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From The Soap Box:
Are we really living the gospel? Do we confuse our Church attendance with being active in the gospel? Sadly, many members of the Church today live the teachings of the 'Church' but miss the deeper principles of the gospel as they justify behavior that they know to be inconsistent with the teachings of our leaders. Anytime that we justify ourselves and believe that certain rules do not apply to us, or our situation, we are trying to excuse ourselves from our Father's guidance. The gospel needs to be more than just another item on our 'to-do' list. It needs to be what we do, how we do it and why.
"Most members of the Church know in their hearts that there is a very clear and distinct difference between activity in the Church and activity in the gospel. The latter embodies the former, but the converse is not necessarily true." Steven Covey, The Divine Center.
For Some Excellent Reading on Achieving a Gospel-Centered Life:
The Divine Center by Steven Covey
Life Lessons From The Book of Mormon by Jack Christianson & K. Douglas Bassett
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Below you will find several talks that I've written. I've included them here as a way of sharing my testimony with those who visit this site.
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"How Great the Wisdom and the Love"
By Marie Greene, 2003
(Do not reprint without permission)
Years ago when I was a struggling college student, I lost my only source of transportation due to engine problems. This was quite inconvenient because I had no friends or family in the area, and I lived 2.5 miles from my job. To make matters worse, my shift started at 5am each morning, which meant waking up extremely early and walking to work in the dead of a Kansas winter (up hill both ways).
One Sunday evening I had watched the weather report to see what Monday morning had in store for me. My heart sunk as I heard the report of temperatures near 10 degrees and blowing sleet. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my head in my hands and saying a quick prayer, "Heavenly Father, please don't make me go to work tomorrow." As I lifted my head, the telephone rang. On the line was a young woman from my student branch that I barely knew, who was calling to ask me for a favor. I was certainly in no mood to do favors, but I half-heartedly agreed and asked what she needed. She went on to tell me that she was compassionate service leader in our branch and that she was in desperate need of service to render. She asked "Would it be possible for me to come pick you up and take you to work every morning?"
I could not believe what I had heard. Anyone familiar with college students must know that volunteering to wake up and drive a stranger to work at 4:45 am was nearly implausible for someone who was used to sleeping until the absolute last minute before class started. However, through divine inspiration, she was led to know that I had that need and she drove me to work every morning for several months. I have never forgotten her kindness, but even more than that, I learned a great lesson. That my Heavenly Father was aware of me, and knew that I was desperate. Through another person's service, He was able to show His love for me.
I am reminded of the words of Mormon, "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?"
Every one of us needs that reassurance, that sense of stability in our lives, to know that we are in the hands of our Father in Heaven. We long for the knowledge that in his wisdom, and through unknown ways, we will be taken care of.
My life has been a constant experiment in faith and miracles. I could never list them all, but I am humbled and awed as I look over my life. Very often, I did not even realize many of the miracles as they happened, but, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see them very clearly now. Each act of service, rendered on my behalf, was a clear expression of my Heavenly Father's love for me. Each one, a miracle.
As we journey through the uncertainty of life, the one true comfort that can lift us and carry us through is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father loves us and is aware of us. He is mindful of our needs, even before we have them. If you feel alone, let me reassure you that you are not. You are not alone. You are loved. A wise, and kind Father in Heaven knows you and hears the secret longings of your heart.
Elder Richard G. Scott said:
"[Heavenly Father's] plan of happiness is conceived so that we will have challenges, even difficulties, where decisions of great importance must be made so that we can grow, develop, and succeed in this mortal probation. Gratefully, in His perfect love, He has provided a way for us to resolve those challenges while growing in strength and capacity. I speak of the sustaining power of faith in times of uncertainty and testing."
God has given us the capacity to exercise faith, that we may find peace, joy, and purpose in life.
Having faith requires us to lean on His arm and acknowledge His wisdom in all things. Not to doubt our experiences, but to grow from them.
