Faith Is Taking The First Step Even When You Don't See The Whole Staircase...

Have you ever thought how something so small can grow to be so BIG?

The other day we were at Sister's home in our ward. She had asked her to help her with some yard work. When we got there we found out we were going to be helping plant a small garden. I was so excited! Growing up I remember we always had a garden, but I don't remember ever helping plant it, I always just helped eat it. As we took the seeds in our hands I noticed how tiny they were! And the thought crossed my mind how incredible that was, that something so small, could turn into something much greater.

For example take a sunflower seed. It doesn't look like much does it? But after some nourishment and care, it becomes something so beautiful and magnificent. Or a catipillar... I mean come on, those things are kinda gross looking, but think that they will someday be a beautiful butterfly!

There is a process to growth. It doesn't just go BAM! Sunflower! Or butterfly... but it takes time. Just like the garden we helped plant. We didn't see anything instantaneously, but over time that seed will begin to grow and flourish.

"Compared to God, we are nothing; yet we are EVERYTHING to God." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Just like the seed or the catipillar we too look very small compared to the world that we live in. But just as the seed into the sunflower, we too can and will grow and develop into something magnificitantly beautiful!

"Because of the conflicts and challenges we face in today’s world, I wish to suggest a single choice—a choice of peace and protection and a choice that is appropriate for all. That choice is faith. Be aware that faith is not a free gift given without thought, desire, or effort. It does not come as the dew falls from heaven. The Savior said, “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28) and “Knock, and it shall be [given] you” (Matthew 7:7). These are action verbs—come, knock. They are choices. So I say, choose faith. Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism."

There really is so much power behind the word FAITH. I'm sure you have heard the saying, "FAITH can move mountains." Well it can, and it can do and has done much more. In the Book of Mormon it teaches in Ether... "Behold it was the FAITH of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth...it was the FAITH of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost...it was the FAITH of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites...and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by FAITH, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after."

Lets CHOOSE to have faith, and then CHOOSE to act upon it. I know that Jesus is the Christ, and through having faith in him, "you shall have ^ceternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

 

Letting Go, and Moving Forward

Life. When you think of your life, what comes to mind? The past? The present? The future? If your anything like me, well I guess I should say like I use to be, you think of the past often. Maybe you even long for what use to be, or what could have been. When I first came out on my mission that was me. I was stuck in the past, stuck in what I use to be, not really wanting to put it behind me. Which in a lot of ways held me back from moving forward. Which I think is one of the worst feelings we can have, feeling like we aren't progressing, like we aren't moving anywhere. And it took me a little while to figure it out. To decide that I wanted to move somewhere, really anywhere, I knew I was done with the past, but I didn't want to face the future. Until... I realized what I was missing, the experiences, the endless amount of opportunities, and most importantly the chance I had to change, to become better. I wasn't who I use to be, but I wasn't where I could be either.

My wonderful mission president, President Bunker, shared something with me that really helped me to change, to realize what I needed to do. Right now, picture yourself driving a car. Your passing a lot things, trees, buildings, people, and you even stop every once in a while, you see something that catches you. But eventually you have to keep going you have to move on, and that experience now just becomes another image in your rear view mirror. And just like driving down the road, every once in a while you glance back to see whats behind you. But if you gaze to long on what use to be, what you passed by, you will not see whats coming up, and not only will you miss the opportunities that lay AHEAD of you, but you'll crash, and you'll find that you don't have what you use to have, neither do you have the opportunities that you could have had.

Just like driving a car, it's important to look in the rear view mirror. It's important to know whats behind us, but only to measure how far we've come. If we spend all of our time longing, or dwelling on what we use to be, we will never become who we can be.

I know that Heavenly Father has endless opportunities for all of us. "The best is yet to come!" We must "see afar off."  Heavenly Father has great blessings that await us. It's not always easy to let go of the past, especially when we can't see everything in the future but, we must have faith, and as we do we will grow, we will become better, and we will find greater joy. I know this because I've seen it in my life, as I've let go of who I use to be, and now am becoming who my Father in Heaven knows I can become.