Audience: Fredericksburg Stake Youth Fireside
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States of America
Date: 20 February 2022
Introduce The Topic
As with everyone else today, I will be speaking about the Youth Theme this year, which is “Trust In The Lord.” The theme comes from Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. It is two verses, one with a semicolon, the other with a comma, and so really contains three concepts beyond the first principle to “Trust in the Lord.”
I want to briefly share thoughts about all four principles with you this evening. Allow me to read from the passage.
Proverbs 3:5-6
That is the first principle. And then the rest of verse 5,
and lean not unto thine cown dunderstanding.
That’s the second. Then to verse 6,
6 In all thy ways aacknowledge him,
And then finally the last part of verse 6,
I am going to share a personal story, then an even better story from the scriptures, and hopefully how we can apply the scripture story and the theme to our personal lives.
Lean not unto thin own understanding
I want to first talk about leaning not on your own understanding. Since being in my current calling, I have met a good number of you. I have been in discussions with many of you about how the Book of Mormon can prepare us for the temple. I know you are all very smart, very intelligent young adults.
We want you to use your intelligence to do good things, and to better your life. But sometimes, when trusting in God, we are asked to do things that don’t make sense to us. Choosing God’s wisdom over our own seems to make obvious sense, but is often more difficult than you can imagine. It takes humility and patience.
In all thy ways acknowledge him
I want to share some personal experiences that I hope will lead well into a story from the scriptures. I also hope it will help illustrate the principle of in all ways acknowledging God.
About 10 years ago, my family was in Alabama. We had 4 kids with one on the way when I lost my job. It was the third time in about a 4 year period and we were fully depleted. We had exhausted every bit of savings. We had asked for help from extended family and was at the point we didn’t dare ask for more. We had gone through most of our food storage.
It was a stressful and difficult time, but then two events happened that changed my life.
The house we lived in had a long flight of wooden stairs. I heard somebody tumble from the top, and I quickly ran there. My son Henry at the time was 3 and was laying screaming at the bottom. I was so worried he had broken limbs, but I quickly but carefully picked him up and held him close trying to comfort him. Both of us crying, my wife and I gingerly inspected him and found he at least had nothing broken. In that moment I cried aloud to God, wondering if anything else would be taken from me. The thought I could lose a child overwhelmed me.
Soon after that I became the sickest I had ever been. I couldn’t keep any food down for longer than a few minutes. After a couple of days, one night I was kneeling yet again in front of the toilet. But I had nothing left in me. Yet my body still uncontrollably and very painfully dry heaved over and over again. In that moment it became a metaphor for me. I cried out to God, “I have nothing left to give.” A thought came to mind right then. It was, I can either be angry at God, or I can submit and turn to God. For me that decision was easy. But I can now understand how people choose the other.
I thought I was losing everything, but in reality I had been blessed tremendously through that trying time.
We had no money, but the home we lived in was owned by my wife’s uncle, and he had graciously deferred rent. He made it clear he expected nothing from us through this time and we never had to have an awkward conversation about it.
We had a large bag of rice that seemed to never diminish. The miracle of Elijah with the woman with one last serving of meal, but then whose bowl was never exhausted, became a miracle in my own home. My children never complained of being hungry.
Other than Henry’s tumble down the stairs, and my bout with a stomach virus, we all had our health.
I began to recognize and to acknowledge God’s hand in my life. I knew he loved me, and I knew he loved my family. I know we could have fallen further, but he kept catching us just when we needed it. And being stripped down to the bare basics was an opportunity to learn and to decide what things are most important. Although I’ve always had a testimony of the Gospel, I’m not sure exactly where my commitment level would be without this experience.
He shall direct thy paths
This experience then leads into another experience that I hope illustrates the next principle from Proverbs. He shall direct thy paths. In the process of moving here, I went to the Lord with three questions and received answers in three very different ways.
