Based on the talk by Elder David P. Homer
In his talk, Elder Homer tells a story of Louisa Pratt and the choices that she faced. Whether it was the daily decisions in caring for her family with her husband serving a distant mission, or the decision to travel on her own with her small children across the country. Each of these choices were opportunities to trust her Heavenly Father.This reminds me of a quote from Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In counseling Harry, Ron and Hermonie, he said “Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.”
Each of the choices Louisa Pratt faced were not easy. Choosing to support her husband going on a mission and traveling alone with her young family across the country were not easy, however they were the right choices for her and her family. The right choices are hard because we don’t currently possess the vision to see what impact they will have or where they will take us. We will dive deeper into that later in the post.
Each of us faces choices like this in our lives. It is in part why we are in mortality. The choice on how we face that opportunity is ours. It is a personal and often painful struggle to make that choice. Learning to trust our Heavenly Father is rarely ever an easy thing.
Elder Homer states, “God trusts us to make many important decisions, and in all matters He asks us to trust Him.”
Trust is not easy for me. There are very few people I trust, and even fewer I trust absolutely. Saying we trust God and showing that we trust God are two remarkably different things. Yes, our words and actions should align. However, showing you trust God in the choices that you make can be difficult.
Right now in my life, I am in the midst of discovering and deciding on what path I should head down. One of the things that He has asked me to do is quit my job and focus on learning about the two paths I must choose from. This is difficult for me. I like my job. I enjoy helping the people I serve on a daily basis. I like my coworkers. I know that quitting is what He wants me to do. It is my choice to do it or not. In choosing to quit my job, I am trusting Him. I am following Him and the direction He has given me.
The opportunity to trust Him and the choices you will have to make will be different from everyone else’s. It will be personal and challenging. Sometimes the process hurts. However, the peace that comes in making that choice, in choosing to Trust Him, is not something that can be gained any other way. The more we choose to trust our Heavenly Father, the more opportunities we will have to trust Him. This is how we build our faith.
Each of us has a personal path through mortality. For each of us, we will face personal challenges and heartbreaks. Learning to trust Heavenly Father is both a part of that journey and also a healing balm to those moments when our hearts break and the world seems to crash down around us.
The more we seek to understand our Heavenly Father and His plan for us, the more we learn who He is and who we are to HIm. It is through learning about Him that trust begins to be built. It is through discovering what He judges right and wrong that we begin to build the boundaries within which we choose to live our lives.
We will always have the choice. It is always ours to make. The gift of agency was given to us so we can choose to grow and change and become the person that our Heavenly Father knows we can become.
We have the choice, the choice is always ours. It’s on us whether we make the choice to trust Him and the path that He has for us.
Agency, belief, and trust blend to create the faith that will help us grow and change and become someone better than we were.
Agency and faith together lead to trust.
This is often a simple process, but it is rarely ever an easy one. We seek Him in our daily prayers and scripture study. We look to Him in our thoughts throughout the day. We think of Him as we make the decisions that will affect and change our lives. The big decisions like education, marriage, career, and children, and the smaller personal decisions that each of us make to change and be better than we used to be. The boundaries that we choose to set on how we choose to let people treat us or what foods and drinks we will or won’t partake of.
In my experience the hardest battles and challenges I have faced have been within myself. Choosing to think differently, the relationships that I choose to maintain or let go. The decision to act on what I have been directed to do. Every single one starts and often ends as internal dialogue, decision, and action.
For me, this is often visualized by being led to the edge of a cliff and asked to step off. I have faced that cliff many times in my life. I am sure that I will face it many more times before I cross the veil and return home. I know though that in that moment one of two things will happen. I will step onto solid ground or I will learn how to fly. There are many times that I have stepped off the edge of that cliff and discovered that I had wings to fly instead of solid ground.
Our thoughts and plans do not always align with our Heavenly Father’s. It is in those times that we are asked to trust Him. To trust His plan and direction over our own. The submission of our will to Him is not only about trust. It is also about obedience, consecration, and the opportunity for His sanctification.
Let’s unpack that. We have a limited view of our life and the paths it can take. Let alone the paths that are most important for us to take. Our Heavenly Father can see where we have been, where we are, and where we can go and who we can become. In Isaiah 55:8-11 we are told,
“8- For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9- For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10- For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11- So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
What Heavenly Father sees, knows, and understands goes far beyond what we can see, know, and understand as we travel the paths of mortality. In part we are striving to think the thoughts as He does and have the ways He does.
In verses 10 and 11 we learn how He sees us. We are not like the rain and the snow. They fall and their purpose is to water and nourish the earth. For us, we are to learn the word that goes forth from His mouth. Unlike the rain and snow, in doing so it “does not return unto me void”. Instead it fills us, teaches us, directs us, and in so doing, “it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in that thing whereto I sent it.” The end result in trusting Him, in following Him, in learning to be like Him is we return to Him and we are through that growth prospered in the moment that we are in here in mortality.
In having the faith to trust Him, and showing that trust by the choices we make, we are also being obedient to His will for us and the covenants we have made with Him. By being obedient, by actively working to live His plan for us, we are consecrating our time and our lives to Him. In doing so we are giving Him the opportunity to Sanctify not only our efforts but us as well. The process we go through to do this builds our trust in Him and cycles back around in the next choice we are faced with. In the end the goal is we become internally, in our thoughts and desires, and externally, in our actions and the way we live our lives, better people. We become more like our Heavenly Parents. Each cycle brings us closer to being like Them.
The challenge I have found in my life is finding the time to put it all into action. It is very easy to be busy. With work, family, friends, and all of the things we are constantly told at church that we should be doing, it can be difficult to take the time to seek the quiet moments when He speaks to us. To give Him the time to teach and direct us through personal prayer, scripture study, temple attendance, or simply the time when we slow down and seek to be in His presence.
This is a large part of why I quit my job. As a small second income I recognize I can do that. Not everyone can. If you can’t, find small ways to seek His presence and His direction for your life. Sometimes if I am really struggling, I will find a quiet place and write a letter from Him to myself. I have found that this works well for me. The words flow and I receive the direction I need. I also do this when I visit the temple. I carry a journal with me each time and write what I receive while sitting in the dressing room. Small moments can have a big impact on your life if you allow them. A drive when you are alone, or the time spent in the shower can be times you can seek His direction in your busy life.
Elder Homer said, “The choice to submit our will to God’s is an act of faith that lies at the heart of our discipleship. In making that choice, we discover that our agency is not diminished; rather, it is magnified and rewarded by the presence of the Holy Ghost, who brings purpose, joy, peace, and hope we can find nowhere else.”
I testify that this is true. The peace and joy that we seek is within our reach. Seek to know and follow our Heavenly Parents and Savior Jesus Christ and you will find the peace you seek.
