His Work in His Way by Eva
"A kindergarten teacher was once observing her class of children while they drew. As she walked around to see each child’s artwork, she asked one little girl, “What are you drawing?” The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” Somewhat surprised, the teacher said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without hesitation, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”"[i]
Don’t you just love this little girl!? She saw something her teacher did not see. Her teacher was in fact mistaken in saying that no one knows what God looks like. In1820 young Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees near his home in Palmyra, New York to inquire of God. As a result, God the Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph. From that and subsequent revelations and events, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored and with it the knowledge of the true character and nature of God. Indeed, as expressed in Doctrine and Covenants 4, “A marvelous work [has] come forth among the children of men” and foundational to that work is the knowledge that we are children of a Heavenly Father whose defining characteristic is love.
The why of EVERYTHING that matters in this life and the life to come is that God the Father and Jesus Christ are beings of infinite love. Our Heavenly Father’s desire for us, His children, is that we become beings of love. In everything He does, he invites us to love Him, our Savior and each other.
When we are taught and begin to understand God’s plan for all His children and experience His love, we SEE Him and we love Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is centered on the love of the Father and the Savior for us and our love for Them and for one another.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “The first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life.”[ii]
In Doctrine and Covenants section 4, the Lord counseled Joseph Smith, Sr., that “faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to [the] glory [of God] qualify [one] for the work.”
Love indeed is the true sign of every true disciple of Jesus Christ.”[iii]
Not long after beginning our recent service at the Provo Missionary Training Center, I observed a profound lesson in the power of love that I think I will never forget. One Thursday evening we welcomed a new group of missionaries as usual, but there was a companionship that seemed a bit unusual to me. I will describe the two Elders without using their real names. I will call them Elder Kacy and Elder Davis.
Elder Kacy was 18 years old, medium height with a wonderful warm smile, beautiful thick black hair and an athletic build. When he introduced himself, he said he loved all sports and his Dad had been his coach. He also said that his Dad had taught him to love people. Even that first night, Elder Kacy when most missionaries are a bit tentative, he was acknowledging and encouraging the others.
On the other hand, Elder Kacy’s companion, Elder Davis could not have been more different. Elder Davis was 21, he was slightly taller than Elder Kacy and probably weighed 20 pounds less. He was what a mother might lovingly call skinny (scrawny). Elder Davis had some skin problems and a very deliberate way of talking that may have caused others to question his abilities even though he was quite capable. I imagined that Elder Davis could have been the kind of young person that others who were unkind might make fun of. Elder Davis also had some on-going health challenges that caused him to be quite anxious about his MTC experience.
I was concerned to see how this companionship would work out. I had already seen a few missionaries who had difficulty working together. I also knew that anxiety and fear were common challenges for new missionaries.
My concerns were answered on the second Sunday the two were together. Elder Kacy and Elder Davis were asked to give a five-minute presentation as part of the Apostasy and Restoration lesson. They stood side by side, in the front of the room. First, Elder Kacy gave a brief over view of the early Christian reformers and then Elder Davis began to explain the difference between reformation and restoration. He spoke in a deep, slow, deliberate manner. All the heads in the room came up to stare at him as he gave an amazing analogy comparing the restoration of the church to restoring car. But the best part was not Elder Davis’ amazing analogy. It was Elder Kacy! As Elder Davis spoke, Elder Kacy standing right next to him gazed at his face like he was the most amazing human being on the planet. In that moment, I saw pure love in a way I had never seen before. When they sat down, Elder Kacy put his arm around his companion’s shoulders and gave him a little squeeze. Elder Davis beamed! Every time I saw them in the three weeks they were there, Elder Kacy and Elder Davis were together like twins. Elder Davis’ worry and anxiety all but vanished as he experienced his companion’s love and the Savior’s love. Elder Kacy knew no fear or anxiety because he was focused on loving someone else. Elder Kacy seemed to love everyone but especially his companion, Elder Davis.
Elder Kacy saw things that others did not see.
That brings me back to our kindergarten artist and her teacher. We might ask ourselves, “How do I see God and His love?”
A recently returned young sister missionary answered that question in her last letter from the mission. Here is some of what she wrote:
The mission has changed my life. There is not another way to put it. . . Being a missionary, it’s like you just have such fresh, and clear perspective of what matters. EVERYTHING you see is a blessing, and you find God in everything and every person and every situation.
Heavenly Father IS in fact there. He's everywhere.
He's in the homes of broken families that are so desperately waiting for someone to care. He’s in the homes of the excommunicated member taking the lessons to get rebaptized. He’s in the homes of the members I eat with. He is in the room of the person I am teaching as they say their first prayer for the first time in their life. . . He’s in the strangers on the street. He’s in the people we teach. He is in the slammed doors, the ones that won't open, and the ones that say "come on in." He is in the good days and the bad ones. He is in me, and He is in you.
