Have You Seen the Hand of the God Reaching Out to Touch You Today?

SCRIPTURE: "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:"

          " Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." --Isaiah 29:12-14

           How can I make sure that I am close to the Lord in my thoughts and actions as well as in my words? The scriptural links here suggest that by reading the Book of Mormon and participating in missionary work (many believe this is the marvelous work and a wonder that God will perform in the last days) I can ensure that my thoughts and actions draw me close to the Lord. 

          I see an example of this in a childhood friend, Drake Mariani, of how a man can focus his life on the "words" of God, the bible, yet be only focused on self-gain. He brags about the "gazillions" of customers who use his Mem-lock system of memorizing the scriptures. But, although memorizing scriptures is truly a great thing, it is not the central core thing of coming to know Christ and understanding the great plan of salvation, then participating in that plan to the end. 

         I must totally immerse myself in the scriptures. I must truly have a burning desire to understand what I read, to have the Holy Ghost testify to me that what I understand is what the prophet understood when he wrote that particular scripture under inspiration.

Then I Begin to Apply the Scriptures to my Own Life and Times

Likening the scriptures unto myself is when I begin understanding what this means in the year I am living in then, doing and living it's precepts in my own life. That is how I can be close to the Lord.

Remember to ask each day: 

"Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch me and my family today?"

          In my Journal on 30 Dec 2009 I wrote: "The Lord has commanded his Priesthood holders to write their works, histories, genealogies and dealings with God since the time of Adam. It is no different for us today. Men holding the Priesthood should do the same. Their wives, their eternal companions, should share in this inspired activity also. A journal should be a positive account of our lives, written for our children and our brethren."

          "We will be judged from our books along with our dead. In this day of CD technology it will be simple to keep a copy of our genealogies and photos in a digital format on CD. Our journal can then become a true Book of Remembrance, one that could be grabbed in a time of emergency (tornado, flood, earthquake) to take with you as you flee your home. It is now possible to scan all the paper certificates and copies of civil records that back up your family history research and include these on a CD. This is a personal revelation to me from a loving heavenly father and represents a totally new and interesting concept for me."

          Just two short years later, in Spring of 2012 the technology has leaped ahead of even these advances. Now, using THE CLOUD technology, all of our digital journals, writings, genealogies, and supporting documents can be place in the CLOUD for others to see and use. Genealogical family trees will be linked together going back generations with all the supporting documents tied right to them. This will be available for anyone to see and learn how accurate decisions were made based upon documented research. And THE CLOUD is FAST; it will be available all over the world and people from every nation can participate in creating an accurate database, an accurate Book of Remembrance. This can go back for generations. It will have every person who ever lived upon the earth and left records of themselves during their lives recorded on it. IF people will enter their family's data there. 

"Behold, The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud." --Isaiah 19:1

          This past Monday, I saw the Lord's hand reaching out and touching in my life. As ward family history consultant, I met with a wonderful young mother who had asked me to teach her what I knew about genealogical research. When we both got together that afternoon after a weird series of events, any one of which might have had one or the other of us calling off the meeting, we both said to each other: "Wow, you know who must have not wanted us to get together, this must be really important in a way neither of us can recognize right now." 

          As we began talking, I realized this young woman, this Daughter of Zion, was my digital superior in every way. We both are journal keepers, but hers are digitized. We are both photo historians, but hers are all organized and scanned into neatly organized file folders on her absolutely beautifully organized computer system. (No one can ever say that about my own files scattered hither, thither, and yon among whatever folder I happened to be using that particular year) We both recognize the importance of names and naming patterns. We both believe we must teach our children about the important concepts of journals and genealogy and temple work, but she actually keeps journals for her three boys until they can read and write; one is age 5 or so and the twins are 1) We both have photos up in our home, but she has a whole wall at the entrance of her home covered with many, many photos (each labeled on the back; I'm lucky to know who are in my photos, most still in boxes and file folders, mostly unscanned, and I am probably the only one who could label them but haven't got around to it). We both have blogs, hers has great photos she takes and uploads beautifully and my digital camera over ten years old has died and I am now cameraless so I must use photos taken last year or scanned from my files.

God Has Seen Us from the Beginning

He saw my young, digitally savvy friend and me, his Daughters of Zion, standing in His vineyard, in our homes, looking out at what was coming and telling us to tell others, to speak often one to another and let them know what their responsibilities are in helping to prepare the world for the Lord's second coming.

"And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, 

as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." --Isaiah 1:8

In Doctrine and Covenants 1 the Lord tells us in our day that He'd seen us and described us and shown us to Isaiah and the prophets, then told Joseph Smith even more about us.

"And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants , neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people; and they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; They seek not to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol..." --D & C 1:14-16

Are we in danger of being cut off because we do not seek to establish His kingdom? Are our computers, ipads, iphones etc. our idols today? Do we give heed to Isaiah and the ancient prophets, as well as Joseph Smith and even the living prophets today? 

"Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.

"And inasmuch as they erred it might be made known;

"And inasmuch as they sought wisdom they might be instructed;

"And inasmuch as they sinned they might be chastened, that they might repent;

"And inasmuch as they were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time.

"And after having received the record of the Nephites, yea, even my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., might have the power to translate through the mercy of God, by the power of God, the Book of Mormon."  --D & C 1:24-29

The Lord says: "For I am no respector of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; and the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth and the devil shall have power over is own dominion."--D & C 1:35

This was written 1 Nov 1831 over 181 years ago and just look. There seems to be nowhere in the earth that is not threatened by wars, civil unrest, rebellions, demonstrations (like the current "occupy" movements around the world); and there is an over riding sense of fear about the December 21st date of the Mayan prediction about the end of their world. People seem to waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. While we wait, natural disasters sweep across our land and people are left reeling and trying to rebuild and recover, only to be slammed with another unexpected disaster.

In D & C 1 the Lord is telling us that it is our responsibility to take the gospel to all the world and we are given power to "seal both on earth and in heaven, the unbelieving and the rebellious; Yea...to seal them up to the day when the wrath of God will be poured out upon the wicked with measure." --D & C 1:8-9 This section has all the familiar language and phrases of Isaiah.

"For He shall make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of their God." --D & C 133:3

I ponder this scripture in a non war setting of "salvation" and realize that it could be our work for our kindred dead. It is now possible for all the world to be involved in genealogical research and digitizing records. It is these ancient records (whether in the United State, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Canada, or China) that will make it possible for ALL people who have ever lived upon the earth to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel that are available only in the Lord's temples.