Grace For Grace

In reading the first few verses of 1 Nephi, I noticed a similar pattern of great men through history. These men (and women as well) who have been ministered to by Christ and seen marvellous things in vision seem to have shared a similar "heart" or "desire".

1. We know Lehi was already a good man, so stated Nephi. It wasn't until he went forth to the people and prayed with all his heart on their behalf that a vision opened up to him which was so tremendous it caused this good man to "quake and tremble exceedingly" (1 Nephi 1:5-6).

2. When Enos prayed in mighty prayer and was pronounced clean by the Lord, he could have stopped there. But, his heart turned to his brethren, even his enemies the Lamanites, and he continued to pray until another marvellous vision was opened to him.

3. The three Nephites who asked to stay and minister were "more blessed" than the nine because of their love for their brethren and desire to minister. Read the Lord's words to them in contrast to his words to the other nine (3 Nephi 28:3-10).

4. The Lord received not of the fullness at first, but received grace for grace. The master of us all grew until he received a fullness, in part because of his unconditional love and service to others. He received grace as he extended grace and continued until he received a fullness. (D&C 93:11-14).

We should embody the spirit of Christ if we are to become like him. It's my hope that we can extend grace and love to those around us - especially during the Christmas season (although it shouldn't stop on December 25th). As we prayerfully consider how we can serve and lift others, marvellous experiences await us. Many times the greatest blessings come when we forget ourselves and find ourselves in the service of others. We will receive grace for grace!

Thine Angels Have Charge Over Them

There are great and wonderful blessings to be had in Temple worship. If you've found this blog and are taking the time to read it, most likely you already share that same feeling and knowledge. In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph spoke these words found in D&C 109:22:

"We ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them."

I've underlined four separate parts, but I only want to discuss the last six words of the verse, "Thine angels have charge over them." There are different ways this can be understood, one of those ways is that his angels will literally look after and protect us and those around us until our mission is finished. I want to share a journal entry about an amazing story from a Sister in Florida. This isn't to sensationalize the promise, but to illustrate one facet of its literal interpretation.

This account was shared in a testimony meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the story as written in my journal:

This sister is a worker in the Orlando Temple and as the sisters in the Temple were having there prayer meeting, Sister Hessi (another temple worker) recounted a story from her life that goes something like this:

One day Sister Hessi was doing names in the Temple. She was finishing up her session and was going to go home, however, she felt prompted to stay and do another name.  She hesitated because she had a baby sitter at home and gave the babysitter the time in which she would return.  But, she decided to stay and follow the prompting. She did the name for one more sister.

As she was driving home she noticed the emergency response vehicles in the area and realized they were at her house.  As she walked in the front door the babysitter said “I’m so sorry, I only turned away for a second”.  Her child had been swept away in the stream behind the house and had been swept under the culvert, they still hadn’t found the body.  She was going to go help look for her daughter when she felt like she should look in her room.  As she opened the door to her room, there was her daughter  all wet and dirty.  Sister Hessi asked her daughter how she got to her room and her duaghter didn't remember how she got out of the river, only that a nice lady brought her back to the room.  Sister Hessi asked what the nice lady's name was and it was the same name that she had just done in the Temple prior to going home that day."

There are MANY incredible blessings to be had with sincere and frequent temple worship. In addition, to this wonderful story of a mother in Orlando, it's my witness that when we attend to this great work, his angels WILL have charge over us - I know that to be true. I would encourage all of us to consider our temple worship. Is it just another ritual or is it something much deeper for you and I individually?

The Return of a Father

A close friend shared this story (and I share it with her permission) of her Father's return to the Gospel. Although it's long, it's well worth reading the entire story. There are many lessons to be learned from this story. Before reading it, I only pose one question - What would have happened if Ron didn't follow that prompting? Ron was an angel to this man!

