Good morning brothers and sisters,
I find it crazy to think that in
just 10 short days I will officially be a full time missionary, and because of
that, I get to share with you my favorite scripture and my testimony today. My
favorite scripture is found in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah chapter 7 verse 33.
At this point, Ammon and a couple other brethren have made their way to the
land of Lehi-Nephi, and a man name Limhi is king. At this time, King Limhi’s
people are in bondage to the Lamanities…King Limhi was a righteous king who
wanted to do what was right. In Verse 33 at the very end of the chapter, King
Limhi gives his people great advice, It reads (he says):
But if ye will turn to the
Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with
all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and
pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
I love this scripture because of
how simply the concept is laid out. We are told exactly what we need to do, and
we are told the blessing that comes along with it. In this scripture we are
promised that the Lord will deliver us out of bondage. This doesn’t mean when
we are taken by someone and tied up, or enslaved by someone else. Of course we
can look at it that way, but it can also mean that he will deliver us from hard
things, times when we are struggling, when we see no way out, when we are
afflicted and feel broken. He promises that he will help us in our time of
need, when we are lost or alone and have no where else to turn, he will be
there, and he will relieve us from what is holding us back.
For this blessing to occur in our
lives, The Lord asks us to do a few things.
Number
one: turn to him with full purpose of heart.
He wants us to look to him in everything that we do. He
wants us to recognize his hand in our lives and appreciate what we have. The
Lord wants us to really give everything we have to him, our time, our effort,
and most importantly, our hearts. He wants us to want to look towards him, to
love, trust and to serve him with our whole being. Even when we feel like we
might not have anything to give, nothing to offer, he just wants to see us try.
Number two: put your trust in him
The Lord wants to know that we accept his will, that
even when hard times may be at hand, that we lean unto him as the one who we
can trust. Even when our path seems cloudy, we should always remember that no
matter the amount of visibility, the Lord will get us through. It might not be
the way we want, or the way we expect, but we will be brought through with
greater growth and understanding of God’s love for us. How comforting it is to
know that he can see the beginning to the end, that he knows what path to lead
us down to get us to where we want to go. It’s up to us to trust him, and not
worry about anything after that. It isn’t as easy as it sounds, but the Lord
recognizes our efforts. I love the scripture found in Proverbs (it reads): “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine
own understanding.“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths”.
The third and
final thing that the Lord asks us to do, before he promises to deliver us out
of bondage would be to: serve him with all diligence of mind
We must be willing to serve, now
this could be in the form of a full time mission, your church calling, or even
helping your family or your neighbor, in Mosiah chapter 2 it says “When ye are in the service of your
fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” It is as simple
as that. But we must do it with all diligence. We must put everything we have
into serving. We have to look for the chances to reach out and uplift and make
someone’s day brighter every chance that we see. That isn’t always an easy
task. I find it hard sometimes to help others when it would be so much easier
to do something else more selfish. But the blessings that come from serving
others are tremendous and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to spend 18
months focused completely on others and making their lives better and bringing
them closer to Christ, while coming closer to him myself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last part of the scripture that
I want to mention is a part that is easily overlooked. Let me read the end of
the scripture again
“..If ye do this (this being the
three points we just talked about), He will, according to his own will and
pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.”
ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL AND
PLEASURE.
Brothers and Sisters, the Lord
wants to help you. He wants to make your life easier, he wants to direct you in
your life. But he will not take away your agency. As you look to the Lord and
show him that you want him in your life by following Christ’s example of service
and diligence, by trusting his will, and doing all you can to dedicate yourself
to him whole heartedly. He will GLADLY bring you peace and comfort and deliver
you out of the binds that hold you down.
But if ye will turn to the
Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with
all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and
pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
It’s a simple scripture but as you
look into it more, you can see that it give us instruction to help us
continually move forward.
***TESTIMONY***
Until next time,
-- Sister Wagner
No comments:
Post a Comment