I really do know we are all his children. I AM a child of God. I am so grateful I got the opportunity to learn how to see God in such a way.
. . . I know there is someone up there that loves me. I am grateful for the opportunity to prove my love for Him for the rest of my life.
I left on a mission to thank my Heavenly Father -- to try and pay Him back. I am leaving (my mission)more indebted than ever before.
So much love in this tender heart of mine,
Sister Savio
Sister Adelaide Andoh, from Ghana, Africa, serving in the Birmingham Alabama Mission wrote to us in January, “I will forever remember what President [Garlick] taught one night after a devotional at the MTC. . . ‘no matter what the question is the answer is always love’ . I have learnt these past weeks that without love there is no meaning to missionary work.”
As God’s children and disciples of Jesus Christ we are all called to His work. It is the work of bringing souls unto Jesus Christ – our own and others. The call to the Lord’s work is a call to become as He is and to do His work in His way. It is a call to love.
This week I spoke to a dear friend who said, “Each day I plead with Heavenly Father that I may be filled with the Savior’s love. And if he will bless me with it, I promise Him that I will not be selfish with it.”[iv]
The prophet Mormon taught, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.”[v]
How do we see and how do we seek God’s love? How will we become beings of love? The short answer is through the grace and atonement of Jesus Christ, as we choose to participate in His work in His way.
Elder Utchdorf has said, “Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood.”[vi]
As much as I love all of you, I look forward to the next two years at the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Centre with my companion, as a new opportunity to see God’s love for his children in the Islands of the Pacific and to share His love with all we meet.
We are children of a loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world. I have experienced for myself their care and love in countless ways, delivered by the ministering power of the Holy Ghost who is my beloved and trusted tutor. Through his power I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s kingdom on the earth. Oh, what a marvelous work of love!
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] David B. Marsh, “Self-Reliance and Gospel Learning,” Ensign, June 2017.
[ii] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders among You,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 127.
[iii] Massimo De Feo, “Pure Love. The Sign of Every True Disciple of Jesus Christ,” General Conference April 2008.
Ask and ye shall receive by Barry
Bro. Anderson asked us to speak about Doctrine & Covenants section 4. How do you do that in 10 minutes? One could talk for a long time about the attributes of Christ, mentioned in this section.
Please do not worry because, today I would like to focus my remarks on just 2 verses:
Verse 1 – “Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men”,
and Verse 7 – “Ask, and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you”.
With President Nelson’s admonition for us to be involved in the ‘ongoing restoration’ I would like to take a minute to explain what we have learned about one aspect of this process at our training for our upcoming assignment in New Zealand. Recently the Church has reassigned all Historic sites, away from the Missionary Department of the Church to the Church History Department, because 90% of the visitors to these sites are church members. So our assignment as Directors of the Mathew Cowley Pacific Church History Center, which is the only Church History center outside of SLC, is to include the development a program of historic outreach to Church members in all areas of the Pacific - including New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Why do we have this assignment, because there is great value in knowing about our church history. According to a divine pattern, prophets, as part of their ministry, use the past to help us learn who we are and see God’s purposes in our lives. In the scriptures, many prophets begin their teaching by recounting stories of the Lord’s mercy to their forefathers. Moroni exhorted readers of the Book of Mormon to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been” throughout history “and ponder it in your hearts”. Reflecting on God’s goodness prepares us to receive the witness of the Spirit, which teaches us “of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be”. For most of us there also is much to be gained from knowing about the (ongoing) conversion and historical events in the lives of our parents and grandparents. Let me explain by reading from my own parent’s conversion story from their personal history:
Garlick conversion story:
My parents, Geoff and April Garlick, were converts to the church in New Zealand back in 1952 when I was 2 years old. A senior missionary couple, Elder and Sister Morris from Arizona, came to our home to purchase vegetables from my parent’s family farm and my parents invited them to teach them the missionary lessons and over a period of about 3 months they were converted. I read from their history of an experience my father had on a Sunday evening after they attended their first sacrament meeting. (Quote from history).
“We said goodnight to Elder and Sister Morris at our bus stop and walked the half mile to our home in contemplative silence. April went into the house and I went down the garden to our half acre tomato patch and knelt in fervent prayer.
The night was cold, there was a full moon and I was alone with my thoughts and hopefully the spirit of God. I knelt down in the middle of this field of tomato plants and began to pour out my heart to my Father in Heaven. ‘Father if this really is the true church on the earth today, please tell me now, and if it is, will you forgive me for my past transgressions and have me as a member?’ I talked sincerely, long and hard seeking an answer. I was aware of the cold as I knelt there alone and pleaded with my God to please hurry as I really was very cold. My mind was racing through all of the experiences we had had with the missionaries, the scriptures and now at this very different evenings meeting. It seemed that my mind was filled with all of these experiences and especially the many scriptures that we had been reading, pondering and discussing over the last three months.
