Good Days Ahead

Sometimes days are just Fridays...

Now according to the world people have this phrase, you'll pardon me if I Utah ize it for my purposes and say "Thank Goodness Its Friday", but that's the world, though I love Friday just as much as the next person, I like what Elder Wirthlin had to say about it more.

Elder Wirthlin tells the story of Christ on the cross. He says that on Friday those who opposed the Savior thought they had won, as he breathed his last breath on the cross and Mary Magdalene and his mother Mary weeped as they said good-bye to the man they loved. And faithful worshipers in the temple watched as the veil that separated them from the holy of holies tore. For each that Friday was a day of sorrow, pain and tears.

Elder Wirthlin says Fridays will come to each of us in their different forms, sometimes it is illness, sometimes losing a loved one, sometimes seeing the world you thought you knew change and sometimes it's just a bad day, whether hair or otherwise. Elder Wirthlin says their is hope because just as Friday was a painful day Sunday came and Christ himself came to dry many tears and having broken the bands of death brought hope to all of us through his sacrifice.

Just as Fridays come to us all Sundays come as well, there is hope after dark nights and sunshine after clouds.

This week was an interesting combination of both. As many young adults in my mid-twenties I've been trying to find purpose and where my niche is. I had the opportunity to present some of my history research on policy educational trends throughout different societies, including the one we have now. I met some amazing people who are interested in my work and now as an unpublished, but perhaps one day published researcher I'm trying to figure out how to share what I find without presenting myself as more than I am....Anyhow that is a hurdle for another day. It is an amazing opportunity to share my research with people who are actively working to make our lives a better place and a thrill that they think I have good ideas.

Fast forward to two days later, flat on my back with a headache, vertigo and a full blown head cold. For someone who likes being up and doing there hasn't been a whole lot of that to be had this week.  I've just had a bunch of time in my head. I kept wondering if I'm really accomplishing anything and if I'm really following the path I'm supposed to be on. And that folks is how the adversary works, after Sundays come Fridays, full of doubts and tears and fears. But after Fridays Sundays come again. Sometimes on our path toward our purpose we can become distracted or overwhelmed, we feel like we didn't read the directions correctly or did but the directions aren't sending us in the right place. Then the adversary comes along and he gives us way too much time to think, to second guess, to feel like a failure or feel isolated. In those moments remember to hold to the path, to remember that light in the woods that is still directing and helping, even if the sun hasn't risen on the third day just yet. There are days ahead that will cause us to question even more, remember the Sundays and that there are good days ahead.

Together We Succeed

I've been pondering lately about faith and how we can build our faith. As I've reviewed my previous posts I've noticed a running theme, I talk about the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ a lot, I talk about their attributes and caring and I've noticed a pattern. Trust is the basis of faith, when we trust someone we have faith that they will follow through. In order to trust someone you need to get to know them and know that they are dependable and trustworthy. The more I have learned of my Savior and my Father in Heaven the more I realize just how much they can be trusted and that they will follow through.

Sometimes we equate faith with praying and expecting to get exactly what we prayed for in the time frame we requested it. Yet faith isn't about getting something, faith is about trusting Christ that He did what he said he did and will do what He has promised us, bring us eternal life, bear our burdens and bring us peace. "My peace I give unto you".

When I am feeling frustrated or hopeless I think back to a night in the MTC when my heart was breaking, I was missing the young man who sent me out and said he'd be there when I got back and more significantly was questioning whether he would be there when I got back. I knew this was not a productive place for my mind to go, yet I couldn't help myself, I was so afraid that I would lose him. My companion shared with me a significant allegory called the maze. I've shared it before and it's true, we go as far as we can with the information we've been given and we keep going  until the information changes. I've had to follow that a lot, as I prayed about a mission, prayed about a boy, told to do both, then ended up coming home early due to health issues and not to marry boy for two and a half years, then went for med school prep for two years only to be sent back to history. Sometimes my life just feels confusing and a bit messy, but what I've learned through it all, Heavenly Father does answer prayer.

