Anyway I'll get to my thought for this week. My idea today started because I had an itch. So I had an itch and for some reason that caused me to look at what I was wearing. That reminded me of the school dress code which reminded me of covenants that I've made in the temple. When I think about those covenants, I'm always reminded of how grateful I am that I have the blessings that come from them. Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk entitled "The Power of Covenants"; which I have a link to here. I remember loving this talk. At the time I was a freshly returned missionary from France. In the talk he tells us that keeping our covenants gives us an added measure of strength.
On my mission I heard the opening to song called Sleep on the CD "Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers"; it has a quote by a pioneer woman. She talks about how without the power and influence that the saints felt in the temple that "it would have been like one taking a leap into the darkness". By the end of my mission, I felt the same way about my mission. I knew that there was no way, someone with the fragile testimony that I had should have been able to endure the trials and hardships that I had on my mission.
I also remember another experience from my mission. I remember a day when I wanted to give up and go home. I was in one of my favorite areas with one of my least favorite companions. The day before had been long and I had a few hours of sleep due to circumstances that were out of my control. In about a twelve hour time frame, I had three different people complain to me about things that I couldn't change. Under normal conditions that would not have bothered me but that day, I was stressed, tired, hungry, and generally in a bad mood.
My companion and I were in a train station waiting on our train to go to district meeting; I was talking to my companion trying to plan out our day because we didn't have time the night before. I was the senior companion and I told my companion that I thought it would be a good idea for us to take a nap in afternoon before doing more proselyting. My companion said "What did you just say?"; that was his usual response of disagreement. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I closed my planner and got up with saying a word. I went stamped our train tickets. I contemplated going home for a few minutes because as I selfishly thought "I didn't pay for this." As I was thinking this, I remember almost hearing almost an audible voice say to me "But you promised me that you'd stay here." I hung my head for second. I remembered the covenants that I'd made with the Lord and how I'd promised Him that I'd be where He wanted me to be. I apologized to the Lord. "I'm sticking in this one for you, Lord" I told Him "Just.... help me to endure some of this stuff." That day, my covenants saved me from making a very bad decision.
So my hope is that you will appreciate the covenants that you have made with the Lord. If, like me, you still have some covenants to look forward to making, then keep yourself worthy. I know that the covenants and promises that I have made to the Lord have given me extra strength and comfort in my hard times. So when you're going through hard times, I admonish to stay worthy or become worthy of your covenants with the Lord and I promise you that He will bless you with the added strength and comfort that you need so much. I hope you have a great week!
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