Refining

During Ward Conference at our WX 9th ward the gospel doctrine lesson was given by BJ Densley.  In it he told the following story that I just loved:

The Refiners Touch There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi.  As they were studying chapter three they came across verse three which says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"  He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."

Mountains to Climb

I really enjoyed our Relief Society lesson today taught by Molly Richards.  Her lesson was based on Elder Eyering's Talk "Mountains to Climb."

Elder Eyering 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.”

Elder Eyring thought "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 his prayer was answered with the hardest trial of my life.

WOW!  What faith!  I often feel myself praying that everything will just go right, and I know I haven't faced many "mountains."  Deep down I want those experiences and I want to be able to grow but I find it a little scary to ask for "mountains" because I know the Lord will answer.  I am at a crossroad wanting the comfort and stability of verything going right but also knowing as Elder Eyering " that great blessing could come from adversity to more than compensate for any cost."

In the lesson we also read the Old Testament account that this phrase "Mountains to Climb" comes from.  When Moses and the children of Israel come to the land of Canaan Moses sends 12 men to scout the land, and among them are Joshua and Caleb.  The land has been chosen by the Lord so all reports should come back positively but Caleb and joshua's good reports are drowned out by the other negative reports.  So the children of Israel wander for 40 more years.

In Joshua Chapter 14 Caleb is  once again ready to inhabit the land of Canaan.  At 85 years old his testimony was as strong and unshakable as 40 years earlier when he wanted to enter Canaan relying on the providence of the Lord:

11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

 12 Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and ^afenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.

I don't know if I am quite ready to pray for "mountains" but I pray that I can increase my faith and be ready for the trails that come my way.

"I cannot promise an end to your adversity in this life. I cannot assure you that your trials will seem to you to be only for a moment. One of the characteristics of trials in life is that they seem to make clocks slow down and then appear almost to stop.There are reasons for that. Knowing those reasons may not give much comfort, but it can give you a feeling of patience. Those reasons come from this one fact: in Their perfect love for you, Heavenly Father and the Savior want you fitted to be with Them to live in families forever. Only those washed perfectly clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can be there."

Ward Conference

It was  our ward conference a week or two ago and I am ashamed to admit it , but since we've had kids it has been a while since we attend our ward conference.  We often would go up to my parents or just see it as a free day from church.
We actually attended the morning temple session with our new neighbors the Pugsley's...I was really surprised Kody agreed to attend the 6:00 AM session.  There was a breakfast afterward at the Bennett's where we met a lot of new people in the ward.
We missed the adult session but I am hoping we can go next time.
Our girls behaved relatively well during the 2 hour meeting and I enjoyed the talks. 
One that stuck with me was Elder Holland's asking what was once thing we had done with the information we had received during General Conference.  It really struck a cord with me to not just " a hearer of the word,"  but also "a doer of the word."
I decided to re-read the talks in the May ensign and really focus on some areas of my life that I can change/improve.