God makes promises, and He keeps them. There's no arguing that. Sometimes it's a little hard to believe though. Like when He promises you the job you want, but nobody hires you for the job you want. Like when He promises health and prosperity to those who keep the commandments, but a friend suddenly has liver failure at the age of 22 and passes away.
God sees fit to try our faith, doesn't He?
Without the trial, how will we ever learn to really trust Him?
The benefit of the doubt is that when God makes a promise, there is no room for doubt.
Doubts aren't (or shouldn't) be big enough to displace the testimony that comes from an answer directly from the Lord, even when He tries our faith.
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Friday, March 1, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Carmody and the Egyptians
Happy Sabbath.
Today was a day to learn to trust the Lord and give Him the benefit of the doubt. He knows what He is doing. He's in charge. He knows the way that His plan is supposed to work.
Today was a day to learn to trust the Lord and give Him the benefit of the doubt. He knows what He is doing. He's in charge. He knows the way that His plan is supposed to work.
Moses got all the way up to the Red Sea, and then the Israelites started to complain, saying that they would have rather died in Egypt because at least they would have had a grave. They doubted. They had seen so many miracles and knew the promises the Lord had made to take them to a better land. But they forgot, and they doubted.
13 ¶And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will ashew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Who are we to doubt the Lord?
The benefit of doubt is that it is not meant to be permanent. Doubt has its small place. It can be replaced by faith. Faith is today and tomorrow. Faith is forever. Faith is eternal. Faith is for the future.
My dear friend Carmody Sagers passed away today. She was bright and strong, a disciple of Christ and one who found the beauty in small things like sunsets and butterflies. She taught me that every sunset is important. She taught me that every person is important. I love her as one of my closest friends; she will be remembered for her kindness and wisdom. She fought a very hard battle and liver failure proved to be too much. She passed peacefully to the other side, and instead of doubting the plan that the Lord has for her, I believe that she is okay now. One of my professors actually said that if she's only 22, and God says that it's time for her to go back to Him, then she learned everything she needed to learn in mortality. It means that she's ready to live in the presence of God. She will never have to fight those battles against pain and sickness again. She "shall see them again no more for ever." Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Carmody will live again.
Let us not doubt the Lord, but forever be faithful and full of faith.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Hospital
I didn't expect to ever start a blog. I didn't expect that I would ever have a reason. I didn't expect to be in the hospital today. Looks like life is full of surprises.
For starters, I have a good friend who's in the Intensive Care Unit with acute liver failure and lung problems. She's comatose and there's about a one in three chance that she makes it with no lasting damage. It's still pretty surreal, the whole situation. It's a very frightening and off-setting thing to see one of your best friends hooked up to machines to keep her breathing. It's a very real possibility that she can die sometime this week, but that's not what this blog is about. I hope you got that by the title.
A close friend of mine was skyping with her boyfriend recently. They had set up a skype date of sorts. She had had other plans that would keep her occupied until the time they'd set for the skype date, but she was really looking forward to talking to him. While they were talking, she was talking with her roommates about their plans and activities and they asked why she wasn't going to the things they wanted to go to. She said that she just hadn't planned anything and didn't really feel like going. This poor girl, her boyfriend thought she was talking about the time they'd set for their skype date when she said that she hadn't planned anything; he felt like she was self-conscious or ashamed of him or that she didn't care enough to mention to the roommates that she'd set apart time for him. When she mentioned the time when she hadn't planned anything, she was referring to a portion of the time during her "other plans that would keep her occupied" in which she just wouldn't be doing anything with the rest of the group.
I heard her say to him: "Can't you just give me the benefit of the doubt?"
I began to wonder, How often am I that boyfriend? Do I ever do that as a friend? Do I jump to the worst possible conclusion with friends and strangers and neighbors, etc.? Do I do that to God? Do I trust Him and give Him the benefit of the doubt?
So now I'm here in the hospital. The doctors aren't sure that she'll make it. In fact, they're about 65% sure that she won't make it. It's a long shot, but she can make it and recover and come out of all of this perfectly okay.
Since God is the Creator of everything (that includes the Earth, me and my friend, her liver, this hospital and...well, everything), I figure it's a pretty good idea to leave things in His hands and trust that He'll take care of things. He teaches us that "If ye have faith, and doubt not.... all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt 21:21-22). Who am I to think that He won't be able to take care of things. It doesn't do me any good to doubt. It doesn't do any good for others if I doubt.
The benefit of any doubt is that it's just one side of the coin, and we can turn it over whenever we decide to do so. The other side of this coin is life, smiles, friends, happy songs and inside jokes. The other side of that coin is waiting to be looked at.
For starters, I have a good friend who's in the Intensive Care Unit with acute liver failure and lung problems. She's comatose and there's about a one in three chance that she makes it with no lasting damage. It's still pretty surreal, the whole situation. It's a very frightening and off-setting thing to see one of your best friends hooked up to machines to keep her breathing. It's a very real possibility that she can die sometime this week, but that's not what this blog is about. I hope you got that by the title.
A close friend of mine was skyping with her boyfriend recently. They had set up a skype date of sorts. She had had other plans that would keep her occupied until the time they'd set for the skype date, but she was really looking forward to talking to him. While they were talking, she was talking with her roommates about their plans and activities and they asked why she wasn't going to the things they wanted to go to. She said that she just hadn't planned anything and didn't really feel like going. This poor girl, her boyfriend thought she was talking about the time they'd set for their skype date when she said that she hadn't planned anything; he felt like she was self-conscious or ashamed of him or that she didn't care enough to mention to the roommates that she'd set apart time for him. When she mentioned the time when she hadn't planned anything, she was referring to a portion of the time during her "other plans that would keep her occupied" in which she just wouldn't be doing anything with the rest of the group.
I heard her say to him: "Can't you just give me the benefit of the doubt?"
I began to wonder, How often am I that boyfriend? Do I ever do that as a friend? Do I jump to the worst possible conclusion with friends and strangers and neighbors, etc.? Do I do that to God? Do I trust Him and give Him the benefit of the doubt?
So now I'm here in the hospital. The doctors aren't sure that she'll make it. In fact, they're about 65% sure that she won't make it. It's a long shot, but she can make it and recover and come out of all of this perfectly okay.
Since God is the Creator of everything (that includes the Earth, me and my friend, her liver, this hospital and...well, everything), I figure it's a pretty good idea to leave things in His hands and trust that He'll take care of things. He teaches us that "If ye have faith, and doubt not.... all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt 21:21-22). Who am I to think that He won't be able to take care of things. It doesn't do me any good to doubt. It doesn't do any good for others if I doubt.
The benefit of any doubt is that it's just one side of the coin, and we can turn it over whenever we decide to do so. The other side of this coin is life, smiles, friends, happy songs and inside jokes. The other side of that coin is waiting to be looked at.
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