Lessons on Love and Charity (Part 3 of 5)

Today was one of the happiest days of my life!!  My daughter Ashley is HOME!!!! Yep, after 18 months of doing service as a missionary she is finally back home with us and I am beyond words with happiness.

This enitre week I have been sharing snippets of emails I received from my daughter Ashley while she was out serving her mission which share life lessons she was learning along the way. Today’s emails start at about nine months in to the mission and go through month thirteen.

———ABOUT THE HALFWAY MARK of her mission Ashley sent a letter to me – and this letter is one I want every young man and every young woman out there to listen carefully to because it is about the KIND OF HUSBAND A GIRL SHOULD WANT TO MARRY

there is nothing more that i love than working side by side with President Wakolo [her mission president] and the Aps [the assistants to the president]!!! goodness… those guys are AMAZING! seriously mom… my level of caliber for my husband just went soaring! like… now that i know the potential that boys actually have… i am not wasting my time on dweebs!!! gosh. i just want to marry a freakin rockstar of a guy! ya know!? I’ve started my list of qualities that i want my husband to have some day… like not the stupid list that you make when you’re little and just care about looks and laughs.. like im talking detailed traits and characteristics that I’m learning that I need!!!…… so I’m pumped for my future fam one day…… being a mother is the MOST important thing i will ever do!… and I’m just preparing and learning for it now! 🙂

[**As a parent I have to say that having your daughter recognize the type of man she should marry is worth every second of the 552 days she is gone**]

———THIRTEEN MONTHS IN   (CHARITY IS THE PURE LOVE OF GOD)      March 7 2016

This week I studied Luke 17. In this account the Apostles are begging Christ, “Increase our faith”. Isn’t that something that we ALL desire? I certainly know I do. His answer is interesting. There is no “formula” for increasing faith. He doesn’t prescribe “An Easy fix-it to faster faith“. Instead he tells a parable about the unprofitable servant. We are ALL unprofitable servants. No matter how hard we work, how much we sweat, how much we labor, we will ALWAYS be in debt to our Lord and Savior.   We don’t “deserve” ANYTHING! We could work our hearts out all day and night, yet in the end we will STILL come up short to what Christ has given us. Once we understand that concept and TRULY believe it we will be happy and truly content. We will stop working with expectations in our hearts. We will stop working with that, “I’ve been doing *this*… therefore I deserve *this*” thought in the back of our minds. We will stop having unrighteous intentions in what we do. Nothing with be “for the numbers”. Nothing will be “for our own personal benefit”. Nothing will be for ourselves. We will do it all simply because we love God and we are in debt to Him. That is something that I’ve learned more and more as I’ve been out here on my mission. Sometimes I get caught up in the thought, ‘I’ve worked my guts out this week! That means that God will bless us to see results!’ Or other silly thoughts along those lines. But it wasn’t until I understood and internalized the “unprofitable servant” parable that I really understood why I need to work hard. Not for the reward, but for the pure love that I have for God.

**My heart is so full tonight. I am so grateful you are all allowing me to share such an important part of of my life with you. Thank you! Tomorrow’s blog will be Part 4 of 5.

Have a great day!

~Amy Rees Anderson

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