Something I have been working on and struggling with lately is faith in the Lord's timing and hope for the future. so that is the topic for this week! post and scriptures, ideas, thoughts and insighys you have in the comments section below this post. Try to have something posted before next Sunday. thanks guys!
Next week: Diana
Pick a topic or scripture section and I'll post it next Sunday.
This is the first scripture that came to my mind on the subject of the Lord's timing:
ReplyDeleteEcclesiastes 3:1-8
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
This one talks of how we don't yet understand what God has in store for us.
ReplyDeleteD&C 78:17-19
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.
In the Oct. 2003 Ensign there was a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks titled Timing. It is really good and I suggest you read it.
ReplyDeleteHe said "In all the important decisions in our lives, what is most important is to do the right thing. Second and only slightly behind the first, is to do the right thing at the right time." What that means to me is I need to focus on doing what is right and with the Lords help he will let me know the timing. But I need to do the right thing first.
We need to trust the Lord. He knows EXACTLY what He is doing. And "he has OUR welfare at heart." He wants us to be happy and the negative things that happen to us are for a good reason and our eternal happiness. Sometimes it is hard to see it but we need to trust Him.
"Do your best on what is fundamental and personal and then trust the Lord and His timing." We cannot control what other people do and sometimes things in our lives depend on other people. But if we do what we personally should do the Lord WILL take care of us.
"Anchor your life to eternal principles, and act upon those principles whatever the circumstances and whatever the actions of others."
:)
We watched this video a while ago about a guy named John R, Moyle. He was working on the salt lake temple but he broke his leg and it had to be amputated. He lived in Alpine, which is about 20 miles from the temple. He walked every day on a peg leg to get to the temple to work on it. He's the one who did the inscription on the front. Anyway, he never lived to see the temple completed even though he walked 12 hours there and back to work on it. BUT he had incredible hope for the future of the church and followed his faith to complete his task on the temple. Yes, someone else could have done it, but he made a strong contribution to the PRESENT even though he didn't know what would happen in the future. By this point the Nauvoo temple had already been destroyed and people were afraid for the Salt lake temple too, but even though bad things could happen to it he still made sure he contributed because he knew that in the future, he hoped, that the temple would survive.
ReplyDeleteUchdorf (my love!) gave a talk called 'Lift where you stand'. He used John Moyle as an example.
"John did not do this for the praise of man. Neither did he shirk his duty, even though he had every reason to do so. He knew what the Lord expected him to do.
Years later, John’s grandson Henry D. Moyle was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and, eventually, served in the First Presidency of the Church. President Moyle’s service in these callings was honorable, but his grandfather John’s service, though somewhat less public, is just as pleasing to the Lord. John’s character, his legacy of sacrifice, serves as a banner of faithfulness and an ensign of duty to his family and to the Church. John Rowe Moyle understood the meaning of “lift where you stand.”
What an amazing man! As long as you do the Lords work, you're doing the best thing.
-
Emily and Joe
Great thoughts Em- gotta love Uchtdorf!!
ReplyDeleteSorry I took so long to comment!
ReplyDeleteI found this quote the other day and it really sums up what we should do quite nicely.
"Things may look dark- but they will get better. We can look forward to the future with an assurance that things will work out because we can look to our past and see evidence of the ways in which the Lord has helped us previously. This will give us the strength to take action in the present and move forward ' with an eye of faith' " -John Hilton III and Brad Wilcox, from 52 Life-Changing Questions from the Book of Mormon
Looking to our pasts and seeing how the lord has previously blessed us can give us so much strength. Knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. In the moment, things can be really hard but we should try to remember all the times he has helped us and blessed us and use that as a guide to feeling his love in present and future life changes and decisions.