Our Personal Lifesaver

Our Personal Lifesaver

In the New Testament during the Savior's life on the earth, he and his disciples were on a boat. The Savior was tired and went to sleep but while he was sleeping a terrible storm came up and the disciples became afraid. They woke the Savior saying, “carest thou not that we perish?” The Savior gently asked, “Where is your faith?” and then calmed the seas.

We are often thrown about in life's stormy seas and there are times when we call out “carest thou not that I perish?” The Savior is always there if we just show faith. He is our “lifesaver” in the storms of life. He throws out the lifesaving device of the atonement to help us overcome the stormy seas and we need to grab a hold of His lifesaving device. He offers to buoy us up, strengthen and help us and He has made resurrection and eternal life possible all through the atonement.

There was a certain man whose son was very sick to whom the Savior said that all things are possible if you just believe. He cried out “Lord, help my unbelief.” When those stormy seas come and our faith begins to falter we can also reach out to the Savior begging for help with our belief and faith. Then we can hold on to the lifesaving blessings of the atonement. It is only through the Savior and his atoning sacrifice that we will be able weather the storms of life. The Savior in every sense of the word is our “lifesaver.”

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

 In the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 5 Alma is speaking to members of the church in Zarahemla. He says:

19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

21 I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. 

22 And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?

27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

After reading these verses and picture came to my mind:

 Imagine yourself in the temple. You are sitting, waiting to go into the Celestial room where you will have the opportunity to meet the Savior, Jesus Christ. You have dressed in the most beautiful white dress possible and have dressed very carefully for this special time. As you are waiting you look down lovingly at your dress and find to your horror that it has somehow been soiled with big spots of mud. You desperately try to rub the mud off but it only gets ground deeper into the fibers of the dress and all your actions seem to make the mud spots worse. Tears sting your eyes and you want to run and hide. You don’t want them to call your name when it is your turn to meet the Savior.

Your name is called and slowly, reluctantly, and shamefully you enter the room. The tears are freely flowing down your face and your eyes are downcast. You can’t bring yourself to look into the eyes of the Savior. Gently and lovingly the Savior lifts your chin and kindly looks into your eyes. His hand softly touches the soiled places on your dress and where the mud spots used to be a brilliant white fabric is seen. Your dress has “ been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ.”

The atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the chance to repent of those things that we do wrong so that we can stand blameless before God with a pure heart and clean hands. 

Have you ever been sitting in a conference and it was like the speaker was talking directly to you? That happened to me today. We were at Stake Conference but part of the conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake. President Boyd K. Packer was the last speaker. Right at the end of his talk he said something that was kind of like an after thought, but it was just for me. He said that if you were worrying about this or that remember that if you have faith, the Lord will let you know what to do and that you will know what to say in the very hour that you need it. He also said that the Lord will help and bless us. Those words were so amazing because for the last few days I have struggled with my calling as a Relief Society President. I have felt like I am just not able to do all that is required of a Relief Society President. There are times that I am afraid of not knowing what to say or I am afraid of saying the wrong thing. Then the challenges of being a wife and mother and still having time to take care of over 100 women is so daunting. What President Packer said this morning is exactly what I needed. It is wonderful that the Lord sends these "tender mercies" to us just in the hour that we need them most.

Planting A Garden

We just planted the garden tonight. When we plant the garden I always think about Alma 32 and planting the seed and the last three verses. We always think of planting the seed and nourishing it but the last three verses are interesting because they repeat themselves and whenever something in the scriptures is repeated three times that means it is important. It tells us three times how we nourish things. Lots of things need to be nourished besides testimonies. But look at the words nourish by you faith, diligence and patience in verse 41. In verse 42 it’s diligence faith and patience and in 43 it’s faith diligence and patience. 

Faith is something that you must have in order to accomplish anything. You need to have faith that you can do something. Take learning a new skill, you need to have faith to just begin. Then you need to have diligence - you need to work at it. But the most important is that you need to have patience. Patience is probably the most important and the hardest to do because we want something now. There is a little thought that says “Faith in God includes Faith in his Timing” (patience.). All these things we are experiencing will require patience and patience is a great virtue to develop. 

You can use this formula with every trial that you will have in life. Have faith that things will work out for your good - be diligent in your prayers, scripture study and keeping the commandments and the have patience in the Lord’s timing. And you notice in the very end of verse 43 it adds the words “long-suffering, and waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you. There again have patience and wait for the blessings. The blessings of the Lord are there and miracle can happen everyday of our lives if we just have faith, be diligent and have patience.

Cleaning Up For Spring

The first crocus of the year

 The first signs of Spring as just starting to show here in Glenwood and I am looking forward to getting into my flower beds, pulling out all the dead plants, trimming back perennials, turning the soil and getting everything ready for new life and a new growing season. The cleaning up and cutting back makes for a healthy and beautiful garden.

