During the last General Conference, I was very worried about our country and the stock market and all the money we were losing from money market and bond accounts. I was worried about the upcoming election (now I am even more worried about the results) and about the problems our children and grandchildren are facing. I was hoping to get some specific answers to all my worries. What I got was: Have Faith, Have Hope, Stay the Course and other such counsel. I admit that I was a bit frustrated and disappointed. Don't we have prophets , seers and revelators in this church to give us help when we need it. This is a time for some specific counsel and help. Well...
Today, as I sat in Sunday School, I got to thinking about what the brethren have been telling us for years. Strengthen your homes by being prepared---education, savings, don't go into debt, get your food storage, study and pray and prepare yourselves spiritually. I thought how Samuel the Lamanite on the wall didn't say to the Nephites "Hey you guys, Jesus is here tomorrow--get yourselves ready." And Joseph in Egypt received plenty of time to prepare for the famine. I realized that we have been warned not only in scriptures but by our prophets for many years. They have given us time to prepare. They have counseled us to get out of debt and have savings for the day when we would need it. We have been warned to have food storage. We have been counseled for years to read our scriptures, pray every day, attend the temple--to prepare ourselves spiritually for the onslaught of wickedness that is here today. We are surrounded by problems all around us. And it is our duty to heed the warnings of the brethren--our prophets, seers and revelators and prepare ourselves.
I thought of our family and everyone's situations and needs. There are some with more struggles than others. We can never pat ourselves on the back and say that all is well in Zion. We all need to be vigilant.
I remember Elder Packer saying that the strength of the Church is in the individual testimonies of the members. The Church has savings and food storage. But it could never sustain the whole church in a crisis. Likewise, dad and I have savings and storage, but we could never fully sustain our whole family in a crisis. We couldn't feed, clothe and house all our family members, unless we all moved into the cabin. And we certainly do not have enough oil to light all the lamps. Even though we still hope that we have some influence on the family, the spiritual strength in our family lies in the individual members of our family. We work together to uplift and help each other, but we must strengthen our own testimonies and our own families.
Let's all pray for the needs of our family members. Let's pray for strength to overcome hard feelings, if there be any, towards others. Let's work together to help each other and bless each other. If anyone has ideas that will help the family to be more prepared for the future, we want to hear them.
I leave you with one quote by President Hinckley, given in Conference ten years ago. He wanted us to be prepared:
"I urge you to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should the storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts. That's all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable."
We love you all and pray for you daily. Your needs and concerns our uppermost in our minds. We have faith in all of you and know that God is watching over our family. May we be obedient.
Sep 6, 2013
12 years ago
7 comments:
Very good advice.
Wow. I can't believe that quote was 10 years ago. I'm going to use it in my RS lesson next week. Thanks. Thank you for being a good example to our family. We have been blessed. GMAC has 5% 12-month CDs we are looking into.
Great advice, great thoughts Fofa. Yep, we all know they've been telling us for years. It's sad that we aren't to the point where we should be--I mean, 2 years of food storage is hard to come by :) But at least we have like 6 months! That's more than most people in our neighborhood can say, sadly. I also think that at this point, we have to just have our hearts in the right place--if we aren't fully prepared now, we need to GET prepared. If we've not fully saved up money, food, water, gasoline, etc. we must begin now, or keep on doing it, if we've already started. Anyway, it's a scary time, but I was actually comforted by the bretheren, telling us to have faith, hope, etc. because I know that none of us can be PERFECT in our temporal OR spiritual preparation. The Nephites that survived the Savior's coming weren't perfect either--and they survived. That gives me hope that even my imperfect efforts will make a difference--not that I shouldn't do all I can. We do all we can do, and the Lord will bless us!
i love u mom! thanks for the good advice.
you are the bestest Mainha ever! Thanks for the good advice. We are trying to live up to the counsel!
Lindos pensamentos! :)
que saudades de você, fofa! :)
Does this mean I shouldn't buy a lincoln?
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