Alma 9:20 . . . having had all things bmade known unto [us], according to [our] desires, and [our] faith, and prayers, of that which has been, and which is, and which is to come . . .
What a promise! Alma is talking about the Nephites, but here is a verse we can liken unto ourselves with joy.
He's telling us that if we have righteous desires and have faith, we can pray (I'm assuming obedience fits in there somewhere), and we can have all things made known to us, things past, present, and future. This is the spirit of revelation, and is a gift from the Holy Ghost to us.
Sometimes we don't see all things in their entirety, not because of disobedience, but because this life is meant to be a test and we're asked to move forward in faith without knowing the beginning from the end. But we can know with perfect confidence that we are in the Lord's hands and He loves us and wants what is best for us.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Can Ye Feel So Now?
One of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon is Alma 5. I especially love verse 14, where he says, And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
His description of what it means to be converted, to be spiritually born of God and receive His image in our countenances and undergo a mighty change of heart really resonates with me.
And then in verse 26 he says, And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
First of all, I love the imagery of singing the song of redeeming love. But the question, "Can ye feel so now?" always brings me up short.
I think we all have spiritual ups and downs. At times if our lives we have great spiritual experiences and feel an outpouring of the Spirit. But other times we feel stuck in a spiritual mire and can imagine our prayers bouncing off the ceiling, never quite making it to the Lord's ears.
In Sri Lanka we met a man who had been a Catholic priest. He told us of how he was converted to the church, of miraculous happenings and of his conversion to the Gospel. Of course he was kicked out of the Catholic church and stripped of his priestly robes. He had to find another way to support himself and underwent a complete life change. And yet at the time we met him, he never came to church. He had let other cares of life get in the way and had become completely inactive. He had found the pearl of great price, had grasped it and loved it, but then had let it go.
I don't want that ever to happen to me. It's one of my greatest fears.
If you were to ask a roomful of church members how to keep hold of the pearl, you'd get a variety of answers, and they would all be worthwhile. But I've been thinking about one particular safeguard that might help me hold onto the pearl. Remembering. Alma spoke of it in this very chapter, of remembering the captivity of our fathers. In my life, my ancestors weren't in captivity, but they did have to sacrifice greatly for the Gospel, and it's important to remember those sacrifices.
But it's also important to remember the spiritual experiences and blessings that have come to me personally. President Eyring gave a talk in October of 2007 called O Remember, Remember. It is the one where he talked about recording our special experiences in order to bless our posterity. In it he says:
Tonight and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve the memory for the day that I and those that I love will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him.
As we record our lives and especially our spiritual experiences, we can bless our lives and the lives of our children so that if we were asked, "Can ye feel so now?", we could respond with a resounding, "Yes!"
His description of what it means to be converted, to be spiritually born of God and receive His image in our countenances and undergo a mighty change of heart really resonates with me.
And then in verse 26 he says, And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
First of all, I love the imagery of singing the song of redeeming love. But the question, "Can ye feel so now?" always brings me up short.
I think we all have spiritual ups and downs. At times if our lives we have great spiritual experiences and feel an outpouring of the Spirit. But other times we feel stuck in a spiritual mire and can imagine our prayers bouncing off the ceiling, never quite making it to the Lord's ears.
In Sri Lanka we met a man who had been a Catholic priest. He told us of how he was converted to the church, of miraculous happenings and of his conversion to the Gospel. Of course he was kicked out of the Catholic church and stripped of his priestly robes. He had to find another way to support himself and underwent a complete life change. And yet at the time we met him, he never came to church. He had let other cares of life get in the way and had become completely inactive. He had found the pearl of great price, had grasped it and loved it, but then had let it go.
I don't want that ever to happen to me. It's one of my greatest fears.
If you were to ask a roomful of church members how to keep hold of the pearl, you'd get a variety of answers, and they would all be worthwhile. But I've been thinking about one particular safeguard that might help me hold onto the pearl. Remembering. Alma spoke of it in this very chapter, of remembering the captivity of our fathers. In my life, my ancestors weren't in captivity, but they did have to sacrifice greatly for the Gospel, and it's important to remember those sacrifices.
