My talk on Faith...

Elder Robert D. Hales said that believing in the Savior and His mission is so essential that the first principle of the gospel is faith in Jesus Christ. What is faith? The apostle Paul taught that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I am grateful for the opportunity to talk on faith... FAITH has always been my favorite subject but it seems over the last few years I have had what I thought might be constant trials of my faith and I think that along the way I lost hope. Thankfully we have the scriptures, and the words of our prophets to remind us that without faith, we cannot have hope. The prophet Mormon, himself no stranger to difficult circumstances understood this and taught us this doctrine:

"And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak to 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. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."

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.

I have felt in recent years the way Elder Willford W Andersen described, "Some who at this very moment feel desperate or discouraged may wonder how they can possibly regain hope. If you are one of those, remember that hope comes as a result of faith. If we would build our hope we must build our faith." He said that faith in the Savior requires more than belief. The apostle James taught that even the devils believe and tremble 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.

I realized that I have perfect faith in many areas... but struggle in others. I have had a great yearning lately to evaluate my life and figure out where my strengths AND, or maybe especially, my weaknesses are and develop faith in the areas that I struggle with. Which means I have to be very honest with myself when facing my shortcomings and make goals to increase my obedience which will then increase my faith in those areas. It sometimes feels easy to get caught in the middle of the chaos of the world and I ache to feel the constant peace that comes when you know that you are right with the Lord. There is truth in the words, "Sometimes God calms the storm... Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child." President Monson has warned that if we do not have a deep foundation of faith and a solid testimony of truth, we may have difficulty withstanding the harsh storms and icy winds of adversity which inevitably come to each of us. He said, "Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order for us to be tested, we must face challenges and difficulties. These can break us, and the surface of our souls may crack and crumble - that is, if our foundations of faith, our testimonies of truth are not deeply embedded within us."

It takes faith to believe that we are here to be tested. I have always wondered how I could sit down with such great people, like Joseph Smith and others in the Celestial Kingdom if I have not gone through great trials here on earth. How could I hope to inherit that, if I did not earn it here.... that is where faith comes in. Elder Orson F. Whitney said, "No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender, and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God... and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven."

It is THROUGH sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation that we gain the education we came here to acquire. So why then, do we wish those opportunities away? This is where faith comes in... to trust that the Lord knows perfectly what we need to become Celestial. Is it so hard to believe that the Lord loves us so much that He wants to make us like Himself. Yet often we fight against the very thing that will make us His... It takes FAITH to ask Him what He would have us become and then put everything aside and DO IT! The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been tried, and smelted and polished and glorified through the furnaces of tribulation. Ask Heavenly Father WHAT we should pray for, and then get up with faith and DO it! I realized as I studied for this talk how grateful I am for the opportunities I have been given to build, and then use my faith. I remember as a young mom, facing the very real chance that I would lose my first daughter. I remember those first few hours almost demanding that the Lord heal her. And then, as I sat alone with her, waiting for life flight to come... my heart begin to soften and I began to ask the Lord what HIS will was. What did He have in store for the beautiful daughter that I had wished for so desperately. And then I knew that His desire for her was the return to Him... however I did not know if that meant right away, or if that meant many years from now. But I did know that I wanted the same thing. And so I trusted Him to do right by her. I told him that in my heart I wanted her to be healed, but that I believed in Him, and I knew that whatever happened it would be okay. And then I said the words that have become such an important part of my life... "Thy will be done." I can honestly tell you that medically it seemed impossible for her to live. But I felt absolute peace... the miracle came, but not until I had exercised my faith. Her heart was somehow, miraculously changed in that life flight trip from Price to Salt Lake. The doctors wanted to know why they had sent a 'healthy' baby. The very next year, as I again stood waiting for life flight to come for yet another baby, I thought to the blessing I had received while in labor that seemed to warn me of what was to come.... "by your faith this child will live or die." It hit home again that just a small amount of faith can move mountains. By my faith. And so, during the priesthood blessing, as I wondered what the future held, I remembered the promise... by MY faith. And I knew that I had been letting fear control me... faith and fear can NOT coexist. If you have fear you cannot have faith, and if you have perfect faith, then fear flees. And I told the Lord that if I had the choice, if it was not time for this son to be taken then I KNEW that He would heal him. I KNEW that he would live. And as soon as I exercised that faith, he was told in the blessing that his spirit would take hold of and reunite with his body. However faith in the Lord's plans doesn't always mean that they will turn out the way we want. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes no matter how much we want it to be another way, we have to say goodbye. That is when we must remember that no experience will be wasted if we endure it well. The miracle is that in the moments when our prayers are answered with a no is that we can still feel peace and understand that having faith in God includes having faith in His timing!

