BEFORE THE STORM

"If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen an unusual photo I posted recently of my return flight from our France ministry trip. While travelling from Paris to Dallas, we had an emergency landing in Iceland! After four hours of flying from Charles de Gaulle airport to Dallas/Fort Worth, we suddenly saw the flight pattern on the little TV screen make a giant U-turn and we started heading back in the direction we just left. It was already going to be a long ten hour flight and to add an unexpected emergency land to the trip was not a part of my plan. 

As we sat on the tarmac for hours in Iceland awaiting our approval for takeoff, I texted my husband and my daughter. I let them know everything was OK, and that I'd arrive later than planned....but I would eventually get home. As we sat grounded at the Reykjavik Airport unable to disembark, I was reminded of a message I taught a few years ago titled, "Where Were You Headed Before the Storm Hit?". When pilots are learning to fly, and they encounter unexpected storms, delays, or emergency detours, they have three words drilled into them.....are you ready for this? Fly. The. Plane. It's deep, I know. In other words, don't panic. Don't crash. Don't get distracted. Don't give up. Don't land somewhere and assume you're supposed to stay there. Fly the plane and you'll eventually arrive at your original destination. And it's the same with your vision, your plan, your life. When you encounter a storm, a letdown, a setback, or an unexpected delay, you've got to stay focused. 

Storms happen to all of us. Financial storms, family storms, marital storms, physical storms, career storms; it's part of life. When a storm hits your life, you have to ask, "Where was I headed before the storm hit?" You can choose to let a storm defeat you or let it drive you to the next level. Think about how a shepherd leads his sheep. He doesn't take them from mountaintop to mountaintop. He leads them through the valley to get to the next mountaintop. It's in the valley where we grow, we develop character, strength, vision, and the skills necessary to prepare us for the next mountaintop. 

Whatever you're facing today, God can use it to lift you to a higher level. In the Bible, King David would be known as Shepherd Boy David if it weren't for Goliath. Think about that. Saul didn't promote David to the next level God had planned, Goliath did. That giant, that obstacle, that massive roadblock wasn't meant to destroy him, it was meant to promote him! The resistance you're facing today is preparing you. It's strengthening your character. It's building your trust and reliance in God. It's absolutely necessary in order to handle the growth you're about to have! 

My question to you is this: Where were you headed before this detour, this distraction, this supposed setback? Where were you headed before the divorce, the unplanned pregnancy, the bankruptcy, the job loss, the diagnosis, the heartbreak? You may have to chart an alternate course to get to your destination. It may not be the route you planned or the time frame you anticipated but you're still successful as long as you keep moving toward your intended destination. Don't ever lose sight of where you were headed. God doesn't change his mind about your destiny. Nor should you! I love this story I heard from the late Myles Munroe who was having lunch with Dr. Oral Roberts and Corrie Ten Boom in 1976. Dr. Munroe asked Corrie what her secret was to having such stamina at 82 years of age. Boom replied, "Son, remember to live according to your vision; never according to your eyes."  (Terri Savelle Foy, 1 July 2016 Newsletter)

When Peter in his eagerness walked on water towards Christ one stormy night his only desire was to be safe in the Saviour's presence. No doubt when he started to walk, believeing that he could, his sight was very much fixed on the person he wanted to be with but then he made one crucial mistake, for one moment he looked at the boisterous wind instead and no doubt felt the angry waves lapping at his feet and he grew afraid as he began to sink (Matthew 14:30). What happened to Peter's resolve to be reunited with his Master? Peter lost focus as he trusted his eyes more than his vision. When the storms of life hit, it is easy to only see the calamity that is unfolding in our lives. As our plane lands in some foreign land we never intended to visit, it very often obstructs the vision of our true destination.

