Gentle Reminders

I woke up this morning so looking forward to church and the peace I knew I would find there.  I was looking forward to Sacrament Meeting and knowing that my cup was empty and ready to be filled.  So when we got to church to find that the time had jumped forward one hour and we were actually late by an hour for church instead of early my heart sank.  How could this have happened to me but I learned so quickly that everything is in God's hands.  Today was a day that felt so guided by Him, so enriched and so blessed.  I learned so humbly again that I need to stop forcing my will on Heavenly Father but allow His will to work through me.  For a long long time I have felt so distant from the Lord and betrayed by things that have happened to me in the past couple of years and I continually asked why God would let these things happen to me and the answer has always been the same.

Mosiah 3:19 "19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyieldsto the enticings of the ^fHoly Spirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnaturalman and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

And I continued to ask why, why did you send this affliction for me to endure if I was just to submit my will... I thought I knew I would, in my heart I felt I would... but again I just didn't understand and so Heavenly Father has taught me in so many quiet and gentle loving ways.  

One way in which this gentle reminder came was a blog post by Adeye at No Greater Joy Mom.  Here is a lady who is so willing to follow what Heavenly Father has asked and after a great leap of faith almost faced the death of some of her children to an illness that invaded their household... and her quiet words were the gentle reminder from God that no one is immune even when we follow His will...  Adeye says below,

"I don't know why God chooses to do the things He does.  I will never understand His ways this side of heaven.

But ever so slowly, I am beginning to get it.

The valley too is a beautiful place to be...

It's where the light of Christ shines brightly.

Where profound and lasting lessons are learned.

And where we come out on the other side knowing that our Father in heaven is alive and well and more than able to carry our burdens."


Oh what a reminder I needed that Heavenly Father loves us and we need Him.  I have felt so betrayed by something that I will never share on my blog or will I tell a lot of people but it is something that has lead me to a great internal struggle that I have had.  I have prayed and pondered and reflected and tonight was taught the importance of just submitting to His will.  Elder David A Bednar just talked at a CES broadcast that has forever changed my view of heaven.  I will never know why Heavenly Father gave me that trial but I need to always remember that is better not to shake than to not survive.  Our gift of faith is so important to hold dear and close to our hearts and so with a resolute and resounding affirmation of yes we can follow the example of Adeye and remember that it is in this life where profound and lasting lessons are learned.