So eventually, I received a job offer from my current employer. The job would mean moving from Alabama to Virginia. I prayed and asked if I should take the job. I received the immediate impression, “Of course!” The answer was instant and it was crystal clear.
I told my employer I could start immediately, and so I stayed in my childhood home with my parents and began work in about a week.
My next question was where should I bring my family. I again prayed about it. This time the impression I received was to figure it out and come back and ask a more specific question. So I began looking for towns I could afford to live in. When I narrowed that down, I looked at where had the best commuting options. I narrowed it down to Manassas and Fredericksburg. I went back to pray and asked about each one. With Fredericksburg I had a calm, peaceful, and even excited feeling. So I chose Fredericksburg.
Then I had a realtor show me several homes. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had narrowed it down to three, with one in the Chancellor ward, another in the Fredericksburg ward, and another in the Massaponax ward. I prayed again, asking which home was right for my family. Another distinct impression came to me, and it was, “I don’t care, choose whichever one makes you and Rachael happiest.”
This was a beautiful lesson to me. As we seek to let the Lord direct our paths, sometimes he pushes us, sometimes he guides and leads us, sometimes he expects us to do the leg work, and sometimes he even puts full trust in us to choose all on our own.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
There is a story in the scriptures about somebody with three problems, and he also received three different answers.
The Lord commanded the Jaredites to build barges that could carry them over the sea. The brother of Jared found three issues.
- If the barges are sealed tight, how would they breathe?
- What would they do for light?
- How would they steer the ships?
When the brother of Jared asked about air, the Lord gave him an immediate answer. He was told to make opening on the top and the bottom, and to plug them up when there were storms, and to have the top open otherwise.
The question about light we talk about the most. The Lord’s initial answer to the brother of Jared was more saying what would NOT work. Can’t have windows, and can’t have fire, you think of something else. So, the brother of Jared came up with the idea, he did the work and “did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones”. But even having the idea, and doing the work, the brother of Jared still needed the Lord’s help to finish the job. This kind of answer and partnership is what led the brother of Jared to exercise faith, enough faith to even see the pre-mortal Jesus Christ and talk to him face to face.
But the issue I really want to talk about is the steering. Do you recall the Lord’s answer for this issue? Don’t feel bad if you can’t think of it, because the Lord never really gives an answer. All he essentially says about it is, get in the boats, don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it. Trust me.
For me, as somebody who does tend to want to lean unto my understanding, this is the that issue requires the most faith. Sometimes we don’t get to understand HOW the Lord is going to accomplish something. Sometimes we don’t get to fully understand the WHY either.
Could you have gotten on that barge, putting your trust in God that he will take you somewhere better? Do you think that any Jaredites on day 200 of their 344 day journey had any personal doubts? I think for myself, after just a couple of days with no land in sight, with no ability to turn back, or to even know where back is, I’d have a pit in my stomach.
Today, the Lord gives us barges to get on to take us to better places as well. Things like reading the scriptures and attending church. But also following the prophet. Do we know what he’s taught since last General Conference? Do we rationalize away things he has asked us to do? The prophet rarely says, “I command you”, but instead uses other language. Recently, I have heard President Nelson say:
- I invite you, my dear brothers and sisters
- I encourage you to
- I call upon our members everywhere
- We have been charged to
- I urge you
- I plead with you
- Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say
One other barge the Lord asks us to step inside are Standards. Be familiar with the published Standards for Youth. Following those Standards is a way we can show we put our trust in the Lord. These standards have not changed, nor do I expect them to. There may be some you don’t understand why, or want exceptions, or want bent in certain situations. But, I encourage you to have the faith of the Jaredites, get in the safety of the barge we call Standards, and even if you don’t always know why or how, put your trust in the Lord that by following the Standards, he will lead you to a better place.
Conclusion
It is my testimony, that as we acknowledge God in all things, put aside our own understanding, and learn to trust in the Lord, even if little by little, that the Lord will direct our paths, and lead us to a better place, which ultimately is living with God again.
I say these things…