Signs of the Times

D&C 88:87
"For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig-tree."

This last week the news headlines in Idaho have been:

- Meteor falls from space and hits the ground
- Last night was a full Lunar Eclipse and the moon was red -- we watched the whole thing, pretty amazing!
-This morning we woke up to an EARTHQUAKE, located in Nevada, but felt all the way here in Idaho (very rare in these parts!)

Anyhow, as I went running this morning this scripture came quickly to my mind. I then looked at my life and asked myself if my oil lamp has been filled! I have never lived in fear of the Second Coming -- I anticipate it with great excitement! You just never know when it will happen, so it is best to always be prepared. Be prepared physically (food storage, etc.) if you can, but far more important -- spiritually prepared.

D&C continued . . .

88. And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.

89. For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.

90. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

91. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.

92. And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

93. And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.

"men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people"
I think of that often as I see so many people living in fear and depression. Our answer is Faith. We need to replace our fear (which can really take hold of your heart and drag you down) replace that fear, with great faith. I think many people have bits of faith, but bits of doubt as well. We need to throw out those drag-you-down doubt pieces and have pure faith, whole faith -- nothing doubting. That is the only way to make it in these uncertain times! ;-)

Sometimes, I think the day-to-day really drags people down -- in despair and forgetfulness of our Creator and the great plan they call the Plan of Happiness! Let us rejoice in the Gospel, not despair, or doubt, or feel doomed!! Sometimes a little Earthquake is necessary to "shake" the faith back into the people. ;-)

It has been very interesting watching the news and seeing how scared people are about it, I guess earthquakes are not too common around here. Growing up in Alaska they were so common you just got use to them! I gave the kids a quick lesson of "earthquake safety 101" (duck and cover) right before heading off to school, then off we went. It was all the buzz at the playground. One boy was shouting, " It is an earthquake! We are all going to die!" I tried to block my kids from his silly frenzy.

We spent last night outside in the hammock in our backyard, watching the Lunar Eclipse. The kids were a little scared at first and then I explained it to them and they were not as scared. Daniel asked me, "Mom is this a bad thing?" He wanted me to hold him tightly as we watched. Daniel, who's middle name (Evan) means, "Warrior of God" was not quite warrior-like! Sammi was loving it and thought it was great! It was amazing to watch the moon turn a dark red, a little spooky, but awesome!

Anyhow, I just thought it was all very interesting! The Earth is definitely awake and moving . . .