Spiritual Resilience and the Power of Covenant Living: Sharla Goettl's Story - Latter-Day Lights

How do we build spiritual resilience and encourage the youth of today to do the same?

To celebrate the anticipated release of her latest book, “Covenant Power,” Scott and Emily sit down with author, seminary teacher, and temple ordinance worker Sharla Goettl to explore what spiritual resilience really means, and how it’s formed over time.

Drawing from her first book, “Spiritual Resilience,” and leading into three years of wrestling with promptings and reluctance, Sharla shares how patterns found in the life of Nephi reveal a practical, repeatable way to strengthen faith through action, covenant keeping, and personal revelation. Through powerful stories, the conversation also dives into the role of temple covenants in creating an environment where spiritual resilience can grow, how obedience and sacrifice unlock divine power, and why God’s “straight and narrow path” is often personalized rather than linear.

With thoughtful insights on parenting, youth, agency, and learning to act in faith before understanding the full picture, this episode offers a hopeful, grounding perspective for anyone seeking steadiness in a noisy, uncertain world.

*** Please SHARE Sharla's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/EKYF0dznlRg

-----

To READ Sharla's book, "Spiritual Resilience: Leading our Youth to Go and Do," visit: https://sharlagoettl.com/book-spiritual-resilience-leading-our-youth-to-go-and-do/

To READ Sharla's 2nd book, "Covenant Power: Transform Fear into Faith through the Power of Jesus Christ," visit: https://a.co/d/5vO8Pkh

To LEARN MORE about Sharla's stories, visit: https://sharlagoettl.com/

To LISTEN to Emily's song recommendation, "Leave it There" by Charles Albert Tindley, visit: https://hymnary.org/text/if_the_world_from_you_withhold_of_its_si

To READ Scott’s new book “Faith to Stay” for free, visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/

-----

Keep updated with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latter.day.lights/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latterdaylights

Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Chapters

• 0:00 “Faith to Stay” by Scott Brandley
• 0:30 Intro
• 1:00 Welcoming Sharla Goettl to the show
• 2:20 Sharla in a nutshell
• 4:00 Finding spiritual resilience in Nephi
• 10:00 Why speak to the youth specifically?
• 14:50 The power of today’s youth
• 16:15 The concept of “go and do”
• 21:15 Sharla leaves her successful career in New York to go back home
• 24:05 Sharla starts dating her future husband and starts a family
• 27:00 Sharla on writing about the Temple Endowment
• 29:15 Sharla goes to a training by Elder Bednar
• 32:35 Sharla’s struggles on writing her 2nd book
• 37:35 Sharla’s 2nd book, “Covenant Power”
• 41:00 Sharla’s goal with her book
• 44:20 Deep dive into Sharla’s unique writing style
• 47:35 God’s greatest goal in life
• 48:55 The Laws of Obedience, Chastity, and Consecration
• 53:00 Scott & Emily’s reflections
• 56:15 God teaches through story
• 58:20 Sharla’s favorite part of the book — Creation before Adam and Eve
• 1:01:30 Media shaping people’s lives for the better
• 1:02:50 The problem with the lack of details to readers and how to solve it
• 1:07:50 Giving permission to test the principles of the Gospel
• 1:10:15 Seeing ourselves in characters
• 1:13:45 Emily’s song recommendation, “Leave it There,” by Charles Albert Tindley
• 1:14:45 Final thoughts
• 1:16:10 Where to find Sharla’s work
• 1:17:00 Outro

Transcript

Scott Brandley: 0:00

Hey there, as a Latter Day Lights listener, I want to give you a very special gift today. My brand new book, Faith to Stay. This book is filled with inspiring stories, powerful discoveries, and even fresh insights to help strengthen your faith during the storms of life. So, if you're looking to be inspired, uplifted, and spiritually recharged, just visit faith2.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Emily Hemmert: 0:31

And I'm Emily Hemmert. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth, and inspire others.

Scott Brandley: 0:39

On today's episode, we're going to hear about one woman's calling to write about spiritual resilience and the joy that we can experience through keeping our covenants. Welcome to Latter Day Lights. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Latter Day Lights. We're so glad to hear with us today. We're really excited to introduce our special guest today, Sharla Goettl, to the show. And your name's a little tricky, but she told me the secret. So it's rhymes with Medala. That's the trick. Welcome.

Sharla Goettl: 1:20

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. There, um, yeah, the the last name is a little tricky. I I should have gone with a byline, but I opted not just out of respect for that name that I carry.

Scott Brandley: 1:34

Do you get people that struggle with it?

Sharla Goettl: 1:37

Oh, for sure. I I work at the temple as as an ordinance worker. And um I'm I'm going in and out of that recommend desk um multiple times a week. There is rarely an a time when I pass that recommend desk where the person doesn't ask me how to pronounce my last name and whether or not it's German, or they're so eager for me to feel welcome in that I really appreciate it.

Scott Brandley: 2:07

Yeah. Well, we are glad you're here with us. And um, why don't you give us a little bit of background about who you are and and what you like to do?

Sharla Goettl: 2:19

Thank you. I appreciate being here so much, and and I really appreciate the work that you were doing doing here on Latter Day Lights. Thanks. So I uh I was uh raised in Arizona. I was born in a small little town, Snowflake, Arizona. Um more famous than its size allows. Was raised in Mesa. And then uh about 20 years later, I I um moved to the Portland area and I've lived in the Portland area for another few years. Where I've raised three daughters with my husband, Chris. We've absolutely loved being here. It's been um it's been a very different culture, a very different experience being in the Portland area rather than um Mace, Arizona, where I grew up with so many members of the church all around me. It's it's taken a journey. You have to know why you go to church. You have to know why you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, or at least you're constantly prompted. I I appreciate the constant reminder to go back to that foundational question of why am I a member of the church and why do I do the things that I do? It's it's been a very growing experience for me.

