The details!

I know that God truly is in the details of our lives. Despite the universe being incomprehensibly huge and the amount of His children being unfathomably great, He still hears and answers our prayers.

As the children of Israel got ready to depart Mount Sinai and start the journey for the promised land, the Lord had Moses organize them into their respective tribes and set up camps. Further instructions were given to the Levites who were to be stationed in the middle of the camp with the tabernacle that was meant to be at the center. They were told where to set up their camps, relative to the tabernacle, who was to be in charge, and what their duty was with the tabernacle. In our wonderful visit with Elder Lund he mentioned that the Lord is a great director of personnel. He knows where to put His children where He needs them and when. I shared an Elder Maxwell quote:

The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millenia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to the placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our human lives so that our light may not only lead others, but warm them as well.

I love this quote. I think it's great. Class ended before I could give this quote the full credit it deserved. I really hoped that I would be able to discuss how this seminary class is part of their "human orbits" and that they can do great things for each other, but there just wasn't the time. So I planned to share it on Friday.

Friday came and it's a special day for Bro. Carter's seminary. We have "open sharing" where students can stand up and share their spiritual experiences, favorite scriptures and testimonies with the class. We had some group presentations to finish, so when a lull in the sharing came, I stood up to end open sharing and introduce the class presentations. I went back to sit down and enjoy the presentations, when I caught a glare from our class president. She said, "Bro. Carter! There were more people that needed to share." I asked who and she pointed to a couple of people who did not get up to share, nor looked anxious to share. I knew that there would be enough time after the presentations to do some more sharing and hoped that they would share then. The presentations were great! I stood to elaborate on a couple of the stories that they shared. Then, nothing else came to mind--we still had 5 or 6 minutes, so I said, "We can use the rest of the time for open sharing."

A young girl quickly stood up and shared a scripture from Esther, when Mordecai hints that Esther's placement and timing might be God's work to save the Jews. "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" She said that this scripture made her think of the Elder Maxwell quote (above). Then she said, "I want to bear testimony that God answers prayers, because today He answered mine!" I was intrigued and listened more intently. "I read this scripture and reread the quote last night and really wanted to share it today. But when time ran out, I thought I had missed my chance. I prayed, 'Heavenly Father if You want me to share this scripture I know that You will prepare a way. I really would like to share it, but only if it's what You want.'" Tears welled up in her eyes. She then began to bear her testimony about how she knew that we were all in this class together for a reason and that God had brought us all here. It clicked. I remembered that I had forgotten to share on that quote and principle before turning the time back to open sharing. The Lord didn't want me to share the quote, He had prepared her for it and was answering her plea. I want to share one last quote from Elder Maxwell, "God is in the details!"