Faith That Wrought Miracles
Howdy,
I know I am not following the routine I was trying to establish this year. Last week I was in a different country, today I was just being lazy about getting up and going. But, here I am, after church and trying to share my thoughts. I hope you week has been good. Ours had been full of adventure.
This week, in addition the adventures, I have been pondering Ether 12:16-18.
"Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after."
"And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith."
"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore the first believed in the Son of God."
We all know that this chapter is all about faith. Each time I read it I question in my mind whether my faith is strong enough or do I really understand what faith is? Over the years, my answer has changed little by little.
As a young full-time missionary, my faith was questioned often. Not only by those who did not believe as I believe, but by those with whom I served side by side. I was sharing one memory with SnackPack this week. We were serving in a small farming/railroad town when we came upon this family who truly wanted to make changes in their lives. We happened to knock on their door while they were enjoying a stay-cation. They loved feeling of peace our message brought and wanted to more. That is when the challenge presented itself.
The brother in the home worked for the railroad. His commute, by train was almost an hour each way. He wanted us to teach his family, but it was hard. They children would get up and go to school about 8. He would leave around 10, work from 11 to 7 or so and then get home between 8 and 830 pm. He would invite us to come to his home after they finished dinner, which was closer to 9.
Remember now, that I am an old timer and still served when we had to be back in our domiciles by 930 pm. That did not leave much time to teach. The other challenge we faced was that the brother did not have weekends off, but they loved the message. The sister and children attended church a couple times, but the brother was not able to. It drove my district leader nuts.
He knew we were staying out past 930 and would randomly show up at our apartments at 630 am to check on us and make sure we were not sleeping in. He and I had many conversations about this family and why we were still teaching them if the brother was not coming to church. At one point, he said, "If he had enough faith, he would be able to attend church."
That struck a chord with me. He had faith and miracles followed, they just weren't what my district leader wanted.
There was another time and place in the mission where our zone leaders gave us a similar sermon. They were chastising us because our teaching pool did not have 30+ potential families/individuals in it. One of them said, "You don't have enough in your teaching pool because you don't have enough faith."
Again, the chord was struck. I found myself questioning my faith. It was then that I realized that faith is more than just believing. Faith is more than numbers. Faith is a life style. Miracles were happening in my life every day. They still do and yes, they increase as I live by faith more diligently.
The family we were teaching saw changes in their lives. It was because of the changes they made in their faith. It was not a lightening bolt. It was not an appearance of angels, but it was the simple, everyday witness that God knew them and was pleased that they were making changes to be closer to Him. It was the power of the Atonement in their lives everyday as they believed more fully in the Son of God. That is faith.
I hope you evaluate your faith on a regular basis. I hope that you see, hear, and feel the presence of God in your life every day.
Our week -
As you may know, the Queen, SnackPack, and I went on an adventure this past week. It was wonderful to see many of the beauties of this great earth. We flew to another hemisphere and crossed over the date line once or twice. It was interesting to see the fall colors starting to appear in March.
While we were gone, the Professor returned to the classroom after a short weekend adventure with Lady Hawkins.
Tall Man looked at changing his stars a little while continuing his normal routine. It was nice to see both Ehl-Bo and him late yesterday while we talked about school schedules.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins dropped in a couple of times this weekend. Life is busy. It sounds like changes are coming. It was good to just catch up on their adventures.
I know I am not following the routine I was trying to establish this year. Last week I was in a different country, today I was just being lazy about getting up and going. But, here I am, after church and trying to share my thoughts. I hope you week has been good. Ours had been full of adventure.
This week, in addition the adventures, I have been pondering Ether 12:16-18.
"Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after."
"And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith."
"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore the first believed in the Son of God."
We all know that this chapter is all about faith. Each time I read it I question in my mind whether my faith is strong enough or do I really understand what faith is? Over the years, my answer has changed little by little.
As a young full-time missionary, my faith was questioned often. Not only by those who did not believe as I believe, but by those with whom I served side by side. I was sharing one memory with SnackPack this week. We were serving in a small farming/railroad town when we came upon this family who truly wanted to make changes in their lives. We happened to knock on their door while they were enjoying a stay-cation. They loved feeling of peace our message brought and wanted to more. That is when the challenge presented itself.
The brother in the home worked for the railroad. His commute, by train was almost an hour each way. He wanted us to teach his family, but it was hard. They children would get up and go to school about 8. He would leave around 10, work from 11 to 7 or so and then get home between 8 and 830 pm. He would invite us to come to his home after they finished dinner, which was closer to 9.
Remember now, that I am an old timer and still served when we had to be back in our domiciles by 930 pm. That did not leave much time to teach. The other challenge we faced was that the brother did not have weekends off, but they loved the message. The sister and children attended church a couple times, but the brother was not able to. It drove my district leader nuts.
He knew we were staying out past 930 and would randomly show up at our apartments at 630 am to check on us and make sure we were not sleeping in. He and I had many conversations about this family and why we were still teaching them if the brother was not coming to church. At one point, he said, "If he had enough faith, he would be able to attend church."
That struck a chord with me. He had faith and miracles followed, they just weren't what my district leader wanted.
There was another time and place in the mission where our zone leaders gave us a similar sermon. They were chastising us because our teaching pool did not have 30+ potential families/individuals in it. One of them said, "You don't have enough in your teaching pool because you don't have enough faith."
Again, the chord was struck. I found myself questioning my faith. It was then that I realized that faith is more than just believing. Faith is more than numbers. Faith is a life style. Miracles were happening in my life every day. They still do and yes, they increase as I live by faith more diligently.
The family we were teaching saw changes in their lives. It was because of the changes they made in their faith. It was not a lightening bolt. It was not an appearance of angels, but it was the simple, everyday witness that God knew them and was pleased that they were making changes to be closer to Him. It was the power of the Atonement in their lives everyday as they believed more fully in the Son of God. That is faith.
I hope you evaluate your faith on a regular basis. I hope that you see, hear, and feel the presence of God in your life every day.
Our week -
As you may know, the Queen, SnackPack, and I went on an adventure this past week. It was wonderful to see many of the beauties of this great earth. We flew to another hemisphere and crossed over the date line once or twice. It was interesting to see the fall colors starting to appear in March.
While we were gone, the Professor returned to the classroom after a short weekend adventure with Lady Hawkins.
Tall Man looked at changing his stars a little while continuing his normal routine. It was nice to see both Ehl-Bo and him late yesterday while we talked about school schedules.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins dropped in a couple of times this weekend. Life is busy. It sounds like changes are coming. It was good to just catch up on their adventures.
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