The Lord Loves Effort

This week I was reminded by the spirit the importance of doing my part to receive the answers to prayers and guidance in my life. As I knelt in prayer contemplating a number of things I inquired why I had not received a particular answer regarding a need in the ward. The answer game in a thought that directed me to the General Conference address from Sister Joy D. Jones in April 2020. As part of her talk she shared a video segment of some children visiting with President Nelson. She asked the children if they had a question for the prophet of the Lord. That is when we heard the following form a little girl named Pearl: “Is it hard to be a prophet? Are you, like, really busy?” President Nelson then responds: “Of course it’s hard. Everything to do with becoming more like the Savior is difficult. For example, when God wanted to give the Ten Commandments to Moses, where did He tell Moses to go? Up on top of a mountain, on the top of Mount Sinai. So Moses had to walk all the way up to the top of that mountain to get the Ten Commandments. Now, Heavenly Father could have said, ‘Moses, you start there, and I’ll start here, and I’ll meet you halfway.’ No, the Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it.”

The message was to me that the Lord loves effort and I had not done what I needed to do to receive that answer yet. Since having that personal revelation, I have thought quite a bit about this teaching by our prophet. I was reminded that faith is an action word and it needs to be coupled with works. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared the following in his conference address to us in October 2020: “After we kneel in prayer, we need to get up from our knees and do what we can to help—to help both ourselves and others.”

 

Regardless of what you are praying for or what direction you are seeking, I urge you to put forth the effort needed. Get up form your knees and get to work. As you do so, the Lord will guide you and direct you. I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Bishop Burningham

Fellowship in Christ

 Fellowship in Christ

As I sat down to study my scriptures after a very busy first week as Relief Society president, I laid my head down on my closed scriptures. “Heavenly Father, I just can’t do it today. I am worn out.” Then I felt the impression to open my scriptures and just read a few verses. So I flipped open my scriptures and first John chapter one appeared.

vs. 1 - Brethren, this is the testimony which we give of that which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.

vs. 3 - That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Those verses revived me. We are in a fellowship; a fellowship of believers in Christ. And not just a fellowship at this time in this ward but a fellowship with all people throughout all the ages that have believed in Christ. I felt a part of something, something wonderful that stretched beyond my mortal understanding. We are not alone in our beliefs. We have each other. And we have Christ. And that is all I needed for that moment.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sister Stacy Otto

Relief Society President

Uncle Clyde and His Miracle at Green River, Wyoming

 Uncle Clyde and His Miracle at Green River, Wyoming

Spiritual thought given by Jim Hartley, Elders Quorum President, at the Hidden Village Ward Council, February 7, 2021

I’d like to relate a true story about my granduncle, Clyde Bunker, and his miracle at Green River, Wyoming. In April 1917, America entered World War I. Uncle Clyde was drafted into the army and sent to Europe. He was among the 1.2 million American troops in the war’s massive final battle … and he was also among its more than 120,000 U.S. casualties. He suffered from exposure to mustard gas and was wounded by a German artillery shell. In 1918, after the war was over, Uncle Clyde’s unit was sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they would be discharged.

Uncle Clyde healed okay from the artillery shell wound, but unfortunately, he still suffered from the effects of the mustard gas. He felt he needed more rest before returning to his wife and infant son in southern California. After he was discharged in Cheyenne, he took a train to Green River, where he needed to transfer if he was to return home. But instead of transferring, he hoped he could stay a few weeks with my grandparents who lived 60 miles south in Manila, Utah (which is north of Flaming Gorge). My grandmother, Ethel Bunker Miner, was Uncle Clyde’s older sister.

On a Saturday, when he arrived at the Green River train station, he tried to telephone my grandparents, but there was a terrible storm that had knocked out the telephone lines.

The next morning, Sunday, Grandma announced that they would not be going to church. “Instead,” she declared, “we must borrow a car and go to Green River and get Clyde. I saw him last night in a dream and he was in Green River at the railroad station. He was trying to reach us, but for some reason he couldn’t.” Based on Grandma’s dream, they borrowed a neighbor’s car. When they arrived at the Green River train station, sure enough, they found Uncle Clyde. Completely surprised, he asked Grandma how she knew he was there. When she told him of her dream, Clyde said, “The Lord truly heard and answered my prayer.” Uncle Clyde was able to stay a few weeks with my grandparents to regain strength before returning to his family.

A miracle happened for Uncle Clyde because Grandma was in-tune enough with the Spirit to know the difference between a normal dream and the promptings of the Holy Ghost and to act on them.

Being able to receive and recognize the guidance of the Holy Ghost is especially vital for us in our day. In the April 2010 general conference, Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President observed: “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.”

https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2010/05/saturday-morning-session/and-upon-the-handmaids-in-those-days-will-i-pour-out-my-spirit?lang=eng

Our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson warned, “…In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost….

He implored, “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation….

“Nothing opens the heavens” declared President Nelson, “quite like the combination of [and note these next five things] increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work…”

President Nelson again implored, “I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng

May we work diligently to increase our spiritual capacities and skill in receiving and recognizing the guidance of the Holy Ghost. In the process, who knows whose lives we’ll be prompted to rescue, like my grandmother did for Uncle Clyde?