Trust In The Lord
After much pondering and study about those verses of scripture I repented and changed my attitude putting my trust in the Lord first and asking him what He wants me to do, where He wants me to go and who He wants me to speak with.
From a talk given in Sacrament Meeting in Adelaide, South Australia
I am glad for this opportunity to share this message today and I pray that the Lord will bless us with His spirit during these few minutes that we will have together.
In 1999, I was a young missionary, and I had a life changing experience that I would like to share with you today. To bring some context, when I went on my mission, I was a recent Church convert with only one year as a member. To become a missionary, I had to overcome several roadblocks, the hardest one was when my dad asked me to leave home and not to come back before I gave up on this idea of serving a mission.
It felt very difficult to adapt to a missionary life at the beginning for the first 2-3 months. I was scared that I did not have enough gospel knowledge to share with others. After this very difficult start I started questioning myself and whether this was worth it after all that I had been through to become a missionary.
After 6 months serving as a missionary, I was extremely blessed by the Lord by helping several people and families join the Church. I thought to myself that I had mastered it, I know how to invite people, I how to help them make commitments, I know how to do the missionary work by myself and so on...
So, let me share then that life changing experience. In February 1999, our mission received a visit from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from Quorum of Twelve Apostle. During his talk he shared some verses of scripture that deeply touched my heart and helped me to repent and really understand the Lord’s way. Those verses are in John 15:1-6 that reads:
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
When I heard those words, especially verses 5 and 6 saying that without Christ we can do nothing I thought to myself "who am I to think that I can do this work by myself??" This is not my work, it is the Lord’s work and without his help as a branch I cannot bear any fruit. For those who haven't had a chance to see Elder Holland in person, he is a big man and that day he felt even bigger to me and I felt so small and inadequate at first.
Right after Elder Holland's talk two scriptures came to my mind.
Mosiah 2:20-21
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
After much pondering and study about those verses of scripture I repented and changed my attitude putting my trust in the Lord first and asking him what He wants me to do, where He wants me to go and who He wants me to speak with. I have a testimony that I felt so much more joy by doing His work in His way and I could see many miracles happening, starting probably with the most important one that was the changing of my own heart.
A few questions come to mind.
Are we living our lives in the Lord’s way?
Am I living my life today in the Lord’s Way?
Are we putting our trust in our own understanding?
Are we making decisions without asking for the Lord’s help?
Those are questions that we can ponder individually and if needed make the necessary adjustments in our lives.
Alma 37:37 reads
37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
So, the most important lesson that I learned with this experience as a young missionary was that I must humble myself before God and trust Him with all my heart. Remember that I said that I felt very small and inadequate after listening Elder Holland's words? At first, I thought that Elder Holland's words were harsh and difficult to hear but I am so glad that I had that experience that shaped my understanding and helped me feel the real love from my Heavenly Father. At the end of that mission conference Elder Holland asked every missionary to line up and said that he would like to shake our hands. When my time came, He grabbed my hand looked in my eyes and asked my first name and still looking in my eyes he said...."Fernando the Lord loves you!"
There are no words that can describe how loved and grateful I felt. I needed those words and instantly I knew that the Lord was watching out me.
In the most difficult moments that I have had in my life, both before and after joining the Church, I have always been blessed with small signs from the Lord coming from different sources such as His servants, friends and the scriptures ensuring that I am not alone on this journey riding by myself with no purpose.
Elder Richard G. Scott once said:
“Humility is essential to the acquiring of spiritual knowledge. To be humble is to be teachable. Humility permits you to be tutored by the Spirit and to be taught from sources inspired by the Lord, such as the scriptures. The seeds of personal growth and understanding germinate and flourish in the fertile soil of humility. Their fruit is spiritual knowledge to guide you here and hereafter.” (Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, General Conference October 1993)
There have been countless occasions where the Lord constantly reminds me of my need of being humble. To illustrate, I went to my mission without having a Patriarchal blessing. A few months after my experience with Elder Holland I was blessed to receive my patriarchal blessing. One of its paragraphs says: "By living a worthy life and following the Lord’s commandments you must share your knowledge of the gospel with others and be humble in all that you do in your callings and responsibilities in the Church."
Once again, I know that The Lord knows us individually and is watching over us.
In closing, I would like to share the words of the hymn I Need Thee Every Hour:
I need thee ev’ry hour, Most gracious Lord.
No tender voice like thine Can peace afford.
I need thee, oh, I need thee; Ev’ry hour I need thee!
Oh, bless me now, my Savior; I come to thee!
I need thee ev’ry hour; Stay thou nearby.
Temptations lose their pow’r When thou art nigh.
I need thee, oh, I need thee; Ev’ry hour I need thee!
Oh, bless me now, my Savior; I come to thee!
I need thee ev’ry hour, In joy or pain.
Come quickly and abide, Or life is vain.
I need thee, oh, I need thee; Ev’ry hour I need thee!
Oh, bless me now, my Savior; I come to thee!
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