Scott Brandley: 3:39

Awesome. Well, um we are excited to hear your story. Um, I know it's got a couple different parts to it, and they go with to the your story kind of goes along with some of the books that you've written. So we're excited to hear it. Why don't we turn the time over to you and tell us where your story begins?

Sharla Goettl: 3:58

Thank you. I so appreciate that. I uh I've been a young women leader for going on 20 years now. I developed a great love for the youth of the church. I see in them qualities that I did not have when I was growing up. So I um I'm so encouraged by the youth of the church today. Um a few years ago I was called a stake in women's prisoner. And that calling, I I felt a really sincere prompting to think about and consider the idea of spiritual resilience. I saw patterns in questions that the youth continually were asking me and questions that the parents were asking me. I saw patterns in how all of their questions really resonated with this one idea of spiritual resilience. Spiritual resilience just kept on coming back as the root of every question. So I I did a deep dive. I I studied it, I thought about it, I I looked for examples of spiritual resilience in the scriptures. I felt like this was a very foundational idea that I needed to understand better, and I knew that God provided those answers in the scriptures somewhere. I just wasn't recognizing it enough. So I went looking for it. I found some patterns in the story of Nephi. Obviously, in the most obvious in the found it in the most obvious place that it could have been found in first Nephi chapter one. Um and I started to recognize these steps that Nephi as a teenager took in order to build his spiritual resilience. I I started to see um uh almost like this this plan going forward of how can I build spiritual resilience? How could I help someone else build spiritual resilience? How could I um help that spiritual resilience increase? Nephi lays it all out in the first book of the Book of Mormon. So I wrote that book not as a way of describing how I built spiritual resilience, but instead to say, I think we can reverse engineer what Nephi did. I think and recognize the pattern of how he built his spiritual resilience as a teenager and copy his pattern, thereby helping the youth today and parents today help their youth develop more spiritual resilience.

Emily Hemmert: 6:55

Yeah, I love the word resilience. Like um often when I kind of reflect on my ancestors and qualities that they had that I admire, that's kind of a a word that resonates with me as far as like being resilient. I like that word.

Sharla Goettl: 7:13

Yeah, absolutely. So do I. I my parents were wonderfully resilient, my grandparents were wonderfully resilient. Each of them came to the understanding that God's way was the best way forward. And they and they lived that. It was a truth that kind of became part of their being. I I did not necessarily live that way as I was a youth. I made a lot of mistakes. I certainly was not spiritually resilient the way that they had taught me to be. But it took some experiences over time for me to test out that theory. I started to see how God's way worked best in this situation, and then I saw it in this situation, and then I saw it in another situation. I started to recognize this idea that God's way is the best way, that it worked in every situation. I would define that as an eternal truth, as something that is always right and will always be right. I um that's how I would define spiritual resilience. The idea that the best way for me to get what I want most in my life is by following God's way. And if I if I always know that God's way is the best way, not only to do what Christ wants me to do, but also that it's the best way to get what I want in my life, then it becomes more natural that you simply do it. It's in my own best interest to do it. I think NIF exemplified that pattern wonderfully.

Scott Brandley: 9:05

That's interesting. Um because I, you know, I think the world is so influential in in the choices we make, even as adults. Like it's hard. It's it for some reason it feels like it's getting harder and harder to remember what you just said that that following the spirit, following God is the way to get what you you know to have success in life and to be truly happy. Um it just feels like Satan is I don't know, just so powerful on the other side right now, um, pulling us away from our spirituality. So I think your message is very timely. Um so what do you what are some of the ways that that well I guess two questions. One, why did why did the youth specifically is it just because you're you're working with the youth? And can these can these things apply to adults? And then the second thing would be um like what are some of the examples or some of the ways that we can become more spiritually resilient?

Sharla Goettl: 10:20

Yeah, I first off, I absolutely recognize saying it was. Um but it doesn't scare me. I temple covenants are the best way for me to uh establish the pattern of getting what I want, but it's also the best way that Christ answers my fears. He calms my fears for my covenants. There's this um there is a painting that's hanging in the Portland, Oregon Temple. And there's actually three of them, all exactly the same, all in one temple. I've never seen a painting repeated in any temple before, but this painting is in three different places. It it depicts the most beautiful seascape of the sun setting over the water. The the water is just lit up with golds and it's absolutely stunning. It's one of the most beautiful seascapes I've ever seen. There's these um large cloud structures that are in that are in the sky. And the largest cloud structure just looks like a cloud if you if you just pass by. But there's actually a hidden meaning in this painting. That cloud structure is actually a a wolf in sheep's glory. You can see the nose, you can see the dark hand holding its hand out, leading these little cloud people, um, you know, off stage left. And um it's disheartening to see a depiction of Satan actually in this large, glorious painting right outside of the habit. It um but the painting, after I looked at it over and over again, it actually has brought me quite a bit of hope. Whereas first it was rather disconcerting. Now I look at it and it doesn't bring that same sting of recension. The the sun is setting behind this cloud, and as you can see, um, at the top of this of this cloud structure, it's evaporating from the heat of the sun. Slowly there's whiffs, wisps of this cloud that are that are dissipating into the sky. And then that sun is shining on these waves, and those waves are rolling forward, one after the other after the other. They're lit up with the sun, and there's absolutely nothing the cloud can do to stop it. The cloud has no power to stop those waves at all. One of the reasons why I speak to the youth is because they are that wave, they are the wave that's rolling forward. I he didn't write the book specifically to youth. Um, the title of the book is spiritual resilience, leading our youth to go and do. He wrote it specifically for parents because spiritual resilience is not an easy concept to learn and to integrate into your character. Because a youth hasn't simply been on earth long enough, they haven't had enough of those situations where they can say, oh, this idea that God's way is the best way applies in situation A, B, C, D, E, on and on and on. They just haven't experienced or enough time to test that theory in a wide variety of ways, whereas their parents have. Their parents can testify that I understand this may not make sense at this moment, but my history and my knowledge tells me that it does make sense. I can be that example of living in a spiritually resilient way under all of these circumstances. I can help you point out, or I can help point out to you that I'm trying to be spiritually resilient in this way and in this way and in this way. Giving them the cliff notes version of a long history of learning. So I so I wrote it for parents specifically because it can be more effective that way. Um I can I I can honestly say that I think the preparation for the second coming is is going to hinder on our youth's ability to communicate with those that they don't necessarily agree with. They have this wonderful ability to show unity even when they are not in perfect agreement. I think they can do that better than than most people. Um, I would put the both of you as an exception to that rule because the work that you're doing here on Latter day Lights is certainly trying to exemplify that that principle of being able to unite with those who you may not know very well. Um But the but the youth really have an eagerness to do that as well. And and I I think it's going to be a critically important element as the years go by.

