The Need to Be Right

The Need to Be Right

Since my husand's death I have learned to greatly appreciate the relationships that I had previously  built with my children.  They have served as a great sense of support and strength to me in a time of need.  The effort before became oil to my lamp in the darkness.

But I still had much work to do in those relationships and in the relationship with my extended family....

I have often had a inner struggles with the need 'to be right.' I think it is one of my biggest weaknesses.  When I was 16 my family bought me a sweatshirt that said, 

"I'm Not Opinionated, I'm just Always Right!"

I honestly didn't understand why they thought it was so funny.  That was how very un-selfaware I was.  I still really struggle with this, but now it is something I am working to correct within myself. I equate it with pride or the lack of humility or meekness. 

The need 'to be right' is one of the biggest cancers in relationships.

I find that if I ever feel the need to justify my negative behavior that I am flat out in the wrong.  It doesn't matter what someone else has done or said, I have the ability to control my response and I do not need to respond negatively in turn.  I can choose to do better than that.  Inflamed communications don't need fanning of the fire, they need quenching.  I can choose to be the water that smooths things over if I am thinking and empathizing with the other person instead of thinking of myself.

The other day I was driving with my 15 year-old son who was not listening to my patient corrections about his driving.  I raised my voice and then I began to berate him.  I watched as he became more anxious and I felt him close off from me.  I knew that I had damaged our relationship by my unkind corrections.

Now I could have easily justified myself because of the potential danger of having an accident.  I did need to correct him, but it was not the correction that was the problem, it was the way I did it and the way I made him feel.  

I was wrong because I made him feel bad.

I am always in the wrong, even if I am right, if I make someone feel bad.

One of the biggest problems with this kind of communication is that we cripple other people's ability to positively act.  We hurt their confidence and we put them in a place where they cannot feel the spirit.

Do I care more about my car than I do about my son's ability to feel the spirit and to feel good about himself?

Establishing the Cause of Zion: The Desires of our Hearts part 1

Establishing the Cause of Zion:

The Desires of our Hearts part 1

I got asked to teach Doctrine in Covenants in Seminary this week.  I was super excited about this, because I have been wanting to study the D&C in greater depth.  It was Scott's favorite book of scriptures, but I never understood why until recently.  The lesson was on a topic that has become of special interest to me since Elder Bednar's BYU devotional.  I wanted to share some of my thoughts and insights as I believe this chapter 11 holds the key to understanding how our desires and doing the Lord's work facilitate us on the consecrated covenant path.

The word desire is repeated 8 times in D&C 11 verses: 3, 8, 10, 14, 17, 21, and 27.  I have learned that repetition is the Lord's way to draw our attention to important concepts in the scriptures.  He says whoso desireth to reap... (vs3), as you desire of me so it shall be done unto you... if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good... (vs8), if thou wilt desire of me in faith... (vs10), all things whatsoever you desire of me... (vs14), according to your desires (vs17), if you desire, you shall have my Spirit ... (vs21),  all who have good desires (vs27).

Hence our righteous desires are the root of any blessing we seek to obtain, and making sure that they are righteous is the key to receiving those things that the Lord is so eager to give us. How do we know where our true desires lie?  Not just the things that we say, but the things deep in our heart?  This is an important question, because in the end, we know that we are judged by the desires of our hearts.

I think the best way to be introspective is to ask ourselves... If I had a free day with no obligations, how would I choose to spend my time?  Would you want to watch sports, or movies, go out to eat, get your nails done?  Would you catch up on extra work, or visit a friend?  Would you want to spend time with family, or study your scriptures?  How would you parcel that day and what portion would you willingly give to the Lord... not out of obligation, but how much would you want to give Him?

We are all on a different spectrum.  If I asked this question to someone who had deep seeded addictions, I would get one desire; a average member of the church would give me another, and President Monson another still.  

How would the Savior answer that question?  Where would His desires be? 

