Thursday, May 23, 2013

Step 3 Trust in God

KEY PRINCIPLE: Decide to turn your will and
your life over to the care of God the Eternal
Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
 
Step 3 in conversion. To become more strongly converted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and better understand His atonement and His plan for us. For me this means that I need to make sure I'm doing all the little things correctly like reading my scriptures daily, praying many times a day, being present physically, mentally and spiritually at Church. It's interesting how I've never faltered with 'the big stuff' (namely this addiction) first, it has always been that I stop reading my scriptures or get out of the habit of praying or I don't focus on having the spirit with me at church and then the big stuff comes and I'm not adequately prepared. It's the gateway sins that lead on into bigger sins.

On the plus side the atonement is real. Christ did pay everything, we just need to show our gratitude by striving to live the best we can. These past few weeks have been interesting for me, because as I have strived to come closer to Christ and more closely abide by His teachings my inactive father (been inactive for almost 3.5 years, and probably would have been longer had his kids not gone to church or if he hadn't felt socially obligated to do so) was meeting with the missionaries and following through on some commitments he was given essentially gave God a chance to 'prove himself'. I've hoped for and prayed for something like this to happen to him all my mission and the hope and chance was finally there but sadly he didn't receive or didn't recognize his answer. This normally would bother me and shake my faith, but there have been too many miracles in my life to ever be able to deny His existence but I now understand through this experience and this process that timing truly is everything. That He knows when we are ready to learn and grow and act upon his answers. He's responded to me when I've and real intent and without it my prayers aren't quite the same. I love Him and He loves us and always has our best interests in mind even though we may not see it in the moment things will work out for the better as we trust in Him.