HEY-O! It's still ZO! I gave my farewell today and was asked to put my talk on here so this is a general idea of what I said. I hope you like it more than I liked giving it...(YIKES...jk)
I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to speak to all of you! I am Zoë Hart and have been called to serve in the Florida Orlando Mission, so where Disneyworld and Hogwarts and all that good stuff is. And I report to the MTC June 5th.
Today I will be speaking on the talk given by Dean M. Davies, the 2nd counselor of the presiding bishopric, in this last month's General Conference, called "A Sure Foundation."
Before I really got into my talk and began reading this talk I decided to do a little bit of homework and look up what a foundation really was. So I turned to the Merriam Webster Dictionary and found that a foundation is: "A body or ground upon which something is built up or overlaid."
Now I'm no construction guru or architect, but I do know that the foundation is pretty important when it comes to building. Last summer I had the opportunity to build homes down in Mexico with some friends. I remember pulling up to the construction site and and seeing these solid concrete foundations that had been previously set and laid so we could build up the walls and roof of the homes. If we would not have had those solid foundations we would have had to build the walls up from the dirt and sand which would have created an unsafe home and the walls would not have been sturdy. Once we finished the homes I was grateful that they had a solid foundation so that they were safe to live in. This really helped me realize the importance of having a solid foundation, first hand.
In Davies talk, he begins with an experience he had during the Loma Preita earthquake in San Francisco and how he saw these buildings and structures shake but only the ones without a good foundation were severely damaged. He then likens this experience to daily life and says:
"In order to successfully withstand the tempests, earthquakes, and calamities of life, we must build upon a sure foundation."
--A sure foundation--just like the foundations I built on in Mexico :)...
As soon as I read the phrase "a sure foundation" all I could think of was Helaman 5:12 and Davies actually quotes the same scripture at this time. This has always been one of my favorite scriptures because it is just a little tid bit fact of how to get through life. I had to memorize it for seminary my sophomore year of high school and since then it has always really stuck out to me. If you turn there, this is when Helaman is telling his army or his "sons" how to get through life successfully. So it reads:
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwinds, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of endless misery and wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
According to this scripture, with Jesus Christ as our concrete, solid, and sure foundations we will not fall.
So if Christ is at our foundations, what are the blocks or bricks that we can use to build up our walls?
In Davies talk he says that Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, are the blocks that will keep us anchored to Christ.
It makes so much sense because it is through and with these basic principles and ordinances of our gospel that we are able to live with our Heavenly Father again, if Christ is our foundations.
There is one other thing needed to keep these blocks anchored to our solid foundations that will be our cement. That's the atonement.
Earlier this week some friends and I went to St. George. While we were there we decided to go to the temple and do some work. After we were done inside the temple we went to the Visitor's Center where some missionaries talked to us about some general facts about the St. George temple. A senior missionary told us of how it was constructed out of sandstone and that these sandstone bricks were held together with a cement made from gypsum. He then gave each of us a piece of gypsum and said that it was representative of the atonement of Christ and that the atonement is the cement that holds us together, when Christ is at our foundation.
We learn in Primary that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved. It says this in the 3rd Article of Faith and in D&C 138:4 when Joseph F. Smith is talking about the teachings of Peter. it says:
"That through his atonement, and by obedience to the principles of the gospel, mankind might be saved."
Then in Mosiah 4:6 it talks about this same concept. This is when King Benjamin is speaking to his people and he says:
"I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body--"
By having Christ as our foundations, living in accordance to the principles and commandments of the gospel, and through the atonement we can have eternal life.
Now just because we are doing these things doesn't mean that we are exempt from trials and tribulations. We can't always have an easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl kind of life. This life is a test and tests are HARD! I definitely learned that this last year at BYU.
Yes there are times when we are able to easily endure our trials, just like when you study really well for a test - you know how to cope and deal with what is thrown at you. But there are other times when the professor throws a fastball and you have no idea how to answer - when your trial is just too much to bear. It is at these times when we really need to be sure and have Christ as our concrete foundation so He can help us through it.
Davies closes his talk with the story of the wise man and the foolish man, saying that when you build your house upon a solid foundation, like a rock, you will not fall or be washed away in the flood. But if you build your house upon an unsolid foundation, like the sand, when the floods come you will be washed away. Davies then says:
"Let us accept the Savior's invitation to come unto Him. Let us build our lives upon a safe and sure foundation."
Brothers and sisters I know that if we have Christ as our concrete foundation, and build upon it with our faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and by enduring to the end, through the atonement, we will be able to withstand the trials of this life. With our sure foundations of Christ we cannot fall.
I know this to be true. I know this gospel is true, that Christ died for us that we might live again. I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel to the latter days so that we can have it. I know Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today and that he leads and guides us the way the Lord would have us go. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and share this light of the gospel with the people of Orlando Florida. I am so grateful for the love and support from all of my family, friends, and leaders in my life. Thanks you so much to all of you for all you have done. I want to thank my family - Xan and Cec thanks for being such amazing examples to me, we might not get along sometimes but we still have the best times together. Brody - you have taught me so much, probably more than you know. It amazes how much stuff you know and I love that. Mom and Dad - LOVE YOU. Thanks for being great parents and examples and for supporting me in all of my decisions. Again I would just like to say that I know this church is true and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in Orlando and share this truthfulness with the people there. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
