“Be Not Weary in Well-Doing”

By Jeffrey M. Bradshaw · October 3, 2016, Meridian Magazine https://latterdaysaintmag.com/be-not-weary-in-well-doing/

Recently, I came across the following statement on a blog of a woman whom I do not know:[i]

I am weary in well-doing. If I [were] not a woman of faith and did not know better … existing on only emotions … and could truly leave all troubles behind … I would take the first train to anywhere — somewhere beautiful and balmy where everyone lives happily ever after .…

I am wrestling in restoring my relationship with one of my … sons … who has brought grief upon the family once again. It seems this is a pattern. Just as I truly began to feel back upon my feet, facing a brightening horizon, another incident occurs … leaving me floundering all over again .… Could you pray for me, my dear family and friends?

Anticipating the fact that weariness would become a chronic companion to many of the best of souls in the latter-days, the Lord spoke these comforting words to a very weary Joseph Smith following his return from a difficult trip to Missouri, and as he prepared to move his family for the umpteenth time:[ii]

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

In preparing this message, I have felt to have a personal word with any of you who, in this era of hastening the work, may feel weary in well-doing. As anyone who has experienced weariness knows, it is different than being tired. A change in scenery or a good night’s sleep is often enough to cure tiredness. Weariness, however, goes bone-deep. It can build up over long periods of time and may continue to drain us, even when we are getting plenty of rest. It is a mental, emotional, and spiritual condition, not merely a physical one.

While recognizing the wise counsel of scripture that we should do all things “in wisdom and order” and “not run faster than [we have] strength,”[iii] I believe that, in the most common situations, the cure for weariness in well-doing is the opposite of the cure for tiredness. The cure for weariness in well-doing does not come when we kick back and take a break, but rather, paradoxically, when we press forward and dig in deeper. The additional increment of spiritual work that is required to overcome weariness in well-doing is born of an intensification of our “devotion and loyalty and integrity, and above and beyond everything else, [our increased] faith in the Brethren and in God’s power and goodness.”[iv] With the redoubling of our effort in this spiritual work comes a supernal spiritual gift, a gift that lifts and strengthens, a renewed vigor and enabling power that comes “in and through of the atonement”[v] of Jesus Christ.

As I study scripture and reflect on my own experience, I find that the spiritual work that conquers weariness in well-doing comes in three main ways — first, in turning outward; second, in looking upward; and, third, in enduring to the end.

Turn Outward

First, let’s talk about turning outward. In his book entitled Act in Doctrine: Spiritual Patterns for Turning from Self to the Savior,[vi] Elder David A. Bednar writes about the importance of learning for ourselves about the character of Christ.[vii] And what is the mainspring of Christ’s character? It is, writes Elder Bednar,[viii] in the difference between the Redeemer and “you and I as fallen, natural men and women [who] would likely turn inward with self-absorption, self-pity, and selfishness [when faced with weariness and suffering]. But the character of Christ [is rooted in] the consistent capacity to turn outward and minister to others in the midst of affliction.”

As an example, Elder Bednar writes of the forty days of fasting and trial by Satan that Jesus experienced in the Judaean wilderness following his baptism.[ix] Against the backdrop of the physical and spiritual draining that Jesus must have felt after His encounter with the adversary, Matthew 4:11 records the following:

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Elder Bednar observes that Jesus certainly “would have benefited from and been blessed by such a heavenly ministration in a time of [His own] physical and spiritual need.”[x] However, he then points our attention to the Joseph Smith Translation of the same verse, which reads:[xi]

Then the devil leaveth him, and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John).

