Trust in the Lordby Candace Salima | More from this Blogger 25 May 2006 10:52 AM "We all face choices in the course of our lives, some of them with a siren song of wealth and prosperity; others appear less promising. Somehow the Lord has watched over and guided my choices, although it was not always evident at the time. . . . "As I look back upon my life, I do so with a measure of wonder and awe. Everything good that has happened, including my marriage, I owe to my activity in the Church."" (Gordon B. Hinckley, "Seek Ye the Kingdom of God," Ensign, May 2006, 81) Trusting in the Lord is sometimes a lot harder than it sounds. Really, trust in the Lord should be easy. He's God after all. We know He loves us and we know He is pulling for us every step of the way. We know He is doing all He can to help - so why is it so difficult to trust that He really does know what is best. Looking over the last six months of my life, I never would have guessed that at our age, my husband and I would spend the bulk of that time sick and in the hospital. Never would I have guessed that at our age we would be struggling financially. Never would I have guessed we would be childless. Nevertheless, this is the situation we find ourselves in. Looking around at the circumstances of our life, it should be easy to turn everything over to the Lord, after all, we haven't done such a great job lately. So, why is it that we, as the human race, find it so difficult to trust in the Lord? Literally, I think it is because He only exists in the hearts of a few, and in the hearts of those few, they really don't see Him as a tangible, flesh and bone God, but as some ethereal, other worldly kind of being. Because He is not tangible in their minds, it is too easy to take everything upon ourselves and struggle along. Let me say this . . . He exists. He did pay for our sins, griefs, sorrows, pains, illness and more. He did break the bands of death. He has, through all His actions, both mortally and heavenly, provided a clear and distinct path to Him and glory. Should He choose, He could stand before you and you would be able to touch and feel flesh and bone. If we cannot see Him, it is because we are not looking. If Jesus Christ is not real to you, make Him real and then trust that He really does know better than you. The prophet Alma urged, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day' (Alma 37:37)." Learn more about Candace Salima  Candace E. Salima was born right smack dab in the middle of twelve children. Relevantlds tags User Comments Linda w (20) 26 May 2006 07:26 PMIt is hard to see the vision at times, that God is directing our lives when we don't seem to be moving ahead. I know it is for me. I watch my children, who are living the gospel, struggle fianncially, and I think, "Hey that's unfair, they should be blessed for their obedience". But I don't know God's whole plan. Maybe they need five or six years of struggle to appreciate their success later on or to have compassion for the poor later on etc. My sister who had cancer before me, told me she used to pray that God would take away the pain. He never did. But what he did, was to come be with her as she endured it. And now that she is in remission she is much closer to him for being her companion during that. But it is very hard to have compete trust, especially when things don't seem to be going well.  Candace Salima (1604) 28 May 2006 06:12 AMIt is interesting to find, across the board, that those who turned to the Lord in times of great trial are the ones that have developed a deeper and closer relationship to Him. Hmmm . . . interesting isn't it? Thanks for your comment, Linda W.  LadyElizabeth (290) 08 Jun 2006 08:01 AMThe Book of Mormon teaches that in yielding our will to the Lord's we become sanctified. (Helamam 3:35) It takes great faith to let go and let the Lord guide us and to accept His plan for our lives, but when we do, we find ourselves on a greater path. When we live for ourselves, we simply exisit physically. When we live the Lord's plan, we live our mortal mission. It's like the scripture in JST Mark 8:37-38: "For whomsoever will save his life, shall loose it;" We simply give up our own expectations and plans for our life and ask the Lord what He would have us do--then DO IT. That's hard for a lot of people. Imagine returning to the Lord for an interview after your mortal life was finished. Can you imagine Him asking what you did with your life and telling you that He didn't send you to Earth to have a nice house, fine vehicle, perfect image, perfect body, to aquire possesions and hoard them, but to serve as He directed you. To many of us focus on living well in the mortal world and we forget that we promised to fufill a specific mission for the Lord while here in mortality. Part of trusting in the Lord means we need to redirect our focus onto what He wants for us and let go of our expectations that are constantly reinforced from the world. We need to remember that we are here for a short time only and that what we do here and the choices we make here will effect our eternal outcome. I can truely say that life is SO much better when you live the Lord's plan for you instead of what you want or think is best for you. It may not be eaiser, or nicer, (it may be) but it is eternally better. 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