Today to open our lesson I asked sisters to tell me what words come to mind when they think of Hurricane Harvey. Some of the responses included: Service, Disaster, Rescue, Wet, Community, and Destruction among others.
Several sisters raised their hands when asked if anyone hey know had been directly affected by Harvey. This disaster is in the forefront of many of our minds. My Grandpa and his wife, my aunt and uncle and their son, and my great Uncle all live in Cypress which is in Northwest Houston. My grandpa and aunt flew out of town for a family reunion on Thursday morning when Harvey was a small tropical storm. Overnight it intensified into a category 2 hurricane and we all know what happened after that. As predictions for historic rainfall were coming in I texted my Uncle and told him everyone could come and stay with us. My Uncle thanked me and told me if flooding happened they could move things upstairs. He was determined to ride out the storm. He kept that determination even when, after 30 years of living in his home on Cypress Creek, floodwaters breached it for the first time. He and the dogs moved on upstairs and hunkered down. When talking with my kids about it last Monday I asked them why, when so many others were panicked and calling for rescue he wasn’t. One child said, “Because he thought he would be safe”. I said,“Ok, but WHY did he think he would be safe?” It was because he had what he needed to survive upstairs until the waters receded. He was prepared. Then I asked them if all the other people who needed rescue were unprepared? I explained that that was not necessarily the case. What if my uncle had been living in a single story home and the flood carried away his necessities and threatened his life?
Thankfully all of my family members stayed safe through this event. My uncle’s preparations weren’t for naught and they helped him feel confident in staying in his house and letting others in more dire need be rescued. Sometimes, however things don’t work out so well.
A story was shared in the February 2017 ensign about the Ashton family:
“The Ashton children were sitting in sacrament meeting when the bishop announced the meeting was canceled. A fire in Southern California was sweeping toward ward members’ homes...With the Ashton parents, Tom and Sheila, and some of the other children out of town, it was up to the teenage siblings to take charge and keep the younger ones safe...they decided they would stay at their aunt’s house in a neighboring city...The next morning, they learned that their home and eight-acre avocado orchard had both been destroyed by the fire...The Ashtons had been prepared for nearly any natural disaster. The house was built to remain stable in an earthquake, and they had plenty of food storage to sustain them during an emergency...But all those things were lost in the fire, and the Ashtons were left only with their faith.”
So all the preparations they had done seemed to be for nothing when the fire burned it to ashes. However, fellow ward members who had not been affected by the fire and who had listened to council to prepare for times of physical emergency, were able to use their surplus and preparation to assist the Ashton’s. We then watched the following church video:
I love the part in this video where the young man talks about having all his buddies around him. He’s part of a team and whether they win or lose the game he wants to be able to look at them and tell them that he gave everything he could.
Well we are also all part of a team. Just like members of the Ashton’s ward were able to draw from their own stores of food and money to help the the Ashton’s we can do the same to help others if we have prepared. Being able to help someone in that way is such a privilege and a blessing. In the same vein, while we cannot create testimony in another person, we can be willing to share our own and that might strengthen someone who is struggling spiritually. But it’s hard to share of ourselves, physical or spiritual if we don’t have anything to draw from.
If you’ve done any amount of personal prep you know that you don’t just buy a bunch of food, shove it in a closet and forget about it until it’s needed. Packaged foods have expiration dates and it’s important to rotate, use and replenish certain supplies to keep things fresh and useable. Just as we need to rotate and replenish our stores of food, we need to constantly nurture and replenish our stores of spiritual fortitude. President Henry B. Eyring has warned us that faith has a short shelf life.
Just like those young men in the video have to work every day to stay physically fit, and prepared for game day, we need to work every day to stay spiritually fit in preparation for the storms of life. It doesn’t matter how righteous you are, how good of a life you’ve lived, none of us are exempt from trial. I don’t personally believe God picks and chooses specific trials to happen to us but I do believe He allows those things to happen because we agreed to that as part of His plan and he knows that we can emerge stronger, wiser, and more compassionate for it. But whether we actually do is entirely up to us.
“Qualities of spirituality do not come without effort. Like any other talent with which we are blessed, they must be constantly practiced.” - Barbara Winder
Like the young men in the video stated, “You gotta take it a day at a time, you can’t be where you want to be in one day” and the other said, “If you didn’t do it, you can’t do it on game day. You gotta do it months and years before.” The parable of the 10 Virgins talks about being ready for Game Day, so to speak. Those who were ready for Christ had been constantly replenishing the oil in their lamps, never letting it run too low or run out. Some of the things we can do every day to fill our lamps include:
- Practice
- Perservere
- Show gratitude
- Personal Prayer
- Scripture Study
- Family Home Evening
- Temple Attendance
- Payments of Tithes
- Patience with others
- Acts of service
- Set goals
I know my faith has helped me through times of trial, large and small. The fact that I have to exercise faith means I don't have a perfect knowledge but I have enough experience with feelings I can't deny that I can overlook what I don't understand and wait patiently for more light and knowledge. Faith isn't something you just have, faith is something you must constantly replenish. If you're not praying day and night, if you're not reading the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, I challenge you to begin. Those are two foundational pieces of building and maintaining a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Suggestions for further study:
