Thoughts on Faith

I have been thinking an awful lot about faith lately (awfully lot? who knows). I think it is because for the first time in life I really don't have much of a plan for the future. I am going to graduate this year and I am single and needing to go to Graduate School and also make money and I don't really know exactly how to do that or what to do or where to go from here.

I thought when I graduated high school that I knew exactly how my life was going to turn out, but let me tell you this - it has been COMPLETELY different than what I imagined. Not that my life is bad. In fact,  most days my life is pretty great. I just never really pictured it being the way that it is. I know, I know, welcome to being an adult, Miss Kate.

I think of all those sweet people that I taught on my mission. They would ask me how they could possibly believe the story of Joseph Smith. How could God possibly appear to a fourteen year old boy? How could that uneducated boy years later translate new scripture from Gold Plates that he found buried in a hill? I used to tell them this - "All God is asking you is to trust him. The knowledge and the confirmation will come. For now you just need to trust in God and keep an open heart. Be patient and trust him. He is asking you to have faith." I feel like God is trying to tell me that same thing in my life right now. All he is asking me is to trust him. That is all he wants for you too.

A lot of people bore their testimony about faith yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. They are right. This is such an interesting time of life for us. The possibilities for life when you are young and in your twenties are absolutely endless. It can be scary and confusing and hard to know where to go or what to do. One day we will all look back, if we are faithful, and see that God was leading and guiding us all along.

It is hard when you plan and try to figure things out and nothing works out the way that you want it to. It is hard when you pray and pray and pray and it feels like it is all for nothing. The point is: God still loves you. He is still listening and he always has your best interest at heart.

So if your life is unhappy or promised blessings are nowhere to be seen that is because it is not the end yet. Your story is still being written. God sees us in terms of forever. Our story is forever. All we need to do is have the faith to get us through right here and right now.

I have also been thinking about why bad things happen to good people. This whole "Josh Powell" thing makes me sick to my stomach. How could God put those two beautiful little boys through that hell? Once again it comes down to faith. God could not send all of us to happy perfect homes because everyone has their agency. That is where the atonement comes is. He sent His Only Begotten Son to the lowest of the low, to experience EVERY PAIN and EVERY SORROW. My favorite line from Preach My Gospel: All that is unfair about life will be made right through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Here are a few words from an apostle of the Lord on faith:

“God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.”
― Jeffrey R. Holland

"Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until Heaven - but for those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ...they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust in God, and believe in good things to come."