Sunday morning thoughts . . .

 

(source)

I got up really early this morning so that I could watch church in the UK on my iPad.  I know I probably shouldn't be doing that, but they have their meetings on Zoom and are so clear and easy to hear. The meetings from my church here in Nova Scotia (which I also watch a bit later on) are on YouTube and they are not so clear to hear. I can see all right, but the sound is often garbled. Nevertheless I persevere and I watch.

I also watch Sunday School lesson on Facebook from my old Ward in Chester as well as the ones here in Canada.  I am getting double blasted with the Gospel. Its all good. 

This is Fast & Testimony meeting for our Church worldwide today. The first Sunday of the month always is F & T.  Its one of my favourite church meetings of the  month.  Listening to the testimonies of others always helps to strengthen my own. It has always been that way. 

 

This morning in Chester they had President and Sister Johnson at their meeting. They are the Mission President and his wife serving in the England Manchester Mission at the moment.  I really enjoyed listening to their Testimonies.  Sister Johnson shared an exerpt from this book in hers and co-incidentally it was something over the past month which had also touched my heart in a special way.  I hope you will forgive me for sharing it here, but I feel that I must for some reason, so here it is.

 

 GO WITH FAITH

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." ~1 Nephi 3:7 

Prior to our birth, . . .  I suspect we were terrified, at first, when told we would forget Father, friends, and facts we formerly knew so well. I can believe we were calmed when informed our Father in Heaven would provide prophets and scriptures to guide us and would provide a means whereby we could communicate with Him through prayer and the spirit of revelation. But still we may have been a bit insecure when we learned that faith --faith to believe the intangible -- was the key to success in our journey  . . . 

Each one of us will have to go to unique testing grounds of faith . . .  For the monument of your life to rise from its pedestal of preparation to your appointed site of destiny, you must go where the Lord wants you to go. Wherever it is, go.  Go with the same faith that allowed you to leave your heavenly home in the first place.   ~President Russel M Nelson

 

All this week I have been thinking about this house that I am hoping to get.  Its been very mixed baag of feelings for me.  

 

On the one hand I am truly excited about it. It is the perfect house for me. Not too big, not too small, has a big beautiful kitchen, white and bright.  Exactly what I need to keep doing my work. It has a nice big dining room, perfect for when my family comes.  A fair sized living room, and a really decent bathroom with a shower.  A big master bedroom on the top level, and a beautifully finished basement with a family room, half bath, laundry area, shop and extra bedroom, plus you can walk right out of the basement into the back yard and I think there are fruit bushes of some kind at the end of the garden and a beautiful rockery garden as well. 

On the other hand I am a bit afraid. You know all of the "what ifs." I will be very much dependant on whatever income I can generate aside from my pension to cover the daily expenses of life, insurance, etc.  My pension alone will cover the cost of the mortgage and then a bit.  That part makes me feel a tiny bit afraid.  But then I stop and think  . . . 

Before any of this even happened, Heavenly Father brought me to a place where He knew I would be able to generate an income from my food blog.  Why then?  I have been blogging on The English Kitchen for many years now. I could easily been deriving an income from it for a very long time now.  Why, in the middle of September did I suddenly become inspired to do the things I needed to do in order for that to happen?  And so I did . . .  I did the things I needed to do in order for it to generate an income for me . . .  and it started to do just that, although I would not actually receive any pay from it until December.  It was a long wait, but I knew that once that initial 3 month time period was finished, it would be generating an income for me every month. 

And now, every month I will get an income from that which is more than adequate to cover my needs even without my pension. I have no need to really truly be afraid. If I am smart about it and if I am like the ant from Aesop's fable, "The Grasshopper and the Ant," and I make sure that I always have in reserve enough to take me through lean times, I will be okay. 

 

I just need to have faith and to walk forward in that faith, knowing that a Heavenly Father who has brought me this far, through one of the greatest testing grounds and faith testing experiences of my life, will not drop me now.  If I get this mortgage and am able to move into this house, I can see only good things ahead for me.  And if for some reason I don't get this mortgage, then that's okay as well.  There is a plan for me and it is a plan that allows me to succeed and to flourish. I need not be afraid.  I need only to believe.  My Heavenly Father has always believed in me.  I need to now believe in myself. I CAN do this. 

There is no such thing as co-incidence. I was meant to hear the testimony of Sister Johnson this morning and it has strengthened my own.  And I would like to leave you with my own Testimony which is this.

We have a Heavenly Father who loves and knows each of us by name.  He is aware of our needs, even before we are aware of them. Already . . . .  even before my life blew apart, He was helping me to prepare for the time that it would.  And when it did, He surrounded me with good people, angels at the ready, to help to get me through the really tough bits at the beginning, and I am still surrounded by good people. He knows the beginning from the end. He wants us to succeed.  He cares for us in a way we cannot even begin to comprehend.  All we need is to have faith and to believe and to trust.  If we do those three things, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. We can do hard things and we can do them well.  And when we hit those rough spots, we need to just hang on for dear life and keep going, because with His help we can and will get through them. 

I love my Heavenly Father and I love His son Jesus Christ. They are real to me and they help to give me the strength and the help that I need to get through each and every day of this great testing ground called life. I truly do not know how I could do it without them. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and the difference it has made in both the good times and in the bad.

And I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen 

We are expecting a really bad snow storm later today. Lots of snow and high winds, etc.  We are going to go and visit mom this morning I think, or at least at some point. We were meant to go on the 21st but the weather wasn't great.  So hoping we will get there today. She is always with us, I know that. We miss her terribly and always will.

Oh, I had a really nice dream just before I woke up this morning.  In it I was with my youngest daughter and things were being worked out. It left me feeling really happy when I woke up. I don't know if that will happen or not, but I have a patriarchal blessing that promises me all will be well. So far, so good. 

A thought to carry with you . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.Let your faith

be bigger than your fears.

•。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。 

 

 

In The English Kitchen today, Lemon Curd Cookies.  Delicious shortbread cookies with a lemon curd filled dimple in the centre. Yummo! 

 

Have a beautiful Sunday.  Don't forget! 

 

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And I do too!!