With the whisk of His mighty hand all things are made a new! I have been so blessed these past couple of years and it was through much prayer and thought that I was able to not only recognize His influence but also to embrace it. In a talk by one of my favorite speakers of all time, Elder Jeffery R. Holland an Apostle of the Lord, he spoke of the Saviors call to everyone, stating, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" . No matter what the trial, struggle, or fear, as long as you come unto Christ, first, He will be there to lift you up and heal your broken spirit.
It has been this way for me for some time, as my life has progressed in the church so has my struggles. The ever eager advisory is always waiting in the wind to jump at any given chance. With the surety of the Saviors promise though, I have the armor of God to protect me from the fiery darts of the one that intents to beat us all.
I realized that no matter the task at hand, no matter how difficult I thought things are, through Christ all things are made possible. The conversation had raised between my Branch President and myself on our way back from a meeting at the Stake, a discussion on the importance of the "One" , a topic that I have touched on in the past, but one that is ever important. Our discussion consisted of someone that is very dear to me, a child that has faced many unfortunate times over the past year and a half, some things a child should never have to endure. A comment had been made about how it would be very beneficial to have this child in the warm embrace of those who could be nurturing as well as help increase their understanding of the gospel, thus helping to build a productive youth and grow to be a fine adult. Through many prayers and unfortunately some suffering, that child is in the environment that will fortify the spirit and build good structure for the growth process as well as the healing process.
I spoke with that same Branch President this evening , and as he smiled at me, he said I believe that a blessing has been issued. I feel from God this day, I feel as though the windows of heaven themselves has opened and the voice of the Angels themselves pierced the hearts of those that needed to feel of that love that was necessary to help this child. The soul of one is worth more than anyone can fathom, " He has en graven us upon the palms of His hands" the scriptures tell us, at a cost beyond comprehension. This day His love hath proceed to all within the sound of His voice and He has seen and felt the struggles of this Child and has taken upon Himself her cares and struggles and trials, and as we and her have knelt in mighty prayer that our Father would hear or plea's, He has indeed answered with a very loud and firm answer and for that I am eternally grateful.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Faith..the mighty work
I was going to post a blog about the upcoming saga based around the stressful nature of the poor heartaches my daughter has recently been facing, but I feel it is necessary to avoid that for now, at least till everything is over.
Instead I will tell of the wonderful couple of days that I have been pleased to have with my loving daughter. We went out together on Monday and were able to stop by one of the buildings that I take care of, and there kneel in the chapel and have a prayer just the two of us in God's Holy House. It is such a blessing being able to work for the church, to be able to stop in any town I am in and kneel in the chapel and have a quiet reverent prayer. Even greater when those days consist of the companionship of one of my children. Later that night the missionaries came over for family home evening and taught a wonderful lesson on faith. It was definitely a subject that needed to be discussed for the up coming week. I shared a few of my thoughts with my daughter about how she should be studying her scriptures and we spent some time this evening in prayer and scripture study. It is marvelous to be able to see a wonderfully bright and beautiful young child take in all that knowledge. It is as if her mind is a sponge waiting impatiently to be fed. I hope that the time she does get to spend with me and Hope and the rest of her family will benefit her growth in the gospel and help her draw nearer to our Father in heaven.
The faith that was talked about having was " First person faith ", a concept I have not thought much about. It is the process of having faith in yourself that all things you do , you are doing by faith in God. To say that ' I " am doing something because it is commanded of God and know, like Abraham did with Isaac that to do as thou art commanded brings great blessings of trust, love, and faith from a heavenly Father who literally adores us.
A question I have to ask myself..... Do I have the kind of faith that Abraham had? What of Job? Do I have The makings of a man that can rely soly upon the admonishing of God and trust with real intent? I sure hope so. I thought about this alot and I have found myself in a spot a time or two where I know I could exercised more faith and failed, each time the result was less than acceptable. My prayer this day is that each of us aspire to increase our faith in all things and to exercise that very principle which God hath commanded us to do.
Instead I will tell of the wonderful couple of days that I have been pleased to have with my loving daughter. We went out together on Monday and were able to stop by one of the buildings that I take care of, and there kneel in the chapel and have a prayer just the two of us in God's Holy House. It is such a blessing being able to work for the church, to be able to stop in any town I am in and kneel in the chapel and have a quiet reverent prayer. Even greater when those days consist of the companionship of one of my children. Later that night the missionaries came over for family home evening and taught a wonderful lesson on faith. It was definitely a subject that needed to be discussed for the up coming week. I shared a few of my thoughts with my daughter about how she should be studying her scriptures and we spent some time this evening in prayer and scripture study. It is marvelous to be able to see a wonderfully bright and beautiful young child take in all that knowledge. It is as if her mind is a sponge waiting impatiently to be fed. I hope that the time she does get to spend with me and Hope and the rest of her family will benefit her growth in the gospel and help her draw nearer to our Father in heaven.
