Covenants: Source of Power

{I wrote this for my ward's May 2009 newsletter}

Last August, my cousin, 30, and his wife, 27, were in perfect health and beauty, but within the course of an afternoon, a private plane crash left them both severely burned – even in critical condition. Our family was filled with great pain and anxiety by the thought of the physical, mental, and emotional burdens they would now carry.

During this time, I found that the covenants made in the temple increased in significance and tenderness. As I attended regularly and performed each ordinance, I thought of how each promise I received had also been made to my cousins. The promise of the resurrection became more dear, physical blessings more tender.

In the past 9 months, our family has witnessed many miracles of healing. Most marvelous of all: seeing my cousin and his wife greet and bear these burdens with the endurance of faith. Their strength is a gift from God, given through the temple covenants they have made and kept.

In his recent conference address, “The Power of Covenants,” Elder Christofferson taught that God is the source of moral and spiritual power:

“The source [of power] is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him. [And] we enter into covenants by priesthood ordinances.”

Elder Christofferson goes on to identify three ways that making and keeping covenants with God “gives us power to smile through hardships, to convert tribulation into triumph, to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and bring to pass much righteousness.”

1. Gifts and Blessings - Obedience to covenants brings “a continual flow of blessings”.

"And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them" (1 Nephi 17:3)

2. Increased Faith - “[Covenants] produce the faith necessary to persevere and to do all things that are expedient in the Lord.”

"It was [faith] that enabled the ancient saints to endure all their afflictions and persecutions, and to take . . . not only the spoiling of their goods, and the wasting of their substance, joyfully, but also to suffer death in its most horrid forms; knowing (not merely believing) that when this earthly house of their tabernacle was dissolved, they had a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor. 5:1)" (Lectures on Faith [1985], 67).

3. The Bestowal of Divine Power – “In all the ordinances, especially those of the temple, we are endowed with power from on high. This power of godliness comes in the person and by the influence of the Holy Ghost.”

With Elder Christofferson, I testify that through sacred covenants we can grow in faith and godliness. I have witnessed the power of covenants in the life of my family and hope to feel their transforming power over the course of my own life, and that all of us “after … temptations, and much tribulation, … shall be converted, and [that Christ] will heal [us].” (D&C 112:13)