This week in Come Follow Me, we have studied the biblical story where the Lord and His apostles were on a boat in the midst of a great storm. The Lord had fallen asleep, but the apostles feared greatly. They believed that surely they were about to die. In their moments of fear, they had forgotten who they were with. The Son of God, He who created the earth was sleeping on their boat! As unfounded as their fear was, they awoke Jesus and said, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" The Lord, then straightway arose, "rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."
In the midst of our personal storms and challenges, we may find ourselves likened unto the apostles on the boat. I had such an experience recently. Caleb complains on occasion that his knees hurt. And, at times, his knees are actually swollen with no apparent cause. Under direction from the doctor, we have recorded and tracked these pains. After tracking for some time, I brought Caleb back to the doctor. He examined him and asked about our family history, especially regarding rheumatoid arthritis (particularly juvenile arthritis). After some consideration, he felt that there was enough evidence that warranted a blood test and a visit with a specialist. He said that he believed it was possible that Caleb has juvenile arthritis or a perhaps a different autoimmune disease such as lupus.
I left that appointment and researched those two things on the internet. The more I learned, the more fearful I got. Google was definitely not my friend that day. My mind replayed every "what if" and drastic scenario. I became overburdened with an overall feeling of helplessness. Maybe it's because I was already studying this biblical story, but without even thinking I found myself saying out loud, "Master, carest thou not that I perish?" When I heard the words leave my lips, it quickly drew my thoughts to the rest of the story. The Lord rebuked the storm. There was a great calm. I felt my thoughts calm down. I felt my fear be replaced by faith. The next scripture that entered my thoughts was, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths" and, "I can do all things through Christ". I snapped out of my "what if" scenarios, and calmly felt a reassurance that the Lord is aware of Caleb and our family. I don't think it was a coincidence. I believe that in our trials we must remember the promises of the Lord. When we yolk ourselves to Him through our living a covenant life, we draw upon His power to overcome. Storms aren't to be feared, for it is in the storms that we meet God.
I went hiking a little bit ago. I hiked a trail in the Superstition Mountains that is called Flat Iron by some, and Siphon Draw by others. It's a steep and treacherous hike, but the summit is a very large mesa, the sides of the mesa are very tall cliffs. It makes for a great view and it's worth the climb. My cell coverage was spotty and so throughout the entire hike, I had not been receiving texts or calls. Once I reached the summit, however, my phone began to "blow up" with missed texts. Because I had left my younger children with a sitter, I wondered whether or not the texts concerned them and I allowed myself to become completely distracted. Unknowingly, I had continued to walk while checking my text messages and as if the spirit said, "look up dummy!" I quickly looked up and shockingly realized that my distracted steps had walked me dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. I was surprised at the stupidity of the situation. I imaged the headlines that would have surely made national news, "stupid girl walks off cliff's edge, glued to phone". How had I allowed myself to become so distracted that I had put myself in near peril?
I thought about how Satan is the great distractor. How often do we allow ourselves to be distracted from those things that matter most. How often do we heed those luring voices of the world that lead us away from our course that leads to eternal life in the presence of God the Eternal Father? Slowly, step after step, if we do not look up, those distractions walk us into dangerous territory, where our eternal vision is clouded and we lose sight of our eternal potential, for we have grown numb to our eternal self-worth. All that matters becomes the here and now.
When Peter focused on the Savior, he found that he could do the impossible. He could walk on water! He was undeterred from the storm that waged on around him. But, eventually Peter became distracted from the storm-tossed sea and lost sight of that focus. Consequently, his faith diminished, he was overcome with fear, and as he began to sink, he cried out to his Savior, "Lord, save me!" The Savior then reaches down and lifts Peter from the water. Likewise, as we focus on those things that lead us to Jesus Christ, we yolk ourselves to His infinite power to save. We remember that our self -worth has eternal value, that we are literally the offspring of God. And, because we are His children, we have the potential to gain all that the Father hath--through the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His ability to save. We remember our purpose and why we were sent to this fallen world in the first place--to learn and grow, to repent and have joy, to walk a covenant path that leads us back home where we can gain our eternal inheritance.
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In the care recently, Hannah was reminiscing about last year when she gave a boy a valentine of chocolates and asked if he'd be her valentine. He said no and then ate the chocolates anyway. Hannah proceeded to tell her siblings, "I mean, that was so rude! He ate the chocolates anyway! Doesn't he know that he is supposed to give them back to me so that I can eat them and cry while I eat them?! That is how love works! But, no! He ate them anyway and I didn't even get to cry about it!"
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The other day the four younger kids talked me into taking them to the store to buy something with their allowance money/savings. I asked each kid ahead of time how much money they each had, they brought their wallets and then we proceeded to go shopping. At the store, I helped them understand how much everything costs and we narrowed it down to items that were within each of their respective budgets. I bought the items on my credit card and then it was time for them to pay up. Each child gave me what was due and then I held my hand out to Caleb. His item cost $10. He reached into his wallet and proudly handed me a $10 off Dicks Sporting Goods coupon that he took from junk mail several weeks earlier. Besides the fact that it was a coupon, it was an expired coupon at that! HAHAHA! I laughed and then had to explain to him how he had robbed me.
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Hannah has a a crush on Joshua's good friend, Kade Rollins. She gives him googly eyes every time she sees him at church while he passes the sacrament or stands by the doors (he is 14 years old). He thinks it's funny so he plays along each week and calls her his girlfriend. She always laughs and tells him that she isn't allowed to have a boyfriend. The other day in all seriousness she says to me, "I tell him that I am not allowed to have a boyfriend but what if he doesn't believe me?" I told her that I thought Kade was just playing along and that he understood. To which she replied, "No! Mommy! He isn't joking! He loves me and I love him and there's nothing anybody can do about it!"
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I guess this next one isn't funny, it's just endearing and I don't want to forget. Luke and Mercedes often read their scriptures to Hannah and Caleb. Often times Mercedes will text me the scripture that they studied and ask me questions so that she can clarify it to Hannah. Often times I walk in on Luke reading to Caleb. I also found out that Joshua has read the entire Book of Mormon and is on his second reading. Moments like these are joyous for parents. Joshua also took fifth in State for wrestling last night. Luke went to the temple for the first time and has been twice now and is scheduled to go again. He is proactive and prints his own family names and is eager to schedule more appointments. We went as a family and Joshua got to baptize his younger siblings.