Scott Brandley: 15:54

I like that answer. I I do feel like I I'm trying to get messages through to my kids, but they are they're going through a lot, right? Like just the the things that they have to deal with compared to what we dealt with when we were young, it seems like it's so much harder now. I don't know.

Sharla Goettl: 16:15

Absolutely. So, what would either of you say is um the most well-known thing Nephi ever said?

Scott Brandley: 16:27

I will go and do.

Sharla Goettl: 16:31

What was that?

Scott Brandley: 16:32

I'll I will go and do the things the Lord commanded.

Sharla Goettl: 16:36

That's right. The whole book is um is based on that verse. This verse that all of us know off the top of our head. This idea that I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded me, for I know the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall provide a way that they may accomplish which he hath commanded. Nephi is giving us this step-by-step version or understanding of how he develops spiritual resilience. It started with this idea that I am willing to go forward. I I am willing to do this, I want to do it. I no longer desire to do evil. I I want to do this thing. And then the idea that this acknowledgement that God is giving me direction, I will go and do. There's something that God wants me to do. And and acknowledging that God is talking to you. I think that is often very difficult to wrap your mind around, especially, especially for a young person. The idea that, you know, Almighty God, creator of the universe, is speaking to you, is a is a concept that's sometimes hard to accept. You know, I'm just I'm just a girl, I'm I'm just a person, I'm just this individual. Why, you know, we we continually start these sentences with just, I'm just, I'm just, you know, and it's completely unnecessary to do that. Um Nephi didn't think that way. Um he thought about the things that he was willing to go and do. Well, why was he willing to go and do these things? Because he knew something. What was it that he knew? He knew that the best way for him to accomplish was was by going and doing this thing that God had asked him to do. He was he wanted accomplishment. There was something that some goal that he had in mind, whether it was saving his family, whether it was um following the prophet, whether it was he had such an eagerness to know what his father knew. He prayed to Christ and said, Please show me the vision of my father. He was he accepted the learning of his father, which I think is also sad. But but as a parent, Lehi didn't know everything. He we have record of him making mistakes, yet he did teach Nephi what he knew. Whatever it was that he did know, he did teach that and and I think that's an important message as well. To teach what we do know and acknowledge what we don't, it's okay to say I don't know, but but to really lean into this, I do know. This is an eternal truth that I have learned, that I have tested, and is proven accurate. I think it's important for us to testify those things so that our youth can recognize that they can know eternal truth too. And and Nephi had learned eternal truth. He said, For I know. I I so appreciate his his willingness to to step into something that was really scary. Yet go forward with faith. I think he's a prime example to flip this.

Emily Hemmert: 20:23

Um no, I don't know if you guys have seen Frozen 2, but there's like a scene where she's in like total despair and it's like a whole song about do the next right thing.

Sharla Goettl: 20:33

Yeah. So yes, I've seen it.

Emily Hemmert: 20:37

So my my husband's a therapist, and that's something that he encourages people when we get to moments where you're kind of like, you know, maybe a little bit lost, right? It's just like just do the next right thing. And it's like if you if at each time you're doing that, you know, that's being kind of like on God's path, right? Like you were talking about, it's just like that's what's going to benefit you the most, is just taking those actions over and over and over again to do the next right thing, you know, and on the path that we're on.

Sharla Goettl: 21:08

Absolutely. That that was a critical element in the development of my testimony. So when I um after I graduated from high school, I I moved to New York City. My sister and my brother already lived there, and and I moved in with them. I I got a job working at a very successful investment firm. It was the personal investment firm of Michael Dell. I landed this really awesome job. I loved working there. I um the penthouse of an amazing building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Wow. And no one knew how young I was. But I um I was living the dream in a way. I had this um awesome salary. They really appreciated the work I was doing there. I got promoted twice within a very short period of time. Um after about only four months of working there, I kept getting getting these strong spiritual promptings that I was supposed to go home. Uh sleepy Mesa Arizona, which you know felt like a world away, and I and I wasn't eager to do so. I was I had dreams of being a lawyer. I it was a meeting, very dynamic, very successful people. I was I was doing very challenging work, but I loved what I was doing, and I wanted to stay. But I couldn't shake these wantings that I was supposed to go home. Finally, it got strong enough that I couldn't ignore it. And and I and I went to my boss and I and I did that next right thing. I didn't know why, but I knew that God was talking to me, and I and I knew that I was I was willing to do what he asked me to do. So so I went into her office and I said, I'm sorry, I will have to quit. I have to give you my two weeks' notice. She was surprised, I was surprised, but um she uh she offered me a raise. I said no. She offered me um, she offered to pay my college tuition here in New York. Um she said, why are you doing this? At that moment, it was as if words were coming out of my mouth that were not my words. And I just said, I'm sorry, but I I need to go home. And and I did. I left, I took my job, I went home. Um the day I got home, my future husband called me and asked for a date. We we started dating. Um long story short, we got engaged, um, we got married, and almost immediately I was expecting I it was shocking to go from a penthouse, Fifth Avenue, um, you know, office building to changing diapers within less than um a year and a half. It it was it was hard for me to accept for a few months. It was it um it took some some time for me to wrap my mind around how quickly things have changed. But when I um not very long thereafter, um years later, I found out that I couldn't have any more children. And if I had not quit my job in Manhattan that day, I wouldn't have my daughters today. It I certainly um I would have had a lot more money, I would have had a lot more success, I I probably would have had that law degree, but I would not have had what I wanted the most in the world. At that time, I didn't even know what I wanted the most. I didn't know that being a mom, having my daughters was what I wanted the most in my life. God knew that I wanted that. He knew that I would get to that place where I wanted that the most. But at that moment when I was so young, I didn't know that yet. And yet, he took care of me. He told me to do that one thing that I was within my power to do. He didn't tell me why I was doing it, but he did tell me to do that one thing, and I went and I did that one. It ended up being the best decision of my life. It it was one of those many instances in my life where I've been able to say that I know God's way is the best way to get what I want most. Because it certainly worked out that time.

