For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

When our faith and desires for healing align with the Lord’s plan and will for our lives, miracles occur!

I’ve known Ella Glover for decades. She dedicates her life to serving others professionally and personally. She’s the Relief Society president of our new ward in Lubbock. Anthony and I have prayerfully watched her journey since hearing she contracted COVID several months ago.

Her COVID battle just ended. Ella shared her story with the Relief Society sisters recently and agreed to let me share her story (in her own words, which I have italicized below) more broadly to testify that we serve a God of miracles who knows us and loves us as individuals and as a collective humanity. Miracles are available in every form — healing is one, comfort when grieving a loved one’s loss is another.

What miracles do you see in your life? What miracle would you like to see? I invite you to search for the thing or trait or blessing you need most today and ask the Lord to give you a miracle for what you need most.

Ella Glover’s Miraculous COVID Healing

Ella Glover

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and for your concern for me as I battled for my life after I was diagnosed with COVID–19. I wanted to share my rather miraculous story with you. The Lord does perform miracles; I am living proof. Here are my past three months in a nutshell.

On August 20, 2020, I was diagnosed with COVID-19. My doctor called me in a Z-Pak and told me to quarantine myself for 10 days. He also said, “If you can’t breathe, call 911.”

I had another appointment to see my doctor on September 1 (11 days after the positive test). I got up that morning and drove to see my doctor, but I did feel as if I were short of breath. The doctor tested me and saw that my oxygen level was very low. I was immediately taken by ambulance to the emergency room and admitted to the hospital. Within 24 hours, I was moved into the COVID ICU.

Receiving A Blessing In COVID ICU

During my stay, I was put on four different breathing machines. After several tests, the doctors realized that I had no antibodies against COVID. I also have underlying health problems that could complicate things. The major one is leukemia, which I have had for 17 years, fortunately with no issues. However, because of the leukemia, my body did not make antibodies. To solve that problem, I was given plasma with someone else’s antibodies, but it would take several days before the antibodies would start to work.

I texted my son and asked if someone could come and give me a blessing. I know that there are members of the Church working at Covenant Hospital, and since I was on a strict “No Visitors” floor, I thought perhaps a priesthood holder who worked at the hospital could come.

Imagine my surprise when, within a few hours, into my room walks my son, the charming firefighter, in uniform. He looked so worried and nervous, but he gave me a beautiful blessing. He said that I would have a complete recovery and that the doctors would be “astonished” with my progress. After he left, I wrote down the few things that I could remember that he had said.

For the next 14 days, I hung on to this blessing as I tried to do everything the doctors told me to do. I would cling to every text and word of encouragement that I received. I felt my Savior at my side and I felt every prayer that was said on my behalf. 

Finally, after 18 days in the ICU, I was able to go home. I had to take home oxygen with me. I was on it 24/7 and was instructed to wean myself off it.

Thirty-Day Checkup

Ella the day she got home from the hospital

Thirty days after coming home, I had a follow-up appointment with my lung doctor. I just knew he would be happy with the fact that my oxygen was down to 2.5%, I was doing my physical therapy and I was feeling so good.

Well, it turned out that he was not happy. We looked at my X-rays and he gave me a diagnosis: I would be on oxygen for 6 months to a year and the damage and scar tissue I had was going to be a lifelong problem.

I was very sad. He decided to put me on another round of high dose steroids for a month and told me to come back in two weeks. Again, I was not happy, but I do listen to doctors.

“My Savior Loves Me and He Knows My Name”

A few days before the two-week appointment, I was able to go most of the day without oxygen. The closer it came to the appointment, the longer I could go without oxygen — it was working.

Happy to be home

The morning of the appointment, I was hopeful that he was going to tell me something good. They did a chest X-ray, and within a few minutes, he walked into the room. His first words were, “You’re healed. Your oxygen level is perfect and your lungs are clear.”

I said, “What about the scar tissue?”

He replied, “It’s all gone. I am astonished.”

He actually said it twice. We talked for about 20 minutes as he told me about the previous day. He had hospital duty and five of his patients died.

He said, “We are at a loss on how to help COVID patients, so we just throw everything we have at it and hope it works. You have received two miracles, Mrs. Glover. I am just astonished at your recovery.”

I replied, “My Savior loves me and He knows my name. I have had hundreds of people praying for me, and I know that I have a lot of work to still do on this earth.”

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

That may be true, but I also think you can love others for yourself. 

Loving others, even those who may be different from us, is one of the most important ways we can follow the Savior Jesus Christ.

