God is Sometimes a Fourth-Watch God

Christ walking on the sea, by Amédée Varin

Someone approached me one day while I was going through my heaviest trial, and said, "God is sometimes a 4th watch God". 

It made me deeply ponder and wonder and then research what she meant that.  

In the New Testament there is that beautiful story of the Savior appearing in the night, walking on water, after his disciples "toiled in rowing" for most of the night. We can all relate to that exhausting symbolism of moments and times in our own lives of toiling in rowing. Here are some insights I 've  learned from this story. 

The Hebrew nights were roughly divided into 4 watches:

• 6:00 PM-9:00PM = 1st watch
• 9:00 PM- Midnight= 2nd watch
•  Midnight-3:00 AM= 3rd watch
• 3:00 AM-Sunrise= 4th watch

The idea of God sometimes being a 4th watch God comes from the concept that God does deliver His people. It is in our times of trial,  toiling, exhausting every idea, and turning over every rock  that He comes to deliver us. It's the 4th watch when we think the time is past, and delivery is a vanished, that He comes.

1.  In the days of Abraham and Sarah of the Old Testament, God watched Abraham and Sarah very carefully thru their faith-filled lives.  Abraham was 99 years old, and Sarah 89 years old, when God made the Abrahamic Covenant with them that they would have an increase of seed without end.  Sarah was 90 when she gave birth to Isaac, a time in a woman's life when it is way past the child bearing years. Sarah delivered her first-born child and became a mother. Isaac was later also saved from death when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac in what would appear to us to be the last minute, and the fourth watch.  (Genesis 21)

 2. In another time on the Sea of Galilee we see the disciples on the water.

The term "fourth watch" comes from an account in Mark in the New Testament when the Savior came to them in what was the literal "fourth watch" of the night. After the Savior fed the 5,000 he sent His Apostles away down to the Sea of Galilee. During the night,  a storm comes up. It was a vicious storm in John's account  and the Apostles row for the equivalent of approximately 75 football fields against the wind. They are exhausted, weary, broken down and their hope is starting to grow thin. Sound familiar?

Mark 6:48

And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 

This is such a perfect phrase, the wind was contrary to them, and that they toiled in rowing. There they were over-fatigued, fighting and pushing against the demanding waves and storm. We've all been there.  We want it to be over, but it's not yet, so we have to keep enduring until relief comes.

John 6:19

  So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus  walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 

Thirty furlongs is the equivalent of 75 football field in length against the wind. That literally exhausts me thinking of that, but we've all been there before in that type of struggle through a trial or hardship.

The Savior saw them in their struggle on the sea and He sees us.  He's watching us toil in our rowing in contrary winds, and He's waiting only for the time to come for His delivery.

3. Then in the 4th watch of the night, He came unto them walking on the water. 

Oh I How I wish God was a first watch God. Sometimes He is! I have countless experiences, as I'm sure you all do, of  God hearing and answering a prayer or a pleading immediately. He is there constant and straight-way.  But sometimes, that is not His will. Sometimes the Lord's will is for us to experience some struggle and for things NOT to go the way we expect. If the Lord was there to answer  our prayer RIGHT when we wanted, and exactly how we wanted,  there would be no growth.  Our roots would not dig down deep, and when storms came, we would not have the faith to with stand the winds. I know it is in the 2nd and 3rd watch that I am really tested and really grow to become who God needs me to be. He comes in the 4th watch when it really matters, and He. does. come. 

Power in FAITH

I attended a Women's Conference about  POWER in FAITH and POWER in COURAGE.  

Our speakers,  taught an important concept that  I needed, and that is that having faith doesn't mean we have faith in a specific OUTCOME necessarily, but our faith is in the the Lord REGARDLESS of the outcome. That is so vital because if that outcome doesn't come to play, if our faith is centered in Christ and not the outcome, we don't lose our testimonies over it. I really liked that thought.

A great scripture insight was taught: The parable of the bread and the stone in Matthew 7.   The principle is  that the Lord wants to give us everything--the best blessings and the best gifts, but that we also need to ask for it. The bread symbolized the BEST gift or the BEST blessing.   If we ask for what we want the most (bread)  He is not going to give us a stone. We need to trust in the Lord to know that HE WANTS to give us bread. He is not going to give us a stone if we ask for bread.