But it's also important to remember the spiritual experiences and blessings that have come to me personally. President Eyring gave a talk in October of 2007 called O Remember, Remember. It is the one where he talked about recording our special experiences in order to bless our posterity. In it he says:
Tonight and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve the memory for the day that I and those that I love will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him.
As we record our lives and especially our spiritual experiences, we can bless our lives and the lives of our children so that if we were asked, "Can ye feel so now?", we could respond with a resounding, "Yes!"
Saturday, May 25, 2013
You Should Not Have Feared Man More Than God
D&C 3:7 For, behold, you should not have afeared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and bdespise his words—
8 Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and asupported you against all the fiery bdarts of the cadversary; and he would have been with you in every time of dtrouble.
This scripture hits home with me. I'm a white personality, meaning I'm concerned with pleasing people and having people like me. Even strangers who I will never see again should think that I'm a good and smart person. I envy those who don't care what anyone else thinks.
But that should not be my primary concern. First I should think about what the Lord thinks. I so empathize with the prophet Joseph in this trial because I could see myself doing the same thing. Martin Harris was pressuring Joseph to let him show the 116 pages of manuscript to his wife and a few other people. We all know the story of how they were lost or stolen.
This was a time of great suffering for Joseph, but also great growth. We now know that the Lord had already prepared a greater record to replace that which was withdrawn. So it seems to me that the purpose of this trial was to teach Joseph this very lesson. If he would fear God first before man, the Lord would support him and protect him against the adversary. He would be with him in every time of trouble.
I'm sure there were many times when that lesson was tested in the years before Joseph's death, but he never again slipped up, never faltered. He always trusted the Lord first and stood strong against the influence of men. It was a hard and painful lesson for him, but such an important one!
I'm so grateful for his example and his life. I pray that I may always be as strong.
Monday, May 20, 2013
The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers
D&C 2:2 And ahe shall plant in the hearts of the children the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
One of the things I pray about pretty regularly is my gratitude for parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who sacrificed so that I could be handed the Gospel on a silver platter. To be raised in the Gospel is a great blessing. To grow up with the teachings and have a testimony, to have righteous parents who set an example is such a wonderful thing. And thinking about my ancestors who recognized the truth of the Gospel and accepted it, leaving behind everything to cross oceans and the plains in difficult conditions just fills me with gratitude and joy.
But my earlier ancestors didn't have the benefit of the Gospel, and as I studied this verse in the D&C, I realized that my heart has been turned to only some of my fathers. I'm interested in learning more about researching and doing family history, but haven't really got into it. Is the time right that now I should devote more of my time to researching my ancestors? I don't know. Maybe. Carma is going to be teaching a Sunday School class in family history. Maybe that will get us both started.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Each Life That Touches Ours for Good
It's not exactly scripture, but that was the theme of my devotional thought that I gave yesterday at the OFSP Center. Our turn to give the thought comes around about once a month, and I decided rather than choose a subject and hymn to go along with it, to choose the hymn first and then the thought. So I chose Each Life That Touches Ours for Good. Here is approximately what I said.
We are all blessed to rub shoulders with other people, and some of those really lift and strengthen us. Elder Thuesen last Thursday was telling me about his association with Elder Bednar years ago. Elder Thuesen was privileged to be a counselor when Elder Bednar was a bishop. He told me what a learning experience it was and said, "Some people are just better than the rest of us. If you want to do better, if you want to be better, associate with better people."
I've thought about that a lot. I don't know any general authorities. But I do know some people who are better than I am. And it's such a privilege to rub shoulders with those people and learn from them. We've been meeting with Arringtons weekly for at least 30 years, discussing the Gospel in depth. I feel like I've been tutored in my ideas and opinions through those years.
We have the blessing of rubbing shoulders with great people as we serve missions and serve in the temple. Those people touch our lives for good. We need to learn from them and savor those relationships.
I used the example of Scorchi and Tom's get-together with the family Tom brought into the Gospel 44 years ago. There are now 62 people who are members of the church in that family, and several generations have served missions and done family history research, so many, many more lives have been touched.