Emily Hemmert: 26:24

That's awesome. It's interesting because we don't always like we all have times, right, when we have promptings and then don't follow them, or that we do and we don't necessarily know like why, right? And like sometimes you get that hindsight and sometimes you don't, you know, and it's interesting. You think like, are there times that like what have I missed out on, or like what have been the consequences of like times that I've chosen like not to follow the spirit, right? You know, like you wonder.

Sharla Goettl: 26:53

Yeah. I'm I'm glad you brought that up. That has definitely um been on my mind this week. So after I wrote the first book, Spiritual Resilience, um there were ideas within that book that I knew I wanted to explore more, but they went deeper into our temple covenants. They they were related to the idea that our temple covenants create the environment for spiritual resilience to thrive. And I can lay out the steps of building spiritual resilience, but it's really our temple covenants that that create that that biosphere for these ideas of spiritual resilience to really embed themselves into our character. Um, because the the temple experience, these these covenants that we make give us the firm foundation to rely on. They're the way that we can say, I'm not afraid of this because I have an irrevocable guarantee from Heavenly Father, answering that fear. I can be hopeful in this way because I have this irrevocable promise from my Heavenly Father saying that this is my potential. It it creates the environment for spiritual resilience to continue to grow. I and I wanted to talk about that, but felt inadequate to do so. The idea of writing a book about the temple temple endowment felt like something that was way out of my my uh certainly out of my pay grade. And um it was it was not something that I felt adequate to do. So I kept pushing the idea off. For months and months I pushed the idea off that this was I was really grateful for that spiritual insight, which kept coming to me, helping me see patterns and helping me understand the temple endowment in a deeper way. But the idea of putting it into words and writing it on paper for others to read was something that I wasn't comfortable with yet. I um I went to a training by that was held by Elder Bednar. In this training, he he talked about a theme that he talks about often, which is that we are agents unto ourselves, that we are meant to act and not be acting. Well, he was talking about this idea, which went on for several minutes. I have this experience where this spirit came to me and said, You need to pay attention to this. Don't lose your focus, you need to watch him. And I was watching him as if the air around him started to move. And it started to ripple the way that air ripples when you're looking at a fire from a distance. You know what I mean? How the how the air kind of shifts in the light of the fire and the heat that's rising from that fire. That that's the way that the air looked around him. And it startled me. I'm looking at this and I'm and I was quite shocked and surprised. But at that moment I heard him say, it is your sacred responsibility to testify of why you love the temple. Honestly, I don't know if he actually said those words, or if that's what I heard in my mind. Elder Bednar also likes to talk often about this idea of remembering what was not said, meaning that the spirit will teach you in its own way while you are while you are going about that work of attending church meetings or listening to others teach you. The spirit will teach you in its own way. Maybe it was the spirit teaching me in my own, in my own way. I don't know. But I went home from that meeting knowing that I was supposed to ride about the temple. And that the app my my feelings of of apprehension were really just pride in disguise. And I needed to let it go and get to work. I knew that. That doesn't mean I I acted on it as diligently as I should have. I still procrastinated. Um, I would write, I would write a paragraph and then it would sit there for weeks. I would write a chapter and then it would sit there for months. I would, I would do a little bit more and a little bit more. And I and the promptings kept coming to me. Um I became a temple worker specifically so that I could be in the right frame of mind to talk about the temple and to really understand it from personal experience and to be in that place where I could gain the insight that I needed to answer all the questions that came to my mind while I was writing. But it it took me years. I have been working on this on this second book. It's called Covenant Power, um, for three years now. And I I have often feared that my procrastination was a hindrance to the messages that God was giving to me. That this idea um the ideas that I was writing off paper weren't going to come at the right time or or reach the right people because I I was sitting on it for too long and I was taking too long to to get it done. I um and then just just this week um they announced that 18-year-old young women can now and I and I suddenly realized that this this book that I'm writing about the power we gain through our covenants. I'm writing it, I'm writing it for all adults, but I'm I'm making a very purposeful effort to include the very youngest adults in this discussion. I've I've chosen a format and a literary style that I believe will appeal to even the youngest adults or or the those adults with the newest knowledge of the of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Um those who are who are start starting out in this journey of wanting to understand the temple better. So hearing that announcement, it brought tears to my eyes. Because all of that worry and stress of me not living up to the work that God had asked me to do, it dissipated and it went away. I think God knew it was gonna take me three years to write them. I think God knew me perfectly well, and I think He He understood me in a way that said, well, I need this now, so we better get started. Um I no, I I don't think, I don't think that as we are going forward trying to serve Jesus Christ in the best way that we are capable, in our imperfect, um, stumbling type of way, I think God makes up for that. I think his grace allows for that. I think he knows us well. I think that I think that my path forward is along the straightening route. And I say that in my own version of that phrase. I think straight refers to the most efficient way between point A and point B. The most efficient way that I can move Charlotte from where she is right now to where I want her to go. And and by narrow, I mean I mean that only one person can fit through that gate. I mean that his counsel is individualized and customized to me. That um the most efficient way from point A to point B may not necessarily be in a straight line. Because he knows that I am not a perfect straight line. So that I think his guidance is is very customized to me personally. Um the same way that this writing process, um, this constant need to get over my my worries to ask a thousand questions before I put anything on the page. Um, I think I think this process has has um strengthened my testimony that Jesus Christ knows what's me for.

