We had the special treat of being taught by our Stake RS president Sis. Naumann. The title of her lesson was "For such a time as This / Doing what the Lord needs us to do"
She talked about the story of Esther. How it has all the parts of a great story - drama, suspense, happily ever after, etc. She prepared herself spiritually first to fulfill her purpose. She was put on the earth at that time for that mission.
Sis Naumann then reflected on herself, "What am I doing and preparing to fulfill my purpose?"
She said Obedience is key. Maybe our mission is different now then it was in the past. Now we need to work on other things.
She shared a wonderful quote by Ardeth Kapp that said we are foreordained for this time. The Lord is counting on each of us.
We all know the phrase - Where much is given much is expected. We each have something we have promised we would do for the Lord.
Turn to your Patriarchal blessing. Re -read it. It will have different messages for different times in your life.
Go the temple often - if we ask the Lord what our purpose is He is will let us know.
Ask in prayer - He wants us to know what we should be being and what he needs from us. Sincerely ask and He will tell you.
The Lord has confidence in us to fulfill our mission. Otherwise we wouldn't be here at this time. Trials, disappointments and heartache are not always explained but remain faithful with hope and trust in the Lord. Heavenly Father knows what our trials are. We are His. We are precious in His sight. We didn't come here to find out worth - it came with us. He knows our potential and power to become like Him. We can influence and make a difference to those around us. We don't have to influence thousands - even 1 is important.
She told of a story that was recounted to her from her son recently returned from a mission. There was an older man who heard a speech titled, "Mormons are of the devil." The man attending "stood up" for the Mormons he knew saying they were kind people and certainly not of the devil. He left and told his wife they needed to find out all they could about Mormons. They packed their car, left El Paso Texas and headed for SLC, Utah. They spent 2 days at Temple Square and filled out a referral card before they left. When they returned home and were emptying their car 2 boys on bicycles rode up into their driveway :) The missionaries. They invited them in at once and said, "Elders, please tell us everything you know." 2 weeks later he was baptized and 2 months later his wife was. He also has since received his Patriarchal blessing and in it is stated, "if the person assigned to share the gospel with you would have done his job...you would have been a member years ago." This man asked the elders, "Where was that person? I could have had these blessings years ago. I could have raised my children in the knowledge of the gospel...Where was that person?"
Are we fulfilling what we said we would do here at this time on earth? If we all do what we can to ACT in obedience and serve more diligently we can look back and see the Lord was blessing and directing our path and like Esther fulfill what we were sent to do at such a time as this.
Thank you Sis. Naumann! Such a wonderful message!