I know this is long it is just my talk and I wanted to put it here. Read it if you want to.
A few years ago my mother and father in law were planning on going a mission. In fact they had been planning on going on a mission together for much of their lives. They had raised 8 great kids(one of whom I am particularly fond of), worked hard all of their lives, saved for their retirement and then were going on missions. They put all of the paperwork in and just after Christmas they got their mission call to the Washington DC temple. That was the same day my mother in law had a heart attack and died a few days later.
Have you ever made plans, good plans, plans that you know your Heavenly Father would be happy with and then out of nowhere something happened that changed them: a car accident, the loss of a job, a sickness, a death, the decisions of a loved one, a drop in the stock market? Things can happen to us that will change life as we know it or life as we had it planned.
In Luke chapter 1 there is a story in the scriptures about a young woman who had lived a very good life and had good plans. She had her whole life ahead of her when the angel Gabriel came to her and declared
Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
The plans that Mary had made for herself changed that instant when she replied, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.” In humbly uttering those few words Mary showed her acceptance of the Lord’s will and her trust in Him to make more of her life than she had planned.
Do you think that it might have been frightening for Mary to have to tell the one she loved that she was going to give birth to the Son of God? Do you think that it might have been scary for her to leave her home and travel, pregnant, on a donkey, to another land? Do you think that it might have been terrifying to not be able to find a place to stay knowing that your baby would soon be born? To all of these experiences that Mary might have thought, no that one is just too hard I can’t do it she continued on with faith and trust in our Heavenly Father’s plan for her.
It seems like every time you turn around these days you hear about really hard things that people are going through. One day when I was feeling overwhelmed with such things I was reminded of the hymn How Firm a Foundation the third verse reads
Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed
For I am thy God and will still give the aid.
I’ll strengthen thee help thee and cause thee to stand
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.
Even though we have to go through hard things, things that may seem impossible for us to handle our Father in Heaven is there to make us stronger, and help us when we just aren’t strong enough. Through much of the hard things we experience in life comes greatness.
Joseph B. Wirthlin said that “the simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest up to Him.”
What can we learn from Mary’s example? When things happen to us whether great or small that change the plans we have made for ourselves remember we do not need to fear, we can trust our Heavenly Father and remember that He is helping us work toward much more than a good retirement. He is preparing us for Eternity. In Proverbs 3:5-6 it says, “trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Has something ever happened to you that from that point on changed life as you know it? You meet that one person. You remember to check the stove at the just right moment. Money just seems to come when you really needed it. You find something that you are really good at. You are healed from what could have been life threatening. You find out that you really are strong enough. You learn about a babe that was born in Bethlehem so many years ago.
Because Mary was willing to trust in our Heavenly Father and utter the words, “be it unto me according to thy word,” her Son came to save us all and uttered the words, “I am the resurrection and the life,” “He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