I like to walk in the mornings. If you have followed this column over the years, you already know that. I am not as consistent or hardcore as my wife, but I at least hoof it on occasion. Today when I went to go start my trek, it was pretty dark outside. It may sound crazy, but I thought, “I will wear my sunglasses because the sun will be coming up on my way home.” My pockets were already full, so I perched my shades on my nose even though they weren’t really needed yet. The sunglasses would surely come in handy, as the morning rays appear early on a clear day, especially when walking toward the mountains on the east side.

Once I got outside, it wasn’t quite as pitch black as I first thought. The sun’s rays were creeping over the mountain, and the sunrise imminent. But what I first noticed when I put my sunglasses on is that they made visibility more difficult. It wasn’t too bad because there were street lights shining and stars still about. And since my pockets were already full, I just wore my dark glasses, thinking “It will get light soon enough.” Though I did notice a difference in visage, I was focusing on the oration in my earbuds, so it didn’t really matter. That particular day, I was listening to 3 Nephi 11.

This part of the Book of Mormon tells us about Christ’s coming to the American continent following His resurrection. After Jesus’ death, the people in the Americas were naturally confused because of the great and marvelous changes that had just taken place. This is when Christ appears and proclaims His Atonement. The people heard a voice as if it came out of heaven, but understood it not. Three times the voice pronounced His coming, but people failed to recognize or understand the words. How can that be? I have asked myself that many times, but continued on to the next verses without coming to any conclusion. It didn’t really make sense. Though I have read that phrase numerous times, today I understood the words completely differently.

We are told that we should lose our life for His sake. Does that ever sound confusing to you?

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

 

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

 

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

 

(Matthew 16:24-26)

We are to daily take up His cross—what does that even mean? When we are dealing with challenges, attempting to overcome hardships, and faced with unexpected situations, how can we really do this?

With our current limited vision, it is difficult to see how taking up His cross daily will help.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

 

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

 

(1 Corinthians 13:11-12)

The word darkly is defined as obscurely or enigmatically in this context. We all know what obscurely means as when something is blocking or preventing our vision or understanding, but the word enigmatically sheds further light on our current situation. Synonyms include inexplicably, mysteriously, perplexingly, or unfathomably. Do you ever feel like that?

We are told in the scriptures that we are already seeing through a glass darkly. Maybe that means that despite our best efforts, we do not see and understand everything clearly in this life since our vision is obscured by many other temporal concerns that we have to deal with every day.

Money, mortgages, food, finances, schooling, business, and employment (or the lack thereof) — all these worries concern and stress us at some time or another. They are not life’s focus, however. They instead are a means to an end. I am not saying they aren’t important, necessary, or desirable, but they alone are not the purpose of life.

To read more of Walter’s articles, click here.

Just like wearing my sunglasses in the morning obscures my vision further before it gets light, we don’t always recognize the reason things happen. Yet they are not a surprise to a loving God. I have no doubt that someday we will look back and see why things occurred the way did and how we were benefitted.

Joseph Smith taught, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it.”

Regardless of the current circumstances of our lives, our loving Savior is willing and able to change and improve us to the point that we experience joy right now and for eternity.

Handling our circumstances well starts with loving and following Him.

Walter Penning

In 1989, Walter Penning formed a consultancy based in Salt Lake City and empowered his clients by streamlining processes and building a loyal, lifetime customer base with great customer service. His true passion is found in his family. He says the best decision he ever made was to marry his sweetheart and have children. The wonderful family she has given him and her constant love, support, and patience amid life’s challenges is his panacea.

[A]s turmoil rages around us, we need to create places where we are safe, both physically and spiritually. When your home becomes a personal sanctuary of faith—where the Spirit resides—your home becomes the first line of defense. … [A] place of security is anywhere you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and be guided by Him. … I invite you, my dear sisters, to create a home that is a place of security. And I renew my invitation for you to increase your understanding of priesthood power and of temple covenants and blessings. Having places of security to which you can retreat will help you embrace the future with faith (President Russell M. Nelson, “Embrace the Future with Faith,” Oct. 2020 General Conference).

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t struggle from time to time to keep their home a peaceful place. I remember being a busy mom when my kids were growing up. Sibling rivalry and outside influences made me feel more like a referee than a partner with my husband and Heavenly Father in creating an eternal family in a place of security. Our home was chaotic and loud. Having said that, it was also a place of love. I tried to make our home a place where everyone’s opinion mattered, everyone felt comfortable in his/her own skin, and everyone knew he/she had a voice. I tried to make our home a refuge from the outside world. It may not have been a quiet refuge, nor the most organized place, but it was a refuge and place of security nonetheless. I hope our children felt that our home was their retreat. I hope they felt loved. I hope they felt protected. I hope they felt secure.

