2.194 A Time of Much Fasting and Prayer

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. I have a confession to make, but first I'm wondering if you've seen Onward. This week we've been reading Doctrine and Covenants section 76 as well as Alma chapters 25 through 28.

And Doctrine and Covenants 76 has had me quite reflective on my parents. And it got me thinking about the movie Onward. Now, I don't know if you've seen Onward.

It's a cartoon, so maybe some of you haven't seen it. But inside of Onward, you have a teenage boy. Actually, I think he's an elf.

But either way, that's not relevant to this part. I think he's a teenage elf, but he's a boy who lost his father at a young age. And in the movie, he has a recording of his dad's voice that he listens to often.

And it got me thinking about a couple of voicemail recordings that I have on my phone from each of my parents. Each one of them was just a short check-in with me, but it's a voice from each of my parents. One of them is when my Mom called, and one when my Dad called.

Those are special to me, and I miss my parents, and there are times where I just want to hear their voice. And so our verse for today actually comes in kind of that reflective piece as I've read through Doctrine and Covenants 76 and thought about the incredible amount of people that will be saved through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. What an amazing experience we get to see through Doctrine and Covenants 76.

Amazing new understanding of how vastly open and successful the Plan of Salvation is and will be. And then we get to this verse here in Alma 28. It's verse 6.

It's talking about those widows and family members that have lost loved ones in the battles. And verse 6 says this: "And now surely this was a sorrowful day, yea, a time of solemnity and a time of much fasting and prayer." Now I mentioned on the front end of the episode here today that I had a confession to make. And here's my confession: I don't think that I used fasting to help me process loss or sorrow.

I know that I have fasted for desires, for family members, for friends. I have fasted for gratitude, as we learn in the scriptures you can do. I have fasted to thank the Lord for specific blessings that we had.

But this one paused for me. It got me kind of in pause for a moment to consider that perhaps I should take some time to fast and pray for the sorrow that I have for the loss of my parents. I've certainly prayed over my sadness.

It was a talk. I'm not going to put the link in it because I'm not going to give a direct quote from it, but it was a talk from President Nelson, at the time it was Elder Nelson, that kind of triggered this for me and made me think about it. He gave a talk in 2009, and there's a section in it that just is talking about enhancing our prayers and the role that fasting can play to enhance our prayers.

My friends, fasting has many different purposes. Fasting and prayer together can be a very powerful thing in our lives. And I think, I think one of the things I want to do is fast for the sorrow and the pains of missing my parents.

I don't know that it's going to make my missing them go away, but I see an example here in the scriptures of something that I haven't utilized. I haven't tried it. Whether you have tried it or not, I don't know.

But I would encourage you to ponder on the idea of fasting and prayer and see what level of enhancement a fast can be to the prayers that you're currently praying for. Whatever it may be. Perhaps some specific desires, perhaps some specific needs in your life.

Maybe fasting with that may just be just enough to enhance the desires and share them with Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the role that my parents play in my life. I'm so grateful for their example and their testimonies.

As I read through 76, I see descriptions of the different types of people and the different places and all of those aspects. And I have specific areas where I just think that was Mom or that was Dad. And I'm grateful for their example to me.

And I think I'm going to, I think I'm going to take Alma up here on Alma 28. I think I'm going to take him up on this and spend some time on the sorrowful days that I have. A time of solemnity, an opportunity to do much fasting and prayer and ask the Lord.

And for just a little bit more resolution with the feelings I have missing my parents. Kind of a solemn one today, but one that will still increase our savor going forward. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave into the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.savorysalt.org.