Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along. 😌

These last couple of weeks have left me speechless. Life has kicked my trash. As I sit and ponder of the experiences and the afflictions that I’ve been called to bear as of late, I think of the emotions I’ve had that have been so abnormal to me. The frustration, the anger, the impatience, and the sadness of how I feel about my life, and where it is going. It has all been so new to me. This foreign experience that I’ve never had to worry about. 

I like to think that I am a pretty happy person 90% of the time. The other 10%? The emotions I mentioned above. As I was sitting at the kitchen table yesterday morning listening to a conference talk on patience, I received a spiritual slap in the face. Elder Wirthlin’s talk entitled “patience, a key to happiness” was the talk I was listening to when the spiritual slap came along. There was a part in his talk that said “a word about patience with our Heavenly Father and his plan of eternal progression. How incredibly foolish to be impatient with him, the Father of our spirits, who knows everything and whose work and glory, through his Son, Jesus Christ, is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than his. Either way we are questioning the reality of God’s omniscience” (Ensign, Oct. 1980, p. 28).

I immediately paused the talk, bowed my head and asked for forgiveness from my Heavenly Father. I do not know what is best. I cannot see the big picture. Our loving and patient, all knowing and kind, Father in Heaven does. He knows what’s best. He can see the big picture- the beginning to the end. 

I sat there pondering on the words that had been spoken. The spirit testified to me that God is aware of me. He knows what I am going through. He is so patient with me in ALL things, even when I am so impatient with Him. It is hard going through this mortal journey. I don’t know why it always surprises me with how difficult life can be.  But as I reflect back on my life, the short 25 years of experience I’ve had, it’s ok to not know what is going to happen next. It’s ok to not know what God has in store. It’s ok to fall short and to get back on the path. You know why? Because of HIM. He loves us so much! And even though it kills me sometimes to not know what is going to happen next in my life, as long as I am keeping the commandments, choosing the right, and trying to be better and do better daily, He will take care of ME. And that’s enough. 

So when you think all is lost, don’t give up. Just keep on keeping on. Things will work out! God has a plan for YOU, just as He has one for me. And it’s PERFECT. So continue to TRUST, have FAITH, and keep hoping. Because when the time is right, you’ll know.