Continue in Patience...

 

I gave a lesson today in Relief Society.  It was on the talk by Elder Uchtdorf called "Continue in Patience".  I found this little video on the talk and loved it, so I thought I'd share. It's an amazing talk.  Click HERE if you want to read the whole thing...

All Things Work Together For Good

I stumbled across a blog of a young family who recently lost their 18 month old daughter.  I just sat and cried, just imagining what my life would be like without Sienna.  My heart ached just thinking about it.  Anyway, this sweet young mom posted this talk and spoke of the strength and peace that it has given her.  I think it is filled with such simple, powerful truths.  As I read it, I just kept thinking about how many friends and family members struggling with different trials--death, divorce, financial stress, loneliness, relationships problems, depression, health problems, faith/testimonies being tested...the list could go on and on.  I appreciated reading this talk because it really helped me try to understand things from a bigger, more eternal perspective.  Rather than feeling like a victim, completely powerless, it provides you with practical ways to try to cope with your trials.  Hope you can find a few minutes to read it. It's good stuff, I promise.  Nothing that we haven't heart before, but it was a really good reminder for me. 

All Things Work Together for Good

By Elder James B. Martino Of the Seventy

James B. Martino, “All Things Work Together for Good,” Liahona, May 2010, 101–3

We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience.

When I was young I looked forward to the spring of the year. As the weather warmed, I was ready for baseball to begin. Like most young boys, I would wish that I could become a great baseball player. I am reminded of a story about a very young boy with similar dreams. With the desire to become the next mighty ballplayer, he decided to go outside and practice. He held the baseball in one hand and the bat in the other, and he threw the ball into the air. With a wish to hit the ball as far as he could, he took a great swing, but the ball fell to the ground without even touching the wood of the bat. Not to be denied, he went at it again. As he was about to throw the ball in the air, his determination grew as the thought of a powerful hit came into his mind. But alas, the results were the same. The ball lay on the ground. But as any good ballplayer knows, you have three strikes before you are out. He concentrated even more, threw the ball in the air, and gave the mightiest swing he had ever attempted. As the ball again fell to the ground, the tears began to swell in his eyes. Then all of a sudden a great smile appeared, and he said, “What a pitcher!”
Each of us will face trials and tests, and as in this simplistic example, it is how we react to those difficulties that will determine our success and happiness. Each of us will face adversity no matter where we are. We are taught in the scriptures that there “must needs be … an opposition in all things.”1 We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face them but how we face them.
The Apostle Paul taught an interesting lesson only a few years before the Saints in Rome were to face some of the most violent persecution of any Christian era. Paul reminded the Saints that “all things work together for good to them that love God.”2 Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly, permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more and more Christlike. Our trials come in many forms, but each will allow us to become more like the Savior as we learn to recognize the good that comes from each experience. As we understand this doctrine, we gain greater assurance of our Father’s love. We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience.
Now, I realize that it is much easier to look back when a trial is over and see what we have learned from our experience, but the challenge is to gain that eternal perspective while we are going through our tests. To some, our trials may not seem great, but to each of us who are passing through these experiences, the trials are real and require us to humble ourselves before God and learn from Him.
On this Easter Sunday, we remember the life of our Savior. It is He whom we desire to emulate in all of our actions. May I mention five things that we can learn from those last hours of the Savior’s life on earth that can help us to face our own trials.
First, He sought not to do His will but only the will of His Father. He remained committed to His sacred mission even through the trial. As He fell to His face in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”3 Sometimes we pass through pain and sorrow that we might grow and be prepared for potential trials in the future. I ask a question to you mothers: “Would you ever do something that would cause pain and bring tears to your children when they have done nothing wrong?” Of course you would! When mothers take young children to the doctor to receive immunizations, almost every child leaves the doctor’s office in tears. Why do you do that? Because you know that a small amount of pain now will protect them from possible pain and suffering in the future. Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning. We need to follow the example of the Savior and trust in Him.
Second, when we are faced with trials, we must learn to not complain or murmur. Nephi, after a great vision of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, told us: “Wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”4 We must always attempt to correct the problem and overcome the trial, but instead of asking “Why me?” or “What did I do to deserve this?” maybe the question should be “What am I to do? What can I learn from this experience? What am I to change?”
Several years ago while my wife and I were serving in Venezuela, our youngest son left the comfort of his high school to join with us. He did not complain, but it was obvious that he struggled as he went to this country where everything was new to him; but in an amazing turn of events, the experience went from one of trial to a huge blessing in his life. He accomplished this by changing his own attitude and developing a determination to succeed.
Third, when we face our challenges, we must seek greater help from God. Even the Savior of us all found a need to pray “more earnestly” as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.5 We can learn to gain great faith if we do this. We must remember that often the answers from our Heavenly Father do not remove the trial from us, but instead He helps strengthen us as we pass through the experience. As He did for the followers of Alma, the Lord can “ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs.”6 In our trials, let us not become bitter or uncommitted, but let us follow the Savior’s example of becoming more earnest, more sincere, and more faithful.
Fourth, learn to serve and think of others even in our times of trial. Christ was the epitome of service. His life was filled with examples of helping and serving others, and His greatest gift of all was what He did for us. As He said, “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.”7 We must repent and then follow His example of service. When we serve others, we forget our own problems, and by working to relieve the pain or discomfort of others, we strengthen ourselves.
In our last general conference, our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, stated: “I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives.”8
Fifth, forgive others and do not seek to pass the blame of our situation to them. Sometimes we like to say, “If they had not done this, then I would not have reacted the way I did.” There is a tendency for the natural man to pass blame to someone else so as not to be accountable for his or her own actions. The Savior looked at those who had nailed Him to the cross and pled with His Father in Heaven to “forgive them; for they know not what they do.”9 Can we not be more forgiving?
As we pass through the trials of life, let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become even more prayerful, let us serve others, and let us forgive one another. As we do this, “all things [will] work together for good to [us] that love God.”10 I bear a solemn and certain witness that our Father loves us and He sent His Son to show and pave the way for us. He suffered, He died, and He was resurrected that we might live, and He desires that we “might have joy,”11 even in our trials of life. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Christmas Devotional Quotes

