Remembering...

It feels like I bounce back & forth to various things I feel passionately about... piano, educating my children, family history.  Lately I've been immersed in emergency preparedness - restocking our food storage, rotating water, actually cooking more w/ all of the wheat and powdered milk I  have stored, updating our 72 hr kits, deciding on the best emergency heat/fuel sources, etc.  All of this emergency prep is even creeping its way into my dreams.  I dreamed I ran out of water and I woke up feeling so thirsty!  Realistically in a fire or sudden emergency, I wouldn't have time to gather all of the journals, pictures, family history, etc., so I want to make a greater effort to store some of it online or at other locations.  Although I love teaching my children to play the piano, to read and to have a love for learning, more than anything I want them to know of my testimony and gain spiritual strength of their own.  So a few years ago I started writing some of my own "Spiritual Remembrances" to pass on to them.  If we ever are in a real emergency... these are the principles I want them to remember.

Fasting & Prayer

            When I was about 13 years old, my dad was diagnosed with a rare disease called polymyositis (many muscle weakness).  His own body had begun to attack his muscles and he was losing strength and muscle mass despite his consistent exercise.  He was very weak and I remember having to help push him up the stairs because his legs were so weak.  He had lost his job and things were financially tight.  He worked several odd jobs and was working a sales commission job that required him to work Saturdays.  He had to meet a certain quota of sales or he would be let go.  I remember my mom gathering us all together in the family room of our West Jordan home while my dad was at work and offering a family prayer on his behalf and encouraging us to fast for him.  Then we all went to our rooms to offer personal prayers.  I went to my bedroom closet, shut the door, read a few scriptures and then offered a heartfelt prayer for my dad.  I remember feeling the overwhelming love of my Father in Heaven and the reassuring peace that everything would be okay.  I felt so close to the Lord at that time.  That day my dad made a huge sale that enabled him to keep that job for a while longer.  Ironically he later lost that job, but the memories of the love that Heavenly Father has for me is still embedded in my mind.