The Rock of Our Redeemer

My thoughts on Elder Andersen's talk "The Rock of Our Redeemer"

I love this talk. I used it in a talk I gave in Sacrament meeting not to long ago.

I had family (both sides) come across the plains. I've read their stories and it would have been so much easier to just not come, but they couldn't deny their faith and their conviction.

"They had learned a profound and important lesson. They had learned that hope, with its attendant blessings of peace and joy, does not depend upon circumstance. They had discovered that the true source of hope is faith—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His infinite Atonement, the one sure foundation upon which to build our lives."

I hope I have a 10th of their faith. But it is where their faith is placed. I love that it isn't just faith, but "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." And it is this faith that leads us to hope.

"wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."

I know for the past year I have had to have faith in the Lord that the Priesthood blessings I received would work and that I could have hope for a day when the doctors would say, "remission". I also have hope in the words of this Elder...
"I speak to all who suffer, to all who mourn, to all who now face or who will yet face trials and challenges in this life. My message is to all who are worried or afraid or discouraged. My message is but an echo, a reminder of the constant comforting counsel from a loving Father to His children since the world began.

"'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 whirlwind, 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 misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.'

"I testify of Him, that He has overcome the world, that He will never forget or abandon us, for He has graven us upon the palms of His hands.8 I testify that those who keep His commandments will grow in faith and hope. They will be given strength to overcome all of life’s trials. They will experience peace that passes all understanding."

I must have faith unto hope; I must.