Good afternoon sisters. What a wonderful day
this is and wonderful meetings. Great spirit.
THOUGHT “Faith is a gift from the Lord through which
the righteous are empowered to do remarkable things.”
George Albert Smith
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Sister Donna Larsen fell down and fractured
her pelvic bone, and her back last week. She is in a rehab home and will
be there all this week and possibly next week also. Her family has ask
that she get visitors. She is at the Orem Rehab Center 575 E 1400 S in
Orem. If you are on State Street passed University Mall, you turn left
where Dickey's Bar- B-Que is, down the road on your left. Please call
because you go to make sure she is in her room. 801-225-4741.
- REMINDER: Canning and Salsa class
this coming Tuesday, the 4th, 7 pm; taught by Amy R, at her
home 1175 E 1180 N. Should make for a fun evening.
- REMINDER: September 13th
at 7 pm at the Church. Preparedness class. A good down to earth simple to
understand and make preparedness items. Husbands invited.
- Brigham City Temple Dedication on Sunday 23rd.
Our ward is invited to come to the 9am dedication. Be seated by 8:30 am.
- Saturday, the 15th
at 6 pm is our Stake Conference for Adults. Please take notice of the time
change. 6 pm.
- Sunday the 16th
is our Regional Conference at 10:00 am.
- September 29th
is the General Relief Society Broadcast at the church at 6 pm.
There will be an Ice Cream social afterward.
BIRTHDAYS: Sept 3rd – Lanae S., Sept 5th
– Vera L., Sept. 6th – Andrea C. Happy Birthday sisters.
A big thank you to Amy W., for all the
wonderful lessons we enjoyed. We know she will be a big asset to Christy Smith
as Compassionate Service Assistant. We welcome Pat Heaton as a RS teacher.
Our lesson today was presented by Martha, taken
from lesson #17, “The Strengthening Power of Faith”
This week has been a wonderful week spiritually,
but also a hard week. My brother who is in the hospital has had a set back.
However, the Lord has helped bear me up. I found myself at the hospital with
him and he looked bad, his face hollow and pasty. We were at that place this
week where I had his face in my hand and asked him, are you with me. He could
barely speak and said “ I am so sick”. It was a difficult moment, but these are
the moments we're all having sometimes. When our love ones are struggling with
health issues, or other issues, where we think there is no end in sight. My
sister-in-law continues to be there since April, but she has her children and
school started and she said, “I can't carry one, don't know where it'll go. I
found myself thinking of a scripture that I learned on my Mission located in
D&C 84:88: And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, 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 can't solve his problem, but I know how to
cope, what to do when you can't help. That is the Atonement. The Atonement
isn't just for repentance. The Atonement is also when the Savior is there to
bear our burdens. I find myself in awe to know that not only the Savior but
also ancestors and love ones who help us. My sister has a daughter who got
married; it wasn't a wedding that we are used to, but more like a backward
wedding. So we rallied as a family and all who could go went to support my
sister and my niece. Hopefully we were a good example to her and her husband
and baby. While there we went to the Washington, D C Temple. While there I had
been pondering a lot about my faith; what makes me tick; my former trials. We
all have our Gethsemane time, when we define ourselves and the role of the
Savior in our life and why we need him.
When I was 12 years old, the young women went to
the Washington Temple to do baptisms. I had a wonderful bishop who cared about
me. Afterward, the Bishop bore his testimony and it was so amazing. This was my
first experience in the temple and then we had testimony meeting on the grounds
where we could look at the Angel Moroni statue. I felt the love of God, I knew
I was a daughter of God. My desire was to have it all, to be righteous and not
mess up. He asked us each to find a place there on the grounds and talk to God.
To ask Him if He really knew us. I made my decision at that time.
I was in a bad place of my life then, my family
was falling apart, my dad was choosing to leave the church and the family. I
had a budding seed of faith like it says in Alma 32. I beg Him to never give up
on me. It reminded me of Nephi in 2 Nephi 15-35. I could read it all, but we do
not have time, but it is a powerful scripture. Nephi' psalm it's called.
“For my soul delighteth in the scriptures,
and my heart pondereth the, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of
my children.
Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the
Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O
wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; y soul
grieveth because of mine iniquities.
He hath filled me with his love, even unto the
consuming of my flesh.
He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the
causing of them to quake before me.
Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath
given me knowledge by vision in the nighttime.”
O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust
in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that
cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh....
Go home and read it.
Reflect on your moment that was a great test of
your faith.
Do we all have our seasons in our life? I had Meniere's
disease, really bad vertigo. Then I had problems with my pregnancy, and Lucia
almost dies. My dad came to live with us. By that time my disease had gotten
worse. I started to say, Oh Lord, where are thou. The disease affect the
balance nerve, so I had to have surgery. My dad dies, and I had to take care of
his house and clean out stuff Then 9-11 happened. All these started in 1976.
What has sustained me were the moments of the
feeling of love of the Savior for us. My brother had had pneumonia and kidney
failure and when I left the hospital and got in the car, I started to cry. I
had this CD in the car and as I started to listen to it, I realized that my
testimony was what carried me through it all. It was like the Savior scooped me
up and carried my burdens.
White at the Washington D C temple I was able to
say to my kids, and nieces, that this was where I chose to be true to Heavenly
Father and that he has never given upon me.
I got a text from Tiffany telling me that I can
get through this. The lesson talks about the Strengthening Power of our Faith.
George Albert Smith talks about the time when he had to find a way to open the
European Mission after World War I and how his faith helped him do that. He
talks about all the prophets and their faith. We know it was not easy for them
as it was not easy for the pioneer sister to cross the plains, to bear children
and then to bury them. To see people starve to death. What carried them through
was their faith. We need to go through our trials because it defines us. Those
experiences are there to teach us that we are not alone. That Heavenly Father
and the Savior are there.
We have two children, I have bore two children
but have welcomed many others. One of them is Michelle. Her mom died when she
was 16 years old. I have watched her and have wished for her mother to be there
with her. She brought me a scripture to help me deal with things. She told me
that she understood that the Lord needed her mom, she was full of hope and
faith. She had to have an MRI and she asked Heavenly Father if she could have
her mom be with her. That she needed her here. Cliff and I decided to go the
the movies and while at the theater we ran into her young women President when
she was young. She had been her president and knew her mother; I didn't know
her mom. She said she had been thinking of her and needed to go to her. Where
is she? I said that she was at my house. I witness a tender miracle as Michelle
ran to her and hug her. Thru Jolene, she felt her mother's love because Jolene
knew her mo.
So we are not alone, we are lifted and supported
through the Church. “We can do all things in Christ which strengthen us.
Reflect on your faith, on your journey. In the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Next week's lesson in from George Albert Smith #
18 “Bringing Up Children in Light and Truth”.
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