5 Minutes left

OK so I was asked to speak in church today and I was told I would have about 12 minutes. I prepped about 14 minutes knowing that most people end a little early. Well...that wasn't the case today. I was the concluding speaker and had 5 minutes to deliver my message on Perseverance. I didn't get to give the entire talk, but I did cram in as much as I could. Here is the talk in case any of you need to have some perseverance in your own lives.

My topic today is Perseverance

Not to be cliché but I want to make sure that we all understand what perseverance is…so I would like to read the definition per dictionary.com:

steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

No one is without difficulties all have exercised perseverance. In the scriptures we find many examples of perseverance.

Noah – most of the people on the earth were wicked. Noah and his 3 sons were righteous and they obeyed the commandments of God. God instructed Noah to tell the people to repent or he would send a flood to the earth. The people did not listen and they tried to kill him. Noah and his sons are then commanded to build the ark and to gather 2 animals of every kind then to go into the ark. It began to rain and rained for 40 days and 40 nights. All of the wicked people died in the flood.

Job – After all that happened to Job, he lost his children, his animals, his health and he still believed in God. He had the faith that God would bless him and he had the perseverance to see his purposes of obeying and keeping the commandments of God to the end no matter what difficulties came to him. After all of the suffering that he endured God knew that Job was righteous and blessed him and his wife with more children and he had more animals that he had previously. But it didn’t come easy, he had to have it all taken away first and persevere with faith through it all to then be blessed.

Faith makes it possible not easy

Abraham – He is told that he will be the father of many nations and yet had no children. When his wife Sarah was 90 God tells Abraham that they would have a son and to name him Isaac. Then Abraham is commanded of God that he is to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham has Isaac on the alter and has his had stretched forth with the knife to slay his son when God calls to him stop.

Jacob/Rachel/Leah – meets Rachel at the well and asks Laban if he can marry Rachel. Laban agrees but first Jacob must work for Laban for seven years. After seven years of work Laban gave him Leah to marry. Laban then let Jacob marry Rachel a week later but he had to work for another seven years. Jacob had to work for 14 years, Rachel’s heartbroken when she finds out what happened and Leah know that her husband doesn’t lover her as much as he loves Rachel.

Nephi – always showed perseverance. He is commanded to kill Laban, breaks his bow, builds a ship, being tied up while crossing the sea or being the younger brother of Laman and Lemual.

Abinadi – teaches the people of Jesus Christ and commands them to repent or they would not be saved. Abinadi is thrown into prison, after 3 days he is brought before King Noah and was told to take back everything that he had said or he would be killed. Abinadi knew that he had spoken the truth and was willing to die rather than take back what God had sent him to say. King Noah then commands his priests to kill Abinadi and so he is burned to death.

Samuel the Lamenite – a prophet went to preach to the wicked Nephites. He gets thrown out of Zarahemla and starts going back to his own land when he is told by the Lord to return to Zarahemla and the Lord would tell him what to say. The Nephites won’t let him back into the city so he climbs the wall to preach to the people. After teaching them of Jesus Christ and the signs of his birth a few repented but most of them began to throw rocks, and shoot arrows at him. But the Lord protected him and none of the rocks or arrows hit him. He jumps down from the wall and runs back to his land. But he fulfilled what the Lord sent him to do.

Joseph Smith – where can I even begin? I would think that an overview of his life would be a good description for perseverance. From when he learned his purpose to bring for the true church on the earth until he was martyred his entire life is perseverance. Having people laugh and ridicule him, being driven from place to place, losing children, being tarred and feathered, being falsely imprisoned, and ultimately being martyred.

Pioneers – again there are so many stories filled with hardships and difficulties and yet they pushed. Giving up all that they had to serve missions, welcome newly converted saints, build up the church, and establish Zion. I have a book “I walked to Zion” filled with stories of those wonderful saints.

Now I want everyone to think about your life and the trial, discouragements, obstacles and difficulties. How many of you could relate to one of these scenarios? Are you like Noah, Job, Abraham, Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Nephi, Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, Joseph Smith or the pioneers? I would venture to say that in some way we can all relate to one of them.