In the Joseph Smith Translation of this verse, Elder Bednar finds keys that “significantly enhance our understanding of this event and reveal the character of Christ … Angels did not come and minister to the Lord; rather, in His own state of spiritual, mental, and physical distress, He sent angels to minister to John the Baptist. Note that Jesus in the midst of His own challenge recognized and appropriately responded to John — who was experiencing a lesser challenge than that of the Savior.”[xii]

Another example is Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, as found in the gospel of John chapter 4. It is a story to which each of us, in our overburdened lives, can relate. Scripture tells us that: “Jesus …, being wearied with his journey, sat … on the well.”[xiii]

What did Jesus do when He was weary by the well? Did He sit back, close His eyes, and rest for a while? No, He leaned forward, looked deep into the soul of the approaching woman, and engaged her earnestly in gospel conversation.

The Master utilized an occasion as it arose, though He was weary with his journey, and it was the noon-hour, and she was a Samaritan and a woman, and sinful. There were several reasons why [one of us] might have let this occasion slip, but [He] not so.[xiv]

To a Jew this was an amazing story. Here was the Son of God, tired and weary and thirsty. Here was the holiest of men, listening with understanding to a sorry story … Here is … God so loving the world, not in theory, but in action.[xv]

When the disciples returned from their journey to the city to buy food,[xvi] they pressed the Lord to eat something:[xvii]

But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

By these words, Jesus wanted His disciples to know that His weariness and hunger had been refreshed by His missionary service to the Samaritan woman and her people. His meat and His drink was not of the earthly kind that they brought him, but rather of the spiritual kind that would bring both them and Him lasting joy: “And he that reapeth … gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”[xviii]

Nowhere, of course, was the capacity of Jesus Christ to turn outward toward others rather than inward toward self shown more completely than in the culminating hours of His sacrifice in Gethesemane and Calvary.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote:[xix]

Jesus’ character necessarily underwrote His remarkable atonement. Without Jesus’ sublime character there could have been no sublime atonement!

Elder Bednar puts it this way: “Jesus, who suffered the most, has the most compassion for all of us who suffer so much less.”[xx] Though the unbearable agonies of death on the cross or its excruciating equivalents in physical torture have been experienced by an untold number of human victims,[xxi] no other individual has ever had to endure the crushing load of all griefs, all sorrows, all transgressions, and all sin.[xxii] Of the nature, magnitude, and scope of the portion of the Atonement that Christ willingly took upon Himself in Gethsemane, Elder James E. Talmage[xxiii] writes:

Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. The thought that He suffered through fear of death is untenable. Death to Him was preliminary to resurrection and triumphal return to the Father from whom He had come, and to a state of glory even beyond what He had before possessed; and, moreover, it was within His power to lay down His life voluntarily.[xxiv] He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so;[xxv] for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope[xxvi] would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, “the prince of this world”[xxvii] could inflict…

In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world.

In His agonizing Atonement, Jesus trod “the wine-press alone, … and none were with [Him].”[xxviii] Yet, He was with us, fully with us in that moment — turning outward to relieve us from our suffering at the time of His own greatest suffering.[xxix] Thanks be to our Lord that He pressed forward on our behalf in the agony of His compassion, not permitting Himself to become weary in well-doing!

May I emphasize here that for the Savior to accomplish His “infinite and eternal”[xxx] sacrifice, His consecration of self had to be whole and complete. Had there been but one particle of selfishness in His soul, it would have been sufficient to undermine the purity of integrity and the totality of commitment needed to sustain the completion of His mission to save us through His suffering. And here is why God gives us the opportunity to learn the meaning of sacrifice in mortality: It is because someday, if we are to follow the Son back to the presence of the Father, each of us must likewise extinguish the last crumb of selfishness from our souls, being willing to submit to the Father in all things He may require of us,[xxxi] “yea, every sacrifice which … the Lord, shall command,”[xxxii] even if it be a sacrifice like that of Abraham.[xxxiii]

Look Upward

The second cure for weariness in well-doing is to look upward. When the Tempter invited Jesus to transform the stones of the desert wilderness into something that would satisfy His hunger, He answered: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”[xxxiv] Thus we see that being “nourished by the good word of God”[xxxv] was a second source of the Savior’s ability to endure weariness and temptation.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell shared the following about the effectiveness of the word of God as an antidote to spiritual weariness:[xxxvi]

