Talk I gave in church on Helaman 5:12

Helaman 5:12 has always been one of my favorite scriptures.  It reads,

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the  rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your  foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty  storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

This scripture has such a deeper meaning to me now as our family has been faced with a huge trial.  Kera was diagnosed with a serious illness about a month and a half ago.  Throughout this time there have been such ups and downs and a rollercoaster of emotions, but what has always been constant is the love that I have felt from my Heavenly Father, and his invitation to rely on Him and that He will help our family get through this difficult time. I must rely on the Lord now more than ever before.  I have always had faith in Jesus Christ and a testimony of the gospel, but it’s not until we are faced with trials and our faith is tested that we see what we are made of so to speak, and we must put our faith into action. 

Sister Elaine Dalton who was recently released as the General Young Women’s President gave a talk about standing as a witness of God in all times and in all things, and in all places.  Sister Dalton said that our foundation of faith must be firmly centered on Jesus Christ.  Having that kind of faith means you rely on Him, you trust in Him, and even though you do not understand all things, you know that He does.  You also know that you are a daughter of God, that He knows you by name, that He hears your prayers, and that He will help you accomplish your earthly mission. 

It has been a comfort to me that when I pray to Heavenly Father I know that he knows me and what I am going through and that I can withstand my trials through my faith in Him and in His son Jesus Christ.  I have been blessed with several tender mercies throughout this process that have helped to sustain me and given me encouragement to keep going. 

I have kept a blog throughout this process that has helped me recognize these tender mercies, and it allows me to express my emotions and share the daily ups and downs that I am faced with.  I want to read a portion of one of my blog entries titled “Tender Mercies”. 

I wrote “I know the Lord sees the whole picture and he knows what I need.  I need to feel this pain and this sacrifice to understand things that I wouldn’t understand otherwise, and ultimately I know a miracle can occur if it is the Lord’s will for Kera to be healed.  I talked to Kera last night about the importance of faith.  I read to her from the Book of Mormon where it tells about Christ visiting the Nephites on the American continent and how the people were so moved by his sermon and they wanted more than anything for Christ to heal their sick.  He felt their strong faith and he asked them to bring their sick unto Him and he would heal them.  After he healed them and performed these miracles, those that were healed kissed the Savior’s feet and bathed them with their tears. 

I felt it important for Kera to understand the importance of faith and that we need to have faith when we are given a priesthood blessing, when we are performing important ordinances, or even having faith that Heavenly Father will hear and answer our prayers. 

Wilford W. Anderson gave a talk called “The Rock of our Redeemer” which I want to share a portion of.  He says, “And again, I would speak unto you concerning hope…behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and this because of your faith in Him according to the promise.  There is a scripture in Moroni that says, wherefore if a man have faith he must needs have hope, for without faith there cannot be any hope.  (Moroni 7:40-42)  

Brother Anderson says hope comes from faith in Jesus Christ.  He has already overcome the world and has promised that He will wipe away our tears if we will only turn to Him and believe and follow.  He also says that Faith in the Savior requires more than mere belief.  The Apostle James taught that even the devils believe and tremble.  (James 2:19) But true faith requires work.  The difference between the devils and the faithful members of this church is not belief but work.  Faith grows by keeping the commandments.  We must work at keeping the commandments.  From the bible dictionary we read that “miracles do not produce faith but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In other words faith comes by righteousness. 

The more we act upon our faith by reading our scriptures, serving in our callings, teaching the gospel to our children and holding family home evening each week, by praying morning and night and with our families, the stronger our faith will become.  The presence of the Holy Ghost will be with us and it will give us comfort.   Sometimes when hard trials come upon us, the natural man in us will tell us to give up.  This trial is too difficult, God must not love us, we cannot endure.  But I’ve found the opposite is true.  The more I allow the Lord into my life, the more fervently I pray, the more I study the scriptures, the more the Lord blesses me and I feel peace.  During the hard times and when I get caught up in the unknown, it’s not always easy to have the faith.  I know that Satan is real and he does not want me to be happy.  He will do anything to bring us down, to make us feel unworthy, to tell us to give up, to give in to temptation, to succumb to the darkness.  Like the scripture in Helaman says, when the devil  shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of our strong foundation.  I must continue to build a foundation rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

President Henry B. Eyring said in a conference talk, “we are safe on the rock which is the Savior when we have yielded in faith to Him, have responded to the Holy Spirit’s direction to keep the commandments long enough and faithfully enough that the power of the Atonement has changed our hearts.  When we have, by that experience, become as a child in our capacity to love and obey, we are on the sure foundation.  What we do allows the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change us into what we must be.  Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to repentance and to keeping his commandments.  We obey and we resist temptation by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. In time our natures will change.  We will become as a little child, obedient to God and more loving.  That change, if we do all we must to keep it, will qualify us to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost.  Like the scripture in Mosiah 3:17 says, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

It is because of our Savior Jesus Christ and His atonement that we are saved, and that the plan of Salvation is made possible.  The knowledge that our family can be sealed together for eternity is such a comfort to me and I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  He suffered and died for each one of us.  He felt every single trial, every physical, emotional, spiritual heartache that we have experienced and will experience.  I was listening to a book on cd from Leon Skousen about the atonement and why it was necessary to happen the way it did.  Jesus Christ had to suffer these things for us and it was an infinite atonement.  It was because of his compassion and unconditional love for us that He was willing to do suffer this way.  The part that seems the most difficult to me that Heavenly Father had to withdraw His spirit from the Savior at the time when He needed Him the most.  He had to do it completely alone.  We go through trials in this life, but we are given the comfort of the Holy Ghost to endure them.  I am so grateful to the Savior Jesus Christ and to Heavenly Father for sacrificing in this way.  The Lord will never leave us alone, for He has engraven our trials upon the palms of his hands.