Good
afternoon
brothers and sisters. I’ll begin by giving a brief introduction my name is
Katie Christensen. I was born in Utah. I met my husband Adam at BYU. We married
in 2007, graduated from college and had our first child, Jonathan, in 2009. We
moved a little under a year later, 6 months after purchasing our first home, to
Seattle for a new job for Adam. We have lived here for 3 years now. During
those three years we have moved homes four times and been in five wards, we
added another member to our family, Gemma. Adam changed positions at said job,
was laid off a few months later, and now works at a game company called Popcap.
Did
you notice a theme in that introduction? I did. Change, and lots of it, accompanied
by times of uncertainty and certainly a few challenges along the way. How can
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ help us in our day to day lives, especially when
facing challenges, uncertainty, and change? I believe the answer to this question
is very valid to all of us. We will all face times of uncertainty, change is a
constant in this life, it is as unavoidable as death, and challenges will surely
come. Our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in our Eternal Father’s goodness and
love will guide us, strengthen us, and focus our efforts in this life.
We
have been given a guide of how to live through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through his example and the example of his servants we can know what a life
dedicated to God and righteousness looks like. We have many examples from the
early saints of faith. In Elder Dube’s talk Look Ahead and Believe he quoted
an account Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin gave of the saints leaving their homes “In 1846, more than
10,000 [people] left the thriving city [of Nauvoo] that had been built on the
banks of the Mississippi River. With faith in prophetic leaders, those early
Church members left their ‘City Beautiful’ and struck off into
the wilderness of the American frontier. They did not know exactly where they
were going, precisely how many miles lay ahead, how long the journey would
take, or what the future held in store for them. But they did know they were
led by the Lord and His servants” (“Faith of Our Fathers,” Ensign, May 1996,
33).
I’m going to paraphrase from the Bible Dictionary. Faith is “to
hope for things which are not seen, but which are true, and must be centered in
Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation…faith comes by righteousness. All true faith must be based upon
correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results. Faith in Jesus
Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is more than belief, since true
faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it
carries an assurance of the fulfillment of things hoped for.” The saints
leaving Nauvoo exemplified faith and trust in God. From the same talk by Elder
Wirthlin “Faith of Our Fathers” He says:
“A major reason this church has grown from its
humble beginnings to its current strength is the faithfulness and devotion of
millions of humble and devoted [members] who have only five loaves and two
small fishes to offer in the service of the Master. They have largely
surrendered their own interests, and in so doing have found ‘the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding.’” 24
With the Lord to strengthen
us, “we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.” 25 He encourages
us to “be not weary in well-doing, for [we] are laying the foundation of a
great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” 26 May we be
faithful in fulfilling the duties of whatever calling we have in the kingdom.
Let us pay heed to the “small things” that make all the difference. Let us be
faithful in keeping the commandments as we have made sacred covenants to do. As
our heritage and our growth clearly show, we are, indeed, “laying the
foundation of a great work.”
I know that the Lord
strengthens those who strive to serve him. He strengthens us through our
challenges and through uncertainty. While I can’t compare my experience to that
of the early saints, or even pretend to be filled with faith, I have witnessed
the Lord teaching me and helping me. When I found out I was pregnant with
Jonathan, I was very anxious. I’m often paranoid and I worried that because I
had not been taking prenatal vitamins, for though the plan was to have children
it wasn’t according to our timeline, that whatever child I would have would
have some kind of disability. I didn’t feel like I would be equipped to
properly care for such a child. I had waves of fear and paranoia for a long
time. Even after the routine 20 week ultrasound should have quelled them. We
lived in my grandparents basement at the time and they would sometimes leave
their backdoor unlocked while they were home. One evening we heard a great
raucous upstairs my grandfather shouting, “young man what are you doing here?”
We then heard loud running steps coming down the stairs. A young man with downs
syndrome came into our apartment and nervously, and quickly walked around,
opening cupboards, entering every room. Adam and I quietly followed him asking
him if he could tell us his name and where he belonged. He didn’t say a word.