I am not sure that I have ever told Jace how his example of faith taught me... Every month after Nate got out of the hospital we would fast and pray that he would be healed enough to have the feeding tube removed. I was honored again and again to see great men stand in a circle and with their faith bless him to be healed. Each month he improved bit by bit. But Jace decided that HE was going to give Nate the blessing this time and that Nate was GOING to be healed. I had witnessed his great love with his baby brother over and over but that day I witnessed great faith when he blessed him that the doctors would be impressed with his healing and that he would be able to eat normally and have the tube removed. He KNEW that it would happen. His faith was enough. The doctors spoke to me, the very words that Jace had spoke through he power of the priesthood in his blessing and they told us to start working on feeding him... warning that it could take a while. But Jace knew. He had faith and he told me to feed him, that he would eat, and do fine. Within 24 hours of the test Nate was no longer needing to be fed through the tube and was able to eat through a bottle.

I have learned that sometimes it takes faith to get through the 'thorn in the flesh' that we suffer through in mortality. I struggle with clinical depression and there have been times when I thought that my faith should be enough to move beyond it. I had gone through a very dark time, struggling constantly with depression that felt like it had engulfed me and would surely drown me in it. I was frustrated, and I was scared and I asked for another priesthood blessing... this time KNOWING that it would be the one to remove the depression from me... I had faith. I KNOW that the priesthood is the power of God and I knew that miracles happened. At 3am I got up with Thayne before work and he gave me the most beautiful blessing from my Heavenly Father... I felt His love, I felt His arms around me, and I felt the light that comes from Him. And then, as Thayne left for work and I sat alone in the living room the darkness descended again, and because I had just been in such light, it felt darker and scarier than it had been before the blessing. And I prayed... I asked Heavenly Father what was wrong with me... what was I doing wrong, what was my faith lacking. And then the answer came. It came as a still, small voice that told me simply that it was not my faith that was lacking... that sometimes enduring to the end simply meant that I had made it through that day, and THAT was enough for the Lord. Sometimes it means that the trial will be taken from us. But other times it means that the Lord will give us peace as we walk through our trials. He wants us to KNOW, to have faith that even in our weakness He is there. In 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 it tells us, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in y infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." When we are weak, but rely on the Lord in faith, we are made strong. What more could we want than that? Sometimes, when the struggle goes on too long I think of this poem,

Pain stayed so long, I said to him today
"I will not have you with me any more,"
I stamped my foot and said, "Be on your way,"
And paused there, startled at the look he wore.
"I, who have been your friend," he said to me;
"I, who have been your teacher - all you know
of understanding, love, of sympathy
And patience I have taught you. Shall I go?"

I recently went to Time Out for Women where one of the presenters spoke of the scripture "Men are that they might have joy." She said she was always looking past the mark... that she would find joy when this happened, or when that trial was past... and then she realized that THIS life is where we should have joy. It doesn't matter what is going on... if we have the faith to believe that EVERYTHING that happens shall be for our good, then we can find joy in the journey, no matter what pains we are asked to walk through.

As I waited on the plane when Nate was being life flighted, I realized that I had learned to have faith in the power of the priesthood and that over and over in my life I have seen the miracles that come by having faith. But Heavenly Father loves me so much that He uses those moments to continue teaching... I sat on the plane that freezing cold night and realized the Faith it took for our Heavenly Father to send His Son down to atone for us. I felt for a moment the way that He surely must have felt as He watched His perfect Son suffer for me. I felt gratitude in the knowledge that no matter what way it turned out, I had not just one, but TWO people that KNEW what I felt... my Heavenly Father had again wrapped His arms around me and let me know that He knew what I was feeling. And the Savior, too, knew perfectly well my pain, my uncertainty. I felt safe in my knowledge that my faith was enough to get me through. I knew that my faith could move mountains when the need arose, but I also learned that more than anything else, I needed to have faith to ASK first what He would have me pray for, and then get up and DO it, no matter how hard. Then my faith is perfectly in line with His will.

As we learn faith, we can absolute hope that the Savior will carry us through anything. Helaman 5:12 tells us to 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 storm 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.

If we have faith in Jesus Christ, we cannot fail. We can overcome our weaknesses and become strong... we can be who the Lord would have us be and accomplish great things for Him.