Again I pleaded with Heavenly Father to please hurry as it was cold out here. – it was then that I realized that I was not cold at all, in fact I was gloriously warm and the warmth was not coming from outside but rather it was coming from inside me. I felt as if I had been lit up like a light bulb and that everyone in the houses across the road would be able to see me. The confusing mixture of scriptures that had been fogging up my mind, were now as clear as noon day, with all of the prophecies related to the apostasy and the restoration, lined up neatly in chronological order on one side of a page and the multitude of false accusations that we had been given, by well-meaning friends, were still in the fog on the other side of the page. I jumped up and in great joy began a hurried run to the house to tell April what I now knew. And then realizing that I had not said thank you to a loving Father in Heaven, I stopped and knelt again among our tomato crop, giving thanks from the very bottom of my heart for this wonderful revelation. I had never in my life know joy as it was manifest to me at that moment and poured out my gratitude to God for this truly marvelous experience.” End quote.
Even today – reading again this experience of my father’s strengthens my own faith and contributes to my own ongoing personal conversion.
My own Personal Conversion
I have also had many experiences where the principle of “Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you”, have had application for me. Let me explain:
In Doctrine & Covenants Section 9:8-9. It explains how the Holy Ghost can also guide us to know what is right by our own diligent study, we read – “Behold, I say unto you that you must study it out on your mind: then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you forget that which is wrong”.
My father had taught me about this principle as a teenager and I remember like it was yesterday having the experience of struggling with a difficult decision that would affect my life dramatically. I had fasted one Sunday and made a decision about my life which I took to Heavenly Father in sincere prayer. As I explained in that prayer how I had come to the decision I had made, I asked God for confirmation that the decision I had made was the right one for me. The answer came, and it was as if the room I was kneeling was in filled with light. A warm and comforting feeling filled my heart and I knew that Heavenly Father was confirming to me that the decision I had made was the right one for me at that time in my life.
Now Brothers and Sisters I have learned that the spirit teaches and bears witness to each of us differently. It is as if a loving Heavenly Father designs and uses the unspeakable power of the Holy Ghost to teach us in a manner that works for each of us individually. I have witnessed that in the lives of hundreds of missionaries at the MTC and I have witnessed that multiple times here in this ward.
I cannot speak for each of you but I can speak for myself. Here are some examples of how I have felt the spirit teaching me.
Here in this sacred chapel I have had my heart burn within me as you have unfolded the scriptures and shared your faith and testimony and as you have borne witness, by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ and that this church is indeed the kingdom of God on earth.
I have knelt in prayer with many of you and the spirit has taught me about your faithfulness and goodness as the spirits presence has caused my heart to burn within me.
I have had my heart burn within me as I have witnessed the sprouting of faith in Primary children as they quoted with conviction the memorized words from the Living Christ.
I have listened as you have sung the hymns of Zion and my heart has burned within me as the words you have sung have taught me again and again that we have a loving heavenly father who cares deeply about us.
I have sat in council with Ward and Stake leaders in this building as the sprit has directed his work and my heart has burned within me as I have felt the heavens open and Gods will has been revealed.
I have been awakened in the night – usually in the early hours of the morning and had clear instruction given to my mind about how to deal with a specific issue that I have been struggling with. My heart has burned within me as I have given thanks for these personal revelations.
I have rejoiced as spiritual instruction has been given that has caused me to focus and to have a vision of how to love and how to help those struggling with faith and testimony and my heart has burned within me as I have realized that that instruction is just as much for me as it is for others.
Testimony and appreciation
I testify that a marvelous work continues to come forth and that our personal experiences in asking and receiving personal revelation have great value and need to be recorded for our posterity and future generations.
I express my appreciation to each of you for the many revelatory experiences we have shared and we have worshiped and served together. Each has strengthened my faith and increased my testimony and love of the Savior as the spirit has given clear instruction and caused my heart to burn within me.
I also testify that as I have tried and continue to try to apply the teaching and doctrine that the Savior taught, particularly the doctrine of ‘as I have loved you, love one another’, my life has been blessed beyond measure and I look forward to now beholding and loving again the people who I grew up with in the Islands of the Pacific, as Sister Garlick and I serve them over the next two years.
I testify that living a consecrated life brings joy beyond compare and that the heavens are open and that we can feel our hearts burn within us as we commit ourselves to serving God all the days of our lives.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Thanks Eva. Wonderful reminders of how blessed we are to have the gospel of Christ in our lives. Safe journey.
ReplyDelete