We are in a different phase of our lives now. Our children are grown and are learning to build their own sanctuaries of peace and security. Now our home is quiet—especially when we take out our hearing aids. Our sanctuary is very different than it was in years past. That doesn’t mean that there are not daily struggles to keep our home that peaceful retreat from the world. Today, making our home a sanctuary and place of security means taking care of each other’s physical needs. It’s the little things that make us feel safe from the world. Night lights, organized medical supplies, kicking the dog toys to the side of the room so they are not a trip-and-fall hazard, making sure there is no lingering shampoo residue in the bottom of the bathtub for someone to slip on, and even organizing the refrigerator so most used items are on the edge of the top shelf for easy reach—are all things that make us feel safe, secure, and loved.

Sanctuaries are built in different ways; each architect has a different style. Individuality is a gift from Heavenly Father. The result, however, is always the same. The home that is the sanctuary is a place of security and love.

To read more of Tudie’s articles, click here.

President Nelson reminded us that we needed to prepare our minds to be faithful to God and to strengthen our foundations. He renewed his earlier invitation to gain an understanding of priesthood power. Making our homes a place of security will allow us that needed sanctuary to strengthen our foundations. A place of security gives us spiritual energy to study priesthood power and the wondrous miracle that is God’s plan for us.

We tend to compare our place of security, our homes, our lives with others. That can be counterproductive. Heavenly Father created us all in His image, but with very individual personalities, traits, gifts, circumstances, and challenges. There is an eternal plan for us collectively, but there is also an individual plan for each one of us. My life doesn’t look like yours—my place of security does not look like yours. What your place of security looks like doesn’t matter; you are the architect. Go and build.

Heavenly Father wants us to feel safe, secure, and loved. He wants us to make our homes a place to progress. He wants us to take advantage of the Holy Ghost, which requires a place of refuge—a place of security.

Tudie Rose

Tudie Rose is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. You can find her on Twitter as @TudieRose. She blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com. She has written articles for Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents.

Anna mentioned how the trees looked so strong and healthy, but their roots actually remained really shallow. So when the exceptional winds hit them, the shallow-rooted trees toppled right over.

What a shallow root system!

As we continued through the park, we noticed there were lots of towering trees that still stood.  Their tall and steady strength stood in stark contrast to the toppled trees nearby.

We talked quite a bit about roots and strength. What helps us build a deep root system?  What are the hurricane-force winds in our lives?

We’ve both faced tempestuous winds that have tried our faith and refined our souls.

Standing Steadfast and Immovable

Me and Anna Maeser standing with the strong trees who survived the storm.

Recently in General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson used the metaphor of standing strong and steadfast in the turbulence of natural disasters.

[O]ur spiritual foundations must be solid. Then…we can stand “steadfast and immovable” because of our faith.

 

The Lord taught us how to increase our faith by seeking “learning, even by study and also by faith.” We strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ as we strive to keep His commandments and “always remember him.” Further, our faith increases every time we exercise our faith in Him. That is what learning by faith means.

For example, each time we have the faith to be obedient to God’s laws—even when popular opinions belittle us—or each time we resist entertainment or ideologies that celebrate covenant-breaking, we are exercising our faith, which in turn increases our faith.

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

Now is the time to assess the strength and depth of our roots. What are our triggers? Where are we weak? Where are we strong?

As children of God, we actually are so capable and strong! We choose which direction we face, where to find our food and water sources, and how deep to grow our roots.  As our relationship with the divine source of all things develops and matures, we can stand next to the eternally steadfast Tree of Life, steadfast and immovable ourselves.

“Come to the tree of life
Partake of the fruit
I feel the love of God
And you’ll feel it too, when you
Come to the tree of life
There’s joy here and peace
The greatest place in all the world to be
Is at the tree!
The greatest place in all the world to be
Is at the tree!”

 

“The Tree of Life” by Shawna Edwards

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

More than six years ago now, I was living in Colorado as a proselyting missionary. I was trying to teach as many people as possible about Christ and His role in their life. However, I was not teaching many people. My missionary companion and I decided that if we had faith and worked for our goals, it would happen.

