Just Do One Day by Leslie Welker Wenhardt

My sweetest answer to prayer happened about 11 years ago. It had been a year since Gary, my husband, died in an auto accident. There aren't words to express the heartbreak that goes along with that, but I'm sure anyone losing someone they love can relate. At this point, 11 years ago, my son, Mike, had gone to Guatemala to serve his mission there, and my youngest daughter was soon to graduate and go off to college. I was crumbling inside. I felt broken and could not find relief. My prayers came from a desperation I had never known.

In my need, answers came, slowly at first and with two questions: "Did you know that people that suffer from depression live in the past? And people that suffer from anxiety live in the future?" WHAT? That was what I was suffering from, the back and forth of those two emotions! Then the sweet answers began to flow. Just do one day! I could do one day! Then the beauty of the heavens helped inspire me what to do I.

That one day, first be aware of what I love about myself; second look for something to look forward to today that inspires hope; third what does my Heavenly Father want me to learn? (It's always  something uplifting); fourth, whom can I serve? (which has turned into what I look forward to); then, fifth, what am I grateful for?

These answers have changed my life in ways that would be difficult to write here and would take too long. I will say that the love I feel from my Father and Savior has transformed me! So much so that I have shared these five things with anyone I feel prompted to, and I've seen how they have blessed others’ lives. I start every day with LOVE and end every day with GRATITUDE!  Everything in between is HOPEFUL and UPLIFTING.

I love how kind and personal this answer has been. The only way I can begin to thank my Heavenly Father is to take his advice one day at a time. I can do one day!

What the Touch of His Hand Means to Me by Suzanne Hancock

The Touch of the Master's Hand

'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

      Thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,

      But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,

    "Who'll start the bidding for me?"

"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?

      Two dollars, and who'll make it three?”

I know all too well

the scratches and scrapes on my soul,

the broken strings of my heart,

and the cheap price tag

that displays my worth to the world.

"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

      Going for three…" But no,

From the room, far back, a grey-haired man

      Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then wiping the dust from the old violin,

      And tightening the loosened strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet,

      As a caroling angel sings.

Yet, I have also experienced the love

that comes from those who care enough

to see beyond my imperfections.

I have had Bishops, family members,

friends, and an angel mother

who picked me up and dusted me off

through their promptings, their prayers,

and their faith in me.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

      With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"

      And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

      Two thousand! And who'll make it three?

Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,

    And going and gone," said he.

My music has changed from

the simple tune of “Chopsticks”

to a magnificent symphony

when I have been able to see and to feel

that I have divinity within me.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

    "We do not quite understand.

What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:

    "The touch of the Master's hand.”

Just a touch. A mother’s prayer. A friend’s hug.

A simple smile. A note. A listening ear.

All it takes sometimes is for one person

to listen to a prompting

and then to act ~

to become the hands of the Savior. 

And many a man with life out of tune,

      And battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd

      Much like the old violin.

Do we ever think that someone

is beyond saving?

That they have done too much,

gone too far,

to be rescued?

A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,

    A game — and he travels on.

He is "going" once, and "going" twice,

    He's "going" and almost “gone."

What if those who sparked music

back into my spirit

had given up on me

when I was “almost gone”?

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd

    Never can quite understand

The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought

    By the touch of the Master's hand.

Feeling a burden literally lifted from my shoulders,

feeling redeemed,

feeling like I do matter.

Knowing that many of those drops

in Gethsemane were shed

to help me rediscover the daughter of God I am.

The cross and the empty tomb

are a testament to me

that I have the potential to become

a Stradivarius

because of the Master’s love for me.

Every fiber of my being exclaims Hallelujah!  

Become as a Little Child by Deanne Wahl

I have been thinking a lot lately about the Savior’s invitation to “become as a little child.”  I have six children of my own and am constantly thinking of how they are learning and understanding the gospel.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to be their mom, and need to teach them the principles of the gospel.  It is a task that I am often worried that I am falling short on.  I know this church is true and I know that the principles taught in it bring happiness and peace, but how do I show this to my children?

