Being a Family Forever

The family is there
to catch your back.

     Some of the greatest memories in life come with the family. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ the belief is that "The Family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." Who wouldn't want happiness with their family in this life. The blessing of the knowledge that families can be together for ever is monumental. It is a joyous knowledge to have but how much better would it be to have a promise from God that your own personal family can be tied together by the power of God forever as long as you live a Christ-like life. How amazing would that be?
     I only know form my personal experience so I don't know everything but this is what I do know. There is a promise that is made in the last book of the Old Testament in Malachi and it is a promise that is miraculous.

 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming 

of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, 

and the heart of the children to their fathers, 

lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Families can only be tied together
in the House of the Lord

     Elijah has came and the power to tie families together has been given to Thomas S Monson. "There is no man upon the face of this earth who has the right to go forth and administer in any of the ordinances of this gospel unless the President of the Church [Thomas S Monson], who holds the keys, [allows] it."  I have seen that promise come true in my own life. I have seen a new love towards each other as family members remember the promises they have made. 

     It is an glorious gift from God. It is a gift that God wants everyone to have and the only condition is that you have to live striving to become Christ-like.

Lots of Rocks

     A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.
     This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing it with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
     Noticing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind. “You have been pushing against this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These troubling thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.
     And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his thoughts to the Lord. “Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”
     The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?”
     “Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

Author Unknown

     Most people who read this story focus on the aspect that the man pushing the rock prayed. Yes that is a good way to see it but a different to see it would be to focus on the almost last sentence. "Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities  now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock." 
     "For there must needs be opposition in all things. If not, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." 2 Nephi 2:11 We sometimes may spend everyday pushing against rocks and seem to go no where. In doing the Lord's work I sometimes feel like I am that man pushing the giant rock. I there remember this is God's work. If I need to is push what seems to be an immovable rock then so be it.
     This work is amazing! Lives are being changed. Let the Gospel of Jesus Christ change your life. Read a Book of Mormon and then ask if it is true. Ask God if the man who translated it by the power of God is His prophet. Then once you get your answer act upon it. Do what the Lord tells you to do even if that means pushing on rocks.  

What are we waiting for?

     "This can be our experience if we move forward with faith and do not wait too long on the road to Damascus." Dieter F Uchtdorf

DREAM BIG

"And when you dream, dream big, As big as the ocean blue." 
Ryan Shoupe

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." 
Maya Angelou

"Life is short, live bold! Be heard, be you, dream big, take risks, don’t wait!" 
Misty Gibbs

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." 
Confucius

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" 
John Greenleaf Whittier

"Make no small plans: 
They have no magic
 to stir men's soul's Souls. 
This is the vision I have..."
President Spencer W Kimball

     Do not let yourself be the cause of being trapped under the imaginary ceiling of "I can't do this" or "I can't do that." We have been told many times in the words of the Prophets that anything is possible if we but have faith in Christ. "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me Ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." Moroni 7:33

With a Heavy Heart

     This last Sunday was a rough Sunday. The Clarksville 2nd and 3rd wards were split into three different wards. I am no longer in 3rd ward but I am in 5th ward yet I am still living around the same people when I was working in 3rd ward. When I heard the news that I would be moving it felt like someone had put duct tape on my leg, pulled it half way off and then proceed to slowly pull the rest of the tape off. That pain felt during the meeting was amplified as I made the wrong move of looking back to see faces of the people that I would not be seeing as often. Doing that just made me feel with discouragement.
     What happened next is the true moral of the story other than not putting duct tape on your unshaven legs. With a heavy heart I turned to God and asked for comfort. I didn't expect any out of the ordinary event. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what I needed at the time but I came to find out that all I needed was word of encouragement. So I flipped open my scriptures and they fell open to Alma 4:3-4. "And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgments of God... therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty. And they began to establish the church more fully; yea, and many were baptized in the waters of Sidon and were joined to the church of God..." Now I don't believe that the ward splitting was a punishment from God but I do know that it brought me to a remembrance of my duty.
      I firmly believe that as we take questions to God they will be answered with the scriptures. Overall it is about four thousand years of recorded human history in a book. Someone is bound to have a similar problem like the one you are going through. Sometimes we need to take down the walls of ‘I can do this’ and take note of how the Lord wants it done. I know that the Book of Mormon answers questions of the souls. It gives guidance and direction in our day to every day challenges. I would challenge you to take questions to the Lord and see what you can find. "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matthew 7:8