In October 2014, I challenged myself to read and respond to each of the talks presented in General Conference. With that decision, LDS Conference Talks was born.
I hope you will join me as I study the inspired messages that our loving Heavenly Father has sent to us.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong: Rescue in Unity
It is amazing what can happen when you follow through on a prompting. For the last nine days I have followed through on the challenge to read the modern day scriptures that were shared during October’s General Conference. Even yesterday, despite its many frustrations, I read and reflected on one of the conference talks.
Today, I was struggling with back pain. I had to cancel a few obligations in the afternoon because I needed to stay home and let my back relax and the heating pad do it's job. When I opened my scripture app and pulled up today’s conference talk, I had no idea what the talk was going to be about.
It was exactly what I needed to hear: an account of the faithful servants who cared for the man palsy.
Now, my back struggles are no where near the circumstances that the man with palsy faced, but I still appreciated the little reminder that Heavenly Father is watching out for me and that He knows what I am going through. If He can help and heal the man with palsy, He can certainly help me deal with some back pain and the frustrations of being stuck at home on a beautiful afternoon.
The account of the man with Palsy appears in Mark 2:1-5. It details the service of four people who cared enough for this man to make sure he would be healed by Christ. In the story, the four are unable to gain access to the home where Christ is staying because of the huge crowds. They literally cannot get through the doors because there are so many people blocking the way. In order to help their friend, these four had to get him onto the roof of the house and then cut a whole in the roof so that they could lower the man with palsy down into the house and into Christ’s presence.
Talk about a wonderful determination to serve.
In his talk, Elder Wong points out that these four would have had to work in Unity. “The rescue assignment needed everyone working together. At the crucial moment it would take careful coordination to lower the man with palsy from the roof. The four people would have to work in unity and in harmony. There could not be any discord among the four. They would have to lower the man with palsy at the same pace. If someone released the rope faster that the other three, the man would fall out of his bed. He could not hold on by himself due to his weakened condition.”
As I consider these words now, I begin to think about how important it is for families to work in unity. Husband and wife, parent and child, they must all work together toward the same purpose. When they do, amazing things can happen.
I am so thankful for the wonderful family that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I love them with all my heart, even if I am not always good at showing that. They love and support me and I want to be better at returning that love and support. I know that my life would not be the same without them.
Thank you for sharing. Back struggles are difficult, I have scoliosis and the pain is dibilitating sometimes. I appreciated your perspective of unity in family. We have a family motto and marriage motto that helps but I was also thinking about those ropes and how all members have to observe eachother, listen, be patient and sometimes earn new ways of looking at things to remain in harmony. I was actually looking at the ways my husband and I have unity and the places that are not quite in sink. I was thinking about those places needing work and looking at who has the most Christ like approach this talk helped me to see where I can learn from my husband and learn to add to our harmony. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing. Back struggles are difficult, I have scoliosis and the pain is dibilitating sometimes. I appreciated your perspective of unity in family. We have a family motto and marriage motto that helps but I was also thinking about those ropes and how all members have to observe eachother, listen, be patient and sometimes earn new ways of looking at things to remain in harmony. I was actually looking at the ways my husband and I have unity and the places that are not quite in sink. I was thinking about those places needing work and looking at who has the most Christ like approach this talk helped me to see where I can learn from my husband and learn to add to our harmony. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback. I appreciate your comment. I'm glad my post helped you. I'll have to give myself this challenge again in April.
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