The Tender Mercies of the Lord

Picture taken the last time I was sick, June 2014

It's been an interesting weekend.  Beginning Thursday night, I knew that I was coming down with a cold.  Friday I was extremely tired and a little hazy, but managed to get through work and a friends Christmas party.  And then yesterday I was good enough to get some errands run, but knew by the evening that it was setting in at full strength.  And so today, I've spent the day sleeping, hoping that the rest will help me to recuperate quicker than usual.

For me, colds aren't a simple five to ten day affair.  If coughing accompanies the cold, it inevitably mixes with my asthma, creating a cough that can last anywhere from two to four weeks--and, at least recently, has usually meant a visit to Urgent care for a breathing treatment and a dosage of Prednisone that makes my blood pressure shoot up.  So needless to say, I wasn't particularly enthused about the prospect of this cold.

But this afternoon as I thought about all this, I also had another thought.  I realized that the last time I had gotten sick was June 2014, and the last time that I had dealt with a cold was December 2013-January 2014.  I know that some people have immune systems that work really well, and so long stretches of health like this are not uncommon.  I am not one of those people.  For me to make have made it nearly two years without a single cold, and to have made it a year and a half without being sick at all, is one of the greatest miracles of my life.

As I considered the timing of that all, it was a miracle that I desperately needed.  During most of that time, money has been scarce.  I spent all of last year teaching multiple adjunct classes at BYU and UVU, just to try to stay afloat financially.  I was living paycheck to paycheck during most of that time, and also receiving much appreciated assistance from my parents and others.  I simply didn't have time or money to be sick last year.  Furthermore, during the months that I would normally get sick last year (October-February), I was going through a painful breakup that at times required every ounce of strength I possessed to deal with.  All in all, it was a trying period of my life.  And yet, it was, by far, the healthiest period of my life that I can remember.

All during that time, I realized how great a blessing that health was.  I've been sick enough in my life that health isn't something I easily take for granted.  But the more I have pondered this blessing, the more I have realized that the Lord understands our limits and never gives us more than we can bear.  During this period of health, I was close to my limit several times.  I'm not sure that I could have handled being sick, and I believe the Lord knew that.  And so, He blessed me with health during that time.  And now, in December 2015, because the circumstances of my life are so radically different than the previous year, He knows that I can handle sickness again.

Even in the most difficult periods of our lives, we can rest assured that the Lord knows us and loves us and will not give us more than we can handle--and will even bless us with some of the greatest blessings and miracles that we have ever known concurrent with those trials.  We can rest assured, with Nephi, that "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance" (1 Nephi 1:20).  One year later, I can see clearly that blessings abound.  And just as important, I can see that great blessings always did abound, even when I could not see them clearly.  For that, I am eternally grateful!

Brett

Our Charted Course

I just have a short post for tonight because it is late.

In 1938, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., addressed the Church's faculty of seminary and institute teachers at Aspen Grove, up Provo Canyon.  In that address, which has become a landmark address for Church educators, he quoted the following analogy:

"'When the mariner has been tossed for many days in thick weather, and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his true course.  Let us imitate this prudence, and, before we float farther on the waves of this debate, refer to the point from which we departed, that we may at least be able to conjecture where we now are.'"

President Clark then went on to explain the pertinence of these matters for the Church.  He said:  

"There are for the Church, and for each and all of its members, two prime things which may not be overlooked, forgotten, shaded, or discarded:  First—that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, the Creator of the world, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Atoner for Adam’s transgression; that He was crucified; that His spirit left His body; that He died; that He was laid away in the tomb; that on the third day His spirit was reunited with His body, which again became a living being; that He was raised from the tomb a resurrected being, a perfect Being, the First Fruits of theResurrection; that He later ascended to the Father; and that because of His death and by and through His resurrection every man born into the world since the beginning will be likewise literally resurrected. . . . These positive facts, and all other facts necessarily implied therein, must all be honestly believed, in full faith, by every member of the Church.

"The second of the two things to which we must all give full faith is that the Father and the Son actually and in truth and very deed appeared to the Prophet Joseph in a vision in the woods; that other heavenly visions followed to Joseph and to others; that the gospel and the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God were in truth and fact restored to the earth from which they were lost by the apostasy of the primitive Church; that the Lord again set up His Church, through the agency of Joseph Smith; that the Book of Mormon is just what it professes to be; that to the Prophet came numerous revelations for the guidance, upbuilding, organization, and encouragement of the Church and its members; that the Prophet’s successors, likewise called of God, have received revelations as the needs of the Church have required, and that they will continue to receive revelations as the Church and its members, living the truth they already have, shall stand in need of more; that this is in truth The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and that its foundation beliefs are the laws and principles laid down in the Articles of Faith. These facts also, and each of them, together with all things necessarily implied therein or flowing therefrom, must stand, unchanged, unmodified, without dilution, excuse, apology, or avoidance; they may not be explained away or submerged. Without these two great beliefs the Church would cease to be the Church."

He then concluded that these two things constituted "the latitude and longitude of the actual location and position of the Church, both in this world and in eternity." In other words, these two fundamentals were the geographic markers of our location along the path to eternal life.  And "Knowing our true position, we can change our bearings if they need changing; we can lay down anew our true course."

In order to chart a proper course, we must know two things.  First, we must know where we are going.  We must know our destination and we must know exactly where it is.  Second, we must know where we are right now.  We must know our actual location.  It is here that the latitude and longitude of our testimonies is most helpful.  We know where we are going, as our Heavenly Father has boldly taught us through Prophets and Scriptures that our destination is to become like Him and to live with Him and with our families in His Kingdom.  Therefore we must know where we actually are today.  We must be honest in our assessment of our location, as any prevarication will cause us to miss out on some of the steps and turns that we must take as we pursue our course toward our eternal home.

May we each be able to determine our actual location, and may we then chart a direct course to our eternal promised land.  No matter where we are today, He can and will provide us with appropriate directions and sufficient energy and strength to make that vital journey to our Heavenly home.

Brett