I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately that there’s just a lot of confusion, controversy, and even contention in the world today. A lot of it is distributed via social media. During church today one of the brothers there shared a scripture that rang so true to me, and I believe it applies to everyone, regardless of your faith, religion, opinions, desires, etc. It’s a promise that comes from God, and I just wanted to share it really quickly. “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things–that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” -Doctrine and Covenants 42:61 We can understand and come to know the truth of anything through prayer to God. He has promised that He will reveal it to us. I know He’ll be true to His promise, and that comforts me because to be honest, I don’t know what to make of all the controversy. But He does. And if we follow Him, we’ll never be wrong. This brings me a lot of comfort as I think about what’s in store for us in the near future. There are going to be all sorts of ideas, opinions, laws, and so much more that may leave us confused or even shake our testimony of Christ or our sense of what’s right. If we trust in the promise of our loving Heavenly Father to guide each one of us and give us a personal witness, we’ll be save and secure. We’ll be prepared for what’s coming, and we’ll be lead to truth. This is comforting to me, and I hope it is to you. He answers prayers all the time. He’ll answer yours!
August 10, 2015
May 28, 2015
Youth Mini-Mission Message: God Answers
May 7, 2015
Finding Strength to Carry On
I am realizing that summer is just around the corner as the youth (both the young men and the young women) are preparing for summer camp. It sounds like they are all going to have a lot of fun. These preparations remind me of scout camp two summers ago.
The scouts were working on their hiking merit badge. For the merit badge they needed to hike 20 miles all in the same day. We had big plans, a scenic hike in the beautiful, central Utah Mountains. We kept telling ourselves that this would be good mission preparation for all the miles the boys would walk on their missions’.
We started out early in the morning on the day of the hike, with intentions of getting a good part of the hike completed quickly. But soon disasters began. We had only walked for about 10 minutes before someone had tripped and fallen and was bleeding. We “paused” our hike to practice our first-aid merit badge before continuing. This should have been a warning of events to come.
We were challenged continually throughout the day, both physically and emotionally. The steep hills and thick brush that we had to work our way through slowed our hike. Soon we realized that we would not make the trip as quickly as we had planned. That meant we were going to run out of food and water and possibly need to spend the night without any over-night gear.
Emotionally it was a challenge to wonder where the next watering hole would appear. In the deserts of Utah these can be few and far between. We filtered and drank water that I am sure should have killed us, or at least should have made us all very sick. The constant barrage from the sun, burned us all quickly, and yet we had to keep hiking. There was no relief from the heat. We faced challenges that should have made us quit. And yet we wanted to succeed, and knew we could. We were also blessed tremendously. We saw first-hand several miracles. However to keep a long story short, I will only recount one of many.
As the day had progressed, we had become separated into several small groups. Each group had not heard from the others for several hours. This was disconcerting as darkness was drawing near and we were still miles from the end of the hike. The trail we were following would split and rejoin itself and split again. In the thick brush it would be easy to pass another group and not know it. Several questions were constantly asked: what if someone was hurt and could not complete the hike? Would we pass by them and not know it? Would we need to return tomorrow to find them? Could they survive the night in the desert without any gear, food or water?
Each group decided (independently of each other) to pray for the other groups: prayer for safety, health, and strength to carry-on, and most importantly to be reunited. With blessings from our Heavenly Father, these prayers were answered. As the sun set and darkness enveloped us, we were all reunited. Everyone was safe and healthy. The decision was made to continue with our hike as we were ill-prepared to spend the night. We formed a line as we pushed our way through the thick brush. We had two flash lights in the group, one for the front and one for the back of the line. We hiked for at least 3 more hours in the dark before we emerged from the canyon at our destination.
As we told each other about the experiences we had while we were separated and anxiously hoping to be reunited, we began to see the blessings we had received and the miracles we had experienced. One young man told how he was too tired to go any farther, and somehow right at 8 pm he had gained strength to continue hiking. Another group told of how they stopped hiking at exactly 8 pm and prayed for that same young man that he would have the strength to continue.
Another group told how they had no flash lights and would be unable to hike in the dark. Just as the sun set they prayed one more time to be reunited with the others. Right as they said “amen”, they heard voices in the distance coming toward them. What a happy reunion in the dark! These prayers and many others were answered on this miraculous day.
Having our prayers answered was only one of many amazing events of that day. My testimony of the power of prayer was strengthened that day. I know our Heavenly Father listens, and answers prayers!
I have one lingering desire from this experience and it is that the young men will remember the power of prayer. I know there will be more difficult challenges ahead for them. I know that if they will pray for each other they will be blessed.
Daniel Burr
April 30, 2015
The Lost Shoe
April 5, 2015
Easter: Receiving Forgiveness As We Forgive
But as my feelings subside, I start to appreciate what miracles we saw and I see now. Millimeters variance could have made the injury devastating and permanent. It does not look like it will be. We obtained specialist medical help after working hours, against all reasonable expectation. Prayer and priesthood administration even reduced the severity of the injury from the time it was sustained to when we got first treatment.March 26, 2015
Youth Mini-Mission Message: Closer to God
The last little while I have had a hard time getting to read my scriptures.
It’s hard to wake up early and read your scriptures, but over this last week I was challenged to read my scriptures every day so….. I did, and it has been great! I honestly feel better. Previous to this week I was tired and groggy, and this week when I woke up early I have been happier and more full of life.
I know that reading your scriptures and praying will bring you closer to God, so I challenge you to do the same.
C.H. 10th Ward youth member (blog post submitted by anonymous)
March 25, 2015
Youth Mini-Mission Message: Prayer Can Help Anyone
July 28, 2014
When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane He looked to the Father for strength and energy so He could overcome with Love one of the most important events in the Plan of Salvation. The way He spoke to the Father was in the action of prayer. He, like us at times of our lives, needed strength beyond His own. Prayer is the way we communicate to our Loving Heavenly Father. Prayer for me gives me the ability to reach for Him and plead to Him, through my faith, for the ability to overcome what ever this life may bring. We face weakness, temptation, struggles, and life can become very busy. When this is the case we lose sight of how to get through it and how we can become better because of it.
While on a LDS Mission, missionaries pray and pray and pray some more. One day I asked myself, “Why do I wake up and roll off the bed and pray then poor a bowl of cereal to find myself praying again? Then an hour later pray before my studies, then pray as a companionship, and open and close our studies with a prayer?” I then thought of the quality of life a missionary and the faithfulness to go forward throughout the day feeling satisfaction no matter what happens and I knew it was because of prayer.
When we revert back to the basic principles of starting our day off with prayer we are blessed. Prayer should be the beginning and end of everything we do. Day and night we should pray and thank our Father for our life which includes our blessings, and our trials because without gratitude in our prayers we never see the lesson we are to learn. I know prayer is a true principle. I know it’s what is to be done to speak to our Father. Kneeling prayers show reverence and praise. I know Heavenly Father is mindful of us but wants to know we are mindful of Him. I love The Gospel and the truthfulness of it. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ I bear my testimony of prayer. Amen.
-Dylan Bushaw
