Moving foward with faith in Lord
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
From the beginning, the Church has moved forward in faith, said President Gordon B. Hinckley.
"May the Lord bless us with faith in the great cause of which we are a part," he said. "May faith be as a candle to guide us in the night by its light. May it go before us as a cloud in the day."
Speaking Sunday morning at the Church's 176th Semiannual General Conference, President Hinckley opened his remarks setting the record straight after "considerable speculation" concerning his health.
President Hinckley, 96, underwent major surgery last January, followed by further treatment. "My doctors have called the results miraculous," he said. "I know that the favorable results come from your many prayers in my behalf. I am deeply grateful to you.
"The Lord has permitted me to live, I do not know for how long. But whatever the time, I shall continue to give my best to the task at hand. It is not an easy thing to preside over this large, complex Church. Nothing escapes the attention of the First Presidency. No major decision, no expenditure of funds is made without their approval. The responsibility and stress are great.
"But we shall carry on as long as the Lord wishes."
President Hinckley said he feels well and that his health is reasonably good. "But when it is time for a successor the transition will be smooth and according to the will of Him whose Church this is. And so, we go forward in faith — and faith is the theme I wish to discuss this morning."
Speaking of Joseph Smith, President Hinckley said he was grateful for the faith that took him into the grove to pray. "I am grateful for the faith to translate and publish the Book of Mormon. I am grateful that he went to the Lord in prayer that was answered with the bestowal of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. I am grateful that in faith he organized the Church and set it on its course. I thank him for the gift of his life as a testimony to the truth of this work."
Faith was also the moving power behind Brigham Young, said President Hinckley.
"I often reflect on the tremendous faith he exercised in bringing a very large number of people to settle this Salt Lake Valley. He knew very little of the area. He had never seen it, except in vision.... And yet when he looked upon it he said without hesitation, 'This is the right place, move on."'
And so it has been with each of the presidents of the Church, continued President Hinckley.
"In the face of terrible opposition, they have moved forward with faith. Whether it was crickets destroying their crops. Whether it was drought or late frost. Whether it was persecution by the federal government. Or, more recently, whether it was an urgent need to extend humanitarian aid to victims of the tsunami, or earthquakes, or floods in divers places, it has all been the same. Welfare shelves have been emptied. Cash by the millions has been dispatched to those in need, regardless of Church membership — all in faith."
President Hinckley noted that this is an important anniversary year in Church history — the 150th anniversary of the coming of the Willie and Martin handcart companies and the Hunt and Hodgett wagon companies to the Salt Lake Valley.
"All of you are familiar with the story," he said. "Suffice it to say that those who set out on the long journey from the British Isles to the valley of the Great Salt Lake began their travel in faith. They had little or no knowledge of what they were getting into. But they moved forward."
President Hinckley said the pioneers began their journey with great expectation, but that expectation gradually failed them as they moved west. Ultimately they faced raging storms and found some of their number literally starved to death.
When Brigham Young received news of their situation, he immediately stood before the membership of the Church, during October General Conference, and asked them to take teams, food and warm clothing and rescue the pioneers.
"Immediately horses and mules and strong wagons were offered. Flour in abundance was forthcoming. Warm clothing and bedding were quickly assembled. Within a day or two the loaded wagons were moving eastward through the heavy snow.
"When the rescuers reached the beleaguered saints they were like angles from heaven. People wept tears of gratitude.... Some 200 died, but a thousand were saved."
Among those who were in dire circumstances on the plains was the great-grandmother of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, President Hinckley's late wife. President Hinckley said today Sister Hinckley's grave site in the Salt Lake City Cemetery looks down on the grave site of her great-grandmother, Mary Penfold Goble, one of those pioneers.
"What a story it is," President Hinckley said. "Hopefully, it will be told again and again to remind future generations of the suffering and the faith of those who came before. Their faith is our inheritance. Their faith is a reminder to us of the price they paid for the comforts we enjoy."
President Hinckley said faith is not only demonstrated in big heroic events, such as the coming of the handcart pioneers, but also in small, yet significant events.
He spoke of another of Sister Hinckley's ancestors, her grandmother, Martha Paxman. Widowed while pregnant with her second child, Martha was housecleaning when she lost her gold wedding band — her only physical remembrance of her late husband. Martha went to her knees and asked the Lord to help her find the ring. When she opened her eyes, she looked down and there the ring was.
Sister Hinckley wore that very ring for many years. Holding it in his hand, President Hinckley said the ring is now old and scarred and bent. "But it represents faith, the faith of a widow who pleaded with the Lord in her extremity. Such faith is the wellspring of activity. It is the root of hope and trust. It is this simple faith that all of us so much need.
"In the on-working of this great cause, increased faith is what we most need. Without it the work would stagnate. With it, no one can stop its progress."
