I delight in foundations.

november 2

while in israel, you spend a lot of time looking at walls, stones, foundations of things that once were and that have become something again in some cases. these are the western wall tunnels under the temple mount. the stones you can see on the left are from the herodian era or the time of king herod. they're the easiest to find because of the margin around them. each carver also had to put his initials on his work.

tonight i attended the ces devotional (soon to be called the worldwide devotional for young single adults) at the ogden tabernacle with elder donald hallstrom. he talked about foundations and it spoke to my soul.

i am so grateful for revelation, for the opportunity to learn and grow, to change and to become better.  key take aways from tonight include

• buildings are temporary. we are building eternal lives. the engineering and construction of our souls must be build to withstand the wind and tumult of today
• your identity is FIRST as a son or daughter of god, then you can choose to build other identities whether they be temporary or eternal. beware of the identities you're building
• verse 7 of how firm a foundation: 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for reposeI will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

i love how firm a foundation. it is one of my favorite hymns that has been an answer to prayer on multiple occasions, but today it hit me extra hard because of the use of the word forsake.

one of my favorite scriptures is in joshua 1:5
"...I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

what a comfort this was to joshua, reassuring him that just as the lord was with moses, he would be with joshua as he continued to lead the children of israel.

in sunday school today we were talking about isaiah and the word forsake again stood out to me.

"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains;  for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (isaiah 49: 13-16)

what powerful imagery. can a woman forget her sucking child? what does a hungry child do? they cry and eventually scream when they're hungry. they get their mother's attention in any way possible because growing and developing is their child. how can a mother forget her sucking child? i'll never know, most don't, but some do, especially in our day. it reminds me of the warnings that some will have unnatural affections. mothers not caring for their children, in my mind would fall into that category of warnings for the last days. even so, the lord will never ever forget us. he has graven us on his hands in every way.

so the only choice that's left is that we have to choose never to forsake him just as he has already chosen to never forsake us.

what a beautiful and firm foundation to be build upon, a savior who will never, no never forsake.

___________

I am building my spiritual foundation by.... (future post reminder)