Scott Brandley: 36:48

Yeah. Well, don't feel too bad. My my book took me nine years to write.

Sharla Goettl: 36:54

So yeah, it's stressful, isn't it?

Scott Brandley: 37:00

Yeah, well, I think you're right. Like God knows who we are. He knew that book was gonna take me nine years, right? So uh, but he has a plan. He knows the plan bigger than we do. But I love that idea that the straight path is not necessarily a straight line. That's that's profound. Thank you for sharing that.

Sharla Goettl: 37:26

Absolutely. I I love the work that you're doing, that others can share those insights that have come to them personally that we all can learn from. The the book Covenant Power is is about the temple endowment, specifically about covenant principles within the endowment. Those ideas are eternal truths. They are the ideas of principle, um, the principles of obedience, sacrifice, the gospel of Jesus Christ, chastity, consecration, these are eternal truths. Therefore, they are deeply profound. There is power within these principles, which is why Christ is teaching them to us. I I know and I and I understand that my version and my understanding of these principles are simply are not simply the only way to understand them. I'm I'm no um authority on these principles besides the information that that I have learned about them personally. This is this is my version and my understanding of how these principles lay out in a pattern to help us become like Jesus Christ. But each of you, each of your listeners, they have their own understanding of schools that is um personally personally applicable to them. I and I really appreciate that I had the time and the opportunity to write down my thoughts to explain in a in a long-form way how I see these principles of the endowment um laid out, how I see them work together to build us up, master our fears, and to help us get what we want most. I I appreciate that I have that opportunity to write this out in a way that I know not everyone has that or has that opportunity.

Scott Brandley: 39:41

Right. I I think you doing that is actually a gift to other people because I mean, yes, we go to the temple and we hear those things. We make make covenants related to those topics. But I mean, life happens, right? We don't, as members. We don't get a lot of time to really reflect on those covenants and those promises. So this is I I see your book as actually a gift because it helps people to assimilate your thoughts that you've spent a lot of time and research looking into and thinking about that can benefit them. So it's almost like a shortcut to help them to get the valuable information that can help them to make those covenants even more special to them because of the time that you took to put them down. And they can add those to their own thoughts and ideas too, right? So it just makes their testimony stronger. So I think that's really cool.

Emily Hemmert: 40:46

Is it going to be available for an audiobook?

Sharla Goettl: 40:50

Yes. Yes, it is. I um so the book. It actually is half narrative, half nonfiction. My my goal was to connect the stories that we know and love in the scriptures with our experience in the temple. Awesome. And and yet often I feel like we see them as two separate entities. When in actuality the scriptures are the handbook to our covenants. Well, covenants actually came first. And if you think about that in in form in the form of the plan of salvation, you see that these covenant principles, these five covenant principles, um, actually more than that, if you consider Abrahamic covenant and creation, restoration. If you if you pair these endowment principles together, you see how they are critical elements in all of God's work. These principles are eternal truths, meaning that they have always been powerful, they will always be powerful, and they're how you become powerful. They're how the Heavenly Father became powerful, they're how Jesus Christ became powerful. They use these tools, these ideals of obedience, sacrifice, um the principles of the gospel, the fasting, consecration. They use them over and over and over again to do their work. It's as if they are the tools in their toolbox. Um these are the tools that they use to do divine work. And um, they came first. The the scriptures were then given to us to help us understand these principles and to help us see how they apply in the lives of these scriptural heroes that we know and love. And so I wanted to I wanted to bridge this gap between the scriptures and the endowment. I wanted readers to be able to recognize how a specific principle, let's take obedience, um who taught obedience better than Nephi? Um how did obedience work in the life of Nephi? How did he use it? Why um why did it work for him? Just as importantly, what did it bring him in return? What blessing did Nephi receive for being obedient? He testifies of it. He says, I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded. Because he can accomplish, because he can accomplish something sizable and important and valuable to him personally. Um so each principle is laid out, is is taught from the perspective of a different social character. Um at the beginning of each chapter, I I've written a narrative. It is it is imaginary, it is my um my imagination of uh adding further context to the story of that character in scriptures, for example. Um, I talk about um the patriarch Jacob and his wrestle with God, his his struggle with Esau, and that night that he receives um the Abrahamic covenant upon himself. Um he has this mighty wrestle with God, and then God blesses him and gives him the name of Israel. He he sees God face to face that night. And I and so I I tell that story in my own words, from my own perspective, hoping to to bring the idea of the Abrahamic covenant to a more relevant place, to a place where where a reader can can see themselves in that story. And then I talk about, and then I go into the the nonfiction portion of the chapter and talk about how is the Abrahamic covenant connected with our temple endowment, it's the new and everlasting covenant. And so it just repeats itself. Um, like I said, with with Nephi, there's there's a narrative about Nephi and his thoughts as he's deciding whether or not to go and retrieve the plates um in Bank and Jerusalem. There's um for the story of chastity, right? I think it from the perspective of Mormon. And and the temptations which were all around him. He was he was surrounded by by wickedness his entire life. He was he was very alone in his beliefs, and yet he testifies how his soberness was so important for him, how his focus on family was so critically important to him. For the law of consecration, I retell the story of Nephi III going through the great storm after after the death of Jesus Christ, and then and then his experience seeing Christ at the temple and and receiving priesthood power from his hand, um watching his son surrounded by the angels. And in that moment where Christ asks him, What is it that you want most? What is it that I can give you that you want most in the world? He actually asks this signify twice, and twice he receives it. So I I'm trying to bridge that gap between the scriptures and the endowment. I want everyone to recognize that the endowment is everywhere. Um that these endowment principles are taught to us in such vivid um detail and depth, and story after story after story relate these covenant principles to us in in various examples in various ways. We can see how it applies in this situation and in this situation, and in this situation, because because of the scriptures that we have. I see our temple endowment as the way in which God achieves his work, the the very beginning process. I think God's greatest goal in life is to um to share his power with us. When we become like him, it is it is required that he share his power with us so that we can help him in his work. I and that process starts in in the temple endowment experience, where he is highlighting the tools, his toolbox. He is highlighting to us those those principles that he knows from personal experience are so critical to his work. And so it's as if this is as if God is the master teacher, and we are all coming to our first prerequisite class of godliness 101. Um and God is teaching us the very basic foundational skills that that will help us along this very long journey of becoming like Him one day. It um I see the law of obedience as the way in which we first start to see God's power. That's how we recognize it. When we are obedient, we can have the Holy Ghost with us, pointing out to us that um this is God's work, this is what God wants you to do. This is right and this is wrong. Through the law of obedience, we start to see God's power. Through the law of sacrifice, we start to gain that power for ourselves. It's through sacrifice that we actually go and do something. That's how we start to gain God's power for ourselves, whether that is insight or kindness or honesty or soberness. Whatever the case may be, these sacrifices that we make is our is how we start to gain these Christ-like attributes for ourselves. The law of the gospel is how we retain Christ. The law of the gospel is how we can keep it and and how we can retain our progress, because that is where we learn the principles of repentance, where we learn the principles of continually refreshing and renewing our covenants, where we learn that principle that um stakes do not hinder our progress. As long as we are partnered with Jesus Christ, as long as we rely on the atonement that He's gifted to each of us, we can retain and we can keep His power with us. The law of chastity is how we increase in Christ's power. The law of chastity is where is not just a physical law, it is also a spiritual law. Every law is is both physical and spiritual, and chastity is one of the prime examples of this. Chastity is how we increase in Christ's power. And then the law of consecration is how we share that power with others. It's how as we act in consecrated ways over and over and over again, we are constantly serving the people around us. We're constantly inviting them to know Jesus Christ. We're inviting them to make their own covenants with Jesus Christ. We're inviting more and more Christ's power into our lives until finally we can become like Jesus Christ and actually share in his power as joint heirs with him. These are deeply powerful ideas that I stand all amazed that these are even opportunities that we can talk about, that these are even opportunities that are granted to us by our Heavenly Father. I stand all amazed that this would be his plan. That someone as as lowly as me, as inconsequential as me, might be able to learn and develop those Christ-like attributes that Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ hold right now. As I develop those attributes, I there is no way for me not to become like them. Um you cannot learn about Jesus Christ without having some of your imperfections healed, without having some of your your cracks and your crevices filled in.

