But If Not...

So I thought I would write a little bit about the name of the blog...
Elder Simmons gave a talk in General Conference (4/04) wherein he talked about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. "Centuries ago, Daniel and his young associates were suddenly thrust from security into the world—a world foreign and intimidating. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down and worship a golden image set up by the king, a furious Nebuchadnezzar told them that if they would not worship as commanded, they would immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. "And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" The three young men quickly and confidently responded, "If it be so [if you cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand."...But then they demonstrated that they fully understood what faith is. They continued, "But if not, . . . we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." That is a statement of true faith." Elder Simmons goes on and talks about faith and the promises of the Lord. When I first heard this talk, it hit me immediately. I studied it when it came out in the Ensign. I have highlighted, underlined, and circled the text of this talk to no end. What it means to me is that there are certain truths that I am grateful to know - truths like we have a Father in Heaven and a Savior who came to this earth. They know and love us and want us to be eternally happy. I know that the Council in Heaven really happened and we literally stood with righteous family members and defended the truth...we defended our God. And so with these (and many other truths) I recognize that much is expected of me. And I will do all that the Lord has for me to do. I have faith that what is His will will be done and I will be better for it. If it is different than my expectation, I will still serve God. So there ya go. I hope this clarifies things a bit. It is still one of my all time fav talks...to read the whole talk, click here.