On Answers

Oh my goodness!  So life has gotten away with me and I have been horrible about updating!  But I did get a great question from one of our readers last week!  She's actually a friend from a long time ago!  And leaving to California on her mission in less than a month!  (p.s. I'm SOOO excited for you!). 

"I'm leaving on a mission in less than a month (Long Beach Cali-wahoo!) but one of my concerns that has never fully been answered is going without having a complete assurance that it is what I am supposed to do. So many people have said "don't go unless you know for sure that it's what you're supposed to do" and I don't. I mean, there's no reason for me not to go, and I want to serve the Lord, but I don't have a for sure answer that this is better than staying home and graduating or still dating or getting a real job etc. Thoughts on that? "

I was so excited to see this question, because I'm almost 100% positive that she isn't the only one who has ever struggled/wondered about this.  But I love what she said about how it really isn't any reason not to go, but it does sometimes make you wonder.  

The first thing I did was search for a talk by Elder Bednar that actually really influenced me in my decision to leave on a mission, but I found this gem in the process.

"I believe many of us unknowingly accept a faulty assumption about the Lord’s pattern. And this faulty assumption then produces erroneous expectations about how we receive spiritual knowledge. And that faulty assumption and our misinformed expectations ultimately hinder our ability to recognize and respond to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Let me suggest that many of us typically assume we will receive an answer ora prompting to our earnest prayers and pleadings. And we also frequently expect that such an answer or a prompting will come immediately and all at once. Thus, we tend to believe the Lord will give us A BIG ANSWER QUICKLY AND ALL AT ONE TIME. However, the pattern repeatedly described in the scriptures suggests we receive “line upon line, precept upon precept,” or in other words, many small answers over a period of time. Recognizing and understanding this pattern is an important key to obtaining inspiration and help from the Holy Ghost.

Now, we all acknowledge that receiving a big answer quickly and all at once is possible and, in fact, does occur in some exceptional circumstances. Perhaps we give overmuch emphasis to the miraculous experiences of Joseph in the Sacred Grove, of Paul on the road to Damascus, and of Alma the Younger. If our personal experiences fall short of these well-known and spiritually dramatic examples, then perhaps we believe something is wrong with or lacking in us. I am suggesting that the particular spiritual process evidenced in these three examples with Joseph, Paul, and Alma is more rare than it is routine, more the exception than the rule."

How great is that?  I couldn't have said it better.  And I totally agree with Elder Bednar, I think so many times in life, we expect (or just hope for) this lightning bolt of an answer like "THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO!".  But, so many times, well most of the time, our answers don't really come that way.  How would we be able to learn and grow and progress in our lives if the Lord clearly told us everything we had to do?  The point is to learn to walk by faith (something I'm trying to learn right now).  But the cool thing is, when we walk in faith, we can feel the peace of the Lord to help comfort us along the path of life.

What helps you keep going without knowing exactly where the Lord wants you to go?

You are never lost when you can see the temple

At the Madrid temple in Spain