SACRED TUTORING ALL ALONG THE WAY!

OK...So thankfully Since about last thursday, Ronald's "touch and go" health has been way more GO than

TOUCH and although Ronald would just LOVE to be 100% up and running back at top performance and speed, the Lord is allowing all of us to practice and internalize the virtue of patience as this next phase of wellness is a lot of watching and waiting for organs to continue to refresh, wait for his belirubin to go down more, for his platelets and hematocrit to level back out and intermittent physical therapy session to  strengthening and build new muscles tissue that atrophied during his several days in coma state... as well as continue hourly to be grateful and prayful for such mercy that has been shown toward our warrior husband and father as well as our imperfect family! SO.... during this particular phase of decreased activity and anxiousness (of which we are so deeply grateful for) I figured, instead of leaving too many days un-posted on our blog, I would every few days or so write about some of the intense and eternal lessons we have learned and continue to learn during this particular season of our mortality as we feel truly blessed to have been allowed such personal and sacred tutoring during this time. We hope that in doing so , maybe even one person may receive a bit of desired eternal tutoring from these such entries. 

LESSON  LEARNED:  -Petitioning the Lord with all that is in our hearts, even to the point of wearying the Lord with our prayers.... and then truly committing to trust the Lord with WHATEVER he knows to be the exactly right action(s) to take and create for us in regards to those tender petitions!

Just this morning Ronald and I read a general conference talk, given by Sister Jean A. Stevens of the general primary presidency, entitled "Fear not, I am with thee"! Through out this talk I realized she put words to many

of my tender and deep rooted feelings in regards to this subject as this particular lesson was taught like constant dew distilling upon my heart and testimony these past several weeks and months, so the following is somewhat of a collaboration of Sister Stevens words and my testimony of the reality of those words in my recent life especially:

We can trust that the Lord will help us, important to realize that the Lord WILL help us but not necessarily in the way we want, but in the way that will best help us to grow. Submitting our will to His may be difficult, but it is essential to becoming like Him and finding the peace He offers us. I can understand more fully C. S. Lewis'  feelings regarding approaching the Lord, when he said  “I pray because I can’t help myself. … I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

We have truly felt as many examples ,through out the scriptures , of those who have pleaded with the Lord and then put their trust in Him and have been helped and delivered by Him. Such examples are  David, who escaped certain death at the hand of the mighty Goliath by relying on the Lord.  Nephis pleadings to God in faith brought deliverance from his brothers who wanted to take his life. Young Joseph Smith, who prayerfully sought the Lord’s help. He was delivered from the power of darkness and received a miraculous answer. Each faced real and difficult challenges. Each acted in faith and put his trust in the Lord. Each received His help. And still in our day, God’s power and love are manifest in the lives of His children. WE ARE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN GOD'S POWER AND PURE LOVE  HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE MANIFEST IN OUR LIVES! During the past weeks and even several months  I have felt so much like a woman mentioned in the pre-mentioned general conference talk...I feel we have been carried. I have learned that you can feel peace and even excitement in the midst of turmoil. We KNOW the Lord was and is watching over us. We have learned for ourselves once again that If we trust in the Lord, truly you we can overcome any of life’s challenges. To simplify maybe, and keep clear...I would never have asked for this/these trial(s), but I would never give it away. We have been surrounded, even engulfed with God’s love and his intimate tutoring and in some unexplainable and even more miraculous way, that has made it all worth it!

We surely know we don't always receive the outcome that we hope for- Ronald's life being spared, at least at this time, and his continued progress and amazing improvement certainly was what we prayed and hoped for, while being separated for a time from our sweet Rylan so unexpectedly and painfully certainly was not what we had or would have ever prayed and hoped for BUT in both incidences  we have learned that  our crisis does  not need to be a crisis of faith.  We have also learned for ourselves the absolute truth in the quote: "The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a checklist of things to do; rather, it lives within us-The gospel “is not weight; it is wings- It carries us! "We can and have felt peace in the midst of the storms. We can and have held fast to each other and to temple covenants we have made and keep! We can and have  grown in our ability to trust in the Lord and truly be strengthened by our faith in Jesus Christ as well as the faith of countless others magnified so stunningly by  the Lord's great and infinite atoning power.

We have also have learned, and pray that we always will remember, the truth that wherever we find ourselves in this life,  whatever our worries and challenges may be, we are not alone. We are not forgotten. We can choose to reach for God’s hand in our need. We can face our challenges with prayer and trust in the Lord. And in the process we become more like Him.

The Lord himself lovingly reminds us of his full proof promise.... “Fear … not; … I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; … I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 

What  more do we really need than pure belief in that blessed assurance!

Just want to thank you all AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN.... for all the love and sustaining power you are helping the Lord generate in our behalf!! We love you and we continue to weary the Lord in petitioning him that you and your families wilt not only be blessed for all of the love, faith, sacrifice and compassion that you have so freely given for us but that every blessing, protection, ability and your health will be magnified to the greatest potential that is available for you at this time! We are truly blessed to have you in our lives!!!