Our lives are much like a flower garden. We also need to pull out all the dead stuff that is holding us back whither it be bad relationships, grudges, sin or whatever it may be that keeps us from finding joy. Sometimes it is just a matter of cutting back on the activities that we are doing. I love Elder Dallin H. Oaks famous conference talk on “Good, Better or Best.” Most of the things that we do are good things but our time is so limited that we need to choose the best things for us. 

Everyone will have their own list of best things that need to be done, but there are some areas that as women we tend to neglect. We need to ask ourselves if we are taking care of our own spiritual, physical and emotional needs. Are we studying the scriptures and taking the time to pray and develop a personal relationship with our Father in Heaven and with our Savior Jesus Christ? Are we taking the time to eat right, exercise and to get enough rest? Are we taking the time to build relationships with others, develop talents and engage in creative activities that recharge our batteries? I have always loved the saying that an empty cup cannot give to others. Our cups (or in the case of a women) our buckets need to be full so that we can serve and help others.

At this time of Spring and renewal may we each take time to make changes in our lives to do those things that are “best” that we may find more joy in our lives and that we may become a healthy and beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Lethbridge Fires

Well I'm back. Fires have been raging around Lethbridge tonight and my first concern was the safety of my children. We could actually see the glow of the fires from our house. It is a little scary to look out your window and see the ridge glowing with fire. Julie was frightened, but as we knelt in prayer as a family and asked the Lord to bless Share and the girls in Lethbridge and to bless those who were fighting the fires, a peace came into our home. Our children were safe and I hope that not many homes were lost. I am so grateful for those men and women who work in emergency services that keep us safe. I was actually listening to an emergency radio on the Internet (and enjoying it) and heard the conversation between the police and fire departments. (Kelly says that is the first sign of becoming a red neck :-). These people put their lives on the line to fight fires and keep people and property safe. I don't think that they get many thanks. When was the last time you thanked a police officer for giving you a ticket? I think that they need our thanks more often.

The fires also made me wonder just how prepared my family is. Would we be able to evacuate within minutes in the case of a wild fire? I think that will be a good topic for a family home evening lesson.

New Windows

We are getting our 30-year-old windows changed. The seal on the old windows was broken and so when you looked through them your vision would be cloudy. This morning when I looked through the new windows I couldn’t believe how clear my site was. It got me thinking on how I need to have a new vision to start a new year. Sometimes we are stuck in a rut and our vision of the future is clouded. That’s how I think that I am, I am stuck in a rut and I need to have a new vision. So today is the day to reorganize and start something new and exciting.

Cracks in our Virtue

I have been thinking about the last year and some of the thoughts that I have had. I decided that I needed to share some of them. Hopefully I can post more frequently than I have done in the past. Today's thought came to me as I visited Frank's Slide Interpretive Center in Frank, Alberta.

In 1903 part of Turtle Mountain crumbled burying the town of Frank, Alberta and killing 30 people. Looking at the mountain and the large rocks that fell make one wonder how this could happen. How could a mountain fall? The Book of Mormon prophet Mormon Lamented in Mormon 6:16-19 “Oh ye fair ones how could ye have fallen?” at the destruction of his people the Nephites.
At Turtle Mountain water entered the cracks and then froze. The cracks grew larger each year until it was only a matter of time before the mountain fell. The Nephites let sin and pride into their lives, which “cracks”, lead to their downfall.

At the town of Frank geologists were warning that the mountain was shifting and the Native people called Turtle Mountain "the mountain that walked." The people of Frank did not head the warnings. Today we have a prophet to warn us. President Monson along the the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the General Young Women's Presidency has warned about "cracks" in our virtue. Now is the time to seal those cracks. It's time to take a serious look at our modesty, our dating and marriage relationships, the movies, music and books that we see, hear and read and the places that we visit on the Internet. May it not be said of us “Oh ye fair sons and daughters, how could ye have fallen?”

Do We Really Know How Someone is Feeling?

Yesterday was Sunday as we attended our church meetings.  I have been thinking lately how little we know about people.  We can sit in church and see the smiling faces of those attending with us, but do we really know what is going on inside their hearts?

As you read the Book of Mormon and you think of Nephi, you picture a great prophet, strong, talented, obedient, maybe even handsome. He might have had all things going for him.  Yet he had trials just like we all do.  Some of his family members hated him.  He had to do some very hard things like living in a wilderness and killing Laban.  He made mistakes and he got depressed.  In 2 Nephi 4:17-35 he tells how his heart weeped because of his sins and the problems he was having.  When Nephi was sad he knew where to turn.  He began to count his blessings and he turned to the Lord in prayer and trusted in Him.