[The] staying power [that prevents weariness in well-doing] requires strength, and that strength is to be achieved by feasting upon the gospel of Jesus Christ regularly, deeply, and perceptively. If you and I go undernourished by the gospel feast [that] God has generously spread before us, we’re vulnerable, instead of durable. As Paul … warned, we then become “wearied and faint in our minds.”[xxxvii]

Said President Spencer W. Kimball:[xxxviii]

I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all my heart and mind and strength.

Note that to receive the spiritual nourishment described by Elder Maxwell and President Kimball requires “feasting on the pleasing word of Christ.”[xxxix] Weariness in well-doing will not be assuaged through the kind of gospel study that is born of grudging obedience to duty, like that of a small child glumly forcing down a tiny bite of a hated vegetable because his mother made him do it. Rather, it is like Joseph Smith, Sr.’s account of his dream of the sweet fruit of the love of God: “The more we [ate], the more we seemed to desire,[xl] until we even got down upon our knees, and scooped it up, eating it by double handfuls.”[xli]

Does the description of scooping it up and “eating it by double handfuls” resemble a baby drinking milk or an adult eating solid food? While scripture sanctions scriptural milk for new members of the Church,[xlii] the author of Hebrews bluntly rebukes longtime saints for their inability to understand anything beyond the milk contained in the “first principles”[xliii] of the Gospel, reminding them that “strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.”[xliv]

To obtain the spiritual nourishment we need to prevent or cure weariness in well-doing we will need to do something more than sit back and casually sip a steady diet of our favorite scripture stories through a straw. To survive the trials of the last days, both we and our families will finally have to get serious about digging in and feasting on the soul-nourishing prophecies of Isaiah, especially those that have been specially selected and commented upon for us in the Book of Mormon. We will need to drink the restoring waters of the Psalms; to consume generous portions of the bone-building elements of eternal truth in the Doctrine and Covenants; to thoroughly chew, swallow, and digest Jesus’ hard words against Pharisees and hypocrites in the New Testament; and to return again and again for more helpings of the temple-saturated teachings of the Pearl of Great Price and the book of Genesis.

Then when, through diligent effort in study and prayer, we have finally prepared our stomachs for “strong meat”[xlv] the Lord Himself will we our teacher. Then, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we who “walk, and are sad”[xlvi] will be worthy to have the Lord to “tarry with [us]”[xlvii] and be our companion. Then, when He sits at meat with us,[xlviii] our eyes will be opened[xlix] and our “hearts [will] burn within us” as he talks with us, and opens the God’s word to us,[l] and we will know and recognize our Lord with perfect certainty.[li]

Meanwhile, as we await the moment when we shall see Him face-to-face,[lii] we know what is required of us in order to “run and not be weary, and … walk and not faint”[liii] — we must look upward to God through feasting on His word.

Endure to the End

Third, we must endure to the end. As a prisoner in Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith cried out to the Lord to know when He would relieve the trials of the saints in Missouri. The Lord replied:[liv]

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

Not only must each of us “endure it well,”[lv] we must also “endure to the end”[lvi] or, as it says more specifically elsewhere in scripture, we must “endure in faith on his name to the end.”[lvii]

Sometimes the idea of “enduring to the end” presents a miserable prospect, something like hanging on for dear life with your fingernails to the edge of a cliff, hoping you will be rescued before it is too late. It is true that the Lord sometimes requires us to experience such high-adventure discipleship,[lviii] but generally the routine though no-less-crucial tests of our daily walk are nothing near so dramatic and terrifying. The Savior taught and served “by the way”[lix] countless times but was called on to suffer “in the garden” [lx] only once.