As I have been wondering this lately, I had a thought that has become a great source of peace to me.  Maybe I need to stop worrying so much about teaching them, and I need to listen and learn from them.  Christ asked us to become like a little child, and I need to follow his teachings.

  

Through my callings as a mother and in the Primary, I am daily amazed at the strength of our children.  They have the ability to believe completely and to feel and recognize the spirit.  I watch as the spirit touches their lives, and they recognize it and believe its promptings.  They do not doubt it once they have felt it.  They love entirely without conditions.  They look for those whom they can serve.  They are excited about baptism and love to tell people about the church.  They do not have a fear of offending when they speak the truth. They have faith that their prayers will be answered.  Their first thought during hard times is to pray and turn to our Father in Heaven.

I want to have the faith, love, and belief that the children do.  I need to try harder to look for the good in others.  I need to not doubt when the spirit speaks to me.  I need to act when I am asked to serve.  I have a strong testimony that the Lord has given me my children so we can help EACH OTHER, and that I need to learn from them as much, if not more, than they need to learn from me.  I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who is patient with me in my shortcomings and who places people in my lives that will help bring me closer to Him.

Mind and Heart by Jay Platt

Great music touches me, so too do places of momentous events—Nauvoo, Gettysburg, Westminster, James Madison’s gravesite and home at Montpelier.  I’m not, however, what one would describe as “touchy, feely.”

We often talk of “feeling” when discussing gospel verities and forget the mind.  Study for missionaries was not emphasized when I served as it is today.  I read Jesus the Christ and the Book of Mormon.  Better said, I read words on pages of the Book of Mormon but did not read it seriously.

At BYU I took a class from Keith Perkins, later Dean of Religious Education.  Upon transferring to ASU, it was a pleasure to see that Brother Perkins had been moved to ASU’s Institute.  Taking an Old Testament class from him, my dormant interest in scriptures was awakened.

Moving on to law school was the beginning of serious reading:  Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon—this time carefully and prayerfully—and the Pearl of Great Price.  Over the next three and a half decades , all were carefully read again and again, adding to them the Doctrine and Covenants together with a corresponding reading of Church History including B.H. Roberts’ Comprehensive History, primary and secondary First Vision accounts, materials on the Apostolic mission to England; the Kirtland and Nauvoo periods; the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and corresponding materials on the three and eight witnesses.

Through it all, I never experienced what one might characterize as a “feeling” moment.  My experience might best be characterized by D&C 8:2, “…I will tell you in your mind and in your heart…[noting the word order];”  D&C 6:14,15, “…thou has inquired of me…and I did enlighten thy mind…thou has been enlightened by the Spirit of truth…;” Alma 32:28, “the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me” and verse 34, “the word hath swelled your souls…that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened and your mind doth begin to expand.”

My reading also took me to the world of apologetics where I read a host of critics’ claims, criticisms and theories, together with rebuttals thereof by very fine LDS apologists including Nibley, Dan Peterson, Terryl Givens, John Hall, Steve Harper, John Welch, FARMS, the Maxwell Institute, The Interpreter, and BYU’s Religious Studies Center.

Blessed with a believing heart, the claims of critics—and I’ve been exposed to virtually all of them—have never fazed me.  While apologetics is an interesting exercise, it too often diverts attention from and obscures the real issues:  did Joseph Smith see the Father and the Son; is the Book of Mormon true and was it translated by the gift and power of God; were priesthood keys, power and authority restored to the earth by means of Joseph Smith; and has Christ’s Church been returned to the earth with living Apostles and Prophets?

For me, the answers to the foregoing are a resounding yes!  My mind has been enlightened and expanded as to the verities of the restoration, a consequence of careful readings and re-readings of all the standard works and the historical events associated with the restoration.