Have you ever considered the type of giver that God is?
Perfect, intimate, anonymous, modest, wonderful and humble are a few words that Elder Gene R Cook used to describe His giving.
Do any of these words surprise you? the word “modest” surprises me at first, but then makes sense. He doesn’t shout in our ears and compel us to see Him, but surrounds us so completely in beauty, people, and opportunities to grow that we don’t always notice His influence.
This idea inspires me to look a little deeper at my surroundings, including the challenges and the people in my life. What gifts are actually being offered by their presence? What do they teach me about the Giver and myself?
This quote was part of a BYU devotional given my Lisa Valentine Clark this week. Here is the full speech:
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
I have always loved this scripture, and recently, I studied what “things he [had] spoken unto [them]” so they could have peace and be of good cheer. His teachings leading up to this statement of be of good cheer are all about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost coming to our aid. I like this quote from Elder Holland,
“Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish…Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations … is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: ‘I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].’ (John 14:18)”
-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “None Were With Him,” Ensign, May 2009.
This December, my Advent theme is Hope. It’s my plan to share something each day leading up to Christmas. On this day, I include some words of women in my family about enduring difficult times. Knowing these stories and others from my family history gives me strength and hope to endure my own difficulties. I thank my Heavenly Father for these stories of hope.
“…We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things…”
The Articles of Faith 1:13
My Great-grandmother Della Griggs Stewart, who lived during the flu epidemic of 1918:
“The influenza epidemic broke out and [my husband] Del was very ill for two weeks. This was a terrible time for everyone. The high school was closed and turned into a hospital, cots were sent in and everyone available was called in to nurse the sick. I helped what I could, nursing some and helped take care of children whose parents had died or who were very ill. We had to wear masks; no one could come into town or leave. Our friends and neighbors were dying two and three per day. Our families were spared.”
My Great-great-great grandmother Fanny Fry, who traveled without family as a sixteen-year-old across the plains, pulling a handcart in 1859:
“At the Elk Horn River, my feet were so swollen I could not wear my shoes. Then when the swelling went out, my feet were so sore from the alkali that I never had on a pair of shoes after that for the entire journey…
“We had to pull up quite a long hill, and part of it was steep. In climbing we got behind one of the teams for the oxen to help us, for it was all we could do to keep it moving. Captain Rowley came up and called us lazy, and I did not consider we were at all.
“While pulling this heavy load, I looked and acted strange. The first thing my friend Emmie knew I had fallen under the cart, and before they could stop it, the cart had passed over me, and I lay at the back of it on the ground. When my companions got to me, I seemed perfectly dead. Emmie could not find any pulse at all, and there was not a soul around. They were, she thought, all ahead, so she stood thinking what to do when Captain Rowley came up to us. ‘What have you got there, Emmie?’ he said. ‘Oh my, Fanny is dead,’ she said. It frightened him, so he got off his horse and examined me closely but could not find any life at all. He asked Emmie to stay with me and he would go and stop the company and send a cart back for me, which he did.
“When I came to myself, my grave was dug two feet deep, and I was in a tent. The sisters had sewed me up to the waist in my blanket, ready for burial. I opened my eyes and looked at them.
“I was weak for some time after. I did not fully recover during the rest of the journey. Through it all I found I had a great many friends in the company.”
My mother, who had a brother wounded in the Vietnam War when she was a teen in 1968:
“I was 14 years old and Doug was 11. We were home alone because Mom and Dad were out on a Sunday drive, and two Marines knocked on our front door. Finding out that our parents weren’t home, one asked if they could wait in our living room. I stayed in the back TV room with Doug and was dying inside and praying so hard for Mom and Dad to get home. They did arrive a little later (seemed like two years) and when they pulled into the driveway, they saw the Marine Corps car and wouldn’t get out! Finally, I heard them come in the front door and from the hallway I heard, “He’s not dead!” That’s when I lost it and ran to the back room again. We learned that my much-idolized-by-me big brother was barely hanging on to life. I couldn’t speak. Well, that’s when the daily telegrams started that always ended: ‘RECOVERY QUESTIONABLE’. Weeks later, when my mom was at least 10 pounds lighter, the ‘RECOVERY EXPECTED’ telegram came. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, an Apostle in the LDS Church had been in Vietnam at that time and had given David a Priesthood blessing. Elder McConkie told Grandpa Que later that David’s healing was a gift from God and a miracle.
“David recovered and honorably served for twenty-nine years in the Marine Corps.”
