Hidden Blessings

Once upon a Fourth of July my siblings and I decided to light of some fireworks. Now these weren't big ones but the small black cat variety. We were just having a jolly ol' time watching the fireworks explode, you know just doing kid things. Well when we were done we went inside and went into the family room just talking with the family about the summer and different things. In the middle of our chit-chattings a nice man decided to knock and then open our door and tell us our house is on fire. Now the rest is typical 911 called, fire trucks come and try to hose down the house, and in the end the house is gone. But you know as sad as it was it was a blessing in disguise. How could it be a blessing in disguise? Well our house was a 1950s, or earlier, farm house. It was ok but definitely needed work and some up keep but because we had the house all the way paid off and it was fully insured the house insurance company covered the cost of a brand new house. So because of the fire we got a brand new house for free. Blessing in disguise.

Ok so there once were these people that we having a little jaunt into the desert totally to about 40 years. Well in the middle somewhere they got real thirsty. I can understand I mean a desert is really hot and there really isn't a lot of water around. So they were thirsty and started to complain. Well Moses, the prophet, got sick of them complaining and asked God for help. God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff. Now this is a true story. He struck the rock with his staff and water flowed out of the rock. There was enough water to quench the thirst of thousands and thousands of Israelites and their animals, all from a split rock. Blessing in disguise.

So now we have two examples of blessings that came in a way that we didn't expect them, blessings in disguise. I bet if you take the time you can come up with a huge list of blessings in disguise that you have received. All you have to do is take the time to pick them out. Remember that God is constantly giving us good gifts. In Matthew 7 it takes about how much God knows how to give us good gifts, "  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"  So God he wants to give us gifts, blessings, treasures, blessings in disguise, and all we have to do is ask. 

We Can Find Happiness

We can all find happiness. We just got to look for it and God will show us where it is. God wants us all to be happy and to live with Him in a "state of never-ending happiness."

2+2=350

Just this past week a member from one of our wards passed away. He was a very liked person and well known throughout the community. I had only met him once before he died but anytime anyone talked about him I could feel the goodness of his character. I don't think that there was one person that he didn't touch personally while he was alive. So, needless to say that at his funeral there wasn't a spare room. The chapel, the overflow, the gym, and the stage were all full and many people were standing. Those that had prepared the food for the meal were a little anxious. They were told only to prepare food enough for about 180 people. Well they started to express their doubts after the funeral service and were told that most people won't go to the grave side and most won't stay for the meal.

Break for a second. Remember in the Bible the story of Christ feeding the multitudes? A multitude had joined together to listen to Jesus Christ preach. The time had gotten away from everyone and the Apostles saw that the time was growing late and started to feel a little anxious for the people because they didn't have food for them. But Jesus, in His love, sends the Apostles out to find food and a miracle occurs. In Mark chapter 6 we follow the rest of the story.

"He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men."

This is where the miracle occured just like it had with Jesus Christ. More than the 180 people that they had prepared came to the meal. They said a prayer over the food that it would multiply just like it had when Christ blessed the loaves and the fishes. People were pilling food upon their plates thinking there would be enough. The women that were serving were constantly saying a prayer that there would be enough food and there was. Over 350 people were fed on the food that should have fed only 180. What a modern day miracle! The wonderful thing to notice is that all they had to do was to ask and then have faith that the food would multiply.

This is true in our lives as well. Miracles can and will happen we just have to have the faith  and believe and they will happen.  "Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." (1 Nephi 7:12)

Blink into the light

Imagine that you are in a room that is completely dark, pitch black.
Can you see anything? Not really.
Can you still get your way around? Sure, but it isn't that easy. At first it will be kind of difficult but the more you get used to it the easier it is to get around. Now while you are used to getting around in the dark how much easier would it be if someone turned the light on.

Ok so the light is on and you can see so much better. You can see that the walls are painted a soft ivory, that the molding is made from walnut. The carpet has a leaf pattern in it. The furniture is forest green and big and comfy. This room is much more wonderful now that you can actually see it in full detail. Before you only knew the main gist of it but for all the full details all you could do is guess. Isn't it interesting what light can do?

Now that we have the light on, would you go back to a life of pitch darkness? Hopefully not. There is so much more you can experience when there is light in your life. You can see better, you can move around better. Life it just way easier. So, we don't want to be in the dark. We like the light on. Interestingly though, no matter how much we love our new life in the light there are times that we are in the darkness again, even for a split second. We blink. We shut our eyes and surround ourselves momentarily in darkness.

How do we stop? Well really we can't. We are human. Because we are imperfect there are times of darkness in our lives even though we want to be in the light.

Now remember what life was like before you really knew about Jesus Christ or His Gospel? It was like living in that dark room. Sure, you got around and life was fine but remember how much greater you life became when you learned about Jesus Christ, the light? Things just seemed so much better. You learn about His grace and love and how you can express your love back to Him by following Him. You strive each day to do better, to be better, to always stay in the light. Now we aren't perfect we make mistakes, we blink. But we don't have to focus just on the times that we blink and then think that we are never going to be able to live with God again. Sure we make mistakes but that is where repentance comes in. That is where our Savior comes in. If we are striving to have our lives as bright as possible and trying our best each day, Jesus will make up the difference and bring in the light that we lack.

We blink, that is life but we can surround ourselves with so much light that we focus more on the light then on the darkness.