My concluding thought was that WE need to be those great people that others want to rub shoulders with, so that we can inspire and influence and lift those around us. I want us all to be giddy at being in the Celestial Kingdom together, as I quoted from Alicia Arce in yesterday's Mahubble blog.
For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise Thy goodness, Lord, above.
We are all blessed to rub shoulders with other people, and some of those really lift and strengthen us. Elder Thuesen last Thursday was telling me about his association with Elder Bednar years ago. Elder Thuesen was privileged to be a counselor when Elder Bednar was a bishop. He told me what a learning experience it was and said, "Some people are just better than the rest of us. If you want to do better, if you want to be better, associate with better people."
I've thought about that a lot. I don't know any general authorities. But I do know some people who are better than I am. And it's such a privilege to rub shoulders with those people and learn from them. We've been meeting with Arringtons weekly for at least 30 years, discussing the Gospel in depth. I feel like I've been tutored in my ideas and opinions through those years.
We have the blessing of rubbing shoulders with great people as we serve missions and serve in the temple. Those people touch our lives for good. We need to learn from them and savor those relationships.
I used the example of Scorchi and Tom's get-together with the family Tom brought into the Gospel 44 years ago. There are now 62 people who are members of the church in that family, and several generations have served missions and done family history research, so many, many more lives have been touched.
My concluding thought was that WE need to be those great people that others want to rub shoulders with, so that we can inspire and influence and lift those around us. I want us all to be giddy at being in the Celestial Kingdom together, as I quoted from Alicia Arce in yesterday's Mahubble blog.
For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise Thy goodness, Lord, above.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
And He That Will Hear My Voice Shall Be My Sheep;
Mosiah 26:21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep . . .
Here lies the secret. Here lies the answer. We want to be His people, His sheep. We want to feel that He loves us. And the Lord here tells Alma how to tell who those people are. They are those who hear His voice.
Sometimes in our world there are many voices. The voices in our 21st Century world seem to be more and louder than at any other time. They come into our homes and tell us what to buy and how to live and who to laugh at. Somehow amid all that cacophony we need to learn to sort out the Lord's voice from the other voices. We need to tune in to His voice and tune out the others. Then we need to follow Him, to obey Him, to love Him and serve Him.
If we can learn to do this, the Lord promises that we will be His sheep. The Lord will watch over us and lead us and protect us and gather us. We will be His.
Here lies the secret. Here lies the answer. We want to be His people, His sheep. We want to feel that He loves us. And the Lord here tells Alma how to tell who those people are. They are those who hear His voice.
Sometimes in our world there are many voices. The voices in our 21st Century world seem to be more and louder than at any other time. They come into our homes and tell us what to buy and how to live and who to laugh at. Somehow amid all that cacophony we need to learn to sort out the Lord's voice from the other voices. We need to tune in to His voice and tune out the others. Then we need to follow Him, to obey Him, to love Him and serve Him.
If we can learn to do this, the Lord promises that we will be His sheep. The Lord will watch over us and lead us and protect us and gather us. We will be His.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
They Are My People
Alma has been asked to judge the people who are rebelling against the church, and he is very concerned and has inquired of the Lord. The Lord's response begins by telling Alma that God is pleased with him and that he loves him for accepting the testimony of Abinadi. He also loves the people who accepted the gospel because of Alma's testimony.
Mosiah 26:18 Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my aname; for in my bname shall they be called; and they are mine.
The Lord uses similar language in D&C 50:40-42 as He talks about the early Saints.
40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot abear all things now; ye must bgrow in cgrace and in the knowledge of the truth.
41 aFear not, little bchildren, for you are mine, and I have covercome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath dgiven me;
42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be alost.
The Lord loves all of His children with a love beyond our ability to imagine, but He loves His obedient and faithful children with a special love and and blesses them and holds them in the hollow of His hand.
If we would be loved and treasured as the people of Alma, it's up to us. We also must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. We must be obedient and faithful and diligent and fear not, but trust in the Lord. We can be His.
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