The many answers to prayer that I have received have often come through other people. The beautiful thing about this earthly life is that we will balance between times of needing His reassurance and help, and times of being His instrument to share those same blessings with others. Heavenly Father is mighty and wise, and knows how best to meet the needs of his children, and many times He can achieve that assistance through His children, acting in love on His behalf. Just like the young woman who offered selflessly to drive me to work on cold, dark mornings, so can we act on inspiration to be the answer to someone's prayer. Showing friendship, simple acts of kindness, being a caring visiting teacher or home teacher, sharing what you have with others, all are ways that we can be instruments in the Lord's hands. Through us, His purposes can be accomplished, and many prayers can be answered.
Have you ever had a nagging thought? that funny little tugging at your conscience about someone you know? You have a feeling you should call them or stop by to say hello? How often do we ignore that nagging thought, without realizing that it is Heavenly Father's way of allowing us to share His love with someone who needs it. We may never know the impact we can have. I know I have certainly been touched by the kindness of friends and strangers, and I'm sure that you have, too. If I could possibly record all the kind words, deeds and blessings that have been shared with me by those throughout my life, it would take the rest of my days on earth to list them all.
How can we better realize the love that our Heavenly Father has for us, and how can we better share that love with others? May I suggest a few ideas:
- Gratitude.
Even in times of trial, we must never cease to acknowledge the great blessings we have been given. Though it is difficult to be grateful when things are tough, experiences that require us to exercise our faith often help us to develop this divine attribute of gratitude.
Bishop Richard C. Edgley (Ensign, May 93) said:
"[The] normal tests and trials of life need not be the enemy of faith. While we don't necessarily look forward to these obstacles and challenges, we accept them, and we build our lives and faith from them. [The] very obstacles that we overcome draw us closer to our Heavenly Father by helping us develop a humble, submissive spirit and causing us to be grateful and appreciative of those blessings that flow from a loving Father. In short, these experiences can and often do increase our faith. [We] do not try to be spared the trials of life but pray that we may have the strength to rise above them.
- Service.
The process of rendering service is a great blessing that we cannot afford to miss. It is impossible to serve others without bringing a feeling of peace and love into our own lives. To serve in a Christlike way, allows us to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.
Hebrews 13:2
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
And are we not all able to act the part of angels when we are on the Lord's errand, rendering service to His children?
- Search.
Search the scriptures for comfort. (How many times have we opened the scriptures and laid our eyes upon the very verse we needed to read?)
Search for opportunities to progress. (Stretch yourself, go out of your comfort zone and find ways to improve on what you've been given)
Search for answers to your prayers (I heard someone say once that we pray for help, but then we meet the Lord halfway. By being proactive in seeking out the answers to our prayers, we may find them in places we would have never guessed.)
Search for purpose in your trials. (There is no suffering in this life that is wrought upon us purely for the sake of suffering. Find meaning in your trials, pray that your faith can grow, and that you can learn from the challenges you are given.)
- Exercise faith.
To gain the kind of faith that we are meant to have, we must actually go through a spiritual 'workout'. Exercise is no easy thing. Olympic athletes push themselves as far as they can go, and then go a little further. In order for us to have Olympic size faith, we must stretch. By doing so, we open the windows of heaven to pour out blessings upon us; Whether in ways that are easy to recognize or through little miracles that we often overlook.
Elder Richard G. Scott counseled us to develop a sustaining faith by:
- Trusting in God and in His willingness to provide help when needed, no matter how challenging the circumstances.
- Obeying His commandments
- Being sensitive to the quiet promptings of the Spirit
- Acting courageously on those promptings
- And being patient and understanding when God lets us struggle to grow, and answers come a piece at a time over an extended period.
I don't know about you, but I sometimes think I'd like all my answers up front, in alphabetical order, so that I can just look them up when I need them. But, if it were that easy, we would not learn much in this life. The opportunity we have to gain strength, faith and testimony through our mortal experience is one that cannot be equaled through any other means.