 

Find out what is the RIGHT  thing and pray for what you need and what you want.  She commented that the tragedy isn't in  not getting it, the tragedy is when we  stop praying for it, or when we stop wanting the righteous desires of our hearts.

I love this scripture illustrating this principle:

Hebrews 4:16 "Come BOLDLY unto the throne of grace and ASK in time of need"

It is not only OK to ask for what we really really want, but to trust that the Lord WANTS to bless us with it. But we have to ask. She called this intentionally praying.

We need to have intentional prayers.

Following of coarse this counsel given:

Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8: "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong."

Praying for the "RIGHT" things  is a great concept.  But how do we know what is right when we want something so badly?  For me when I am in a situation when I really need a blessing, or want something very badly, I have to go back and really evaluate:

What I have FELT from the spirit? What has the spirit tried to TELL me?  What PROMISES of the Lord have I felt?  What are the righteous DESIRES of my heart?  What feels right to pray about?

 Then go forward in intentional faith praying for what we should pray about.  When we pray for the right blessings, it can change our life..and we will realize that prayer when accompanied with faith has a true POWER. 

"The fervent prayer of a righteous woman availeth much"

It reminds me of a time in my life when my husband and I wanted something very badly. It felt right. And we recieved that promise from the Lord through the spirit, that it was going to happen, it was only a matter of time.  During this time we exercised great faith in prayer as we prayed for what seemed the "right thing" and waiting on the Lord for it to happen.

It wasn't immediate, and although it did happen just as the Lord promised us it would, it wasn't easy.  But  we learned how to pray for the "right thing" and instead of thinking I don't deserve this, or I am asking for "too much", we prayed knowing the Lord  heard us and knowing He wanted it for us as much as we wanted it for ourselves.

Although we wanted a specific outcome, our faith was in the Lord, that He knew the right timing and His will be done regardless of the outcome.  That is a very hard thing to exercise faith in, but it is really our only choice because the Lord is ultimately in charge.

He knows all and sees all and stands at the door ready to give if we will just let Him in.

And remember, He comes bearing bread, not stones.

Moving Forward With Faith

Mark 16

1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

2 And very early in the morning the ^afirst day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the ^brising of the sun.

 

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

 

• I imagine these women on their walk to toward the tomb, with the spices in their hands and arms, preparing themselves for the task ahead, anointing the body of Christ. 

• Maybe they started talking amongst themselves about the stone they knew was there, guarding the tomb. How were they going to move the stone out of the way?

• I am impressed by their faith as they moved forward with faith towards their goal not knowing really how it was all going to work out.
 
• They didn't turn let their fears, or lack of knowledge in what was ahead of them, or their obvious inability to move such a large stone stop them from moving forward with faith.
 
• They trusted. They believed. They had faith.

When they reached the tomb, they realized the stone had already been moved out of the way.

 

4 ^aAnd when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

 

• They were blessed for their faith, as they became the first women to see the Savior after His resurrection.

 

Moving forward with faith blessed their lives,

and it can bless ours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

POWER in the Word

I want to add my witness that scriptures have power to change lives.

"Prophets and apostles have assured us that as we face the trials of mortality, we can find strength, comfort, and peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said, “I testify as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ … that the gospel is true, and that it offers the answers to all personal and collective challenges the children of God have on this earth today.”¹

Our individual circumstances may vary, but we can each turn to a divine source of power—the scriptures. ” (2 Nephi 31:20)."  (Ensign August 2012, Finding Power in the Scriptures)

 

Many years ago, I  was a young mother with 4 children under 4.  Two were toddlers, and two were newborn twins.  There is really only one word to describe my life back then...overwhelming! After all of my help left, (aka, my mom) getting through each day was a hard challenge. When I wasn't feeding or changing a newborn baby, I was taking care of my oldest two daughters who were 3 and 2. 

Can you imagine how busy and crazy that was!  I look back now, with fond memories, yet wonder how I did it? The answer is, I didn't do it alone.  None of us do and the scriptures had everything to do with how I successfully managed motherhood then and now.