Enjoy the story:

"My Dad was an only child who grew up in a rather non-religious family in California.  When he was 19 a friend introduced him to the gospel.  He hooked right on, was baptized and was religiously on fire.  He enlisted in the Navy for 2 years where everyone knew he was Mormon.  He was well liked and shared the gospel with anyone who was willing to listen.  After the Navy he was called to serve a mission in Preston, England. (Contemporary missionaries included Elder Cook and Elder Holland).  He returned home, finished his schooling at BYU where he met my Mom.

Although I do not remember it, my Mom has told me on several occasions that my Dad was very well versed in the scriptures.  His personality lends him to be a fantastic teacher and he had many happy years as an active member of the church. Around 1980 my Dad was introduced to some anit-Mormon literature.  At first he set off to prove it all wrong with his knowledge, but the more he read, the more questions he had the more and more he felt unsettled.  Around this same time he had a couple of close friends who were treated unkindly by church leadership, or at least that is how he viewed it.  A stake president had done some really bad things and wasn't excommunicated while other "lay" members of the church were excommunicated for what seemed like trivial matters. To be honest, I don't know that much about the situation.  My Dad has never wanted to "taint" the kids with his bad experiences with the church.  Finally, my Dad started to travel a lot during that time period.  He was gone from Thursday to Sunday night for about 5 months out of the year.  He fell out of the habit of going to church and quite frankly didn't want to be there.  I can remember going to church with Dad when I was little and he would bring a Robert Ludlum book to read in sacrament.  He went to appease my Mom, but obviously his heart wasn't in it.

At some point, he fell away completely...started drinking, never seriously, but wine and beer here and there.  As you can imagine it put a lot of stress on my parents relationship.

My Dad had been blessed with lots of people who love him and look out for him.  He has had bishops and home teachers reach out to him.  Sometimes he has treated these people VERY poorly and has not been kind and other times he has opened his door to them, but not his heart.  

My parents divorced in fall of 1999 and my Dad ended up living in his woodshop.  The last decade has been a really rough one for my Dad.  He has had terrible money problems what has been even more difficult for him is the loneliness that he has felt.  He has openly talked to me about suicide on many occasions.

About 6 months ago a man named Ron who lives in Logan, stopped in to see my Dad.  Ron is a Stake President on the USU campus, a former mission president and has been a bishop twice.  He bought a black walnut box from my Dad about three years ago, but has not had any contact with him since.  So about 6 months ago, Ron was driving by my Dad's shop and he had this feeling that he should stop in and visit with him.  So began their friendship. Ron has been down to visit my Dad at his shop 2 or 3 times a week for the past 6 months.  I think  Ron was the right man to help my Dad and I think my Dad was finally ready to open his heart.  Ron and Dad would talk about everything...religion, work, politics, their gardens, their life experiences, their families etc...they truly became good friends.  Plus my Dad really respected Ron.

About 3 months ago Ron called my Dad to be on High Council!!!  I don't know who was more shocked...my Dad, or myself when my Dad told me about it.  My Dad turned down the calling, citing that he was not worthy.  He didn't go to church, and he still liked to have a beer every now and then.  Ron said that was fine, but told him he was going to ask him again in the future.  Ron asked him again about a month later, again my Dad refused.  My Dad still hasn't accepted the calling, but he told me he is working towards it.

A week ago I had just returned from taking my Dad to a VA appointment for his Parkinson's.  While we were driving he told me that he had been to church for the past 3 weeks and had even gone to General Conference.  He said he was working to return to the temple.  I asked him where this change of heart had come from.  He told me that the doctrinal questions that bothered him so much all those years ago really didn't seem to mater that much to him now.  He said "it's easier to be in the church than out of the church.  I could have been swimming in the blessings of the gospel all of these years."  Isn't it true what he said?  Although life is hard even when you are living the principles of the gospel, life really is a lot easier when you live close to the Lord as opposed to living far from Him.  

My Dad will turned 73 years-old in January   Many many people have prayed for him for years.  I feel that I have been so blessed through this experience.  The Lord truly is merciful and prayers are answered. I' haven't seen him this happy for many years!"