Moving Forward In Faith
Craig and I have been asked to speak
in Sacrament this Sunday February 12th, 2017 in our new Bear Lake-
Garden City 1st Ward. We have
only been here two months as full time residents, Craig was called our 2nd
week here as the Gospel Doctrine adult teacher and a week later I was called to
serve as a Primary teacher for the 10-11 yr olds. We are both enjoying our teaching
callings. Now it is our turn to speak in
Sacrament.
Brothers
and Sisters I’m thankful for this opportunity to speak today. I want to say how welcome we feel being
greeted by your friendship and looking forward to getting to know the members
in this ward. Craig & I moved in our
summer home the 1st of December, as full time residents. We sold our home of Draper Utah and living
in the area for 36 yrs. We have 5
beautiful daughters and are proud grandparents of 19 grandchildren. We love coming to Bear Lake over the years,
creating many memories with our family.
Craig’s family has a long history of coming to Bear Lake in the summer
months. His Grandmother and two Uncle’s
bought lake front property in 1950 the
family has now gathered here for nearly 70 years, we are going on 5 generations
of coming to this beautiful valley in
the summer. Craig’s Father Merlin Symes received one of
the 1st Coast Guard License for the state of Utah to drive his
Showboat to the different resorts on Bear Lake in the 60’s it was a very fun and exciting time for Craig
growing up at Bear Lake in the Summer months.
He is an excellent water skier.
We when we got married we spent our honeymoon at Bear Lake. Craig said you are a Symes now, Symes Ski
one, I learned my first summer of marriage to water ski on one ski. The tradition has been passed on to all our
children and several of our grandchildren.
I grew up in Texas, raised a Southern
Baptist and converted to the LDS church at the age of 11yrs old. I would like to Share my conversion story and
a few stories about my life with you which ties into our message today of “Moving Forward in Faith.” What is Faith? In the New testament- Hebrew 11 vs 1 says:
Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true. In the Book of Mormon the Prophet Alma taught
in Alma 32: 21 : And now as I said concerning faith.. Faith is not to have a
perfect knowledge of things, therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things
which are not seen, which are true.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel, as we all
learn in memorizing the 4th article of Article of Faith. Faith is more than just a belief, true Faith
moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action. Faith is a principle of Action and Power, by
it one can command the elements of our earth, heal the sick and influence any
number of circumstances in our lives as we exercise our faith. Miracles in our lives do not proceed our
faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, The first Law in Heaven is obedience..
Faith grows by living righteously, by being obedient to the commandments
of God. Although faith is a gift from
God, it must be cultivated, sought after until it grows, from a tiny seed
planted in our hearts to a great tree strong with roots in the gospel teachings
of Jesus Christ. The effects of true
Faith in Jesus Christ include 1- an actual knowledge that the course of life
one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord,
2- A reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to each
of us in this life, and 3- an assurance of personal salvation in the world to
come.
These things involve individual and
personal testimony, guidance, revelation, and spiritual knowledge. Where there is true faith in our lives there
are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that he gives
to his saints. The lack of faith in our
lives leads to despair, which comes because of iniquity, and disobedience to
the commandments of God.
I have reflected about my own life in
preparing this talk to see how my faith has grown over the years by moving
forward in faith, I have truly been blessed!!
In my early years I have fond memories of attending my Baptist Faith. I
loved my first bible at the age of 4, I remember coloring in with a purple
canyon, I wanted to make my bible pretty, I did get a spanking for coloring in
my bible. I loved attending Bible
School, memorizing all the books of the Old and New Testament and many
scriptures. I was baptized at 9 years
old in the Baptist Faith, I remember going to Billy Graham revivals in football
stadiums, Girls camp and walking down the aisle to the preacher in dedicating
my life to the Savior Jesus Christ. My
favorite song singing,- “ I’ll go where you want me to go dear Lord” The light of
Christ had strongly touch my heart. I
remember thinking about the Godhead, as taught to me, God and Jesus being one
in spirit without body parts or passion, this spirit so large as to fill the
universe, yet so small as to fit in my heart, seem very confusing. I had many questions? Often I thought about Where did I come from? How did I get here? And how did the Indian’s come to America? The things I learned in school about the
Indian migration did not satisfy my curiosity.
My mother and I read about this gift of the Holy Ghost in the scriptures
and learned there is a spiritual power in receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8: 12-17 talks about the saints that had been Baptized in Samaria, yet had
not received the gift of the Holy Ghost, until the apostle’s Peter &
John laid their hands on their heads to
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We wanted this gift to be a part of our
lives. We began visiting other
religions in search for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We attend a church that claimed in giving us
the Holy Ghost. A plate was passed in
gathering a certain amount of money donation you come down before the minister
and be blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The minister laid his hands on each individual, blessed them, they would
pass out laying on the floor with a red blanket placed over them. Too my astonishment my mother was blessed and
nothing happened. She was still standing
and had not past out like the others before her. I was so embarrassed as her daughter and
wanted to crawl under the church pew and hide.