 Without  a regular pattern of prayer and scripture study  in my life, I wouldn't have the power, strength, and guidance to magnify the most important calling in my life:  Motherhood.

 I learned very quickly, that reading my scriptures and saying personal prayers wasn't something I could opt out of as a mother.  I needed  the power that comes from daily prayer and scripture study.  

The very day I opened up my scriptures, the Lord immediately blessed me .  {See Mosiah 2: 24}

How have the scriptures changed your life?

Must Read Talks on the power of scriptures:

The Power of Scripture- Elder Richard G. Scott, November 2011 Ensign

Finding Power in the Scriptures- August 2012 Ensign, pg 54

Finding Faith in an Empty Tank of Gas

When the Savior was on the earth He asked,

 "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)

What is true faith?

 Faith is defined as "belief and trust in loyalty to God...firm belief in something for which there is no proof. We believe that faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true...and our faith must be centered in Jesus Christ.

Faith is a power, not to just to be believed in, but to be lived.

Becoming Like the Brother of Jared

I am still thinking about  the Brother of Jared.

{This goes along with my earlier post:What I have Learned from the Brother of Jared}

I am reading the book of Ether very carefully and pretty slow so I can capture all the good stuff. This scripture has been with me for a few days as I have been mulling it over in my mind on HOW I can personally become like this:

Ether 4:7 "And in that day that they shall exercise ^afaith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become ^bsanctified in me, then will I ^cmanifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my ^drevelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the ^eFather of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are."
Can I become like the Brother of Jared was? Can I  ever have enough faith like that? 

The answer is yes.  I can.  And you can. We all can. But like the Brother of Jared, we have to pay the price of exercising our faith and obedience like He did.

I know I have had moments in my life when I have been in the mode of exercising pure faith in God.  I have felt the Lord beginning to "unfold" personal revelation to me. Those are extremely touching spiritual moments. At those times, I have tried to remember to grab a pen and write those thoughts, feelings, and impressions from the Spirit down as I have learned they can be very fleeting.

So because of these moments of exercising pure faith, I know it is possible.

The Lord then refers to being sanctified. I am not really sure if I fully understand what that means: to be sanctified.  The dictionary defines it as being holy or sacred.

Sanctified= holy or sacred

 So...{I am thinking out loud here}  sanctification comes as a result of our exercising faith.  THEN when we have become sanctified we are on our way to "paying the price" and becoming full of faith possibly like even the Brother of Jared.   Very cool!  I have such a LONG way to go!!

Here is what Elder David Bednar said in his book Increase in Learning;

"The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out." (Teachings, Joseph
Smith, 267)

"Every man and woman should seek the Lord for wisdom, that they might get knowledge from Him who is the fountain of knowledge.." (Teachings, Joseph Smith, 266)

"Each of us can be blessed abundantly as we come to understand our individual responsibility to learn as well as what we should learn, how we can learn, and ultimately what we are to become." (page 8)

"Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can" (Teachings, Brigham Young, 194) 

source

I love this picture.  The artist did a beautiful job of capturing the faith in his face.

 WE can become like the Brother of Jared

What I have learned from the Brother of Jared

I love the story of the Brother of Jared from the Book of Mormon

It gives us a glimpse into the lives of people who seem very real (they could be you and me) who lived at the time of one the most pivotal events in the world

The Tower of Babel

Sometimes I wish I could have been a fly on the wall back then just to be able to observe that whole scene unfold.

 I have always had one question:  Did they REALLY, seriously believe they could build a tower high enough to reach heaven?  Really? 

Well, I guess they did because they were doing it!

Which is where the brother of Jared comes in.  Well, actually he comes in when the Lord is confounding the languages and scattering the people.  This had to be a time of great chaos and panic.

