God lives.
Do you want to know how I know that God lives? I know because He answers prayers. He watches us, helps us in ways we don´t always see or notice, and when we need it the very most, He steps in. From my recent and rather dark experiences, I know this for fact.
I remember the story that Joe Watkins taught in Sunday School one week. He was talking about the way silver was refined in the olden days. This was the story:
To refine silver in the ancient times, a specific process was used. The piece of silver is held in the fire for refining. It was held in the center of the fire, in the hottest part of the flames. But the person watching over this little piece of silver has to be very careful. He cannot leave for even a few minutes or take his eyes off this tiny piece of silver. Why is his committed attention so important? If he takes the silver out of the flame too early or too late, it is ruined and cannot be fixed. So how does the watchman know when the silver is ready to be taken out of the flames? When the fire reaches its hottest point, the silver is perfectly refined when the watchman can see himself in the piece of silver.
So it is with our lives, and our Father in Heaven. We are put into the refiner´s fire, tried, and pushed to our limits. We have trials that sometimes seem to never end, and we feel completely and hopelessly engulfed in the flames. But just when the fire is its hottest, just when our trials become unbareable, our watchman the Father sees a little bit of Himself inside of us and steps in not a moment too late to save us from the inferno.
Do you want to know how I know that God lives? I know because He answers prayers. He watches us, helps us in ways we don´t always see or notice, and when we need it the very most, He steps in. From my recent and rather dark experiences, I know this for fact.
I remember the story that Joe Watkins taught in Sunday School one week. He was talking about the way silver was refined in the olden days. This was the story:
To refine silver in the ancient times, a specific process was used. The piece of silver is held in the fire for refining. It was held in the center of the fire, in the hottest part of the flames. But the person watching over this little piece of silver has to be very careful. He cannot leave for even a few minutes or take his eyes off this tiny piece of silver. Why is his committed attention so important? If he takes the silver out of the flame too early or too late, it is ruined and cannot be fixed. So how does the watchman know when the silver is ready to be taken out of the flames? When the fire reaches its hottest point, the silver is perfectly refined when the watchman can see himself in the piece of silver.
So it is with our lives, and our Father in Heaven. We are put into the refiner´s fire, tried, and pushed to our limits. We have trials that sometimes seem to never end, and we feel completely and hopelessly engulfed in the flames. But just when the fire is its hottest, just when our trials become unbareable, our watchman the Father sees a little bit of Himself inside of us and steps in not a moment too late to save us from the inferno.
This is exactly and perfectly what happened with me. I was in the dead center of the fire, the flames were unbareable, and I was at the point of going home - a decision that would have had devastating effects that possibly couldn´t be fixed. I was in the furnace of affliction, feeling totally alone and that I couldn´t take it anymore. And then, in a last act of faith that in my mind was to seal the deal and say that I literally tried everything I could to justify my return home, I turned myself over to the Lord. I prayed with every fiber of my being that I had for some sort of divine help. I had tried every suggestion I knew how without result, and when I turned myself over to the Savior in an act of 100% faith, then and only then the Father saw a little bit of Himself and me, and He stepped in without allowing me to suffer for a single other second. Only after I showed the strength and true faith that I knew I had did Heavenly Father see a little bit of himself in me, and only then did He step in and accomplish what I couldn´t. He allowed me to suffer and be refined - certainly suffering as well watching me suffer so badly - until I learned something and showed my faith. He stepped in and blessed me with such a change of heart that I felt it physically. I had no more sadness, I felt no more suffering. There was no other outside force or stimulation to trigger the change - I had tried everything I knew how and everybody else had tried to help me to no avail whatsoever. But the Savior, He can do anything. And He did it for me.
Mom and Dad, you did not raise a quitter. You raised a strong young man who knows where he is at in life and has the strength to do what is necessary. You´ve set the example for me all your lives, and now you will see yourselves inside of me. You will see how much strength, faith, love, perserverence, and dedication you have shown in your lives because you will see your son show the same. Everything I know, I know because I learned it from you. I´m a Moore boy, dangit, and Moore boys don´t quit. Moore boys step it up when the flames get higher, and we overcome. And then we thrive. I cannot thank you guys enough, along with everybody else who has helped me and been patient with me in my difficult time. I love you with love that knows no bounds. I´m staying here in Paraguay, and I´m not just going to stick it out. I´m going to succeed. As Uncle Matt read to us after my farewell talk that Sunday, I will have the opportunity and blessing to finish my two years and at the end be worthy of the words in 2 Timothy 4:7...¨I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith¨.
I´m keeping the faith.
Love,
Elder Moore
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