Scott Brandley: 53:00

Wow. That was amazing. Uh I feel like I've just been like taught by a spiritual giant. I I that was that was incredible, Charla. Honestly. You just blew my mind. That was awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. I I am definitely gonna buy your book. So but I but I'm with I'm with Emily. I listen to audiobooks, so oh yeah.

Emily Hemmert: 53:34

I I I do both, but I like a I like a good holding a good book.

Sharla Goettl: 53:43

I um so I think what I meant to say originally was that because of these narrative um components within the book. I'm I'm hoping to really have some fun with the audio book where there will be different voices portraying these different characters. You know, I've I've been listening to a lot of um uh audio um um clips, listening for voices and thinking to myself, all right, like do I hear Mormon in this voice? Do do I hear who who do I hear? Is this Jacob? Like, who is it that I hear in this voice? That's yeah, that's a creative project to work on.

Scott Brandley: 54:28

I I love the the mix of the narrative with the with the the teaching, because I mean, like the chosen, right? That's a good example. They've mixed the the story of Christ with the narrative, right? They're they're filling in the gaps, but that makes it really personalized and entertaining to watch, right? So I think it's really clever. I mean, the work in the glory, same kind of thing, right? Like that was uh a fictional story, but it had those the truth of of actual events built into it. It just makes it so I don't know, engaging to to read and or you know, and to um to be part of that experience. So this is I think this is a really good way to teach this these these lessons in a way that people can really relate to them. I'm like building you up big time here because I really love what you're doing, but but honestly, like when you were talking earlier, I was like, I was like, wow, this is amazing. I've never thought of that. I've never thought of those being like the toolkit of God, and he's like basically giving them to us every time we go to the temple, and he's like, they're right here, they're there. But I I never thought of it that way. And I've I've you know, I've gone we we've all of all of us here have probably gone so many times we could probably recite the whole thing, and but I've never thought of it as those are like God's tools that he's trying to teach us the lesson behind it so that we can use those tools in our life to be more like him. So thank you for that. That was so cool.

Emily Hemmert: 56:19

I look forward to reading it.

Sharla Goettl: 56:20

That's exciting. Thank you. I I really appreciate that. I if there's anything that I can say or write that that encourages you to see God's endowment in your life, that's what I've been praying for every day for three years. Yeah. As I've been writing these narratives, I it is it has been a struggle, actually. Because I I want so much to be able to to reach someone who who feels like they don't understand it enough to live it. Um but at the same time trying to be accurate, trying to be um carefully sacred about these principles, carefully sacred about the the stories that I'm telling, which are imaginary. I have to make that very clear, right? These are right, yeah. These are the imaginations of Charla. But um, but I I know that God teaches me through story. Even if I'm the main character of the story, he is still teaching me through story, through experience, right? We go to the temple, we watch Adam and Eve as they are in the Garden of Eden, and he is telling us a story, he is teaching us the principles of creation um through this story. And I um so there's power in that. If if God is using that um that pathway, if he's using that vehicle to teach me, then then I felt like it was appropriate for me to try and use that that same strategy to teach others. I um one one of my favorite parts of the book is uh the chapter about creation. And I and so there's actually two narratives in the creation chapter. The first is from um Adam's perspective, um but before he becomes Adam. It's actually it's actually from Michael. It it is from Michael's perspective at the at the end of the sixth day, before before he becomes Adam. And he's he's relating these the feelings that he's had of creation, how this creative process has helped fill his heart after the war in heaven, and how each day of creation played a part in in helping him overcome that that grief and that and that contention of the war in heaven, and how each day of creation taught him a little bit more about the Heavenly Father, his personality, why he loves us, how he shows his love for us. Um how each day of creation teaches us a little bit more about what God is willing to do for us. And then and then that second narrative is from Eve's perspective, as she's leaving the garden, how she talks about how she learns that shame is author. By Satan. And that Heavenly Father never taught her shade. And how Heavenly Father gave gives her all of these tools as she graduates from this garden to go on to this life of independence, which she chose independently. And and how she plans to use these tools to show her gratitude for the sacrifice that the Savior will make for her and her family. I relate to that feeling. I I relate to that perspective. I can't possibly know if that's actually how she felt, but I know that's how I feel. And so I've I've used this the story of Eve to to display those feelings in a way and with a depth of context that I know everyone can understand. So while I can't say that that these stories are are factual to the people who who actually lived those stories, I can say that those sentiments are very true for me. But those sentiments are how I have sincerely felt. Okay.

