Released

I knew it was coming. I have known for over a week. 

But still when my name was read in Sacrament Meeting, I was almost surprised. 

I was sad. 

I know I have no new calling coming. 

I don't know how long I will still be here. 

I taught my last lesson and people were lining up to say good bye. 

I will still be here for a while. 

I felt a bit like a fraud. 

I don't know all what I felt. 

I am still a visiting teacher. I need to hold on to that and be faithful. 

Today I was released. 

Faith to Move Forward

Faith requires action.

Sometimes that action is easy and logical.

This type of faith may be reading our scriptures everyday. Praying morning and night. Attending our meetings. Paying out tithing. Doing our visiting and home teaching faithfully.

In Alma 32:27-29, we can read about the experiment of planting the seed of faith. First we must clear a space and then plant the seed. We need to care for it and it will begin to grow. The growing of the seed would increase your faith.

The easy and logical actions that accompany faith will nourish the seedling and allow it to grow stronger and larger.

The Doctrine and Covenants say: ". . . as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit." (6:14)

And further down in that section the Lord counsels Oliver on how to gain a further witness; ". . .if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?" (22-23)

There is another kind of faith. A faith that requires us to act when it difficult and illogical.

There is a story in the Old Testament about a king. Hezekiah was the king of Judah. The Northern Kingdom had already fallen to the Assyrians and the Ten Tribes had been carried and lost to history. Hezekiah's entire kingdom, save the city of Jerusalem had already fallen to the invading Assyrian army. No other nation had ever survived an attack from this army. Hezekiah took his problem to the Lord, and He spoke peace to the soul of this king.

Part of the answer from the Lord was directed to the invading Assyrian king. The Lord tells him, "Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." (Isaiah 37:29)

The God of Hosts spoke and in the morning a good portion of the invading army was dead. The packed up and left. In essence returning Hezekiah's kingdom to him.

Another story about a difficult and illogical faith involves one of my favorite moments in the Old Testament. Elisha has been identified as a protector of Judah. An invading army targets him. Elisha's servant sees the surround army and is afraid. Elisha sees this fear and comforts him.

"Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6:16-17)

It is difficult to see with our spiritual eyes and see the Heavenly protection. This type of faith is evidence of a much stronger faith.

This tree is growing and capable of giving fruit. It is strong and can withstand storms.

This faith can mature into faith that can accomplish the impossible.

I have just finished reading the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament. One of the stories stood out to me. Joshua is getting ready to take the Camp of Israel across the Jordan River and begin the campaign of taking the Promised Land.

The Levites carry the Arc of the Covenant right up to the water's edge. The river was swollen and fast. In chapter 3 we read, "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priest that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap." (vs 13)

The priests were required to get the soles of their feet wet before the water stopped and a path was cleared.

This is clearly impossible.

But it happened.

Another story of an impossible thing accomplished by faith is the story of Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead for four days before Jesus came to his sorrowing sisters. The institute manual tells of a tradition that the Jews had that the spirit lingered by the body for three days hoping to reenter it. After the third day, the spirit left, never to return. Perhaps the reason Jesus waited the four days related to this tradition. We don't really know. What we do know is that the decomposition process would have been well under way after four days. There was no refrigeration to slow the progress of decay.

It was impossible that Lazarus would revive and come out of the grave whole and healthy, and yet he did.

I believe that we live in a time where we might be required to have the faith to do impossible things. The tree of our faith might be required to withstand hurricanes.

May we have the faith of Nephi who said, "I will go, I will do. . ." (1 Nephi 3:7)

Nephi went and he got the plates. He went and built a boat. He went and crossed the ocean. He went and built a city and a temple and a people.

Isaiah writes a question from the Lord, "Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?" (50:2)

On my mission, at every mission meeting, we would stand and recite a passage from Joseph Smith.

"The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done." (Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, quoted by Dallin H Oaks, April General Conference 1996)

"Those that be with us are more than those that be with them."

The war has been won.

We need to decide whose side we are on.

With God, we can do the impossible.

I'm getting released today

We are getting ready to move, again. I am ready. I feel there are people we need to meet, things we need to do.

This will be my last lesson to this Relief Society. I have been thinking what I want to say, and I have a pretty good lesson, at least I think so. (I'll post my lesson from today after I give it. It seems to work better that way.)

I have also been looking for the information I got when I received my calling. I have not been able to find it. It was not where I thought it was. It is the copy of the Handbook and a packet put together by the Stake Relief Society. 

The Handbook is on my scripture app.  I have really liked going electronic. 

