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Many of us have experienced things that have gone against what we thought was supposed to happen in life, or have not received promised blessings, or found church history facts that don’t fit in with the info we got at church, or have people in the church do things that aren’t the way people in the true church should treat you. It breaks down the trust we feel in God or at church. I remember
postsIn church I often hear how we need to trust in the Lord, with all our heart, might, mind and soul.
What does Trusting the Lord mean to you?Elder Ballard talked in the last Conference to trust the Lord in doing missionary work. He said
Quote:Trust the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know His voice; and today the voice of the Good Shepherd is your voice and my voice. And if we are not engaged, many who would hear the message of the Restoration will be passed by. Simply stated, it’s a matter of faith and action on our part. The principles are pretty simple—pray, personally and in your family, for missionary opportunities.
[snip]
The Lord knows us. He knows we have our challenges. I realize that some of you may feel heavy laden, but I pray that none of you would ever feel that reaching out in normal, pleasant ways to share the gospel would ever be a burden. Rather, it is a privilege! There is no greater joy in life than being anxiously engaged in the service of the Lord.
The key is that you be inspired of God, that you ask Him for direction and then go and do as the Spirit prompts you.
Quote:“Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. …
“… For it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain” (Moroni 7:33, 37).
Quote:There cannot be peace where there is not trust; there cannot be freedom where there is not loyalty.
—Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Quote:Almost every commandment we receive from Heavenly Father is accompanied by a promised blessing. Obedience to the commandments brings freedom, personal growth, protection from danger, and many other temporal and spiritual blessings.
-Source:
Church Youth Sunday School Lesson ManualsCan we Trust the Lord will do miracles in our lives?
What can you trust the Lord to do, and what should you not trust Him to do in life?
What if you lost trust, how do you get it back?
This sounds bad at first, but gets better. I don’t trust the Lord to do anything for me in this life. That way leads to a lot of disappointment and that empty, gnawing feeling inside when promised blessings do not come to pass.
However, I have trust that he will be fair in the end, whenever that comes. That somehow, things will make sense, and that the good things I have done will matter in some way. I am not sure how, but I trust that He is good enough that they will in fact matter.
I also trust that he will be kind to me in spite of my unorthodox and non-TR-holding status. I trust Him to be that way as I have trust that my worth to Him is unconditional.
edited I don’t believe in expectations – the vending machine type of trust. However, I can look back at my life and see enough examples of why I had to be in certain places and situations in the past, which means I trust it will happen in the future, as well. For me, that’s all that matters – that, in the end, I will understand and be thankful.
More thoughts on Trust in the Lord. I was reading Richard G Scott. Quote:Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov. 3:11–12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain.
When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father.
This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience.
To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it.
I’m not sure I follow what is being said here. The Lord will give me problems to deal with, so that if I trust Him, He can help me from the problems He gave me?What’s really the message to take from this?
Heber13 wrote:More thoughts on Trust in the Lord. I was reading Richard G Scott.
Quote:Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov. 3:11–12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain.
When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father.
This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience.
To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it.
I’m not sure I follow what is being said here. The Lord will give me problems to deal with, so that if I trust Him, He can help me from the problems He gave me?What’s really the message to take from this?
What you have to sort out first is if the “trial” as you see it is a result of something you did or if God is testing you to get you to grow. This would seem to place natural disasters into the possible category of trials for growth along with illness or death of a loved one. Along with that you could add losing your job through no fault of your own with all the stresses associated with that or a personal injury that changes your life forever. My belief is that God doesn’t do those things anymore than he caused the death of Job’s first family to prove a point to Satan. I have never believed God is that activist in part because it makes us into puppets with strings that God feels need to be pulled every so often. It can make us seem like participants in a conditioned response experience with God trying to shape our behavior whether we like it or not.
GBSmith wrote:What you have to sort out first is if the “trial” as you see it is a result of something you did or if God is testing you to get you to grow. This would seem to place natural disasters into the possible category of trials for growth along with illness or death of a loved one. Along with that you could add losing your job through no fault of your own with all the stresses associated with that or a personal injury that changes your life forever. My belief is that God doesn’t do those things anymore than he caused the death of Job’s first family to prove a point to Satan. I have never believed God is that activist in part because it makes us into puppets with strings that God feels need to be pulled every so often. It can make us seem like participants in a conditioned response experience with God trying to shape our behavior whether we like it or not.
I’m with you on this one, GBS. I didn’t always believe this way, and I don’t believe it is the prevailing LDS opinion on the subject, but experiences in my life have led me to believe that God does not interfere with our lives either way. My own crisis of faith has been characterized as a test by many, but I really see no need for God to test anyone – he at least has the capability of knowing each individual’s level of faith (not saying that he does). If the need for the test would be so that individuals can figure out for themselves where they stand, I really don’t see that as helpful either – it could, in fact, lead some to recognize how futile their efforts may have been (I had this feeling for awhile). And, as is my case, I realized fairly early on that I did not have the level of faith that I thought I had, yet the “test” has continued for several more years. To that, one of my TBM friends says our whole lives are tests – which I also don’t buy. This whole idea of trials and testing smacks of an image of a controlling and somewhat vengeful God. I don’t believe most Christians, LDS or not, actually see God that way even though they talk about trials and tests.
