Well, if there is one thing I have really come to see that is pretty cool in the mission it is seeing how challenges work. I guess for every person it is difficult to see past when you are in the middle of a challenge, but I guess I never knew I’d be able to get this type of perspective of just how astute and clever Satan is.. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME someone is beginning to make correct choices, something gets in the way.
Here, some (usually distant) relative dies or gets sick, there is a fight with a spouse, a friend (that’s really not a friend at all) strengthens vices, extending invitations to things that lead to the opposite of progress, something comes up at work, someone asks the person to run an errand, there is no one to watch the house, people come in to visit or any other number of things. Crises especially like the death and work schedules being switched happen normally in life, but I am convinced that the way that it comes up here is NOT natural. The timing is RIGHT before someone is going to do something good, or right as they are getting started in good habits. It doesn’t even have to be a bad thing that happens.. something just happens to knock someone out of their diligence, to distract them. Most times they don’t recognize it as what it is and before they know it, they have lost the light that they did have or have become so involved in other things that they forgot what had before meant so much to them. Their eyes dull and they can’t remember what it was like being where they had been.
I was reading about this just the other day.. It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God - to feel the light. To receive personal revelation. However, that is given according to the heed and diligence which they give unto Him. The Lord teaches us little at a time as we listen to what He has to give to us and seek to be guided by His divine counsel in humility. In that way we learn wisdom. The man that stops being diligent, those who feel they know it all and stop doing the maintenance work for their faith find their hearts hardening... as Alma said `the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word´ (because their hearts aren’t open there is no room to grow) and this happens `until they know nothing concerning his mysteries´ and from there are taken captive by their own selves and are led carefully away by the adversary.
I can say I’ve had experience in both sides of this, both the growth and the sink into ignorance. Just cuz we learn something once does not mean that it stays or that we know it all. Heck, do I remember Accounting class? Of course not! I studied it for one semester about.. 2-3 years ago. I didn’t do the maintenance work for it so now I’m useless to anyone in this subject. But hey I thought I knew everything at the time. I felt harassed by the need to study and `busy work´ and taking tests constantly cuz I already understood it. But now, I wouldn’t be able to do a fraction of what I learned. Because I didn’t keep maintenance up. And because I didn’t open myself to really absorbing what was given to me and didn’t allow the skills of accounting to really develop within me. I don’t even remember the main principles of even my favorite classes. This kind of trend doesn’t just apply to academics...it applies to anything. And it is crucial in the gospel. Because it’s the maintenance work and constant reliance on the Lord that helps you to persevere, to overcome the trials that come.
In the mission, we need the magnification of the Lord on our efforts. I am incapable of doing a work like the one I’m doing relying on just my own efforts. It wouldn’t work. But since we are in the Master´s service, we are entitled to His help. Like they say, the higher the calling the higher the opposition that comes. Eternal lives depend on us. Christ faced opposition, and He said that facing opposition would be the lot of those He called. The forces arrayed against us will try not only to frustrate our work but to bring us down. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
I was just thinking about what that meant and really, I have never seen anything like this before. We see both sides - people be strengthened by the gospel and others drop like flies. I feel like the watchman described in Ezekiel - the people set up a watchman and he would blow the trumpet to warn the people when the enemies were coming. Those that heard and decided not to listen, sad day. Eze 33:9 - `if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.´ Or like Lehi in his vision of the tree of life. He was calling to the people, exhorting them to hold to the rod (to keep up the maintenance work) and promising them blessings but they would lose sight of real joy and would go wandering strange paths and getting lost. Imagine the sadness he must have felt seeing it all unfold before him as he saw where those strange paths would lead them. It’s kind of like that as missionaries. This level of opposition isn’t a coincidence. Something always happens. It is the chosen who take the challenge and move past it, holding to the rod with a hope for a better day. And they receive it. It’s kind of cool to be able to see the world in sort of an omniscient view as we get so involved in the lives of others to help them along. To warn, to teach, to inspire through the powers of the Holy Ghost.
I felt like sharing this today cuz it’s what we have been seeing. The things that have been passing are not coincidence. But we take strength in knowing we have played our part according to how the Lord would have it done. Sometimes it is hard to deal with the fact that people have agency to choose whether to accept His message. Our responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a correct choice. Some may not accept the message even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. It happens. When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.
There is just one more thing I wanted to share before I go.. and that’s from 2 familiar comparisons in the scriptures. The first is Alma 32:27-43. This compares faith to a seed. A seed has to be nurtured and taken care of. Not only till it sprouts and grows a bit, but continuing through when it has become a great fruit tree. Likewise, we have to do our maintenance and nurturing spiritually. I like this comparison because it describes the process of growth. Next we go to Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23. I like this parable a lot because it shows us the results of the process we read about in Alma. Those that don’t even entertain the idea of growth just fall aside quickly. Those that at first are enthused and have a jump start at progress, but didn’t do the maintenance work and so the minute a trial showed up they fell away. Those that let vices or other cares dominate them are choked, trapped by those things. They will never see past those spines until they get out. And then you have those that did do the maintenance work. They cultivated and nurtured the ground and seed so that it would continue growing strong. These passages of scripture are worth studying.
Anyways, it’s been a good week. We are preparing for conference. I have a big testimony in the power of the conference to change lives and work miracles, both personally and how i have seen it here in Nicaragua. We are preparing a few families to go and it has been the primary focus of ours recently to get people going to this conference. Love it!
Stay sweet. Stay strong.
10 years ago
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