For most of us, most of the time, “enduring to the end” can be part of a joyful journey like the one portrayed in 2 Nephi 31:30: “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” While, especially in moments of discouragement, we might be tempted focus our hopes for relief solely on the glorious “end” promised for the faithful, we should not forget the richness of the journey itself.

I like the way Bill Hensley, a cherished friend from my stake in Pensacola, Florida, expresses the concept of “enduring to the end.” He says: “Enjoy to the end.”

Enjoying to the End

The full-time missionaries face constant obstacles, challenges, and disappointments in their work, yet it rarely gets them down for long. They are buoyed up by a power beyond their own. Why is that? The missionaries are constantly turning outward to others rather than turning inward to self. They are “nourished by the good word of God”[lxi] as they study the scriptures and pray frequently and fervently for others. And, as they serve with their whole “heart, might, mind, and strength”[lxii] they learn what it means to “enjoy to the end.”13-be-not-weary-missionaries-securedownload-1

A story is told about former First Presidency member N. Eldon Tanner, while he was president of the West European Mission.[lxiii] As he talked with a group of missionaries from Germany one day, he closed by saying: “Have a good time!” Surprised by his remark, one of the missionaries came up to him afterward and said in exasperation, “President Tanner, I don’t think that it is quite fair for you to tell the missionaries to have a good time. You know, the only way they can have a good time is to do their work.” He said, “Well, go and have a good time.”

Summary

In summary, we can conquer weariness in well-doing by turning outward to others rather than turning inward to self, looking upward to feast upon the word of God, and enjoying to the end. As Elder Maxwell wrote:

The urgings for us not to weary in well-doing contain prescriptions to avoid such weariness. We are to work steadily, but realistically, and only expect to reap “in due season.” We are to serve while being “meek and lowly,” avoiding thereby the wearying burdens of self-pity and hypocrisy. We are to pray always so that we will not faint, so that our performance will actually be for the welfare of our souls, which is so much more than just going through the motions.[lxiv]

Paradoxical as it sounds, more diligence actually brings more relief. [lxv]

Weariness … arises out of struggling to perform in a lackluster way because of a lack of commitment. Trying to do the Lord’s work with a slothful heart brings its own special buildup of blockage in arteries and valves. There are no aerobics in apathy. Merely going through the motions of Church membership without the renewing emotions of discipleship can be very fatiguing.[lxvi]

Selfishness not only shrinks the quantity of service we render but also provides none of the needed renewal, no “rest to [our] souls.”[lxvii]

I like what Brigham Young has to say on the subject:

I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for Christ’s sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have enjoyed a great deal, but so far as suffering goes I have compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I think of what I have suffered for the Gospel’s sake — I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one.[lxviii]

As to trials, why bless your hearts, the man or woman who enjoys the spirit of our religion has no trials; but the man or woman who tries to live according to the Gospel of the Son of God, and at the same time clings to the spirit of the world, has trials and sorrows acute and keen, and that, too, continually. Cast off the yoke of the enemy, and put on the yoke of Christ, and you will say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. This I know by experience. [lxix]

This is my experience, too — of which I testify, some fifty years after my own baptism. Though I am far from fit for the kingdom of heaven, I, like you was comforted by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s recent reminder that the gifts of God “are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep … my commandment, and [for them] that seeketh so to do.”[lxx] I am glad to know that God knows that I want to become a better follower of the Savior in “well-doing.” Seriously trying to do so brings me greater joy than I ever could have imagined. It keeps the intensity of my spiritual life balanced with the insanity of my personal and professional life; it strengthens my testimony and my faith, which otherwise might have become dangerously weak and ineffective; and most of all, it provides me some tangible means of showing love to my Father in Heaven and His Son, who have given me their all.

This article was adapted from a talk given at the Pensacola Florida Stake Conference on 14 June 2014.

 

 Sister Jean Bingham, April 2020, "United in Accomplishing God's Work"

Women and the Priesthood

This new Church organization for women, named the Relief Society, was

unlike other women’s societies of the day because it was established by a

prophet who acted with priesthood authority to give women authority,

sacred responsibilities, and official positions within the structure of the

Church, not apart from it.