“I am optimistic about the future. It will be filled with opportunities for each of us to progress, contribute, and take the gospel to every corner of the earth. But I am also not naive about the days ahead. We live in a world that is complex and increasingly contentious. The constant availability of social media and a 24-hour news cycle bombard us with relentless messages. If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation. “Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”
-President Russell M Nelson, Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives, April 2018
This is the phrase that stood out to me most from this passage:
“Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again.”
This is an exciting time to be alive. There is hope and comfort to be found in Jesus Christ. Some days I live from prayer to prayer, trying to stay focused on light and goodness. This week has been mentally challenging for me, and the message that kept coming to my mind was to humble myself and reach out for some counsel and comfort from Richard and my parents. As I did this, I found the stepping stones I needed to cross this deep water I am navigating.
I am going to California tomorrow with my parents to bring my grandmother to Utah. This will require finesse, love, and angels. I don’t like to leave my family, but my illness this year has taught me that they are strong. I have done all I can to prepare and to be healthy as we take this big step. Our extended family has come together in prayer and fasting to prepare. My prayers for my grandmother are for her comfort and peace, and that we will know, step by step, what to do and say. I lay my burden at the Lord’s feet, his glorious feet, every few hours, all day.
Isaiah 52:7-10:
7 ¶ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. 9 ¶ Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God
“Fight the virus of contempt.”“We battle like there is a good answer.”
To be clear, I believe a big part of the answer involves a call for acts of faith and humility.An old hokey poem I carried around in college that helped me. “All’s well. God loves thee yet…”
My mom, cousin, sister, and I gathered outdoors for a socially distanced movie night with a projector and screen (we are pictured behind the screen for light). We were responsible and cautious and happy.
My friend shared this, and whether the quote and citation are perfect, I do not know, but I like these ideas from C.S. Lewis. Just read Covid-19 in the place of Atomic Age and there you go. We have permission to live joyfully.
I loved this quote from “Dressing Your Truth: Discover Your Type of Beauty” by Carol Tuttle. It addresses some of what I was trying to write earlier this week, but came off sounding accusatory instead of inspirational. I need to remember love in every opinion I choose to express.
In her book Return to Love, Marianne Williamson said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; its in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
I read a book by Henry B. Eyring in 2012, just before we moved to Utah. I saved quotes from the book that were important to me, but I did it in a notebook that was shuffled around after the move. I found the notebook this week and as I looked through it, I found lists of names that I tried to remember from church in the first few weeks of living in Utah. I have misspelled names and omitted important family members of people that I now know so well that I call them dear to me. Also in this notebook I found these quotes from To Draw Closer to God and I’ll share a few with you today as we all continue to press forward.
None of the people for whom you are responsible can be truly served without your bearing testimony, in some way, of the mission of Jesus Christ. (p. 50)
You’ll understand people better if you assume that people’s behavior is rational, at least from their point of view. Try to see what they see. (p. 59?)
Be on the front row, early, whenever the Master calls. (p. 58)
If we stay at it long enough, perhaps for a lifetime, we will have for so long felt what the Savior feels, wanted what he wants, and done what he would have us do that we will have, through the Atonement, a new heart filled with charity. And we will have become like Him. (p. 71)
To know the Savior, then, is to be like Him. (p. 72)
I promise you that if you use your gifts to serve someone else, you’ll feel the Lord’s love for that person. You’ll also feel His love for you. (p. 88)
You won’t always see the miracles that come from your work, which is probably a blessing. If you did, you would get proud. But you can often underestimate what God is doing as He honors your calling. (p. 101)
The men and women who desire to obtain seats in the Celestial Kingdom will find that they must do battle every day. (Quoting Brigham Young) (p. 114)
How we react when we are surprised will tell our families whether what we have taught and testified lies deep in our hearts. (p. 180)
Our faithful effort to offer to our family the testimony we have of the truth will be multiplied in power and extended in time. (p. 182)
All of us in the pursuit of duty touch the lives of others. (p. 183)
After coming home from playing with a puppy: “When Sparky was a puppy, did he think everything was a toy or was he born with dignity?” 8-19-14
While writing thank you notes: “I wonder if there is such thing as a ‘you’re welcome note?‘” 10-1-14
After practicing a fast song on the piano: “That song always makes me slightly dazed.” 10-2-14
Talking about surgery and anesthesia (No one is having surgery; we’re just talking about it.): “I’m not really cool about being put to sleep. I’d probably be okay with a Harry Potter potion, though.” 10-22-14
“If you know you’re not sick and your feel your forehead and it’s warm, does that mean your brain is working? Because that happens when I do my multiplication timed tests.” 10-27-14
While writing a story about 3 children catching an insect: “John was going to be the main character but it turned out that Peter is because he has the net. Whoever wields the net is the main character.” 10-28-14
