My visiting teachers came over on Wednesday and were sharing a message about self-reliance and their personal experiences with it. One of my visiting teachers shared a very poignant experience. Her first husband died suddenly not very long into their life together. They had one daughter and no savings because they were young and hadn't expected anything like this to happen. She had a wonderful ward that helped her financially, but also visited and brought her meals. She told me about how grateful she was for the emotional support because she was so spiritually and emotionally drained. One of the best things she has ever done was to go to the bishop of that ward a few months later and pay back every penny that they gave her plus a little more so that they could continue to help others like they helped her.
The whole of our visit was spent talking about how nice it is to be able to take care of ourselves because it allows us to take care of others, especially spiritually. We see it throughout the scriptures where the prophets repented for themselves and their weaknesses and then were able to feed their people the Word of God. As we live up to the spiritual goals we set for ourselves this year, let's hope it leads to the desire to help others reach that same place in their lives.
Wow what a poignant example! Sometimes I wonder what would I do if something happened to Nick and it scares me a little. I don't think I ever want to be without Nick...not just for lack of financial support but emotional, spiritual, and physical too.
ReplyDeleteI loved the spiritual emphasis that was put on self reliance in the message this month. I never really thought of it as a spiritual commandment, which is silly, because all commandments are spiritual. But it was wonderful to see that by being self reliant we are able to serve and help others. I think that is amazing that your visiting teacher was able to do that. Absolutely amazing!
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