From the Prophet Joseph Smith’s day to ours, the ongoing restoration of all

things has brought enlightenment on the necessity of the authority and

power of the priesthood in helping both men and women accomplish their

divinely appointed responsibilities. Recently we have been taught that

women who are set apart under the direction of one holding priesthood keys

operate with priesthood authority in their callings.

In October 2019, President Russell M. Nelson taught that women who are

endowed in the temple have priesthood power in their lives and in their homes

as they keep those sacred covenants they made with God. He explained that

“the heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power

flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the

priesthood.” And he encouraged every sister to “draw liberally upon the

Savior’s power to help your family and others you love.”

So what does that mean for you and me? How does understanding priesthood

authority and power change our lives? One of the keys is to understand

that when women and men work together, we accomplish a great deal more

than we do working separately. Our roles are complementary rather than

competitive. Although women are not ordained to a priesthood office, as

noted previously women are blessed with priesthood power as they keep

their covenants, and they operate with priesthood authority when they are

set apart to a calling.

 

Dieter F. Utchdorf, October 2015

     I don’t know if it was easy for Daniel to be a believer in such an environment. Some people are blessed with a believing heart—for them, faith seems to come as a gift from heaven. But I imagine that Daniel was like many of us who have to work for our testimonies. I’m confident that Daniel spent many hours on his knees praying, laying his questions and fears on the altar of faith, and waiting upon the Lord for understanding and wisdom.

And the Lord did bless Daniel. Though his faith was challenged and ridiculed, he stayed true to what he knew by his own experience to be right.

    Daniel believed. Daniel did not doubt.

And then one night, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled his mind. He assembled his team of scholars and counselors and demanded that they describe the dream to him and also reveal the meaning of it.

Of course, they could not. “No one can do what you ask,” they pleaded. But this only made Nebuchadnezzar more furious, and he commanded that all the wise men, magicians, astrologers, and counselors be cut in pieces—including Daniel and the other young students from Israel.

You who are familiar with the book of Daniel know what happened next. Daniel asked Nebuchadnezzar for a little extra time, and he and his faithful companions went to the source of their faith and moral strength. They prayed to God and asked for divine help at this crucial moment in their lives. And “then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a … vision.”³

Daniel, the young boy from a conquered nation—who had been bullied and persecuted for believing in his strange religion—went before the king and revealed to him the dream and its interpretation.

 From that day on, as a direct result of his faithfulness to God, Daniel became a trusted counselor to the king, renowned for his wisdom in all of Babylon.

The boy who believed and lived his faith had become a man of God. A prophet. A prince of righteousness.⁴

     ... we have been given much. We have been taught the divine truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been entrusted with priesthood authority to help our fellowmen and build up God’s kingdom on earth. We live in a time of great outpouring of spiritual power. We have the fulness of truth. We have priesthood keys to seal on earth and in heaven. Sacred scriptures and teachings of living prophets and apostles are available as never before.

My dear friends, let us not take these things lightly. With these blessings and privileges come great responsibilities and obligations. Let us rise up to them.

The ancient city of Babylon is in ruins. Its splendor is long gone. But Babylon’s worldliness and wickedness live on. Now it falls to us to live as believers in a world of disbelief. The challenge is ours to daily practice the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to live true to God’s commandments. We will have to stay calm under peer pressure, not be impressed by popular trends or false prophets, disregard the ridicule of the ungodly, resist the temptations of the evil one, and overcome our own laziness.

     Just think about it. How much easier would it have been for Daniel to simply go along with the ways of Babylon? He could have set aside the restrictive code of conduct God had given the children of Israel. He could have feasted on the rich foods provided by the king and indulged in the worldly pleasures of the natural man. He would have avoided ridicule.

 He would have been popular.

He would have fit in.

