For Such a Time as This

Today was my day to teach. These are my Notes from my lesson which I adapted from For Such a Time as This; by, Wendy Watson Nelson; a Women's Conference address from 2007.

Table display: several clocks, picture of Esther
Write on the board: For Such a Time as This.
Ask someone to read aloud: Esther 4:14

First things first, will you turn to your neighbor in front of you, beside you, both side perhaps and give each other a pat on the back? (giggles, but they did it) Sisters, each and everyone of you have done something this week that deserves a pat on the back. I know you have.

Read Esther 4:14
How appropriate that we are going to have a lesson on "time" on this November 4th day that we set out clocks back one hour!
So much of our life is measured in time and too many of us are living for tomorrow. Our days, our weeks, next month, next year. But sisters, what about the "Now's?"

Sister Watson-Nelson tells the following story:

A few months prior to my marriage, I had an experience which illustrated,
in a dramatic fashion,
just how vital it is that we are prepared with the
skill and understanding necessary to do what the Lord needs us to do. On the
first weekend of November 2005, I accompanied my dear friend Sheri Dew to
Palmyra, New York, where we participated in a symposium on the Prophet
Joseph
Smith.

Because our obligations lasted into Saturday evening,
and in order
to be home in time to meet our Sunday commitments, we were
booked on two
early-morning Sunday flights from Rochester to Cincinnati and
from Cincinnati to
Salt Lake City. As a result, we pulled into the Rochester
airport at 4:30 a.m.
We were walking towards the terminal, when
suddenly—unexplainably—I tripped and
fell and did what could only be
described as a cartoon face-plant, right into
the cement!

Sheri, who was walking ahead of me, heard my thud, turned around,
and saw
me face down on the pavement, which was quickly turning red from the
blood
pouring from a large gash in my forehead and nose. She helped me to a
sitting
position on the sidewalk and we dug through our bags looking for
something to
slow the bleeding. We couldn't find anything and began to look
for someone to
help us. There were three police cars parked only a few feet
away, but not a
policeman to be found. And it was so early in the
morning that there was
not one other person in sight.

I instantly
knew what had to be done. I said to Sheri, “You’ve got to
pray for me.”
Without
hesitating, she knelt down on the pavement next to me
and began
to plead with the Lord. The only way I can describe that prayer is to
say
that she prayed with power. She petitioned the Lord to stop my fear, to stop
the bleeding, to stop the pain. And she pleaded that she would know what to
do
to take care of me.

My fear stopped instantly! The bleeding slowed
dramatically. And the
pain stopped too.

The Lord honored
Sheri’s prayer of faith. I did, however, still have a hole
in my face,
which
desperately needed medical attention. While I sat on the
curb,
Sheri darted off in search of help,
finally finding, and persuading, an
ornery cabby to call the police. A few minutes later, an officer
arrived,
took one look at me, and called the paramedics. About five minutes later, a
fire
truck, with sirens blaring, and an EMT truck, filled with paramedics
clad in
silver fire suits, arrived.

There must have been
several million dollars worth of equipment
lined up and years of emergency
and medical assistance available to help us. But
with all due respect to
these professionals, on that morning it felt as though
we were dealing with
Dumb and Dumber! They did not have the skill and
understanding to help me.
In fact, they couldn’t quite figure out how to open up
the
bandages. Looking back, I wonder if their clumsiness was a
response to the horrifying sight of my injury.

As they fumbled with
the bandages, the EMT asked if I wanted to be
transported to the emergency
room. Sheri instantly intervened: “No, I’m taking
her home.” With a flimsy
bandage finally applied so that I would not scare the
other passengers, I
walked with Sheri’s help through the airport. Once at our
gate, she found a
store that had basic first aid supplies. My first clue about
the size of the
wound occurred when she applied the Neosporin. Instead of
dabbing it on the
wound, she squeezed it into the hole, much like you would
squeeze icing onto
a cake! Just how big was that hole? I’ll never know, because
she never let
me see the wound.

With the injury finally protected by a bandage that
covered most of my
forehead and nose, I was feeling fine, and I settled back
into my seat on the
plane. There was no fear, no pain, no bleeding. As the
plane took off, I
mentioned that I had an appointment later that week with a
dermatologist and perhaps I should have him take a look at the
injury.

Sheri’s response was careful: “Oh,” she said, “you know,
after all
you’ve been through this morning you’re probably not going to feel
much like
going to church today. When we get to Cincinnati, why don’t we
call ahead and
see if we can find a surgeon, a plastic surgeon, in Salt Lake
who will see you,
today? We might as well take care of this as soon as we
arrive home.”


She said all of this very matter-of-factly. I
still had no idea just how
serious my circumstance was. We did as
Sheri suggested, and upon landing
in Salt Lake City we learned that we were
to go immediately to LDS Hospital,
where a superb plastic surgeon was
waiting.