We set a goal to hand out one Book of Mormon each day that week. She and I imagined a specific type of person we wanted to give the Book of Mormon to that night:

• A man
• who had heard of the Book of Mormon before
• who was kind to us
• who was receptive to our message about the Savior and His restored gospel
• who would let us teach him more right when we met him
• who would invite us back to continue teaching him

We asked God to meet this type of person that day, and we included the above characteristics about our future friend in our prayer. The day went along well, but we had not reached our goal yet. When it was 8:40 p.m. (we were supposed to be back at home in 20 minutes) and dark, my companion and I needed more help from God. We stood under a streetlight in a neighborhood and asked God to know which home to approach. As soon as we opened our eyes, the porch light of the home across the street came on. So we went there and knocked and a man named Mike opened the door. As we got to know Mike, we learned he was:

• A man (duh)
• who had heard of the Book of Mormon before. He had actually read it all the way through because he was curious what Latter-day Saints believed (um, awesome!)
• who was kind to us
• who was receptive to our message about the Savior and His restored gospel
• who let us teach him more right when we met him
• who invited us back to continue teaching him, and he wanted his wife to hear next time too

I know, incredible right?! It was — God really does keep His end of the deal.

My companion and I praying so specifically was not demanding, greedy, or selfish. God wants to bless us! Because He loves us so much. Like Jesus said in Luke 12:32:

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

It is not selfish to pray and ask God for things you need or want in your life. So ask away! That is why a central message of the scriptures is “ask and ye shall receive.” It is why Christ, again teaching of His nature and the Father’s character, taught in Matthew 7:7-11:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and want to bless us!

I have a toddler-aged son and I want to buy him all the toys he wants, all the cute clothes he likes, all the food he enjoys, and all the books he likes reading. I wish I didn’t have to do any chores so we could play at the park and with toys all day every day. I wish we could make cookies and enjoy eating them forever. My son doesn’t do anything to earn this feeling from me. I want to give him things he enjoys because I love seeing him happy just because he is my son. I am an imperfect, human mother. Therefore, how much more do our Heavenly Parents ache to give us everything we want and wish for? It must be excruciating for our Heavenly Father and Mother to let us make mistakes, to allow us to reject them, to not stop or prevent all our suffering. God’s love is eternal, pure, and powerful. 

My study of choosing faith over fear lacked a specific prayer, and therefore, specific guidance and answers.

I prayed again and told God what I wanted to study. I explained why I needed to understand faith and fear better. I believe He listened as I told Him how I would use that knowledge to help myself and others. I asked God to teach me specific things about faith and fear:

• what it feels like when I’m choosing faith over fear
• to help me feel more faithful and brave
• to keep away fearful thoughts or worries
• to help me learn more about Him and Christ so I can have better faith in Him
• to guide me to verses and speeches from Church leaders to I can study about faith
• help me to remember what I already know about faith in Him
• to remind me that I have done brave things before by choosing faith over fear

I told God I needed to understand choosing faith above fear soon.

To read more of Kristine’s articles, click here.

Within a week, God has given me answers and comfort every day. Feelings, speeches at church, articles of a speech at a university, thoughts as I talk out what I’m learning to my husband, others’ blog posts, friends’ Instagram captions, an email from a missionary, and coming across great Bible verses — the Spirit has been gently teaching me. I now have so many more things I want to study about faith! When His answers come, I feel His love and concern for me. And I’m already feeling much braver and more faithful.

I encourage you to offer a specific prayer. I believe God will answer your prayer in a specific way. Remember, God blesses us at the best time for our eternal learning. He does this because he is a perfect, loving parent.

Elder Holland taught that God will bless us:

“Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

Kristine Hoyt

But hoping it would be a fun, shared experience for us, I chose to go. 

We began our climb early in the morning, hiking through fields of wildflowers, past burbling streams and melodious waterfalls. Then we scaled tall rocks and trekked up steep switchbacks. 

At one point, we side-skirted a moose that wasn’t interested in moving off the trail and later did some back-pedaling to avoid two black bears directly in our path.

We practiced our balancing skills while clambering over a field of loose rock.

We happened on some old friends who we hadn’t seen in years.

As we neared the top, the trail grew steeper and steeper, ending with a precarious scramble up a rock face to the plateau of Table Mountain.

Seated atop the summit, we relished the view while nibbling peanut butter sandwiches. 

I felt tired, but oh-so-accomplished. The trail had indeed been difficult, but there had been beauty and blessings and unexpected surprises along the way. 

Check “hike Table Mountain” off my bucket list. 

Of course, we still had to go back down.   