In the book of John we can read: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
We truly are in the hands of God. Sometimes we need reminders that we are not here alone on this earth, struggling to run uphill on a down escalator. We are children of a Father in Heaven who loves us, and who teaches us and blesses us according to His wisdom, and His timing. We must allow ourselves to feel of His peace, and to be willing to share that peace with others.
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Faith in Adversity By Marie Greene
(Do not reprint without permission of the author)
When I was a girl growing up in Kansas, we had many tornadoes. They were usually small and did not come close to home, yet the blaring sirens went off frequently during the spring months. Through years of experience, we knew exactly what to do when the sirens went off, no matter where we might be. We knew the safest places were basements, interior walls, ditches and low places. Early one April evening our years of experience paid off when an F-4 tornado tore through our small town and devastated hundreds of homes and handfuls of businesses. Though hundreds of families became homeless that day, nearly everyone survived that natural disaster. Those few individuals that lost their lives had either ignored the warnings or somehow did not respond quickly enough.
In our lives, trials and adversities will come. But just as we had the knowledge and preparation to respond to the tornado sirens, so must our faith be ready to respond when the challenges of life arise.
Acts 14: 22 "Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."
Ether 12: 6 "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
It is interesting that faith is never used lightly in the scriptures. We generally hear of faith as a trial, or an exercise. Faith is work!
Can you remember a time in your life that you exercised or really physically exerted yourself? Remember how it made you sweat, and caused your muscles to ache? Exercising our faith is much the same. It is indeed an exercise. The development of that Christlike attribute does not come easily. It comes through experience, trial and hardship.
Elder Richard G. Scott (Ensign, November 1995) said:
"To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that he can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how he can possibly do it. We are like infants in our understanding of eternal matters and their impact on us here in mortality. Yet at times we act as if we knew it all. When you pass through trials for His purposes, as you trust him, exercise faith in him, he will help you. That support will generally come step by step, a portion at a time. While you are passing through each phase, the pain and difficulty that comes from being enlarged will continue. If all matters were immediately resolved at your first petition, you could not grow. Your Father in Heaven and His beloved son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."
Anyone with experience on a farm knows the great dependence that we have on the weather. In times of drought, farmers are surely praying for rain. In times of flood, they are praying for relief. However, it is interesting to note that when crops are young, it is not in their best interests to have ideal weather. As the young plants are forming their roots, if the weather is too good to them, they will become lazy and grow only short roots because they do not have to reach far to get to water. If they have to struggle a little, their roots will grow deep as they strain for water, which provides strength throughout their life cycle. If severe weather comes later on, the plants with the deeper roots will more likely survive.
Several years ago when my husband and I lived in Washington State, we faced a severe winter ice storm that hit rather suddenly and came with little warning. Our home was surrounded by tall, majestic pine trees, that became draped in ice. It looked almost ethereal, yet we had no idea how dangerous they had become. I remember lying awake at night listening to the sound of the trees cracking and falling onto our roof, as they buckled under the weight of the ice. I later found out that they had very short root systems, so they were not prepared for anything like an ice storm. Without deep roots, they could not stand under the extra weight.
Without the tempering of our trials, we can not have the opportunity to develop strong roots.
Bishop Richard C. Edgley (Ensign, May 93) said:
"For the faithful, the normal tests and trials of life need not be the enemy of faith. While we do not necessarily look forward to these obstacles and challenges, we accept them, and we build our lives and faith from them. To the faithful, the very obstacles that we overcome draw us closer to our Heavenly Father by helping us develop a humble, submissive spirit and causing us to be grateful and appreciative of those blessings that flow from a loving Father. In short, these experiences can and often do increase our faith. The faithful do not try to be spared the trials of life but pray that they may have the strength to rise above them. In doing so they become closer to Heavenly Father and to that state of perfection they are seeking."
