My hubby has a hard time just being still. He really is the most intelligent & wise person I know. I love that about him....I also love that he has a wild side, like that he gets a thrill when he thinks about endo-ing HARD on his last mountain bike excursion and can't wait to get back up there and be all crazy again. :) He is a mixed bag of nuts! That is for sure! :) I wouldn't have him any other way!
Since I met Ryan I felt that he had a pretty important purpose. I know he is meant for some pretty big things. Over the years, if anything, that feeling has only become more intense. The hardest thing....waiting, or should I say, trusting in the Lord's timing. Right now is not the time. So we are doing our thing right now. However, it is easy to lose focus and get a sense of idleness or missing your mark. It is hard to not know the details, but to just be content and trust that the right doors will open when the timing is right.
Does that make any sense?
Sometimes it is hard to not get lost in thinking we have to MAKE these happen in our own time.
Ryan asked how I can be so content and happy with things now. Here is the thing...I have learned that when I am trying to force things, when it is not the right time, I am filled with confusion, discouragement and frustration. However, when events in our lives happen as they should, like our move to Utah, it flows easily. Everything seems to fall into place just right. Evidence of the Lord's hand in it all. Sure there were moments of stress, but we knew there was a plan in all of it...there always is....in all of our lives. So we trusted the process. Things were happening fast and it was easy to trust and act when action was required.
It is this waiting that might be the end of sanity! :)
Knowing that the Lord is in control, I have learned that there are really only 4 things that are required of me. If I can get these things done each day, I am on the right track. I have every right to be content and happy!
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perfect. Sometimes more effort is required than other times, but Oh, this is important!
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changed my life. Selflessness is not second nature to me, sadly. However, I know that it can be. It just
takes a consious effort on my part! Serving others is serving God! We understand Him more, and
especially our Savior, Jesus Christ, when we serve others. We are filled with His love. THAT is why this
step is vital to me!
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temple is not quite as close. Do what you can! Make a realistic goal for yourself and do everything to
keep it! I live 5 min from one and there are 7 within 30 minutes of my house. Living in an area for nearly
10 years where this wasn't the case has given me such a great appreciation for close temples! There is
power in the temple! It is the Lords house. He is there. The power in the temple is portable, when we go
frequently. I notice a difference in my home. Our children notice a difference...and that is a big deal!
How can I teach them that the temple and being worthy to be there is important, unless they see that it is
important to me! Understanding how important the temple is to me has made it easy to find an hour to 2
hours each week to spend there!
Before Jake was born I was told of a challenge by a Temple President. He challenged people to go to
temple once per week fasting. To this day I know that the miracle that happened in our lives from
taking that challenge was being able to overcome infertility and getting pregnant with our Jake. There is
a whole lot of power and good in fasting with our temple attendance!
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4. SINCERE PRAYER & SCRIPTURE STUDY - Seeking the Lord's will in my life. Acting when action isrequired and trusting the process. This is also where the "Prompting Journal" we talked about yesterday
comes in, and the prayer notebook.
I believe that if I can focus on doing these 4 things....and they are all totally do-able, then I can trust that the course my life is on, is in accordance with the Lord's Plan for my life. If change is required, I will be aware of it through Personal Revelation. If I wake up each day to face a day that resembled the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that....instead of being overwhelmed by the monotony of it all, I am going to choose to find peace in knowing that I am doing just what I should be doing and that all is well! :)
Now, knowing my husband, being the spiritual intellectual that he is, I was SO grateful for a friend of mine that shared a feeling she had while studying the story of Sarah, Abraham's wife, in the Old Testament. I knew this was the missing peace to our conversation. If my hubby can find evidence in the scriptures, or trusting the Lord's timing, then he will commit to it and no waver. That's just how he is. He is good like that.
My friend talked about the story in Genesis 16. The Lord had promised Sarah that she and Abraham would have a child. Had it been 20 years before....maybe 10, either way, Sarah was taking the matter into her own hands. The promise hadn't come to pass, so perhaps she was missing something some where. So, she takes her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham and insists that he take her to wife, so that Hagar can bare him a child.
Sarah took the matter into her own hands, perhaps losing faith in the Lord's timing.
Hagar bares a son, Ishmael, to Abraham. This story IS very interesting. Sarah, through her effort to fulfill the Lord's plan, instead of trusting the Lord's promise and timing, created a bit of a mess. She had hard feelings toward Hagar. When Sarah conceives and has Issac, Ishmael & Hagar try to kill Issac. They despise him.
Sarah has created a bit of a mess. However, the Lord has a perfect plan, and knew that this would happen. He steps in and makes everything right....or in the way it was intended to be.
This story is so interesting! I loved reading it! It goes through Genesis chapter 21, if you are interested in reading it.
We can learn so much from this story. Sarah was a good good woman. The Lord loved her. I believe that ultimately she wanted to do just what the Lord wanted her to do. The problem came when she took the solution upon herself and lost faith that an "old woman" would be able to bare a child.
Sometimes I think the greatest test in this life can be to just "Be Still and know that I am God", as it says in D & C 101:16, but being able to trust that "all flesh is in [His] hands" and that He has a plan for each one of us, a perfect plan....well, I think that is something that we can cling to and something that can give us the ability to choose contentment!
What do you think?
1 comment:
boy oh boy I loved all these things. You are very smart Amy....do you know that? You seem to just get things. It is a gift my deary. Truly a gift.
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