Step 3: Trust in God (Part 2)

Key principle: "Decide to turn your will and your life over to the care of God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

Action Steps:
1. Attend sacrament meeting; review and renew baptismal covenants.
2. Decide to trust and obey God; change what you can change; accept what you cannot change.

In Step 3, we make the decision to turn ourselves completely over to God. We give up our will and follow God's. That requires a lot of sacrifice, but we have faith that He will give us strength. Some of us have trust issues and aren't sure how to trust God. Well, I'd say that is normal.

To start with, pay close attention to the sacrament prayers. During the sacrament, we renew the covenants we made at baptism, and the prayer reminds us what we covenanted.

We
- remember the body and blood of the Savior (Atonement)
- witness that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ
- promise to always remember Him
- promise to keep His commandments
And as we do this, we are promised to always have His Spirit to be with us.

Something that I love, that I just recently realized too, is that we witness that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ. We don't witness that we will do it perfectly, rather, we witness our humility and submission to Christ. We witness that we are willing to stand in His name, do as He would do, act as He would act.

Well, what is one thing that Christ did best? He trusted God. Think about that. Think about how Christ came to earth, His role in the plan. Think about all the pain and suffering He went through, and how He still followed the plan. Think about when He was in the Garden and asked God to remove the cup, but then said "nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

Christ trusted God. Christ suffered more than I could ever imagine. Can you imagine pain that is so intense you bleed from every pore? Can you imagine suffering my pain, your friend's pain, your spouse's pain, that guy over there's pain, everyone's pain? I can't. I sincerely cannot imagine it, nor do I wish to.

Bad things happen to good people. We suffer. It's part of our earthly experience. Ultimately, we need to use those experiences to bring us closer to God so we can live with Him again, and that is what trusting will help us do. As we think about the sacrament and our covenants, and as we try to live those covenants, it will become easier for us to trust God and see through clearer eyes what is going on.

I love that this section says that trusting God is like putting on a new pair of glasses and seeing everything with new eyes. It's so true. The more I have trusted God, the more I can see things as they really are. I can look back on my pain and know that without that pain, I would not be where I am. Without my husband's addiction, we would not have the same emotional closeness that we do now, nor would we have the same type of relationship with God as we do now.

There is no one I would rather trust with my life than God because He sees all. God knows what I need to become more refined. And God knows how to comfort me.

I don't enjoy pain. I really don't. But I enjoy joy, and with the greatest joys come the greatest pains. I have learned that from experience. And through everything, I choose to trust God because I know that He is life.


Studies of the Atonement and humility have really helped me find trust in God. I'll share how in my next post :)

*****Speaking of next post... I have had a very big change in my life, and I won't be able to post as often. My goal is going to be a minimum of every other day, but we will see. I'm sorry for those who diligently read my posts every day, but I physically won't be able to do it every day any more. I'll do my best, but just so you are aware. TTFN.