trust

Oh gosh, it's as if I've been slapped upside the head and comforted and hugged and reminded of how precious I am all in the matter of a few hours.  Wow.  I'll never be able to write out what I'm thinking or how the connections are made but I'll do my best.

This week I'm teaching a lesson to the Young Women in church about the Second Coming.  Whoa, broad topic to be sure.  Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Lord works miracles in my life.  The Lord is very present in my everyday and sometimes I take it for granted.  Sometimes it's just a blessing here and there, sometimes it's an answered prayer, and sometimes it's a swift proverbial knock to the noggin as if to say, 'See, it was all right there!  I told you not to worry!!'.  And so it goes as I've been preparing for my lesson on the Second Coming.  I've been reminded that I am not in charge, that He is indeed in charge and I needn't worry as long as I remember that.

I first looked over this lesson last Sunday and thought, 'ooh, easy, there's lots of stuff about the Second Coming!' and then I read the lesson and went through some of my favorite lesson help sites and I started to get overwhelmed.  You know me!  I am already freaked out about the apocalypse.  You'll often see me posting on Facebook about the doom and gloom of the economy and the world.  I'm paranoid about it.  I think about it everyday.  I'm constantly vigilant as to what I need to be doing and always feeling like I'm not doing enough.  It's enough to drive someone crazy.  Oh, wait, it DOES drive me crazy.

So, this afternoon I tried a different approach to getting more ideas for my lesson.  I looked up some talks by the General Authorities of the church.  I came across one by Neal A. Maxwell.  And it was phenomenal.  If you want to be encouraged and comforted please go here.  And in reading this talk and the subsequently writing my lesson I came upon this conclusion...

I need to trust in the Lord. 

That's it.  Period.  End of story.

What I need to do keep close to the Lord, follow his commandments, listen to the Prophet, love my neighbor, and keep pushing forward.  I don't have to conquer the world, own an arsenal of weapons, live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, or store of hundreds of years of food and gear.

My priority is to wax strong in my love of the Lord and stay close because the 'men's hearts shall fail them.' (D&C 45:26).  As I trust in the Lord and commit to living the gospel I will be blessed with spiritual guidance on how to proceed. 

Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to sit around on my duff and wait it out.  It doesn't mean that in an emergency I will hunker down in the corner and plead with Heavenly Father to make it all go away.  What it means is that I will prepare spiritually so that I may know what steps to take temporally.  I will pray often and follow the guidance of the prophets.  I will turn to my scriptures and seek answers through prayer.  These things I will do.  I will NOT panic and fear.  I will NOT lose faith in a God who so loves us and continues to prepare us each day as we receive it.