When we walk out of the baptismal font newly washed and clean; or walk out of the temple freshly wedded to the companion of our choice, we often feel that we have made it and are on our way to celestial kingdom. Never in our wildest dreams do we envisage encountering any storms. We do not plan on divorcing when we marry; or plan to bury a child when we enter the labour ward to give birth; or schedule chemotherapy when we commit to live the Word of Wisdom. When we commit ourselves to the journey that will take us to eternal life, we often than not feel that we should, by virtue of our obedience, have a smooth ride. Obedience, however, is not the teacher but the pilot that lands the plane at the chosen destination. The trials of mortal life, though making it a bumpy ride, make the destination once reached, all the more sweeter for the lessons suffered are lessons learnt. The challenge before us is to keep the eternal perspective and remember where we were headed before the storm:

"If we looked at mortality as the whole existence, then pain, sorrow, failure, and short life would be calamity. But if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the premortal past and on into the eternal post-death future, then all happenings may be put into proper perspective. Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified? If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected, and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith."

(Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p 97).

Being consistent in our obedience to 'small things' in everyday life will ensure that our vision stays clear and our eternal perspective focused: "Is our journey sometimes impeded when we forget the importance of small things? Do we realize that small events and choices determine the direction of our lives just as small helms determine the direction of great ships? We need to have family and personal prayers, study the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon; hold family home evenings; follow the admonition of the Saviour to love one another; and be thoughtful, kind, and gentle within the family. Through these and other similar small and simple things, we have the promise that our lives will be filled with peace and joy" (Elder M. Russell Ballard, in CR Apr 1990 or Ensign May 1990, p 6,8). Once obtained, that peace and joy will see us through and past the storms of mortal life. It will become the governing force in our lives that will make the storms bearable and foreign lands memorable.

This is a false world and it will one day be done away with. You come with nothing into it and you go with nothing out of it. Except one thing - YOU. This world was constructed with obstacles, pitfalls, enticements and stumbling blocks. Your purpose while you are here is to learn to jump, push through, walk around, avoid and rise above. All this will be the making of the person you have to take back to eternity, YOU.

But learn that he who doeth

the works of righteousness

shall receive his reward, 

even peace in this world, 

and eternal life in the world to come.

D&C 59:23

IN THE HEART OF WILDERNESS

There lived on the fringes of Jerusalem in 600 BC a rich, bold and resourceful merchant, a God fearing man by the name of Lehi. This man, under God's direction prophesied of Jerusalem's demise and destruction, a city whose wickedness was so great that God did not only send one prophet to call them to repentance, but as many as seven, Lehi being among them as well as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Habukkuk, Zephaniah and Zechariah.

Lehi's prophetic calling came in 600 B.C., a time in history when Jerusalem was flourishing not only in prosperity but also in idolatry, immorality and corruption. And simmering below the pulse of the industrious and prosperous Jerusalem lay political unrest which would ultimately punish Israel and enslave those who stoned the prophets. In 600 B.C. Jerusalem was under Babylonian domination. Sitting on Judah's throne was Zedekiah, an appointed puppet king, who unwisely with most of Judah's leadership, formed an alliance with Egypt with plans to overthrow the Babylonian rule. Jeremiah warned against this alliance knowing full well that Egyptians could not back their show of power with physical resources but Zedekiah refused to listen. When Lehi brought his message of doom prophesying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and its inhabitants carried away to Babylon (1 Nephi 1:13,18), the people were outraged and considered him along with Jeremiah and other prophets unpatriotic and guilty of treason. Their solution to this offence was that Lehi had to die (1 Nephi 1:20).

When the call came to leave Jerusalem and establish a colony of higher moral standards than the apostate Jerusalem, Lehi, not needing time to prepare, did not hasitate. The Lord had been preparing him his whole life for such an experience, both temporally and spiritually. According to His foresight, the Lord had strategically placed Lehi in the tribe of Manasseh, which of all tribes lived the farthest out in the desert, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Lehi, therefore became familiar with the dessert and as a merchant came to know the Egyptian culture. He had even given two of his sons Egyptian names and taught them to write in reformed Egyptian. Lehi was also spiritually sound. He knew full well what the God of Israel had done for his people and the wilderness they had to traverse to get to the promised land and he taught this to his children. Nephi often recounted Israel's wilderness experience to his brethren to bring them to the remembrance of their roots and to give them courage. : "Nephi consciously understood that his family was re-enacting a spiritual pattern....[and reminded his brethren of it frequently].....The Mormon pioneers, crossing the American wilderness, called themselves the Camp of Israel and were also aware they were following a pattern laid down before them....In spiritual history, the place of refuge is the wilderness, idealized by Israel as the place to commune with God. Certain profound lessons are learned in the wilderness, especially our complete dependence on God for it is a trackless, difficult place where our own resources prove not to be enough. The wilderness experiences in scripture are for cleansing and clarifying, and it is only after a people has experienced the marrow-deep challenges of the wilderness that they are ready to inherit a promised land" (Maurine Proctor, All Things According to His Will, Meridian Magazine).