What can we do within our own lives to foster the development of our faith? Will it grow without help? No. Just as our physical bodies require exercise to become strong, our faith also requires a workout.
L. Whitney Clayton, "Help Thou Mine Unbelief," (Ensign, Nov. 2001, 28)
"No matter who we are or where we live, there is much about our daily lives that is routine and repetitive. As we go about this dailiness, we must be deliberate about doing the things that matter most. These must-do things include making room first for the minimum daily requirements of faithful behavior: true obedience, humble prayer, serious scripture study, and selfless service to others. No other daily vitamins strengthen the muscles of our faith as fast as these actions. We also must remember that genuine fasting fosters strong faith. This is especially important as we faithfully seek to fix deeply embedded character flaws which go "not out but by prayer and fasting."
Developing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a step-by-step, line-upon-line, and precept-upon-precept process. We promote the process of strengthening our faith when we do what is right. Increased faith always follows as a consequence. If we exercise our faith daily with prayer, study, and obedience, the Savior helps our unbelief, and our faith becomes a shield to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Alma taught that we may "withstand every temptation of the devil, with [our] faith on the Lord Jesus Christ." However, we can neither ignore nor reject the essential ingredients of faith and then expect to reap a rich harvest."
How many days go by that we forget these essential ingredients? Anyone who has spent at least a few hours in a kitchen knows ingredients are the key to making terrific meals. Several years ago I had a conversation with a newly-married young cousin who joked about the meals she had been experimenting with while getting her bearings in the kitchen. They did not have a lot of money, and she was trying to be creative. One evening she prepared a casserole using a selection of ingredients from their pantry, only to discover that a tuna, potato, bean and corn chip casserole would not be edible. There is a learning process one must go through to understand how to combine foods. Fine tuning that process comes with experience, trial and error and much learning. So it is with faith, and the process is never ending. We do not ever reach that moment where we can say- I am finished! I have perfect faith and there is nothing left for me to learn. This mortal experience is an exercise in faith from start to finish.
James E. Faust, "The Shield of Faith," (Ensign, May 2000, 17)
"To sustain faith, each of us must be humble and compassionate, kind and generous to the poor and the needy. Faith is further sustained by daily doses of spirituality that come to us as we kneel in prayer. It begins with us as individuals and extends to our families, who need to be solidified in righteousness. Honesty, decency, integrity, and morality are all necessary ingredients of our faith and will provide sanctuary for our souls."
The exercise of our faith comes not only through hardships, but also through success.
Bishop Richard C. Edgley (Ensign, May 93)
"As Latter-day Saints, often the greater testing of faith- the more subtle but more serious testing- comes not from the normal obstacles of mortality but from the successes of mortality. There is a strong relationship, even a cause-effect relationship, between faith and the required virtues of humility and a submissive heart, which have always been key ingredients of faith. So-called temporal achievements, whether materialistic or intellectual, when untempered with the principles of the gospel and the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, often move a person away from the fundamental principles that foster faith. When our successes are received without proper acknowledgement to Him who is the grantor of all blessings, these same successes often lead to false pride and a deterioiration of the virtues that bring us to faith. When our successes lead to self-aggrandizement or the substitution of our earthly learning for the will of Heavenly Father, we jeopardize the principles upon which faith is founded. Anything that erodes humility and submissiveness is indeed a threat to faith."
As we journey through this earthly life, our faith will move us through the obstacles that wait in our paths. We do not have to see ahead everything that lays in wait for us in years to come, though we may think we would like to. Faith is believing in things not seen. The more we allow ourselves to trust in our Father's will, the stronger our faith will become. And just as we develop our bodies through exercise, the exercise of our faith is the only way to make it strong. We must welcome those experiences that teach us to rely on the arm of our Father in Heaven... knowing that He is aware of us, and that experience is our teacher.
D&C 122: 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
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