That night in the MTC I had a companion telling me the story would probably change, that the young man would move on and I would be just fine. For years I heard that, but the Spirit continued telling me to have faith in the promise He'd given me, that young man. Revelation can be a tricky thing, it is easy to misinterpret or place our desires over God's, but when we seek him with an open heart and a desire to do whatever He has for us he will speak to us, He will guide us and when He does we need to listen, we need to obey and we NEED to trust that He can and will keep His promises.

If I have learned nothing else these last four years, I've learned that He listens, I've learned that He answers, I've learned that it's a cycle. It takes faith to go to the Lord in prayer, it takes faith to ask Him what he would have us do, it takes faith to ask where you fit in His plan, then it takes trust and faith that when everything opposes He will come through, He will support us. That night in the MTC I had to accept that whatever happened would happen, but I had to align that with the fact that I knew what I had felt and I new I had to trust it as far as it would go.

We have to accept that sometimes life won't go our way or won't get there as fast as we want it to and then other times we have to trust that what the Lord has said we'll get we really will get. There is always hope, there is always joy and peace, we find them when we trust the Lord that He'll do what he said he'll do. This means going to him for answers and counseling with him, not expecting Him to do our bidding. Together we succeed.

Sometimes we just have to hope that the desires of our heart really can come true. I think we'll be surprised by how often they do, just remember to be open to having the desires of your heart change, Heavenly Father has a way of magnifying them.

Given the Room to do So

I wish I knew what to write, I've tried two different things at this point and I feel no closer now then when I started.

Our Heavenly Father is much more full of mercy than we give him credit. I know that we are to live according to a certain law and that there is much we are required to give up in our journey as we try to become more like our Heavenly Father. We are called to remove the world from our hearts as we strive to live a more Christ like life. I recently sat in conversation with a friend and heard a montra of all the things we need to do in order to qualify for the kingdom of God, I truly hope I'm not condemning myself, but in that conversation I felt differently. The first part is simply having a desire to do the work of God, the next part is to live the commandments to the best of our ability so we can have the Spirit to be with us. The reason we are given commandments is to protect us from the destructive influences of the adversary and to be worthy, to have a clear mind and heart so that when we receive direction we recognize it and act.

Living a Christ like life is what we covenant to do each Sunday, we promise to retain His name in our hearts and remember Him always. We promise to try. That is what living our covenants mean, we just keep trying. Our Heavenly Father sees the long view, He sees that sometimes we have to take smaller steps then we think we need because He realizes just how long the journey will be. He realizes that smaller degree shifts means more lasting change because we changed our hearts and not just behaviors. Cultivating an understanding of why we change and desiring that change is just as important as actually making those changes. Our purpose is to change, progress and become better, yet Heavenly Father desires our hearts and He realizes that love, not coercion will make repentance a sanctifying process. We are required to change, to give things up and to become clean, we are also given the room to do so.

I am constantly amazed by the tender mercies and inspiration given when least expected and seemingly least deserved. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by feelings of falling short of the mark and having so far to go, those feelings never come from Heavenly Father, more often than not He is saying "you're doing better than you think you are". Allow Him to give you hope because then you have the power to make the change.

What Will Come Tomorrow

The world teaches us that we have the right to be happy, that we deserve an easy life with everything given to us. This is a counterfeit of the adversary. This life is not meant  to be easy, nor is it within the laws of heaven to receive without effort. We are meant to be happy, but that happiness comes through work, effort, prayer and faith.

Sometimes in our extremity we assume that we are the only ones going through affliction, sometimes we think that we are alone. Our trial may be unique to us, but we can be assured that others are also facing things unique to them.

In the words of Sis. Nelson (loosely) desperation brings us closer to God, when we are desperately seeking the guidance of the spirit we are more intune with the spirit and more able to receive the guidance of the spirit. In moments of desperation we come closer to our Father and are more able to find who we are supposed to be.

