When President Russell M. Nelson tells us we’re running out of time, I perk up when I run across talks like this one, given by Ardeth G. Kapp, in October 1990. How can we build up our spirituality when life tends to tear us down?
Sister Kapp was the Young Woman General President at the time this talk was given. Speaking to young women (all women), she reviewed two stories that most of us are familiar with. Mary Goble Pay was traveling with her family, across the plains, when they got caught in an early winter storm. Her mother died and they carried her the rest of the way to the valley in their wagon. And Mary, and her siblings, had many of their toes amputated because of frostbite. Mary recorded in her journal the harrowing experience, ending with her mother’s words:
“I want to go to Zion while my children are small, so they can be raised in the Gospel of Christ. For I know this is the true Church.”
Mary recalled these words all her life, which kept her faithful to the end.
The second story is about the crickets that wiped out the first harvest in the Salt Lake Valley. Men, women, and children prayed, and the Lord sent sea gulls who came to devour the crickets, saving the crops. Once, again, this is a story of building faith in difficult times.
What is devouring our testimonies today? Is frostbite making our hearts bitter against the church? Many friends and family are falling away from the church because they are allowing their spirituality to be destroyed by the Destroyer. Yes, you read that right. We can choose whether to be destroyed or not. By the same token, our faith can get us through the most devastating of circumstances. Sis. Kapp says,
“The battle between good and evil is very real. We determine by the choices we make each day where we stand, what our values are, and whom we have chosen to follow. … The Lord sent sea gulls to help those early Saints. Sea gulls are not the answer for us today. But spirituality is. … Spirituality allows us to have the Spirit of the Lord with us, and when we do, we will never be deceived.”
Back in 1990, Sis. Kapp called upon the Young Women to increase their spirituality by living righteously. Today, Pres. Nelson implores us to seek after personal revelation, and to live by faith, and to separate ourselves from the world, because soon it will be too late.