Blessings and gifts from God (Doctrine and Covenants 46-48)

The Come Follow Me study for Doctrine and Covenants 46-48 is called, "Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts." This is because Doctrine and Covenants 46 talks about how everyone is given at least one gift, so that we can go out and do good in the world with our gift.

Doctrine and Covenants 46:11-12 says:

11 For all have not every ^agift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.

12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.

It is an incredible thing that our Father in Heaven is blessing each one of us with at least one gift, and that we not take that gift for granted. I talked about Spiritual Gifts in December last year, here so I don't want to re-write all that I shared previously. Instead, I'll comment that the Come Follow Me for Sunday School manual asks:

The Lord declared that gifts of the Spirit benefit those who are faithful and are “not for a sign” (verse 9). Perhaps class members could discuss how spiritual gifts benefit the faithful. How can these gifts help those who want to gain or strengthen their testimony of the gospel?

This question made me think of an experience that I had over ten years ago. I was working for Hewlett-Packard, in a very busy and stressful role, when my bishop called me into his office and asked if I would be the new Girl's Camp director. He was not releasing me from my calling as Primary chorister, which was also a very busy calling that I put a lot of time into (as you know if you found this article through my original purpose of this blog, to share chorister activity ideas!). I thought, "How am I going to take a week off work at this time, and handle my workload and my other calling, too?" However, I accepted the calling and put my all into it, which for me meant that I was putting in hours of work every night for weeks and weeks to prepare for camp. 

However, the week of camp finally came around and when I got to camp, I realized that I did most of the prep work before camp and that while I was camp, I could mostly just relax. I unexpectedly realized I was on a week-long vacation that I would not have taken from work on my own. I did sacrifice some things of course. My birthday happened during camp and I couldn't celebrate it with my husband the way I prefer. However, while at camp, I had an opportunity to rest and rejuvenate. I love to be outside and I love to camp! Then, when I returned from camp, I suddenly had a couple of great job opportunities pop up, one of which I accepted. I truly feel that the Lord blessed me for my obedience. The Lord answers prayers in his own time and way for reasons that he can see that we cannot but at that time, it reminded me of the words, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant."

I share this as I look at the gifts described in Doctrine and Covenants 46, and this verse 26:

26 And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of the children of God.