Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Kings 17:12-15

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Kings 17:12-15

"And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days."

The story of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath always reminds me of food storage. Elijah had the sealing power and the heavens were shut up for three and a half years. I do not have the space to store three and a half years worth of food, much less a year supply as is the goal. What I do is make sure I store as much as I can as well rounded as possible. Then we rotate it as we eat from our stores. When the pandemic hit in 2020 I was so grateful for what I had put aside.

Though there was one item in my food storage that I was low on before the pandemic hit. I kept asking my husband to stop by the Home Storage Center to pickup a case of powdered milk. It's cheaper to pick it up than to order it online. I felt the need was urgent but he never did. Weeks went buy with it on the shopping list but never picked up. Then as if overnight it was suddenly to late. The pandemic hit and the Home Storage Center was cleaned out. I couldn't even order any powdered milk online. It just made me sick that he never listened to my request and bought it as I had asked. I was down to just a few packages of powered milk at this point. Each time I opened a package of milk I would place it in a large glass canning jar. That jar seemed to empty so slowly, that handful of packages of powered milk lasted me for months. I was down to the last package before I could finally order more again. So many times I thought of the widow of Zarephath's barrel of meal that never wasted as she feed the prophet Elijah, her child and herself throughout the famine. When we honestly try our best blessings do come. The important thing is to listen to the council of a prophet and follow it.

When President Nelson told us in the October 2020 Women's Session of General Conference to never stop preparing I took those words to heart. My level of preparedness has not change throughout this pandemic.

"For decades, the Lord’s prophets have urged us to store food, water, and financial reserves for a time of need. The current pandemic has reinforced the wisdom of that counsel. I urge you to take steps to be temporally prepared. But I am even more concerned about your spiritual and emotional preparation.

I promise that as we create places of security, prepare our minds to be faithful to God, and never stop preparing, God will bless us. He will “deliver us; yea, insomuch that he [will] speak peace to our souls, and [will] grant unto us great faith, and … cause us that we [can] hope for our deliverance in him.”

As you prepare to embrace the future with faith, these promises will be yours!"

(Russell M. Nelson, "Embrace the Future with Faith", Oct 2020 General Conference)

Day 2467