Scott Brandley: 1:01:35

I get it. I mean it's very popular, you know, like I'm saying, like with the chosen. We I I feel like my relationship with with Jesus is different watching after watching the chosen and just hearing the stories and reading them, than actually you know having that narrative baked in. So I think it's a powerful way to share stories and to help people to relate to characters that we we've been taught about our whole lives. And you know, yeah, I mean there's some fiction built in, but like like you're saying, like the the sentiment is is there and it's real.

Emily Hemmert: 1:02:27

So yeah, my kids have a Book of Mormon that's like written like a novel. And it's really I enjoyed reading it because I'm like just like the flow of it and just like reading it more like novel style. I don't know. It's a good it's a good way to like conceptualize gospel things.

Sharla Goettl: 1:02:47

Yeah, for sure. So I'm a seminary teacher and bringing in that the full story is very helpful for my for my seminary students to to better understand um the role that Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father play in that story. As they see the full context, they're able to answer those questions of you know, why would God do that? What is his purpose behind doing this? Um, what does this teach us about his character? Um what type of character would he have to have in order to do it this way? And and so I I think it's really important to see that full context. Often when we read the scriptures, um we don't we're given a great amount of detail, but often we see um, you know, years go by and they're described in two verses.

Scott Brandley: 1:03:45

Right. Yeah. Or other people women, the women maybe be might even just have their name mentioned, you know, or like one sentence.

Sharla Goettl: 1:03:54

Or not mentioned.

Scott Brandley: 1:03:56

Right, yeah.

Sharla Goettl: 1:03:57

Yes, that is true. I um but then there are other times where where detail is given, but they're given in such quick succession that to the reader it can feel like it happened one, you know, the the the time between each detail um was very quick. When in actuality it probably wasn't. In actuality, there was probably large gaps of learning and and struggle, or or maybe um contemplation between each of these steps. And and as the reader, it just it can seem like, oh, they just did this and they made this just you know, this miraculous decision, and it just worked out great, and it's like that. But in actuality, you know, if you really read the detail, it clearly didn't happen that way, but it just mentioned so quickly that it seems like it did. And sometimes I can come around away from those from those parts feeling like, well, what am I doing wrong? It didn't happen like that, you know. So um so having um seeing it in context in in a broader context, even if that context is my own imagination, that at least will spark, I hope, I hope it sparks readers to really think about it from their own perspective. You know, what don't you like from my version? What um what is missing? What is something that maybe you always like that I didn't include? What is something that I included that you never thought about before? Um I I am eager for the stories to be retold in your own voice. I I hope that reading those stories simply, for lack of a better word, gives you gives you permission to do it yourself or or helps you see that there that maybe you should try it. You know, maybe maybe you should envision this story that you love so much from a broader perspective. And for me, it has been a deeply uh spiritual experience as as the spirit has has taught me no, it wasn't like this, or or yep, you're on the right track, or did you think about this part? You know, the spirit has has been has been prompting this writing, this imperfect writing process, um to to help me see these characters in a more life-sized way.

Scott Brandley: 1:06:36

I love I love that idea.

Emily Hemmert: 1:06:38

It's kind of like if you go back and if you've ever gone back and like read your journal, you know, and it just kind of is like it misses it, you you get the story, right? But it misses all of like the minuscule details that to get from one point to the other, right? Like it just catches those moments without really getting way into like how you got you know connecting from A to B or whatever. So I'm excited to read this.

Scott Brandley: 1:07:08

Yeah, I agree with you, Emily. Like, I was as you were saying that, Sherla, I was thinking like, you know, in the in the Doctrine Covenants, it talks about how they move to Kirtland and then they build the Kirtland Temple, and that doesn't work out, so then they go to Nauvoo and they build the Nau temple, but like there's so much background between those events, right? Years and years of struggle and toil and and growth and pain, and you know, like it's just but it's that it comes down to a few verses, right? So I agree. There's a lot of context that's missed that you can add back in with story. The other thing that I wanted to say is I love what you just the last thing you said is by by you writing this book, you're giving people permission to test and to try these um these lessons in their own lives. And I think that's true. I mean, a lot of times we do almost feel like we need some type of permission or give ourselves permission to test a principle of the gospel or to try a principle of the gospel. We may have heard it a hundred times, but until somebody shows us what's you know what is possible, we might not think about it that way. Right? Like I like I said earlier, I didn't think about the the the laws that we learn uh in the in the temple, the the commitments we make as tools for God to teach us about how to become like him. I didn't think that, but now that you've taught me that, I'm gonna next time I go to the temple, I'm gonna look at it in a completely different way. Yeah, right. So I I think that it is important to teach people these principles and to, like you said, give them permission to try it and to test it in their own lives.

