Devotional- December 30, 2020

 REMEMBER AND RECORD

Don’t you love how sometimes when you are sitting in a Sunday School class and someone makes a comment that triggers for you a whole line of thought that is different from what is being discussed in the class.  That happened to me a few weeks ago in the Ensign Peak Sunday School class.  We were discussing Ether 12 where Moroni is adding some of his comments about faith.  He begins to list a variety of events from the past—events such as the prison walls falling down around Alma and Amulek, Ammon’s success among the Lamanites, the example of the brother of Jared’s faith.  This process of listing past events to teach or remind the people or teach and remind us is a common approach in the Book of Mormon and in other scripture.  It was Sister Grover who made the comment—I know because I wrote it down in my Book of Mormon. She referred to this listing as the Faith ‘Hall of Fame.”  I loved that! And then the thought came that just like Moroni and other Book of Mormon prophets, I and we each have our own Faith “Hall of Fame”—the collection of experiences which have built our testimony over the years and the times we remember when we are struggling. 

Today I am going to share three of my Faith “Hall of Fame” experiences—not because they are amazing but because they are ordinary—but teach basic truths.  I share them as examples which will hopefully trigger inside of you—your own rememberings.  When did you learn these truths in your own lives?  What are your Faith “Hall of Fame” moments?  When things are hard, when your faith is challenged, or you can’t find apparent answers or relief in your prayers—what do you remember to bring you peace and comfort?

The power of remembering is immeasurable.  We are counseled to remember from the scriptures and from modern day prophets.  The word remembering and related forms of the word appears over 200 times in the Book of Mormon alone.  President Spencer W. Kimball said that perhaps the most important word is remember. He said our greatest need is to remember.

Weekly as we partake of the sacrament, we are reminded to remember—Christ’s body, His blood—and to always remember Him.

As we strive to remember these holy events from our past, it helps us to remember the goodness and mercy of God and His Son.  It allows us to be open to the Spirit once again and to express our thankfulness for these past moments—our personal Faith Hall of Fame.”

Let me share a few of mine:

When I was five years old, we lived in a small house with a very long clothesline in the backyard.  Early one Saturday morning, my mom had helped my friend and I build a long tent fort over the clothesline and my friend and I were having fun playing in it, until my two little brothers, four and three years old, decided that they wanted to join us.  Of course, I said No—because apparently that was the type of big sister I was.  My brothers went to complain to my dad who was watching our baby sister while my mom was shopping.  My dad yelled out and asked if the tent was big enough for all of us.  I said, No.  My brothers complained, so my dad came out—and I got in trouble.  My friend was sent home and my brothers got to play in the tent without me.  An incident that probably played out lots of times in my childhood…but this time was different.  I don’t know why, but I felt bad—not because I couldn’t play but because I had lied to my dad.  I went and told him that I was sorry, but I still felt bad inside.  I can still clearly remember that feeling of sorrow.  For some reason—I don’t know why, I decided that I needed to tell Heavenly Father that I was sorry.  I went to the side of our house and knelt down beside a blooming forsythia bush and said a prayer.  This is my first memory of saying a prayer by myself. As soon as I said that I was sorry, I felt as if I was being hugged and my body filled with warmth.  I knew that there was a Heavenly Father, He knew who I was, and although I didn’t understand the process at the time, I knew that I had been forgiven.  This event is the foundational experience of my spiritual life.  It would be the first thing you saw if you came to my Faith Hall of Fame.

