I will never cease to be amazed at how carving out time to
really study provides me with wonderful lessons – probably only lessons for me,
but I’m important to Heavenly Father and these lessons help me to know He is
very near and knows the happenings in my life.
I think our household may be in a bit of an upheaval. A car hit our little dog, Charlie, last night
and his life seems to be hanging in the balance currently. This is a struggle to watch our little
grandchildren hurt so deeply at the possible loss of this little dog who has
brought such joy into our lives.
So how does this relate to my studying this morning? I read from Ether 14, my next chapter in the
Book of Mormon. I didn’t feel a whole
lot other than I was able to draw a parallel between this ancient civilization
that was eventually destroyed and our current-day woes in society as we deal
with slippery wealth and rampant wickedness in the world. I did not necessarily feel the need to
comment on yet more evidence that we are in the later days. So I continued reading from Preach My Gospel.
The question asked that I decided to persue was “Is there a
God?” Alma 22 answers that question and
there is a progression from that question to an eventual answer. It requires certain actions:
- As the question
- Believe
- Learn Plan of Salvation
- Repent
- Pray for forgiveness
Still not satisfied and having the luxury of a little extra
time, I picked up my Conference issue of the Ensign. Can I say how fully I KNOW there is a
God? This isn’t really a question that
occupies much of my time. The next talk
through my Conference magazine was Elder Neil L. Andersen’s talk on “Trial of Your
Faith”. His first story was about the
Marriott family whose daughter was hit by a car and killed. The talk covers beautifully the topic of
trials, why we have them, and how we need to deal with them – even to the point
of being grateful for them!
We must center our faith on God and His Son, Jesus
Christ. That faith is bolstered by our
knowledge. What does bolster mean? To give a boost. When we have faith that God lives and that
His Son is our Savior, this faith begins to increase our knowledge. I love that he said, “We treasure our faith,
work to strengthen our faith, pray for increased faith, and do all within our
power to protect and defend our faith.”
It is our faith that sees us through difficult times. We know there is a Father in Heaven who loves
us and allows us experiences to grow in spiritual righteousness. As we suffer through the trials of life, we
must remind ourselves that these things are for our good and our experience and
will eventually bless our lives. This
isn’t always an easy lesson to learn. I
told our grandchildren last night as they were reeling from the devastation of
their hurt dog: Be grateful Heavenly Father is allowing you this opportunity to
grow. You will be able to learn from
this experience when you have the warmth of a loving family surrounding
you.
Do I believe in God?
There is no doubt in my mind he is very aware of even the every-day events
in our lives and it is through experiences like this morning that I am made
even more aware of these things. He
loves us and is allowing us experiences that will be a challenge. Why? These
experiences allow us to see His hand in our lives and increase our faith. The choice is ours how we handle our
challenges. We can be mad at God and
turn away, or we can look to Him as a loving Father who is molding us to become
greater than we are and be worthy to live with Him again.
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