She was told she needed to cleanse her soul in order to receive the Holy
Ghost. We left this church feeling
discouraged in our quest of receiving the Holy Ghost. My father at the time was attending the
Baptist Seminary –preparing to be a Baptist minister. Our visits to other religions caused much
contention with my parents. My mother
decided to give up our search and support my Father in his ministry. One morning as she knelt in Prayer to
Heavenly Father pouring her soul out to him as to what she should do? She no more than got off her knees when the
doorbell rang. There stood two Mormon
Missionaries. They said, they had a
message of Jesus Christ to share, she
told them she was not interested, and closed the door, as she closed the door,
she had the scripture go through her mind, “ When ye do it unto the least of
these my brethren, ye do it unto me.”
She found herself running down the sidewalk in her house coat inviting
the missionaries back into our home. We
learned later that the missionaries had prayed that morning to find one seeking
the gospel message and felt guided by the Holy Spirit in walking down our
street to knock on our door, a totally different street than they had planned
for the day. The missionaries taught my
mother and I several lesson’s. My heart
leaped when I learn about the plan of Salvation, explaining why I’m here, I
learned about the Godhead, that God does have a body of flesh and bones yet immortal,
he is not just a spirit, I learned that we can receive the Gift of the Holy
Ghost, thru Baptism and by one holding priesthood authority to bless me with
this Gift of the Holy Ghost.. The
missionaries gave me a Book of Mormon to read.
I felt a strange power in my hands as they presented the book to
me. I read the Book of Mormon at 11yrs
old and knew with all my heart this is a true book of God, I had this burning in my soul as I read the
book. It was like the light was switched
on in my soul and heart as I learned about Nephi and his family coming to
America, this book told about the Ancient American ancestors, questions I had
in school left unanswered. I knew the
Book of Mormon to be the work of God. I
believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God called to restore the church of
Jesus Christ in these latter-days. My
mother and I wanted to be baptized!!
This did cause much contention with my father, each time the
missionaries came, My Father left the house slamming the back door. One day the missionaries caught my Father
home and he was not able to escape. In
conversation they noticed that we had a large pile of top soil in our backyard
that needing spreading in preparation to grow grass. They asked him how many hours it would take
to spread the topsoil. My Father told
them the estimate hours, Elder Harker and Elder Buteruss said they would spread
the topsoil for my father if he would spend the time reading the Book of
Mormon. My Father kept his agreement
with the missionaries and read the Book of Mormon, finding out for himself the
book is a true book of God. Members in
the ward came with the missionaries to spread top soil, we were very touched by
their love and service to our family. My
parents, younger brother and I were
baptized July 12th 1968 in Denton Texas.
I loved my new found religion with all my heart and it has brought such
joy to my life as I have strived to live the gospel principles in faith. I love attending my church meetings and the
many activities fellowshiping with the saints has given me a solid foundation
to grow in my faith. When I was 14 yrs
of age my family moved to Florida. This
was a challenging season in my life moving from a small county town of Texas,
to a turbulent environment. This was a season in our American history of change
in our society, trying to integrate the Black race into the white public
schools. Everyday there were fights
breaking out, a scary time to attend school.
It was the early 70’s with lots of political unrest, the sexual
revolution of women, free love and lots of drugs introduced into our
community. I felt like I had been thrown
in the Lion’s den. There were only 2 LDS
students in my entire school.
I needed protection from the evil
influences of the world. I felt guided
by the Holy Ghost to receive my Patriarchal Blessing. My blessing was given by Patriarch Joseph
Charles Rich, who I later found out is a great- grandson to Charles C Rich- who
was called by Brigham Young to establish a settlement in the Bear Lake Valley.
In my Blessing I was counseled to choose
friends with high ideals that love and serve the Lord. This was challenging in my youth at times I
had to walk alone with very few friends.
I was blessed with the gift of Faith, and a deep love of the gospel,
with a desire to serve my Heavenly Father.
I was promised the Lord will hear and answer my prayers as I strive to
serve him and keep the commandments. I
was counseled to study the principles of the gospel, read the standard works
and particularly the Book of Mormon. Let
the prophets of the Book of Mormon, their words and their doctrines, become a
part of my knowledge of the church and of the scriptures.. Also be inspired by the words, instructions
and admonition of our Latter-Day Prophets.