Here are a few situations that I have come up with that one or more of you may be facing in your lives where you might need to have perseverance.

School – no matter what level of schooling you are in you are going to face difficulties and/or obstacles; whether it is in your studies, with your peers, or because of your values/beliefs.

Work – my philosophy is to just make it through one day at a time. I love my job, but there are still days when I think I just should have stayed in bed. I am sure that there are supposed to be days like that so that we can practice patience with those around us and learn how to act in different situations. Even when times are really hard, I know that I need to have a job to ensure that my bills are paid for and that I am taken care of. We aren’t going to always love our jobs, but we will always love our families and need to have a job to take care of them so we persevere to make sure that those that we love the most are taken care of. Even if it isn’t fun.

Some succeed because they are destined others because they are determined.

Missions – does anyone think back on a mission and remember it being easy?? Every time I hear stories about missions it is generally about a really hard time and how the person relating the story managed to push through and learn what they needed to and then looking back they see how much they grew. Not because it was an easy time in their life, and but they chose to persevere because they were called of God to spread the gospel. In the end it is generally one of the happiest times for them.

Family – I would imagine that not every memory of your family life is filled with smiles, and happy times. But one of the most precious principles taught in the church is that of eternal families. How many of us are striving for that blessing in our life? I would guess that we all are! So when times are hard and when there is conflict push on and keep trying.

Health – not all of us are blessed to be in constant health. At times we may feel as though we are like Job. Our goal is to strive to be healthy physically, mentally and emotionally. Unlike Job, not all of these aspects of health are visible to those around us and it is something that we are constantly working towards. With faith and perseverance we will be blessed with the health that Heavenly Father has in mind for us. Whether our sickness helps us to grow closer to others or helps us to grow closer to our Savior in the end it will benefit us, if we just persevere through it.

Day to day – we are all faced with many things that we have to persevere through, whether in the short run or the long run. Every goal that we set Satan is aware of and will put obstacles in our paths. Also I think about this world and our entire existence. We are told many times that we were sent here to be tested by our Father in Heaven. I have never taken an easy test yet. I can’t imagine that he sent us here to be tested knowing that it would be easy for us. In Revelations 3: 20 we read: Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

From reading this you can know that He knew it wasn’t going to be easy and he is waiting for us to call to him.

In Moses 1:39 we read: For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

We know that eternal life is life with God, which means life in the Celestial Kingdom. So what are we doing in our life that is getting us closet to Eternal life? Are we persevering as much as we can in order to reach that goal?

I was asked to speak a couple of weeks ago so I have had this on my mind. There are so many ways to relate this to our lives…I was actually getting rid of some weeds in my back yard yesterday. Aren’t weeds the most classic example of perseverance…they are always there. We will probably always have weeds that we need to kill. Also I have been pretty much a permanent fixture on the couch the last 2 weeks with the Olympics on. I am not much of a TV watcher at all…but I have been so drawn to watching this year. I am sure that almost all of us have seen the replay of when Michael Phelps won his 7th gold medal. I want to relate that to perseverance. His opponent was leading the entire race and thought that he had the race won. In the end he decided that if he just glided in to the wall that he would win. While all along in the lane next to him is an opponent who is determined to win, even though he was almost finished he kept going. He took that one last stoke that kept him going and ultimately lead him to the wall first.

I would submit to you that we all want to be the one who keeps going in our lives. Take that last stroke and keep getting rid of those obstacles (weeds) in your life that are keeping you from achieving your goals.

In closing in the July Ensign I found a poem about the pioneers that I want to read. It is called the Journey by Lisa South

They began
And rejoiced—Buried tiny bodies in shallow graves,
Wept, and began again.
They entered the valleyWith joy—
Beat crickets off their vanishing crops,
Starved, wept, and began again.
They built their homesWith gladness—
Prepared them for burning against an approaching army,
Wept, and began again.
They endured to the end.
They set the example.Fighting our own crickets and armies,
We weep, remember, begin again—
And rejoice.