While there are many experiences that occurred along the way, the next event I am going to share happened in my mid-20s.  Gary and I had been married for about 3 years and had been trying to have children during most of that time.  We did the things that faithful couples do—we prayed, went to the temple, our families prayed for us, we went to doctor’s etc.  We were living in Provo, Utah at the time where Gary was working.  I was visiting my parents in Texas and was talking to my mom. She shared a conversation she had had with a dear friend of ours who was a single woman who was concerned because she had never married and had 8 children “like my mom” which was her dream.  My mom shared, “I told her that there was a lot of work to do in the Lord’s kingdom and it can’t all be done by women with eight children.”  That thought struck me and stayed with me all day.  It occurred to me in all of our prayers we were assuming that having children was a righteous desire and was what God wanted for us.  Afterall, our patriarchal blessings both spoke about children.  But—I had never actually asked God what he wanted for me or for us in that regard.  That night, when I knelt to say my prayer, I expressed my desire to have children—I always prayed for children not just one—but I wanted to know and was willing to do what He wanted for me.  Like the first example I gave (and not a usual experience—to be clear) the answer came quickly and immediately—Go to graduate school.  My undergraduate degree was in psychology.  I had always intended to go to graduate school at some future date—When the kids were all in school-the mythical time when you would have free time--  When I returned home a few days later, I headed to the BYU bookstore to get a catalog to look for a possible degree, buy a study guide for the GMAC, the entrance exam required at BYU at that time for graduate school and  to register for the exam. I realized that I was within 10 days of missing the deadline to sign up for the last possible exam prior to the deadline for graduate school admissions that spring. I often wondered if God was getting nervous about the deadlines approaching.  I literally went through the catalog that weekend trying to find a degree that I might be interested in and might qualify for and settled on school psychology which (unsurprisingly) turned out to be perfect for me and for our lives because the things I learned have helped me so much individually, in my family and friends, in my Church service and in the community service.  As a bonus, our first child was born two weeks after I finished my course work for my masters in a pregnancy that my doctor called “a once in a blue moon pregnancy”. Lessons learned:  God has a plan for my life.  I need to ask and be submitting my will to His.  And second, God’s timing is perfect.

It was difficult to choose the third experience to share, because there are so many, but you don’t want to spend all day and into the night hearing about my experiences that built my faith—learning the Book of Mormon is true, confirmations of the call of prophets, serving in the Church, events surrounding the adoptions of our four younger children, being on a mission at this precise time—all of these have a place in my Hall of Fame.  I chose a simple one but an important one for me.  When I was in my mid-30s and had 4 little kids, I had a close group of friends who were also young mothers and we spend time together often and frequently as you would expected talked about parenting.  For a couple of months, many of them had been talking about how they wanted to “yell less” at their children.  Now I wasn’t a big “yeller” and I usually thought to myself during these conversations that I do okay with it.  If I yell at my kids, it is because they ‘needed’ it.  I had other concerns as a mom.  But because it was a quite constant conversation, I did think about it more and decided that I would make more of an effort to not yell.  I prayed about it randomly, but really halfheartedly, not really expecting to make any great change or even sure that one was needed.  One day, I walked into the kitchen to find my kids-who ranged in age from 2-8 in the middle of a big mess of their doing.  They were loud and boisterous—and without even a thought, I took a quick breath to yell at them—but at that precise moment, I felt as if a hand was on my shoulder and the impression came- Be calm. I was so startled that I didn’t yell at them.  In fact, I don’t remember doing anything about it.  But I spent the day puzzling about a simple truth—probably one all of you learned much younger in life—God not only wants me to change and be better, but He is willingly to help me—and He apparently doesn’t forget what I am working on like I am prone to do.  I haven’t always remembered and taking advantage of this amazing truth—but I know it is true. When I am seeking to make a change, I know I can rely on Him… and with Him nothing is impossible.

So now you have heard three of my exhibits in my Faith Hall of Fame—has your mind be drawn in remembrance to how you first learned that God knew you and love you as an individual child? Do you remember the first time that you asked God for direction and He gave it to you—and then you followed it?  Have you learned that God’s timing is perfect? Have you seen Him help you make changes in your life as you seek to be a better disciple?

And now that you have remembered have you recorded those events and experiences for your family and your posterity?  Serving as we do in the Church History Library, we understand or we are learning to understand the importance of recording these events.  This can be done in journals, blogs, letters, or in recordings—but it needs to be done and it probably needs to be started now.  It is a New Year on Friday—make 2021 a year of remembering and recording the events of your Faith Hall of Fame!

I testify of these truths—God loves us, He has a plan for each of us.  That our Savior lives and through his Atonement we have access to all we need on this journey home to Them.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only organization with the fullness of the gospel.  We are among those set apart for this day to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ.  May we always be found remembering Them and Their great mercy and love of us.