That is where we need to be some day, where He is, but thank goodness we don't have to come all that way on our own. We start where we are...

Alma 32:27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than ^adesire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

We start with one desire and we nourish that through obedience.  In the beginning it is a tender plant and we have to take care to not let that desire die.  As we continue to faithful act that plant becomes mature and it is fruitful unto us.

 Alma 32:42 And because of your ^adiligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the ^bfruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. 43 Then, my brethren, ye shall ^areap the ^brewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth ^cfruit unto you.

That fruit is the blessing promised to us by our Heavenly Father.  What is the specific blessing of being obedient and acting on righteous desires?  The blessing is to feel joy and to receive a greater portion of the spirit of God or a greater portion of light.  What does that light amount to? It is the knowledge and attributes of divinity found in spiritual gifts.

As we find the fruit to be "delicious" to us, new desires are planted in our hearts.  It is interesting to me that fruit is always filled with new seeds.  Those desires grow and become fruitful.  What starts as a seed, the 'smallest particle of faith' or the 'desire to believe' eventually if nourished becomes an orchard.

This is the how the Savior enables us to go from bad to good and from good to better.

We do not have to plant all of the seeds at once, and as the trees mature they can withstand periods of drought and high winds.  The planting and care of an orchard can seem like an enormous task with just a single seed to begin with.  Fortunately we have a master Gardner near by who will instruct us if we simple turn to Him for help.

God's work and glory is to bring to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39) His goal is to get us to desire to become like Him, and then line upon line to school us so that we, in the end, do have the same desires as He does.

I invite you to study the scriptures in this message in addition to other scriptures and conference talks about desire.

Seminary Teacher's Manual for D&C 11-18

Maxwell, Neil A. "According to the Desires of Our Hearts," Oct 1996

Oaks, Dallin H. "The Desires of Our Hearts" Oct 1985

How do we teach children to truly understand and internalize truth?

How do we teach children to 

truly understand and internalize truth?

An invitation to learn..

When faced with a child who has misbehaved or made a choice contrary to my wishes, my natural response is to lecture them. Lecturing, while effective at imparting my opinion and expressing my frustration is NOT the most effect way to foster understanding. Understanding is a step beyond knowledge. It requires experience, personal application and reflection. As a teacher of math and science, I have learned about the levels of critical thinking. The bottom level of learning is knowledge followed by comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and then evaluation. The higher levels of learning require more student interaction and foster greater understanding and internalization of principles. Knowing this should help me change my teaching tactics, but old habits are hard to break without concerted effort. How often in frustration I have said, “Haven’t I told you a million times!” Maybe I need to take a hint from my own words and quit ‘telling’ and start fostering analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Recently this has caused me to deeply look at how I respond to my children.

How do we foster those higher levels of thinking?

First, we need to remember that we all learn best through study, experience and reflection. In the education world this is referred to as ‘Inquiry Learning.’ For example, a child learns a stove is hot and not to touch it, not by simply being told this, but by experiencing an uncomfortable sensation when they touch the hot stove. As the child thinks of his experience, he developes his own understanding of this truth. From that understanding he patterns his future actions.

Second, we have to treat our children as agents who have the ability to act not as objects to be controlled. In order to become effective independent learners, children need opportunities to make choices, to draw their own conclusions and experience natural consequences.

Instead of ‘telling' we need to ask questions that guide our children to have their own learning experiences and draw their own conclusion. Then they will be empowered to use their agency and gain their own understanding.

I recently tried this tactic with my twelve-year old daughter. She had been responding very negatively to her brother. I had tried my previous pattern of lecturing to no avail. A few Sunday’s ago I was helping my daughter work on a goal setting program for the young women at church. We were talking about the importance of patience in mothering. For the goal she had to learn about patience and form an action plan to develop patience. I asked her,

“How do you think patience would help your relationship with your brother?”