Ether 1: 34  talks about some of the spiritual and physical features of the Brother of Jared:

·         He was large and mighty ( I would guess mighty both physically and spiritually)

·         The Lord LOVED him

·         He had an immense faith bordering on sure knowledge of Jesus Christ  from the beginning

·         He was a great spiritual leader among his family members as well as his friends

Then it seems to me that the Brother of Jared asks the Lord kind of the long shot question of the day by request of Jared, his brother: 

1.       “Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand  our words”

            And the Lord compassionately complied.  Then Jared asks his brother to pray a little more:

2.       “Cry again unto the Lord that He will turn his anger away from them who are our friends”

And the Lord compassionately complied. Then Jared had one more big question for the Lord.

3.       “Cry unto the Lord whether He will drive us out of the land, and if he does, where shall we go??”

       And the Lord compassionately complied, again. 

The Lord must have been just waiting for that question because HE HAD A PLAN FOR THEIR LIVES, but He was waiting for them to ask.

 Ether 1:43 “And this I will do because this long time ye have cried unto me”)

Then after a serious of miracles, they are driven, guided, and led by the hand of God to the promised land. It wasn’t just a better, safer land…it was the promised land-their promised land.

Ether 12:43  "And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And ^athere shall be none ^bgreater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth.

And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me."

You can, of coarse,  read the book of {Ether }to get that full account

___________________________________________________________

I think about this story and how the Lord so compassionately complied.  How He delivered them and saved this group of people.  Literally.  It was a physical and a spiritual rescue, like it can be so many times with us.

There are so many times the Lord has delivered and saved me personally.  It has been going on from my childhood and is still on-going.   I remember a time when I was 9 and fell through an icy lake and almost drowned.  Just when I thought I might not survive, I was able to pull myself out and walk home.  He has saved me. And has been doing it my whole life.

His rescue is has been on-going in my marriage and family I am raising now.  I have been amazed over and over again how the Lord loves us and continually guides and leads us to our kind of promised land.  Blessings that are especially perfect and catered to us.

Like the Brother of Jared and his family and friends, I have seen how the Lord does His best and greatest work in impossible situations.  Nothing is impossible to Him, only to us. 

I have also learned that the LORD HAS A PLAN for our lives…and a promised land for each of us.  If we trust in Him, and let Him lead us…He will write a better story for our lives than we would ever come up with on our own.

In the Strength of the Lord

In the Strength of the Lord

This whole concept of grace is fairly new to me.

For years I have heard the word "grace"in church and while reading my scriptures,  and had no idea what it meant. I am not totally embarrassed to admit that because we all learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We all seem to hear, see, and understand what we are ready to and we all do it at our own pace.

What a powerful principle this is.  I know I have not used "this divine means of help and strength, this enabling power,"  like I should have, because I didn't even understand what it was.

I think we may get confused and think the Atonement is for sins only, and do not understand it is for good people trying to be better. It also covers all of our emotional pain--all of it. The Lord never intended for us to do it all ourselves and to try to get through life through sheer grit, will power, discipline, and with our many limitations.  

The power of the Atonement is there for all of us to use, and I think because we don't fully understand certain principles of it, we do not have access to it's full power in our lives.

Elder Bednar uses the example of Nephi from I Nephi 7 and how he understood and used the enabling power of the Savior.  In this story Laman and Lemuel, have bound Nephi with cords and left him to die in the wilderness.  In verse 17 it says:

 "17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound."

Elder Bednar also points out that Nephi did not pray to have his circumstances changed (get me out of this mess), but instead he prayed for "the power to change his circumstances"   He did this because he understood and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement (grace) in his life.

"I do not personally believe that the bands magically loosened.  Rather I believe he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength, beyond his natural capacity that in the strength of the Lord he was ultimately enabled to break the bands" -Elder Bednar

Isn't that how the Lord works in our lives as well?

Now, that I know what grace is: that it enables us, strengthens us, gives us the power to change our circumstances if need be; it is like a brand new best friend, and it is written in the front pages of my scriptures, highlighted and underlined.  I see it everywhere and notice, how much I need this enabling  power in my life on a daily basis.

I love grace and am grateful for the blessings of the Atonement.

Mothers Who Know

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have been one of the mothers of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors described in the Book of Mormon, Alma Chapter 56.

Like Queen Esther, they were the right mothers, at the right time in history, with the right preparation to do what the Lord needed them to do.

