Wholehearted
This talk hit me as hard as an NF song! 👊😂
Yeah, I'm a STAN, judge me!
This talk hit me like a ton of bricks and seems to be yet another slap in my face to WAKE UP and CHANGE. Take action ("these words are only words until they actions"). Seek help. Seek God and put him first ("If you got questions or you need advice, then talk to God 'cause He's the only one that listens even when you think He isn't").
Michelle D. Craig literally has BARZZZZ! 🔥💓 I probably only noticed because I've been listening to NF all month long but...he could write a song based on this woman's sermon!
EXCERPTS:
When your faith, your family, or your future are challenged—when you wonder why life is so hard when you are doing your best to live the gospel—remember that the Lord told us to expect troubles. Troubles are part of the plan and do not mean you’ve been abandoned; they are part of what it means to be His. He was, after all, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”
I am learning that Heavenly Father is more interested in my growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with my comfort. I may not always want it to be that way—but it is!
Living in convenience does not bring power. The power we need to withstand the heat of our day is the Lord’s power, and His power flows through our covenants with Him. To lean in with our faith when facing strong headwinds—to sincerely strive each day to do what we covenanted with the Savior we would do, even and especially when we are tired, worried, and wrestling with troubling questions and issues—is to gradually receive His light, His strength, His love, His Spirit, His peace.
The point of walking the covenant path is to approach the Savior. He is the point, not our perfect progress. It is not a race, and we must not compare our journey to others’. Even when we stumble, He is there.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we understand that faith in Him requires action—especially in hard times.
My sister made an assumption based on what she saw, but it wasn’t a reflection of the way things actually were. Isn’t it interesting that we, like Emily, can become so weighed down in sadness or hurt or discouragement or worry or loneliness or anger or frustration that it doesn’t even occur to us to simply do something, to open the door, to act with faith in Jesus Christ?
The scriptures are filled with examples of men and women, disciples of Christ, who, when facing the impossible, simply acted—who got up in faith and walked.
To lepers who sought healing, Christ said: “Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”
They went to show themselves to the priests as if they had already been healed, and in the process of acting, they were.
I also want to say if the thought of taking action amid your pain feels impossible, please let your action be to reach out for help—to a friend, a family member, a Church leader, a professional. This can be a first step to HOPE. 👊😭🙏
I certainly should never think that today’s trial calls into question God’s love for me or let it turn my faith in Him into doubt. Trials do not mean that the plan is failing; they are part of the plan meant to help me seek God. I become more like Him when I endure patiently, and hopefully, like Him, when in agony, I pray more earnestly.
Jesus Christ was the perfect example of loving our Father with all His heart—of doing His will, regardless of the cost. I want to follow His example by doing the same.
I am inspired by the wholehearted, whole-souled discipleship of the widow who threw her two mites into the temple treasury. She gave her all.
Jesus Christ recognized the abundance of her all where others saw only her lack. The same is true with each of us. He doesn’t see our lack as failure but rather as an opportunity to exercise faith and to grow.
When I stumble, I will keep getting up, relying on the grace and enabling power of Jesus Christ. I will stay in my covenant with Him and work through my questions by study of God’s word, by faith, and with the help of the Holy Ghost, whose guidance I trust. I will seek His Spirit every day by doing the small and simple things.
This is my path of discipleship.
And until the day that the everyday wounds of mortality are healed, I will wait upon the Lord and trust Him—His timing, His wisdom, His plan.
Comments
Post a Comment