Jeremy and I have applied to several out of state colleges as we feel it imperative thast we finish his education to attain a better future and become provident providers for our family. I have discussed these decesions with Hope . The decision notification from one university was taking sooo long and it was hard for Hope to not know what would happen. In her perfect child like faith she went to the Lord and asked specifically if we would be moving to the state where this university was. Hope pondered after her prayer and then opened her scriptures. she read verses where four times the word “departed” was used! It talked of a family who” departed the land” and she knew that was her answer! She came out of her room so excited to tell me of her revelation. I felt the spirit as she conveyed the experience and knew too, that it was from God. I leaned on her inspiration and started planning as if we had already been accepted, fully convinced we would be! A few weeks later, after much anticipation and anxiety, the decision was made and we were notified. Jeremy and I opened the email together. I scanned the words to see ” denied”…. we did not get in. I couldn’t believe it! I was so sure we would! and Hope! What about her revelation? All I could think of was how am I going to tell Hope. I felt a little confused and yet, peace filled my heart . I prayed for understanding and later, as I was folding laundry it came. In my mind came the thought of a beautiful woman named sarah from the old testament. I dropped the unfolded shirt and grabbed my scriptures I read about Abraham and Sarah. She had been promised something that didn’t happen for a super duper long time.
Abraham and Sarah had been married about thirty years but had been unable to have children and yet the Lord had told them that through their descendants the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Many more years passed. I wonder if she began to doubt that she would ever be a mother in this life. I wonder if she was ever angry with God or lost faith in the revelation that she would have children. surely she knew it would take a miracle at this point for her to become pregnant! Abraham was about one hundred years old and Sarah ninety when the Lord told Abraham the exciting news: Sarah would soon give birth to a son!
When the baby was born, Sarah rejoiced. After forty years of waiting she finally had a baby! Can you imagine how she felt holding Isaac for the first time?
I think we need to be more patient with out Father in Heaven and trust in his timing. We are so used to instant gratification in todays world that we expect the laws of heaven to change with the times of today. Gods laws do not change, they are the same for me and Hope as they were for Sarah. I love this quote from president Eyring!
“Abraham’s heart seems to have been right long before Sarah conceived Isaac and before they received their promised land. Heaven had other purposes to fulfill first. Those purposes included not only building Abraham and Sarah’s faith but also teaching them eternal truths that they shared with others on their long, circuitous route to the land prepared for them. The Lord’s delays often seem long; some last a lifetime. But they are always calculated to bless. They need never be times of loneliness or sorrow or impatience.”
I believe that Hope was to learn a great life lesson as she had this experience to have her faith tested. she never doubted that she did in fact receive an answer. I wondered if this would be a stumbling block for her, a crushing blow to the foundation of faith she has worked so diligently to build. well, I think it is because of that foundation that her faith was not shaken. The Lord loves Hope and she knows it. She isn’t going to let one little thing that didn’t happen the way she thought it would erase all the other times she was answered immediately. Sometimes we must wait. It seems silly to just throw our hands up and curse God when one thing doesn’t go our way, or as we had hoped it would.
Maybe Sarah knew something its taken me almost 40 years to figure out. Maybe she knew something about Gods love, and covenants, and the plan of salvation that I don’t yet comprehend. Maybe all those years in a tent relying on her faith carried her through the dessert. Everyone’s journey whether in 400 B.C. or 2015, whether living in a wilderness., or, in affluence and ease bombarded with technology, is the same. We are to prove by our obedience what we are made of. We are to prove to God if we want all that He has. Or, that we are willing to settle for something much, much less.
So…. tip number one for receiving revelation: be patient with the Lord and trust in his timing, no matter what. And remember in the process who we are really praying to. He is God, all powerful, all wise and all knowing. We can trust Him.