She responded with her thoughts. Then after studying some scriptures on patience, on her own she decided to practice patience with her brother for her goal experience. Tonight she came to me to sign off her goal. As I thought back on the last three weeks, I realized that her relationship with her brother had drastically improved. I asked her about her experience, what she had learned, how she thought it had affected her and how it had affected our family.

By setting a goal she had independently learned, practiced, and internalized a principle in a way that my lecturing had never inspired. Furthermore, we had good, relationship-building conversations instead on guilt ridden, angry exchanges.

As I have reflected on this experience, I have realized that I need to actively choose to handle problems with my children by using Inquiry learning instead of by reacting and instinctively lecturing them. I need to ask them questions that cause them to reflect on their behavior, it's consequences and their goals for the future.  I need to invite them to study and then act what they learn.  Then I need to follow up to help them evaluate their experiences.

I guess reflection and experience teaches parents lessons as well!

I invite you to read or listen to the following, but especially the portions from Elder Bednar's Book. Ponder and write about how you can apply these principles to the people you teach.  Share with us some ways that you are learning to offer invitations to learn.

Eyring, Henry B. "A Life Founded in Truth" BYU Speeches, Aug 2000

Bednar, David A. "Increase in Learning." Deseret Book, 2011

(preface, Chapter 1, Chapter 1 related readings)

That the Spirit might be Unrestrained Among Us...

That the Spirit might be Unrestrained Among Us...

This spiritual journey that I have undertaken is prompting me to look inwardly at the very depths of my soul and to purify my heart or my thoughts and desires.  

The other day after fasting, I closed my prayer and asked the Lord again for the blessing of knowledge that had been promised to me in two prior priesthood blessings.  I laid upon my bed pondering these things in my heart and drifted off to sleep. As I began to awake the spirit showed me a picture of a conversation with my brother nearly six months ago.  I was made aware that in my zeal to share some recent knowledge that I had acquired through much searching and pondering, that I had inadvertantly offended him.  I was allowed to know from his perspective how he viewed my sharing as a correction, and how he had felt that I devalued him and his opinion.  After seeing this intercourse from his perspective, I was made aware of other sibling relationships where I had been the catalyst for resentment and hard feelings. 

Then I was reminded that the spirit would only be unrestrained if there were no unkind feelings among us.

I realized that I was not yet prepared for what I was seeking.  That in order for me to acquire this blessing, the spirit would have to be unrestrained.  I looked inwardly and saw that there were seeds of offense in my heart that my siblings had been offended by me.  I saw that the only way to root these out and purify myself was for me to go to them with unconditional love and apologize for any offense that I had initiated through my fallacies and lack of ability to communicate my intentions and desires.  I also saw that my behavior had been a stumbling block to them.  I did not want to limit their spiritual progression in anyway. My mind was taken to this scripture...

28 And I would that ye should remember, that whosoever among you ^aborroweth of his neighbor should return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou shalt commit sin; and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also. - Mosiah 4:28

I realized that I have accountability with my actions if I am the catalyst for someone else to commit sin. It is easy to look at the person who has been offended, gotten angry, etc. and to judge them and say that they should not have been offended, gotten angry, etc.  It is easy to absolve myself of responsibility by saying that it was not my intention to offend.  It is easy to place all of the burden of forgiveness on the offended person.  However, in that thought process, I was offended by their offense. 

 Pride is the root of this lack of unity.

Unity and the desire to not be a stumbling block for others should be the primary motivator in our relationships, not our own personal need to be right or justified.  

I have learned that anytime I feel the need to justify myself or my actions that I am being prideful and have need to repent.

My thoughts were brought back to the blessing about humility that my father had given me.  Over and over again humility has been a common thread along this path.  It is not something that is learned once, but it is required over and over in all of our relationships.  

Humility and Charity are the keys to bringing down walls that prevent us from being able to share our light with others.  