His path might have been much less complicated.

 That is, of course, until the day when the king demanded an interpretation of his dream. Then Daniel would have found that he, like the rest of Babylon’s “wise men,” had lost his connection to the true source of light and wisdom.

    Daniel passed his test. Ours still continues.

 

 Quotes from LDS Living magazine, May/June 2022

Ed Willis, Panther to Priesthood

“I believe that the wedge between white and Back, or men and women, or other cultures, is authored by the enemy of all humankind.  Period.  And I also realize that racism is a learned thing.  So don’t let that issue keep you from the gospel, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because the racism aspect is from people; it’s not in the doctrine of the Church to be racist against any people….

“,,,in spite of what the status quo might mean for you, or what the enemy, which is Satan, might want for you–that doesn’t matter to God.  Because God loves you equally as everyone else.”  

From Erin Hallstrom, Associate Publisher

“In this issue, we read the story of a woman named Karin who seems to have experienced more trials in life than the average person (“Winter Never Lasts Forever,” p. 40).  But Karin makes a beautiful analogy about how trials are seasons we pass through.  For me, viewing a trial as a season that will change allows for hope and gives needed perspective.” 

Emily Belle Freeman, February 27, 2020

 ·

Just before I walked into the sacred grove I sat on a wooden picnic bench that was in desperate need of sanding down and listened to my good friend share his witness of that story.

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And why don’t we share our witness of that story with our friends more often?

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This is a time when people are walking away from the important things. A time when questioning leads away from God, instead of closer to Him.

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There was a time when hard questions and division and doubt lead a boy into a grove of trees. Those questions lead him to God. To the restoration of His church.

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It was a heartfelt question that led to this living church. And living means messy, and growing, and progressing, because restoration requires sanding down and revealing the old and revelation is tricky to get right sometimes.

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I sit on that old wooden bench, warped and peeling, and I can see how restoration would be messy.

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And then my friend says the words I know I will never forget.

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The most important truth of the restoration is that God answers prayers from obscure boys of little consequence.

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And this is what I know. God saw that obscure boy who read one verse and wanted to know something. The same way He sees you and me.

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He saw how messy he would make things. How he would try, and how he would make mistakes, and He knew how messy restoration would be. And He still spoke to him! Because He knew that boy wouldn’t walk away. Not after the tar and feathers. Not after losing the little one. Not after being chased down and tormented and taunted. Not ever.

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That obscure boy of little consequence wouldn’t back down because He saw God in the mess.

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He wouldn’t walk away from the grove.

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Neither will I.

Talk given by Daylene Walker, Rexburg East Stake Conference, December 2017
I usually hesitate sharing examples of what our family does, in fear that others might think I am suggesting we are the example to follow.  Please know, that is not the case!   But for the sake of this talk, I’m going to take a risk and invite you into our home.  Into our kitchen to be exact.  It’s 8:00 in the morning and the first thing you’ll probably notice is that I could work a little harder on my house keeping skills….although today, it looks pretty good because I knew you were coming!  But you’ll see that our table is cluttered with empty breakfast dishes, there’s probably a little peanut butter smeared on the table cloth, blankets have been left behind that were brought it by our sleepy children and open Books of Mormon are scattered around where our children sat earlier that morning.  It’s a mess really, but it’s a beautiful sight to me because I know for that day, we helped our children “feast upon the words of Christ” (well, some mornings its more of a nibble) but we hope it will generate an appetite, thirst and hunger for more within them and that they will seek and want more of it for themselves.  Kyle and I know that “feasting upon the words of Christ” is how they will really come to know their Father in Heaven and His Son, and that is one of the greatest gifts we could ever hope for them to receive.   

I love the Book of Mormon!  It has become something I hunger for in my life and that has happened over a period of years and through a number of experiences. 