As he took off my bandage, his expression told the story: “Oh,
yes,” he
said, “it’s a good thing you called me today. It looks as though
you left a
pound of flesh on that New York sidewalk!”
An hour later, I
was in surgery,
where it took countless stitches (the surgeon guessed that
there were well over
300) to put my face back together. However, the surgery
did not take place until
after, at the instigation of Sheri, I received a
priesthood blessing.


After hearing about my accident, a friend,
an experienced nurse, said,
“Sheri was the right person to be with you,
Wendy. I might have held up my
compact mirror and said, ‘Just look at this
hole in your face! Notice how well
exposed the nasal bone is!’ But Sheri was
right to never let you see it.”


There were several
reasons Sheri was the right person to be with
me. In the very moment, at
4:30 a.m. on a dirty airport sidewalk, she had the
spiritual skill and
understanding to know how to petition the Father, with
power, in the name of
the Son, so that the pain would stop, the fear would stop,
and the bleeding
would stop. And then, she knew how to hear the voice of the
Lord and His
directions through the Spirit to get me from the airport sidewalk
to the
surgical suite.


I have often wondered how differently the story
may have unfolded had
Sheri not been with me.
• What if I’d been with
someone who didn’t know how
to draw upon the powers of heaven.
• What if
I’d been with someone who’d
said: “Wendy, I’ll pray, but I’ve been meaning
to repent of some things to
increase my purity”; or “I’ve been meaning to
spend more time in the scriptures
so that I can learn to hear the voice of
the Lord, through the word of the
Lord”; or “I’ve been meaning to spend more
time in the temple so I can better
understand the kind of power with which
I’ve been endowed”; or “I’ve been
meaning to seek more diligently, but I’ve
been so busy with so many other
things—good things, but not things of the
Spirit! So, I’m sorry Wendy. Let’s say
a little prayer and see if we can get
the paramedics here.”


I shudder to think what might have
happened that morning if I
had only been able to trust in the arm of flesh,
especially when so much of mine
was lying on that airport sidewalk! But I
don’t need to shudder. I just need to
be grateful that Sheri was with me.
She was the right person.

How do you and I acquire these spiritual skills? How do we fill our lamps regularly so that when the times comes we have the spiritual reserves to get us through the darkness? We need to give ourselves more credit because day in and day out - we ARE the right person, at the right time, in the right places. But we don't give ourselves enough credit or we think it isn't big enough to be classified as an example. We all realize the world is gaining influence, that darkness and gloom is creeping into our lives through the cracks and unamended holes. We take the world on as women of God each and everyday. You deserve those pats on the back, and we need to see the good we do each day, as just that: Good.

How many of you have stopped to ask during those stretching trials - why is it I am going through this? Sister Watson-Nelson suggests that it is those heart wrenching, discouraging events in our lives, those that we long to be set free from, that actually shape us into who we need to become.

President Hinckley has counseled us as women to not be discouraged. To get on our knees daily and ask what it is we are to do that day, and then get up and do it. We don't have to do everything everyday. The Lord knows what is most important and what is worthy of our time.

Elder Maxwell said: "Unless we are filled with the resolve, what will we say to the heroes and heroines of Martin's Cove and the Sweetwater? That we admire you, but we are reluctant to wade through our own rivers of chilling adversity? By divine appointment, these are our days. Moreover though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail!"

Sister what if this is it? Our Martin's Cove or Sweetwater? How many of us are wading through our issues but waiting to prove our faith for the BIG one? What if it isn't a big one, but a series of small ones?

Too often when we feel unsettled it is because we sense ourselves that we are not yet doing what we were sent here to do. That doesn't mean a big change or that something difficult is coming around the corner. Most times the improvement in our lives that we sense is coming and often fear is quite minor and always manageable with our Savior's help.

What difference would it make in our lives if we were to look at every ability and every talent, every challenge and grueling obstacle as being given to us "for such a time as this?" Too often we we speak of the building of the Kingdom of the Lord, we apply it to missionary work. But what if instead we thought of it as strengthening the Kingdom? How do our individual talents in music or speaking change then? Or being able to make an extra meal, or bringing family history to life through pictures or journaling? What about the gift of being a peacemaker, or being able to make others feel welcome? Or the gifts of patience, compassion and understanding? What about being able to receive love and compassion? Too often I see many of you resistant to letting others help you.

If you have been second guessing yourself or allowed yourself to think "The lord would never use me to do anything significant for His Kingdom, lets remember what Russell M. Nelson has said: "The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the imposible."

"If you feel like the most unlikely person to be asked to accomplish something that looks utterly impossible, look out! consider the Prophet Joseph Smith who described himself as 'an obscure boy of no consequence.' or Elizabeth who was far beyond child bearing age yet gave birth to John, the forerunner of the Savior." (Watson-Nelson)

Sisters if there is a sign that I should walk about these halls with, it is that quote. If anyone is the most unlikely person asked to do something that looks utterly impossible - that is what I feel like most days. I am humble for the opportunity to grow and stretch spiritually at your expense. I want you know that I see the greater good that you are. You see the drops in the bucket that you contribute, I see the bucket over flowing with your time, talents, outreach and service to one another.

Much love