As we started the downhill trek I wondered, had it been this rocky on the way up? Somehow, my toes seemed to hit every rock jutting out of the ground. After three and a half miles, the constant pounding made each step painful. Stopping to soak our feet in the icy water pooled at the base of a waterfall provided a temporary reprieve. But then I had to put my shoes back on. 

Every step grew more and more excruciating. Each time we stopped to rest, I dreaded starting again. When I felt certain we must be nearly done, but our GPS said we still had 1.8 miles to go, I wanted to quit. Sit down on the trail and wait for rescue. 

Finally, finally, we made it to the bottom. 

By the time we had driven home I could barely stand.  

For one full week I couldn’t walk. 

For one full week my swollen toes made wearing shoes impossible.

For one full week I sat in a chair with my feet elevated.  

But I didn’t regret hiking the mountain. If I hadn’t gone, I would have saved myself the pain, but I would have missed out on all the good parts as well. 

Sometimes Heavenly Father asks us to take a journey and we’re not sure we want to attempt that hike. The journey might be letting go of an unhealthy habit. It could be forgiving someone who has wronged us, caring for an aged parent, accepting a challenging calling or ministering assignment. It might be returning to school, moving across the country, or serving a mission. 

He asks us to do things that are difficult. 

Sometimes we are skeptical. We might doubt our ability to do what He asks. We may not want the struggle, the pain, or the sheer amount of work involved. We might not want to give up the comfortable position we currently find ourselves in. But we can trust that when we choose the journey the Lord asks us to take, the trail will always lead to our good.  

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

We must move forward, trusting the Lord to direct our path even when the trail feels difficult or becomes painful, when we don’t know what the journey will entail, or we can’t see what the end will be — when the path feels too long and we want to give up, sit down, and await rescue. 

The trail our Savior asks us to hike may be difficult. In fact, it will probably be difficult, because doing hard things is how we grow, how we develop strength.   

Elder Stanley G. Wells, in his talk “Do We Trust Him? Hard is Good?” said:

 “It is hard for a baby chick to hatch out of that tough eggshell. But when someone tries to make it easier, the chick does not develop the strength necessary to live. . . 

 

Do we have the faith to trust [our Heavenly Father]?” (Stanley G. Wells, “Do We Trust Him? Hard is Good,” October 2017 General Conference). 

To read more of Cami’s articles, click here.

Doing the hard things, walking the difficult paths, is how we develop the spiritual strength necessary to follow Jesus Christ.   

Do we have the faith to trust that the difficult paths will be worth the struggle?

Do we trust the Lord to direct our journey? 

As you accept the journey the Lord asks you to take, trust that the rewards will outweigh the difficulties. There will be beauties and blessings and unexpected surprises along the way. When you look back and see those blessings and notice how you’ve been strengthened through the struggle, you will be grateful you chose to hike the mountain.

Cami Klingonsmith

Cami lives in Idaho with her husband, various family members who come and go, and an energetic Siberian husky.
She volunteers as a costume director/seamstress for the drama department at her local high school where she gets to make elaborate clothing most people don’t wear in real life—which is what makes it so fun.
She enjoys reading, bird watching, gardening, and Zumba, but her greatest joy comes from being with her family.

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. (1 Nephi 2:11)

Since that short conversation with my husband, I’ve thought all day about the things in my life that made me grow, and the things that strengthened my faith. None of those things were good things; and none of them was easy. I was 22 years old when I gave birth to my first child, who was born with a lung cyst the size of a baseball. She had two major surgeries before she was 12 hours old. Life was not easy for her (or us) for the first 18 months of her life. I grew up quickly. My faith grew by leaps and bounds. It continued to grow through other sick babies, a miscarriage, very rough financial times, deaths of our parents, and later, the unexpected death of my stepson.

Each time I thought I couldn’t get through something, I found peace through the Holy Ghost. The Savior had walked in my shoes and carried my burdens. He had felt my pain. The Holy Ghost wrapped me in the love of the Savior and my Heavenly Father. It was tangible. It was real. Each time that happened, my faith grew.

A worldwide pandemic is certainly opposition. To that, we can add economic struggles, an ugly political arena, social injustice, and civil unrest. Sometimes the opposition seems overwhelming—until I pray. Reverent and humble prayer squelches the heavy feelings of the heart. Then-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf described those heavy feelings as darkness and despair.

The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness. Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart. Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.

 

Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Infinite Power of Hope,” Oct. 2008 General Conference).

I highly recommend reading the above talk by President Uchtdorf in its entirety. In fact, it would make good daily reading if you find yourself struggling.

To read more of Tudie’s articles, click here.

