Church was very good today. Logan was good, he played on the floor most of the time, and when he is good, Jacob and I get to leave church feeling edified. A couple of thoughts were shared about the Lord and the way He works with us. Often, our faith will spare us from trials, such as it did for the stripling warriors and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But then other times it just gives us the strength to bear whatever the Lord sees fit to allow us to go through, as it did for Abinadi and Emma Smith. Another thought that was shared was that often we get answers to our prayers or are promised certain blessings or receive revelation to do a certain thing and then opposition comes, and you find yourself shaking your fist at God, trying the grasp the meaning of it all. Abraham was promised seed, but his wife couldn’t bear children, and then when she did, the Lord commanded him to sacrifice that son. The brother that shared the thought shared a story about how he felt that it would be really important to have his 3rd child born in October. Not sure why, but just knew that it was supposed to be that way. Well that daughter was due in October and was born in July, weighing 1lb 12 oz. And he was mad at God, and felt as if God was making a mockery of him since he felt that his daughter should be born in October. But later on, it became apparent to him that if his daughter had been born earlier like he and his wife would have preferred she would have come in the spring. He is CPA, and he is completely busy during the spring because of tax season, and if she had come earlier like they wanted she would have been born during tax season and he wouldn’t have been able to work and provide for his family. So what he struggled to find meaning in turned out to be a tender mercy from the Lord. I have felt that so many times in my life. I’ve struggled to find meaning in an event that occurred that seemed opposite to God’s promise of happiness and peace in our lives, and have later realized that it was a tender mercy directly from His hand. He loved me enough to cut me down so that I could grow to what He wants me to be.
I love this video that a friend posted on Facebook this week.
I like the message in this video. The currant bush had grown tall and big but was yielding no fruit. So the gardener cut it down to just small stumps, and the currant bush seems to say, “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth, and now you’ve cut me down. I thought you were the gardener here.”
And the gardener responds, “Look, little currant bush. I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I don’t intend for you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree, I want you to be a currant bush. And someday, little currant bush, when you’re laden with fruit you’re going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”
At the end the man shares a story about how he was denied a position because he was Mormon and shook his fist at God asking, “How could you do this to me?” That thought came into his mind, I am the gardener here, so he got down on his knees and said, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.”
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