Instruments

There are beautiful people all around us everyday. Each has the power to touch our lives for good. And while the 'touch' may seem negative, we have the power to take it as a learning experience and make it good.

"Your calling is to bless lives. . . . Just the way you smile or the way you offer to help someone can build their faith," Elder Henry B. Eyring (Ensign, Nov. 2002, 76) said.

Every single person in this life has a calling. You may, or may not be, formally set apart, but you are called to bless lives amidst all the other things that are going on in your life.

What a wonderful thing that you can be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

The Relief Society visiting teaching messages this year are about the different ways we can be instruments in the Lord's hands. There are a few quotes this month that I love:

“If we are in tune with the Spirit, if we are seeking the Lord and His guidance, if our direction is to return to our Father in Heaven, the sweet moments will come. And we will treasure them, for we have become instruments in the hands of God,” Bonnie D. Parkin, Relief Society general president.

“When you are filled with the Spirit of God, … that [Spirit] satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum. When I am filled with that spirit my soul is satisfied. … The Spirit of God will impart instruction to your minds, and you will impart it to each other. … Remember that you are Saints of God; and that you have important works to perform in Zion,” Eliza R. Snow (1804–87), former Relief Society general president.

“Put difficult questions in the back of your minds and go about your lives. Ponder and pray quietly and persistently about them. The answer may not come as a lightning bolt. It may come as a little inspiration here and a little there, ‘line upon line, precept upon precept’ (D&C 98:12). Some answers will come from reading the scriptures, some from hearing speakers. And, occasionally, when it is important, some will come by very direct and powerful inspiration,” President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

It is important to step back and evaluate your life; to see were you are going and if you are truly doing those things that the Lord wants you to do. Or are you doing what you want to do in life?

Most often when you do what you want to do, the Lord is limited in the blessings He can give you. That is called fearing man more than you fear God. But if you put Him first, all other things will fall into place. And if people don't understand, that is their fault.

“Women … who can hear the voice of the Lord, and who respond to those promptings, become invaluable instruments in His hands. … Never doubt that your influence is absolutely vital to preserving the family and to assisting with the growth and spiritual vitality of the Church,” Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.