"But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.
Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."
Alma 26:26-27
These are some awesome verses, and I think they apply to our lives as well as to the missionary work referred to in this story. We take on big projects, either from the Lord or with his approval, and we feel great about it and we have big hopes and dreams about the difference that we can make in the world.
Then things happen--obstacles, problems, issues, and we wonder why God led us this way, or let us choose this, and we feel like everything is failing and we aren't up to it, and that in fact it was impossible from the beginning and that we were just fooling ourselves. We get to the "about to turn back" part. We want to give up.
As in the story though, if we persist, and trust, and go to God with our problems, he will comfort us. He will reassure us, as he reassured the sons of Mosiah. If we bear our afflictions with patience, then God will help us do as he asks.
The moment that it talks about here--after setting out to do something and then hitting a low point and wanting to give up--I think is the point where we really learn to exercise faith. If it was smooth sailing, there would be no reason to learn it, and if everything just failed quickly, then we'd know to take a different road. It's like a book and we get to chapter 5 where the hero faces overwhelming odds and there doesn't seem to be a way out. Luckily, in this case, we know the author doesn't write tragedies, and that the hero will eventually triumph. We just have to figure out how.
God is the author of our lives, and we are the heroes. None of us is meant to be the redshirt extra (in the televised version) that dies early on just to show how dangerous the environment is. We're the ones that face the brutal challenges, but find a way out and through, and triumph in the end. And we can, and will, because God, the author, writes it that way. If we don't go off script, we're going to be fine. :)
Today, let's trust God and remember that he doesn't write tragedies. Resurrection triumphs over death, and Heaven trumps even Armageddon. Let's try to focus on the good and not the bad, and have faith that God will help us through the hard times, if we have patience and stick with his plan. We're the heroes. We will make it. :)
Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."
Alma 26:26-27
These are some awesome verses, and I think they apply to our lives as well as to the missionary work referred to in this story. We take on big projects, either from the Lord or with his approval, and we feel great about it and we have big hopes and dreams about the difference that we can make in the world.
Then things happen--obstacles, problems, issues, and we wonder why God led us this way, or let us choose this, and we feel like everything is failing and we aren't up to it, and that in fact it was impossible from the beginning and that we were just fooling ourselves. We get to the "about to turn back" part. We want to give up.
As in the story though, if we persist, and trust, and go to God with our problems, he will comfort us. He will reassure us, as he reassured the sons of Mosiah. If we bear our afflictions with patience, then God will help us do as he asks.
The moment that it talks about here--after setting out to do something and then hitting a low point and wanting to give up--I think is the point where we really learn to exercise faith. If it was smooth sailing, there would be no reason to learn it, and if everything just failed quickly, then we'd know to take a different road. It's like a book and we get to chapter 5 where the hero faces overwhelming odds and there doesn't seem to be a way out. Luckily, in this case, we know the author doesn't write tragedies, and that the hero will eventually triumph. We just have to figure out how.
God is the author of our lives, and we are the heroes. None of us is meant to be the redshirt extra (in the televised version) that dies early on just to show how dangerous the environment is. We're the ones that face the brutal challenges, but find a way out and through, and triumph in the end. And we can, and will, because God, the author, writes it that way. If we don't go off script, we're going to be fine. :)
Today, let's trust God and remember that he doesn't write tragedies. Resurrection triumphs over death, and Heaven trumps even Armageddon. Let's try to focus on the good and not the bad, and have faith that God will help us through the hard times, if we have patience and stick with his plan. We're the heroes. We will make it. :)
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