In this blog I've already written about numerous experiences I have had that have taught me to trust in God. Two that stand out the most are my mission experience and my dating and finally meeting Kelly experience. Where there are these few stories that stand out as big experiences that have helped to craft my life, I believe it is the little things that teach a person whether it be trust in God or otherwise.
I have often be asked to help people train to become faster runners. They always want to know what they have to do to take their running to the next level. I think this is very difficult for me to explain because it is so simple. Running competitively for six years and then training for fun for another 15 years on top of that now, it becomes second nature. You learn how to push your body knowing that you will receive the desired results. It is difficult to tell someone how they have to push their body. You can give them times to run, distances to run, even ways to run those times and distances, but if they don't dig down inside and listen to and test their body's limits, they aren't going to improve.
To me, learning or developing any characteristic is the same. One of my favorite scriptures is in the 20th chapter of First Nephi in the Book of Mormon. I this section of scripture we are taught that we are tried to see what we'll overcome. When we overcome we are refined. The verse says, "I refined thee in the furnace of affliction." While affliction comes across as a very hard thing, I believe we experience affliction regularly through our lives. It could be something as simple as getting mad at your friend or boss for something they said to you, or it could be something large like a terminal illness. Each person receives individual "afflictions" from our Heavenly Father to help us learn about ourselves and in-turn learn about Heavenly Father. It is through this we learn how to be like Him. The purpose of mortal existence on Earth.
Some "afflictions" last merely seconds. As we get better at overcoming a certain "affliction" it gets easier to pass through the "affliction." Other "afflictions" can last years either through the difficulty of the "affliction" or our ability to learn the lesson our Father in Heaven is trying to teach us.
I believe that while these larger afflictions might leave a more lasting impression on our minds, that the smaller afflictions actually have more impact over time. Think of a river carving out its riverbed into a deep canyon, or a rough rock becoming smooth from sitting on that same river bed year after year.
I believe that my love of watching people has helped me to learn how to trust in our Father in Heaven. I love to have people around me. I love to throw parties and barbeques to have people around me. However, most of the time when people are with me I am watching them interact with everyone else, or listening to their conversations. The experiences that others have shared with me, or the ways I have watched others deal with their afflictions has built an assurance inside of me that our Father in Heaven is there for us, to try us and to bless us.
Most of all my testimony of the gospel helps me to trust in Heavenly Father. I know deep inside of me that the purpose of life is to leave our Heavenly Father and, having forgotten the time we were with Him before we came to Earth, learn to be like him. The gospel of Jesus Christ provides the road map to accomplish such a task. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the Earth and that its entirety
can be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I also know that our Father in Heaven loves us dearly and wants us to return. Because of this, He has provided Prophets and Apostles, whom He speaks directly with, to reveal His plan to. I know that those Prophets and Apostles are found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The continued effort to strengthen my understanding of the gospel requires trust in our Father in Heaven. Practicing trust in Him, helps me to build upon the trust I already have - just like going out for a training run increases my ability to perform at a different level.
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