Strength for the Week

I had a prayer answered this week.

I keep asking the Lord what my path should be, and what would He have me do?  I also complain a little to Him as well.  But only in a whisper...

And this week through my personal Gospel study and then getting up and going 'to work', a little perfect truth seeped into my weary but grateful heart.

"Be patient.  Your duty is to learn everything you possibly can during the pain.  Make the most of your tutelage.  Trust Me."

It has not only stayed with me, but it has broadened my shoulders and changed my attitude for the better this week.

In essence, I feel hope.  

Yes, my friend April S. said it well:  God is good.  He is so, so very good.  

BYUI Devotional quote from Tuesday, June 4:

"Our goal must be to find the good that can result from our challenges.  God in His great wisdom and love will do what is best for us and those around us, if we will but turn to Him and have faith in Him.
It will often require enduring experiences that are not pleasant or easy, but enduring them with faith that will eventually result in greater blessings for us and certainly a blessing to those who watch how we handle these difficult challenges."

-- Harold C. Brown
President, Draper UT temple

How have I seen God's love for me in my personal life this week?

1) This quote has a sentence that is in my patriarchal blessing word for word.  Coincidence?  Nope.

2)  One of my favorite mission companions whom I have not spoken with in years, sent me a beautiful card this week.  I read it with tears.  I love her.

3)  My friend and drama teacher from high school also owns the Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone.  I stopped in to say 'hi' last weekend when the kids and I were in town.  He gave us 5 comp tickets to see Beauty and the Beast that night.  It lifted my spirits.  There's nothing better than live musical productions to enrich the human spirit.

4)  Our friends the Abel's gave us the gift of creating new memories with them last weekend.  They hosted us in their beautiful cabin in Island Park, and a day touring Yellowstone (which my children have never seen.  Ridiculous because we live in it's backyard, I know.)

5) My son made a new friend this week.  We have been praying since Leech's left for him to make new friends... and he is the happiest 13-year old.  Hanging out with Jaxon has been a daily adventure for Josh.

6) I got to talk to each of my siblings this week.  They call and check up on us.  I love that.

7) I was informed that our names have been placed on 19 different temples' prayer roll.  I'm feeling it!

8)  Earlier this week, the Primary Presidency came by and visited my Emma.  (They had visited my youngest a few months ago, but had missed Emma somehow.)  They gave her four hand-crafted, personalized journals for each of our four children (even though Josh is in Young Men's.)  They told her that the presidency is concerned about them, and that they love them.  They also told her that sometimes when things in our lives are hard, it helps to get our feelings out in our journals.

On the inside cover, each journal reads,

"Allow the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not:  for of such is the kingdom of God.
"And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them..."
"... Behold, your little ones.
"And they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven...; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and the angels did minister unto them."

Emma read those verses to me, lovingly copied into each child's journal, and something about the offering from someone else who cares for my children almost as much as I do, made me cry.

Emma said, "Mom, I don't feel like writing.  Can I draw my feelings in the journal instead?"

I responded, "Absolutely, Em.  Get all your sads out on paper.  It's up to you."

9) One of my BFF's is going through a similar trial.  While our sons were on the Fathers and Sons Campout, she and I took our daughters to dinner and shopping at the mall.  And then to breakfast in the morning.  She has been a godsend.  We push each other forward when things seem so bleak...

Lastly, my mission comp sent this thought:

"He will sit as a Refiner and Purifier."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study, and they pondered what the statement meant about the character and nature of God.  One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work.  She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.  As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all the impurities.  The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; in Malachi 3:3, it reads:  "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purge them as gold and silver , that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined.  The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire.  If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment.  She then asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"  He smiled and answered, "Oh, that's easy-- when I see my image in it."