Charity allows us to receive that inspiration from God about how to impact someone.  Charity shown to other helps them create a place in their hearts for the seed of truth to grow, but Humility allows them to trust the bearer of the truth.  Only when a person feels that light is being shared with them unconditionally in love for the purpose of edification and not for ulterior motives will they be willing to receive it.

With this understand, I went to my siblings and attempted to make things right.  I have been trying in my prayers to ask every night as I reflect back on my day, to see those things that I need to correct and to better purify myself and my relationships with others.  I have found that as I have started this practice that the spirit is prompting me during the day to immediately make the correction when I am in danger of causing offense.

The following is an example of this...

The need for Continuous Personal Revelation

The need for Continuous Personal Revelation

I invite you to read this passage and then consider how this applies today as we follow revelation from the prophets as well as our personal need for revelation.

• From Teaching of the Living Prophets Manual: Our Need for Living Prophets

•

The final gospel dispensation began with the calling of a prophet—Joseph Smith. As in past dispensations, God’s will is given to His children through the process of revelation. President James E. Faust (1920–2007) of the First Presidency discussed the necessity for constant revelation: “Much revelation received, in this time as well as anciently, has been doctrinal. Some of it has been operational and tactical. Much of it is not spectacular. President John Taylor reminds us: ‘Adam’s revelation did not instruct Noah to build his ark; nor did Noah’s revelation tell Lot to forsake Sodom; nor did either of these speak of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. These all had revelations for themselves’ (Millennial Star, 1 Nov. 1847, 323)” (“Continuing Revelation,” Ensign, Aug. 1996, 5; emphasis added).

•

President Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975) of the First Presidency described a conversation he had with a member of the British House of Commons and former justice of the Supreme Court of England, who was not a member of the Church, about the need for living prophets and the revelation they receive:

“[I said,] ‘I am submitting to you in all seriousness that it was standard procedure in Bible times for God to talk to men.’

“[He responded,] ‘I think I will admit that, but it stopped shortly after the first century of the Christian era.’

President Hugh B. Brown

“‘Why do you think it stopped?’

“‘I can’t say.’

“‘You think that God hasn’t spoken since then?’

“‘Not to my knowledge.’

“‘May I suggest some possible reasons why he has not spoken. Perhaps it is because he cannot. He has lost the power.’

“He said, ‘Of course that would be blasphemous.’

“‘Well, then, if you don’t accept that, perhaps he doesn’t speak to men because he doesn’t love us anymore. He is no longer interested in the affairs of men.’

“‘No,’ he said, ‘God loves all men, and he is no respecter of persons.’

“‘Well, … then the only other possible answer as I see it is that we don’t need him. We have made such rapid strides in education and science that we don’t need God anymore.’

“And then he said, and his voice trembled as he thought of impending war [World War II], ‘Mr. Brown, there never was a time in the history of the world when the voice of God was needed as it is needed now. Perhaps you can tell me why he doesn’t speak.’

“My answer was, ‘He does speak, he has spoken; but men need faith to hear him.’

“Then we proceeded to examine what I may call a ‘profile of a prophet.’ …

“The judge sat and listened intently. He asked some very pointed and searching questions, and at the end of the interview he said, ‘Mr. Brown, I wonder if your people appreciate the import of your message. Do you?’ He said, ‘If what you have told me is true, it is the greatest message that has come to this earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ’” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1967, 118, 120; emphasis added; see also The Profile of a Prophet, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Oct. 4, 1955], 4–5, 8; or “The Profile of a Prophet,” Ensign, June 2006, 36–37, 39).

We have more need now, with the impending days of darkness that will surely come, of a living prophet that ever before.  Let us remember that we sustain all of the Apostles as well as Thomas S Monson as prophets, seers and revelators, and we should heed their prophetic counsel as directly coming from God.  We no longer have the luxury of picking and choosing commandments and dismissing things that the apostles counsel us to do because they are 'hard' and because we rationalize that their counsel is just counsel because they are not the president of the church.  We need to listen and give heed to every word that comes from their mouth, especially those that are said in General Conference.  We need that counsel!