Emily Hemmert: 1:09:21

So and I think too, like seeing yourself in the characters in the Book of Mormon too, like someone told me once, like a lot of people try to identify themselves as Nephi, and they were like, in reality, we probably are more like Lemon, Layman and Lembial than we realize, like we're judging them, right? But it's like if you actually were looking at the situation, it's like we probably have a lot in common with them. And we don't necessarily try to relate ourselves to them, but like we probably could if we put ourselves in put ourselves in that situation and as compared to like you know, just thinking like, well, I of course would have been like Nephi and like I would have never acted like them, you know. And in reality, it's like we probably have moments where we're being a little layman and lemule.

Scott Brandley: 1:10:09

Speak for yourself, Emily.

Sharla Goettl: 1:10:12

No, I I agree. So the law of sacrifice, I wrote it from the perspective of Sam on the boat during the during the storm. You know. And I and again, I tried, you know, how would I feel in that circumstance? My brothers are causing this storm that could literally kill everyone that I that I ever cared about or that I care about at that moment. You know, my whole life is on this boat, my whole family is on this boat. This this betrayal of of taking Nephi and strapping him to the mast and causing this storm, you know, how would I have felt in that circumstance? Um holy, faithful, and peaceful may not have been how I felt. And and so and so I portray Sam in this position of not I mean I won't give it away because you haven't heard this story before, but of just being in a position of realizing that the importance of forgiveness and um forgiving others and and even asking for forgiveness and what a sacrifice that is sometimes. Often I think uh I think this idea of uh of being so angry at someone and then flipping it and realizing that maybe I actually needed to ask for forgiveness too. Giving forgiveness to someone else isn't the greatest sacrifice. Maybe asking for forgiveness is often even a bigger sacrifice and and how in order to do so we have to sacrifice pride, we have to sacrifice fear when we go into the endowment room in every temple there is an altar front and center. And when I see that altar, I think of all the fears that I need to sacrifice in order to more um saliently follow God. I think of um all the pride that I need to place on that altar and leave there and all the pride that that is keeping me from doing the things that God wants me to do and being the person that God wants me to be. I think of that altar and I and I recognize that it is a gift given to me where I can put all those all those crutches and all those burdens that are equally holding me back on both sides. The burden and the crutch. They're both holding me back. And I can and I can place those on that altar and help me become more like my Heavenly Father and my Jesus Christ, who have no crutches and who are not burdened by those things that that they doubt. I can I can put those things on that altar and little bit by little bit, um, micro step by micro step, I'll come to them. Yeah.

Emily Hemmert: 1:13:44

This just made me think um I I want like everyone to listen to this song because there's the so one of the the church came out with those new songs recently, and one of them was written by a minister, a Methodist minister, and he he has written some other songs that are really great. But one of them is it's called Take Your Burden to the Lord and Leave It There. And it just is like, leave it there, leave it there. And like I just love it so much. So I'm like, just a little plug to listen to that song because it's really great about taking your burden to the Lord and just like taking it, like you said, to the altar and just like gonna leave that right there, and I'm gonna go home. You know what I mean? Like go to the temple, take those things and then like leave them there. I don't know. Sorry, plug for that because I love the song and I think everyone should love it too.

Sharla Goettl: 1:14:30

I love that. I'll go look it up. I love that song. I I mean I'm remembering it, but I need to go listen to it again.

Emily Hemmert: 1:14:37

Yeah, it's awesome.

Sharla Goettl: 1:14:39

Yeah. Very cool.

Emily Hemmert: 1:14:41

I know I'm not motivated, I need to go to the temple.

Scott Brandley: 1:14:44

Yeah. This has been amazing, Charlotte. Thank you so much for coming on. I've learned a ton. Um, and not every not episode every episode is like this. A lot of times people just share their story, and you you will get a lot of insight and um you know, and feel their light and as they share their story. But this has been very educational and enlightening in in a lot of different ways. So thanks for for putting in those three years and all the years before that, right? I think you had to write the first book in order to get be prepared to write the second. And you know, so that, like you said, God puts us on our own straight and narrow path, and it's that's not exactly a straight line. I love that. I think that's I'm gonna keep that. But um, yeah, you just taught us so many things, so I really appreciate it. Um, as we kind of wrap things up here, is there anything that you'd like to share? Kind of uh last thought to our listeners.

Sharla Goettl: 1:15:52

Uh the most important thing that I've learned in this process is that Jesus Christ has an answer for every one of my fears. And is the very best way for me to get what I want.

Scott Brandley: 1:16:10

All right. Well, thanks again for being on. How do people find these amazing books that you've written?

Sharla Goettl: 1:16:18

Uh, they're on Amazon. There um Cedar Fort is a publisher called Spiritual Resilience, leading our youth to go and do. And then my second book, which um will be um published the middle of January 2026.

Scott Brandley: 1:16:34

Okay, and that's called Eternal Covenants.

Sharla Goettl: 1:16:38

Covenant Power.

Scott Brandley: 1:16:39

Covenant Power. That's close.

Sharla Goettl: 1:16:41

Covenant power.

Scott Brandley: 1:16:44

Okay, well, um, we'll put the link in as soon as we get it. So we want people to get that book and make sure you let us know when the audio book comes out because I definitely want to listen to it. So awesome. Any last thoughts, Emily?

Sharla Goettl: 1:17:01

Uh no.

Scott Brandley: 1:17:06

Awesome. Well, thanks again, Charla, and thanks everyone for tuning in for another episode of Latter Day Lights. We hope that you gained a lot of insight and knowledge from this episode. And please go and hit that share button and do your five-second missionary work. Let's get Charla's story out there. There's a lot of really good stuff in here that I think could help a lot of people. So if you hit that button, you get they everyone that you love gets access to Sharla's wisdom. So go hit that button. Um, and if you have a story that you'd like to share, go to latterdaylights.com and let us know or email us at latterdaylights at gmail.com. So with that, thanks again for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next week with another episode of Latterday Lights. Till then, take care. Bye bye.

Emily Hemmert: 1:17:57

Thank you. Bye.