There is no reason to despair—at least not a good one. There are lots of reasons—all  good—to have faith and hope. Despair does not come from Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. Light, hope, and faith come from Them through the Holy Ghost.

We all have our trials of life to strengthen us. Each thinks he has the hardest or most severe trials. It may be that they are the most difficult only because they are the hardest or most difficult for you. The diamond is enhanced and made more valuable with polishing. Steel is made harder and more valuable through tempering. So also opposition builds the character of man (Elder Eldred G. Smith, “Opposition in Order to Strengthen Us,” Oct. 1973 General Conference).

Pandemic, social injustice, civil unrest, economic issues, health issues, family problems, lapse in good personal judgment, pain caused by the actions of others—all these things are oppositions or trials that build and strengthen our faith. We are diamonds in the rough being polished by opposition. The natural man in all of us is being tempered through these things. We will get through it all, and we will be better people coming out of these dark times. We are building our faith through opposition one brick at a time. What good would a brick home be if it were missing some of the bricks? God could take away some of our dark moments, but our home would be missing some bricks that keep us dry in winter and cool in summer. He wants us to build strong brick homes to weather all storms. The natural man needs to be tempered by opposition to build the kind of faith needed for our progression. Don’t despair; let the light of Jesus Christ permeate your soul. We will get through it all.

Tudie Rose

Tudie Rose is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. You can find her on Twitter as @TudieRose. She blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com. She has written articles for Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents.

I hadn’t read this particular book, but I was familiar with Sister Dew and always loved her frank way of speaking and writing. As my friend explained, Sister Dew talked about the concept of submitting our wills to the Lord’s.

The perfect example of submitting is Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that it was His Father’s plan for Him to be our Savior and atone for our sins. Yet it was not something that He particularly wanted to experience. We don’t know what was going through our Savior’s head at that time, but we do know that He asked the Father in humble prayer if this cup might pass from Him, if there was any way He could avoid what He was about to experience. Then He added, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42)

Christ trusted in the will of the Father and submitted to it completely. There are times when we are called upon to do the same. We aren’t asked to atone for the sins of the world, but there are times when we are asked to sacrifice things we would like to have or do in order to do other things that the Lord asks of us. There are times when we have our own plans, but the Lord asks us to do something else that may not fit in with them or that even make sense to our mortal minds.

I am not familiar enough with the book by Sister Dew to know if I am quoting Sister Dew or my friend, but that’s where the concept of “…or something better” comes in. When we trust in the Lord, we realize that His plans for us are so much greater and grander than anything we could come up with on our own. And we can even reach the point where we can gladly submit to them.

So when we have a need we’re praying for, we might pray that we receive what we think we need, “…or something better.”

Joseph Forgiving His Brothers, by Ted Henniger

Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, told the truth and kept his virtue and was cast into prison as a result. Perhaps he prayed for release. Yet the Lord had “something better” in mind for him. In prison he was able to interpret dreams and gain the trust of the Pharaoh, and eventually save Egypt and his own family from a terrible famine. As he told his family, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” (Genesis 45:5) Perhaps it was difficult for Joseph to reach the point where he believed this, but as he looked back on his life, he could see the hand of the Lord in the things that had come to pass.

Sometimes we may pray to get a particular job, or a particular date, or any number of other opportunities, only to realize later that this would have been all wrong for us. Again, the Lord in His infinite wisdom knows the big picture and can guide us toward “something better” even when we’re sure we have things all figured out.

My friend is now facing what I hope we can see as “something better” for her. She has been in and out of the hospital and so far the prognosis has not been encouraging. Saying “it must be the Lord’s will” can seem cold and hollow to someone whose life has just been ripped apart, but at the same time I know that our loving Heavenly Father is and always has been mindful of her. And things that seem tragic here in this mortal life will make a lot more sense in the next life when we, too, can see the big picture and how the Lord’s plans for us have unfolded.

This post was originally published in November 2007. Minor changes and updates have been made.

Katie P

Deborah said to Barak,

Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

 

And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

 

And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

 

And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

 

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

Going Up to Mount Tabor

Color photo of Mount Tabor taken in the Late 19th century by French photographer, Bonfils

With Deborah’s presence, Barak obediently formed the army and they all went up to Mount Tabor.

Mount Tabor rises almost 2,000 feet from the plains, a half-spherical hill in Lower Galilee. Christian tradition identifies Tabor as the Mount of Transfiguration. But that history hadn’t occurred when Deborah, Barak, and the army of men from Zebulun and Naphtali obeyed the Lord’s counsel to go up to Tabor.