I was told I was a member of the Kingdom of God on the earth the Lord is
pleased with my choices and a candidate for the Lord’s riches blessing. I was blessed, I would come in contact with a
worthy young man who could take me to the temple and be sealed in marriage by
the power of the priesthood. I was
promise I would have children, with a healthy body and blessed with a full,
useful, busy, life. By Keeping the
commandments, I will have more joy, happiness, and satisfaction through
activity in the church with my Husband and children than come to me in any
other activity in all this world. None
of the Honors of Men or the Wealth of the world can compare with living in
Harmony with the teaching of our Heavenly Father.
As I grew older to seek out my
ancestors and my name will be blessed in the hereafter for the work I do, being
a savior on mount Zion. I was reminded
that Satan is abroad in the land. He
would lead you astray and will tempt you.
Pray for guidance, my guardian angel will watch over you and protect you
when dangers threaten. Develop a
testimony of the truth of the gospel and live for these blessings.
These are highlights of my blessing
that have been huge stepping stones in my life to follow, by moving forward in
faith. I read my blessing over and over in my youth, my
blessing was a great strength to me and protection from the evil forces, especially
in the critical stage of my teen years.
I attended Seminary at 5 am in the
morning before school to learn and grow in my knowledge of the gospel, reading
my scriptures often, the knowledge I
gained in four years of seminary was a great strength and foundation of my
knowledge of the gospel as I study the scriptures my faith grows.
I was blessed to meet my future
Husband at Seminary. This was a time to
gather as saints in the gospel daily, before we went to our different schools,
to deal with the challenges of world. We
bonded in our fellowship as members of the true church of God on the earth even
though we were few in numbers, we gained great strength.
Craig and I only associated with each
other for 6 months in our ward. My
Family wanted to move to Zion as newly converts, which was coming to Utah. We arrived at Bear Lake and lived in the
Symes cabin for the summer. I have fond
memories of my first summer at Bear Lake in 1972. We found great strength with the fellowship
of the Saints in Utah.
My family was sealed as an eternal
family in the Fall of 1972 in the Ogden Temple.
This was a time in my life that had a profound influence, kneeling at
the sealing alter with my family all dressed
in white and hearing the scared words binding our family as an eternal
family as we strive to live righteously in faith.
Cupid’s arrow hit when I was 14 yrs
old Craig was 16 years of age when we meet in Florida. Our courtship was long distant when my family
moved to Utah his family stayed in Florida and did not return until after his
mission. We wrote letters for long 5
years. It was a time when we waited
weekly for a letter from each other, send a tape recording talking about our
lives and talking on the phone only once or twice a year. I married my dear Husband and sealed in the
Salt Lake Temple after he had served an honorable mission. Our love had been
transform from longing to belonging.
The tears flowed as I knelt at the sealing alter to begin my
marriage. I’m a first generation
ancestor to begin my marriage and sealing in the House of the Lord. What an honor and a great responsibility. From this experience I developed a strong
faith of the importance of attending the temple in my life and to search out my
ancestors, so I could provide the temple ordinances for many that are
waiting.
This has been my life’s work in
searching out my ancestors. We have
joked in our family at times I have spent more time with the dead than the
living. I feel the urgency to provide as
much temple work for my ancestors as I can.
My faith has grown in many miracles, where the path has been opened up
to my eyes to find ancestors waiting for their temple work. My faith has grown leaps and bounds as I have
worked hard in this great cause.
Raising 5 daughters has been a great
source of joy and happiness as we have strive to live the gospel in our home
teaching our children the gospel plan and now watching them teach our
grandchildren. It took much Faith and
prayer on my knees as a mother in Zion to raise
our daughter’s. A task I could only do with the help and
daily guidance of my Heavenly Father. My
favorite quote I read often while raising our children…… Read…… has given me much encouragement and the faith
to keep going when challenges arose…
Serving in the Draper Temple for 5
years as ordinances workers has strength my faith I have learned even more of
the importance of Temple attendance and going as often as we can, to receive
guidance and peace from our Heavenly Father.
Reading and Studying my Scriptures
over the years has been a great source and strength in going forward in my
faith, when I feel discouraged. It has literally been my iron rod to hold on
when dark clouds surrounded me. The gospel
is true!! I pray the things I have
shared about my life journey- of walking in faith- will give you strength in
your personal journey, may we all strengthen each other in our fellowship in
the gospel, serving one another and in building the Kingdom of God on the
earth. Faith is the 1st
principle of the gospel and is the life source of returning to our Heavenly
home as an eternal family. In the name
of Jesus Christ Amen.
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