Hi everyone!
Taking a minute to celebrate conference…wasn’t it just amazing? I hope you had the chance to watch it and to feel your faith grow! There is so much inspiration in the words of the Prophet and his Apostles. As my wise companion put it, “If you weren’t inspired, watch it again!”
I had a lot of favorite talks, but one that I’ve continued to think about is Elder Kyle S. McKay, “The Immediate Goodness of God”
“Even while we are patiently waiting upon the Lord, there are certain blessings that come to us immediately.”
He goes on to talk about how one of those blessings is that because of Jesus Christ we can always have hope. Hope that we will eventually be delivered. There is also God’s immediate love. His love is there to carry us through — what sometimes may seem impossible to endure — by allowing us to abide in peace, comfort, and even joy.
This week started out kind of hard. I remember feeling a little overwhelmed, wanting to take a break, to stay inside, to slow down. Some days are like that. Some days the alarm goes off, and rolling out of bed and onto our knees just seems, well… kinda gross.
There are some days where the sunshine is blazing hot or the rain is pouring down, and it would really just be so much easier to stay inside.
So when days like that come around, because they do, and when we have concerns, because we do…What is our next decision?
“The next time you’re feeling or experiencing a negative or diminishing thought that disempowers you, move on immediately. Act independently of that thought. More specifically, act in a way that is in your best interests rather than in a way that is dominated by how you automatically think and feel.” – Gary Bishop
If missionary work, or really life in general, were about making the easy decision, I’m afraid we wouldn’t get very far. It would always be “five more minutes”. We would never have the willpower to turn off our warm showers. We certainly wouldn’t get very far in the gospel, and we might not even be here in the first place. If domination of the “easy decision” traced it’s path all the way back to Eve, she surely would not have partaken of the fruit. In sensing even a fraction of the “harder right” choices that she and Adam would have to make, she would have concluded that staying in the garden would surely be “easier.”
But, thank goodness, easy choices aren’t the point of life. They are definitely not the point of missionary work.
Well, Elder McKay’s talk goes on to say, “I promise that as you turn to Him with real intent and full purpose of heart, He will deliver you from everything that threatens to diminish or destroy your life or joy.”
We have the choice to turn to Christ when things get hard. We have the choice to look for the hope that comes from Christ. It might not always be the easiest choice. Sometimes it does feel easier in times of trial to say, “That’s it. God has abandoned me.” But when we choose to rely on Him, He helps us get through the times when we feel we don’t want to carry on. I know this is true.
Circling back to the beginning of the week, what did I do with that hard day? Act independently of disempowering thoughts.
I prayed for strength and out we went into the sun, which on our bikes 40 minutes later, turned into a downpour.
Now, I had the choice to get upset over the weather, or I could accept what it was and just laugh as we rode past fields of pineapple and buddah head fruit. Being angry would have been easier, but I chose to laugh.
We found ourselves at a cute old member’s house who’s name is Mei Jin. I love her. Not gonna lie, we walked into her house soaking wet, but somehow I was still smiling. After reading scriptures with her, I could see the “immediate goodness of God” in her life and in mine.
God is so good. He knows us completely. He knows our hearts, and He knows right when we’ll need him most. I have such a testimony of this. Being with Mei Jin that day was exactly what I needed. As you do your part, He’ll do His. He knows our challenges, He knows our weaknesses, He knows our hard days. If we but do our best, and if we ask Him for his strength to make up the rest, He will help us to continually choose the harder right until soon that right becomes not too hard at all, but rather the very best choice we ever could have made. He will deliver us from the things that threaten to take away our joy. So, rely on Christ, He gets you tthrough the hard things.
I love you all so so so much!!!
安姐妹
Sister Kara Andersen 