The faith that was talked about having was " First person faith ", a concept I have not thought much about. It is the process of having faith in yourself that all things you do , you are doing by faith in God. To say that ' I " am doing something because it is commanded of God and know, like Abraham did with Isaac that to do as thou art commanded brings great blessings of trust, love, and faith from a heavenly Father who literally adores us.
A question I have to ask myself..... Do I have the kind of faith that Abraham had? What of Job? Do I have The makings of a man that can rely soly upon the admonishing of God and trust with real intent? I sure hope so. I thought about this alot and I have found myself in a spot a time or two where I know I could exercised more faith and failed, each time the result was less than acceptable. My prayer this day is that each of us aspire to increase our faith in all things and to exercise that very principle which God hath commanded us to do.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Confusing? Are you kidding me!
Some times in life we as Christians seem to stumble a little as to where our path were on leads, over the past few weeks on more than one occasion I have heard or read that there is no need for organized religion or even a denomination, that there is no point in following anyone but merely reading the scripture alone is enough. Now I start off with this because it seems to be a stumbling block for many people of various faiths, one of which I suggest leaping over as soon as possible. The Idea of not having someone to follow, but merely living up to your expectations, doesn't really seem like a christian view, in fact it reflects closer to the one that wants us to fail by our own devices. I don't know why exactly I picked this particular topic to blog on other than the fact that the idea of a person stating there is no need for a Prophet or stating that we need to get out of the way because we are confusing the gospel is ridicules in every aspect of the word. I heard some where someone say we are only complicating the religious scene by seeking out the truths of the scriptures and in order to really be in tune with God , we should just get step aside and leave everything up to God.
I understand that for some people out there, an understanding of God's wants and needs from us seems a little to hard to comprehend. I also understand that if your mentality is one that allows you only to believe what someone else tells you or suggest to you then I can see why believing that the word of God is alive and always waiting to be rediscovered, would be obsurd. I cannot understand why a person would dismiss the idea of organized religion if they claim the title of Christian. The whole Christendom teachings are based upon order, God's house is a house of order. If there is no need for organized religion then God is a liar! Now I don't think that anyone claiming to be Christian would want to call God a liar.....would they? If there was no need for organized religion then why would Christ have come to establish His church among the Gentile and Jew alike? If it wasn't relevant to have organization then why the need for sacrificial ordinances set up since the days of Adam? If there was no need for organized religion then why does God talk of gathering the scattered tribes of Israel? I say to you there is a need for organization.
The church, as many of my faith know it, Has every aspect of the way Christ himself set up His church when He walked the earth. I know that there are many other churches that claim a title of a denomination and they are as organized as they can be, but most struggle with what and how to do things because they lack the capacity of an open mind. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said "order in Heaven , disorder on Earth, surely God cannot be responsible for Both", how true a statement is that!
There are many Gospel truths that, had man merely stepped aside or chose to deny the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we would have never been able to discover. The thought that someone can be content not aspiring to know more about God, or to be at least trying to have a better understanding of God just amazes me. I could not imagine a life where by, I sat by idle and let the teachings of the Master go by without trying to understand even a shred of what was going on. I know that for me I not only feast upon the words of Christ , but I dig and dig until I can't dig any more until my cup runneth over.
I understand that for some people out there, an understanding of God's wants and needs from us seems a little to hard to comprehend. I also understand that if your mentality is one that allows you only to believe what someone else tells you or suggest to you then I can see why believing that the word of God is alive and always waiting to be rediscovered, would be obsurd. I cannot understand why a person would dismiss the idea of organized religion if they claim the title of Christian. The whole Christendom teachings are based upon order, God's house is a house of order. If there is no need for organized religion then God is a liar! Now I don't think that anyone claiming to be Christian would want to call God a liar.....would they? If there was no need for organized religion then why would Christ have come to establish His church among the Gentile and Jew alike? If it wasn't relevant to have organization then why the need for sacrificial ordinances set up since the days of Adam? If there was no need for organized religion then why does God talk of gathering the scattered tribes of Israel? I say to you there is a need for organization.
The church, as many of my faith know it, Has every aspect of the way Christ himself set up His church when He walked the earth. I know that there are many other churches that claim a title of a denomination and they are as organized as they can be, but most struggle with what and how to do things because they lack the capacity of an open mind. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said "order in Heaven , disorder on Earth, surely God cannot be responsible for Both", how true a statement is that!
There are many Gospel truths that, had man merely stepped aside or chose to deny the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we would have never been able to discover. The thought that someone can be content not aspiring to know more about God, or to be at least trying to have a better understanding of God just amazes me. I could not imagine a life where by, I sat by idle and let the teachings of the Master go by without trying to understand even a shred of what was going on. I know that for me I not only feast upon the words of Christ , but I dig and dig until I can't dig any more until my cup runneth over.
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