As Sister Johnson and I were raising our children, we encouraged each of them to learn to play a musical instrument.

But we would allow our children to take music lessons only if they did their part and practice their instrument each day.

One Saturday, our daughter Jalynn was excited to go play with friends,

but she had not yet practiced the piano. “Can I go play?” “Have you practiced piano yet?” “No.” “Can I mom, please?”

“No, you know the rules. Go on.” “Fine.” “You’ll thank us later.” Knowing she had committed to practice for 30 minutes, she intended to set a timer

because she did not want to practice even one minute longer than was required.

As she walked by the microwave oven on her way to the piano,

she paused and pushed some buttons. But instead of setting the timer, she set the microwave to cook for 30 minutes and pushed start.

After about 20 minutes of practice, she walked back to the kitchen to check how much time was remaining and found the microwave oven on fire.

She then ran into the backyard yelling that the house was on fire.

I quickly ran into the house, and indeed, I found the microwave oven in flames.

I reached behind the microwave,

unplugged it, and used the power cord to lift the burning microwave off of

the counter.

Hoping to be the hero and to save the day as well as our home, I swung the flaming microwave in circles with the power cord to keep it away from my body.

And with another swinging motion flung the microwave out onto the lawn.

What had gone wrong? A microwave oven needs something to absorb its energy.

And when nothing is on the inside,

the oven itself absorbs the energy, becomes hot, and may catch on fire, destroying itself in a pile of flames and ashes.

Our entire microwave went up in flames and burned because there was nothing

on the inside.

Superficial faith is insufficient. Only faith in the word of God that fill our inner soul are sufficient to sustain us— and to allow us to access its power.

Filling our heart and even our soul with the word of God and the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ is crucial to drawing upon the power of God to help us in these challenging times.

I testify of Jesus Christ, He who has all power.

And as we seek for this power,

we will be blessed with a greater understanding of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.