Things are not always going to be just the way we like it.  There will be problems to face and dispair to overcome.  We need to do as Nephi did and count our blessing, then turn to the Lord in prayer and put out trust in Him.  Two of my favorite thoughts are hanging on the wall of my office.  They are important to remember every day.

"There is always, always, always something to be grateful for" and

"When life gets to be more that you can stand...Kneel."

"Come unto me all ye that labour or are heavy leaden"

We had an experience in our family that has really made me think of how much our Savior and our friend loves us.
When Emily was a little girl she was very afraid of bugs, especially spiders. Many times we would have to kill any bugs or spiders that she found in her bedroom before she would even go back into her room.
The end of August of this year the house she was living in became infested with bed bugs. She would call in a panic and up date us as to where the bugs had spread. One time she called in tears and said there one only one room left between her and the bed bugs. This problem came at a time when she was already stressed getting ready to start a new semester at school.
The girls in the house began to prepare for an exterminator to come in. They had to wash all their bedding and clothing and put everything but their furniture into garbage bags. The day that the exterminator came and they couldn’t go into the house until after 7:00 at night. She spent from after work at 5:00 until 8:00 sitting in her car reading. When she finally went into the house she was tired, the house was dark, the furniture in her room and in the house was turned upside down, and there was no one home. It was more than she could handle. She called in tears, so I talked her into going to our son Joe and his wife Krystle’s house. Joe and Krystle were at a movie but they told her where the extra key was. It was dark and she couldn’t find the latch to their back gate so she used the light from her cell phone. As she shone the light, there right by her hand was in her words “the biggest cat spider she had ever seen”. That put her right over the edge. I couldn’t calm her down over the phone but made arrangements for her to go to our other son Matt’s house. Matt gave her a blessing, which calmed her and she spent the night.
The next day after she got off work, she came home and as she walked in the door I gave her a big hug and just held her for a moment. Then she said the most astounding thing. She said. “Thanks for letting me come home. My roommates parents won’t let them come home until after the bed bugs are gone.”
I have thought about that comment. We sometimes have bed bugs in our lives. They could be sins that we have committed. They could be difficulties brought on by our own poor choices. They could be hurts that have been inflicted on us by others. Or they could be health, financial, family, spiritual, emotional, or physical problems that seem to be a part of life.
Never at any time has our Savior said, “When the bed bugs are gone you can come unto me. Just the opposite, in Matthew 11: 28-29 He says “Come unto me all ye that labour or are heavy leaden and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall found rest unto your souls.”
Even when we are overcome with bed bugs of sin, he doesn’t turn us away. In D&C 101: 9 says “… notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy.” Of course we will need to repent, like the girls had to wash there bedding, but then our Savior’s atonement takes over, much like the exterminator coming into the house.
Sometimes when we are in the midst of these problems and afflictions our faith fails and we wonder; “does the Savior really care about me and what I am going through?” I had a time when I felt like that. During that time I opened my scriptures to a random page and found this scripture. To me as I read this scripture it was as if the Lord was speaking to me. It’s in D&C 38:7-9 it reads: “But behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst and ye cannot see me.”
This scripture brought to me great comfort and I knew that no matter what I was going through, my Savior and my friend was there. I know that we can always, through our prayers come home to our Savior no matter what our problems or our sins may be.

Wait out the Storms

Last night we had at over 6 inches of fluffy snow fall softly down. This afternoon the wind started to blow and that fluffy white snow began to blow too.  When you looked out the window you couldn't see anything but white. For a few hours that wind blew with all it's might.  Then the wind suddenly stopped.  It reminded me that sometimes as we go through this life storms start to blow and for a little while we might get discouraged. We can't see where to go or we don't know what to do.  If we can just hold on for a little while the winds will stop and the way will be visible again.  

In Proverbs 3:5-6 it says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  That is what faith is all about.  Trust in the Lord and just hold on. He will lead you through any storms or trials that may come to you in this life.

"Mine House is a House of Order" (D&C 132:8)

I love to do a puzzle during Christmas holidays.  When you pour all the pieces out it's just a jumble of shapes and colors.  You look at all those pieces and you can either look on it as a challenge or you can quit.

Sometime the pieces of our lives are a big jumble.  Just like putting one piece of the puzzle is at a time we need to put our lives in order one piece at a time.  For example when you are given a task or an assignment do one step at a time and when that is done move on to the next step.  The same goes for paying down a debt (a dollar at a time), getting into shape (one day at a time) or for cleaning and organizing you house (one room at a time.)  As tasks are tackled a little at a time things eventually fall into place.

In the process you will find that with each small step the task gets a little easier and it doesn't seem so daunting.  When the task if finally completed and you look back on all those little steps you will be amazed at how much you have learned and grown through out the process.

Moments and Thoughts to Share

Remember to paint your world with sunshine.