I did not read it word for word so some things were different but this is the essence of it:
Alma 37:6 states: “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”
D&C 64:33 says “Out of small things proceedeth that which is great”
Last conference Elder Ballard told a story about a prospector who went panning during the gold rush. He was frustrated throwing rock after rock on the shore, not finding any gold. Then an older prospector came by and picked up two of the rocks that had been thrown ashore and hit them together, showing the tiny flecks of gold in them. The younger man said he wanted big rocks of gold like the older man had. This is when the older man opened his pouch and showed it was full of the tiny flecks.
We often are so worried about finding the big things in life that we miss the tiny flecks that strengthen us. Focus our life around the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. We should strive to keep our lives simple, focused on the things that matter most.
While Jack was on his mission he would often remind us to get back to the basics, to make sure we were doing our Prayers, scripture reading, FHE, tithing, attending church, fasting, increasing our faith. These things not only bring us closer to our Heavenly Father but will pull our family closer together as well.
I have learned that these things do not come automatically to us but we must work at them, use them daily and weekly in order to develop them.
To those who have much, much is given.
When we use the talents and abilities that God has given us, we will receive more. When we bury our talents or refuse to use them, we begin to lose them.
We learn line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. This enables us to grasp what we are learning and apply it to our lives.
Our prophets did not just one day open their mouth and a great prayer came out, they learned to pray by doing it day after day. The more you pray the stronger your prayers become. The same thing applies to reading the scriptures;
The more you read your scriptures, the more knowledge you gain and the more weapons you have to fight with. After all, The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.
A few weeks ago I was listening to a friend of ours give a talk after returning home from his recent tour of duty in Iraq. He was talking about their weapons and how big and powerful they were but they were useless without their tiny bullets. Zac talked about how it was easy to find time on the battlefield to read and pray and that we need to work on that in our daily lives.
He made me stop and think about my own testimony and if I had been feeding it daily. Was I taking the time to read my scriptures every day before I took the time to do other things? Was I praying not only for my own family but for the families of those around me, those in leadership, and those who cross paths with my children? Was I arming myself with tiny bullets of scriptures and prayers for my own little battlefield?
15 years ago I began with a small and simple step by reading a book that Elder Ballard had written called “Our Search for Happiness”. On the last page of the book he says if you have any questions to write to him. I did. He sent the missionaries to our house. We were baptized. After that we began to get up early in the mornings and read scriptures and prayed before the kids went to school. They were not always happy about it and many times I wondered if it was even making a difference. We paid our tithing, we attended church, we bore our testimonies to those we went to school with and those we worked with.
I believe these small steps helped Jeremy and Jack both go on missions. They were able to share the gospel with many people who would not have otherwise heard it. They worked with less active members as well as investigators. They touched the lives of all those around them in one way or another.
When we lived in Arkansas members of the church were so spread out that we did not come in contact with other members except at church or church activities. This was very hard but made us stronger. I worked at an accounting firm and everyone there knew we were LDS and preached against our church often during the first year I was there. After that they stopped preaching against us but did not want to hear anything about our faith. By the time I left there everyone in the building and many clients as well were friends with our family and we had given out 7 books of Mormon.
It did not happen all at once or with any big thing. It was the daily living our lives and setting examples. It was the quiet answers to questions they had or standing my ground during the discussions where they tried to show me how I belonged to a cult not a church. It was listening to the kids and their experiences going to a Christian school where the three of them were the only LDS kids in the school with many Pentecostal kids.
They would come in after school and wait the hour until I got off and go around and talk to the accountants and bookkeepers. They shared their faith without pushing it on people. They shared their faith without preaching. Then after Jack and Jennifer had graduated Joy was able to move to the public school and was so excited to know there were close to 10 LDS kids in the school. She even had an LDS teacher in one of her classes. She was able to witness to other kids in the school and introduce some to the missionaries.
The kids were able to work at a job where the ground work had already been laid by Sarah and then Paula, two Young Women who went to our church and had good work ethics. Because of this, the manager of the restaurant wanted to hire more LDS kids because he could count on them. They were honest kids who came to work, to work, not just play around.
Because our kids continued this work ethic, there were more LDS kids hired. They were able to witness to those they worked with. It all happened line upon line, precept upon precept, Young Women and Men upon Young Women and Men, member upon member.
But it all started with a small step.
My testimony to you is that if you start where you are,
right here,
right now,
you too can gain a testimony and do great things.
Begin with a simple prayer and arm yourself with the Word of God. Do all you can to build your faith, it takes work every day to stay strong. When you are around others you have to stand strong in your faith. This means making wise choices and when you fall to pick yourself up and begin again. To get back to the basics and begin with praying and scripture reading, by taking time for your family, leaving no one out. By putting others needs above your own and serving those around you.
I have Simple Partial Seizures and they had gotten so severe I had to quit work last November. They cause memory loss and are brought on by a mixture of stress and lack of sleep. Some days all is fine but other days I can’t comprehend what is going on around me. I could not be the front person in an accounting firm if one day I knew everything and the next day I would get scared when someone walked in the front door. A few months after I left work I ran into some of our clients in the grocery store and they stopped me and expressed how sad they were when I was no longer working there. They said they could always feel the love I showed to people and the service I gave to them as people. This humbled me, I could not even remember their names but they could feel Christ’s love for them because I was willing to serve everyone who walked through the doors.
I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I believe that God still performs miracles today and that we can feel His Spirit everyday in our lives. I believe that going on a mission changes not only the missionary but every person that comes in contact with them, including their families and friends back home. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
