Posted on 02/07/2011 7:23:46 PM PST by Paragon Defender
Sydney S. Reynolds
First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency
Sydney S. Reynolds, "A God of Miracles", Ensign, May 2001, 12
I believe that all of us can bear witness to these small miracles.
With Moroni of old, I believe in a God of miracles. Moroni wrote to the people of our dispensation, “Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, … and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are” (Morm. 9:11). Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles, and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today (see Morm. 9:18; Morm. 9:9).
Think of the miracles of the Old Testament. Remember Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. For all future generations of Israelites, the great miracles that led to their deliverance from Egypt provided undeniable proof of God’s existence and His love for them.
Many Book of Mormon prophets, including Nephi, pointed to the story of Moses to encourage faith and belief in a God who could deliver His people in their distress (see 1 Ne. 4:1–3). Other Book of Mormon prophets reminded the people that they themselves had witnessed miracles that should convince them of God’s power.
In the New Testament, the Apostle John shared his reason for recording many of the Savior’s miracles—namely, “that [we] might believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31).
In this dispensation we witness the great miracle of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. It began when a young boy entered a grove of trees near Palmyra, New York, and poured out his heart and his questions to a God he believed could answer him—the God of miracles. And miracles have followed in this dispensation—mighty miracles—including the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, which is itself another testament of Jesus Christ.
Just as important as these “mighty miracles” are the smaller “private miracles” that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the promptings of the Spirit in our lives.
I am grateful for a teacher who encouraged his students to keep a journal of the whisperings or promptings of the Spirit in their lives. He directed us to note what we felt and what resulted. Little things became evident. One day I was frantically trying to complete some assignments and prepare for a trip. I had just been down to the laundry area of the dorm to move my clothes from the washer to the dryer. Unfortunately, all the dryers were in use, and they all had many minutes to go. I went back upstairs discouraged, knowing by the time those dryers finished, I had to be on the road. I had barely returned to my room when I felt prompted to go back downstairs and check the laundry again. Foolishness, I thought—I had just been there, and I didn’t have time. But because I was trying to listen, I went. Two of the dryers were empty—and I was able to meet all my commitments. Could the Lord possibly have been concerned about smoothing my way in such a small but, to me, important matter? I have learned since through many such experiences that the Lord will help us in every aspect of our lives when we are trying to serve Him and do His will.
I believe that all of us can bear witness to these small miracles. We know children who pray for help to find a lost item and find it. We know of young people who gather the courage to stand as a witness of God and feel His sustaining hand. We know friends who pay their tithing with the last of their money and then, through a miracle, find themselves able to pay their tuition or their rent or somehow obtain food for their family. We can share experiences of prayers answered and priesthood blessings that gave courage, brought comfort, or restored health. These daily miracles acquaint us with the hand of the Lord in our lives.
My mind has been much on this topic because of an experience our family has had in the last few months. Our daughter and her husband took a while to find each other and then, though they wanted children with all their hearts, over a number of years had difficulty realizing that dream. They prayed and they sought priesthood blessings and medical help, and eventually were thrilled to learn they were expecting twins.
Things did not go smoothly, however, and three and a half months before the babies were due to arrive, the mother-to-be found herself in the labor and delivery section of the hospital. The doctors at first were hopeful that they could stop the labor for a few more weeks. Quickly, however, the question became, would they even have the 48 hours necessary for medication to prepare the babies’ immature lungs to function?
A nurse came in from the newborn intensive care unit to show the couple pictures of the machines the babies would be hooked up to if they were born alive. She explained the risks for eye damage, for lung collapse, for physical impairment, for brain damage. The couple listened, humbled yet hopeful, and then, despite all the doctors could do, it was obvious that these babies were coming.
They were born alive. First the baby girl and then the baby boy—weighing less than four pounds together—were rushed to the intensive care unit and put on ventilators, with umbilical tubes and intravenous lines and constant attention. They can’t have too much light, they can’t have too much noise, their chemical balances need constant monitoring, as the hospital, with millions of dollars of equipment and many wonderful doctors and nurses, attempted to replicate the miracle of a mother’s womb.