But is it enough to depend on them to receive revelation?  Can we just live on their borrowed light?

I think the answer is a resounding NO!  They have diligently taught us how to seek for our own revelation.  Not revelation that would contradict the things that the prophets have told us, but revelation that pertains to our specific sphere of influence.  The prophet is not going to get a revelation that tells you to sell your home and downsize, or to teach a certain doctrine to your children.  We are not going to find those answers spelled out to us unless we are actively seeking revelation through prayer and study.  Sometimes we are given those answers directly in our minds while other times we are lead to find them in the scriptures and words of others.  However the Lord chooses to lead us to that knowledge, it is all personal revelation, and it is something we should be and need to be experiencing on a daily basis.  

If you are not, then there is something you need to change.  I do not say this to discourage you, but to encourage you to make the change. It can happen daily and the Lord wants it to happen daily.  Once it does for you, you will think, "How in the world did I function in so much darkness all of my life."

I invite you to study and consider ways that you can receive more personal revelation in your life.  The following posts have talks and more information for you to study and ponder and you move forward on this quest.

How To Receive Personal Revelation 

The Power of Consecration

The Power of Consecration

Before my husband died I was doing all of the 'right' things.  We had family scripture study, FHE, family prayer.  I did my church calling and went to the temple once a month.  I always did my visiting teaching.  I even sporadically did the reading for Sunday School and Relief Society.  I wasn't very good at opening my scriptures for personal study... I was just too busy and guilt ridden to sit down and waste time like that, so I listened to hours of conference talks a day as I did my work.  Multitasking was my motto.

With all of the things that I was doing, I still felt something was lacking.  

Where was this 'enablement' from the spirit? 

Was this all that there really was? 

 Do I just need to do more?

I was praying for charity and empathy; I was praying to understand my very frustrating son and to see him how the Lord sees him; I was praying for direction...  All be it that I was doing it in bed as I drifted off to sleep or in the car on the way to go running.  With my half-hearted effort, I really wasn't receiving much...the occasional brilliant idea or warm fuzzy.

"What is wrong with me," I thought.  "I'm not doing anything bad; I'm trying...  Maybe this is all that you get when you are just a mom and in primary."  

I resigned myself to that fact and decided that I would just have to work harder and do it on my own.

Then my husband died and boy did that change everything.... literally everything.

Feeling normal, without the spirit, was absolutely not tolerable.  So I did everything and anything to feel it.  That meant realigning my priorities, and I didn't realize how misaligned they were.

I gave up television and listening to secular music. I became very selective about movies and only watched them when my children begged for a family movie night.  The days with the spirit withdrawn were just too painful to justify 2 hours of temporary entertainment.  I began really studying the scriptures.  Actually sitting down and highlighting and taking notes and then writing posts about what I learned. It helped, and answers started periodically coming.  More than just warm feelings, but words.  I found if I wrote those words when they were coming that I got a lot more words.  I desperately needed help and direction without my husband here, so I craved those words.  It was the incentive I needed to make those changes.

Yet, the biggest change of all came 10 months out.  I was very distraught about my house not selling and trying to move.  Nothing I was trying to make happen was working.  Finally I threw up my hands and said,

"I give up!  I am done fighting this fight.  I will do whatever you want me to do if you will just take care of me and my family.  I promise, I will put spiritual things first and I will follow any and every prompting I receive.  Just please, please take care of us."

I didn't realize what I was doing at the time, but as I have read other's experiences I now know this is something everyone must do.  This is the promise of consecrating yourself, and it literally opens up the word to spiritual wonders when you honestly and sincerely make and keep this promise with the Lord.

