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Familiar Voice

As we drove through a snowstorm over the holidays, my mind went back to many childhood memories of making the same winter drive.  One is more vivid than the rest.  I was 14 or 15 and riding in a little Honda CVCC with my older brother and two of our cousins.  My parents were in a Suburban in front of us and my uncle and aunt’s car brought up the tail of the caravan.  
 
My cousin and I settled into opposite sides of the back seat, ready for a nap on the drive home when I found that the seat belt on my side of the car was broken.  My mother was a real stickler about seat belts at a time when not many people were so I rationalized in my mind that I would sleep better in the side seat with a window to rest my head against.  The seat belt in the middle seat was only a lap belt, I really didn’t want to sit on the “hump” seat.  Even as the argument in my head continued, I slid over next to my cousin, put on the seat belt and remarkably fell asleep.  I woke to the sound of my cousin’s voice. “Hold on!” he called and my eyes opened to see our car sliding head on toward the underside of an eighteen wheel semi truck.  A black box hung from the undercarriage of the truck, our car hit it and slid on ice back out from beneath the moving truck.  My cousin managed to get the car stopped on the side of the road where my uncle had plowed into a snowbank in his effort to avoid colliding with us.  As we exited our cars, we were grateful to find that everyone was unharmed and safe.  
 
I was grateful I had put on my seatbelt and even more grateful the next morning when I saw the bruises where my hips had hit the lap belt with more force than I had realized.  The decision to move to the middle seat did not feel like the result of a spiritual impression.  The voice I remembered and heard was the voice of my mother and I grumbled at it.  I learned that often the Holy Ghost sounds a lot like my mother, urging me to take care of myself, sharing a testimony of the plan of redemption, reminding me who I am and that the Lord has a plan for me.  He nudges me to be a little better, to be a little more kind and to choose to have a little more faith.  He confirms that my prayers have been heard and that the scriptures I read are true.  He urges me to repent and try again.  He helps us all to remember God’s commandments, the covenants that bind us to our Father and the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who guarantees our covenants and the promise that we can always have His Spirit to be with us. Through every new effort, new challenge, new day and new year, His familiar voice reminds us of Heavenly Parents and the lessons of our heavenly home.

Greatest Gift

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)…”which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

“And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised and rejected of men…He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed….he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:2,5,12)

“…Now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you…come unto me and ye shall have eternal life.  Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.” (3 Nephi 9:13-14)

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more…For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16-17)

“We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary.  He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world…

“We declare in words of solemnity that His priesthood and His Church have been restored upon the earth- ‘built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone’ (Ephesians 2:20)…His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.  God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” (The Living Christ, The Testimony of the Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Angels Sweetly Singing

I grew up in a home where music and singing were encouraged.  Some of my favorite family home evenings were nights when we opened the hymn book and just sang, song after song as they were requested.  I love to sing and though I don’t mean to, singing quietly does not come naturally to me.  Perhaps that is one reason that in a December sacrament meeting all my children, who were then quite young, came in with great enthusiasm to sing “Angels we have heard on High”.  Their voices echoed through the chapel as they sang with all their hearts.   At a time when fatigue was a common companion for me, tears came streaming down my face as I heard their testimonies of our Savior in the music they were singing and it  filled even the weary corners of my heart.  As the song ended, my son asked, “Mom, why is everyone smiling?”  “Because your singing makes them happy,” I responded. 
 
It was not a planned performance, the voices were not trained but the testimony and the joy were real and that testimony and joy radiated to all who heard it.  Our voices may not be trained, our words may not be eloquent but as we give our efforts to sing our own song of the redeeming love we feel from Jesus Christ, His love can radiate to those around us and expand to the corners of our own hearts that are too heavy to feel like singing right now.  
 
I am grateful for the heavenly choirs, seen and unseen, who “sing the matchless love, Of Him who left His home above….Let heav’n and earth His love proclaim.” (Hymns, no 177)
 

All She Had

This morning a friend reminded me of the Savior who noticed a “certain poor widow”  cast her two mites into the treasury and taught his disciples, “Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all…she…cast in all the living that she had. ” (Luke 21:2-4).   As she cast in all she had, the widow was most likely not in the group that heard the Savior tell that hers was a larger gift than all the rich men.  She was simply doing her best, giving her all.  She went home to nothing.  No praise, no help that we know of, no money, she had given it all.  But the Lord did notice and  her effort blessed those who heard the teachings then and blesses all the rest of us who have ever read and pondered her story since.  