Even though Lehi and his family were favoured of God and spared Jerusalem's destruction, they needed the experience of the wilderness to establish a righteous branch of Israel in another land. For this reason Lehi and his family travelled by the banks of the Red Sea for nine whole years before Nephi received instruction to build a ship. If the wilderness is a spiritual oasis where one finds God, this had to be true of this band of followers who had to be taught by what power they were inheriting the promised land. And they did find God in many ways but in one most extraordinary way. They found him in a tree.

Approximately a year before the command to build a ship, Lehi, had a very memorable dream in which he beheld an even more memorable tree, the tree of life. When Nephi, being the dutiful son that he was, inquired of God the meaning of the tree of life that his father had seen, an angel appeared to him to tutor him.  When the angel asked Nephi if he knew what the tree represented,  Nephi answered that it is the love of God, most desirable above all (2 Nephi 11:22,23). Immediately following his answer he was shown a vision of the Savior during his mortal ministry. It becomes very clear through Nephi's vision that the love of God is manifest to his children through the gift of His only begotten Son thus the tree becomes the symbol of Jesus Christ. Why a tree? Because a tree bears fruit and fruit is something you eat and something you eat becomes a part of you. In other words, you are what you eat. It transforms your very system. What we eat spiritually also transforms us, even to the point of rebirth. This rebirth places us on the path to eternal life. Alma claims that if we plant the word, which is compared to a seed, into our hearts and nurture it, it "shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree spring up into everlasting life" (Alma 32:41).

The symbol of the tree "converges all the meaning of the gospel. It was the tree of life that stood in the Garden of Eden and nourished Adam and Eve. This was a place of unity with each other and with the Lord. After they fell, eating the fruit of a forbidden tree, they came into a world of duality, division, separation from God. The only way to be at-one again with the Lord comes from the events that took place on another tree - the cross, through Christ's atonement and resurrection. Some legends even claim the cross was constructed from a branch of the tree of life. Symbolically, at least, this is true" ("The Vision of the Tree of Life, Meridian Magazine, December 14, 2015)

So it is with us. We all need a wilderness if we are to truly know God. The Lord wants us to find Him in the rough terrain, in the scorching desert, in the endless roads that we might know by whose hand we are led to 'the goodly land'. As prepared as Lehi was, his capacities were not enough. Hence the Liahona to point the way to the most fertile parts of the land where they could hunt for their survival (1 Nephi 16:14-30). It is good to be equipped with a bow but it is the hunt that the Lord provides that makes the hunter.

Every true disciple of Jesus Christ will experience 'a wilderness' before they get to their promised land. What promised land?: "Your promised land. Your new Jerusalem. Your own little acre flowing with milk and honey. Your future. Your dreams. Your destiny. I believe that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what His plan is for us" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence, Ensign March 2000, p 10). We do not need to travel the rocky path to the land of milk and honey alone for the Lord has promised "....mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land" (D&C 103:17, 19-20). The barren landscape of our wilderness will serve as a testing ground that will refine us, change us and enoble us if all the lessons are learnt and all obstacles overcome with the help of Him who desires to see the journey completed to the end. And when the moments of doubt and uncertainty would question the worthiness of that journey, we must be like that faithful, bold and resourceful merchant from the outskirts of Jerusalem who stood on the banks of the Red Sea, with no ship in sight, proclaiming: "I have obtained a land of promise" (1 Nephi 5:5).

A SAFE HARBOUR

"I am convinced that no soul has ever been whipped into this mortal existence, that each one of us came willingly, cheerfully, and gladly; even though we might have known that we were to inherit a body that was crippled, maimed and deformed, still we were glad to come....