Going to the River Kishon

When Sisera heard about Barak’s army on Mount Tabor, he readied his 900 chariots of iron and all the people that were with him and went to the River Kishon.

The scripture records:

And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

The Lord Fights the Battles at Mount Tabor

How did the Lord discomfit Sisera’s hosts leaving them vulnerable to Barak’s army? What would make Sisera leave his strategically advantageous chariot?

Judges 5 is the Song of Deborah. She starts off her song of praise and worship this way:

Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

Lord when thou wentest out…the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

I imagine the Lord sending a miraculous torrential storm flooding the banks of the river and rendering chariots useless and stuck in the mud.

So to save himself, Sisera left his chariot stuck in the mud and ran and ran to Heber and Jael’s tent where he ultimately perished at Jael’s hand.

The Canaanite God Failed His Worshippers

This salvation through storm fascinates me because Sisera’s god was Ba’al, the Canaanite weather god with specific power over wind, rain, lightning, and fertility. The Canaanites attributed their dry summers to Ba’al’s summer visits to the underworld. He returned from the underworld and brought fall rains to revive the earth. But in this day of battle, their god failed them.

Sisera and his 900 iron chariots found passage along the River Kishon until the Lord discomfited them there and

The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

The Kishon River also became the endpoint for the priests of Ba’al who contended in Elijah’s sacrifice challenge.

And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

Let Them Be As the Sun

The Lord commanded the Israelites to go up to Tabor. At His word, they descended from the mountain to the plains where Sisera’s army were near the river. Then, in miraculous fashion, the Lord fights the battle leaving the Israelites with a victory after some effort. Even though Barak reluctantly accepted this call to gather and lead the Lord’s people into battle, he still saw a victory. Because of the Lord, Israel was victorious.

Deborah’s recounting of the war song ends with beautiful imagery:

So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.

When I sat with this story this time, I made a quick stick figure drawing of Mount Tabor. Unexpectedly, It reminded me of a sunrise and representations of images symbolizing when Heaven meets Earth.

My stick figure drawing of Mount Tabor

So when Deborah sang of the Lord’s followers to be as the “sun,” I saw a connection between Barak’s revelation in going to a physical mountain to see the Lord’s power and might revealed and my going to the mountain, in all of its forms and meanings, armed with the Lord’s word and with faith that He will deliver me, too.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

The Story of the Swordsmith

A swordsmith was a new convert to the Christianity and did his best to live up to his baptismal commitments. Yet almost immediately after his conversion, his life was beset with trial after trial that pressed heavy on his heart and brought him to his knees. A friend who was not of his faith witnessed what was happening. In his eyes, he saw the newfound religion doing absolutely no good for his friend. While he continued to remain faithful, his trials seemed to worsen. One day the friend questioned the swordsmith about this. He asked why he could remain faithful to a god who continued to punish him mercilessly. The swordsmith paused and thought before he replied.

He held a wrought iron tong in one hand and a hammer in the other. Clutched between the tongs was a piece of metal which he held under the burning coals until it was fiery hot. He brought the metal out of the fire and while it was still glowing and malleable, he hammered it flat, folded it, then plunged it in a basin of water. He would need to repeat this sixteen times before he could begin to hammer it into a sword. When the steam cleared, he turned to his friend with this reply. “As a swordsmith, I need to use the strongest metals I can find that will hold up under the worst conditions. Otherwise, the sword I produce will be of no value. This piece of metal will soon be a fine sword.”

He motioned to a scrap pile against the wall. “But that metal over there could not take the constant heat, the pounding and shaping, and the sudden cooling. It is no good to me.” He looked back at the metal he was working with. “I am like this piece of metal. When I decided to be a true convert, I promised to change my old ways for something better. My God is my Master, somewhat like a swordsmith Himself. He did not promise me it would be easy, but He promised it would be worth it. If I cannot stand up to the trials in life and allow them to make me stronger, I am like that pile of metal in the corner—of no value to my Maker. But if I can endure the cycle of heat and pounding and water, I can become what my Master needs me to be. When the cycle finally comes to an end, and I have endured it well, I will be worth more than I am at this moment. I know my Master is not trying to break me down. He is trying to reshape me into something far better than I am today. I trust that He knows me better than I do.”

What the Friend Sees

As I go through my own trials in life, I picture myself in this story and ask, “Who am I?” Sometimes I am like the friend. I see the trials (or “fire”) people must endure and I wonder how they do it. Even my own trials at times seem too much to bear, and I question whether or not it’s worth the effort to endure. But the consequences of giving up or giving in have proven to be even less fruitful. What the friend sees is shortsighted. He magnifies the trial and diminishes the end result. He blames the Creator for causing pain, and then remains angry at Him for doing so.