There are multitudes of little miracles every day: a collapsed lung heals and then, despite the odds, continues to function properly; pneumonia is beaten back; more deadly infections invade and are overcome; IV lines go bad and are replaced. After two and a half months, the baby boy has gained two pounds and can breathe with an oxygen supplement. His ventilator is gone, he learns to eat, and his grateful parents take him home with monitors attached.
The baby girl keeps pulling her ventilator tube out, setting off alarms across the nursery. Maybe she wants to keep up with her brother, we think, but her throat closes off each time, and she just can’t breathe on her own. Her throat is so inflamed that at times the respiratory therapists have great difficulty reinserting the tube, and she almost dies. Her normal progress is stymied by her continued dependence on the ventilator.
Finally, after her baby brother has been home for two months, the doctors feel they are forced to suggest surgery for her—a surgery that will allow her to breathe by opening a hole in her throat, a surgery that might solve the stomach problems by opening a hole in her side, but a surgery that will impact her little body for many more months and maybe for the rest of her life. As the parents wrestled with this decision, a beloved aunt sent a message to all the family. She explained the situation—the critical issue of timing, the importance of getting off the ventilator—and suggested that we join our faith once again, and in prayer and fasting ask for one more miracle—if it was the Lord’s will. We would culminate our fast with a prayer the evening of December 3.
Let me read from a letter that was sent to the family the morning of December 4. “Dearest Family, Wonderful news! Blessings from the Lord. Our heartfelt thanks for your prayers and fasting in behalf of our little girl. Yesterday morning she came off the ventilator and has been off for 24 hours at this writing. To us, it is a miracle. The medical staff are still guarded about predicting the future, but we are so grateful to the Lord and to you. We are praying that this will mark the beginning of the end of her hospital stay. And we even dare to hope that she’ll be home for Christmas.”
She did make it home for Christmas, and both babies are currently doing “just fine.” Our family has had its own “parting of the Red Sea,” and we are prepared to testify that there is today, as there was yesterday and will be forever, a “God of miracles” who loves His children and desires to bless them.
Now, we know, as you do, that all petitions to the Lord and all fasts do not receive this same hoped-for answer. Our extended family also has faced the death of loved ones, serious illness, the trial of divorce, and children who are choosing another path. We do not always understand the reasons behind the tests that come with mortality. But our faith has grown, and perhaps yours has too, as we have watched loved ones, friends, and people we know only by reputation endure with faith in the Lord the most severe trials. They, too, know the God of miracles and witness in their extremity that whatever the future holds for them, the Lord knows them and loves them and is blessing them. They are sealed to Him and to each other forever, and they are willing to submit their wills to His.
How have they come to such a point? How do we access the quiet miracle that the Lord works as He transforms us, His children, into worthy heirs of the kingdom of God? I believe it is made possible because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). I believe it comes as we yield to the enticings of the Spirit, put off the natural man, and are filled with the love of God (see Mosiah 3:19). “Through the Atonement of [Jesus] Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (A of F 1:3). All mankind—that includes me, that includes you—we can each have part in the Atonement, the greatest of all God’s miracles.
God did part the Red Sea, and He did give us the Book of Mormon. He can heal us of our sins, and He can and will bless us, His children, in our daily lives. I know that He lives and loves us and is today a God of miracles, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Sigh...
We just don't CALL you a liar; but actually POINT THEM OUT!
YOU should try it some time: it's LIBERATING!
Well; he claims to NOT be a liar...
SISTER Sydney?
One day Joseph Smith was reading in the Bible, and this is what he read: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). That scripture was so powerful to him! He’d never prayed out loud before, but he needed an answer and he believed the scripture. Humbly, he went to a wooded area close to his house, and he knelt down and began to pray. This was such an important prayer that the powers of darkness threatened to overwhelm this strong, young farm boy, but he cried out to God for help. As he did, a light descended and the darkness went away. Joseph saw two personages standing in the light. One of them said to him, pointing to the other, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS—H 1:17). It was God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
If you, personally, are being accused of telling a lie let me know the post number by Freepmail.
