Last week, our Relief Society Presidents husband ended up in the hospital and had been there for almost a full week. Being her first counselor, all her responsibilities fell on my shoulders. Can I just say, she is a very busy lady. I did food orders for families, called and visited the sick, took care of two Sunday/s, one of which, (today) I also had to teach the lesson - had meals taken in to some families, went and visited new families that have just moved in, and then did several visits with the Bishop. On top of all of that, the Relief Society was in charge of the Ward Fourth of July breakfast/Activity of which, I was the presidency member in charge. Alana, the second counselor was a HUGE help also and between the two of us, and others on the committee, we pulled off a pretty fantastic ward party. High Five to us.
Then, we had family over in the afternoon for a family barbecue and we were supposed to have several of Mike and Kylie's friends over also, but April Austin had her baby the day before, so she and her family couldn't come - but Paxton and Abby, with their three little one's, were able to come and enjoy the evening with us. By the end of the night of clean up and fire works, I was exhausted.
BUT...that was not to be the end. Mike and Kylie stayed the night with their kids...All did well, except for Madi - stinker. She didn't want to sleep...she wanted Papa...papa, papa, papa - in every tone of voice, it was PAPA!!! No-one got much sleep during the night except for Mike and Preston - so after a nice breakfast Saturday morning, Mike and Kylie took their family home and we all tried to get some much needed sleep.
Today, Sunday, I gave the Relief Society lesson. It was intense - about making and keeping our covenants - I asked them 'why they were at church today' and 'why are they member of this church?' The concept was - we knew the plan, we chose the plan, we agreed to the plan and we accepted the plan. Now, it's time to LIVE the plan and our covenant. Some days are easier than other...most days are hard though - we have to give all we have to kingdom and try to survive our trials well. Easiest to do when we are living the commandments and following the plan. Hardest to do when we are deviating from the plan and the path we're supposed to be on., Don't find our personal desires, thoughts and beliefs differing from that of the Saviors - if we do, we know we need to re-align our thoughts and hearts to His will and not our won. We've each made the decision as proven by the fact that we are all here. Now, remain faithful to our covenants.
It was a good lesson and I am grateful to the Lord for the flowing of words and thoughts he allowed the Spirit to reveal to me that needed to be shared.
I prefaced the talk with the sharing of a dream I had last night.
Dreamed I was my age now, but was living back in the day when I was 16, working for my dad as his dental assistant. But I wasn't recognized as my daddy's daughter...I wasn't seen that way - I was some 54 yr old lady. While at the office, a younger version of my mother came to the office with two little children. In looking closely at the children, I noticed they were two of my brothers - Garth, maybe age 2 1/2 and Paul, just over age one. I started to cry seeing them as I recognized them as my siblings as babies. Then I noticed my mother was pregnant, which would have meant the baby she was carrying was...me. I excitedly told her and daddy that the baby was going to be a girl and that it was me - and they were going to name her Marlys. My mom said ,'But I don't even like the name Marlys'. and I said, 'Well, I don't like it either, but that's what you named me'. I then told them both, they would be having six more children and what each of their names were. They were fascinated that I knew all this information and it was thrilling for me to be able to tell them all these things I knew from over my 54 years.
Then, the dream forwarded to being with my siblings in each of their early stages of their married lives...like each of them had maybe one or two children, after which I would then say something about one of them already born (oh, you're Matt and you're going to marry a very sweet girl named Annie, and you're going to be a dentist'.) And then I would tell each of them how many more children they were going to have and what their names would be...a profound part of the dream was when I had to tell my oldest sister Sheila, that she was going to lose her oldest daughter, AJ, from drowning in the bath tub. Then I panicked, realizing it hadn't happened yet in my dream - I was asking what day and month it was and then had to tell them it was going to be in a few days...I tried to comfort Sheila and Steve and they understood this was the plan they had agreed to and were willing to have in order to come to earth. I woke up shortly after this.
It was a a dream that I found both comforting, as I was able to give them so much information about their lives they didn't know and had to look forward to,, but also, there was information I held back from them, knowing how it would break their hearts, knowing some choices that would be made in their futures by both themselves and their children.
That's how our Heavenly Father feels. He knows and remembers the plan. We have forgotten all. He's given us as much information as He possibly can to help guide us through our choices...but we just have to live by faith. The lesson was profound and the spirit was strong. I was grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands of helping to inspire the women to live their choices and covenants.
No comments:
Post a Comment