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  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. [Complete, but pending.]
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?" [Spring 2020 Semi-Final Examination]
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"
Picture
ChurchofJesusChrist.org
14. The Visit

[The Relief Society daily fulfills its divine charge:  “Charity Never Faileth”.]

I had asked to come early to visit,
For your worries had weighed on my mind,
And a morning’s fresh start, and a listening heart,
Might assist you find hope and unwind.
So outside, while still dark, I considered
Each unhappy lament that you told.
But your angry complaints, born of faith grown so faint,
Brought a spirit quite distant and cold.

I first heard you recite all the problems
That you’ve had with your health as of late.
You’ve a stomach gone sour, and new ills every hour
Make you say that to suffer’s your fate.
But while you were ranking afflictions,
And naming each drug that you buy,
My attention was turned, to a green hummingbird
That playfully hovered close by.

I’ll admit, I was further distracted,
As you listed your dreads for the day,
By your precious grandchild, who came by with a smile,
And a hug-till you chased her away.
Then you spoke of the sadness you’re feeling,
From a life that you say gives no cheer,
But my mind wandered still, as my eyes stopped to thrill,
With the birth of the day drawing near.

For the daybreak before us was brilliant,
Making rainbows of dew on the lawn,
And the sun in its glory, once again told the story,
Of an empty tomb greeting the dawn.
My good friend, I don’t mean to offend you,
I don’t doubt all the sorrow you feel.
But as you grumbled on, the Spirit’s sweet song,
Reassured me that Christ’s love is real.

And I saw that to each life comes challenge.
Mortal worries and pains may cause doubt
That our Savior is near, or that Father will hear,
The prayers that our sore hearts cry out.
But within each dark cloud may be silver,
Even problems can work for the best,
Our dear Savior has known every challenge we’re shown,
And He’ll help us to pass every test.

Could it be, my dear sister, you’re blinded,
To the good things around you each day?
And these trials that offend you,
Could they be proofs God sends you,
He’ll support those who live in His way?
I’ll try harder, next visit, to listen
To your sad songs of woe and of grief,
Yet despite my own pain, I won’t join your refrain,
For I look to the Lord for relief.

Let us take all your fears, for a moment,
Place them gently at Jesus’ bruised feet.
Then go forth this fine day, seeking joy on our way,
Giving hope to each sister we meet.
By our works let us share His compassion.
Let us serve like our Savior above.
That each soul that cries out, will have no cause to doubt,
That we’ll help lift their cares with His love.

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Matthew 6:28-33

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
"And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
"(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”


Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine (2nd ed.), pp. 701-702 

“The saints, for instance, should have confidence in their own abilities, efforts, and judgments to make a living, to increase in faith and the attributes of godliness, to work out their salvation, to pass all the tests of this mortal probation. They should know that the Lord has not placed his children in positions beyond their capacities to cope with, that the normal trials and tribulations of life are part of the eternal system.

Ordinarily members of the Church should make their own personal decisions, using the agency the Almighty has given them, without running to their bishops or others for direction. But with it all, man of himself is not wholly self-sufficient. He is not to trust solely in his own strength, nor in the arm of flesh. The Lord is his Counselor and Deliverer, upon whom he must rely for guidance, direction, and inspiration.”