We know that it meant sorrow, pain, and ultimately, death, and yet we rejoiced in the prospect to come.

We saw beyond the valley of the shadow of death, with all of its pain, with all of its suffering, the grand vistas of the eternities, providing for man's eternal and endless progress, on, up and up, until we should attain unto what God is. Yet we knew that we could never ascend until we had descended and had been given a mortal tabernacle, and the union of the spirit and body had become an accomplished fact.

So by the attraction of it all we came gladly and willingly, for our eyes were not so much centered upon the sorrows and troubles of life as upon the grandness of that which lies beyond."

(Melvin J. Ballard, Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, p. 179)

A somewhat adequate similitude of the journey of this life would have to be the found in the early pioneers of this Church who trekked across the plains, mountains and rivers in an effort to arrive at a home that promised a valley of peace and liberty. It can be supposed that they too began their journey with enthusiasm and purpose, knowing that the home they sought was a quest that could not be left unconquered. So strong was their commitment to arrive at their destination that they risked all facing 'sickness, heat, fatigue, cold, fear, hunger, pain, doubt and even death'. So many of us look back at the pioneers and exclaim that we could never have endured what they did. Such extremes are unfamiliar to us for very few of us experience extreme physical hardships. Instead we bask in comparative prosperity of modern day living and technology which 'shower us with security, entertainment, instant gratification and convenience' (President Dieter F. Uchdorf, All Is Well, Ensign July 2015). However, equal to the physical hardships of the pioneers are the spiritual ones we of the final hour face today with many of us standing on thin ice trembling with gripping cold hoping to make it to the safety of the shore. Surely the pioneers are looking down on us exclaiming they could never endure the challenges and stress we live with each and every day. The pioneers acquired many attributes on their fated journey which kept their fires of courage burning but none sustained them like their trust in God for whom they sacrificed their all. It is this trust which brought success for no one but He could enable them to swim to the safety of the shore.

"Many today feel troubled and distressed; many feel that, at any moment, the ships of their lives could capsize or sink. It is to you who are looking for a safe harbour that I wish to speak today, you whose hearts are breaking, you who are worried or afraid, you who bear grief or the burdens of sin, you who feel no one is listening to your cries, you whose hearts are pleading, 'Master, carest thou not that I perish? To you I offer a few words of comfort and of counsel. Be assured that there is a safe harbour. Your Heavenly Father - who knows when even a sparrow falls - knows of your heartache and suffering. He loves you and wants the best for you. Never doubt this. While He allows all of us to make choices that may not always be for our own or even others' well-being, and while He does not always intervene in the course of events, He has promised the faithful peace even in their trials and tribulations." (Joseph B. Wirthlin, 'Finding a Safe Harbour', Ensign May 2000)

To whom will we liken God and where else will we find refuge from the raging storms but the Creator of the ends of the Earth? He who gives power to the faint, and to them who have no might, He increases strength. For we that wait upon the Lord will renew our strength; we shall mount up with wings as eagles; we shall run, and not be weary, and we shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40)...... He shall wipe all tears from our eyes (Revelations 21:4).....and encircle us in the arms of His love (D&C 6:20) for there is no end to His compassion, mercy and love and no end to His understanding. For 'He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before Him, and all things are round about Him; and He is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by Him, and of Him, even God, forever and ever' (D&C 88:41). The promise is sure, if we draw near unto Him, He will draw near unto us; if we seek Him diligently, we shall find Him; if we ask, we shall receive; if we knock, it shall be opened unto us (D&C 88:63). Who else then can we trust and where else can we turn for peace but the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) for He alone has the might and power to calm the troubled seas so we can reach the shore. The sight of it should ever be before us, even as we are buffeted by the storms of life, for as we so long ago longed to ascend, we agreed to first descend; as we eagerly left, we promised to return. Armed with the power of God, the icy storms can never prevent our fingertips from feeling the edge of the shore.

"Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God and beside him there is no Savior. Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out. His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand. From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail. For thus saith the lord - I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory" 

(D&C 76:1-6)