I threw away my massive 'to do lists' Which is huge for anyone that knows me! I got my kids off to seminary and school with prayers and scripture study, ran with my best friend while we talked about spiritual stuff, and then I came home to study the scriptures or a conference talk.  From there an idea would come to share the message on Facebook or through a text. Other promptings came too.  I worked on those and when I ran out I started my 'temporal work.'  If a prompting came I tried to act on it immediately or to at least write it down.  That is how I began to live my days.

From there the refining started.  Prompting to change things about myself and to improve the way I was keep commandments.  One thing at a time, the spirit would prompt me to do.  If I was obedient, which was hard, really hard sometimes, then I always found enablement or enlightenment on the other side.  I learned that I was always blessed for obedience and I promised even more that I would always obey.

Am I perfect at this?  Absolutely no, but I have become so accustomed to the spirit and the enablement that it brings me that I am quick to observe it's withdrawal and to make the needed corrections.  This has been a very humbling experience, but it has taught me that there are no spiritual limits.  Our obedience and willingness to put spiritual things first and to set aside temporal pleasures is all that is required to have the very most sacred of spiritual experiences.  We do not have to be a prophet, or an apostle or even hold the priesthood to have a personal relationship with the Savior and to receive His spiritual gifts and counsel.  This is open to anyone who is willing to walk the path of consecration and to fully and completely live the things we covenant in the temple... to avoid any unholy and impure practice and to dedicate our whole selves to the work of the Lord.

After all, it's that why we are here?

...To be apprentices to God.

So why weren't my efforts effective

 before my husband's death? 

I have actually analyzed this quite a bit...

• The portion I am willing to consecrate determines the portion of light I can receive. 
•  If I am disobedient to ANY prompting or commandments, then I limit my enablement and access to spiritual gifts.
• Quality is better than Quantity. 
•  Listening to 20 conference talks a day will do no good if I do not take the time to plan a way to act on what I am learning.
• I have to be still to hear the spirit. 
• I was so busy in my mind that there was no room for the spirit to speak, and if it did speak, my thoughts over powered it.   
• I have to be flexible and do what the spirit prompts first.  
• I was so busy and set on my schedule that there was no room for the spirit add things.
• I have to have time to ponder and write. 
• Listening and reading are not the same as studying.  Leaving time to ponder or write what I was learning was critical to learning to listen to the spirit.    
• I have to control my negative emotions: 
• I often let stress, irritation, and anxiety disrupt my ability to hear the spirit.
• Prayer requires action. 
• A blanket morning prayer asking for help will not provide the enablement I need, if I am unwilling to study about and try to apply the gifts I am seeking.
• The spirit does not take over my agency.  
• It will not tell me to do something if I have already set a determined course.  If I do not ask if what I am doing is what the Lord wants me to do, then I will not get an answer.

That our Barrel of Meal and Our Cruse of Oil Fail Not

That our Barrel of Meal and

 Our Cruse of Oil Fail Not

I had a blessing given me and in it I was promised, "I bless you that you will never, ever be in need of food or clothing, for the angels of heaven will take care of you even as they did Elijah. "

This blessing prompted me to research and seek out the story of Elijah.  In my searching, I came across the conference address by Elder Burton called  "The Power of Elijah." April 1974  I felt that several things that he said pertain specifically to the last days and teach us where we should work to have our hearts and minds.

"A famine came in the land when Elijah, as commanded of God, sealed the heavens shut that it did not rain. During this famine, he was miraculously fed by ravens at the brook Cherith, which flowed intothe Jordan River." 

"Then God sent Elijah to the city of Zarephath and told him he had appointed a widow there who would feed him. Elijah met this widow at the outskirts of the city and asked her to give him food to eat. "

“And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son,that we may eat it, and die.” (1 Kgs. 17:12.) 

"Elijah then promised her in the name of the Lord that if she would feed him, she would never lack for food. I have pondered on the faith of that woman, who, on the promise of a humble man of God, put her life andthe life of her son in the balance. Obediently she baked food and fed Elijah, and then followed the miracle of the fulfillment of the prophet’s promise: “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.” (1 Kgs.17:16.)

