Good morning brothers and sisters,
This week I felt very low in spirit and didn’t want to face the world. This one particular day I got up to get the children off to school, had a disagreement with my husband, and a few of the kids and then went back to bed again. Life that day for me was lonely, sad and hard. i felt I had failed all those I loved. I felt I was stuck in this space of mind and had no way of getting away from those feelings. I wanted to run but felt I had nowhere to run to. Sean was busy doing jobs around the house while I stayed in bed… I felt bad about that too… I wanted so badly to pull myself out and go and do something to help but just couldn’t do it. I just felt the need to cry at everything-My heart was sad. I felt like this for a whole day. I woke the next day knowing I was going to have another day like the day before. Then I got the thought: you haven’t read your scriptures in a very long time (I’ve read to the children and Sean and I have read together and we have prepared come follow me but I haven’t done it for me in a very long time) I felt impressed to open my scriptures and read. I opened to where I was up to and it happened to be Ether chapter 12.
4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
That day I had lost hope and faith. I believe I was guided to the scriptures to be reminded of what I already know and what I had already been taught and was teaching our children. I then was reminded another scripture in Alma 32: 21
And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
I then started thinking about the word hope and how this scripture saids I don’t have to have a perfect knowledge but hope. I could exercise my faith right now and ask for a blessing hoping the lord will lift me and carry me and help through this. I just needed to act upon it in faith… So I asked Sean for a blessing. Sean’s blessing was all about faith and that through acting upon my faith I have received this blessing. The blessing also said for me to get up and go upstairs and do something that helps me feel happy…. (I ended up fixing the washing and putting all the clean clothes away) it wasn’t till later when Sean and I were talking that he expressed how me asking him for a blessing strengthened his faith too. That even through he was feeling like he wasn’t in tune he actually was and said what the lord wanted him to say. After this experience I was able to come to a better understanding that with faith in Christ we can be made strong, we can be lifted up and we can overcome. In the talk by elder schmutz titled god can wipe away all tears he state
“When we view the difficult experiences of life through the lens of faith in Christ, we are able to see that there can be godly purpose in our suffering.”
“As we apply our “hearts to understanding,”3 we can increase in our ability to both endure our trials well and learn from—and be refined by—them. Such understanding provides an answer to the ageless question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“As part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, He allowed sorrow to be woven into our mortal experience. While it seems that painful trials fall unevenly on us, we can be assured that to one degree or another, we all suffer and struggle”.
“God invites us to respond with faith to our own unique afflictions in order that we may reap blessings and gain knowledge that can be learned in no other way. We are instructed to keep the commandments in every condition and circumstance, for “he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.”6 And as we read in scripture, “If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”
From the very beginning our new family has been tried! It seems it goes from one trial after the other and sometimes they overlap. Satan doesn’t want us to succeed, he wants us to fail and give up and say it’s not worth it. I see it going on around me all the time, more so lately.
Last Sunday was one of those days. We all seemed to have woken on the wrong side of the bed. Everyone was at each other. One child wouldn’t get dressed, another child screamed and cried cause her hair wasn’t done the way she wanted etc. the list goes on forever. Everything seemed to go wrong. We ended up being 20 mins late to church because a child wouldn’t get in the car. Sean made it clear to the children that Katie is getting baptized today and Satan will stop at nothing for that to happen. We got to church and then we didn’t sit together, kids refusing to come into sacrament, kids not being reverent during sacrament. Just everything seemed to keep going wrong. Then kids wouldn’t go to primary classes and I sure as heck didn’t want to go to my class. We ended up going home early to get thing ready for Katie’s baptism and a whole lot more things happened. Programs wouldn’t print, kids fighting, get to the chapel and I’ve forgotten clothing for Katie and a whole lot of little bits and things… that when Sean gently reminded me that it’s just stuff as long as we have the priesthood and Katie we are set, which is so true. But the war with Satan continued with our family. It wasn’t until Katie came out of the water that the contention and stress and pain we were all feeling left us. The children’s countenance changed completely… to supporting each other, fulfilling their responsibilities for Katie, and helping out where not asked.