A Test  

 I remember one of the first times I really got a taste for the Book of Mormon and tested it to see if those ancient stories were really applicable to me.  (20 years ago) Kyle was in graduate school, and we were blessed to live rent free, in a funeral home, but it came at a very heavy price—we were married to that place.  We answered doors, telephones, cleaned daily and before and after every viewing and funeral, met with families and had to move out furniture and set up chairs for funerals that were held at the mortuary and then put it all back together after the funeral was over.  It was a lot of work and very demanding.  We were on call 24 hours a day.  We had been living and raising our family there for 3 years.  Josh was 4 and Drake was a very hard 2 1/2-year-old at the time.  I was maxed out on energy and felt like we were barely surviving the heavy load and demands of schooling, parenting, church callings and life at the mortuary.  It was at this time that Kyle and I both felt like we should have another baby, but it felt impossible to me unless we moved out of the mortuary, but that didn’t feel right either.  And plus, how do you walk away from free housing in the midst of graduate school?  I wasn’t convinced and wasn’t moving forward in faith.  I was scared and I was doubting the inspiration that Kyle and I were receiving.  That is when my wise husband shared Mosiah, chapter 24 with me.   We read and reread verses 14 and 15 together and I marveled at the possibility these verses suggested. 

(Amulon persecutes Alma and his people)

  “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
15And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.” 
I remember asking Kyle if he thought this could work for us.  He already knew the answer, and so instead of answering he asked me if I thought this could work for us?  Could we have an Alma like experience in our own family?  Better yet, could we exercise Alma like faith?  Well, to answer that question, about a year later, Kelsie joined our family and I had prayed every day of that year that my burdens would be made light that I would have the strength to bear them up with ease just like He did for the people of Alma.  After Kelsie was born, I remember feeling really bad and worried for the owners of the mortuary.  Business seemed unusually slow that year and I feared they wouldn’t clear a very good profit.  As I asked one of the owners about it, I was shocked when he told me it was their busiest year on record and because so many funerals had been held at our building they were in the process of drawing up plans for the addition of an onsite chapel where future services could be held. 

I didn’t believe him.  We were busier than ever, but it didn’t feel like it.  The Lord blessed and strengthened us that we were able to go through that pregnancy, and that year of life at the mortuary with ease.  Three months later we were miraculously delivered from the mortuary as an inexpensive home rental practically fell into our laps.  This experience increased our trust in Heavenly Father and his promises. We learned to always move forward in faith.  God had heard and answered our prayers, and we were reminded that God was mindful of our little family and we were able to trust that he had a plan for us.  These timely and crucial lessons prepared us for and blessed us through the trials we would yet face in our lives.

Hungry for More

This experience wet my appetite for the Book of Mormon.  Our family had an Alma like experience!  I was hungry for more!  It’s amazing to think that what worked for Alma and his people can work for us today.  The Book of Mormon never gets outdated!  That’s amazing!  As life has progressed the Book of Mormon has never failed us!  When we are in it’s pages that is when God speaks to us and we have always found or been led to the help we were looking for.  That is because the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in the Book of Mormon and its application is the solution to all of life’s challenges, just as it was anciently, and just as it will be years from now.   President Nelson says that the Book of Mormon contains the answers to life’s most compelling questions.
So, here’s one of those compelling questions:  What do you do when life seems to be contradicting a promise given in a priesthood blessing?  We have a son who suffers from seizures, for about a year and a half now, uncontrolled so far, that have come on as a late side effect of surgeries, chemo and radiation to his brain.  A few months ago, in a very powerful priesthood blessing, he was promised that he would never have a seizure again.  That’s what I heard, but a few weeks later he had not one, but two seizures within hours of each other and the second one ending with a call to the paramedics because he fell and got hurt during it.  How do you settle that one?  You’re promised one thing, but the opposite happens?  The Book of Mormon teaches us that Sorrow and faith can exist together.  Sorrow is different than despair.  Have we been sorrowful?  Yes!  Doubting the Lord?  No!  Like Nephi we are saying, we don’t know the meaning of everything, but we know that God loves His children.  We know we are His children.  And we know God is a God of truth and cannot lie.  And while we wait upon the Lord, and seek greater understanding, moving forward in faith, our souls are comforted in Christ and our hope in Christ sustains us as we know that all of God’s promises will be fulfilled, eventually.
President Nelson said, “when I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power.  The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console and cheer our souls.”  I know that is true.  The truths of the Book of Mormon have healed us from wounds inflicted by mortality, has comforted us on our darkest days, have restored our hope, have succored us when the troubles of the day seem bigger than us and too heavy to bare, has strengthened us to do what we never thought possible, has consoled us through our disappointments and has cheered our souls when sorrow looms long.  Through those pages we have come to know our Savior, Jesus Christ and have gained greater understanding of his great atoning sacrifice in a very intimate and powerful way.  And God’s great plan of happiness has become a very real, hope filled and beautiful thing to us.

