ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD

ALOHA!! I’m BAAACK! And I missed you all last week, although I LOVED being in Hawaii more than you will ever know. I never thought I’d ever make it there, and to be able to go there for free and get paid for it, was a DREAM COME TRUE! I thought I’d include some Hawaii lovin’!
This is from the deck of our housing on Waikiki at sunset

Sister Suzann Garner taught our lesson this week. It was on the talk, “All Things Work Together for Good” by Elder James B. Martino. I read this talk myself about a month ago and it really touched me, I am so glad that I got to hear about it again. “We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from that experience.” I feel like we had a similar talk by Sister Allred at Woman’s Conference this past Saturday.

Elder Martino goes on, “ Each of us will face trials and tests,…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.” We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face them but HOW we will face them.”

Sister Garner put up examples of what we in our ward may be facing. Some of them were: Divorce, eating disorders, pornography or affairs, being single, problems with children, financial, emotional etc. Elder Martino explains, “ 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 Christ-like… recognize the good that comes from each experience”

I can tell you sincerely and honestly that there have been several really hard trials that I have been through and the blessings that come when you can hold your head up high when you have made it through it and see how your life has been blessed through that trial are COMPLETELY WORTH IT!

I have had some really special experiences with the talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, “Cast Not Therefore Away Thy Confidence” I would encourage any of you who are struggling with life or your testimony to read that, I turn to so many times a year myself. In that talk he tells us, “I wish to encourage every one of us regarding the opposition that so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose. In his letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul was trying to encourage new members who had just joined the Church, who undoubtedly had had spiritual experiences and received the pure light of testimony, only to discover that their troubles had not ended but that some of them had just begun.”

Satan has a way to come just at the very time that you think you are coming to the end of a trial or decision and try to deceive you or question what you had felt. Remember to pay attention to the FIRST answer and peace you were given and don’t allow Satan in to discourage you any longer. The most miserable times of my life is when I have let Satan in to my mind or my heart and allowed him to make me miserable. Sisters, we have had enough things to face, let’s not let Satan add to them!

Elder Martino gives some great perspective as to how we can better face the trials that come our way. First ask ourselves:
• What am I to do?
• What can I learn from this experience?
• What am I to change?
We can learn a lot from the Savior’s example while he was on the earth. FIRST, He sought not to do His will be ONLY the will of His Father. Second, When we are faced with trials, we must learn to not complain or murmur. THIRD, When we face our challenges we must seek greater help from God. FOURTH, Learn to serve and think of others even in our times of trial. FIFTH, Forgive others and DO NOT seek to pass the blame of our situation to them.

Sisters, none of us are free from trials. It may seem like someone has it all together, but in reality there are things she is dealing with in private that may knock your socks off! It is part of the plan that we all have opposition, some may just deal with it differently and it may not be as apparent to you. Let us keep these awesome teaching moments from Elder Martino close at hand so that next time, next moment, today even, as we go through our trials we can keep an eternal perspective as to why we may have to bear these burdens. I will close with his words. Know that I love you and I am CHEERING YOU ON! Meg

“As we pass through the trials of life, let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become 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” I bear a solemn 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” even in the trials of our lives.”

PRIESTHOOD POWER

Happy Middle of September!

Hope this email finds you all with smiles on your face and ready to face ANYTHING that is thrown at you because you have the gospel power to combat it, right?!

We were given an great lesson by Kelly Beeson this week in Relief Society.  She took us on a plane ride.  She was the non member sitting next to us and she had us explain to her as we would to a perfect stranger knowing nothing of the gospel, the restoration.  It kept us all on our toes.

Kelly was blessed to work on the FARMS project while she attended BYU.  There she was given an assignment to record and type letters that were written by Orson P Pratt.  Something powerful that she said as she was able to share her experience briefly with us was that while she was reading and typing she felt time and time again “ This man REALLY saw an Angel!” She said it was amazing that even though he ended up leaving the church, he NEVER denied the experience that he had with Joseph Smith!  What an awesome testimony she gave, having experienced reading the actual letters where he recounted it with others.

Something that I was thinking about A LOT during this lesson was The Priesthood.  That is definitely something that sets us apart from other religions.  We have holders that have been given that power from the Lord in our day.

Growing up without the priesthood in my home, I often prayed for better understanding of this power and the miracles it can bring forth.  Because of my intense desire to understand and experience the power in my own life, I have been given poignant experiences with the Priesthood that I will treasure forever.   One inparticular was standing out to me as I heard all of you sharing in RS this week.

I have shared before with you all that I worked many years in the EFY program (Especial For Youth).  This program is for the 14-18 year olds of the church (although we do have a number on non members attend as well).  It is set up like a bible style camp and is held in college campuses all over the world now. 

We have a special day in the week program that is a spiritual day.  It happens on Thursdays.  This is the day that all the youth and leaders dress in their Sunday best and we have mini classes talking about our worth and virtue to the girls and missions to the boys.  Then that night it ends with testimony meetings.  It is the day all counselors and leadership look forward too, the day of miracles some of us call it.  You see the light finally come on in some of your most challenging youth’s heads and you see a light of testimony starting to grow.  This day at EFY is always solemn and special.

Of course we give our Youth a break from the spiritual things and they eat lunch and have some free time.  On this particular day that I am going to talk about, I was at BYU-Idaho.  I was incharge of keeping the youth from butting in the lunch lines etc this day.  Having 800 youth come to eat at relatively the same time, is a challenge and this day hadn’t proven any less of one.  The lunch room was crowded, loud and boisterous to say the least.  I was talking to the youth and laughing with them when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I noticed something startling.  I noticed a youth go down and begin to have a seizure.