Waiting on the Lord

Alyssa 20 yrs old

Waiting on the Lord is a concept we have learned, and re-learned, and re-lived each time we go through a trial or experience that requires a measure of faith, patience, and endurance,-more than what we normally live through.

 *********************************

I think back to the time when our 5th daughter, Alyssa,  was born with a cleft lip and  palate.

We first learned of her cleft lip at birth.   I had a normal pregancy in every way except I had an on-going feeling during my pregnancy that something was not right. A feeling mothers cannot ignore, although we might want to.  I honestly thought of anything and everything it could be, and mentally prepared myself for many possible scenarios. At the appropriate time, I had all the tests given to determine the health of the baby including tests taken for birth defects. All the tests came back normal. I still felt something might be wrong. 

 Having a child with a  cleft lip never crossed my mind because I thought cleft lips/ palates were only hereditary.   The many ultra-sounds we had during the pregnancy only showed the perfect side of her face, so her cute little cleft lip did not show itself until her birth.




Picture of my daughter Alyssa at 3 months old

The birth itself was quite dramatic, and I 'll save you the  details, but we ended up having an emergency C-Section delivery. It was so emergency my husband was not  allowed in the operation room.  The doctors and nurses worked quickly to deliver our baby daughter. There was not the normal chatter going on between doctors in nurses during a c-section (I've had 5). Instead there was concentrated serious silence, everyone waiting to see how the baby would be when she was born. When she was born, I heard nothing but more serious silence and Dr's and nurses moving quickly working on Alyssa. She wasn't crying and I wasn't sure when I would hear her cry for the first time. The Dr. then leaned over the blue screen which blocked me from viewing my own C-section surgery, and told me in a careful and compassionate way, that my baby had a cleft lip. I remember saying "okay", but felt shock, numb, guilt, and devastated at not having a perfect baby. 

How did this happen?        What do we do now?     How is this going to change our lives ?    

  

My husband Richard was having a different experience waiting for the delivery in the waiting area of the OB unit.  Soon a nurse came walking down the hallway carrying Alyssa in her arms and told him he had a new baby girl. She then moved the blanket and showed him she had a little cleft lip. It was a complete shock to see his baby imperfect with a birth defect and only added to the drama already experienced this day. He struggled with his own feelings as the nurse asked him if he wanted to hold her? His thoughts and emotions raced with this new reality that we now had a daughter with a cleft lip. We had never even know anyone very personally with a cleft lip. What kind of life would she have?  Having a child with a cleft lip was so foreign to us. 

However, from the moment Alyssa was born, I could literally feel the strength of this tiny infant. Her strength gave me strength. When the nurses showed me her in the operating room after she was born, I looked into her eyes and felt recognition, and noticed immediately what beautiful eyes she had. Everyone commented on her beautiful eyes. Somehow,  I did not feel sadness, or pity for me or her.   I would look into her eyes and there was a sense of recognition that we had known each other once before and that everything was going to fine.  I could  feel she knew something that I hadn't come to yet.   I had no doubt that she was very aware. We were not yet as strong as she was.

The first thing we did   was to turn this trial over to the Lord  and began waiting on Him, although not so patiently at first.  It was kind of a desperate needing in those early days, more than faith.  I learned that desperation is not the same thing as faith.

At 6 weeks old we scheduled her first surgery for her cleft lip at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.  It was February 25th, 1998.  It also happened to be the date  of the worst snow storm Salt Lake had seen in 20 years. We lived 3  hours away and drove out the day before and stayed with an aunt who lived a short distance from the hospital.

As part of the  preparation for surgery, Alyssa had to arrive fasting.  She could have water.  Keep in mind...she is 6 weeks old!    I was a nervous wreck with 6 week old fasting baby.  On top of that, because of the snow storm, the 15  minutes drive to the hospital, turned into 45  minutes of white- knuckle driving. The entire city of Salt Lake looked like a parking lot instead of a road. It was a crazy day to be on the roads driving, and we had precious cargo on-board, on a serious top-secret mission. That is how  critical this day felt for us. No snow storm, nor anything was stopping us from getting to the hospital for our daughter.  It was our turn to have a perfect baby. 