If it wasn’t for the faith Sean and I had in this baptism ordnance and the importance we felt it was for Katie we would have crumbled and our Katie wouldn’t be baptised. I’m grateful for my husband that day that even though he was feeling a little the way I was he still was still enough to listen to the spirit and gently remind me and help me feel peace.
“Many of us have pleaded with God to remove the cause of our suffering, and when the relief we seek has not come, we have been tempted to think He is not listening. I testify that, even in those moments, He hears our prayers, has a reason for allowing our afflictions to continue, and will help us bear them.”
“If I may speak to you individually—“all ye that labour and are heavy laden”16—may I suggest that your personal struggles—your individual sorrows, pains, tribulations, and infirmities of every kind—are all known to our Father in Heaven and to His Son. Take courage! Have faith! And believe in the promises of God!”
“Elder Neal A. Maxwell once shared what he had learned of purposeful suffering in these words: “Certain forms of suffering, endured well, can actually be ennobling… Part of enduring well consists of being meek enough, amid our suffering, to learn from our relevant experiences. Rather than simply passing through these things, they must pass through us … in ways which sanctify [us].”
When Emilea was a little girl she was active she was very interested in the world around her and wanted to check it out no matter where she was or what she was doing. So I had lots of stress, one minute she would be by my side and the next she was gone. This happened up until she was about 6. Her dad and I got comments on how we were rising her and how we should be doing it and what we shouldn’t be doing. This was a hard time for me as the comments were coming from people who I loved and respected in the church. I would go to the Lord often and ask him what I’m doing wrong? do I need to change anything?. I struggled with understand and my faith was getting light. But all the Lord would tell me was just love her, she’s fine, you are doing fine. I took trust in that and calmed myself a bit and spite all that those were saying around me I kept loving her and doing what I felt was right. Then one day Emilea went out to meet her dad at the car. Seconds later I got the impression to go and check Emilea when I got there she was gone! We had no idea where she was or had gone. I started to stress badly this time, I wanted my baby back. We rang the police and then we prayed, the whole time I was looking for her I was madly praying in my heart. The whole time though I got this feeling of peace, that she was ok and that the Lord is watching over her. Her dad got a call from the police and Emilea was at the station. We later found out that Emilea had walked to the middle of a 4 lane highway and was picked up by and elderly couple and brought to the police station. (The older Emilea gets the more she tells me about this experience) While David (Emilea’s dad) was collecting our child I was on my knees thanking the lord for protecting her. (that wasn’t the end of the trial but Emilea was back and I learnt to deal with the rest) When she got older I was at the shops one day and Emilea kept going away from me. I was stressing out and worrying about her getting hurt or taken. I got this very strong over powering feeling to stop worrying the lord said “Stop stressing, you are not alone, I’m here and I will help you. I have great things for your child she will be fine” I had a bit of a cry and then felt that even though I was a single mum the lord was there to make up the rest.
“I have observed in the lives and examples of others that exercising strong and abiding faith in Jesus Christ and His promises provides the sure hope of better things to come. This sure hope steadies us, bringing the strength and power we need in order to endure.19 When we can link our suffering to an assurance of purpose in our mortality and more specifically to the reward awaiting us in heavenly places, our faith in Christ increases and we receive comfort to our souls.”
“We can take strength in knowing that all the hard experiences in this life are temporary; even the darkest nights turn into dawn for the faithful.
When all is finished and we have endured all things with faith in Jesus Christ, we have the promise that “God shall wipe away all [the] tears from [our] eyes.”
Inclosing I would like to share Elder Schmutz testimony:
“I testify that God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, live and that they are keepers of promises. I testify that the Saviour invites all of us to come and partake of His Atonement. As we exercise our faith in Him, He will lift us up and carry us through all of our trials and, ultimately, save us in the celestial kingdom. May I invite you to come unto Christ, endure well in faith, become perfected through Him, and have perfect joy in Him.”
My testimony:
I know that through trial and tribulation comes great things that we take what comes at us with “Lord help me face this instead of take this away from me.
Without faith I would be nothing
Etc.
The Thompson Family 