announcements

17/05/2021

16/05/2021

Who are we? What are our values? What do we believe?
Watch this video to find out.

14/05/2021

While Caring for Others, Take Care of Yourself.

Caregivers also need to take care of themselves.

13/05/2021

To all our Muslim friends, may this Eid day bring you lots of joy, peace and blessings for you and your families. Eid Mubarak!

13/05/2021

Hermit crabs live within salvaged, empty seashells. As the hermit crab grows, it is forced out of its shell and has to find a new one.

That moment, as it grows out of one shell and has to look for a new one, it is particularly vulnerable.

But that vulnerability is necessary for it to grow.

I was praying one day, thinking about the things I needed to do and where I needed to grow. Things I frankly didn’t want to do and didn’t feel any motivation to do.

I didn’t want change.
I didn’t want to be vulnerable.
I didn’t want life to be hard.

I found myself giving myself a pep talk.

I said “But I can do hard things!”
And I felt the spirit whisper to me, “No Mary, you MUST do hard things.”
“That is the only way you will become the person I need you to be. So expect the hard. Every day. When it comes, it shouldn’t be a surprise. But know you aren’t alone.”
I’ve thought about that change of perspective a lot. Just one word. But it really does make a difference.

I thought about that experience as I read D&C 47. John Whitmer was asked to be the church historian and recorder.

And his response made me laugh out loud:
“I would rather not do it.”
Yup! I know that feeling!!

But I love what he says after that—“but observed that the will of the Lord be done.”
After this revelation, John accepted the calling. He accepted change and growth and hard. He got vulnerable.

We must do hard things.
Not ALL hard things, mind you.
The hard that the Lord has in mind.
The hard that He consecrates, wills, and uses to mold you into the person He needs you to be.

Remember, “the Lord has more in mind for you than you have for yourself. You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place. You can do hard things.”

And you MUST do hard things.
Changing shells is scary.
But growth is necessary.
And God will be with you every step of the way to that new shell.

Written by Mary Stallings
Art by Emily Shay

12/05/2021

10/05/2021

I just started running again. It has been a long time. And my left knee—which was injured fifteen years ago—has started acting up again.

When I run, I feel like my knee is all I focus on. Is my stride wrong? Am I overcompensating? Or am I just overthinking this whole thing? Should I think less about my knee? Focus on my core and let my body realign?

But then, as I ran, I felt an answer come. The words held the same weight I feel when I have a prompting from the spirit:
“Focus on the inside of that left foot as you run.”
It felt so odd. I was running! This wasn’t a spiritual thing! It couldn’t be from God.

But I did it. And for me, in my situation, for my problem—it worked. My knee loosened and stopped hurting as much as I focused on the inside of that left foot.

I was filled with wonder for the rest of my run—that God knew. That God cared.

I was listening to the scriptures as I ran and I listened to D&C 48.

The section is about the migration of the Saints from the eastern United States and God giving them revelation on how to procure land for the settlement of the Saints.

Really just managerial stuff. It hardly seems to apply to the Saints now-a-days. But isn’t that the beautiful part about it?

God knew what THEY needed. In that moment. And He provided that revelation, exactly for them on how to procure land!

That’s the “personal” part of personal revelation in action.

I think sometimes we put God into a box. I have the “God stuff” that I let Him influence in that box.

Then there are the other boxes—politics, finances, intimacy, job, dietary needs, etc.
The boxes we sometimes forget to let God into.

But God quietly reminded me on my run today by that simple prompting that His hand can be in EVERY box.

Or maybe, there really just is one box.

He wants to be involved in all the categories of our lives.

He wanted to help the Saints with their housing. He wanted to help me with my knee. And He wants to help you too.

“God is in the small details of our lives.” (Ronald A. Rasband)
Invite Him in.

Written by Mary Stallings
Art by

07/05/2021

Just beautiful

'Where Heaven Meets Earth'Lyrics by John Connolly, music by Samuel Petchey. This may be copied for non-commercial church and home use.

06/05/2021

Remembering the Giver

Remembering the giver can help us to appreciate all that we have received in life.

Remembering the giver can help us to appreciate all that we have received in life.

05/05/2021

03/05/2021

30/04/2021