Throughout our lives, there will be moments, days or weeks when we say, “There is nothing left.”  Whether we are drained emotionally, physically, mentally or spiritually, we all reach points in our lives where all we have is our very last “mite”.  We know our “mite” isn’t anywhere close to what we desire to give or even close to what is needed.  They are usually very quiet offerings, ones that are so small that no one else would ever notice, but the Lord does notice and just as He did with the widow, He can take our “mites” and make them into gifts that have eternal importance and impact.  Every effort, especially our last “mites” matter to the Lord.  Whatever we can give, He can make holy.

 

Muscle Memory

My dear friend and neighbor, Katie, and her husband cared for Katie’s mother for many years. Her mother struggled with dementia and sometimes that care was very difficult to give.  Katie’s mother grew up in Ogden, Utah in a proud Scottish family that danced and performed the Highland Fling and the Scottish sword dances at cultural celebrations.  It was part of her childhood.  The Christmas just before her mother’s death, they bundled her up in a wheelchair and took her to see the lights display in Ogden.  As they wheeled her through the lights, they came to a man playing the bagpipes and stopped to listen for a few minutes.  As they listened, Katie noticed her mother’s feet begin to move. 

She wasn’t just tapping her feet.  Her toes were pointed, her feet moved in precise movements and continued throughout the song.  She couldn’t remember Katie’s name or their relationship, but something deep inside of her remembered what she had learned in her youth and came back to her when nothing else would.

President Joseph F. Smith taught, “Jesus had not finished His work when His body was slain, neither did He finish it after His resurrection from the dead; although He had accomplished the purpose for which He then came to the earth, He had not fulfilled all His work.  And when will He?  Not until He has redeemed and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that have been or ever will be born upon this earth to the end of time, except the sons of perdition.  That is His mission.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, 410)

Our Savior, whose birth we celebrate, was sent to save His Father’s children.  He waits with patience and mercy we do not comprehend for us to remember who we are and Whose we are and what we were intended to be.  He calls for us to be better, to forgive, to learn, to change, to try again and to remember how much our Heavenly Parents love and believe in us.  The veil over our minds may allow us to forget many things, but we can never fully forget the love of our First Estate and its imprint on our souls.  As our hearts turn, then in His time and through His atoning power, He “glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of His hands.” (D&C 76:43)

No Endings

A now deteriorating cemetery in Ripley, Oklahoma is the final resting place of many of the family of Richard and Elizabeth (Patton) May.  The younger sister of my great great grandpa, Elizabeth was born in 1853 in western Virginia on a prosperous farm to a large family.  Her childhood was interrupted by the Civil War and family members enlisted, fought and died, some just miles from her home.  Likely, however, the most difficult loss occurred when she was eleven years old and her mother passed away after delivering a baby girl who lived a month and then died as well.
 
Married in 1869, Elizabeth and her new husband followed the migration of many neighbors and family including her two brothers first to Kansas and then further west to Payne County, Oklahoma where they put down roots creating their own successful farm. While economically stable, Elizabeth’s losses continued.
Bend Cemetery
The mother of six children, three had died by 1900 and a year later another son, Lewis, succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of twenty.   Perhaps it was the death of her oldest son in 1908 that broke her, for when her husband’s will was probated in 1909 he left everything to her in the event that she was cured and released from the state mental hospital where she was currently residing.  Her last surviving daughter passed away in 1913 and in the 1920 Census, Elizabeth is living on the family farm with her single brother.  She had outlived her husband and all six of her children.  So many endings, so much loss.
 

On Friday, I was privileged to be in a sealing room of the Bountiful Temple with a lifelong friend who five years earlier had faced the crushing pain of the sudden death of her husband. Now she and her sons knelt at the altar of the temple, a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and were sealed to their husband and father.  Afterwards she stood with her sons in front of the mirrors that go on forever and shared her witness that her family could go on forever and there never had to be an enduring end.  Because of Jesus Christ, everything that is broken can be healed, everything that is wrong can be made right and everything that is good can go on forever and ever.  Because of Him, no end, no loss, no sorrow needs to be permanent but can be replaced with joy. “I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains.

 Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” (Alma 36:21).  Jesus Christ can and will “wipe away all tears from [our] eyes” and turn our pain to joy as we come unto Him.

She Was There

As a child, my husband lived within walking distance of his grandparents. As the oldest in a large family, my husband’s favorite place to be was reading in a sitting area of his grandma’s kitchen. Knowing that Grandma was a wonderful cook, I thought he might have been drawn by the food she most likely fed him but when I asked why it was his favorite, he responded simply, “Because she was there.” Her presence brought safety, security, peace and love.

The Savior invites us to ‘Come, follow me’ and ‘walk with me.’  He entreats us to abide in Him and He will abide in us. Our desire to feel His love draws us, like my husband was drawn to his grandma’s kitchen, to be where He is. 

 “Come with conviction and endurance…Christ is everything to us and we are to ‘abide’ in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, April 2004) With all the presents we buy this year, our efforts to be in His presence will bring the safety, security, peace and love we long for and will be the gift that will matter most for generations to come.

By Design

In February of 2019, our oldest son was sitting in a sacrament meeting in Australia where he was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A sister stood to speak and began to share a story about a man who had had not attended church for many years when he received a letter from his stake president inviting him to come back to church and to faith.  He didn’t respond to the invitation but mulled it over in his mind for more than a year.  

Anticipating a trip to Virginia to visit his daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren and knowing that they would be going to church, he determined that whatever meetings they went to, he would also attend. 

As my son listened, he recognized the story being related.  It was the story of my Grandpa Frischknecht, an article published in the Ensign in 1975 from a talk he had given at a stake conference the previous year.  My son pondered the chances that a woman in this chapel on this day would choose a story published 44 years ago to share Grandpa’s words and testimony with his great grandson who was half a world away from home trying to share his own testimony.   

“What may appear to be a random chance is, in fact, overseen by a loving Father in Heaven, who can number the hairs of every head. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s notice. The Lord is in the small details of our lives, and those incidents and opportunities are to prepare us to lift our families and others as we build the kingdom of God on earth. Remember, as the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.’

Grandpa Frischknecht and Rebekah 1974

“The Lord’s hand is guiding you. By “divine design,” He is in the small details of your life as well as the major milestones. As it says in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; … and he shall direct thy paths.”  I testify that He will bless you, sustain you, and bring you peace.” (Elder Ronald A. Rasband, October 2017)

From a stake president’s letter, to a quiet decision, and down through years and generations, the Lord is weaving the tapestry of our lives.  No moment goes unseen, no prayer goes unheard and occasionally we get a glimpse and see His hand as He walks with us on our mortal journey.  Each glimpse testifies that we can be at peace, His hand is over us.

God be Thanked

Yesterday, a newly released bishopric counselor recounted his service and shared his testimony that he had always known that God loved His children but as he had been set apart and served in his ward he had felt that love.  He bore his witness that God loves His children.
 
This morning I attended the celebration of life of a young wife and mother who died just a week short of her 23rd birthday.  I arrived a few minutes early and watched as her young husband was given last minute instructions by the funeral director.  Her father held her little girl and her friend behind me whispered, “This can’t be real.”  Their grief reflected their love.
 
 
 
A similar pain was spoken by Mary, “Lord if thou had been here, my brother had not died….Lord, come and see. [And] Jesus wept.  Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!” (John 11:32-36). His tears were not the beginning or the end of the Savior’s love. He lived His love.  For Lazarus and the rest of humankind, He willingly suffered humiliation, false accusations, scourging, pressure so intense blood came from every pore and in the end, He was nailed to a cross and gave His life for His friends.   On the third day, He rose promising that with His power we will all rise from the grave.  Still, His love did not end there.  From that day to this, He lives to bring hope to the hopeless, light in our darkness, mercy for our weakness and joy even in our sorrow.  
 
The life of Jesus Christ is a testament of His love and the love of our Father, a love we can only begin to comprehend.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16) “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” (The Living Christ-The Testimony of the Apostles)