Thanks, Daily Gems, I Needed That!

Receiving Help the Lord Is Ready to Give-------------------------------------
"With all the strength of my soul I testify that our Heavenly Father loves each one of us. He hears the prayers of humble hearts; He hears our cries for help. . . . His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, speaks to each of us today: 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him' (Revelation3:20). "Will we listen for that knock? Will we hear that voice? Will we open that door to the Lord, that we may receive the help He is so ready to provide? I pray that we will." ~ President Thomas S. Monson

I think I have mentioned before that I get the LDS Daily Gems that you can subscribe to through the church website. I got this one in my email box a day or two ago, and I have kept it there, to read it over and over again. I kept feeling like I needed to read it, and could never bring myself to move it from my "Inbox" to my "LDS Gems" folder. The words from our prophet touched me as soon as I read them, and the past few days as I've studied them, have given me such hope. I'm just grateful to have the knowledge that I do, that I have a Father in Heaven that cares for me and knows every moment that I am struggling. He weeps with me when I am down, and waits anxiously for me to ask for His help. That's so reassuring to know...and yet for some reason, so hard to remember and keep on the forefront of your mind.

We live in a world where it is SO, so easy to forget to rely on the Lord. Everything is "Do it Yourself"and "Take charge and get yours before someone else does" that we forget that we can't really do it alone. We knew we wouldn't have to, and I think if we were told that we would have to, it would have been a task far to great to take on.

We had a great lesson in our 3rd hour, 5th Sunday presentation last month from a former member of our stake presidency. The lesson was based around Alma 36:3. He categorized all of the problems in life, into three sections, based on this scripture. Trials, Troubles and Afflictions. Each had their own definitions...Trials are a divine tutorial (lesson from God), Troubles...plainly stated, "Stupid things WE do"...and Afflictions, "Stupid things OTHERS do." From there, we charted below each category, three different ways these problems are dealt with-telestially, terrestrially, and celestially.

I would blog for hours and hours if I went into depth on his amazing presentation, and I would still not do it the justice it deserves. However, I do have a wonderful hand out from him that I can email to you if you'd like a copy. Anyway, the point of all this, is that my testimony of having faith and trust in the Lord...not just when times are grand, but also when things just plainly stink, has grown a lot lately. I have learned lately that you can have faith to receive the right answers, and make the right decisions...but that doesn't mean that just because its the right decision, that its going to be easy and that it's not going to come with its accompanying trials! You have to have faith that if He led you to where you are, He will carry you through the trials you will be faced with. But you have to ask Him to and have the faith that He will help you.

I am grateful for the prophets words of encouragement, because I know that he has lived a long life and must have had many trials that he has had to endure. After all that time, and all those trials, he has made it through and has not given up. He knows he has been lifted and carried by our Father in Heaven. As we all can, if only we ask.