Upstairs I could hear my grandfather talking to the police. I went up to the
young man and grabbed his hand and lead him gently back upstairs, I asked him
if his name was Bobby as I had heard of such a young man entering other
neighbor’s homes and going through their fridges. He looked in my eyes and I
knew I was right. My grandfather told the police who then sent his sister to
come get him. That experience and the quiet and calm I had felt while
interacting with Bobby, taught me that the Lord would be there for me no matter
what the outcome of the pregnancy would be. I think the Lord was trying to
teach me to trust in him, and to have faith in His plan and His purposes.
Something I will admit I am still struggling to learn.
If we choose to have faith,
if we choose to believe and act in obedience to God he will give us direction,
and purpose.
Elder
Dube told a story of how he learned to look forward with purpose from his
mother. He said “While I was a boy working
in the fields with my mother, she taught me one of the most important lessons
in life. It was late in the morning, the sun was up, and we had been hoeing for
what I thought to be a very long time. I stopped to look back at what we had
accomplished and said to my mother, “Look at all we have done!” Mother did not
respond. Thinking that she had not heard me, I repeated what I had said a
little louder. She still did not reply. Raising my voice a little higher, I
repeated again. Finally, she turned to me and said, “Edward, never look back.
Look ahead at what we still have to do.” He continues on…
My
dear brothers and sisters, the covenant we made with the Lord when we were
baptized, “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in
all places that [we] may be in” (Mosiah 18:9), is a lifelong
commitment. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf counseled, “Those who have
entered the waters of baptism and received the gift of the Holy Ghost have set their feet on the path of
discipleship and are charged to follow steadily and fully in the footsteps of
our Savior” (“Saints for All Seasons,” Ensign or Liahona, Sept. 2013, 5). The
Lord through His servants calls us to serve in various callings, which we
accept with total commitment. When a release has been extended and a call in a
different assignment has been issued, we joyfully accept it, knowing, as our forebearers
knew, that “in the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve but how”
(J. Reuben Clark Jr., in Conference Report, Apr. 1951, 154).”
This is how faith should
focus our life. We address our challenges, change, and uncertainty by striving
to keep our covenants. By focusing on securing our salvation, and by helping
our brothers and sisters secure theirs.
In Alma 44:4 it says: Now
ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support,
and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are afaithful unto him, and
unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall
be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
In Elder Uchtedorf’s talk “You Can Do It Now!” he said
It is a great source of spiritual power to live lives of
integrity and righteousness and to keep our eyes on where we want to be in the
eternities. Even if we can see this divine destination only with the eye of
faith, it will help us to stay the course.
We have many examples
found in the scriptures of great faith and an eye that stays focused on the
eternities. One that came to mind while preparing this talk was Job. I know we
hear about Job a lot. He faced the greatest challenges man can face the loss of
his children, his wealth, and his health. After the death of his sons he in Job
1: 20-21 it says “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and
fell down upon the ground and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD
hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” He was discarded and reviled
by his friends. Though at times he questioned why he was born, and whether he
had transgressed in front of the Lord, he even prayed to die but he never lost
faith in God and his eternal promises. In Job 13 verse 15 and 16 it says “Though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” In the end Job is
blessed beyond what he lost. I will end with a final quote from Elder Uchtedorf,
he said: My dear brethren (and it isn’t a stretch to add sisters), my dear
friends, there will be times when you think you cannot continue on. Trust the
Savior and His love. With faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power and hope
of the restored gospel, you will be able to walk tall and continue on
One of my
grandfather’s sayings is “life is hard, and then you die.” While this is true,
none of us will escape difficulties, or change, or death, we all can accept the
promises and blessings of a faithful life. I know that God lives, that his son
is our salvation, that truth exists and that we have a prophet on the earth
today. We are blessed with the Holy Ghost, as we live righteously and
faithfully, to comfort us, to quell our fears, to teach us, and help us feel
God’s infinite love for all of his children. I pray that we will strive to apply
faith to our lives so we can say at the end as Paul of the New Testament “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim. 4:7 In
the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