My Testimony
I love the Book of Mormon and this opportunity to reflect upon why I do has made me fall in love with it all over again!  I know it’s true.  The Book of Mormon is a miracle, prepared by the hand of God to guide us day by day.   The Book of Mormon has changed me.  Through prayer and scripture study I have found my true identity.  I am a daughter of God!  Can I tell you how freeing that is?  Free from self-doubt and worry that I’m not good enough.  Free from pressures to be something or someone I’m not.  Free from the pain of untruths I used to believe about myself.  Free to be me, and that’s enough!  And because I’m His daughter, I want to not only return to Him some day, but I want to be like Him when I do.  And I want my family there with me.  The Love my Father in Heaven has for me is what I base my confidence on and when I fail to invite the spirit into my life on a daily basis by reading the scriptures to remind me of that love, I find that is when my confidence wanes.  I’m a better mother when I’ve invited the spirit into my life as the spirit helps me throughout the day as I battle the urge to re-act to situations, and instead, pause, and act.  Those are my really good mommy days….when I know I’m acting and not re-acting!  And on those days when I’m less than my best, I’m so grateful that I can repent and try again. .as many times as it takes.  The truths I am learning replace fear with faith as I am reminded time and time again that there isn’t a problem too big for the Lord.  He has all power and can do whatsoever He will for the benefit of man.  That gives me great confidence in turning to Him with all of my problems. 
The things I want for my children will only come as they seek the Lord through feasting upon his words.  I want my children to know who they truly are.  I want for them what President Monson has promised, to hear the voice of the spirit, have power to resist temptation, overcome doubt and fear and receive Heaven’s help in their lives.  I want them to have as many experiences with light and truth as possible so that when they encounter the Sheram’s and the Nehor’s of the world, they like Jacob from the Book of Mormon, because of their many experiences and choices, “will not be shaken.”  As so when I see them in their Books of Mormon, reading on their own, I know they are on the right track.
As we have tried to daily feast upon God’s word, individually and as a family, I can testify that there has come into our lives and into our home an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God, just as President Hinckley promised years ago.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

A great story told by President Faust.  Keep for a future talk.

“The answer to those questions may best be given by relating the story of a young piano student. His mother, wishing to encourage him, “bought tickets for a performance of the great Polish pianist, Paderewski. The night of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front of the concert hall. While the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped quietly away.

“Suddenly, it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’

“His mother gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

“In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, ‘Keep playing.’”⁷

In contrast to the destructive impact of contention, President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency emphasized the unity of the spirit of peace:

    “Where people have that Spirit with them, we may expect harmony. The Spirit puts the testimony of truth in our hearts, which unifies those who share that testimony. The Spirit of God never generates contention (see 3 Nephi 11:29). It never generates the feelings of distinctions between people which lead to strife (see Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 131). It leads to personal peace and a feeling of union with others. It unifies souls. A unified family, a unified Church, and a world at peace depend on unified souls” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1998, 86; or Ensign, May 1998, 67).