I  searched all the places that I could find, and then I prayed. We had places to go yesterday, but our meetings don't start until 1pm. So I determined to look this morning.

Last night I had two places come to my mind. I looked there this morning. They were in the second place. I said a prayer of thanks, and then I looked at the stack that was with the two items I was looking for.

I found a 5 - 7 minute "story" that I had prepared two years ago for the Relief Society. I read it and knew I needed to keep it.

This has become my journal and the place I keep important things. This was my portion of the Christmas lesson that year. It was more my ponderings and not a story per se.

Christmas time is a time to remember the birth of Jesus. And yet the reason we remember His birth is because of how He lived His life.

I want to share two of my favorite New Testament stories.

I love the story of Christ sleeping in the middle of the storm. His disciples surrounded Him. They were terrified. They were men that made their living sailing on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples knew what to look for. They knew how to stay safe. An yet, on this occasion, they were caught in the middle of the sea in the middle of a storm. They were afraid for their lives and surprised to see Jesus sleeping peacefully in the tempest. (Matt 8:27).

I think there is a lesson in the routine of the voyage. The disciples were doing what they should have been doing. They were with who they should be with. The were in the routine of their lives, something they did countless times. And something they continued to do after this event. Still having done nothing wrong, they found themselves in a very troubling situation. The Savior was there in person, and it was natural, if a bit unnerving, to wake Him up and ask for help. After the winds ceased, the boat was still in the middle of the lake. There was still work to do, but the Heavenly Peace had blessed them, and saved them.

We can liken this story to us. In the middle of our trials, we can feel the peace and love from our Master and courageously continue. He has told us, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27).

I think that it is during the storms in our lives that we listen the closest for the voice of the Lord. And our lives are designed to have many sudden and violent storms. We have only to look at the lives of the prophets, the friends of Christ, to see that trials come to even the most righteous.

The result of our trials, hopefully, lead us closer to Him. 

I love the scripture in John. Mary was alone in the garden by His tomb. She saw two angels and they asked her why she was weeping. She replied that she was looking for her Lord. She turned around and with eyes full of tears she didn't recognized the One she was seeking. She didn't recognize Him when He said, "Woman, shy weepest thou?: Whom seekest thou?" She didn't recognize Him until He called her name - "Mary." (John 20:11-16)

Thinking about this story this way makes me think of the parable of the Good Shepherd. The sheep will know His voice and they will come when He calls them - by their name.

We can be sure that Christ knows us. It is up to us to know Him. And that is Life Eternal - to know God and Jesus Christ. (John 17:3)

This Christmas season, let us remember the reason for the season. Let us be wise and seek Him. Let us come to know Him and follow Him home.

Happy birthday Relief Society

We had our Relief Society birthday party on Thursday.

We are on a healthy kick, so our dinner was this amazing salad. We learned a lot about doing a salad bar. We had barely enough lettuce -- 6 heads, 3 iceburg and 3 romanine.

We had twice as much toppings as needed.

I like salads with a lot of different colors. So I took pictures of our beautiful toppings.

Along with our lettuce, we had grilled chicken; tomatoes; cauliflower; bean salad; . . .

shredded carrots; shredded cheese; sliced red, yellow and orange peppers; cucumbers, chopped purple cabbage; cottage cheese; hard boiled eggs; . . .

strawberries; pineapple; broccoli; diced apples; spinach; . . .

pickled beets; sunflower seeds; slivered almonds; crasins; croutons; and salad dressings.

I'm sure I didn't capture some of our toppings. I was beautiful and delicious.

I was trying out my kitchen ninja (food processor) and the purple cabbage, cauliflower  and broccoli were chopped to surprising fineness. I made different bowls of broccoli and cauliflower florets, but the processed bowl seemed to be a bigger hit.

We also had rolls and butter.

For dessert, we had a cream puff bar: vanilla and chocolate puddings, fudge sauce and whipped cream.

We did a short program based on the talk from Women's Conference: The Lord Has Not Forgotten You, by Linda S Reeves, 2nd Counselor in the RS General Pres.

We recorded five of our sisters telling how they knew they were not forgotten. In between the segments was an amazing song that I had never heard. I'm not sure how that happened. It is called "Ninety and Nine" by Micheal McLean. I came home that night and bought it. Now I have it and can listen to it when I want to. :)

I thought about all the ways that I have felt remembered by the Lord in my life. Sometimes it is so easy to feel small and insignificant -- forgotten. But I have had moments when I am certain that He knows my name, He knows my pain, and that He loves me in my struggles.

I think that is the reason for our struggles -- we need those times when we need Him so desperately that we actually find Him. In those times we seek and we find.