What the Swordsmith Sees

The swordsmith is the one enduring the onslaught of trials and yet remains faithful to his God. He does not look at his trials or time in the fire as punishment but as a vehicle to take him to a higher state of being. He understands that through adversity he will become stronger. He understands this because of the work he does in his shop and his ability to project this into his life. But it does not stop there. He is able to see the spiritual benefits of endurance long before the sword is free of the refiner’s cycle.

The Refiner’s Cycle

Heat—pounding—cooling—repeat. This is the cycle used to create the perfect sword. It is also the spiritual cycle used to bring us to godliness. The heat softens the material. This is necessary to do before it can be reshaped into something useful. Spiritually speaking, the heat and fire represents the trials in our lives: anything that brings us to a humble heart and a contrite spirit. Our Heavenly Father cannot speak to us if we are not ready to listen. He cannot influence us if our hearts are hardened. Our nature is such that oftentimes it is the trials in life that soften us to our knees before we can stand taller.

Next comes the pounding. The sword must be folded sixteen times to strengthen the metal enough to be a proper sword. This requires a great deal of pounding. The spiritual pounding is the reshaping of our will to match the will of our Heavenly Father. But it is not our Father in Heaven who inflicts the pounding—we do that with our own will. The pounding comes from the wrestling in our heart between the ways of the world and the ways of the Lord as we come closer to taking the leap of faith to act righteously. While our Father in Heaven persuades us to make the right choices—choices to do good, choices to repent, choices that take us out of our comfort zone in order to give us opportunities to grow—Satan works harder to tighten his grip on us. While Heavenly Father reaches down to help us up, Satan pressures us to stay down. The back and forth is like a pounding. Until we act in faith and commit to the will of our Heavenly Father—like plunging into the basin of water—that pounding may last a while. But be of good cheer—it never lasts forever.

After the pounding comes the cooling. When the metal is thrust into the water, its chemical makeup changes, which helps strengthen it further. It solidifies the process allowing the steel to endure the heat again. In our spiritual lives, the cooling process is like the blessings we receive when we make the choices that line ourselves with our Heavenly Father’s will. Our hearts are changed, we are strengthened and blessed. We receive a special witness of His mercy and love—a witness that we cannot deny. The more trials we face, the more we repent under pressure, the more blessings we receive. And so, the stronger and more useful we become in God’s eternal plan.

To view more of Nanette’s articles, click here.

Finally we repeat. This is the hardest part—knowing that just once through the refiner’s fire is not enough. At times a trial is quick to overcome. Other times, trials can last a lifetime. But it is in how we face the trial, how we take to the pounding and reshaping that defines our state of endurance. Can we remember to thank our Father in Heaven for the gift of facing trials and for the blessings that come after we endure them? Or do we shake a fist at heaven and curse Him for our circumstances? In my life there have been times where as soon as I felt the refreshing cool water of relief I was thrown right back into the fire again. Other times I’ve felt the reshaping from my Father in Heaven take a little longer—sometimes due to my stubbornness but oftentimes because of circumstances in the world around me. I’ve also been able to look back and notice the times I endured well brought me closer to the Lord. We cannot abandon the last phase of the process. To repeat the process is as necessary as the process itself. It is not easy, but if we stay positive and keep an eternal perspective, in the end it will be worth it.

What God Has in Store for Us

It is difficult to imagine the immense blessings our Father in Heaven has in store for us, especially when we are in the fire. But we can see a tiny fraction of them when we remember the tender mercies we receive daily from Him. This is vital to our spiritual refinement. To be able to recognize the small blessings and to watch them add up allows us a glimpse of the enormity that awaits us in an infinite and perfect life with God. More importantly it helps us to endure the next round in the refiner’s fire, pushing us one step closer to godliness.

This article was originally published in June 2014. Minor changes have been made.

Nanette ONeal

Nanette O’Neal loves the gospel and is very happy to share her testimony on LDS Blogs. She is a convert to the church and still feels the spirit burn strong within her heart. She graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts with a degree in music education and has taught children and adults in the private and public sphere for over twenty years. Nanette continues to study the gospel and the art of writing. She writes weekly inspirational articles on her blog and is currently working on an LDS fantasy novel series, A Doorway Back to Forever. You can find her at NanetteONeal.blogspot.com. Nanette has a wonderful husband, talented son, and three beautiful dogs.