Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Believes verses unbelieves!

Since I was a little girl, I always remember believing in a Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. I loved when our family would read in the Bible about Christ's life, and it made me always wish that I could have lived in that time period; to meet Him and feel the love and kindness. He always loved and took care of the children, that gave me a sense of peace and hope even though I didn't have a lot of that in my life as a child. I love this photo that Lauren took, would have loved to have this photo in my home when I was little ).
 As a young woman I went and served a mission for our church for 19 months, and every day I got to share my testimony of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was during that time that I really realized that I could do anything, conquer any problem with Their help.
Today has been a rough day for me ...I have been discouraged and having a hard time seeing that I am ever going to get better. It was during that pity party that I got a call from a friend and said that she was bringing over dinner. After that I had another dear friend call from out of town to check on me, a niece called and reminded me how much she loved me, then a knock came at the door and sweet girls and friends from church, gave me an edible bouquet of fruit and gave us a Heart Attack ( cute hearts of all shapes and sizes taped to our door). Then more emails, cards in the mail, phone messages and then a couple of calls from family and grandkids. How could I ever stay sad and discouraged for long?  I know that I am loved by all of these wonderful people, but it also reminded me how aware my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are of my situation, and have placed these amazing people in my life to help me out when I seem to lose my hope.
I went back in my blogs and reread this one, I needed to remember it ...especially today! Sorry that it is a repeat.
Wanted to get my blog done before we start my breathing treatments, it says it can make you quite shaky. So even though I am struggling, I do know that this too will pass and some how, some day...I will be healthy enough to go back into the world again! I can't wait to see you all again!
Thank you and good night dear friends.


Today our lesson in church was about our believes. I will share some of my notes, and if you scroll down to the bottom you can see the link if you want to read the article yourself.
On one occasion Jesus came upon a group arguing vehemently with His disciples. When the Savior inquired as to the cause of this contention, the father of an afflicted child stepped forward, saying he had approached Jesus’s disciples for a blessing for his son, but they were not able to provide it. With the boy still gnashing his teeth, foaming from the mouth, and thrashing on the ground in front of them, the father appealed to Jesus with what must have been last-resort desperation in his voice:
“If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us.
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
This man’s initial conviction, by his own admission, is limited. But he has an urgent, emphatic desire in behalf of his only child.  With no other hope remaining, this father asserts what faith he has and pleads with the Savior of the world, “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.  I can hardly read those words without weeping. The plural pronoun us is obviously used intentionally. This man is saying, in effect, “Our whole family is pleading. Our struggle never ceases. We are exhausted. Our son falls into the water. He falls into the fire. He is continually in danger, and we are continually afraid. We don’t know where else to turn. Can you help us? We will be grateful for anything—a partial blessing, a glimmer of hope, some small lifting of the burden carried by this boy’s mother every day of her life.”
“If thou canst do any thing,” spoken by the father, comes back to him “If thou canst believe,” spoken by the Master.
“Straightway,” the scripture says—not slowly nor skeptically nor cynically but “straightway”—the father cries out in his unvarnished parental pain, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” In response to new and still partial faith, Jesus heals the boy, almost literally raising him from the dead, as Mark describes the incident.
 
Observation number one regarding this account is that when facing the challenge of faith, the father asserts his strength first and only then acknowledges his limitation. His initial declaration is affirmative and without hesitation: “Lord, I believe.” I would say to all who wish for more faith, remember this man! In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. It was of this very incident, this specific miracle, that Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”  The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.
The second observation is a variation of the first. When problems come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your “unbelief.” That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak! Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have. Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not! So let us all remember the clear message of this scriptural account: Be as candid about your questions as you need to be; life is full of them on one subject or another. But if you and your family want to be healed, don’t let those questions stand in the way of faith working its miracle.
Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.
 
You can read Jeffrey R. Holland's talk
 here:
This talk really reminded me to hold fast to the believes that I do have!
Good night dear friends!

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