Food for Thought
Hello everyone! Oh my goodness I am almost 2 months into my mission can you believe it? I can't!! The format of my email will be a little different this week, because I want to just share my thoughts about a topic that comes up a lot when I am talking to people on the street or the bus or on their doorstep.
The question, comment, concern that I often hear on a daily basis is that because "bad things have happened in my life", because "my situation that I am in is terrible" or because "there are just too many awful things happening in the world" then there must not be a God. Because people suffer from disease, pain, crime, and unfair justice-- then there surely cannot be a God.
I've had to reflect on this a lot. And I've come to realize that the character of God has been distorted, twisted, corrupted, and altogether forgotten. Men see God as someone who only takes but never gives. Someone who only abandons but never comforts. As someone who is supposed to take away all of hardships instead of giving us the strength to overcome them. Man has forgotten the loving character of our Father in Heaven.
Take for example a parent with a newborn child. They want to give them everything and do everything for them. They carry the child everywhere, never letting them try to walk or crawl on their own for fear of this child falling over or stumbling. This child will go through life never falling, stumbling, or running into obstacles which would sound pretty good. Except that this child will also never be able to walk, run, jump or move forward. They will never learn how to stand back up after they have fallen down. They will never grow.
Our Heavenly Father has put us down on the earth so that we may stumble and fall but so that we may learn how to stand up and walk! He has promised us to be there to help give us the strength to get up and to take another step forward. He has given us tools and resources, He has promised us comfort and guidance. He blesses us with the ability to come out of something much stronger than we were before but we must rely on Him! We must first act and move forward! He cannot help us up if we have not yet fallen!
Just as there is a force for good; a force of love, there is an opposing force of extreme evil and hate. This force tells lies and corrupts the heart of men and perhaps the biggest lie that he has told is that he does not exist. But he does! And we must not forget! For when we forget that there is someone out there whose sole purpose is to destroy our happiness then we begin to let down our defenses and we become subject to all of his lies and temptations. He turns us away from God, causing us to blame Him for the evil, to look at our burdens and see them as baggage instead of weights to make us strong. He is the source of all evil. Where Satan seeks to destroy our agency, God grants us this most precious gift. And it is only with our agency that we are able to choose to come unto Him. We must first show our faith and follow Christ before we are given the strength to overcome. We must first try to stand and walk only to fall, before we can be lifted up and given the strength to walk.
We live in an imperfect world. This world is subject to and the target of all of Satan's wrath. His biggest lie is that he does not exist! We must not forget! We must build up our armor, our defenses, to combat the terrors he constantly creates. But we do this by coming unto Christ. By following His example. By reading our scriptures, praying to our Father in Heaven, by attending church and taking the Sacrament. We build our defenses by lifting one another's burdens.
There are so many good things in this world. So many blessings we receive and miracles that we look past every day. Count your blessings! Look for these miracles no matter how small and you will see that there is a God. He is there and He loves you more than you could ever know and He is there waiting for you to know Him.
I know this with every fiber of my being. The knowledge that He is there and that he loves me is the foundation of my defense and I invite all of you to begin building yours.
I love all of you and I hope that this gave you a little more hope as you are currently going through trials or struggles of your own. I think about you and I pray for you always!!
Love,
Sister Reed
