At the end of every year, you see articles and TV shows that look back and assess the past year. Lots of different subjects – Movies, sports, world events, disasters, technology – all are analyzed and summarized.
I decided to write about how my faith and testimony were impacted by 2013.
Overall, it was a good year: My faith and testimony have grown. I have always felt that if a year goes by that I can’t make that statement, then we are missing the point.
That said, my faith is not anywhere close to perfect. I am definitely not ready to get out of the boat and start walking. The past year saw me grumbling too much, not praying enough, and not attending the temple enough. My faith was also challenged as health blessings that I gave were not realized, and I got bamboozled by misinterpreting promptings a couple of times. The frustrations that come with living life left some marks.
Rather than focus on those things, there are several areas where my faith and testimony were strengthened in 2013. Here are three specific area:
1) Living prophets exist and are amazingly current.
I love our prophets. I sustain them. My faith that they are chosen and called of God has been reaffirmed. One of the things that has greatly strengthened me is how current and topical they are. These men are not just old guys running the church from a closed room. They know what is going on in the world, and our society. They are in touch.
I admire their courage to stand up for God’s laws in the face of blistering attack from the media and naysayers that espouse an agenda contrary to God’s plan. Hearing Elder Oaks speak about marriage and family with no uncertain terms in October Conference (link) gives me renewed strength and courage to stand for truth.
Elder Holland’s masterful talk about depression and mental/emotional challenges (link) was a testimony that the brethren know what challenges we face, and reaffirms to me that the Lord is concerned with what we face in our day.
2) The light of truth is expanding.
In the past few months, the Church has released articles and information that many members of the Church don’t know much about. Conveniently, the agencies of Satan know about these things and try to contort them to diminish the Church. Here are some of those topics:
• Joseph Smith wrote four accounts of the First Vision – an event that is hugely important in our theology. As with the retelling of most any experience, there are some variations with each retelling. So it is with the First Vision. Recently the Church added an article to LDS.org that discusses the different versions, links to them, and discusses some of the seeming contradictions and arguments. (Link)
• Another recent addition is the new discussion on “Race and the Priesthood” on LDS.org. (link) It delves into the topic of racism, culture, church history and early church leaders as it attempts to understand why the Priesthood was withheld from some of God’s children until 1978.
• Just a few weeks ago, the Church released an article on LDS.org “Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah.” (link) It discusses where polygamy came from, how it was practiced, and how it was eventually done away with.
All three of these topics have some things in common: They make a lot of us uncomfortable, most of us don’t understand them well enough, and the world loves to use these topics to beat the Church over the head.
I am grateful that the Church is dealing with these topics in an open way. Warts and all. Truth is our best ally. Perhaps one day, we, and our youth, can be educated enough that when these topics come up, we won’t flinch, or be at a loss of how to explain them.
And, (as a friend of mine pointed out) maybe instead of focusing on these types of things, our missionaries across the globe can spend their time focusing on the restored gospel and our Savior Jesus Christ.
3) The Lord is directly involved with His children.
Everyone who has served as a bishop has had a front-row seat to witness how God has His hand in people’s lives. This past year I had another experience that reminded me that God loves His children, and that divine intervention is very, very real, and more frequent than many imagine.
This experience was the “2nd Annual Hug a Convert Day.” For those who don’t know what it is, I single-handedly declared that the first Sunday in June is IHACD. (This year it will fall on June 1, 2014) (To see last year’s, go to the search field over there —> and type in the word “Hugs.”) The purpose is to recognize and honor those who have embraced the gospel as a convert.
This year I received and published dozens of conversion stories from people all over the world who had been converted to the gospel. It was astounding. Every story was wonderful. Every story reaffirmed my testimony that God is aware of His children, and will sometimes move mountains to bless them. These wonderful people strengthened my faith, and my testimony of missionary work.
There you have it, my faith in review. I hope your faith had a good year too, and I hope you have a great 2014 – because hope and faith go really well together.
God bless! (And I’ll give you an update on the whole ‘walking on water’ thing as it gets a little warmer outside.)
My uncle said the best thing about the priesthood that has always stuck with me – it has broader applications too.
What he said was that If you believe that it is Heavenly Father’s power, then he can give it to anyone he wants, and who are we to question it? And if you don’t believe that it is Heavenly Father’s power, then what is the church keeping from you anyway?
Frozen water is easier to walk on. Try it in the winter!
Where’s the challenge in that?
Amen and amen! I loved those conversion stories–they nourished and strengthened my testimony! I shared them with my family for Family Home Evening and we were all edified. Thank you for what you do here..
Curious that you should mention the health blessings that were not realized. Three and a half years ago I broke my foot and in a blessing I was promised that my foot would heal completely and that I would be able to run with my children. Well, I can finally run with my children again, but if I do it will hurt afterwards. My foot throbs and bothers me almost daily still. The more active I am, the more it hurts. I sometimes wonder if maybe my dad said the wrong thing in the blessing, but then I also remember that God didn’t mention any specific time frame. For all I know it will take ten years to completely heal. Anyway, I’m curious to know what you think about your situation and mine. I just keep reminding myself to be patient and hopefully someday my foot really will feel normal again. I was told in my patriarchal blessing that I have faith to be healed and that I will enjoy great blessings when I call on the Elders to lay their hands upon my head. Maybe my foot would have been really really super duper messed up without the blessing, who knows?
I have found at times in my life that when a blessing hasn’t been completely realized, I have needed to add a little more in the “works” end. Faith and works go hand in hand. Maybe there is something more physically you can do for your foot. You obviously would be the best judge. I just know that in my life sometimes I need to add a little more works and then the blessing has been fulfilled. Good luck!
That was beautiful. I too have loved the info that the church has put up officially on those controversial topics. It surprises me though that members were unaware of lots of the issues and circumstances surrounding them as I remember learning all about them on my mission…pre-internet…pre-anything really! (Ok…not really…it was the 90’s!)
I think info has always been there if you wanted to find it…but for some reason we all breath a little easier when it’s printed on the official church website. 😉
I love how you made this a reflection on your faith rather than life’s events. It will be much easier now, for me to look back and do the same. I appreciate that you have taken “the year’s review” to a higher level. This may be a challenge for me to reexamine my life in this way but I am sure it will be much more meaningful . Thank you once again, for helping me be a better person.
I don’t know how you can be any better – you are already the best.
All of the ordinances invite us to increase our faith in Jesus Christ and to make and keep covenants with God. As we keep these sacred covenants, we receive priesthood power and blessings. ~ Neil L. Andersen