Inspiring Words

It was High Council Sunday yesterday, and the man assigned to speak in our ward was brother Hedges, someone I had never met.  He began by sharing some of his experiences with this last battery of earthquakes.  He has spent his days since Monday shoveling the liquefaction from his home, a task that he had just finished from the February quakes. His home is sinking and now is like a basement. And the worst thing, they are predicting a larger quake yet to come. Coping is becoming increasingly difficult with uncertainty and fear crowding out other, more positive thoughts.  When he received his assignment to speak, he said he wondered how he would be able to prepare a talk.  He kept thinking he should ring back and say that his shoveling could not wait.  In the end, he decided that the Lord would provide a way for him to prepare.  When he finally sat down to study, he felt that the Lord had a hand in his assignment; he knew the topic was chosen to bless his life at this particular time.  He was asked to use the talk from General Conference, ‘More Than Conquerors Through Him That Loved Us’, by Elder Paul V. Johnson.  He tearfully shared many quotes from Paul, intermixed with his feelings about what was going on in his life and the lives of the people of Christchurch.  I was awed by the workings of the Lord.  The troubles Paul and Jill were facing that evoked those words, and the direction of the Spirit given to make sure the words spoken during conference were the words God wanted His people to hear, all worked together for the benefit of so many people.  Paul’s talk has resonated so strongly with the people of Christchurch.  In fact, Brother Bell thinks that it was given specifically for them.  Perhaps he’s right, but yesterday, as I listened to Brother Hedges, I knew that those words were meant for me as well.  I, like Elder Christofferson, was particularly impressed by this:  “We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature.”  As I look back over the struggles of my life, I know that they have been and are “very personal—almost lazer guided to [my] particular needs or weaknesses”.  If there is anything even remotely Christlike in my nature, it has come as a result of earnestly and prayerfully seeking the Lord’s help as I fought my way through.  Despite the pain and sorrow, I would not undo or give back the learning and progression that has been made.  It is a humbling thing to realize how personally the Lord knows us, and how carefully He molds and directs the very details of our lives.  I’m so grateful for inspired words from our Prophets and General Authorities.

I’m also grateful for inspired words found in scripture.  I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year as I work to prepare for online seminary.  I pay particular attention to the sections given to early missionaries.  I have been so grateful for the Spirit who tells me that the promises offered to those early men are also given to me as a missionary.  Some of the promises concern family, I cling to these with all of my faith (31:2, 100:1).  Some promises are personal and I hope to qualify for them (31:5, 62:3).  Some of the blessings I have already received, as in 84:88: “…for I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit, shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  I have felt this strength beyond my own.  I know this is the Lord’s work and He is helping us accomplish it.  The other blessing I have received and for which I am profoundly grateful was given to priesthood holders, also in section 84:  “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.”  Even though I am not a priesthood holder, I have felt this renewal.  Isaiah speaks of it in Isaiah 40:31:  “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  It is real and unexplainable.  When I thought of serving a mission, I worried greatly about my energy level, the aches and pains in my joints, or that my back would go out and leave me incapacitated for weeks at a time.  My back has been better than it has in years, I have had no pain at all in my joints, and I have more energy than I have had in 15 years.  I am not eating better (there really isn’t time to fix wonderful healthy meals); I’m not getting more exercise (less really because there aren’t enough hours in the day); and I’m getting older, not younger.  It is a fulfillment of promise—a blessing for serving the Lord.  I am most grateful.