Faith

My lesson in Relief Society this month is on faith. Faith is a hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Hebrews 11:1) We do so many things as a routine. We forget that everything we do is based on faith. We get up in the morning because we have a hope of accomplishing something that day. We go to work because of our hope that we will be able to do something that will benefit ourselves and others. We plant a garden with the hope of being able to harvest it in the fall. We begin each new task with the hope that by the end we will reap the benefits of that task.

Imagine how hard it must have been for Noah and his family to build an ark. It was not raining the day he began building that ark. It was not raining the day he finished building the ark. It might not have been raining as the animals were entering the ark. If there was a seasonal rain I am sure the people danced and laughed. I bet people ridiculed him even after the floods began. But as the rain began to lift that ark off the ground I bet there were some who were wishing they had built an ark.

Our faith moves us to action.

Gratitude

Last year I posted a gratitude for every day in November.  I would be very ungrateful if I did not make at least one post.

I am grateful for:

• The beauty of nature.  I took my mother for a ride.  We saw a large herd of antelope grazing in a field. The buck began moving his herd through the field and I thought he was nervous about us watching him when I saw another buck trying to find a way through the fence.   Ah ha.  Just protecting his herd from another male. 
  
• My Family.  How I enjoy seeing my children and knowing that they are doing those things that will bring them eternal happiness.  
  
• My Grandchildren.  How precious each of them are.  My mother lived so far from her grandparents that she only remembers seeing her grandfather once.  She was too scared to even talk to him. She never had the chance to talk to him on a phone.   How sad is that?  I can see or talk my grandchildren every day through the use of telephone, blogs, skype, and Facebook.  How cool is it to be a couple of hundred miles apart and still be able to talk to each other?  
• My membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I love learning about my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  To know that they love me.  That they answer prayers.  Which reminds me of another gratitude.
• I am thankful that God answers prayers.  We had one answered this past week.  We started our day with family prayer and prayed that we would be protected and return home to our family safe that evening.  Our school went by bus to a nearby high school to watch the Wizard of Oz.  The bus I was on pulled up the the stop sign that enters the main highway from our small town.  The driver hesitated and then pulled on to the highway in front of a large water truck.  The driver of the truck had to slam on his brakes to keep from hitting us.  He came within a couple of feet of our bus.  While our driver seem unconcerned the rest of the adults on the bus were terrified!  Worst part was that on the way home from the play our bus driver pulled out in front of another large truck when she reached the highway.  I am thankful for answered prayers.

Stake Conference

We had a great stake conference.  One of the things talked about was testimony.  We must each develop our own testimony.  We can not live on borrowed light.  I know I have heard that many times but then something else was said that I have either not heard or just not remembered.  Our light must be original not reflective.  The glory of the celestial is that of the sun.  The sun gives off original light.  The glory of the terrestrial is that of the moon.  The moon's light is reflective.  

So where do I want my testimony to be?  Do I want original or reflective?  I was outside the other night when the moon was full.  I remember thinking it was enjoyable to see the beauty of the night sky and be able to walk around by the light of the moon.  Then I stepped on a small stick and almost tripped myself.  Hum.  I'll go for original light.  There are just too many things out there that will trip you up if you don't have enough light.

One of the other talks that I liked talked about the foundation of the Salt Lake temple.  They used sandstone to build the foundation then covered it up when Johnston's army came in.  When they uncovered the foundation they found it was cracked.  They redid the foundation with granite and not mortar.  The stones were fitted closely enough that they did not need mortar.  Next, they talked about how the church has been established on the foundation apostles and prophets.  The third foundation we need to establish is our personal life on the firm foundation of faith.  I like how the three foundations related to each other.  

One of my favorite scriptures talks about foundations.  Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation:  that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

So, faith, foundations, testimony.  How do we build them?  

1.  prayer

2.  scripture study

3.  family home evening

4.  listen to the prophets

When are the prophets going to talk about something else?  When we get these right!