Thank you.
See? The ad hominem is embedded in the faulty assertion built upon the faulty premise. That there is no "dishonor" unless we are already guilty of a type of malfeasance - "twisting".
Sorry, not going to let you off that easy.
Instead of using more accurate terms or words like “church critic”, the word “anti-” is used as it relates to the mormons as a people, “anti-mormon”. That it is a personal prejudice. To draw parallels to many “anti-” [such as anti-semitism] pogroms from the past and currently.
It’s an incendiary word that is already loaded with negative connotations that arouses in people a reflexive response that is neither necessary or relevant, almost feral in nature.
To elicit a sympathy response from an outsider who may or may not understand what has actually been said in previous discussions, only reflexive outrage.
The persistent use of the term “Propaganda” falls into the same category.
Casting out aspersions like feed corn without providing proof to support the accusations is "dishonorable". It is a clear demonstration of the Alinsky methods of attacking the poster, not the content.
Even when confronted on the "blasphemy" episode, the attempt was made to turn it around on to me. That it was my "twisting" of what was said, etc. ad nauseum. That is "dishonorable".
The use of broad and gross generalizations against the individuals using carefully parsed words in a thinly veiled, childish and cowardly attempt to hide behind the forum rules while at the same time giving the impression that the poster is the one being "attacked".
That is "dishonorable".
It may be within forum guidelines and rules, but it is NOT "honorable".
I don't expect a TBM to give any quarter to an apostate who speaks out against the church, but don't pretend it's "honorable" to malign the poster.
It may have been me. Post 117.
PD repeatedly tells me he did something that he did not do. I tried many ways to point out the fact that he did not do what he said he did.
I suggested he/she is lying, is delusional, or devoid of logic and reason.
I believe these to be true, but they are my conclusions that should not have been written publicly.
I am sorry if I broke a rule. It is useless talking to this person, and I will not do so any more.
Most of the questions folks have regarding Mormonism center upon conflicts with where Mormonism deviates from Christianity; if the mormonism apologist/deceiver answers directly, they have to verify they believe the mormon version and thus show they accept the blasphemies rather than what Christianity teaches; this instantly reveals that Momronism is not Christianity, that the apologist/deceiver knows it is not Christianity, and that the apologist/deceiver is fine with that even as the LDS apologist uses Jesus' name in their demonic cult name.
It is also clear that the Parsimonious Deflector is using FreeRepublic.com to try and proselytize for this cult religion, so exposing the glaring variations from the truth of Christianity would defeat the devious purpose of the poster.
BTW, that devious purpose is to stealthily try to suck people into a cult which knows it is not Christian while using in its name the name Jesus Christ while knowing they are established by Joseph Smith, not Jesus Christ. Whne a mormon objects to that last sentence, ask them to then show you the rituals of mormonism found explained/directed in the ‘book of mormon’ poorly written novel they call their scriptures.
BTW, that devious purpose is to stealthily try to suck people into a cult which knows it is not Christian while using in its name the name Jesus Christ while knowing they are established by Joseph Smith, not Jesus Christ. When a mormon objects to that last sentence, ask them to then show you the rituals of mormonism found explained/directed in the ‘book of mormon’ poorly written novel they call their scriptures.
>>There is subtle fact surfacing in the refusal to answer direct questions, but instead direct the questioner to a bank of ‘approved’ responses.<<
Actually I think it’s a dodge. They don’t want to take the view on a personal level. They divert to the written words of the church which physiologically insulates them from culpability and gives them the protection of group think. Catholics do the same thing.
Because there aren't any. It's an empty cup. But please don't stop asking!
ETERNITY! It’s not really forever anymore (wink, wink)
Easy - money, sex and power.
Well of course it it. Any religion that preaches against THE Word is seriously in enemy territory here.
Either fight like a man or beat it.
Behold the jubulation t. cornpone method of mormon witnessing - run the other direction. In the amount of TIME PD has spent obfuscating you FoF - he could have answered you several times over.
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