We finally showed up at the hospital, and Alyssa did amazingly well with the fasting. Once again. she was stronger in body and spirit than her parents. Miracles were on our side. However, we were already emotionally worn out, and wanting this surgery desperately for our daughter.  RIGHT NOW was how we felt inside.  Our situation was more unique, more critical, more needy than any other patient there....or so we felt. We were very self-absorbed. They honestly, couldn't perform this magic  fast enough.

One of the initial steps prior to surgery is a check-up to make sure the children are healthy. It was in this initial exam, that we were told that our baby daughter had THRUSH, and would not be able to have the surgery until that was cleared up completely. Her thrush was so minor, I hadn't noticed it.

'Thrush usually develops suddenly, but it may become chronic, persisting over a long period of time. A common sign of thrush is the presence of creamy white, slightly raised lesions in your mouth - usually on your tongue or inner cheeks - but also sometimes on the roof of your mouth, gums, tonsils, or back of your throat. The lesions, which may have a "cottage cheese" appearance."-WebMD

It was the worst news we could have heard.  We didn't take it well.  We were upset.

We felt our world had come crashing in. 

W-H-H-A-AAA-T-T-T????!! ??????!!!!

 But, but, but,  we drove 3 hours the night before to get here, in the worst snow storm ever.....

 She  fasted..

...and we have been waiting and anticipating this since- her- birth.  We felt our circumstances were more special and more important than anything or anyone elses were. And more important than any medical obstacles.

 Needless to say, WE WERE DEVASTATED....and angry, and hurt, that they wouldn't do the surgery for us that day.  We weren't ready to accept our reality, and waited for the surgeon to tell these nurses what was up! However, that never happened. The hospital staff was sympathetic, yet their diagnosis was absolute.  There was going to be no surgery for our daughter this day.  It wasn't going to be happening.   It seemed the windows of heaven slammed on us and we were all alone.

On top of that because of the harsh weather that day we were also completely snowed in Salt Lake. We couldn't even go home!! We decided to go to  Temple Square and try to bring some joy back into our lives.   

By evening, the snow cleared up  and we were able to travel back home..although we were in the same place we were when we left.  Still needing a surgery for our baby. Except now we were on a mission to get rid of this  thrush that had turned our lives upside down.

It took another 6 weeks to get rid of the thrush. Alyssa was either allergic to every medicine we tried or it just didn't work.  The only medicine that worked was Genetian Violet. [ If you are unfamiliar with this medicine, it is the color and consistency of purple ink and you have to paint their mouths with it.  They look like they just ate a dark purple Popsicle].

 This second 6 weeks was like an endless procedure waiting, trying everything, and waiting some more. It was a purifying, unifying, and humbling time as we learned what it meant to wait on the Lord in faith.  Not faith in an outcome, but faith in Him.

 It was during this time of  WAITING that the Lord taught us, helped us, strengthened us, and made us into different parents.  It was during this 6 weeks that we came to accept our daughter's cute little cleft lip.  We became more patient and long-suffering as we waited on the Lord's time not ours.


From this experience I learned:

Waiting on the Lord is  a choice... because HOW we wait effects what we learn and how we grow. 

In fact, I don't think I am ever NOT waiting on the Lord for something. We are dependent upon Him for everything. Everyday.

What does it mean to wait on the Lord?  Here is an excerpt from Elder Hales talk:

 In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.

To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.”

It means praying as the Savior did—to God, our Heavenly Father—saying: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” It is a prayer we offer with our whole souls in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Waiting upon the Lord means pondering in our hearts and “receiv[ing] the Holy Ghost” so that we can know “all things what [we] should do.”

As we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we discover that “tribulation worketh patience” and we learn to “continue in patience until [we] are perfected.”

Waiting upon the Lord means to “stand fast” and “press forward” in faith, “having a perfect brightness of hope.”

It means “relying alone upon the merits of Christ” and “with [His] grace assisting [us, saying]: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.”

As we wait upon the Lord, we are “immovable in keeping the commandments,”knowing that we will “one day rest from all [our] afflictions.”

Elder Hales : Waiting on the Lord (read it here)

            

Having Faith