ALLOW GOD TO FIGHT YOUR BATTLES

This is something I wrote to a friend illustrating how God will fight your battles, if you let him:

My personal feelings are these.  I believe God shows no favor to any of His children over the other  – LDS, non-LDS; it does not matter.  But, I had a guy who was gunning for me here at Boeing.  If he could find something wrong in my work or personally about me, he always would highlight it and draw attention to it.  More than once, I ended up in the supervisor’s office due to his constant “work” on my behalf.  Under normal circumstances, there would not be an issue with my job performance, but he was always blowing things out of proportion.  It stressed me severely when my wife was initially having her health problems, before we discovered the B12 fix.  At one point, I think I was so stressed, I actually had a minor cardio event.  Enough, though – that I almost called 911.  After months of this, I decided I had endured enough and was beginning to crack under the pressure.  His comments and jabs at my religion and where I went to school (BYU) were enough to let me know why I was getting “special treatment”.  I kneeled there in the cubicle after all my co-workers had gone for the evening and asked God to judge between us – to weigh us in the balance on our unique situations/backgrounds and that God would provide some blessed relief for me from him.  At that point – it was also not just me, but many others had come to me with complaints about him and used the adjective of “diminutive donkey” hole to describe him…..  I asked God for an intervention on my behalf – and of those others.  IF there were a real threat to my position and my ability to provide for my family, and I were paying my tithing and fast offerings and building and sustaining the Kingdom of God, then I would be sustained in my request.  Otherwise, it would go the other way.

Within a week or two, he was driving his mother (in her late 70’s) on a cold, dark, rainy night to a restaurant at the marina in Des Moines, WA and was driving down what he thought was a ramp to a lower parking lot – but which was actually a boat ramp going into glass-smooth water of the Puget Sound.  Once on the ramp, which was slick due to being covered in sea-weed, the car slid helplessly down the ramp flooding the engine and stalling it.  Forward momentum carried the car into the water and it eventually submerged in about 15 feet of water.  He was able to escape as the car sank, but his mother did not.  So, this man, who exacted perfection from the co-workers around him, and was vicious and mean-spirited if they screwed up, now was guilty of making a mistake that cost his mother her life.  In the weeks after he got back, it was clear that he was a changed man.  His demeanor had changed 180 degrees and no one could use the previously-applied adjective to describe him.  He is now on a path to making himself more in the image of his Maker.  I was able to get the breathing room I needed to come up to speed at my new position and thrive without the constant pall he had placed over my head.

I promise you that, your husband, being ten times more worthy of the blessings of God than I was or am, can expect similar miracles.  You have been obedient in all things with exactness.   I know that God is a hard master to those who persecute those who are doing His will.  I read what Josephus wrote about those who went after our Lord – and know that God will mete out sometimes harsh things where it is warranted.  For those who were persecuted at the hands of evil people, relief was had – either from leaving (as the ancient Saints did) and God sweeping his left arm to the left to “clear the board” of those who persisted in evil, or by providing a custom “one up” solution that does not necessarily affect all, across the board, as it were. 

When I first heard you give your testimony across the pulpit on a Fast Sunday several years ago, I knew there was a woman who had the backing of the Lord and whose testimony and faith is centered on the Lord.  When I heard your husband teach with power and authority in Sunday School – and then put the connection of you two being related, I knew we had a special situation and kindred spirits.  I know that this valley is a gathering place for the Saints.  A place where refuge can be provided for those moving eastward from the West Coast when destruction comes and civil war rages about the more telestial parts of the country to sweep the wicked from the land.  I know we are within a few years of this prophesied destruction.  I urge you to read “Visions of Glory” – including the material in the appendix.  This valley and the Cardston area are destined for that purpose.  It is what attracted us here.  I am sure you both are part of that vision and purpose to have a place where you can support your large families when things get tough in a few more years – and I am sure that the person who is creating your pain is not part of that plan if they do not uphold people who are bold enough to speak out for the truth when the country is in dire straits and needs those voices of measured reason.

I do not buy the tripe that we are supposed to roll over and die when someone puts the hurt on us – and pray that our enemies will succeed as we are being despitefully used.  I have seen accounts of where the Egyptians were sweeping in to deliver the death blow to God’s people – as wayward and imperfect as they were – and God swept the board and delivered the Israelites.  Where we have lefties driving out those are correctly aligned with good principle, I believe God can sweep the board and do a miracle in your favor.  God does control life and circumstance - and he routinely exercises that power to effect His good.

If you decide that an out of state move is the way it must be, I have to wonder if you would be able to lease your place here to continue making the payment and rent or lease a place there while you are employed outside the valley.  If things got tough, you would have a place to fall back to.  Lets face it, no one will be making ANY payments once the collapse happens – so whether employed, or not, work most likely will be a moot point at that juncture.  At least you would have a place where you could raise a garden or a beef or two to support kids, etc.  After the collapse as things descend into a very dark period, the ultimate destination will  be Cardston and then Jackson County for those who are called.  In the interim, there will be a need for a place to raise food and be relatively independent and not at the mercy of a broken food supply chain or social structure.