 In our meetings we often hear that Heavenly Father won't give us a trial that we cannot handle, but as one very insightful blogger said this week, that promise is found nowhere in the scriptures. We are promised to not be tempted above that which we are able, but even that is with a clause, we will not be ensnared if we go to Christ to help us, tribulation is the same. We are often given things that seem so overwhelming and heart wrenching when considered alone, but we are not alone. These moments invite us to come closer to our Father and reveal our divine nature to our temporal mind.
 

As my companion Chi Hoa said, loosely quoting Elder Bednar "progression is not a circle, but a spiral, as we conquer a trial or temptation on a lower level, we move to a higher level, this does not mean that we did not learn, it simply means that by conquering it at one level we were prepared for the next to become more like our Savior and our Father above."

There are things coming to this earth that are new, we must be prepared to face these changes, the trials of today are the blessings to enable us to face what will come tomorrow.

 

The Best is Truly Yet to Be

There is something to be said for enthusiasm. The world can feel like such a dark place, with so many concerns, fears, worries and overwhelmingness that we can lose sight of what it is to be happy and to be excited for life. And that's not even when life is sending us a growing opportunity. Sometimes the humdrum seeming monotony or the daily pattern of life lulls us into this sense of forgetfulness that life is inherently good and that we have a purpose.

I love going to the temple, something about being there just makes me smile, whether smiling through playing and singing during prayer meeting or reverently waltzing in elevators where no one can see me (sshhh, don't tell anyone). The temple just makes me happy, the work that goes on in those halls is a hallowed and sacred work, it is the work of salvation the training of future gods and goddesses. It is also the dwelling place of God on earth and I'd like to think that if being there makes me so happy, it's because He is so happy to see the work for so many of His Children, to know that the things we learn there bring us closer to Him. The temple allows us to enter into His presence and feel of His love and His hopes and dreams for our future. And when I say that, I say that literally, just because we cannot see Him does not mean that He is not there, it simply means our mortal eyes just need more training.

Heavenly Father truly wants for us to be happy, He understands that this life is full of bumps, bruises and unexpected oopses, He also realizes we aren't perfect, that though our desires our pure sometimes our efforts are not and that it is all too easy to lose perspective. Yet He still means for us to trust Him. Elder Jeffrey R Holland taught in "Remember Lot's Wife: Faith is in the Future"

"So it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. That, apparently, was at least part of her sin." "we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind."

Over the past two years and even now it seems my life is a lot like a rolling ocean, I might enjoy a calm for a very short season (like a week) and then the next waves comes crashing down and all the ground I thought we had is gone or at least buried under tons of water. In those moments I have often questioned my Heavenly Father why I can't just  have a season of peace, why can't I just have some good. I have wondered why others have it so much better and what could possibly come next. In these past two years I've learned a couple things, first, no one really has it easy, we all hide our struggles with varying degrees of difficulty and we all have mountains to climb, second I've learned that those moments aren't to make me miserable, it is just part of life. I used to think that I was just the whiny, that I just thought my lot was hard. But the more I open my heart in Relief Society and Sunday School I realize life is getting harder, Heavenly Father needs a people prepared and that means trial and growth. As the prophets say we are a chosen generation to live at this time. Being chosen to prepare the earth for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ means having hearts and bodies prepared to do so.

I know this is weighty stuff and can at times seem very overwhelming and perspective crushing. Today I fasted just for faith to overcome fear and to see a little farther. Heavenly Father answered those prayers by reminding me of the joy of the temple. He gave us temples to enter His presence, to feel His love and be reminded He is in every step of our lives. He prepares us with equal parts trial and tender mercy, He wants us so much to succeed which means he prepares us with little stuff to be ready for big stuff. He loves us so much, He wants so much for us. Look to the good before us. Remember that faith lies in the future, that it really will be better and brighter, even if seeing the waves ahead makes us long for the peace behind, there will be joy up ahead too, longing for today to last forever, halts our faith that God has so much good before us. God is in the future, He is preparing the way and the best is truly yet to be.