Thoughts on Family Fast

We first off have to say THANK YOU to our immediate and extended family! This past weekend we asked them to have a family fast for us but more for birth families. It was hard for us to ask others to fast but we truely do appreciate everyones unselfishness.
A family member that was fasting sent us an email. I will not name who it is just in case they are not comfortable but we really appreciate their kindness. This person put together a real good lengthy email which hit me real deep. The part that really helped is they said that they were prompted to send a conference talk with the email. Man, the spirit can really hit you hard when he wants. The talk was "Waiting Upon The Lord: Thy Will Be Done" by Robert D Hales from the October 2011 conference!
In the talk he talks about how the lord went through many trials but it is how he went through the trials and his actions that I need to learn from. The Lords preparation began in the premortal life where he said to his father, "Thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever." I need to realize that I need to allow the plan to work its course. It is sometimes hard to understand why it is that when we are trying to do all of the right things from going to church, fulfilling our callings, fasting, praying, ect. we are still given trials and tribulations! Someone's testimony in church this past week really hit me when they were talking about how thankful he we was for the medical trials he was given because without trials we would not know the difference between the good times and the bad. From the talk I learned that I need to wait upon the Lord as he knows the eternal timetable. It says that in the scriptures the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. to hope and trust requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long suffering, keeping the commandments and enduring to the end. It sounds to simple but it is certainly hard to keep that eternal perspective sometimes. It says that we may not know when or how the Lord's answers will be given but in His time and His way. Brother Hales testifies that the answers certainly will come, his blessings are eternal not temporary. During this time of waiting/searching for a child we need to learn to become the best we can be with being tolerent, merciful and forgiving as Bro. Hales puts it. We also need to love each other as our savior loves each of us. With having a strong relationship with each other it will help in future parenting and show our child how we should be. We also need to take the opportunity to serve others. This not only will take our mind off of matters but it will help us learn to love others as well because through service is how we learn to love the ones we serve. In closing Bro Hales says "May we wait upon Him by pressing forward in faith, that we may say in our prayers, "Thy will be done" and return to Him with honor. I am so very greatful for the way that I was brought up in my family to know of the truthfulness of the gospel. I know that through him all things all possible and I can wait with assurance that everything will be ok in the end because everything happens for a reason. I have always been taught that there is not a trial that will be placed in front of us that we cannot handle. It will certainly take consistant work to overcome some of these but if we trust and have faith we can conquer these trials whatever they be! I would like to thank everyone for reading our blog as it helps us through our adoption process. (sorry if none of that made sense as well because I am certainly not a writer!)