Do we have faith as the widow, to share of our scanty portion?  

Do we believe that we can miraculously be fed even as Elijah?

I am not advocating that everyone give all that they have to the poor and then wait for the Lord to take care of them and their families.  As stewards we should be wise, but we should also be generous and have faith than in our generosity that our needs (not necessarily our wants) will be provided for.

I believe that in the days to come this story will be literally tested in our families, and thus it is important to determine where our hearts lie.

"[Prophets] have told us to keep at least a year’s supply of food on hand for any future emergency.We have only their word of prophecy to rely on, just as the widow relied on that of Elijah. We should obey as she did. By so doing, we will be able to save ourselves and our families from want. "

"Some members of the Church have said to me, “Why should we keep a store of food on hand? If a real emergency came in this lawless world, a neighbor would simply come with his gun and take it from us. What would you do if a person came and demanded your food?” I replied that Iwould share whatever I had with him, and he wouldn’t have to use a gun to obtain that assistance either." 

“I wouldn’t,” replied one man. “I have a gun, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it to defend my family. Anyone would have to kill me first in order to get food away from me! After all, they bring their own misery on themselves by not being prepared!” 

"Well, one way to solve this problem is to convert your neighbors to become obedient Latter-day Saints with their own supply of food!  If every family were provided for, our stores would be safe for the use of our families. But not all people have sufficient faith to share with others as did the widow who shared with Elijah. I remember the words of another prophet who loved the poor and the unfortunate. He said:" 

“And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth inneed; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to youin vain, and turn him out to perish. 

“Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery;therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, norimpart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for hispunishments are just— 

“But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath greatcause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done heperisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God 

“For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the sameBeing, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food andraiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we haveof every kind?” (Mosiah 4:16–19.) 

"I sincerely believe if we do everything in our power to be obedient to the will of God, we and our families will never lack. If we are obedient as true followers of Christ and share what we have with those less fortunate than we, the Lord will keep his promise to watch over us and care for us. I will then be glad that I have stores of food on hand so I can be of assistance to others. Perhaps like the widow who fed Elijah, the meal will then never fail in our barrels nor the oil ever fail in our cruses until prosperity comes again."

There will come a time when our stores of food will not be enough on their own to feed our family and our neighbors.  What will we do in that moment?

Will we have faith in miracles and share what we have, remembering this parable and the parable of the loaves and the fishes, or will we hold back in order to protect our own?

The Lord has promised that if we do everything in our power to be obedient to His will, that our families will never lack. 

When tragedy first hit our family almost 2 years ago with the death of my husband, I became very protective of the financial means that was left to support us.  I worried and fretted that it would not be enough to last.  What if the markets did poorly?  What if I couldn't sell the house? Numerous things happened to teach me that material things do not matter, and that the Lord would provide for me. 

Two years later, our house has still not sold.  I have had to have faith and trust in the Lord to take care of us.  I have seen that happen again and again.  The mulch pile that always ran out mid-July has miraculously lasted two entire summers.  As I have lived fugally financial miracles have allowed me to continue to maintain my home until it sells.  Emotionally, physically and spiritually, our needs have been met.  I know that we are devoting our time and means to the Lord's work that the barrel of meal and the crust of oil does not fail and that spiritual blessing runneth over.

I invite you to join me in pondering these things and examining our hearts. I am asking the Lord in prayer to show me ways that I can be more aligned with God's will in this matter, not only now, but in decisions I will make in the future.  When that time comes, I want my faith to be powerful enough that through it, the miracles of Elijah will come for me and for those who I need to care for.

Please comment and share experiences that have helped you to have faith in this principle.

-Veronica

Here are my blogpost show how I was taught this principle.

Giving up My Plan and Learning to be Content with God's Plan Nov 2013

Getting my Heart completely in the Right Place and Trying to Fix my Mistake