This week as I was listening to some music, I was reminded of the importance of letting the Lord and his will guide our lives. As I had my music on shuffle, a song called “Life Changes” by Thomas Rhett came on. I really like this song and have listened to it many times, but this time, it made me think more than it has in the past.
In this song, he talks about different stages of his life, and how he made plans of how he thought he wanted life to go. Every time he thought he had his life figured out, things turned out different than he had planned. I love that in the chorus of this song, he not only accepts that life doesn’t always turn out how he expected, but he is happy about the curveballs he is thrown in life. The chorus says:
“You never know what’s gonna happen. You make your plans and you hear God laughing. Life changes, and I wouldn’t change it for the world”1
The Rich Young Ruler
Because of this song, this week I have pondered about my life and my willingness to accept the will of the Lord. I think that there are some times in our lives when it is easy to follow God’s will. These are usually times when our chosen path or desired outcome happens to already align with what the Lord wants. Other times, accepting and following the Lord’s will can be more difficult, especially if the path or outcome is not what we had envisioned for ourselves.
When I think about this, I am reminded of the rich young ruler. He came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to gain eternal life. Jesus laid out some of the commandments for him, and the man was already keeping the commandments that Jesus explained. I imagine him happy in that moment, ready to tell Jesus how well he had done. Then the following happens:
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.2
I’m sure this is not the answer that this man was expecting. He came to the Lord, righteously seeking guidance and direction for his life. He truly desired to know what he needed to do personally to gain eternal life. Though he had good desires, he was not ready to accept the answer. I’m sure this was a great man who had done many good things in his life. Even so, he was not ready to completely accept the will of the Lord for his life. After seeing his experience, the question that we need to ask ourselves is, how can I accept and be happy with God’s will in my life, no matter the outcome?
Seeking Revelation Daily
Before we can learn to accept God’s will, we first need to learn how to seek His will. Personal revelation is vital to our everyday lives. If we do not live worthy of and seek revelation, we will never know the will of the Lord. As we seek the guidance of the Lord, He will help us to find the path that He wants us to take.
Jesus Christ himself said to us in the Sermon on the Mount,
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”3
I know that this is true and that the Lord will always answer us. This in no way means that he will give us the answer that we desire, or that he will answer us in the way that we expect. Because of this, we must be willing to accept any answer that we receive. It also means that we must actively seek answers from God.
In order to seek and recognize an answer that we receive from God, we need to understand how he speaks to us. Something that has been invaluable to me when seeking to recognize and understand the spirit is Preach my Gospel. In chapter 4, there is a section entitled, “Learn to Recognize the Promptings of the Spirit.”4 In this section, there is a table full of different ways that the spirit can speak to us.
This list is not all-inclusive, but it does lay a foundation of how the Lord may answer your prayers. I encourage you to prayerfully study this list, and seek to better understand how the spirit speaks to you individually. I know from personal experience that as you seek to understand how the Lord speaks to you, not only will you recognize answers and guidance that you receive, but you will improve your relationship with the Lord.
That we Might Not Shrink
Once we learn to recognize the Lord’s guidance and direction, we have to be willing to accept whatever the answer or outcome may be. This comes down to our faith in God. Do we truly believe that God has a plan for us? Do we believe that no matter the outcome, if we are faithful and obedient, things will turn out how they are supposed to? When things are scary or unknown, will we turn away, or will we push forward with faith?
There is a fantastic CES devotional by Elder Bednar that covers this topic.5 If you have 30 minutes sometime, I would definitely suggest that you read or listen to this devotional. There is so much guidance and wisdom in this devotional that I cannot cover it all, but I will discuss a story that has been impactful to me.
In this talk, he tells a true story about a young couple that he knows. Only three weeks after their wedding, when they were 20 and 23 years old, the husband was diagnosed with bone cancer. Both of them struggled through this diagnosis and following surgeries and treatments. Throughout their struggles, they strived to have a good attitude and maintain the faith that God would heal him.
When Elder Bednar visited them in the hospital, the husband asked him for a priesthood blessing. Elder Bednar agreed, but felt impressed to ask some questions before the blessing. Surprisingly, the question that came to Elder Bednar’s mind was, “do you have the faith not to be healed?”
This was not something that they had previously considered. They had so much faith in the Lord’s ability to heal him, and had clung to that faith. It seemed counterintuitive to have the faith not to be healed. The more they discussed it, the more they realized the significance of this question. What it really meant was, do I have the faith to accept the Lord’s will, no matter the outcome. In this case, he was eventually healed, but whether that was his destiny or not, he had faith in God’s plan for him.
Seattle to Argentina
I read this talk for the first time on my mission, and it has guided me so many times since then. I have never had any significant medical diagnoses like in this story, but that does not make these principles any less true in my life.
When I studied this talk for the first time, it changed the trajectory of my mission. At the time, I was serving in Seattle, waiting for my visa to go to Argentina. I had a very difficult first transfer, and I was honestly just waiting for the time when I could leave to the country that I had been assigned. The second transfer came and went, and I was still in Seattle. Though this transfer was better than the first, I was still holding myself back.
At the end of the second transfer, the three other missionaries who were also waiting for their visas received them. I was the only one who was still in Seattle. I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. I wondered why I was still there and when my time would come to get my visa. It was at this point that I read Elder Bednar’s words.
I felt like he was speaking directly to me. I thought to myself, do I have the faith to stay in Seattle as long as the Lord needs me? If I were to never get my visa, would I have the faith to be the best missionary that I could be, and trust that the Lord really wanted me there? As frustrated as I had been, I automatically knew the answer to those questions. I did not decide to go on a mission to go to a foreign country. I went on a mission to serve the Lord and do His will. No matter what he required of me, that is what I would do. This realization and testimony enabled me to work as hard as I could each day to seek God’s will and serve him to the best of my ability.
Choosing to Have Faith in God’s Will
Since my mission, anytime I have struggled to understand God’s will for me, I have thought back to this talk. One constant struggle for me over the years was wondering if I was ever going to be married or have a family. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband and son now, but for many years, I struggled wondering if that day would ever come.
I didn’t meet my husband until I was 27 years old. Thinking about it now, it isn’t that old, but within our church culture, it felt like a long time. I had graduated high school, gone on a mission, graduated college, and been in my career for a few years by then.
Over the years, there were countless times where I prayed, expressing my desire to have a family of my own. I knew that it was a righteous desire, which made it even more saddening and frustrating when it felt like it might never happen. For much of my life, I had been taught about the importance of being sealed in the temple and starting a family. Without those things, I found it very difficult to find my purpose.
This was a constant struggle over the years. Every time I struggled, I tried to refocus myself using Elder Bednar’s talk. Sometimes it was easier to do this than others, but each time, I came to the conclusion that I had the faith to follow and serve the Lord, no matter what his will was for me. Whether that meant that I got married and had a family or not, I knew that I would never deny my faith in God.
To this day, I strive to remember Elder Bednar’s words. I strive to have faith in God’s will, no matter the outcome. Life will not always be easy. We will be thrown curveballs, and sometimes, it might feel like everything is crumbling around us. Through these struggles, I know with all my heart that if we accept and have faith in God and His will for us, we can find peace and happiness.