Mission
Letter 10/21
My dear
missionaries,
I want to
express my love and gratitude to each of you for your goodness and the desires
you have to become fully engaged in the work of salvation – the salvation of
Heavenly Father’s children.
In the
Doctrine and Covenants, Section 112 verse 10, the Lord makes this promise to
those who humble themselves before Him:
“Be thou
humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer
to thy prayers.”
Can you
imagine your hand in that of the Savior?
I can’t think of any greater joy that could come to each of us that
would compare to our hand in the hand of the Savior. Yet, it is true and He does not make a
promise that He will not fulfill if we keep our part. He asks that we humble ourselves before Him. To give our will to Him so that He can then
stretch His hand and lead me and give answers to my prayers.
Also in
D&C 59:20 the Lord teaches us how we often offend Him:
“And in
nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindles, save those
who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.”
We are to
recognize God and His hand in all things otherwise we are an ungrateful servant
and He will be offended by the things we fail to do. Note also that not only are we to confess His
hand in all things but also we need to obey His commandments.
I have always
found such great peace and comfort in the Kenneth Cope song entitled “His
Hands”. It very sweetly and lovingly
reminds me of what I could do with my hands – especially when my hand is in the
hand of the Savior.
His Hands,
by Kenneth Cope
His hands
tools of
creation
stronger
than nations
power
without end
and yet
through them we find our truest friend
His hands
sermons of
kindness
healing
men's blindness
halting
years of pain
children
waiting to be held again
His hands
would serve his whole life though
showing man
what hands might do
giving,
ever giving, endlessly
each day
was filled with selflessness
and I'll
not rest until I make up my hands what they could be
'til these
hands become like those from Galilee
His hands
lifting a
leper
warming a beggar
calling
back the dead
breaking
bread, five thousand fed
His hands
hushing
contention
pointing to
heaven
ever free
of sin
then
bidding man to follow him
His hands
would serve his whole life though
showing man
what hands might do
giving,
ever giving, endlessly
each day
was filled with selflessness
and I'll
not rest until I make up my hands what they could be
'til these
hands become like those from Galilee
His hands
clasped in
agony
as He lay
pleading, bleeding in the garden
while just
moments away
other hands
betray Him
out of
greed, shameful greed
and then
His hands
are
trembling
straining
to carry the beam that they'd be nailed to
as He
stumbles through the streets
heading
towards the hill on which He’d die
He would
die
they take
His hands, His mighty hands, those gentle hands
and then
they pierce them, they pierce them
He lets
them, because of love
from birth
to death was selflessness
and clearly
now I see him with His hands
calling to
me
and though
I'm not yet as I would be
He has
shown me how I could be
I will make
my hands like those from Galilee
I invite all
of us to make our hands like those of Galilee.
Let us help our Heavenly Father create a beautiful masterpiece as we
invite and guide His children back to Him.
Let us serve all with love and care, let us use our hands to heal, to
lift, to lovingly apply the balm that will help them find peace of soul and
mind.
Let us make
our hands like those from Galilee.
Love,
President
Alba