We had just had a training that VERY morning while the kids were in classes about how to react in an emergency situation. I watched fellow counselors move in as we were told and we formed a circle around this girl with our backs faced inward as to not cause a scene.  It worked amazing.  Only a few youth had seen what was happening and we were able to keep things calm and continuing on as normal.  As I sat there on the outside of that circle I could here the priesthood holders discuss what her full name was with her sister who was there and then without any warning the ENTIRE lunchroom went SILENT.  A hush fell over that lunch room.  You couldn’t hear one noise (not even the voice of the men giving a blessing) all you could feel was this OVERWHELMING sense of calm and spirit. 

I as well as many other’s had tears flowing down our cheeks.  It was a power like I hadn’t felt before, it was tangible, it was so powerful it HUSHED a sea of 800 hungry, boisterous teens.  The only way that I knew that the blessing was over is that as soon as the AMEN was done the teens in the room started to carryon like nothing had happened. 

I reflected on that experience all day.  I was so touched at the reverence that the youth showed for the moment of healing that was taking place.  I wondered how in the world they all knew to be quiet at the same time as the blessing was being said. 

That night as I got my girls settled down for bed they said, “Meg, can we ask you something?” I said of course.  “What happened in the lunchroom today?  Why did we feel so compelled to be reverent?”

These youth had absolutely NO IDEA that there was someone that was having a seizure. They had no idea that someone was administering a blessing. All they knew is they were compelled to be reverent.  That was such a testimony to me and to them, of the power of the priesthood.  It has power to compel you to be reverent if it needs to.

That day (as well as many others since) I was taught such a valuable lesson and my faith in Priesthood power was strengthened and made alive again.  I am so thankful for the restoration of the gospel.  For the Priesthood power that it brought back to the earth.  I am thankful that daily through the worthy men in my life I have access to that power. All I need to do is call upon them to bless me with it. I am thankful for the youth of the church that taught me that miracles still happen and who were in-tune to the change in their behavior and made it possible for all of us involved to feel that HUSH that came into the BYU-I lunchroom that day.

Sisters, may we never take this blessing in our lives for granted.  May we be compelled and reverence this gift that we have been blessed with.  May we always feel comfortable to ask for it to bless our lives.  The Priest brings amazing power in our life if we will allow it to work.

Keep pressing forward with faith Sisters!!  Have a great week!!  YOU CAN DO IT!

TO LOVE THE THINGS GOD LOVES

Good Morning Sisters!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!! Hope that all of you are enjoying the day with friends or family.  I am enjoying the day not nannying my twins! Wish I could’ve slept in though, my body is so on this 4:30am schedule though.  Have a great day!

Our lesson today was taught by Carole Richards, our Relief Society President.  She got some of her thoughts from a talk entitled, “ To Love the Things God Loves” from the Ensign in 1981.

We focused on the desires of the heart and that is always such a great teaching to go back to often.  For if we can keep our desires in line with God’s desires, the outcome of our lives would be so much more bright, wouldn’t it?!

In this talk Dennis Peterson shares a story from his mission to Japan and how he had a life changing  moment, while watching an investigator change from a mean and abusive man, to a kind and loving father through the gospel.  He then found a passage in the book, Jesus The Christ,  that made a lasting impression.  It is too powerful not to share.  He relates the following:

 “In Jesus the Christ, it explains that the Savior “had the capacity, the ability to sin had He willed so to do … Nevertheless his insurance against [sin] … is not that of external compulsion, but of internal restraint due to his cultivated companionship of the spirit of truth” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1973, chapter 10, paragraph 2 from the end, p. 134).

It was a moment of real revelation for me; I understood finally that Christ’s ultimate defense was not his supreme will power but simply that, nurtured by the Spirit, he had no desire for Satan’s grimy alternatives. He loves the things his Father loves. Thus, as his desires became deeds, those deeds reflected a spontaneous righteousness that came from the very depths of his being.

That was the key: to love the things God loves, to make his desires my own, and thus to be truly like him. My problem was that I had been trying to act in godly ways while wanting ungodly things. If I could change the desires of my heart, then my actions would spontaneously become godly.”

I loved this teaching. “If I could change the desires of my heart, then my actions would spontaneously become godly!”

What are our desires of the heart?  Are they turned to the things of God, or do we desire having all the best of the things or the world? 

The gap between good and evil is closing in on us every day. We have to determine where are desires are going to be set.  What our ultimate goals are in this life. Where we want to be. 

I love the story in the Book of Mormon where the prophet King Benjamin asked his people to gather to the temple, “they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple” (Mosiah 2:6) I think this perfectly depicts the desires of their hearts.  They believed that King Benjamin was a prophet of God and their desires were to heed to his words so they  put their doors toward the temple READY to hear.

Where are our door point toward? So our tent door show our true desires? Are we heading ourselves and our families in the right direction?

It is always good to take our temperatures and realign our lives continually so that we are closer to the things that God loves.  I know it is a daily battle.  None of us has it easy.  The battle is what strengthens us for the REAL battle ahead.  It is what prepares us to STAND at the  last day.  The real battle hasn’t started, we are just getting our armor ready.  Every thing that we do to become more godlike, every righteous desire,  gives us one more layer in our shield.  I know that I need every layer that I can get.

Carole said something yesterday that I jotted down because it reminded me of my favorite quote.  She said, “He (God) may not always put things in our time table, but he is listening!”  My favorite quote is by Neal A Maxwell, “Faith in God includes faith in His timing!”

May we all continue to work on “turning our tents toward the temple” that we may be able to align our desires with God’s desires and have faith in him that he KNOWS what is the best for us, because he does!

I love you Sisters and appreciate all the righteous desires I see in you.  I am blessed to be part of you!  Happy Monday!