I have no problem with the idea that life is a test – but I define “life” as “eternal life” or “existence”, and I define “test” as “learning process” or “growth experience”. In that sense, I’m okay with seeing the events in our lives as tests – but I do so more in terms of “evaluation-providing (for correction and growth)” rather than “grade-producing (for final status)”. As an educator, I don’t like the traditional model of instruct, test, assign grade, move on. I prefer the newer model of evaluate, design instruction based on evaluation, evaluate, modify instruction (if necessary), continue until mastery is reached. That version is how I see eternal life, and I think it continues until each person reaches their highest level of mastery possible.
I don’t see life as a test. When the scriptures say “we will prove them…” I see that as being proved in the refiners fire. Which means strengthened, improved and purified. Not tested to breaking point. Old-Timer wrote:I have no problem with the idea that life is a test – but I define “life” as “eternal life” or “existence”, and I define “test” as “learning process” or “growth experience”. In that sense, I’m okay with seeing the events in our lives as tests – but I do so more in terms of “evaluation-providing (for correction and growth)” rather than “grade-producing (for final status)”.
As an educator, I don’t like the traditional model of instruct, test, assign grade, move on. I prefer the newer model of evaluate, design instruction based on evaluation, evaluate, modify instruction (if necessary), continue until mastery is reached. That version is how I see eternal life, and I think it continues until each person reaches their highest level of mastery possible.
I agree, Ray, and as a teacher myself I know the difference in your two definitions. I also believe most people are using the traditional (old) model when referring to life being a test.
Heber13 wrote:What does Trusting the Lord mean to you?
At the core I trust the Lord my God to love me, want me, and accept me as His child.
I have become quite the observer of others and their trust in God.
I believe that part of it can be explained by perspective. If I start with the premise the God will bless me and then look for the blessings in my life as evidence of this premise then that can be a sort of trust.
Recently I heard a woman say that even when she feels unloved and unwanted by God – she can trust in His Word (Bible) that He will always love and want her. I found this particularly interesting because she explicitly said that she was trusting God when her wavering feelings were sending her a different message.
I feel like I can see the mechanics of how each of these forms of trust work and as such cannot buy into them fully. One is a self-fulfilling prophecy and the other is a reliance on an outside text to be more reliable than the heart.
I trust the Lord my God to love me, want me, and accept me as His child.
I trust in this independent of the outside circumstances of my life. I feel that scripture can be read with many meanings and many verses of the Bible do not portray the God of my heart, I trust in him anyway. I have no expectations of mansions or thrones in the afterlife. Regardless of the assignment that I might receive in the hereafter, I am confident that I will be loved, wanted, and accepted. I do want for this whole eternal family thing to be true, but if I hold that HF loves, wants, and accepts all my loved ones as much as he does me (which is to say perfectly
Heber13 wrote:When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father.
This quote I see as something quite different. I see this as a choice between trusting in your assumptive reality or questioning it. Finding personal answers to “Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this?” and other such questions have been the most meaningful and pivotal answers of my life. At the same time they were so foundational that they massively changed my assumptive reality. If I were the defender of my old assumptive reality, I might choose to deflect such transformational questions into less challenging forms. I might ask “What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial?”
I don’t mean to imply that my present experience makes me any better than anyone else. I traded one assumptive reality for another – one that I believe better fits my core self and my experiences. This is the way that I was able to deal with overwhelming pain and cognitive dissonance. If someone else finds that they are able to deflect such questions or even better if they never feel a need for such questions to begin with, why would I feel any better than them?
Roy wrote:I trust in this independent of the outside circumstances of my life. I feel that scripture can be read with many meanings and many verses of the Bible do not portray the God of my heart, I trust in him anyway. I have no expectations of mansions or thrones in the afterlife. Regardless of the assignment that I might receive in the hereafter, I am confident that I will be loved, wanted, and accepted. I do want for this whole eternal family thing to be true, but if I hold that HF loves, wants, and accepts all my loved ones as much as he does me (which is to say perfectly ), then I hope to trust in His judgment relevant to that as well.
In reference to this, I was recently thinking about the parable of the Prodigal Son in a new light. In some ways I could be seen as prodigal/wasteful in that I have been raised in the restored gospel and yet I waver. When I see my Heavenly Father again it will be well with me if He sees fit to assign me to work with his hired servants (as the lost son in the parable was going to request of his father). No matter where I might be placed – I will always be His son.
I’m sure to many this might look like settling for second or third best. In some ways perhaps it is. But there is nobody to compete against but myself. Also at this time in my life it is just amazing to ponder how the amazing relationship of love, mercy, and grace is big enough to seemingly swallow and overwhelm my deficiencies and shortcomings.
I have no idea how anything will work out, yet still, in the end, I entrust my soul and everything I hold dear into His care.
Roy wrote:I see this as a choice between trusting in your assumptive reality or questioning it. Finding personal answers to “Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this?” and other such questions have been the most meaningful and pivotal answers of my life. At the same time they were so foundational that they massively changed my assumptive reality.
Roy…I really like your response here.
It almost seems that the church can sometimes teach too much passive behavior. What happens is God’s will…don’t question it, but accept it and learn how to fit it into your life, or how to write a story that appeases the mind.
That may work at times. But when problems happen again and again, just being passive and accepting what happens gets exhausting.
I think we can learn from things and trust that things will be OK, even if we can’t trust God to intervene to change the physical world around us. And sometimes, what I learn is that God helps those that help themselves. There are good things that can come by struggling through problems.
So I can trust things will be OK, even if I can’t understand His higher ways because they will always be higher than my ways, and therefore release expectations that He’ll make it better, or He’ll explain it to me, or He’ll respond to me, but simply that I can survive it, and sometimes learn lessons that will help me mature or gain experiences on my own.
I trust God, I just do not trust myself or others when it comes to interpreting what God says or wants.
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