Disturber and Annoyer

I was reading in 1 Nephi 15, and in verse 5 Nephi tells us he is overcome with great afflictions that were great above all.

I began to think about the trials and adversity he had to face. I followed the cross-references and read about Moses and Joseph Smith, both great men who were also beset with great afflictions and I began to wonder why hard things, bad things, happen to good people who are trying to do the Lord's work.

My answer came as I read in Joseph Smith History 1:20 where Joseph Smith says, "I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of [Satan's] kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me?"

It seemed to witness to me that those sincerely involved in the great work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man would not have a life of leisure and pleasure. 

As I took stock of my own life, it was those times where life was comfortable and easy that Satan no longer saw me as a great threat and could back off a little. But those times when life was hard and uncomfortable, where I had to really dig in my heals to not quit, to keep moving forward, those were the times I was more fully committed to the gospel. Those were the times I was completely participating in the game of saving souls.

So if life seems hard know that Satan simply sees you as a disturber and annoyer of his kingdom and is working overtime to thwart you. Stay strong. I, for one, want to one day be able to have a membership along with Nephi, Moses, and Joseph Smith in the Disturber and Annoyer Club.

Our stake had a conference this week and President Child was very candid as he shared a point in his life where there really wasn't much left to live for after having a business deal go terribly wrong. With a small family and little hope in sight, he thought about a life insurance policy his family could cash in on should he step out of the picture.

This was shortly before the October 1999 general conference and an answer came so powerfully to him through the words of Elder Holland that testified of God's love and knowledge of him.

“Don’t give up, boy.
Don’t you quit.
You keep walking.
You keep trying.
There is help and happiness ahead . . .
You keep your chin up.
It will be all right in the end.
Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

And you know what, two weeks later things began to turn around for that man and his little family. My stake president is one of those might ones who holds a membership in the Disturber and Annoyer Club.

Changes

We've had some pretty significant changes in our ward this past month. Bishop Child was made our new stake president a month ago, so I guess I should now refer to him as President Child. And today we got a new bishop. As is always the case everyone likes to speculate on who it might be. No one in our family even suspected that is might be Mark Steinagel, Bishop Steinagel. I think about that now and wonder why we didn't throw his name into the mix. He was in our last ward and became our home teacher when we moved into this Lake Point ward.

When his name was read over the pulpit today I had the same feeling I had when President Child's name was read. The Lord has picked the right men for the callings they have accepted. I know without a doubt that both will do wonderful things.

It's been interesting to witness the whole process in comparison to the Catholic church whose pope has resigned. The Catholic church is without a leader until a group of cardinals get together to vote on a new one. I find it very refreshing that the LDS church is never without a leader, whether it be the president of the church, the stake president, or the bishop. It's been wonderful to witness such a smooth transition.

On a different note. This is how we spend a wintry Saturday when a family party gets canceled due to the snow:
A virtual birthday party. We've only done this a couple of times, but they sure have been fun to still be able to connect with cousins who live distantly.

Tyler's been setting up his home theater and trying to save us a few bucks by doing some things he's learned online how to do. He even got brave and cut into the drywall and patched it himself. So far he has two speakers in place and we're hoping it will all work when everything gets set up.

 March 1st arrived and Kiersten decided to boycott winter. Silly girl, I don't blame her (I made my Primary kids sing Springtime Is Coming last week in hopes of ushering spring in a little sooner). So she pulled an Erik and wore shorts and a t-shirt to school even though it was trying awfully hard to snow that morning. Then she and Nate tackled the sport court and are working on clearing the snow.

And it looks like Alex has gone with the no clothes approach to boycotting winter. He's got some pretty big shoes to fill there. He's also learned that our official names are not Mom and Dad, but Missy and Tyler and boy does he love to refer to us that way.