Counseling with Councils (and the Lord)

    For those of us in the LDS faith, this book by M. Russell Ballard is a standard read.  I was given another copy last week by my stake RS Presidency. In all honesty, I didn't welcome the "gift."  My life is really full right now....I'm kinda being consumed by what has been called the minutae of modern life.
    So, I wasn't relishing the thought of diving back into this book.  And I didn't.
    Last night we had our first presidency meeting in more than a month.  With two full-time and one part-time working moms and the last mom working the hardest of all being pregnant and having two pre-schoolers, it is sometimes problematic getting together.  After the prayer, I showed everyone the book and we all agreed it was a good one and had read it before.  We then turned to our agenda, which was quite long. 
    The first two items on our agenda each time is a devotional and a discussion about some part of the leadership manual we received last fall. And here's the part that shows how closely the Lord attends to us.
    The devotional was from Elder Bednar's conference address, The Spirit of Revelation.  At the time I was struck by the power and comfort of his words.

    My counselor quoted two phrases from his address: "But as we honor our covenants and keep the commandments, as we strive ever more consistently to do good and to become better, we can walk with the confidence that God will guide our steps. And we can speak with the assurance that God will inspire our utterances."  And then proceeded to explain how she knew as a presidency we were drawing on this promise--that we are all striving to do our best to live the gospel and as a presidency we are being guided.

    It was a wonderful moment to be comforted not just by the words of one of the Lord's ordained leaders but also by the comments of a woman I love and admire.  The Lord, through her, let me know I can do what He requires of me.

    That would have been wonderful and sufficient...but then my other counselor, whose turn it was to lead the discussion from the manual turned to the exact page and paragraph that had been on my mind for the last few weeks.

    So, when I think about counseling with councils from now on....I will remember this meeting when I was uplifted, comforted and clearly saw the Lord's guidance in action as I met with those He guided me to choose to serve with me.