Our 4th Sunday lesson was taught by Sis. Murdock and it was from the conference talk - Mountains to Climb by Pres. Eyring.
She asked all of us if we would trade our trials for someone elses trials?
Pres. Eyring said, "If we have faith in Jesus Christ the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."
He also said, "I heard President Spencer W. Kimball, in a session of conference,
ask that God would give him mountains to climb. He said: “There are
great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome
that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, ‘Give me
this mountain,’ give me these challenges."
My
heart was stirred, knowing, as I did, some of the challenges and
adversity he had already faced. I felt a desire to be more like him, a
valiant servant of God. So one night I prayed for a test to prove my
courage. I can remember it vividly. In the evening I knelt in my bedroom
with a faith that seemed almost to fill my heart to bursting.
Within a day or two my prayer was answered."
Sis. Murdock asked again, " What are some of the trials you might face in your life?"
After several sisters gave ideas of what trials we may face in our life Sis. Murdock share the story of the Trouble Tree.
I hired a plumber to help me restore an old
farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job, a
flat tire made him lose an hour of work & his electric drill quit,
his ancient one ton truck refused to start. As I drove him home, he sat
in stony silence.
On arriving he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the
front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the
branches with both hands. Upon opening the door he had undergone an
amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he
hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do at the little tree.
"Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again." Funny thing is," he smiled", when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do at the little tree.
"Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again." Funny thing is," he smiled", when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."
Sis. Murdock had a trouble tree that she brought and it looked similar to this:
She asked us again - Why is it important to accept the will of the Lord? What purpose do trials serve and why is it important to be faithful?
Pres. Eyring answers that as well - "the
ground must be carefully prepared for our foundation of faith to
withstand the storms that will come into every life. That solid basis
for a foundation of faith is personal integrity.
Our
choosing the right consistently whenever the choice is placed before us
creates the solid ground under our faith. It can begin in childhood
since every soul is born with the free gift of the Spirit of Christ. With that Spirit we can know when we have done what is right before God and when we have done wrong in His sight.
Those
choices, hundreds in most days, prepare the solid ground on which our
edifice of faith is built. The metal framework around which the
substance of our faith is poured is the gospel of Jesus Christ, with all its covenants, ordinances, and principles."
One of the characteristics of trials in life is that they seem to make clocks slow down and then appear almost to stop.
Sis. Murdock played the 1st 2 verses of this song to further share her message with us:
She shared 1 last quote from Pres. Eyring, "We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word."
Thank you Sis. Murdock. We know each Sister in our ward is dealing with something. We ALL have trials whether they are physical or spiritual. Let us use our trials to make us BETTER not BITTER.
- Sis. Pyrah