The first week of December, the LDS church always has a Christmas Devotional. It's such a nice way to start the month and really gets you thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. My friend Melody posted some quotes from this year's devotional on her blog, so I stole them. Thanks, Mel! It's good stuff!


President Uchdorf

"One sees clearly only with the heart, anything essential is invisible to the eyes." (quoting a french story) -I love love this!

What some men esteem to be of great worth, others trample under their feet.

-All of the spectacular displays of Christmas that compete for our attention can be beautiful and uplifting but if that is all we see we are missing something that is in plain sight.

-Despite our best intentions, we become preoccupied with responsibilities, commitments and stress of our many tasks that we fail to see with our hearts that which is most sacred.

Sometimes when we read about people who could not see the Savior for who He was, we marvel at their blindness. But do we also let distractions obstruct our view of the Savior—during this Christmas season and throughout the year? Some are external distractions—the gifts we worry about, the decorations, or the clamorous advertising—but often it is what is inside us that blinds us from seeing the Christ.

Some may feel a certain level of intellectual aloofness that distances them from Christ. In an age when vast amounts of knowledge are at our fingertips, the familiar story of Jesus the Christ can get lost amid the flood of scientific advances, pressing news, or the latest popular movies or books.

Some are so caught up in the details of running their lives that they don’t make time for much else. They might pay lip service to the things of the Spirit, but their hearts are so focused on the world that they cannot see the Christ.

Some, like the Pharisees, seek for the Christ, but their hearts are so set upon their own theories, spiritual hobbies, and opinions that they fail to recognize Him. In spite of their good intentions, they miss the transforming revelations of the Holy Spirit and thereby miss the only way to receive a certain testimony of Jesus Christ.

This is a season of rejoicing! A season of celebration! A wonderful time when we acknowledge that our Almighty God sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem the world! To redeem us!

It is a season of charitable acts of kindness and brotherly love. It is a season of being more reflective about our own lives and about the many blessings that are ours. It is a season of forgiving and being forgiven.

But perhaps most of all, let it be a season of seeking the Lamb of God, the King of Glory, the Everlasting Light of the World, the Great Hope of Mankind, the Savior and Redeemer of our souls.

I promise that if we unclutter our lives a little bit and in sincerity and humility seek the pure and gentle Christ with our hearts, we will see Him, we will find Him—on Christmas and throughout the year.

President Thomas S. Monson

My brothers and sisters, finding the real joy of the season comes not in the hurrying and the scurrying to get more done or in the purchasing of obligatory gifts. Real joy comes as we show the love and compassion inspired by the Savior of the World, who said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ... ye have done it unto me.”³

At this joyous season, may personal discords be forgotten and animosities healed. May enjoyment of the season include remembrance of the needy and afflicted. May our forgiveness reach out to those who have wronged us, even as we hope to be forgiven. May goodness abound in our hearts and love prevail in our homes.

As we contemplate how we’re going to spend our money to buy gifts this holiday season, let us plan also for how we will spend our time in order to help bring the true spirit of Christmas into the lives of others.

The Savior gave freely to all, and His gifts were of value beyond measure. Throughout His ministry, He blessed the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the deaf to hear, and the halt and lame to walk. He gave cleanliness to the unclean. He restored breath to the lifeless. He gave hope to the despairing and bestowed light in the darkness.

He gave us His love, His service, and His life.

What is the spirit we feel at Christmastime? It is His spirit—the Spirit of Christ.

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heav’n.
No ear may hear his coming; but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.⁴

With the pure love of Christ, let us walk in His footsteps as we approach the season celebrating His birth. As we do so, let us remember that He still lives and continues to be the Light of the World, who promised, “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”⁵

President Eyring

We can choose this Christmas and every day to create a small part of the Christmas story in our own lives. We can accept the invitation of living prophets to help those who are lost along the pathway, and have wandered, to come back to it. We can offer the gospel, which is the only way home, to all we meet along the way. We can lift up those who are tired and hungry and lonely, as the Savior did and now invites us to do with Him. As we do, they can feel how much the Savior loves them and wants to lead them on the way to the God He loves.

In the stories of Christ’s birth, we can see and feel who He was and who He is. That lightens our load along the way. And it will lead us to forget ourselves and to lighten the load for others. That can make every day feel like the best of our Christmases past.

You can watch it and hear the beautiful Christmas music from the motab at www.lds.org

Fun stuff!

My good friend Emily Vandyke is super talented. She designs fabulous jewelry (a good friend for me to have, since I'm a jewelry lover!). Emily came to our Relief Society retreat in Heber this past weekend and helped us/taught us how to make jewelry. I wish I had some pictures from the weekend, but I forgot my camera. Right now Emily is doing a really fun interchangeable earring set that is very simple, inexpensive and super cute! (Essentially 3 pairs of earrings in one, for the price of one!). This is just a sample, there are actually a bunch of different beads to choose from.

This is one of my favorites pairs (I love turquoise!)

So, if you're wanting a fun idea for an enrichment group, for a girl's night or if you're looking for a great Christmas or Birthday gift (or stocking stuffer's) just contact Emily and set something up. For all you young women leader's or mom's who have teenage daughter, she also is doing a really cute set of interchangeable earrings which are the young women values colors. You can also set up a time to go to her house (in American Fork) and pick out your own custom-made creation. Her blog is http://www.sassandsavvyjewelry.blogspot.com/. On her blog she also has a link to her etsy site, which has tons of cute stuff.

Also check out her photography blog at evandykephotography.blogspot.com. She did my bridal pictures, our engagements pictures, Sienna's newborn and a bunch of others. Here are some of my favorites...


Here's a couple more of my cute niece Ella.

Emily does an amazing job and her prices are really reasonable. Right now she is giving a free 8X10 with every photo shoot. Now is the perfect time to get those family pictures done in time for Christmas cards (I can't believe it that's time again!). I love that Emily gives printed proofs from the session and includes the cd of your edited images/negatives so you can print them whenever you want. I think it's rare to find photographers who do that.