A coincidence?

I usually go to the temple on Wednesday mornings with a group of friends. We have been attending weekly for about 2 1/2 years. It has been a real blessing in my life.

This week I went on Friday morning by myself, as we attended the funeral of another friend's mother on Wednesday morning and couldn't find another time to go together. While changing into my white clothes the thought occurred to me to take my reading glasses so I could read both the info about the person whose name I was "doing" and the Book of Mormon before going into the endowment room. I have never taken my glasses with me before.

While sitting in the waiting room I picked up the scriptures. I decided to look up scriptures to support my upcoming Primary lesson on talents. I went to the B of M index and found only 1 scripture reference- Ether 12:35. In that scripture it states that if we don't have charity our talents will be taken from us. I had never thought about the need to share our talents in that way before. I decided to go to the beginning and read the whole chapter. Wow! It is a beautiful chapter on 3 important principles of the gospel...Faith, Hope,and Charity. What started out as looking for ways to support a lesson on talents turned in a whole different direction. As I read and pondered this chapter, I was impressed with a renewed thought. That Faith precedes the miracle. That hope and faith go hand in hand, and I should strive each day to live with both.

Throughout the following temple endowment session, I was filled with renewed hope. I had put my dear JJ's name on the prayer roll as I arrived at the temple, and he was on my mind throughout the session. I kept pondering the verses I had read only minutes before, and had very strong impressions about faith and hope. As time for the prayer circle approached, I felt the urgent need to join, knowing that I would probably cry through the whole prayer, but I needed to be a part of that prayer. After the session, as I prayed in the celestial room, I was filled with gratitude and love for my family, for Jonathan in particular, and for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us and our wants and needs. Mique's last blog post about celebrating the small miracles was everpresent! I was (and am) filled with a new hope and faith for the future, especially for our special boy.

Then I watched General Conference thes morning. Elder Uchdorf's (SP) talk was on the very same topic! Same scripture! Coincidence? I think not! A tender mercy? You bet! My heart is filled with...Hope, Faith, and especially Gratitude!!!